Jason S. DeRouchie, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Old Testament, Bethlehem College and Seminary
This is a day of celebration—a day to reflect on and rejoice in what has come, and a day to anticipate and hope in what may be. A degree is something that is worked for and earned, and I congratulate you, graduates. This truly is a day of celebration, but may we also remember it as a day of provision. And every day of provision should be a day of praise. As the psalmist once declared, “This is the degree that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps 118:24). More directly, the Apostle Paul declared, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me…” (Rom 15:18). And in 1 Cor 15:10: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any [other apostles], though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
God’s grace does not make our work unnecessary; God’s grace makes our work possible.1 All of life is lived in the context of grace, and all of life is to be lived as worship. “For from him and through him and to him are all things; to him be glory forever” (Rom 11:36).
This day there is a battle raging, not simply outside the walls of Northwestern but within them, in this room, close to us, within us. It’s a battle of kingship for your soul. Who or what will master your heart? What will you treasure? Who will receive the praise for what has been, is, and will be? Will you live dependently, or will you move ahead self-reliantly? The halls of the academy so easily breed kings and kingdoms rather than servants. May it not be said of you.
In Jeremiah 2, Yahweh declares: “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). To forsake God as the fountain of living waters means not only forgetting that all good comes from him but also that all future provision is itself a gift. He is the source and sustainer of life, and all who drink from him will be satisfied (see John 6:35). But how quickly we forget. How quickly we seek the pleasures of the world or the applause of men rather than the praise of God, hewing out for ourselves cisterns that are cracked, cannot hold water, and therefore cannot sustain life. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can kill both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28). Graduates, siblings, parents, faculty, staff, be warned: “God opposes the proud!” Beloved, rejoice: “God gives grace to the humble!” (James 4:6)
The educational structure at NWC is different than at most schools, for our purpose in education is not simply to give you tools that enable you to live but to provide you those things in life that make life worth living.2 Central in this task has been to declare the treasure of the gospel—the good news that God reigns supremely through Jesus over every facet of our universe—over every discipline and over every dish (see Isa 52:7; Matt 28:18).
God reigns over every star in the sky and over every bird that flies,
Over every note that is sung and every game that is won.
Jesus is supreme over every business transaction that is made and every brick that is laid,
Over every news broadcast that is recorded and over every piece of laundry that is sorted.
The Lord reigns at the bus depot and at the stoplight,
He reigns in the hospital and in a bomb-filled night.
God reigns on the playground and in the lab,
In the bedroom and in the cab.
He has power to heal the sick or through sickness to sustain;
He has authority to forgive every type of sin and to deliver from pain.
And to think that this God is for us and not against us and that he, having not spared his Son but having given him for us all, will with him graciously give us all things (Rom 8:31–32). Amazing! What a treasure. God is a treasure (cf. 2 Cor 4:7). How quickly we forget this fact.
God in Jesus is over all and upholds all by the Word of his power, from the mundane moments of every day to the establishment of nations, from the eclipse of a the moon to the management of subatomic particles (Heb 1:3). The question today is not whether God reigns but whether you are a servant or enemy of his kingdom.
In Matt 6:19–21, Jesus declared to those claiming to be his followers: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” Therefore,
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Later, in Matt 13:44–46, he said:
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
If you are among those who have tasted and seen that God is good, guard your heart by treasuring what is truly of value (1 Pet 2:1–3). Pursue Christ and the ways of Christ and the work of Christ. Seek to be servants rather than kings. The cost of discipleship is high. What is lost is of no eternal value, but what is gained is of inestimable value (Phil 3:7–11). Treasure Christ. Treasure the gospel. Let your life be worship for the glory of Jesus and for your good.
I love you, graduates.