Ah, Sweet Mystery Of Life
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Readings
For Sundays In Advent, Christmas, And Epiphany
An early movie version of Victor Herbert's romantic operetta
Naughty Marietta has the young and dashing Nelson Eddy sing to an enraptured Jeanette MacDonald:
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, at last I've found you.
Ah, at last I've found the secret of it all
... Yes, 'tis love and love alone
The world is seeking....
This charming song expresses what the Christian has known to be true all along. It is love -- and love alone -- that unlocks the mysteries of life. Not the transient and sometimes trashy love of the modern novel but the eternal love of the Advent Christ who wrote the real meaning of love, not in words but in the greatest of deeds, the giving of himself on a cross in order to secure humankind's profoundest need -- the need for forgiveness.
At the conclusion of this epistle to the Romans, the grandest of all Paul's letters, theology turns to doxology as he speaks of the mystery of God's gracious action toward each of us in Christ, our Lord. May these words speak deeply to us today.
To begin with, we note the Mystery Explained. Saint Paul frequently used the word "mystery" in his letters to the early churches. To the Corinthians he wrote of the mystery of the wisdom of God revealed at the Cross (1 Corinthians 2:7); to the same church he spoke of the mystery of that generation of believers who, at the second coming of Christ, will never have to endure the experience of physical death (1 Corinthians 15:51); to the Ephesian church he wrote of the mystery of God's inclusion of the Gentiles in the Gospel of his grace (Ephesians 3:3-6). In each instance, however, he is speaking not so much of that which cannot be understood (our usual perception of the word "mystery"), but rather that which has been clearly revealed and is easily grasped by the Christian mind.
So in our text when Paul speaks of the "proclamation of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed" (Romans 16:25 NIV), he is accentuating the wonderful fact that the gracious plan of God, though misunderstood for centuries, finds its complete and unmistakable fulfillment in the saving life and death of Christ, the world's Redeemer.
In Christ all the pieces of life's puzzle fit together and find their meaning. When he came to our world, eternity merged with time. His coming was the catalyst of human history. Toward that single event, all prior history had traveled; from that event, all subsequent history has surged on. Remove Christ's coming and all becomes chaos, a confusion; retain his coming and all becomes cosmos, a composite charged with meaning and purpose.
Chesterton put it eloquently when he described his experience of reading the gospel story for the first time: "On the first reading you feel that it turns everything upside down, but the second time you read it you discover that it turns everything right side up. The first time you read it you feel that it is impossible; the second time, you feel that nothing else is possible."
Be certain of this, the mystery of life is resolved forever through Christ, our Advent Lord!
And then we encounter the Mystery Applied. As we journey toward Bethlehem this year, perhaps some of us find ourselves still enshrouded in unfathomable mystery. Perhaps a loved one has been suddenly taken from us, perhaps our business has failed, a marriage has gone sour, or a friend has betrayed us, and we move toward the holiday season with a heavy heart. Our text has something to say to this need as well. "Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ."
This is what God is saying here. "If I have answered the need of the entire world through Christ, your Lord, do you think that I will be unable to meet your smaller need through the same means?"
The suffering we endure always serves a greater and more meaningful purpose. No one really knows what his faith means to him until that faith has been tried in the furnace of affliction. There is something doubly precious about a faith which has come through difficulty, disappointment, and loss and which emerges burning more brightly than it did before. God promises to establish or sustain us in just such time of testing.
Permit me to make this simple suggestion. You have grappled with your problem with every resource at your disposal. Having done so, it is time to place it into the hands of God. Leave it to the love and power of One who has promised that he "will never leave us nor forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5) saying: "Lord, I have thought and I cannot find the reason and the way. I cannot grasp thy purpose, but with my whole heart I trust thee. May thy will be done." An unknown poet expressed it eloquently:
Whose eye foresaw this way? -- not mine!
Whose hand marked out this day? -- not mine!
A clearer eye than mine -- 'twas thine.
A wiser hand than mine -- 'twas thine.
Then let my hand be still -- in thine!
And let me find my will -- in thine!1
And finally we note the Mystery Shared. In his "The Inn Album," Robert Browning penned the familiar phrase: "A secret's safe 'twixt you, me, and the gate-post!" Some secrets are meant to be kept shrouded in mysterious silence, but the one of which our text speaks is to be shouted from the roof tops! Paul writes, "So that all nations might believe and obey him" (Romans 16:26 NIV). Willliam Barclay has put it this way: "Here is our privilege and duty. The Christian privilege is to appropriate the good news for ourselves; the Christian duty is to transmit the good news to others." Dr. Moffatt translates Proverbs 13:17, "A careless messenger is a calamity." This is a heart-searching statement. In the light of our responsibility for sharing the Good News, this description is something we cannot readily escape, at least not without being inordinately complacent. For every messenger who takes his mission seriously, these words contain a terribly solemn indictment: "A careless messenger is a calamity!" Who can doubt its far reaching truth, as he looks over the centuries since the days following the resurrection, when men went from Jerusalem with the message of Jesus? The great calamities of history are to be laid at the door of careless messengers.
The classic story of the calamity of a careless messenger is that of the clerk in the British Ministry in London during the American Revolution who, instead of writing to Sir William Howe the instructions for his cooperation with Burgoyne, felt them unimportant and placed them in one of the pigeonholes on his desk. The major calamity of the whole war, from the standpoint of Great Britain, was the carelessness of a forgetful clerk. Our mission of sharing Christ's message of love is no less vital. We must not fail him!
Perhaps you recall hearing the familiar story of how Jesus, after his death and resurrection, ascended to the heavenly realm still bearing the marks of his suffering. An angel commented, "You must have suffered terribly for men down there." "I did," Jesus responded. "Do they all know what you did for them?" asked the angel. "Well," said Jesus, "I asked Peter and James and John to make it their primary business to tell others, and the others still others, until the last person in the remotest part of the earth has heard what I have done." The angel looked doubtful, for he knew what poor creatures men were. "Yes," he said, "but what if Peter, James, and John forget? What if they grow weary of telling? What if, on into the twenty-first century, men fail to share the story of your love for them? What then? What are your alternate plans?" And back came the response of Jesus. "I haven't made alternate plans. I'm counting on them." Christ has done his part. His life, death, and resurrection have provided the gospel for us. He is counting on us to share it with men and women everywhere. He has no alternate plan. The well-known hymn reminds us:
Let none hear you idly saying
There is nothing I can do
While the multitudes are dying
And the Master calls for you.
Take the task he gives you gladly;
Let his work your pleasure be.
Answer quickly while he calls you,
Here am I. Send me, send me!
Ah, sweet mystery of life at last we've found you. At last we've found the secret of it all! And that secret is found in Christ, alone. May we trust him and share his gracious message of salvation -- always!
____________
1. I believe this is from the pen of John Oxenham but I cannot locate it in any of my books. I have it on a file card without any source attached.
Naughty Marietta has the young and dashing Nelson Eddy sing to an enraptured Jeanette MacDonald:
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, at last I've found you.
Ah, at last I've found the secret of it all
... Yes, 'tis love and love alone
The world is seeking....
This charming song expresses what the Christian has known to be true all along. It is love -- and love alone -- that unlocks the mysteries of life. Not the transient and sometimes trashy love of the modern novel but the eternal love of the Advent Christ who wrote the real meaning of love, not in words but in the greatest of deeds, the giving of himself on a cross in order to secure humankind's profoundest need -- the need for forgiveness.
At the conclusion of this epistle to the Romans, the grandest of all Paul's letters, theology turns to doxology as he speaks of the mystery of God's gracious action toward each of us in Christ, our Lord. May these words speak deeply to us today.
To begin with, we note the Mystery Explained. Saint Paul frequently used the word "mystery" in his letters to the early churches. To the Corinthians he wrote of the mystery of the wisdom of God revealed at the Cross (1 Corinthians 2:7); to the same church he spoke of the mystery of that generation of believers who, at the second coming of Christ, will never have to endure the experience of physical death (1 Corinthians 15:51); to the Ephesian church he wrote of the mystery of God's inclusion of the Gentiles in the Gospel of his grace (Ephesians 3:3-6). In each instance, however, he is speaking not so much of that which cannot be understood (our usual perception of the word "mystery"), but rather that which has been clearly revealed and is easily grasped by the Christian mind.
So in our text when Paul speaks of the "proclamation of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed" (Romans 16:25 NIV), he is accentuating the wonderful fact that the gracious plan of God, though misunderstood for centuries, finds its complete and unmistakable fulfillment in the saving life and death of Christ, the world's Redeemer.
In Christ all the pieces of life's puzzle fit together and find their meaning. When he came to our world, eternity merged with time. His coming was the catalyst of human history. Toward that single event, all prior history had traveled; from that event, all subsequent history has surged on. Remove Christ's coming and all becomes chaos, a confusion; retain his coming and all becomes cosmos, a composite charged with meaning and purpose.
Chesterton put it eloquently when he described his experience of reading the gospel story for the first time: "On the first reading you feel that it turns everything upside down, but the second time you read it you discover that it turns everything right side up. The first time you read it you feel that it is impossible; the second time, you feel that nothing else is possible."
Be certain of this, the mystery of life is resolved forever through Christ, our Advent Lord!
And then we encounter the Mystery Applied. As we journey toward Bethlehem this year, perhaps some of us find ourselves still enshrouded in unfathomable mystery. Perhaps a loved one has been suddenly taken from us, perhaps our business has failed, a marriage has gone sour, or a friend has betrayed us, and we move toward the holiday season with a heavy heart. Our text has something to say to this need as well. "Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ."
This is what God is saying here. "If I have answered the need of the entire world through Christ, your Lord, do you think that I will be unable to meet your smaller need through the same means?"
The suffering we endure always serves a greater and more meaningful purpose. No one really knows what his faith means to him until that faith has been tried in the furnace of affliction. There is something doubly precious about a faith which has come through difficulty, disappointment, and loss and which emerges burning more brightly than it did before. God promises to establish or sustain us in just such time of testing.
Permit me to make this simple suggestion. You have grappled with your problem with every resource at your disposal. Having done so, it is time to place it into the hands of God. Leave it to the love and power of One who has promised that he "will never leave us nor forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5) saying: "Lord, I have thought and I cannot find the reason and the way. I cannot grasp thy purpose, but with my whole heart I trust thee. May thy will be done." An unknown poet expressed it eloquently:
Whose eye foresaw this way? -- not mine!
Whose hand marked out this day? -- not mine!
A clearer eye than mine -- 'twas thine.
A wiser hand than mine -- 'twas thine.
Then let my hand be still -- in thine!
And let me find my will -- in thine!1
And finally we note the Mystery Shared. In his "The Inn Album," Robert Browning penned the familiar phrase: "A secret's safe 'twixt you, me, and the gate-post!" Some secrets are meant to be kept shrouded in mysterious silence, but the one of which our text speaks is to be shouted from the roof tops! Paul writes, "So that all nations might believe and obey him" (Romans 16:26 NIV). Willliam Barclay has put it this way: "Here is our privilege and duty. The Christian privilege is to appropriate the good news for ourselves; the Christian duty is to transmit the good news to others." Dr. Moffatt translates Proverbs 13:17, "A careless messenger is a calamity." This is a heart-searching statement. In the light of our responsibility for sharing the Good News, this description is something we cannot readily escape, at least not without being inordinately complacent. For every messenger who takes his mission seriously, these words contain a terribly solemn indictment: "A careless messenger is a calamity!" Who can doubt its far reaching truth, as he looks over the centuries since the days following the resurrection, when men went from Jerusalem with the message of Jesus? The great calamities of history are to be laid at the door of careless messengers.
The classic story of the calamity of a careless messenger is that of the clerk in the British Ministry in London during the American Revolution who, instead of writing to Sir William Howe the instructions for his cooperation with Burgoyne, felt them unimportant and placed them in one of the pigeonholes on his desk. The major calamity of the whole war, from the standpoint of Great Britain, was the carelessness of a forgetful clerk. Our mission of sharing Christ's message of love is no less vital. We must not fail him!
Perhaps you recall hearing the familiar story of how Jesus, after his death and resurrection, ascended to the heavenly realm still bearing the marks of his suffering. An angel commented, "You must have suffered terribly for men down there." "I did," Jesus responded. "Do they all know what you did for them?" asked the angel. "Well," said Jesus, "I asked Peter and James and John to make it their primary business to tell others, and the others still others, until the last person in the remotest part of the earth has heard what I have done." The angel looked doubtful, for he knew what poor creatures men were. "Yes," he said, "but what if Peter, James, and John forget? What if they grow weary of telling? What if, on into the twenty-first century, men fail to share the story of your love for them? What then? What are your alternate plans?" And back came the response of Jesus. "I haven't made alternate plans. I'm counting on them." Christ has done his part. His life, death, and resurrection have provided the gospel for us. He is counting on us to share it with men and women everywhere. He has no alternate plan. The well-known hymn reminds us:
Let none hear you idly saying
There is nothing I can do
While the multitudes are dying
And the Master calls for you.
Take the task he gives you gladly;
Let his work your pleasure be.
Answer quickly while he calls you,
Here am I. Send me, send me!
Ah, sweet mystery of life at last we've found you. At last we've found the secret of it all! And that secret is found in Christ, alone. May we trust him and share his gracious message of salvation -- always!
____________
1. I believe this is from the pen of John Oxenham but I cannot locate it in any of my books. I have it on a file card without any source attached.
