Rev. Dr. Armando S. Kole together with CPU President, Dr. Teodoro C. Robles and Rev. Cris Amorsolo V. Sian, Senior Pastor, University Church.

Mark 10:35-37, 42-45

Delivered by Rev. Dr. Armando S. Kole during the College Baccalaureate Service held at the Rose Memorial Auditorium on April 22, 2018

Dr. Teodoro C. Robles, President, Atty. Von Lovell Bedona, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, my colleagues in the Board, corporation members, pastoral staff, other officers of the administration, deans, department heads, faculty, staff, dear parents, and graduating students – good morning. First of all, I’d like to thank Dr. Robles for inviting me as speaker for this Baccalaureate Service. I consider this a privilege on my part, and I praise and thank God for this opportunity.

Graduating students, how are you this morning? I know you are all excited to graduate. Hence, allow me to extend my warmest congratulations to each one of you. Graduation is scheduled today and tomorrow and, guys, I know how you feel right now. Each one of you will come up the stage to receive your diploma, telling one and all that you have completed all the requirements for graduation. All of you will soon launch out into the deep waters of your profession; swim like an expert in your chosen field. In spite of some difficulties that you have gone through during the past four of or five years of your stay here at CPU, like the backbreaking and draining nights of study, the exams to hurdle, the projects to accomplish, not to mention the financial privations that perhaps many of you have experienced, yet by God’s grace, you were able to survive the struggle. You are all survivors, and each one of you is a conqueror in your own right. Hence I look at your graduation as a milestone and a triumph for you and your family. One author says, “No matter how dark the beginning, one who strives can reach the sun.”

A new day has come for you and the opportunity to put to good use what you have learned here at CPU is now open. And so give your best to your chosen career, and always nurture the passion towards excellence. Have an urge to rise above the ordinary, be innovative, and open yourselves to essential changes, and do a miracle by translating what you feel and think is impossible to become possible for you, and all these demand faith in God, hard work, determination and commitment on your part. Excellence discourages mediocrity, timidity, and risk avoidance. On the contrary, excellence encourages people to become risk takers, adventurous, and charismatic. But above all, any drive towards excellence requires great humility and servant attitude. This is the example that Jesus our Lord wants us to follow. Friends, we now live in the most highly developed intellectual age in history where every field of study is aspiring for excellence in the acquisition and application of knowledge.

Despite the so-called “intellectual boom” in our world, this university makes sure that fides remains a sine qua non to what you get here. Sine qua non is a French word for “something that is essential,” and education should never be separated from faith in God, and God is essential to all of us. He alone possesses wisdom and understanding. CPU does not want to produce “educated barbarians,” or people who are intellectually giants but morally and spiritually, dwarfs. And for many years now this University keeps on emphasizing the importance of EXCEL or Exemplary Christian Education for Life so that every graduate of the university will bear the truth and character of Christ in their life and career. Let me say this to each one of you: be committed to veritas (truth) in your life and conversation. It is said that everyday 4.6 billion contents/information are being uploaded on the internet. And as more and more information is uploaded, the quest for what is true becomes harder and harder. Raul Castro, an expert in advertising, says “always aim for the truth because it’s your bet. Even with all the lying and manipulating, the truth will come out anyway and the backlash will only be bigger if you’re not truthful.”

You are fortunate to receive the kind of education here at CPU. Be grateful to your parents and guardians and other significant people who have invested the best years of their lives, especially your teachers or professors who taught you. It takes patience, creativity, and resourcefulness for them to be able to impart knowledge to you. There are times that they become the object of ridicule of some students for one reason or another, and most often their efforts are unappreciated. We have to appreciate these people. This reminds me of a batch of graduates who sent an emotional letter of thanks to their teachers. The letter says, “Dear Teachers: The time has come for us to leave you. But as we leave we bring along with us the legacy of education and Christian values implanted in our minds. The education we acquired for five long years makes us confident to face the new challenge that awaits us in the world. Dear teachers, you have been patient. You have unselfishly given us your best. When we became deeply troubled, especially with our grades, your encouragement gave us hope. In all   our struggles and attempts you were there. We are happy that you have a great part on our success. Because of it we will never forget you. From the bottom of our hearts we want to say ‘THANK YOU.’” What a nice letter from the graduates!

Your next step after graduation is to prepare for the board exam. I hope you will be able to make it. Someday you will become professional engineers, certified public accountants, nurses, good lawyers, great teachers, in-demand motivational speakers, etc. “As trained professionals,” says one popular speaker, “use your skills and talents as bridges over which you invite others to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, encourage them to create more bridges of their own so that others will also enjoy and benefit from them.” Generations come and go and people will always remember you because of your contributions in society. However, I have this advice for you: No matter how good you are in the practice of your profession, and regardless of your achievements someday, don’t forget to put premium on godly character and personal integrity, for these are the twin factors to life’s success and happiness.

In this world it is not how much have we achieved in life, for the question always boils down to who God is to us in the practice of our profession. Don’t always think of what you can get out of your profession. Instead, think of what you can contribute towards the development of our nation and the world. You will soon experience a transition in your life; you will be making decisions, and in the midst of opportunities and offers which will come your way, especially after you pass the board exam, whatever might be your accomplishments in the next 5, 10, 15, or 20 years in your professional journey, remember this: you are still a nobody until God becomes somebody in your life and career. Cling unto Him and acknowledge Him in all your undertakings. Jesus once said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” You are all graduating and graduation means different things to different people. It could mean brighter prospects for better jobs, stronger platform for salary negotiation, or promotion in lifestyle.

There are guidelines and principles in the Bible that I want to share with you this morning. Mr. Vance Packard in his book entitled Status Seekersstates that people who are educated generally continuously seek a higher plane in life. They want to “go up in the world,” be number one in whatever field they choose. This atmosphere of competition is most prevalent in western countries, especially in the United States. This is not bad in itself. However, it becomes dangerous when competitiveness supersedes humanity or even worse, virtues such as compassion, love gentleness and peace.” Alfred Adler, Austrian psychiatrist and psychologists also says that “people strive hard to compensate for their human inadequacies and feeling of inferiority against other individuals. And so they desire nothing better than to get to the top of the pole just as fast as possible, way ahead of their counterparts.”

Why do people desire to be on top of everything? There are two reasons for this, says Fil Tolentino, a Baptist pastor now based in USA. First, it gives people power. That means that by human standards, they have earned the right to lead, to get what they want out of people. Second, it gives them money. I agree with him. In our socio-economic environment, it seems that money shapes and dictates people’s value judgment of others. The level of respect accorded an individual corresponds with how much money he has in the bank. I am not here to throw judgment. All I am saying is that these are readily observable practices in today’s society. This is the society where you shall be going out into, and you need to go prepared. According to the result of the survey conducted by the Omaha World Herald, as much as 68% of the population of the world rates “money-making” as the most important goal in life. From this we can infer one thing: Two goals drive people in their occupational and professional careers, and these are money and power. Let us go to our New Testament text.

Our text helps us to analyze how these widespread goals for money and power fit in our culture and value system as Christians. James and John were disciples of Jesus, and they identified themselves with Him. One time, they too, like other graduates, were looking ahead. They were crystallizing their goals, trying to state what they hope to achieve in their lives. We read James and John asking Jesus in Mark 10:37 “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” Power was obviously what the brothers wanted. It may be that they were not just talking about the spiritual realm. It may be that James and John also wanted power and recognition while living their earthly lives. Let us look at verse 42. Here Jesus has a clear answer. He said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (43-45)

Graduating students: let not earthly power and glory be the organizing principle of your lives, as you move in your lives from this moment on, and let no selfishness make you take the narrow view even if such attitude is rampant today. Lust for power and money can secularize your outlook; it can also make you fall back into the ways of darkness. There are two kinds of approach to life that are open to us. The first is the way of Babel, where one is greedy, competitive and selfish; achievements are more important than people; power is sought at any cost. In this approach to life, one must grab what he wants in case anyone beats him; he builds himself by running other people down. Do you remember God’s destruction of the Tower of Babel? The way of Babel creates chaotic communication, generates suspicion, hatred and conflict. We do not want this to happen in our work.

The other approach to life is the Way of Pentecost. This way unites people because it knows that human happiness is not a commodity in short supply. One does not get more of it by depriving others of it. The way of the Pentecost is life in the Holy Spirit. He is the source of sharing. He gives gifts which can be used for the good of other people. He heals the selfishness, the pride, and resentment and all the other things that divide us. The difference between the two approaches lies in whether we value persons above things, relationships above possessions, service of others above power and status. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all.” Jesus did not make this statement only as a theoretical proposition. Here he presented his own life as a living illustration. This means that anyone who wants to follow Jesus must put service at the top of his ambitions’ list.

Can we apply this in our lives? It may be that some of you, graduating students, will become rich and powerful someday. Good, if in a positive way you use your wealth and power for other people. Listen to this: a person in a position of power has a choice. He can use his influence either to exploit or hurt, or to lift up and serve. I pray you will choose rightfully. I pray that you will say with conviction, “I am going to make service the primary goal in my life’s career and work. As you leave school, you are faced with the question of your priorities. To get ahead, to be successful, certainly, but let it not be at the expense of your own humanity and your relationship to your family, friends, and neighbors. To get a job, certainly, but let it not become the whole meaning of your life. Work exists for people not people for work, just as the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Whether you get a job easily or whether you find it hard, remember that your dignity and worth do not come from your employment but from God who loves you and expects you to be the kind of persons he wants you to be.

Graduates, organize your life as Jesus organized His—making service a priority and a blessing to others. Deep and abiding satisfaction is experienced not by those who ask and make demands, but rather by those who give and make sacrifices. This is Jesus’ way. Let it be yours as well as you move in your life from this moment on. Thank you and good morning. God bless you!