Eric Liddell and Service

Many of you will have seen or heard about the film Chariots of Fire from which we’ve just heard the theme tune. It’s the film of a very small part of the life of Eric Liddell, the Scottish runner, and a bit that’s often forgotten, international rugby player, when he won 7 caps for Scotland.

On April 6, 1923, in a small town hall in Armadale, Scotland, Eric Liddell spoke for the first time of his faith in Christ. Eighty people came to hear Scotland’s famous runner give his testimony.

Catherine Swift in her biography of Liddell wrote of the first time she saw him speak, ‘Shyly, he stepped forward and for a few seconds surveyed his waiting audience, then he began. There was no lecturing, no fist thumping on the table, no wagging or pointing a finger to stress a point, no raised voice to impress on them what he thought they should be doing. In fact, it wasn’t a speech at all. It was more of a quiet chat, and in his slow clear words, Eric for the first time in his life told the world what God meant to him.

He spoke of the strength he felt within himself from the sure knowledge of God’s love and support. Of how he never questioned anything that happened either to himself or to others. He didn’t need explanations from God. He simply believed in Him and accepted whatever came.’

Born in China, the son of missionary parents, he was educated in England. In 1920 he went to Edinburgh University to study for a BSc in Pure Science. Athletics and rugby played a large part in Eric’s university life. He was an unorthodox sprinter. He ran with his head tilted towards the sky, knees thrusting upwards to his chin, and his feet rising high from the ground. When asked how he knew where the finish line was located, he replied, ‘The Lord guides me’.

He was chosen for the British Olympic Team going to Paris in 1924. His main event was the 100 metres sprint but with the heats being on a Sunday, Liddell refused to run. Instead he turned his attentions to the 200m and 400m races, events he had not trained for.

On the Sunday, the day he was supposed to be running in the 100metre heats, Liddell preached at the Church of Scotland in Paris. Three days later, he took an unexpected bronze medal in the 200m sprint, before readying himself for the race of his life. With his head thrown back in his characteristic style, he ran to victory in the 400 metres, achieving a world record time. He attributed his win to God.

And not very long after he turned his back on the fame and glory and following in the footsteps of his father and elder brother, he joined the London Missionary Society and served in China. During the war he was interned in a Japanese prison camp where he died of a brain tumour at the age of 43 in January 1945. He died satisfied that he had lived the life that God wanted him to.

Eric Liddell chose to live a dangerous, materially unrewarding life in China, serving God… He is perhaps so well known today for doing something that he never felt was extraordinary – the desire to serve God and other people above everything else. In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) which we heard earlier, there is of course another account of behaviour that was perceived to be extraordinary – as the Samaritan comes to the aid of the injured man – a supposed enemy.

And from these two accounts we are actually reminded that extraordinary service should be what each one of us strives to do – in effect we strive to make extraordinary service into normal behaviour. And Eric Liddell gave us some tips how we do that.

The first is that he put God first in everything that he did. Prayer and observance to God’s commandments were priorities in his life… and how often we are reminded that we need to get our priorities right in our lives… The great missionary to India, William Carey, became deeply concerned about the attitude of his son Felix.

The young man, a professing Christian, had promised to become a missionary. But he broke his vow when he was appointed ambassador to Burma. Carey requested prayer for him: "Pray for Felix. He has degenerated into an ambassador of the British government when he should be serving the King of kings."

We are called in life to many kinds of service – we are called to different occupations and are put in all kinds of different circumstances, but nothing replaces or surpasses the need to do good and do what is right. The Samaritan felt that sense of calling and knew he couldn’t walk by on the other side of the road.

Putting God first in our lives will lead us to respond by offering our lives to serve him and serve others, and do, and fight for, what is right.

Secondly Eric Liddell was undemonstrative in his service. He took no credit for his great sporting triumphs, instead giving all the credit to God. That description of his first meeting that I mentioned earlier described a man who didn’t shout, who didn’t seek attention, but who just looked to serve both God and other people.

People serve for all kinds of different reasons – some look to serve others only to gain acclamation for themselves, others start out with good intentions but are quickly overtaken by power or fame or some other temptation; but God calls us to make sure we serve for the right reasons – the bible reminds us of some priorities of Jesus himself (Matt 25) as he talks of being hungry and given food, thirsty and given drink, a stranger who was welcomed, naked and given clothing, sick and being taken care of and being visited whilst in prison.

Every one of us is called to service. Some are called to great visible acts of service, but for most of us service will be quiet and unseen, but equally valuable.

Thirdly Eric Liddell offered an example of courageous service, an example seen clearly in the members of the early Church as well, as they stood against persecution and objection to proclaim the gospel message… Putting God first, doing right, serving in general, takes courage – we live in a world where we are so often encouraged to put up with all kinds of things that we don’t really think are right – we must pray for courage to serve and work for what is right at all times.

And finally we must surrender to service. Eric Liddell had a favourite phrase ‘absolute surrender’. Surrendering to the will of God was a priority for him whatever that involved and wherever it took him. And if we’re going to serve, truly serve, we must be prepared to do the same. Service of any kind can sometimes be inconvenient and uncomfortable, but ultimately we will receive the rewards for that service from God himself.

And so as we put God first, we do right, not for our own glory but for God’s, we seek his strength and power to do what is right and seek what is right courageously, and as we surrender our lives into his service he guarantees to us that he will never abandon us, and we can confidently say the first line of Eric Liddell’s favourite hymn, ‘Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side…’ AMEN