Remember the Rock from whence you were hewn. Michaelhouse Old Boys Day Chapel, 15 May Reading: Isaiah 51:1-4

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Felix Cain
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1 Remember the Rock from whence you were hewn Michaelhouse Old Boys Day Chapel, 15 May 2015 Reading: Isaiah 51:1-4 It is indeed a real privilege to be here at Michaelhouse and I thank Chaplain, Alan Smedley, and Rector Greg Theron for their gracious invitation. It s also great because this presents a splendid opportunity for me to meet up with many friends from bygone times, and be able to check one another over for storm damage! And to see how we have all weathered the ravages of time. I remember being at a conference in Amsterdam a number of years ago and a seminary colleague of mine from yesteryear came up to me and said: Mike, you look terrible! You remind me of that old hymn which says Change and decay in all around I see! Anyway, that wasn t too encouraging. But I do take comfort in my own division of the human race into three categories of Youth, Middle Age, and You Look Good! So if anyone comes up to you and says you are looking good, you know exactly where you fit! Maybe there is a fourth category worth mentioning, Are you sure you are okay, or shall I call the doctor? Actually when I last spoke to the boys a couple of years ago, Alan Smedley asked me to reflect and reminisce on my school days and remember the old times of long ago, assuming that I could remember! I told the lads the story of an 85 year old golfer who was about to give up on his golf and he said to his wife, My dear, I don t think I should go on with my golf. The problem is I just can t see where I hit the ball. She then suggested to him that he go out on the golf course with her brother, who although 93, nevertheless had very good sight. So off he went shortly thereafter with his 93 year old brother-in-law. He hit the ball beautifully and away it went. He then said to his 93 year old brother-in-law: Did you see where it went? Yes, was the reply. Where did it go? the golfer asked. I can t remember, said the rather unhelpful brother-in-law! Anyway, actually, whether you can remember well or not, I want to take you to a great Old Testament text which involves some remembering. And some challenging to us to make an effort to remember. This is the text: Remember the rock from which you were hewn, and look to the quarry from which you were digged (Isaiah 51:1). This was the Lord s word to Judah at that time to look back to their ancestors and especially to Abraham and Sarah and the early history of the Israelite nation. They needed to look back to where they came from. And so my word to you, dear one and all, is that this is a great and an incredibly important exhortation, namely for us as a school community, and then as individuals, to think back to our own roots, - and where we came from and what we imbibed here at Michaelhouse as schoolboys, - and what we inherited, - and what were the foundational values of the school 1

2 when it was founded, and the spiritual foundation our elders sought to provide for us here when we were schoolboys. In terms of moving forwards in our lives we need to know where we came from, and what were and are our roots. So my first exhortation is 1. To Michaelhouse as an Institution. I say to you: Remember the rock from whence you were hewn and look to the quarry from which you were digged. And I say Michaelhouse, remember and never forget that you and all of us were founded as a distinctly and definitely and self-confessedly Christian school. Our school was founded in 1896 and based on biblical principles of the Christian faith. Indeed we came from a Founder in the person of James Cameron Todd who hailed from Christ College Cambridge where he won the Greek New Testament prize with First Class Honours. An Anglican Canon, he was a man of deep Christian piety and missionary spirit which drew him overseas for Christian service. His heart however was profoundly in Christian education. Thus he could write: A man s tone, moral and spiritual, as well as intellectual, is largely determined for life by his school. And it is so. So I urge this school never to leave or forsake this founding Christian rock from whence we were hewn some 120 years ago. In this age of religious pluralism, post modernism, ethical relativism, and neo-pagan secularism, and with tolerance of any and all religious postures made the supreme virtue, it is not surprising that many once Christian institutions are tempted to forsake their Christian moorings, abandon uniqueness, and slide into the secularistic spirit of the age. So I urge Michaelhouse, its Board of Governors, its staff and boys and old boys never to do this. I thankfully see no trend in this direction, but I issue the warning nevertheless. Remember, I beg you, dear Michaelhouse, the rock from which you were hewn and look to the quarry from which you were digged. This is a great school with a huge inheritance and legacy, and massive ongoing potential. I pray for the school and its Rector and Chaplain and some other personnel on a faithful basis every single week by name. I then want to say to all of you and to all of us as individuals 2. Let s remember personally the rock of personal Christian commitment from which you and I were hewn. 2

3 Although we didn t always get the message or understand it fully or receive it wholeheartedly at school, nevertheless we were urged to commit our lives to Jesus Christ as Lord, and Saviour and Friend and follow Him as Christian disciples. Some responded there and then at school. Others, on the other hand, like me, were too naughty and only got around to it later at university, or when we were even older. I remembered that after I had preached at Michaelhouse for the very first time in 1962 after we had done our first African Enterprise mission to Pietermaritzburg, the school chronicle said: If it can happen to Cassidy it can happen to anyone! In fact, Don Guthrie just before today s service said to me: Mike, you were the naughtiest boy in Michaelhouse. I was horrified at his capacities for hyperbole, especially when I d told him a billion times not to exaggerate! Anyway, when I was led into Christian commitment at Cambridge University after my first two weeks there, it was on the Michaelhouse spiritual foundation that it all happened. As usual I had gone to communion service, as we were trained to do at Michaelhouse, but I wasn t ready for the two questions which my college friend who had taken me to the service put to me right afterwards. He asked, number one, Michael, do you know Christ? I was horrified and appalled at the question and felt some consequent antagonism to him. But his question was so earnest and sincere and full of love, that I was quite disarmed. I replied that we had just been to church, hadn t we, so surely that was enough. But he replied that there was a big difference between knowing Christ and knowing about Christ, even as there is a big difference between knowing about the Queen of England and knowing the Queen of England. All of that really startled me. Later I saw that this was exactly what Jesus was talking about when He prayed the great High Priestly Prayer in John 17:3 and said: Father, this is eternal life that they know thee, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Anyway while I was trying to recover from the first question, my friend put a second question and asked: Michael, have you ever surrendered your life to Christ? Now that was one thing I knew I had never done. I remembered that at Michaelhouse we had a little pre-communion set of prayers that were set out for us in the chapel pews, and in one of them was a prayer which said: Take me, make me, and use me for your honour and glory. And I remember saying that there was no way I was willing to do that. I was willing to go to church etc, but not to surrender my life into that kind of full commitment. Anyway, that day, October 23rd, 1955 at Cambridge, I committed my life to Jesus Christ as fully and completely as I possibly could. Understanding was born in a new way about knowing Him, about the importance of surrender and full commitment to 3

4 Him, and how wonderful it was to hear Him knocking on the door of my soul like a thunderclap saying: I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in (Revelation 3:23). This coming October that will be 60 years ago. And Jesus has certainly been a mighty friend of over those 60 years. That day and in subsequent weeks I discovered the wonderful New Testament truth articulated by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says: If any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things are passed away, behold all things have become new. I found an immediate newness of life. I very quickly had a new attitude to God, to church, to life as a whole, to my parents, family, friends, to South Africa and its problems, and to my whole future and what I would do with my life. How I thank God that I did not miss that opportunity. And I saw very clearly all of a sudden that nominal faith was not enough. Religiosity by itself was quite inadequate. I remember many years ago when I was doing some campaigns in South America and we were in a very poor city called Limón in Costa Rica. While there I was taken up onto a hill by a missionary from where we could overlook this very poor city. I commented that I saw on the roof of almost every house a television aerial. And I asked him how come people who were almost too poor to clothe or feed themselves could all have television. He then told me that it was a status symbol in Costa Rica for people to have television, so folk would go out and get the television aerial, put it on top of the house to give the impression that they had television and had really gone up in the world! But if you went inside the house, there was no television set. The reality of television was missing. That was when I came to see also that it was quite possible to have the television aerial of nominal Christian faith and nominal religiosity hoisted up over our lives but in truth, the reality of what one might call the television of Christ was not in one s house or life. That was something I came to see. Maybe some of you have come to something similar, but have perhaps slipped from it, in which case I beg you to get back there and not to forsake your first love for Christ. Still others here might never, have made that response to Christ. You may never have made the discovery of all discoveries of coming to know Him. Perhaps your heart is seeking and restless. The great St Augustine said: Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee. Maybe there are some here today and you have that same restlessness. If so, I remind you that you were made for a living relationship with God and that restlessness will remain until you enter that relationship. So once again I would beg you not to delay. Don t postpone. You don t want to be waiting till the eleventh hour to repent and then find yourself dying at 10.30! In fact, some of you look like you could pop off at almost any moment, so I think you should hurry up and take this step!! Why not let today even be the day when you say your yes to Christ, as I did in October 1955 when I received Him as Saviour, surrendered to Him as Lord, and opened the door of my heart and asked Him to come in. It s a huge thing 4

5 to do but it is quite an simple thing to do. The thief on the cross cried out: Lord Jesus, remember me. A simple prayer like that coming from your heart to Him can make all the difference in time and eternity. Wont you pray a prayer like that? Finally, - 3. Let s remember the Rock of Christian discipleship and the call to Christian character from which we were hewn. The call to us in our schooldays was not just to become committed to Christ but to become real Christian disciples and develop and manifest real Christian character. We wouldn t just come to Christ; we would resolve to follow Him all our days. We would become men of integrity, honesty, purity, goodness, family and parental responsibility, and marital faithfulness. As Thomas Paine, the 18 th century American political activist ( ) once said: Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us. Ouch! That certainly hits me, and maybe it hits you. Yes, it s no use coming to Christ singing Just as I am, if ever after we remain just as we were! Michaelhouse has produced men of awesome character and is still doing so today. That must remain the aim of the school. It must remain our responsibility, dream and goal to be men like that, men who are godly and godlike. After all, our school motto is Quis ut Deus. This of course means Who like God? Even our school motto says we are meant to be like God. What a challenge. 4. Conclusion Well, guys and gals. Michaelhouse Old Boys, and families, Michaelhouse School, Staff, and Board, them s my sentiments for today! We need to remember as a school community, both past and present, the Christian rock from whence we were hewn and not forsake it. We must live godly, truly Christian lives till the End of the Day, after which comes the staggering adventure of Heaven as articulated by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has there entered the heart of man, the things God has prepared for them that love Him. This is where we are headed. That is the Real Deal. Everything here and now is preparatory and preliminary. The Real Deal is coming. So then, till we meet again, whether Here or There, may the Lord bless you all. 5

Nov. 17, 13 Isaiah 12 PRAISING GOD I was thinking the other day how often we use the word thanks. In fact in Ann Landers column the other day, and I

Nov. 17, 13 Isaiah 12 PRAISING GOD I was thinking the other day how often we use the word thanks. In fact in Ann Landers column the other day, and I know you all check her out to see her advice each day,