"THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW" -- ( Dr King's paraphase of 2 Cor. 6.1-2)

by The Rev. Chet Okopski
Preached at Grace Presbyterian Church, Spring Hill, FL.

        Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in one of his greatest messages, referred to what he called “The Fierce Urgency of Now.” Some phrases that we hear or read catch the imagination.  There are some words that change history, literally change the course of nations.   “The Fierce Urgency of Now” is one of those phrases.
        Dr. King said of Civil Rights at a pivotal point in American history:
And I quote him now:  “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.  Now is the time, to make real the promises of democracy.  Now is the time, to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sun lit path of racial justice.”
        Being the preacher he was, he was undoubtedly paraphrasing the words of 2 Corinthians Chapter 6, verses 1 and 2.   “Now is the acceptable time:  see, now is the day of salvation!” 
        There is a Fierce Urgency of the Now in life that if ignored, leaves us standing on the beach as the tsunami comes roaring into land
There is a Fierce Urgency of Now in life that calls us to action when inaction would be easier and doing nothing would be preferred.  There is a perfect timing in the Now.  When your loved one is coming home, and the lights are out, and the house is filled with people for that surprise party, there is a moment, one precious moment when the person walks into the darkened room, and everyone is waiting, when the lights come on and everybody yells:  “Surprise!”
        If you waited just one second too long and didn’t yell “surprise!” when everyone else yelled “surprise!,” then your meager yell would be too late, a slamming of the screen door after the baby ran out toward the street. 
        There is a Fierce Urgency in Now when you come to the point of decision, for the Now is almost always a point of decision.  Your life can spiral downward day by day, your health can fail, and the years pass, until you make a decision to change your life, or to change your location, or to change your job, or to change yourself and the way you respond to this life.
        The Fierce Urgency of Now suddenly breaks forth upon you when you realize that the first step has been holding you back.  That’s why the Bible says “Now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!”
        If life were to continue for us indefinitely then there would never be a Fierce Urgency of Now.  Tomorrow, minyana, would be our limping and staggering cry.  We could always think about developing a relationship with the Creator tomorrow if there were always a tomorrow, but for some of us tomorrow will not be.
        Lately this congregation has been reminded of our finitude as we have held several funerals for dear ones.   And I never do a funeral as a Pastor that I don’t think of my own demise.
This work reminds me that God is boundless and timeless, but I am time bound as my body keeps seeking to return the dust. As the Bible says:  “…it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment” it also says:  “Behold, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.”
        The Fierce Urgency of Now calls to you to give it up to God,
to stop putting off that gift that you keep promising God, to stop putting off that service, to stop putting off that prayer of total commitment.  “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”  (MLK)  Now is the time,     to make real the promise of salvation.  Now is the time, to rise from the dark and desolate valley of judgment, to the sun lit path of unbounded grace in Jesus Christ.”  (paraphrase of Dr. King)
        Some of you all may have been putting off that first step into Grace. The world holds you back because you think you may not be able to live the way that you want to live, if you make a full and total commitment to Jesus Christ.  But inwardly you want to live in Christ, so there’s really no conflict, only the fear of change.  And the fear of change binds people tighter than any chains.
        The walls of the prison of the fear of change hold people tighter
than San Quentin or Jackson or Leavenworth.  Fear of change is a prison that puts people into the fantasy land of tomorrow and takes them from the reality of Now. 
       
        On Good Friday in our Church we traditionally talk about the Seven Last Words of Christ… these are phrases that Jesus spoke from the Cross.  He said has He hung dying:
        “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” “I thirst.”   “It is finished.” These are some of the powerful phrases that our Savior spoke in His death.
        Now there’s a powerful phrase that has killed more churches than probably exist in America today…  It’s called the Seven Last Words of the Church:  Those Seven last words of the Church are:  “We’ve never done it that way before.” 
        Many a fine church has died because the seven last words of the Church became their mantra:   “We’ve never done it that way before.”
There are members of our church here that have come from other failing churches whose mantra has become:  “We’ve never done it that way before.” Those seven last words don’t want the Now.  They want yesterday.
        But then, the Fierce Urgency of Now, like a wolf in the darkness, came upon their churches, and their churches failed and died. The Fierce Urgency of Now teaches us that Life is Change. It is different than the rocks.  “BEHOLD, NOW IS THE ACCEPTABLE TIME; BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.”
       
        When I was a young man and trying to get an education, it wasn’t always easy. Every summer I’d try to make as much money as possible to pay my tuition.  A couple of summers I had a fantastically good job at General Motors. It was hard work. I was bouncing between plants 2 and 3 in Pontiac, Michigan, basically doing whatever I was told for however long I was told to do it. I had a couple of good bosses who’d let me work overtime, cleaning up the line after the other workers left, just to make extra money.
        We’d get a break between start and lunch, just long enough to have a cigarette and a cup of coffee,  so I’d go over to a meeting place with a coffee and have a cigarette with a couple of buddies. We all hated the work we had to do, but we loved the pay.
        Let me tell you, it was hard work… it was hard, physical work. I was gun welding with another guy arch welding over my head all night. Periodically I would catch fire as I could feel hot metal burn through my hat and burn down through my hair.  I’d pull of my hat and pat out the fire on my head. 
                We hated the work, but we loved the job, in that we were making really really good money. We’d get our break, me, Mike and Dan.
And during that break we would talk about what we were going to do with our lives. I’d always say, “When I get my war chest together, I’m going back to college.” Mike would always say:  “I’m going into the insurance business.” Dan would always say:  “One thing for sure, I’m getting out’a here!!!”
        Every day, the lazy haze of tomorrow would come over us on our breaks, as we talked about things to come. I was going to go back to college, Mike was going to go to work in the insurance industry, and Dan was leaving too.
                Then the next summer, after I put in two semesters of college and ran out of money, I was back working on the Assembly Line.
I went back to work for the summer, and there at break time were Mike and Dan, having their coffee and cigarettes at the same place, and the same time.  Mike was still going to go into insurance, and Dan was still going to quit as soon as he found something better.
                That fall when I left to go back to school I had a distinct impression in my mind, that Mike and Dan were going to meet at the post by the tool crib for the next 30 years, that if I went to school for ten years, and worked ten summers in between, that Mike and Dan would still be talking about what they were       “going” to do tomorrow.
Neither one had ever been confronted, nor had they confronted themselves with the Fierce Urgency of Now.
        I remember when we first came to Grace Church, not too long after we had come into Grace Church…that we were going to have a Church Cruise. I signed us up to go on the Church Cruise. Now my mom and dad were sometimes very critical of me and Ginny.  They didn’t always agree that what we were doing was the right thing. I thought that my dad was going to be critical of me when he heard that I had signed up for the Church cruise.
        I said:  “Dad, this is the craziest thing that Ginny and I have ever done, but after 30 years together, I think it’s time for us to do something crazy.” My dad got real serious and said:  “Oh son, you’re doing the right thing. Your mother and I were always going to go on a cruise.   We’ve been in Florida for 30 years, and now we’re both way to old, sick, and crippled up to go on a Cruise.  We put it off and put it off, and now we can’t do it.  Don’t you do what we’ve done!  What you’re doing is the right thing to do.”
        In the same way, there are many people who come to church for many years.  They participate in dinners, and work meetings, and committees, and worship. And from time to time the preacher says:  “Now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
And they think, like Mike and Dan standing by the tool crib at GM that maybe tomorrow they will have to get right with God.  They hear the preacher say:  “Now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” and like my mother and father, who put off taking their trip together and therefore never got one, these good folks put of getting right with God and being saved. 
        The Preacher reads the Holy and Wonderful Word of God from 2 Corinthians 6.2 “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” And people think, like my mom and dad did year after year, “Well, we can do that later.”  And then, later never comes.
        There is a fierce urgency in now because now is preeminent.
It takes precedent over yesterday and controls tomorrow.   The decisions acted upon in now make up “the what will bes.”The decisions acted on now set the direction for our lives.  “Now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
        Unlike any other day ever made before, today is the day for you to come before God, and humble yourself before Him, and say:  “Without Reservations Father, I repent and give my life to Jesus Christ, for His worship and service.” For the Bible says that if we humble ourselves under the Mighty Hand of God, He Himself will pick us up. 
        Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. There is a Fierce Urgency in NOW. For whatever can be done tomorrow will undoubtedly be done tomorrow, but not necessarily by you or by me. Tomorrow has her own children and knows them by their names.

        Shake off your complacency, for there’s far more at stake than you can possibly imagine. Currently we fight for the soul of our nation,
and for souls within our nation… people who have been taught that religion is a market place,  and that salvation in Christ is one option among many.   “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off, or slowing down, or thinking it over and over… or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”  For the human being is not saved a little at a time.
Now is the time to make real the promise of salvation. Now is the time, to rise from the dark and desolate valley of judgment, to the sun lit path of unbounded grace in Jesus Christ.”
        Soon, my friends, soon our trials will be over, but there will be those yet to come who will dwell in a desolate land, a land spiritually barren, a dust bowl where once there was a garden of commitment.
Our children’s children will bless us or curse us according to our faith in God, for that is the true legacy of human life.
        Don’t let NOW go by without getting right with Jesus, for Now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation. 

Prayer:  Gracious Lord, I give you my life.  I confess that I am unworthy to merit your love or your care.  I confess that I have waited too many tomorrows to straighten up my accounts with You.  Forgive me Lord, and accept me as your child, through Christ Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Amen.