F. Harry Daniel
Second Presbyterian Church
Sermons: October 21, 2007

"Tough Mind and Tender Heart"

We live in a world of vast complications, issues, and problems. To be a Christian in a complicated world like ours isn't easy, and it's not going to get easier. You are smart if you only believe half of what you hear, and downright brilliant when you know which half!

How are we to face life as Christians? That is the question! Jesus offers some insight for our dilemma, and in an unexpected place. In Matthew 10, the great missionary discourse, Jesus warns his disciples of trials they will have to endure, but also he advises them how they are to meet these trials. In vs. 16b he says, "Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." This saying is found only in Matthew. It is an animal proverb (like those read in the Old Testament lesson) which counsels us to blend a set of opposites. As a result, this old advice provides us with a formula for discipleship. Jesus expects us to have characteristics of both. To be a Christian in a world like ours, we have to combine the qualities of the dove and the snake.

We must "be as wise as serpents."

In thinking of the serpent, Jesus forgets all its legendary bad qualities and singles out and emphasizes the good ones that disciples are to cultivate. Jesus' saying is based on the reputed shrewdness of the serpent, for example in Genesis 3:1. "Wise" means sensible, exercising common sense, having sound judgment. It refers to a person who is thoughtful and perceptive, who always knows where he is going and what he is doing. It is not the crafty shrewdness of those who are alert to do harm to others.

This is a call to be tough-minded, to be characterized by incisive thinking, realistic appraisal, and decisive judgment. It describes an astute and discerning person who is against easy answers and half-baked solutions and who challenges the status quo.

Too many would rather not think. Too many are too soft-minded, with a certain degree of gullibility. They have a propensity to believe rather than to know if a person they admire is good. Hence, it is possible to fleece the sheep by electronic wizardry. And if the response of these sheep is "I can't believe he'd do that," then they must learn to judge critically and discern the true from the false, fact from fiction. We are called to make distinctions in the midst of legions of half-truths, prejudices, and false facts of advertisements and printed words. We must ban the belief that "Blessed are the pure in ignorance for they shall see God." Hitler used emotion for the many and reserved reason for the few. Not to heed Jesus' advice is to purchase spiritual death on the installment plan.

History is not determined by good intentions, but by actions which ought to be based on a responsible understanding of the world in which we live. Christians ought not to be naive. The Gospel lays upon us the moral responsibility to build a world community. That responsibility calls us to develop tolerance and to understand people different from us. If we are our neighbor's keeper, if we are to love neighbor, we must be tough-minded.

Confronted by more and more complex decisions, if we are not clear about our values and commitments, then we can't make good, responsible decisions. You can not do that by jogging or following some self-improvement scheme, or letting others tell you what to think like the religious right. We need informed judgment to use our knowledge for humanitarian purposes. Tough-mindedness is called for. To discriminate among values, we must engage in a hard-headed search to understand the way the world works.

We must be as "innocent as doves."

The dove was believed to have no bile in the natural science of ancient times. Hence, it became a symbol for the early Christians of all kinds of virtues. Sincerity, loyalty, gentleness, compassion, all of these qualities spring from a heart open to and supportive of others: warm-heartedness. It refers to a person innocent of malice. It is a heart animated by out-going love, and springs from a deep experience of the grace of God that expresses itself in a compassionate love for the world and its people.

"A good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good...out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Jesus said that in Luke. He is calling for investment in heart. Too many have lost compassion. They have no passion, no excitement, no commitment to our neighbors near and far. They are cold-hearted and analytical.

Many in the church are too sedate, and lukewarm. Nothing excites them (except their own interests), least of all love for neighbor. They can't separate passion from fanaticism. Hence they are afraid of both.

Yet vast issues are at stake: one of which is the difference between "I want" and "I love," and the difference is the good of others. In a world passionate about things, Christians need to be so about others. All of us are bleeding on the inside and trying not to let the blood show. All of us need compassion: the gentleness, sincerity, and loyalty of others reaching out to us.

We need both: a tough mind and a tender heart!

　One poet has said: "If you have brains and a heart, show only one or the other. You will not get credit for either should you show both at once." That is wrong! That's bad advice! True, they are not often found together. Life at its best is a creative synthesis of a tough mind and a warm heart. One is incomplete without the other.

A tough mind without a tender heart is cold and detached. It never truly loves. It is hardhearted and uses a crass utilitarianism which values others according to their usefulness. It never experiences the beauty of friendship because it is too cold to feel affection for another and too self-centered to share another's joy and grief. It is isolated with no outpouring of love to link it with the rest humanity. It never sees people as people.

A tender heart without a tough mind is anemic, aimless, and sentimental. It is always vulnerable to the sucker syndrome. Passion is all very well. But it must be grounded. It has to learn to walk and talk and act clearly and with commitment, or it will become irrelevant as have all the other good intentions that the way to hell is paved with. It must be harnessed and put to work. Power that first stirs the heart must become power that also stirs the hands and feet because it is the places your feet take you to and the work you find for your hands that finally proclaim who you are and who Christ is. Passion without wisdom to give it shape and direction is as empty as wisdom without passion to give it power.

This is the special danger of the church: to adopt an instrumental approach with a market analysis of what people want and then give it to them. No wonder the churches are not doing too well! Much of what they give is sentimental drivel or hard line meanness. You can find and buy into that everywhere. There are plenty of people out there who claim to be reliable guides. Watch out.

Paul knew this: zeal without enlightenment and knowledge without love both amount to nothing. Zeal without knowledge is a warm heart without a cool head, a tender heart without a tough mind. Both are essential to Christian discipleship in our time.

Only in the realistic facing of our sin and the high confidence our faith leads us to put in God's grace is this blend possible. Only so can we succeed in being neither foolish nor devious, neither naive nor cynical, neither foolhardy nor cowardly and compromised. Only so can we live without being light-headed enthusiasts. Only so are we capable of a wisdom which does not make of us into grim, careful cynics. Only so are we capable of a passion which does not make of us well meaning but, hurtful blunderers.

God is both. God is tough minded in God’s justice, and tender hearted in God’s love and grace. If only the former, he would be a cold, passionless despot, unmoved by the world’s pain. If only the latter, God would be too soft and sentimental to function when things go wrong and incapable of controlling what God has made. God is neither hard-hearted nor soft-minded. With two outstretched arms God is strong enough to surround us with justice and gentle enough to embrace us with love and grace.

Wisdom in love is an asset. The world needs compassionate shrewdness. "So be as wise as serpents, and as innocent as doves." There are no majors and minors, this is a double major. It is necessary if you want to shape the times and not simply be shaped by them.