by
Rick Sutcliffe
(index)
This One Learned There
For TWU FA meeting 2005 10 02
Psalm 87:1 (A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.) His foundation is in the holy mountains. 2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion More than all the other dwelling places of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah. 4 "I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me; Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: 'This one was born there.'" 5 But of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; And the Most High Himself will establish her. 6 The LORD shall count when He registers the peoples, "This one was born there." Selah. 7 Then those who sing as well as those who play the flutes shall say, "All my springs of joy are in you."
This is a psalm of the place God chose to lay a foundation for his holiness on earth, a place of which it would be said with respect "this and that one was born here".
Why such respect? Because it would be an honour to hail from, to be associated with:
a) a city where God elected to meet with humankind. Jerusalem was where Almighty God deigned to manifest himself, to be no longer pure spirit whom no man or woman could perceive, but instead to speak his word, to take on visible aspect (even if only through the priests under the old covenant), to deign to hear the prayers and receive the sacrifices of sinners such as we unto reconciliation, the place where the ultimate atoning sacrifice would one day be offered.
b) the place of witness not only to Israel, but to the nations. Glorious things would be spoken of Zion. It would be because of what God did there that those of all nations would know of him. Moreover, whatever pride of nation those others might have to say "one was born here" the honour of Zion would be higher, for from her would he teach the nations, to her would he come personally, and in her would he provide salvation for all.
Indeed, Zion as a place established by Almighty God would be one whose remembrance would be cause for rejoicing.
How do we apply this today? After all, these promises are ostensibly for a particular city, and cannot be simply transferred by us to a modern location, nor even directly to the church.
However, the principles can be applied. Today, the redeemed of the lord are individually and collectively his temple, so that a location where even two or three of them gather is automatically like Zion, in the respect that God manifests there. Thus there is potential to say of a local church that one could be blessed, even honoured, by having been there, by having played a part among those with whom God has obviously met.
It is not the loudness of the music, the eloquence of the preaching, the enthusiasm of the congregational response, the intelligence and sophistication of the people, the elegance of the building, or the multiplicity of programs that indicates the approval of God upon a church or arm of the church. Indeed some of the these might mitigate against true piety. Rather, we perceive the hallowing presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in a church or an arm of the church in that he redeems the lost, changes lives, and makes disciples out of sinners, illuminating his word to others through them as he instantiates in them the character of Jesus Christ, and thus performs his works through them.
Specifically, if TWU is truly an arm of the church, the sign of the blessing and activity of God is these fruit-bearing activities of the Holy Spirit. For us, this requires fulfilling God's disciple-making mission within the academic context of a Christian university. The traditional university activities are: teaching, research, community building, character development, and spiritual formation--but here these are done for the glory of God, the edification of his people, and the extension of his kingdom.
We could surely desire nothing more than to have future generations of graduates say of themselves: "my love for learning as my life's task unto God was born at TWU" or "I was discipled at TWU", even "I was born again at TWU". Surely it would be an honour to have people in far away lands take note of this person or that who hails from TWU, and so glorify God, perhaps even for the Lord Almighty to say from his very throne "well done, good and faithful servants of my university."
With such commendations in view, let us hear the high calling of God to be in fact as well as theory a community in which the name of the Lord is acclaimed for all that is said and done in this academic context. May it be the testimony of the Lord Christ himself that it was an honour to have been here, to have taught here, to have learned here, to have known each other and Him here, to have forgiven one another unconditionally even as he forgives us, to have been faithful to his person, his word, his ways.
May you and I be God's instruments in each others lives and those of our students this very year for the accomplishment of such great things as will hallow God's name on earth and in heaven.
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