June 23, 2004
"No Little People"
"No Little People"
Dear Friends,
I recently discovered that Crossway Books (a division of Good News Publishers) last year had re-published the collection of Francis Schaeffer's sermons (16 in all) under the title "No Little People". This book was originally published in 1974 under the title "No Little People, No Little Places", and although I confess that I've only read a few of the sermons--(most notably, "No Little People, No Little Places", "The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way", "Ash Heap Lives", and "The Hand of God") a couple of them were instrumental in helping me to a full understanding of the biblical concept that there are "no little people". Having been raised in the Deep South, with both a social "heirarchy" (prevalent also outside the South) and a racist culture (though somehow, by God's grace, not having become a racist myself), this biblical understanding of the value of all people was liberating to me. It gave me courage, peace, guidance . . . I could go on and on. And I am deeply grateful to God, and to the faithfulness of the Schaeffers in their service to our Father, for the many ways in which I am blessed by these gifts.
In this new release of this book, the introduction is written by Udo Middelmann who (like me) was greatly influenced by Dr. Francis Schaeffer's sermons, lectures, writings,...and his life. I am sending some comments written in this introduction that give an overview of some of the content of the sermons included in this book. I hope some of the things in this introduction are as helpful to you as they have been to me.
Grace and Peace to all,
Elaine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduction
By Udo W. Middelmann
"This collection of sixteen sermons bears the title of a central biblical theme that has encouraged people in every generation around the world. In God's view "man" is distinguished from all things and animals around him as the coronation of creation. He is made a little lower than the angels. He has been given a mandate to subdue the earth, to "household" it, to have dominion, and to create. There are no little people in the perspective of the Bible."
"All religions of the world, outside of the Old and New Testaments, have as a final purpose for human life a peaceful surrender to the status quo of a normal life. . . . "
"Only the Jew and the Christian know of a calling from God to be human, to create, to make individual choices, and to seek justice in a world in which two central realities are affirmed: The human being is made essentially different from all else; and God is not identified or satisfied with the now really fallen, damaged, broken world of nature and Man."
"Man, male and female, is a person. Man thinks, feels, acts, and speaks; he has emotions and is able to love. No other part of creation shares these distinctives. Man is in the image of God. He was not brought forth from nature, the stars, or any form of mere energy or matter. There is more than life here, for there is speech, reflection, transcendence, and self-awareness. But there are no little people."
" . . . God distinguishes people as good and evil, not great and small . . . "
"While all religious and secular standards judge a person by his or her accomplishments toward the end of life, the God of the Bible gives value to the person from the beginning. Man not only becomes someone but is a person from conception on, forever. It matters who you are, not what you have produced, earned, or been noticed for."
"Francis Schaeffer sees in the Bible the description of real life, of "true truth." It is a series of letters from the Creator to the creature, when other forms of knowing God had become flawed in consequence of the rebellious fall of Adam and Eve in real history. They were evicted from the presence of God in Eden. But the Word of God carries the information needed to understand what is different about our being, our life, and our calling."
* * * * *
"Schaeffer saw people in their valuable humanity that is so much the center of biblical teaching. The Word of God, the salvation by Christ's finished work on the cross, the prophetic words calling us to repentance, all focus on the central affirmation of God's real existence as an infinite-personal God. By that Schaeffer understood that while we have a material body not totally unlike other things and beings in nature, we are not neighbors to the tree or ox. We are people. Man and Woman were made to complement each other. And both were made by a loving, personal God to live as persons in the image of God."
"There are "no little people," for this biblical perspective confirms real life, where we are all choice-makers, creators for better or for worse. "Little" people see themselves as insignificant, close to the earth, easily forgotten, and replaceable by someone else. For Schaeffer, as for all Christians, each person is unique by virtue of his unique personality. Each individual has a name and a face and through his life adds to the shape and flow of history. "Schaeffer does not arrive at this view through singling out great models for life. He does not encourage someone's vanity or false self-image. He does not speak to favor or even mark out celebrities. He did not believe that anyone needed that in order to know how to live as a human being. He saw no reason for the more recent fads that suggest...that celebrities deserve attention when all they are known for is "being known by a multitude of people" (from Latin celebritas for "multitude," "fame" and celeber meaning "frequented," "populus") until they are replaced by more recent stars."
"There are no little people in the Bible. Beyond all statistics of chemical elements in our body, all skill in our physical abilities, and all refined social interaction lies the affirmation that human beings are different. We alone are persons, actors, and creators through the choices in our lives. Human beings have been made in the image of the eternal person of God. Here and in all the rest of what the Bible teaches about God and Man in history, Schaeffer found the only possible intellectually and practically satisfying explanation for human uniqueness."
"Francis Schaeffer preached his sermons first of all to himself. Sixteen of them are published in this volume . . . "
* * * * *
"In Europe he preached in the International Presbyterian Church,...and though he became perhaps better known through his work with students and his writing, [he] was very much a church person. . . [he] did not merely have chapel services. There was...a community of believers with baptisms, weddings, and funerals. They all came to listen, to learn, and to live. They often discussed over dinner Schaeffer's emphasis in the sermon on the true truth of God's Word, the historic death and resurrection of Christ, and a life in the power of God's Spirit.
* * * * *
"Schaeffer had been pastor in two churches in Pennsylvania and one in Missouri. When he moved to work in Europe after World War II, people from all kinds of backgrounds and many nationalities heard these sermons. Most carried the scars from real battles and now reached for the solid anchor Schaeffer had himself previously discovered in historic Christianity. The God of the Bible and the Son of God in history are, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the sole starting point and continuing base of true and comprehensible answers, well-founded hope, and a meaningful life." "The gathering of believers and others in church was in Schaeffer's mind and prayer always something unique. Here we came not to discuss but to worship, to listen, and to take our stand in the stream of the people of God through history."
* * * * *
"Schaeffer's sixteen sermons in this volume . . . [have] a content that does not invite you to another world, a new community, and more happy experiences by an embrace of irrational feelings. Instead, the focus is on the lasting truth of the Bible, the faithfulness of God, the sufficiency of the Word of Christ, and the reality of God's Spirit in history. Edith Schaeffer remembers today that often parishioners in churches would complain that Schaeffer never gave an invitation to believe or to "come forward" at the end of the sermon. You won't find one here either. Nor will you find concerns about church growth, fund drives, or attractive programs. Even denominational particulars or the testimonies of famous converts are absent. Schaeffer thought any way to manipulate people was wrong, even when it was to help them recognize the truth of historic Christianity."
"The only reason to become a Christian was and is that Christianity is true: true to the real world, to real people, and to real history. 'It is a special annoyance of mine that men try to separate philosophy from religion. This is a false separation, because both ultimately seek the meaning of life.' . . . "
"The one way a person can discern truth from falsehood and god-words from knowing God is to apply the content that God has given of himself in space-and-time history by revelation. We then believe what can be truly and reasonably comprehended from Scripture. "
"This confidence that Schaeffer expressed in such terms to answer serious questions and not only personal emotional needs made him an interesting person. It was not a gimmick, a model, or a method but a deep conviction. He was not slick. He revolted against false appearances of leadership, growth statistics, and any show, in which he saw the dangers of pretense, performance, and praise of men. He had been there and found it dishonest, dangerous, and finally condemning. Instead he urged us to pray for those "extruded" by God to leadership and importance in the church almost against their desires and gifts."
* * * * *
"The whole Bible, verbalized prepositional truth from God to man, in its correspondence with reality is the basis for the confidence Schaeffer had in the truth of Christianity. He understood it all to be from the same author, God, . . . He saw a continuity between creation and redemption, between life now and after death and then after the resurrection. 'The same meaning to life exists at this tick of the clock as in eternity'. For truth is true to both God and man, in history now and later. There are no separate worlds or separate truths."
"Schaeffer understood that for truth to have any say or claim it must be very different from merely personal truth or religious truth, which are ideological. . . . "
"The truth of Christianity is rooted in God's existence; our faith and our performance do not make it so. And yet, after the fall of Adam and during this time of faith and waiting, the temptation is always to turn this around. God becomes our private interest and source of pleasure, while man becomes the performing artist, the manager, the leader, the visible symbole of power. In God's kingdom there are "no little people" when God calls us to greater things. . . . "Three central things constantly stand out in reading through these sermons. First, there is the love of God, who through the text of the Bible gives revelation to shed light on our lives. God's holiness, grace, and power, his compassion and abundant grace are recognized in the flow of people's lives. God works always with weak servants. The greats of faith are people like drunk Noah, lying Abraham and Isaac, idolatrous Aaron, frustrated Moses, but also Rahab the converted harlot and Nicodemus the parliamentarian, who comes only under cover of darkness to find the light." Second, there is a deep awareness of what a mess the fall of Adam and Eve created. Separation from God is very real. Most of us have not seen God, for man was evicted from Eden. The fall of Adam has shattered all harmony and left broken vessels, for we are also separated form ourselves and from nature. We are at a considerable loss to understand what this thing called "life" is all about. Yet we are called to lean against such fractures through compassion, watchfulness, and generosity. The Bible reveals to us that what we have or are in the present is not final but is part of a process to be completed later. There are encouragments to the weak and warnings to those strong in their own eyes. Temptation pulls at our hearts and minds and lingers at our feet"
Third, many of the sermons integrate God's Word with surrounding and daily realities of life. Here lies their practical applications to confront the uncertainties of our life as well. For we continue the dilemma of being people in a real history that none of us has made, but to which we all contribute. . . . "
* * * * *
" . . . History is not our master. Circumstances should not determine our choices. We are not called to go with the flow, to embrace the average or the convenient or the smooth. . . . A broad tapestry is spun in the Bible to show how complex reality becomes and how unfair much of it is "under the sun" for everybody when it is measured merely between birth and death".
" . . . Only a romantic perspective can suggest that life is fair and that all problems are of our own making. Most religions suggest this as an explanation. On the other hand, when reality is more honestly observed, a cynical perspective remains: There is no justice anywhere, and everyone must swim or sink."
"Schaeffer shows that the Bible does not promote either of these two reactions. . . . Schaeffer avoids the loss of compassion inherent in the utopian faith of the first and the loss of moral orientation suggested in the second."
" . . . Schaeffer treats intellectual and moral problems of any age in the context of biblical answers, yet without either merely citing biblical texts or condemning those who are wrestling with real existential problems and have come tentatively to alternative answers. . . . "
" . . . Schaeffer points out in several sermons the dangerous neglect of practiced Christianity in the church. He wonders where humility is practiced and experienced within the church on the basis of confident certainty about God, people as individuals, and a broader understanding of the difficulties of life in a fallen world."
"With the fitting insight from the Bible into the human condition we must be willing and able to serve a needy world, . . and to offer real material, intellectual, artistic, and spiritual help. We can pray for wisdom to do that and to carry it out faithfully, for in God's mind and hand we are "no little people."
* * * * *
(End)
I recently discovered that Crossway Books (a division of Good News Publishers) last year had re-published the collection of Francis Schaeffer's sermons (16 in all) under the title "No Little People". This book was originally published in 1974 under the title "No Little People, No Little Places", and although I confess that I've only read a few of the sermons--(most notably, "No Little People, No Little Places", "The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way", "Ash Heap Lives", and "The Hand of God") a couple of them were instrumental in helping me to a full understanding of the biblical concept that there are "no little people". Having been raised in the Deep South, with both a social "heirarchy" (prevalent also outside the South) and a racist culture (though somehow, by God's grace, not having become a racist myself), this biblical understanding of the value of all people was liberating to me. It gave me courage, peace, guidance . . . I could go on and on. And I am deeply grateful to God, and to the faithfulness of the Schaeffers in their service to our Father, for the many ways in which I am blessed by these gifts.
In this new release of this book, the introduction is written by Udo Middelmann who (like me) was greatly influenced by Dr. Francis Schaeffer's sermons, lectures, writings,...and his life. I am sending some comments written in this introduction that give an overview of some of the content of the sermons included in this book. I hope some of the things in this introduction are as helpful to you as they have been to me.
Grace and Peace to all,
Elaine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduction
By Udo W. Middelmann
"This collection of sixteen sermons bears the title of a central biblical theme that has encouraged people in every generation around the world. In God's view "man" is distinguished from all things and animals around him as the coronation of creation. He is made a little lower than the angels. He has been given a mandate to subdue the earth, to "household" it, to have dominion, and to create. There are no little people in the perspective of the Bible."
"All religions of the world, outside of the Old and New Testaments, have as a final purpose for human life a peaceful surrender to the status quo of a normal life. . . . "
"Only the Jew and the Christian know of a calling from God to be human, to create, to make individual choices, and to seek justice in a world in which two central realities are affirmed: The human being is made essentially different from all else; and God is not identified or satisfied with the now really fallen, damaged, broken world of nature and Man."
"Man, male and female, is a person. Man thinks, feels, acts, and speaks; he has emotions and is able to love. No other part of creation shares these distinctives. Man is in the image of God. He was not brought forth from nature, the stars, or any form of mere energy or matter. There is more than life here, for there is speech, reflection, transcendence, and self-awareness. But there are no little people."
" . . . God distinguishes people as good and evil, not great and small . . . "
"While all religious and secular standards judge a person by his or her accomplishments toward the end of life, the God of the Bible gives value to the person from the beginning. Man not only becomes someone but is a person from conception on, forever. It matters who you are, not what you have produced, earned, or been noticed for."
"Francis Schaeffer sees in the Bible the description of real life, of "true truth." It is a series of letters from the Creator to the creature, when other forms of knowing God had become flawed in consequence of the rebellious fall of Adam and Eve in real history. They were evicted from the presence of God in Eden. But the Word of God carries the information needed to understand what is different about our being, our life, and our calling."
* * * * *
"Schaeffer saw people in their valuable humanity that is so much the center of biblical teaching. The Word of God, the salvation by Christ's finished work on the cross, the prophetic words calling us to repentance, all focus on the central affirmation of God's real existence as an infinite-personal God. By that Schaeffer understood that while we have a material body not totally unlike other things and beings in nature, we are not neighbors to the tree or ox. We are people. Man and Woman were made to complement each other. And both were made by a loving, personal God to live as persons in the image of God."
"There are "no little people," for this biblical perspective confirms real life, where we are all choice-makers, creators for better or for worse. "Little" people see themselves as insignificant, close to the earth, easily forgotten, and replaceable by someone else. For Schaeffer, as for all Christians, each person is unique by virtue of his unique personality. Each individual has a name and a face and through his life adds to the shape and flow of history. "Schaeffer does not arrive at this view through singling out great models for life. He does not encourage someone's vanity or false self-image. He does not speak to favor or even mark out celebrities. He did not believe that anyone needed that in order to know how to live as a human being. He saw no reason for the more recent fads that suggest...that celebrities deserve attention when all they are known for is "being known by a multitude of people" (from Latin celebritas for "multitude," "fame" and celeber meaning "frequented," "populus") until they are replaced by more recent stars."
"There are no little people in the Bible. Beyond all statistics of chemical elements in our body, all skill in our physical abilities, and all refined social interaction lies the affirmation that human beings are different. We alone are persons, actors, and creators through the choices in our lives. Human beings have been made in the image of the eternal person of God. Here and in all the rest of what the Bible teaches about God and Man in history, Schaeffer found the only possible intellectually and practically satisfying explanation for human uniqueness."
"Francis Schaeffer preached his sermons first of all to himself. Sixteen of them are published in this volume . . . "
* * * * *
"In Europe he preached in the International Presbyterian Church,...and though he became perhaps better known through his work with students and his writing, [he] was very much a church person. . . [he] did not merely have chapel services. There was...a community of believers with baptisms, weddings, and funerals. They all came to listen, to learn, and to live. They often discussed over dinner Schaeffer's emphasis in the sermon on the true truth of God's Word, the historic death and resurrection of Christ, and a life in the power of God's Spirit.
* * * * *
"Schaeffer had been pastor in two churches in Pennsylvania and one in Missouri. When he moved to work in Europe after World War II, people from all kinds of backgrounds and many nationalities heard these sermons. Most carried the scars from real battles and now reached for the solid anchor Schaeffer had himself previously discovered in historic Christianity. The God of the Bible and the Son of God in history are, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the sole starting point and continuing base of true and comprehensible answers, well-founded hope, and a meaningful life." "The gathering of believers and others in church was in Schaeffer's mind and prayer always something unique. Here we came not to discuss but to worship, to listen, and to take our stand in the stream of the people of God through history."
* * * * *
"Schaeffer's sixteen sermons in this volume . . . [have] a content that does not invite you to another world, a new community, and more happy experiences by an embrace of irrational feelings. Instead, the focus is on the lasting truth of the Bible, the faithfulness of God, the sufficiency of the Word of Christ, and the reality of God's Spirit in history. Edith Schaeffer remembers today that often parishioners in churches would complain that Schaeffer never gave an invitation to believe or to "come forward" at the end of the sermon. You won't find one here either. Nor will you find concerns about church growth, fund drives, or attractive programs. Even denominational particulars or the testimonies of famous converts are absent. Schaeffer thought any way to manipulate people was wrong, even when it was to help them recognize the truth of historic Christianity."
"The only reason to become a Christian was and is that Christianity is true: true to the real world, to real people, and to real history. 'It is a special annoyance of mine that men try to separate philosophy from religion. This is a false separation, because both ultimately seek the meaning of life.' . . . "
"The one way a person can discern truth from falsehood and god-words from knowing God is to apply the content that God has given of himself in space-and-time history by revelation. We then believe what can be truly and reasonably comprehended from Scripture. "
"This confidence that Schaeffer expressed in such terms to answer serious questions and not only personal emotional needs made him an interesting person. It was not a gimmick, a model, or a method but a deep conviction. He was not slick. He revolted against false appearances of leadership, growth statistics, and any show, in which he saw the dangers of pretense, performance, and praise of men. He had been there and found it dishonest, dangerous, and finally condemning. Instead he urged us to pray for those "extruded" by God to leadership and importance in the church almost against their desires and gifts."
* * * * *
"The whole Bible, verbalized prepositional truth from God to man, in its correspondence with reality is the basis for the confidence Schaeffer had in the truth of Christianity. He understood it all to be from the same author, God, . . . He saw a continuity between creation and redemption, between life now and after death and then after the resurrection. 'The same meaning to life exists at this tick of the clock as in eternity'. For truth is true to both God and man, in history now and later. There are no separate worlds or separate truths."
"Schaeffer understood that for truth to have any say or claim it must be very different from merely personal truth or religious truth, which are ideological. . . . "
"The truth of Christianity is rooted in God's existence; our faith and our performance do not make it so. And yet, after the fall of Adam and during this time of faith and waiting, the temptation is always to turn this around. God becomes our private interest and source of pleasure, while man becomes the performing artist, the manager, the leader, the visible symbole of power. In God's kingdom there are "no little people" when God calls us to greater things. . . . "Three central things constantly stand out in reading through these sermons. First, there is the love of God, who through the text of the Bible gives revelation to shed light on our lives. God's holiness, grace, and power, his compassion and abundant grace are recognized in the flow of people's lives. God works always with weak servants. The greats of faith are people like drunk Noah, lying Abraham and Isaac, idolatrous Aaron, frustrated Moses, but also Rahab the converted harlot and Nicodemus the parliamentarian, who comes only under cover of darkness to find the light." Second, there is a deep awareness of what a mess the fall of Adam and Eve created. Separation from God is very real. Most of us have not seen God, for man was evicted from Eden. The fall of Adam has shattered all harmony and left broken vessels, for we are also separated form ourselves and from nature. We are at a considerable loss to understand what this thing called "life" is all about. Yet we are called to lean against such fractures through compassion, watchfulness, and generosity. The Bible reveals to us that what we have or are in the present is not final but is part of a process to be completed later. There are encouragments to the weak and warnings to those strong in their own eyes. Temptation pulls at our hearts and minds and lingers at our feet"
Third, many of the sermons integrate God's Word with surrounding and daily realities of life. Here lies their practical applications to confront the uncertainties of our life as well. For we continue the dilemma of being people in a real history that none of us has made, but to which we all contribute. . . . "
* * * * *
" . . . History is not our master. Circumstances should not determine our choices. We are not called to go with the flow, to embrace the average or the convenient or the smooth. . . . A broad tapestry is spun in the Bible to show how complex reality becomes and how unfair much of it is "under the sun" for everybody when it is measured merely between birth and death".
" . . . Only a romantic perspective can suggest that life is fair and that all problems are of our own making. Most religions suggest this as an explanation. On the other hand, when reality is more honestly observed, a cynical perspective remains: There is no justice anywhere, and everyone must swim or sink."
"Schaeffer shows that the Bible does not promote either of these two reactions. . . . Schaeffer avoids the loss of compassion inherent in the utopian faith of the first and the loss of moral orientation suggested in the second."
" . . . Schaeffer treats intellectual and moral problems of any age in the context of biblical answers, yet without either merely citing biblical texts or condemning those who are wrestling with real existential problems and have come tentatively to alternative answers. . . . "
" . . . Schaeffer points out in several sermons the dangerous neglect of practiced Christianity in the church. He wonders where humility is practiced and experienced within the church on the basis of confident certainty about God, people as individuals, and a broader understanding of the difficulties of life in a fallen world."
"With the fitting insight from the Bible into the human condition we must be willing and able to serve a needy world, . . and to offer real material, intellectual, artistic, and spiritual help. We can pray for wisdom to do that and to carry it out faithfully, for in God's mind and hand we are "no little people."
* * * * *
(End)
| "No Little People" | SBGA | Elaine Housley |
Copyright © 2004 www.salvationbygracealone.com
"Jerusalem's Daughters" - Elaine Housley