{"id":428,"date":"2017-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/commencement-wisdom-from-a-legacy-leader\/"},"modified":"2021-12-28T21:41:21","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T21:41:21","slug":"commencement-wisdom-from-a-legacy-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/commencement-wisdom-from-a-legacy-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement wisdom from a legacy leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 5, the North Central University Class of 2017 gathered for commencement exercises and received a final word from retiring president\u00a0Gordon Anderson, Ph.D<\/a>. Anderson\u2019s lesson for the graduating seniors and master\u2019s degree candidates reflected well his 22-year legacy of leadership and wisdom a president of NCU. A transcript of his sermon is below, and is also viewable on North Central\u2019s Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arise, Shine!<\/h2>\n

Thank you, Ron, for your very kind words. You\u2019re a wonderful friend. It\u2019s great to have wonderful, wonderful friends. It\u2019s a great day at North Central. A Commencement Day. I love the word Commencement because it\u2019s not an ending day, it\u2019s a marking point where we commence from where we\u2019ve been and what we\u2019ve done, on to what we are going to do. We congratulate you on your departure, and what is special for me and Dianne, is that we\u2019re graduating with you!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just really a great day, a wonderful day. We love, love the school and what it stands for. 87 years of history. So many people who have labored to make North Central a sacred place: faculty, staff, administration, but especially the students, who come and embrace the vision and the disciplines necessary to achieve the vision in the years that you are here, not only in your own life, but then to take it out and to carry it around the world. It\u2019s a wonderful school, a wonderful place, and we have a wonderful God, and it\u2019s a great day.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, if you have your Bibles (and you should)…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now I\u2019m looking, and I\u00a0don\u2019t see any! But I have mine! The thing with technology now, how many of you have have your phone? You do have your Bible!<\/p>\n

Now, in the spirit of academic integrity, I must tell you that that little line is not original with me. It comes from a very wonderful, dear friend, former faculty member at north Central, a pastor here in the Twin Cities, Darrell Geddes. I heard Darrell do this a number of years ago and thought, \u201cThat is so good, I\u2019m going to use it.\u201d So that\u2019s scholarship: If you find something good, and use it, and footnote it, it\u2019s scholarship. If you don\u2019t footnote it, it\u2019s theft. So be careful to footnote throughout your life; credit to whom credit is due.<\/p>\n

But it has been a theme for us, hasn\u2019t it? If you have your Bible\u2014and you should\u2014the guiding of the Word of God for our lives. In paper, or in technological form, we need to have our Bibles. I actually will not ask you to turn to the text that I will read because I will move quickly and you will barely get there before I move on to something else.<\/p>\n

But the message today\u2026well actually I would like to take the text of that wonderful music the chorale just sang: \u201cArise, shine, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.\u201d Because I did not know what they were going to sing, but the Holy Spirit can just put things together in ways that it can just sometimes\u2026through the years, Larry, isn\u2019t just something how there\u2019s a leading of the Spirit, and we find out on the platform that God has been at work.<\/p>\n

My message has to do with Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, some words He spoke there, and Moses and his experience on Mount Sinai. But the words of Jesus are these: \u201cYou are the light of the world; let your light shine.\u201d So, I\u2019ve got to preach a little longer than just that, but I think it\u2019s been said, that\u2019s really what it\u2019s all about, letting your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.<\/p>\n

But for Moses in his experience, came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses\u2019 hands as he was coming down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with God. Light shining in the darkness.<\/p>\n

I dare say there is nobody in the building today who knows any better than I do the reality of the biblical principle that we have a treasure in earthen vessels. The treasure is supernatural, it is divine, it is glorious. But the vessel is dirt, very human. And the amazing thing is that God would place a treasure in an earthen vessel.<\/p>\n

Some of us have been reflecting the last several days on that principle, what I call the Dirt and Divinity Principle, that we are a treasure in earthen vessels. Sometimes we feel very badly about the earthenness of it all when we see it in others and we see it in ourselves. Someone once asked me, what is the key of leadership? And there are so many. But I said, \u201cForgiveness, forgiveness.\u201d Because we need to work together, and in our earthenness there will be times we need to forgive one another, and forgive ourselves. So today if I can inspire you with the tremendous truth, that there\u2019s a treasure in you, a treasure that\u2019s divine, and also an awareness of the fact it is in an earthen vessel, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

As we move through life we must constantly go back to that place where we find forgiveness with God and with others, and even forgive ourselves, and then commence to move on further. The glory of the Lord is risen upon us. And so we celebrate the reality of this.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Herman, born in France, 1611, Carmelite monk. He was given the name in the monastery of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. His very brief writings, consisting only of some remembered conversations and some maxims that he wrote in a very, very short little bool\u2014you can read it in about 20 minutes\u2014but it\u2019s really a classic, and that is, \u201cThe Practice of the Presence of God.\u201d Brother Lawrence said, \u201cWere I a preacher, I should preach above all things, the practice of the presence of God. Those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward, even in their sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

This man knew what it was to have constant fellowship with God. One of the things he said was, \u201cI have given up all of the disciplines of devotion.\u201d Interesting. \u201cRather, I carry on a constant conversation with God.\u201d He found something about the constancy of God being present.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I recommend that you give up all the disciplines of devotion. We do need to take time, make time, but there is something further than that, and that is living constantly with the awareness that Jesus is right here. He is right here with us. One of the things I shared this year was about the bracelet, \u201cWhat Would Jesus Do?\u201d And when we think of that bracelet, it\u2019s what would He do? and we think about it and try to mimic it, and imitate, that\u2019s a good thing. I haven\u2019t yet created our bracelet, but it is the one that goes, \u201cWhat would you do if you knew that Jesus were with you all the time?\u201d There are just too many letters for our bracelet! But isn\u2019t that a good question? What would you do? How would you act? How would you talk, if you just felt Jesus standing right by you all the time? And here\u2019s the wonderful part: He\u2019s there\u2026He\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

And our problem is to condition our soul in such a way that we\u2019re keenly aware of that presence. Because there\u2019s so many things in life that can dull our spiritual senses to the reality of the presence of God.<\/p>\n

Well Moses, his experience, at Mount Sinai. The history is that Moses had gone up on Mount Sinai for 40 days, spending his time with God. He received the Ten Commandments, but while he was gone, the people reverted back to idolatrous practices. They built a golden calf and were worshiping it, and when Moses came off the mountain and saw this, he did a thing that was quite common for Moses: he got mad. Moses was a human being, and he threw down the tablets, shattered them, destroyed them, and ruined them. And they had to start all over.<\/p>\n

The Bible says then that the journey continued, and the passage I\u2019ll spend a few moments with you on is during the continuation of the journey. And just before Moses goes back up on the mountain the second time, in Exodus 34, to get a new set of commandments for the people.<\/p>\n

The journey resumes, but then in Exodus 33:11, the Bible says that God spoke to Moses face to face, as a friend speaks to a friend. I cannot take the time today to rehearse some of my favorite conversations between God and Moses. But Moses is very unique, in that at least on two occasions he talked God out of destroying the whole nation. God said, \u201cI\u2019m gonna kill them. I\u2019ve had it. I\u2019ve had it up to here with these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moses said, \u201cYou can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

God said, \u201cI can, too. I\u2019m God and I can do anything I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what I call the ATV\u2014the Anderson Theatrical Version. But it\u2019s true to the text.<\/p>\n

Moses said, \u201cI know you can do anything you want to, but this is not a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

God said, \u201cI don\u2019t have bad ideas; I\u2019m God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moses said, \u201cWell this one\u2019s a bad idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

God said, \u201cHow so?\u201d<\/p>\n

And Moses said\u2026remember the text\u2026Moses said, \u201cWell look, this is going to be a bad, horrible PR move for you, because the Egyptians are gonna hear about it. You got them out of the land, you couldn\u2019t get them in, you blew up in a fit of anger, you destroyed the whole thing. What kind of a God is that? It\u2019s going to be horrible on your reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

God says, \u201cI never thought of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

You see, this is the intimacy of Moses and God. Isn\u2019t that wonderful?<\/p>\n

And then God says, two verses later, \u201cBut, as surely as I live, all the earth is going to be filled with the glory of the Lord. In spite of the humanity of it all. In spite of the failures of it all. Thank you, Moses, for the good word, but this world is going to be filled with my glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

God spoke to him as a friend. Isn\u2019t that a wonderful thing to think? That God can speak to you, face to face, as a friend, and you can talk to him, face to face, as a friend, even when you\u2019re upset and mad.<\/p>\n

In fact, there are times that I just tell God, \u201cI am so upset,\u201d but I\u2019ve found over the years that God likes me. And He thinks I\u2019m funny sometimes. And we have a great relationship! Oh, you have more years to live than I do, but live them out in the intimacy of having a face-to-face relationship with God.<\/p>\n

Well the tablets are replaced and Moses comes back down off the mountain. That\u2019s the history. But in that chapter, Moses says something. He has a two-part request, he says to God, \u201cLet me know your ways, that I may know you.\u201d Now catch the two parts: Let me know your ways, let me know the theology, how you do things. The second part is \u201cthat I may know you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knowing the ways of God is education, but knowing God is transformation. Let me say that again. Knowing about God is education, but knowing God personally is transformation. Knowing the ways is good; knowing the ways of God is good, but it is not all; it is good, but it is not enough.<\/p>\n

The Bible itself is not enough to know. We love the Bible, we read the Bible, but we don\u2019t stop with the Bible. Stopping with the Bible is like reading a map and never going anywhere. We don\u2019t want to be people who stop with the map. How many of you like to look at maps? I like to look at maps. I don\u2019t know what the fascination is, but it\u2019s interesting. But if all you do is read maps and never go anywhere, you have a very dreary life. We need to read the map and then go somewhere.<\/p>\n

Paul said that the Word is like a school master to bring us to Christ. Education is very important. We are an educational institution. But it seems rather interesting that education may be in fact a prerequisite, or a condition, of that second part, that I may know you.<\/p>\n

Here are the words of Moses: \u201cLet me know your ways, so that<\/em> I may know you.\u201d Could it be that we can never really know God personally, if we do not learn about Him through the Word of God, and let the map lay out the way? But then, take the journey.<\/p>\n

What we have done in education should never be given short shrift, should never be put in second place, but may be in fact the very prerequisite of going further in God. Really what we\u2019re talking about here is the Word and the Spirit. We\u2019re talking about truth and Spirit. We\u2019re talking about education and transformation.<\/p>\n

I like to compare the knowledge piece to perhaps the wood that makes up the fire, and the Spirit which makes the fire. Being a spiritual person is not ignorance on fire; it is the knowledge of God that is set on fire. You can take and throw a bit of gas out on a bit of dirt and throw a match on it, and you\u2019d get a momentary explosion\u2014singe your hair, singe your eyebrows. Everybody would say, \u201cWhat was that?\u201d Well, it\u2019s exciting, but really what it is, is something like nothing on fire.<\/p>\n

By the same token, you never saw anybody cuddle up next to a stack of fire wood. You\u2019ve got to have both; you\u2019ve got to have the wood and the fire. And so we have emphasized education and we have emphasized the fire of the Spirit of God.<\/p>\n

God did not answer his question. What\u2019s interesting is that it seems God ignored what Moses said. And rather than repeat anything about knowing the ways or knowing God, He makes this declaration, \u201cMy presence will go with you.\u201d He rewords the conversation, from ways and knowing the ways, and knowing God, and makes a declaration that is one of the most powerful declarations in all of the Word: \u201cMy presence will go with you. I will go with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Education? Yes, we know His ways. The Ten Commandments, relationship\u2014yes; we talk with him face to face, but the culmination of it all, is living in the presence of God. Living with a keen awareness of the presence of God. That seems to be the pinnacle, the goal of it all. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Arise, shine, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.<\/p>\n

It seems that Moses gets it very quickly, because he jumps on it and immediately says, \u201cIf you\u2019re presence doesn\u2019t go with us, we\u2019re not going.\u201d And he didn\u2019t debate; he didn\u2019t go back to the issue of I want to know your ways, or I want to know you personally, or I want to have conversations with you, it just seemed like he got it instantly! If you don\u2019t go with us, we\u2019re not going. No presence? No go. We want God to be in our lives all the time.<\/p>\n

And then he adds something. He said, \u201cIt will be by this presence that we will be distinguished from all of the people that are on the earth.\u201d The presence of God, the presence of the Spirit, is the distinguishing factor.<\/p>\n

North Central University is a Pentecostal school. When you use the word \u201cPentecost,\u201d people might think of Pentecostal history, you may think about Pentecostal worship forms, but there are other words \u201ccharismatic,\u201d \u201cSpirit-filled,\u201d full Gospel,\u201d \u201cpeople of the Spirit,\u201d it all refers to people who place a high priority on the presence of God.<\/p>\n

Some scholars have said that Pentecostal people simply expect God to always put in an appearance, to always show up\u2014and we do. Being Spirit-filled, being charismatic, is not about raising your hands high and learning how to play hop-scotch in church. It\u2019s a whole lot more than that. It\u2019s about the presence of God. And sometimes done with great exuberance and loud worship, and sometimes done in solitude.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why when we have our times of our spiritual disciplines, we have exuberant worship, don\u2019t we? We clap our hands and shout unto God, but we also then quiet ourselves and pray.<\/p>\n

This distinguishing characteristic of the work of the Spirit\u2026in 1900 there were hardly a handful of people who would call themselves charismatics, Spirit-filled or Pentecostal. Yet over the next 100 years some 500 million people became a part of that movement. Right now we are well above over 600 million. Scholars tell us that by 2014 there\u2019ll be one billion people on the face of the globe that identify with being Spirit-filled, full-Gospel, Pentecostal, charismatic, Third Wave, however you want to call it\u2026but people who understand it\u2019s all about the presence of God. This is the distinguishing characteristic of Spirit-filled people.<\/p>\n

Well, Moses goes back up on the mountain for another 40 days to get a new set of commandments, and it\u2019s interesting that the Bible says he was with God for 40 days. Then he came down off the mountain with a new set of commandments, and he comes to the people, and the Bible says, he did not know it, but the skin of his face was glowing. An amazing thing\u2014but there\u2019s a principle there: if you spend time with God, He will give you the Word, a message, and He\u2019ll light you on fire! That\u2019s the principle! Spend time with God, and He\u2019ll give you a message, and He\u2019ll light you on fire. And you will glow, and you will shine.<\/p>\n

We need to understand that the glowing was not because of the tablets, it was because of his being with God. You could know the Word, and not know the author. You could know the Bible, and not know the incarnate principle of Christ in you. We want to be people, constantly, of the presence.<\/p>\n

So, congratulations! You have gotten an education, a degree, in the classroom, books, lectures, tests, and all the rest. Education is a good thing; it\u2019s the wood, get all of it that you can get.<\/p>\n

If some of you are uncertain where you\u2019re going in the next year or two, here\u2019s a thought: get some more education. You will use it. You may not know just what that pile of wood will do right now, but you pile it up, you accumulate it, and add the fire of the Holy Spirit, and you give God a whole lot of wood to burn and He lights you on fire, you will make a difference.<\/p>\n

And whether you go on for further education formally or not, continue to be a person of books, and learning, and reading, and study.<\/p>\n

But you\u2019ve also experienced transformation. How many of you are a different person than you were when you came to North Central? (You better all raise your hands right here\u2014I don\u2019t want anybody saying, \u201cNo; four years, same old, same old.\u201d) We\u2019re changed, aren\u2019t we? Transformed! Chapel, altar, prayer, fasting, Praise Gathering, and so much more. You are truly people of the presence.<\/p>\n

You have the both\/and of head and heart, Spirit and truth, knowing and glowing, wood and fire. So remember the words of Brother Lawrence, that those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward. Go forward, continue your education, be people of books and study, be filled with knowledge. Go forward, continue your transformation, always being people of the presence, practice the presence of God in your life. Maintain an altar. Maintain a sanctuary. The disciplines of these years, hopefully, have taught you how to learn. You\u2019ve learned a lot, but the greatest lesson of all would be learning how to learn, and learning how to develop your own altar, when you are no longer in chapel; to have your own sanctuary and practices of spending time with God, so He can light up your life.<\/p>\n

So, like Moses, with the Word of God in your hands, and the glow of the Spirit on your face, the professional preparation of your major, and your degree, but also the prophetic preparation of the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon your life, you go from this place and glow in the dark! And go out, and be light, and live in such a way that people will see your good works and in you they will see Jesus. In you, they will see Almighty God, and you will light up the world.<\/p>\n

So, arise, shine, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. God bless you. Love you. Have a great life in the presence of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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