I want you to think with me this morning from
the subject: "Rediscovering Lost Values."
"Rediscovering Lost Values."
There is something wrong with our world, something
fundamentally and basically wrong.
I don't think we have to look too far to see
that.
I'm sure that most of you would agree with
me in making that assertion.
And when we stop to analyze the cause of our
world's ills, many things come to mind.
We begin to wonder if it is due to the fact
that we don't know enough.
But it can't be that.
Because in terms of accumulated knowledge
we know more today than men have known in
any period of human history.
We have the facts at our disposal.
We know more about mathematics, about science,
about social science, and philosophy than
we've ever known in any period of the world's
history.
So it can't be because we don't know enough.
And then we wonder if it is due to the fact
that our scientific genius lags behind.
That is, if we have not made enough progress
scientifically.
Well then, it can't be that.
For our scientific progress over the past
years has been amazing.
Man through his scientific genius has been
able to dwarf distance and place time in chains,
so that today it's possible to eat breakfast
in New York City and supper in London, England.
Back in about 1753 it took a letter three
days to go from New York City to Washington,
and today you can go from here to China in
less time than that.
It can't be because man is stagnant in his
scientific progress.
Man's scientific genius has been amazing.
I think we have to look much deeper than that
if we are to find the real cause of man's
problems and the real cause of the world's
ills today.
If we are to really find it I think we will
have to look in the hearts and souls of men.
The trouble isn't so much that we don't know
enough, but it's as if we aren't good enough.
The trouble isn't so much that our scientific
genius lags behind, but our moral genius lags
behind.
The great problem facing modern man is that,
that the means by which we live have outdistanced
the spiritual ends for which we live.
So we find ourselves caught in a messed-up
world.
The problem is with man himself and man's
soul.
We haven't learned how to be just and honest
and kind and true and loving.
And that is the basis of our problem.
The real problem is that through our scientific
genius we've made of the world a neighborhood,
but through our moral and spiritual genius
we've failed to make of it a brotherhood.
And the great danger facing us today is not
so much the atomic bomb that was created by
physical science.
Not so much that atomic bomb that you can
put in an aeroplane and drop on the heads
of hundreds and thousands of people—as dangerous
as that is.
But the real danger confronting civilization
today is that atomic bomb which lies in the
hearts and souls of men, capable of exploding
into the vilest of hate and into the most
damaging selfishness—that's the atomic bomb
that we've got to fear today.
Problem is with the men.
Within the heart and the souls of men.
That is the real basis of our problem.
My friends, all I'm trying to say is that
if we are to go forward today, we've got to
go back and rediscover some mighty precious
values that we've left behind.
That's the only way that we would be able
to make of our world a better world, and to
make of this world what God wants it to be
and the real purpose and meaning of it.
The only way we can do it is to go back and
rediscover some mighty precious values that
we've left behind.
Our situation in the world today reminds me
of a very popular situation that took place
in the life of Jesus.
It was read in the Scripture for the morning,
found over in the second chapter of Luke's
gospel.
The story is very familiar, very popular;
we all know it.
You remember when Jesus was about twelve years
old, there was the custom of the feast.
Jesus' parents took him up to Jerusalem.
That was an annual occasion, the feast of
the Passover, and they went up to Jerusalem
and they took Jesus along with them.
And they were there a few days, and then after
being there they decided to go back home,
to Nazareth.
And they started out, and I guess as it was
in the tradition in those days, the father
probably traveled in front, and then the mother
and the children behind.
You see, they didn't have the modern conveniences
that we have today.
They didn't have automobiles and subways and
buses.
They walked, and traveled on donkeys and camels
and what have you.
So they traveled very slow, but it was usually
the tradition for the father to lead the way.
And they left Jerusalem going on back to Nazareth,
and I imagine they walked a little while and
they didn't look back to see if everybody
was there.
But then the Scripture says, they went about
a day's journey and they stopped, I imagine
to check up, to see if everything was all
right, and they discovered that something
mighty precious was missing.
They discovered that Jesus wasn't with them.
Jesus wasn't in the midst.
And so they paused there and looked and they
didn't see him around.
And they went on and started looking among
the kinsfolk.
And they went on back to Jerusalem and found
him there, in the temple with the doctors
of the law.
Now, the real thing that is to be seen here
is this: that the parents of Jesus realized
that they had left, and that they had lost
a mighty precious value.
They had sense enough to know that before
they could go forward to Nazareth, they had
to go backward to Jerusalem to rediscover
this value.
They knew that.
They knew that they couldn't go home to Nazareth
until they went back to Jerusalem.
Sometimes, you know, it's necessary to go
backward in order to go forward.
That's an analogy of life.
I remember the other day I was driving out
of New York City into Boston, and I stopped
off in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to visit some
friends.
And I went out of New York on a highway that's
known as the Merritt Parkway, it leads into
Boston, a very fine parkway.
And I stopped in Bridgeport, and after being
there for two or three hours I decided to
go on to Boston, and I wanted to get back
on the Merritt Parkway.
And I went out thinking that I was going toward
the Merritt Parkway.
I started out, and I rode, and I kept riding,
and I looked up and I saw a sign saying two
miles to a little town that I knew I was to
bypass -- I wasn't to pass through that particular
town.
So I thought I was on the wrong road.
I stopped and I asked a gentleman on the road
which way would I get to the Merritt Parkway.
And he said, "The Merritt Parkway is about
twelve or fifteen miles back that way.
You've got to turn around and go back to the
Merritt Parkway; you are out of the way now."
In other words, before I could go forward
to Boston, I had to go back about twelve or
fifteen miles to get to the Merritt Parkway.
May it not be that modern man has gotten on
the wrong parkway?
And if he is to go forward to the city of
salvation, he's got to go back and get on
the right parkway.
And so that was the thing that Jesus' parents
realized, that they had to go back and find
this mighty precious value that they had left
behind, in order to go forward.
They realized that.
And so they went back to Jerusalem and discovered
Jesus, rediscovered him so to speak, in order
to go forward to Nazareth.
Now that's what we've got to do in our world
today.
We've left a lot of precious values behind;
we've lost a lot of precious values.
And if we are to go forward, if we are to
make this a better world in which to live,
we've got to go back.
We've got to rediscover these precious values
that we've left behind.
I want to deal with one or two of these mighty
precious values that we've left behind, that
if we're to go forward and to make this a
better world, we must rediscover.
The first is this -- the first principle of
value that we need to rediscover is this:
that all reality hinges on moral foundations.
In other words, that this is a moral universe,
and that there are moral laws of the universe
just as abiding as the physical laws.
I'm not so sure we all believe that.
We never doubt that there are physical laws
of the universe that we must obey.
We never doubt that.
And so we just don't jump out of airplanes
or jump off of high buildings for the fun
of it -- we don't do that.
Because we unconsciously know that there is
a final law of gravitation, and if you disobey
it you'll suffer the consequences -- we know
that.
Even if we don't know it in its Newtonian
formulation, we know it intuitively, and so
we just don't jump off the highest building
in Detroit for the fun of it -- we don't do that.
Because we know that there is a law of gravitation
which is final in the universe.
If we disobey it we'll suffer the consequences.
But I'm not so sure if we know that there
are moral laws just as abiding as the physical law.
I'm not so sure about that.
I'm not so sure if we really believe that
there is a law of love in this universe, and
that if you disobey it you'll suffer the consequences.
I'm not so sure if we really believe that.
Now at least two things convince me that we
don't believe that, that we have strayed away
from the principle that this is a moral universe.
The first thing is that we have adopted in
the modern world a sort of a relativistic
ethic.
Now I'm not trying to use a big word here;
I'm trying to say something very concrete.
And that is that we have accepted the attitude that right and wrong are merely relative to our . . .
[recording interrupted]
Most people can't stand up for their convictions, because the majority of people might not be doing it.
See, everybody's not doing it, so it must
be wrong.
And since everybody is doing it, it must be
right.
So a sort of numerical interpretation of what's right.
But I'm here to say to you this morning that
some things are right and some things are wrong.
Eternally so, absolutely so. 
It's wrong to hate. It always has been wrong and it always will be wrong.
It's wrong in America, it's wrong in Germany,
it's wrong in Russia, it's wrong in China.
It was wrong in 2000 B.C., and it's wrong
in 1954 A.D.
It always has been wrong, and it always will
be wrong.
It's wrong to throw our lives away in riotous
living.
No matter if everybody in Detroit is doing
it, it's wrong.
It always will be wrong, and it always has
been wrong.
It's wrong in every age and it's wrong in
every nation.
Some things are right and some things are
wrong, no matter if everybody is doing the
contrary.
Some things in this universe are absolute.
The God of the universe has made it so.
And so long as we adopt this relative attitude
toward right and wrong, we're revolting against
the very laws of God himself.
Now that isn't the only thing that convinces
me that we've strayed away from this attitude,
this principle.
The other thing is that we have adopted a
sort of a pragmatic test for right and wrong
-- whatever works is right.
If it works, it's all right.
Nothing is wrong but that which does not work.
If you don't get caught, it's right.
That's the attitude, isn't it?
It's all right to disobey the Ten Commandments,
but just don't disobey the eleventh,
"Thou shall not get caught."
That's the attitude.
That's the prevailing attitude in our culture.
No matter what you do, just do it with a bit
of finesse.
You know, a sort of attitude of the survival
of the slickest.
Not the Darwinian survival of the fittest,
but the survival of the slickest—whoever
can be the slickest is the one who right.
It's all right to lie, but lie with dignity.
It's all right to steal and to rob and extort,
but do it with a bit of finesse.
It's even all right to hate, but just dress
your hate up in the garments of love and make
it appear that you are loving when you are
actually hating.
Just get by! That's the thing that's right according to this new ethic. My friends, that attitude is destroying the soul of our culture.
It's destroying our nation.
The thing that we need in the world today is a group of men and women who will stand up for right and to be opposed to wrong, wherever it is.
A group of people who have come to see that some things are wrong, whether they're never caught up with.
And some things are right, whether nobody
sees you doing them or not.
All I'm trying to say to you is that our world
hinges on moral foundations.
God has made it so.
God has made the universe to be based on a
moral law.
So long as man disobeys it he is revolting
against God.
That's what we need in the world today: people
who will stand for right and goodness.
It's not enough to know the intricacies of
zoology and biology, but we must know the
intricacies of law.
It is not enough to know that two and two
makes four, but we've got to know somehow
that it's right to be honest and just with
our brothers.
It's not enough to know all about our philosophical
and mathematical disciplines, but we've got
to know the simple disciplines of being honest
and loving and just with all humanity.
If we don't learn it, we will destroy ourselves
(That's right) by the misuse of our own powers.
This universe hinges on moral foundations.
There is something in this universe that justifies
Carlyle in saying, "No lie can live forever."
There is something in this universe that justifies
William Cullen Bryant in saying, "Truth, crushed
to earth, will rise again."
There is something in this universe that justifies
James Russell Lowell in saying,
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne.
Yet that scaffold sways the future.
Behind the dim unknown stands God,
Within the shadow keeping watch above his
own.
There is something in this universe that justifies
the biblical writer in saying, "You shall
reap what you sow."
This is a law-abiding universe.
This is a moral universe.
It hinges on moral foundations.
If we are to make of this a better world,
we've got to go back and rediscover that precious
value that we've left behind.
And then there is a second thing, a second
principle that we've got to go back and rediscover.
And that is that all reality has spiritual
control.
In other words, we've got to go back and rediscover
the principle that there is a God behind the
process.
Well this you say, "Why is it that you raise
that as a point in your sermon, in a church?
The mere fact we are at church, we believe
in God, we don't need to go back and rediscover
that.
The mere fact that we are here, and the mere
fact that we sing and pray, and come to church—we
believe in God."
Well, there's some truth in that.
But we must remember that it's possible to
affirm the existence of God with your lips
and deny his existence with your life.
The most dangerous type of atheism is not
theoretical atheism, but practical atheism
-- that's the most dangerous type.
And the world, even the church, is filled
up with people who pay lip service to God
and not life service.
And there is always a danger that we will
make it appear externally that we believe
in God when internally we don't.
We say with our mouths that we believe in
him, but we live with our lives like he never
existed.
That is the ever-present danger confronting
religion.
That's a dangerous type of atheism.
And I think, my friends, that that is the
thing that has happened in America.
That we have unconsciously left God behind.
Now, we haven't consciously done it; we have
unconsciously done it.
You see, the text, you remember the text said
that Jesus' parents went a whole day's journey
not knowing that he wasn't with them.
They didn't consciously leave him behind.
(Well) It was unconscious; went a whole day
and didn't even know it.
It wasn't a conscious process.
You see, we didn't grow up and say, "Now,
goodbye God, we're going to leave you now."
The materialism in America has been an unconscious
thing.
Since the rise of the Industrial Revolution
in England, and then the invention of all
of our gadgets and contrivances and all of
the things and modern conveniences -- we unconsciously
left God behind.
We didn't mean to do it.
We just became so involved in getting our
big bank accounts that we unconsciously forgot
about God -- we didn't mean to do it.
We became so involved in getting our nice
luxurious cars, and they're very nice, but
we became so involved in it that it became
much more convenient to ride out to the beach
on Sunday afternoon than to come to church
that morning.
It was an unconscious thing -- we didn't mean
to do it.
We became so involved and fascinated by the
intricacies of television that we found it
a little more convenient to stay at home than
to come to church.
It was an unconscious thing -- we didn't mean
to do it.
We didn't just go up and say, "Now God, we're
gone."
We had gone a whole day's journey and then
we came to see that we had unconsciously ushered
God out of the universe.
A whole day's journey -- didn't mean to do
it.
We just became so involved in things that
we forgot about God.
And that is the danger confronting us, my
friends: that in a nation as ours where we
stress mass production, and that's mighty
important, where we have so many conveniences
and luxuries and all of that, there is the
danger that we will unconsciously forget about
God.
I'm not saying that these things aren't important;
we need them, we need cars, we need money;
all of that's important to live.
But whenever they become substitutes for God, they become injurious.
And may I say to you this morning, that none of these things can ever be real substitutes for God.
Automobiles and subways, televisions and radios, dollars and cents can never be substitutes for God.
For long before any of these came into existence,
we needed God.
And long after they will have passed away,
we will still need God.
And I say to you this morning in conclusion
that I'm not going to put my ultimate faith
in things.
I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in
gadgets and contrivances.
As a young man with most of my life ahead
of me, I decided early to give my life to
something eternal and absolute.
Not to these little gods that are here today
and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same
yesterday, today, and forever.
Not in the little gods that can be with us
in a few moments of prosperity, but in the
God who walks with us through the valley of
the shadow of death, and causes us to fear no evil. That's the G-d!
Not in the god that can give us a few Cadillac
cars and Buick convertibles, as nice as they
are, that are in style today and out of style
three years from now, but the God who threw
up the stars to bedeck the heavens like swinging
lanterns of eternity.
Not in the god that can throw up a few skyscraping
buildings, but the God who threw up the gigantic
mountains, kissing the sky, as if to bathe
their peaks in the lofty blues.
Not in the god that can give us a few televisions
and radios, but the God who threw up that
great cosmic light that gets up early in the
morning in the eastern horizon, who paints
its technicolor across the blue -- something
that man could never make.
I'm not going to put my ultimate faith in
the little gods that can be destroyed in an
atomic age, but the God who has been our help
in ages past, and our hope for years to come,
and our shelter in the time of storm, and
our eternal home.
That's the God that I'm putting my ultimate
faith in.
That's the God that I call upon you to worship this morning.
Go out and be assured that that God is going to last forever.
Storms might come and go. Our great skyscraping buildings will come and go.
Our beautiful automobiles will come and go,
but God will be here.
Plants may wither, the flowers may fade away, but the word of our God shall stand forever and nothing can ever stop him.
All of the P-38s in the world can never reach
God. All of our atomic bombs can never reach him.
The God that I'm talking about this morning
is the God of the universe and the God that will last through the ages.
If we are to go forward this morning, we've
got to go back and find that God.
That is the God that demands and commands our ultimate allegiance.
If we are to go forward, we must go back and
rediscover these precious values: that all
reality hinges on moral foundations and that
all reality has spiritual control.
God bless you.
