A Pre-Graduation Address to the Biola Class o f ’51
By James H. Jauncey, M.A., B.Sc., B.D., Th.D.*
which our Christian forefathers have bequeathed to us is the faith once de livered to the saints. This faith is being attacked on every hand. The disease of heresy is deep in the heart of the Chris tian church. Its ancient name was gnosti cism; now we call it modernism or liber alism. The effect is the same: robbing experience of its solid foundation and preaching of its message. You are to de fend that faith. It is not your task to argue about the truth; it is yours to proclaim. Your training at Biola has been directed towards giving you a deep understanding of the faith so that by standing on the solid rock yourselves you may be able to lead others to that rock. In the realm of faith, go and oc cupy till He comes. Then I must tell you that you face a stricken church. You will find many of her children defeated by sin, enslaved by habit, frivolous through worldliness, careless by lack of devotion, discour aged by the ups and downs of life. The wolf has taken his toll of the sheep. You are to go in and under Him be the shepherd of the sheep. You must repair the breaches and apply the balm of Gil ead to the wounds. By gaining victory yourself, you must teach others how to find victory. By the example of your own surrender, devotion, and godliness you must win the unsurrendered and the worldly. By your deep compassion you must minister to the needs of His chil dren and thus occupy until He comes. Finally, you must face the world of the lost, knowing that if you fail in that responsibility there will be untold trag edy on the Judgment Day. The task is appalling. There are more heathen than ever before. There are even more heath en in the United States than ever be fore. To them you are called to go with the glorious message of salvation, to transmit that .message faithfully and deliver your soul. Occupy till He comes. Go to your tasks in the strength and power of God. Soon the inspiration of this Biola fellowship will be behind you. Out there in the awful loneliness of the mission field or the spiritual isolation of the difficult pastorate, you will have to rely on God. If your surrender to Him is adequate, your devotion keen and your experience sound, you will stand the strain. You are going “over the top” into the battlegrounds of God. Acquit your selves well and occupy till He comes.
If you fail to occupy till He comes, His work must remain undone and souls must be lost for all eternity. All that He bought for the world on the Cross and handed down to us through the sacrifice of those who have gone before will be of no avail. Once I was tempted to take the easier path suggested by the offer of a high technical position at which I could name my own salary. One of the influences that helped me then was my reading of the church history of the early centuries. I read how that for the transmission of this faith those early Christians were willing to be devoured by wild beasts, slain by gladiators, burned at the stake, incarcerated in the foul dungeons. No sacrifice was accounted too great for them. Church history is a trail of blood, of those who were obedient to the Mas ter’s “Occupy till / come.” In the face of their great example, I could only bow my head in surrender to the same Lord who inspired them. In the light of their devotion, there could only be one task for me. Ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class,.you are now to take over the torch which these magnificent runners have handed on to you. See that you acquit yourselves well. I must remind you that you are to serve the Christian church in its time of greatest need. Part of the heritage
r | AHE narrator has announced that the motto for this year’s graduat- ing class is “ Occupy Till I Come." This is one of the Master’s requests that always stirs me very deeply because when I listen carefully I can almost hear the beating of the heart of God behind the words. It always reminds me of that ancient legend. After our Lord had ascended to heaven the Archangel Gabriel is sup posed to have entered into conversation with Him. Gabriel asked: “ Lord, now You have given this tremendous, sacrifice for the world, How have You arranged so that the world may know of it?” The Lord answered: “ I have chosen apostles; they will tell it.” “ But,” per sisted Gabriel, “ They cannot do the task alone. How else do you plan?” “ I will rely on the faithfulness of these they win to spread the message,” an swered the Lord. “Ah, Lord, but what if they fail?” said Gabriel. Jesus bowed His head rather sadly as He answered, “ I have made no other plans.” Members of the Senior Class, that is true. The Lord has made no other plans. *Head of the Department of New Tes tament at the Bible Institute of Los An geles.
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