Address at Luther College Graduation

June 17, 1886

A TRUE SENSE OF HONOR

The furthering of a school's goal and working toward it so that its students are made more and more capable both morally and intellectually because of it, has to be the joint effort of both its teachers and stu-dents. Nothing which truly can work toward the attaining of this goal ought to be overlooked. One such thing to which I want to direct your attention now, is a true sense of honor. A sense of honor is one of the instincts which God himself planted in the heart for maintaining the dignity which a person possesses as the most wonderfully endowed creature of God on earth, in esteem and having it recognized and made important. A true sense of honor therefore strives to give God the glory which is due him.

This natural instinct is perverted and corrupted by sin, as everything in man is. It appears in the natural man as an ambition for vain glory, that is, as a striving for his own honor, which is vain. "If I honor my-self, my honor is nothing," the Savior says. (Jo. 8:54.)

That kind of ambition is always sinful. In many people it reaches a passion which contemptuously seeks the highest honor for itself, disdaining the worth of other people, and to their own harm, when real or imagined superior gifts are acknowledged and praised. Egotism is the mother of this vice which is a gross violation of the commandment of love.

I'm not going to dwell here on how this worldly vice is used in various situations in life as a powerful lever toward furthering its goals, nor am I going to dwell on how it can have called forth many heroic deeds, many wonderful feats which through the providence of God have been good for mankind without therefore having had any value in the eyes of him who looks at the heart.

On the other hand, I do want to call attention to what an important role ambition for vain glory plays in the school where the Word of God does not get to advise and govern. It is of course also so natural that where the means ordained by God for obtaining the necessary power and zeal for the work are despised or are missing, that there the spirit of man is resorted to as its own means which he thinks has been given him for achieving his goal. Thus it is unfortunately a fact that in such schools this very ambition is con-sidered a superior, yes, often the most superior means for inciting the student to zeal, discipline, etc. They actually therefore study how to elicit and nourish this passion in the student. Nor is it to be denied that people do not call on its help in vain for being able to produce an apparently favorable result, at any rate, from the school's point of view. In many ways ambition for vain glory has also shown itself to be the most powerful, if not the only incentive for excelling in knowledge, diligence and conduct which the student has acquired in the school.

However, my friends, what value in God's eyes, what true profit for their possessors do this information and these skills, this distinction and praise won through them which have been acquired in this way, have, as long as ambition for vain glory is the never-satisfied passion which urges him on? We do not even need to take into consideration such instances where that ambition's passion has forced its slave to resort to such disgraceful means as hypocritical piousness and modesty, feigned diligence and zeal, or even cheat-ing, in order to win the desired praise and renown. No, even there where real knowledge and skills are acquired through hard, tiring work and attentiveness, the splendid results which the school's work has been able to produce in this way will be just as displeasing to God as they are damaging to the student, if by the grace of God he has not himself become a servant of righteousness rather than a servant of unright-eousness. Because otherwise, later in life he will per fas et nefas (with proper or improper means) unceas-ingly pursue the goal of that kind of ambition; but the end of it is destruction. That's why already the wise Solomon mentions a "proud look" among the things which the Lord hates (Pr. 6:17). And the apostle Paul cautions his Galatians when he says, "Let us not be desirous of vain glory." (5:26.) Therefore, so far from nurturing and fostering the poisonous root of ambition for vain glory in the child's or young person's heart, the teacher who really has the student's true welfare in mind as well as that the school bring God well-pleasing fruits, must have a watchful eye on the ambition in his heart and apply all diligence in order to root it out where it shoots forth and expresses itself. It is also up to the student to be watchful and to take heed to himself and to the motives of his heart so that the bitter herb shall not shoot forth from him when he is defenseless. Because, "foolishness," Scripture says, "is bound in the heart of a child." (Pr. 22:15.) And in the inexperienced heart ambition for vain glory lets itself be mistaken so much easier for a sense of honor, since we do of course by nature want to excuse and gloss over our mistakes.

But as important as it is for the teacher to suppress and to put ambition for vain glory to death, it is as important for him to develop and to nourish in the students the true sense of honor, because it is a power-ful means toward eliciting and strengthening in the student the good intentions and the energy of the will which are so necessary, so that he shall not merely be left with good intentions, but they will also be carried out.

This sense of honor is and can only be found in the Christian, in him who is born again of the Spirit of God. In him the natural inclination is purified and sanctified. Because only he recognizes both the deep depravity and the complete unworthiness of his own nature for all grace and honor, and on the other hand the grace by which he has undeservedly become a partaker in Christ. Because what greater honor can really be given him than that Christ has become our brother and in Christ we have become justified and sanctified children of God and heirs of glory! It is of course a disgrace when the praise which we should have for God is understood as belonging to us. But even greater is the glory of which we have become partakers, that all the merit of Christ is accounted to us and all our bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The vivid recognition of just this and the constant certainty of it will develop the true sense of honor in our hearts. Or, should it be possible, that you are genuinely convinced and rejoice over the fact that by grace you are one of God's children, that Christ does dwell in your heart by faith, that your weak body is a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and you should not feel what extreme honor God has let you share in? And this genuine feeling of the glory to which God has exalted you, should it not on the one hand fill your heart with shame and humility over toward your God, and yet at the same time with a sincere thankful- ness and an earnest desire for honoring God with body and soul which belong to him? Should it not develop in you a sincere striving after shunning and avoiding everything by which you would dishonor yourself just as certainly as your God, and on the other hand using the opportunity which is offered you for developing and utilizing the abilities and strengths given you by God to the glory of God, with the greatest diligence and persistence?

Surely you would feel that the more you honored your God the more honor was yours, just as he himself of course says, "he that honors me, him will I honor." (Jo. 12:26.)

Therefore it has to be very important that the teacher draw out and strengthen the true sense of honor in the student by awakening and sharpening in him the consciousness of his heart's sinful corruption and God's rich grace in Christ. This does not happen by appealing to the natural dignity of man and the innate rights of man, but through instruction from the Word of God and Christian discipline. The higher the lev-el of moral and true liberal education is in which they are thus brought up through the power of Christian-ity, the stronger will their concept of honor be and the stronger their sense of honor will also become. The more will they then be preserved both from seeking their own honor out of a false sense of honor, and seeking it through illicit means.

The consciousness that although he is a slave of Christ, he is free in Christ Jesus will steadily sharpen his sense of honor in the Christian student and will urge him to retain his Christian dignity and to apply himself to everything which is honorable and is well spoken of. Then if his diligence and efforts toward which his sense of honor prompt him are crowned with success and win him deserved recognition he will not be seduced by it to exalt himself but on the contrary he will be prompted humbly to give God all the glory, yes, also gladly give parents and teachers the honor which is due them according to the words, "honor to whom honor is due" (Ro. 13:7). And if on the other hand he should see that his hard work and zealous efforts did not bring the desired result, yes, were even misjudged, then he will know how to com-fort himself because he has not desired honor from men but only that which is pleasing to God.

May God grant that you, my young friends, who leave here now with the testimony of satisfactorily completed studies, may be able to say that the true sense of honor, and not ambition for vain glory has been the incentive through which you have achieved so favorable a result! Would that this plant which the heavenly gardener alone can plant in the hearts of the students may also produce many flowers for your own encouragement, to the credit of the school and to the laud and praise of God! May his blessing continue to abide with our dear Luther College, upon its teachers and students, so that his work here may alway3s prosper!

Kirketidende, July 9, 1886; pages 429-432.