The following sermon was originally preached on October 23, 1988 at St. Johns Presbyterian church in White Rock BC
Remembrance and Hope
Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn, look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one and I blessed him and made him many (Isaiah 51:1).
Listen to me my people, hear me my nation: The law will go from me; my justice will become a light to the nations (51:4).
This fall term the Wednesday evening Bible class is looking at the books of the prophets with the theme “Through suffering to hope.”
The text today is from the second section of Isaiah which we will be looking at over the next three or four weeks. It is the word of God to a suffering people, a people in exile, a people without power or freedom who were taken from their homeland.
The future – what is the future to be? Even the prophet commanded to speak protests: What shall I cry? (Isaiah 40:6). And then the exiles are to be freed, a small struggling band who are liberated and they are more anxious then ever. “Now what do we do, and how?” It has happened to many persons who fought for freedom and when it was granted it was a terrifying experience. “Now what do we do?”
How can they lay the foundation of a nation and restore its fortunes? How did they feel about the new enterprise they were about to enter on? They were at a low! To that cry the prophet spoke: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord; look to the rock from which you were cut. Look to Abraham your father and Sarah your mother.”
Remember.
Remember that was one couple that started a great enterprise. This is God’s word to each generation. In the Christian era, you band of Christians who are anxious, look to the circle of disciples. Think of the dissolution of the Roman Empire. It must have seemed a task impossible to the Christians, to prevent the church from disappearing.
To this people, God spoke. “Look to the rock from which you were cut.” And out of the ruins the church marched with greater strength and power and influence than ever. Think of Medieval Europe where its culture began to crumble with a sickness that infected the continent, threatening the church. It seemed as if the life of the church might vanish.
The voice of God rang out. “Look to the rock from which you were cut. Remember and hope.”
And as one writer says: Once more the church broke the now moribund culture, burst forth in fresh life in the reformation and became a builder of the civilization.
And what of post-Second World War Eastern and Central Europe or in China when public assembly was forbidden?
We are at a point in our history when affluence, and the reproduction of so much that our faith has stood for, and the claims that it is no longer relevant to man’s objectives, are alarming. Even more alarming is the fact that we can be infected by a mood and become victims of a paralyzing anxiety. Anxious about divisions, conscious of our mission, concerned about our faith, and more concerned that its relevance be realized.
To us the same challenge comes: Remember and Hope. Hearken to the words. “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness… .Look to the rock from which you were cut.”
Remember.
Behind us are the predecessors. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Prophets and Martyrs, the humble disciples. This is the rock from which we are cut. With gratitude we acknowledge and remember.
In this land we remember the Pioneers and Peace officers. We need to remember them and their determination in nation building. Not all them were saints and not all saints were St. Francis and not all reformers were like Luther and Knox and Calvin.
But let us remember that we are the children of God and stand on the rock of assurance of promise: “He will not suffer that thy foot be moved. Safe shall thou be, no careless slumber shall his eyelids close who keepeth thee. Behold he sleepeth not, he slumbereth never. Who keepeth Israel in his holy care” (Paraphrasing Duke of Argyll 1845-1915).
From every evil shall he keep thy soul from every sin. It will always remain true that a man’s greatest glory is not what he has done, but what God has done for him. Once someone asked Sir James Simpson, who pioneered the use of chloroform, “What do you regard as your greatest discovery?” expecting the answer to be ‘Chloroform.” But Simpson replied, “My greatest discovery was that Jesus Christ is my Saviour.”
Even the greatest man or woman can say “Nothing in my hand” in the presence of God.
Remember.
When the prophet conveyed the message to his friends he had one lesson for them. “When God began to create his chosen people, he started with one man.” We are reminded in the scriptures that majorities and powerful weapons are not the resources God uses to accomplish his purpose. He works through people who say, “Silver and gold have I none, what I have I give.”
He works through sinners who confess:
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to they Cross I cling
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated Lord to Thee.
Through the humble and faithful he spoke and called his servants to active services. They went forth among the peoples. In the last two centuries the Christian church has circled the earth in every race and nation and we rejoice with thanksgiving in its expansion.
Let us beware and be not snared by materialism. Mere number and strength are not the instruments or evidence of God’s victory or power. This we know: sincere humility and dependence on God are the profiles of those whom God chooses to perform his great works of mercy and deliverance.
Remember with gratitude the people to whom we belong and what we owe them. Hebrews 12 says: “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance, the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.”
God is calling us to give ourselves trustfully to him.
More than one hundred years ago, when David Livingstone, thin and fever-ridden, met with the hostile tribes on the banks of the Zambezi, he wrote: “Thank God for his mercies so far…. I commit my way to thee. I trust also in thee that thou wilt direct my steps.”
The next day he is surrounded by spear-carrying men. He calms their anger and their fear. He goes on into the uncharted wilderness. He knows not where, but knowing why. He prayed. “Remember me and the cause in Africa… I commit all to thee.”
That is the type of self-committal God uses for his glory. When we are weary, discouraged, critical and fearful, we need to hear and remember the words written: “You who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were cut. Listen to me my people hear me my nation, the law will go from me, my justice will become a light to the nations.”
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes first for the Jew then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17).
Now unto him that is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever, Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21)
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Reverend Kalman C. Doka (1917 – 2001)
Kalman Doka (bottom right) with wife Molly (top centre)
My grandfather, Kal, was born in Kipling, Saskatchewan, on April 17, 1917, the son of pioneers Kalman and Lydia Doka. He finished 12 years of school in Kipling and Regina and then attended Regina Normal School. He taught in rural Saskatchewan for six years. He then attended McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, graduating with a BA degree. This was followed by three years study at Knox College, Toronto, and he was ordained a minister of The Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1950.
During his ministry, he served churches in Welland, Brantford and Mt. Pleasant, Ontario; Kipling, Saskatchewan; Abbotsford, B.C.; and Calgary. It was in Abbotsford that he pastored a bilingual congregation and, being fluent in the Hungarian language, he was of great assistance to the refugees of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. He continued his ministry in Calgary and, after five years, accepted the position of superintendent of missions in the Synod of Alberta and Northern Saskatchewan. Seven years later, he served in this capacity in the Synod of British Columbia until his retirement in 1985. His work had taken him over thousands of miles by car and air. In 1972, Knox College honoured him by granting him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
White Rock had been his home since 1975. He was the husband of Molly, his devoted and loving wife of over 60 years; and father to sons David (Margaret) of Surrey, B.C.; Brian (Wendy) of South Surrey, B.C.; three daughters: Mary Ann (John) Rosberg of Kelowna, B.C.; Margaret (Nick) Kooman of Red Deer, Alberta; Elizabeth (Rob) Savage of Cochrane, Alberta; grandfather of 11 grandchildren and three great-grandsons; brother to Emil (Helen) Doka of Kipling, Saskatchewan; sister Dorothy (Bill) Fabian of Burlington, Ontario; and sister-in-law Dolores Doka of Kipling, Saskatchewan.
Kal is lovingly remembered for his deep faith and his concern and love for people.
With deep interest in my family’s cultural and spiritual heritage I am working to transcribe and preserve the sermons left to me by the family’s estate, confident the remembered testimony of his way of life can spur my family to good works, and encourage others who stop by the site.
You can read more of Kalman’s sermons here.
