Evangéliumi Hírnök, 1993 (85. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1993-08-01 / 8. szám

8. oldal

1993. augusztus

Rev. A. BARTON BROWN-------------------------TO KEEP ME FROM EXALTING MYSELF

Scripture: II Cor. 12:7-10 “Therefore, to keep me from becoming too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh. ” v. 7

First, I want to tell you that it is pretty difficult to be humble when one is invited to deliver a sermon at the annual meeting of the Hungarian Baptist Union of America. In fact, it is not easy to be humble when a preacher is still pastoring a church eight years after he thought he was retiring. “Thank you, Hungarian Baptists,

for giving me the

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si why he could acivhy. The Lord looked Where can I find the the face of the earth?” d him, and I will work fe’ll see that I am only ignificance.”

, or high social status, irposely chose what the put wise men to shame,

DSIDA JENŐ:

KRISZTUS

Krisztusom,

én leveszem képedet falamról. Torz hamisításnak érzem vonalait, színeit, sohase tudlak ilyennek elképzelni, amilyen itt vagy. Ilyen ragyogó kékszeműnek, ilyen jóllakottan derűsnek, ilyen kitelt arcúnak, ilyen enyhe pirosnak, mint a tejbeesett rózsa.

Én sok éjszaka láttalak már, hallgattalak is számtalanszor, én tudom, hogy te egyszerű voltál, szürke, fáradt és hozzánk hasonló. Álmatlanul csavarogtad a számkivetettek útját, a nyomor, az éhség siralomvölgyeit, s gyötrő aggodalmaid horizontján már az eget nyaldosták pusztuló Jeruzsálemed lángjai. Hangod fájó hullámokat kavart, mikor a sok beszéd után rekedten újra szólani kezdték Megtépett és színehagyott ruhádon vastagon ült a nagy út pora, sovány, széltől-naptól cserzett arcodon bronzvörösre gyúlt a sárgaság, s két parázsló szemedből sisteregve hullottak borzas szakálladra az Isten könnyei —

(55 éve halt meg Dsida Jenő (1907—1938) a magyar irodalom egyik jelentős, Erdélyben élt egyénisége.)

Oláh Lajos: IHLETETT ÍRÁSOK

Az elmúlt év augusztusában megjelent egy válogatás Oláh Lajos lelkipásztor írásaiból Ihletett írások címen. Rövidebb írásmagyarázatok, alkalmi előadások és versek. Olvasásuk mindenki számára igen hasznos lehet.

A kiadást Vajda Pálné testvérnő áldozatos szeretete tette lehetővé, az általuk évtizedek óta végzett irat-misszió keretében.

Ezzel férje, a sokak által ismert Vajda Pál testvér emlékének is kívánt adózni.

A könyv megrendelhető Terézia Vajda címén: 51 Drajcott Drive, Toronto, Ontario M4A 1P3 — valamint az Amerikai Magyar Baptista Szövetséghez tartozó gyülekezetek lelkipásztorainál. A könyv önköltségi ára 5 kanadai dollár.

and what the world considers weak in order to put powerful men to shame. He chose what the world looks down on, and despises, and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. This means that not one person can boast in God’s presence.” I Cor. 1:26-28.

Paul was a good Christian leader and pioneer. In fact, if you could deduct Paul and the Holy Spirit from the first century we should not be here today. Paul experienced a dramatic conversion to Christ. He traveled over much of the Roman Empire, after his new birth in Christ. He kept telling the good news that God had visited this planet in a Son. He determined to know nothing else than that Christ was crucified for our sins and resurrected for our justification. Even to this day we stand in awe of what Paul accomplished in securing a place for the Christian faith in a pagan world. He had much for which he might have boasted, but he chose to classify himself a servant of the Lord.

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” Phil. 3:8.

Yet Paul’s prayers were not all answered, not in the way he wished. And it was because of this unanswered prayer that Paul learned humility. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh.” (I Cor 12:7). What this says is that the one and only Apostle Paul had an affliction which he did not want, which he thought hindered his work for the Lord, and which bothered him no end. And he could not get rid if it — even thriogh earnest prayer. And after he had pleaded for healing, he abruptly stopped praying about it because the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (II Cor. 12:9)

Here’s the stress of my sermon: there may come times to test our souls — when we are sure we are in the Lord’s will and we are doing his work, and we need all our strength to do a good job, and we meet with some catastrophe or great setback. And we pray and pray, and we do not get the response we desire or expect. It is not easy to read any great meaning to what appears to be a handicap for our best efforts.

What was Paul’s thorn? There are many theories about this, including malaria and a wife. Someone said, “It is not named, so some say that it could be most anything — just so we can all identify with the idea.” My guess is that it was eye trouble. On the Damascus road at noon, “suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.” (Acts 9:3). When Paul got up from ground his eyes were open but he saw nothing. For three days he was in that condition. Now I turn to Galatians, where I read, “As you know, it was because of an illness that 1 first preached the gospel to you. Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. What has happened to all your joy. I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have tom out your eyes and given them to me. ” (Gal. 4:13-16).

When Paul wrote a letter he usually dictated it to someone with him. I Corinthians ends, “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.” Thus he penned the last greeting of the letter. But, when he closed the letter to the Galatians, he said this, “See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand.!” Was it because he had trouble seeing?

(To be continued)