Jim Reese Ministries

CONVOCATION ADDRESS
McMaster Divinity College
May 16, 2006
Jim Reese
 

 

(A PDF of this address is available on the downloads page)

Chancellor Hawkrigg, President George, Principal and Dean Porter, venerable members of the Board and Senate, esteemed faculty and staff, honored graduands, your families and friends:

To you who graduate today, we say hearty congratulations!  You have proved that dreams really can come true.

I heard of a man who asked his friend why he had “D. D.” attached to the end of his name. He was told it stood for Doctor of Divinity. “Oh,” he said, “I didn’t know that God needed a doctor.” I concur with the poet Longfellow who wrote, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.”  In fact, He’s not even a little bit sick.  God is alive and well, and has been so from eternity past.  Our Savior, Jesus Christ, climaxed his redemptive work on the cross by rising the third day from the dead with a metamorphic, glorified body, which he’s now had for nearly 2,000 years.  And he hasn’t had to call a doctor yet.

No, God doesn’t need a doctor.  But He does invite disciples who will partner with him in his healing ministries to a sick world.  McMaster University stands as a witness to those of a past generation of men and women who believed that God is calling for healers who will embrace his truth and reach out to our fallen human race with his healing grace. 

McMaster Divinity College continues to pursue with vigor this high calling based on what Francis Schaeffer calls “True Truth,” that is, those unchangeable, non-negotiable tenets of “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (Jude 3)  It is here, in this educational environment, that the cardinal Christian doctrines are examined and upheld; such as the veracity and authority of the Bible, the perfect nature of our triune creator God, the sinful state of fallen mankind, the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and the rebirth, purifying and glorifying of all who believe, and all this to the eternal glory of God.

C. S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” 

Pilate posed a most provocative question to Jesus when he queried, “What is truth?”  Just a few hours before, Jesus had answered that question when he told his disciples, “I am the truth.” Throughout human history Satan, the Father of Lies, has sought to distort the truth.  The German physicist, philosopher, G. C. Lichtenburg, was right when he said, “The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.”  And on occasion truth is grossly distorted. I applaud the President of Mac Div, Dr. Porter, who has written a clear expose of gross misinformation in his recently published work, “The Da Vinci Code, Conspiracy Theory, and the Biblical Canon.”

When this great institution called McMaster University was founded well over a century ago, it unashamedly declared that Jesus Christ, who called himself the truth, is in fact the originator of all truth physical and spiritual. As Paul said to the Colossians, “all things were created by him, and in him all things hold together.”  (Colossians 1:16-17)

Adherence to this truth was tested on this campus 42 years ago.  I remember well standing on these grounds with other pastors for prayer under these stately trees in 1964.  On that very day a great Canadian denomination voted not to approve a proposed new curriculum that questioned the integrity of God’s truth as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.  How grateful I am that McMaster Divinity College continues to uphold the historic evangelical persuasion of its forebears. 

Why is truth so important?  Because, as Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”  The purpose of truth is to unshackle us from falsehood so that we can enter proper relationship.  Jesus described that relationship of redeemed people to their Redeemer as being as intimate as that of branches to a vine, or of children to their parents. How blest is the person whose pursuit of knowledge has led one into healthy relationship with the Author of truth. 

As the father of a physically and mentally challenged son, God is teaching me that there is something more important than the mere pursuit of knowledge.  It’s the pursuit of relationship.  As parents, my wife Adrienne and I have sought to fill our children’s minds with truth so that they may experience fulfilling relationship with God and with people.  So you can understand the joy I felt when our 10 year old Steven, with a 4 year old mental capacity, prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.  He then said to me through halting speech, but with excited tones, “Daddy, . . . I . . . a . . . Christian!”  And 33 years later he continues to exult in the joy of his happy relationship with God.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote:

“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
Or the strong man boast of his strength
Or the rich man boast of his riches,
But let him who boasts boast about this:
That he understands and knows me,
That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
Justice and righteousness on earth,
For in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
(Jeremiah 9:23-24)

May God bless you graduands as you fan out into a society aching from fractured relationships.  May you so share the truth that the broken bond between God and mankind will be reconciled and that the splintered fellowship between people will be healed. 

Amen.

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