The Thoughts of a Good Man: Sermons and Talks of Dr. John Chester Frist Sr.

By Collected and Summarized by Tom Frist

The purpose of this small book is to honor Dr. John Chester Frist Sr., and to share with family and friends, a glimpse into his faith and thoughts. Chet Frist was a wise and beloved family man and friend, as well as a community and church leader. He was pastor of the Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama when he died on December 31, 1959. He had previously served churches in Moorefield, West Virginia, Starkville, Mississippi, and Tampa, Florida.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9781440131981

Collected and Summarized by Tom Frist

Tom Frist, who collected and summarized these sermons and talks, is the youngest child of "Chet" and Betty Frist. Tom has spent most of his professional life in international relief and development, and in promoting the social integration of people affected by Hansen’s disease (leprosy) and disabilities. He has written several books and now lives in Montreat, N.C. with his wife Clare Strachan Frist. They are parents to Lisa Kristin Frist and John Daniel Frist.

Book preview

Contents

INTRODUCTION

SERMONS WITH NUMBERS

SERMONS WITHOUT NUMBERS

SERMONS WITHOUT NUMBERS OR DATES

GENERAL TALKS

NOTES FOR PRAYER MEETING TALKS

NOTES FOR OTHER TALKS

Dedication Photo, Frist book.tif

This book is dedicated to the memory of John Chester and Tommy Frist Sr., two brothers who loved and respected each other, and who greatly influenced for the good their families, their friends, and their communities.

INTRODUCTION

John Chester Frist was born on the 27th of October, 1906 in Meridian, Mississippi, the third of the four children of Jake and Jennie Frist. When Chet was only twelve, his father died after being hit by a locomotive. As the Meridian stationmaster, Jake had heroically saved the lives of a woman and her grandson, pushing them off the tracks before an on-coming train. Raised by a loving mother, Chet worked in his adolescent years and attended high school in Meridian where he was Captain of the Football team, All Southern Guard, and Mississippi’s best high school debater.

Turning down an appointment to West Point, Chet attended Southwestern College (Rhodes College) in Memphis where among many honors and positions, he was President of the Student Body, the Honor Council, and of his fraternity. At Southwestern, he decided to serve Jesus Christ as a Presbyterian minister and so enrolled at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He earned his B.D. and TH.M. Degrees there and later received an honorary doctorate from Southwestern.

After becoming a minister, Chet had pastorates in Moorefield, West Virginia (1932-1937), in Starkville, Mississippi (1937-1942), in Tampa, Florida (1942-1947), and in Mobile, Alabama (1947-1959). It was while he was a pastor at the Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile that he died on December 31, 1959 at the age of fifty-three. During his years as a minister, Chet was on the Board of Agnes Scott College and held many leadership positions in local civic organizations and in the Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S. He was loved by all as a man of kindness, of good humor, and of principle. The editor of the Mobile Press Register wrote in an editorial that Chet showed Mobile how to live and also how to die. His beloved younger brother Tommy called him the greatest man he had ever known and he was also much loved by his wife Betty, and his children Jane, Charlotte, Johnny, and myself, Tom.

Many years after his death, I retrieved these sermons and talks of his from a filing cabinet in the attic of the Government Street Presbyterian Church. Since I was only fourteen when he died, and I wanted to know him better, I recently decided to read through them and then to summarize them so that I could share them with you - his children and grandchildren, his nieces and nephews, and you, his friends. We can all benefit from his wisdom and deep faith.

Unfortunately, in the interest of time and space, I have had to cut them down to their bare bones. I did away with the many stories, poems, quotes, and humor he used to illustrate his topics. This, of course, takes away a lot of their winsomeness. Still, I feel confident that you can get a sense of John Chester’s character and teachings from them. The talks come in great variety as sermons, prayer meeting talks, radio addresses, baccalaureate addresses, talks to civic clubs, to firemen, to nurses, and talks to university and high school students. Many of them were typed out with the dates and places where they were delivered. Others were left only in outline or note form. The latter I have just listed rather than summarized.

At the end of this process, I came away with a new appreciation for the depth of my father’s faith, for his humility, his balance and practical bent, his sense of order, his humor, his winsomeness, his courage, and his intelligence. I am very proud that he was my father.

Explanations: I first highlight each sermon or talk title in boldface and then note the Biblical text reference that he furnished. Following that, comes the first date when the talk was delivered and then, within parenthesis, the other dates when it was revised and given again. From time to time, some sentences are in italics. These represent section headings that my father used. At the end of some summaries, there is another parenthesis with an S that stands for sermon and a PM that stands for prayer meeting, with a number that he assigned it. Many talks have no numbers. When possible, the sermons and talks are listed in numerical or chronological order from the earliest to the latest. There are six sections: Sermons with Numbers, Sermons without Numbers, Sermons without Numbers or Dates, General Talks, Notes for Prayer Meeting Talks, and Notes for Other Talks.

Some advice: My suggestion is to read the sermons and talks, with their corresponding Biblical text, in small doses as there are so many of them. Some of the messages are similar, but all of them, despite being so summarized, have something to teach us. Enjoy!

SERMONS WITH NUMBERS

Not far from the kingdom of God Mark 12:34. 8/9/31 (1/10/37, 7/14/46, 12/18/55). There is a lot of evil in the world, but there is also a lot of good, and those who do good, are not far from the kingdom of God. To say that we are not far from the kingdom is both an encouragement and a challenge. It means that we are on the right path, but also that we have to keep going. Many persons stop at the golden rule or some other moral principle, and do not feel the full meaning of the reign of God in their hearts. Barriers to the kingdom: The mind sometimes keeps us out, as Jesus’ teachings may not make sense to us. The heart, too, sometimes keeps us out, because we don’t want our selfishness and lust to be reined in, or our pride doesn’t want us to be looked down upon by others. The will also keeps us from the kingdom, as we have not yet surrendered our self to Christ. Like the prodigal we have to turn from our ways and go back to our Father. We have to become little children in our trust of Him. We are not far from the kingdom, but God calls us to enter it fully. (S9).

Paul’s supreme desire Phil. 3:10. 11/36 (2/14/37, 6/27/54). Desire is the king of our lives and causes us to act either for good or for evil. Paul’s greatest desire was to grow in his understanding of the resurrected Christ and to share in His sufferings. Paul gives us two steps for knowing Christ: 1. To know the power of his resurrection. Not just to know the historical facts about it, but to know its power in helping us to overcome sin. Resurrection power changes our lives. 2. We must participate in the sufferings and death of Christ. Only when we are willing to lose our lives for Christ does His power enter us and transform our lives. Paul’s aim was to be like Christ and that should be ours as well. We should want to be obedient like Christ, filled with His power, willing to suffer with Him, and to die for Him. (S16).

It is easy to be a Christian Matt. 11:30. 2/14/32 (1/12/37, 5/3/53). Most people, men and women, laborers, students, and businessmen, would say that it is hard to be a Christian. Because it is so hard, most of us don’t take our Christianity too seriously. For example, for me, it was hard to go into the ministry because of all I would have to give up – parties, dances, owning my own house, not making much money, and not being my own boss. Jesus said that His yoke was easy, but that seems so untrue to most of us humans. Yet there are secrets that make Christianity easy: A. Looking at life as a whole and not as a part. For example, the difficulty of refusing a temporary pleasure is nothing in comparison to the joy of having lived a good life. It becomes easier to do good as doing good becomes a habit. B. Fellowship with Jesus Christ. It is easy, because we don’t see religion as obeying laws by ourselves anymore, but as depending on Jesus for the power to do right. When Christ is the motor of our lives, instead of our selves, then His burden becomes light. (S28).

Modern idol worship I John 5:21. 5/2/37 (7/28/46, 1/22/56). Many people believe that we no longer worship idols. The truth is that we do. Our idols have just taken different forms from those of the past. In the eyes of God, our idols are those things to which we give our hearts and loyalty that are more important to us than Him. Forms of idol worship in our day: Some worship the idol of the State, especially today in Germany, Italy, and in the Soviet Union. But there can be only one Fuhrer and He is God. Some of us worship the material things of this world and money becomes all important to us. Money is useful for doing good, but also evil, and it should never claim our highest allegiance. Some of us worship our fellowmen. We put our trust in human wisdom or in the adoration of members of our families. Others worship the idols of progress, social standing, recreation, and work. The fruitlessness of such idol worship: Such idol worship is unstable in its final results. Empires fall and death takes away our material possessions, our honors, and our loved ones. Instead, we should follow Christ’s command to seek first the kingdom of God, and then all these things – security, peace, eternity, certainty, necessary material goods, honor, etc – will be added unto us. (S35).

Doing things we dislike Matt. 16:24. (5/16/37, 12/13/44). Self denial means life denial and Puritanism to many. Instead, we want to talk of self expression. But Jesus, who says that He brings abundant life to us, also preaches self-denial — to do things that we dislike. As Christians we have to learn to put duty before pleasure and to learn to like what we have to do. To excel in anything, we most often have to give up things that we like. Having a higher purpose makes it easier to do that. Christ constantly kept before Him the purpose of His life, even when it meant a crown of thorns and death for Him. We must keep our purpose constantly before us as well in order to give our lives meaning. As we do things that we dislike, but that are necessary, we find that our dislikes shrink and a larger world is opened to us. On the contrary, not doing things we dislike, our world shrinks and walls rise up around us. God gives us things to do that we dislike because it is His way of dethroning self so that His love can possess us and set us free. (S36).

Steps to religious certainty John 9:1-4. 2/36 (7/4/37, 10/7/51). Worse than being physically blind, is being spiritually blind. That is when we see spiritual truths dimly or not at all. The way to religious certainty is to obey God when we hear Him speak, even in the dark. Sometimes it is difficult to obey because obeying means giving up wealth, position, and comfort. It means doing things that we don’t totally understand. But we have to act. For example, we can’t understand chemistry without going to the lab. People want to know our experience and not just our theories and book knowledge. The blind man in the Biblical text who was healed, knew only that he could see now. He wasn’t interested in the theories and doctrines of the religious leaders as to why it was so. Unlike the religious leaders, he was an honest man with an open and receptive mind ready to receive more light. (S45).

Your words and their uses Job 4:4. 8/2/37 (12/11/55). The theme of today is what God does through us in the words that we speak. Words are not useless, but powerful. Words are powerful instruments that God has put at our disposal. Jesus said that we would give an account of every idle word and He used His words very effectively. Words can kindle a fire in cold hearts, or kill the spirit of hope; they can open doors to enchanting worlds, or shut out beauty. We affect others greatly by our words. Encouraging words are very important to the growth of character. When we know that others are interested in us, we take more interest in life. Words of faith are needed to tell others of the hope that we have in Christ. God’s word, the Bible, helps us face sorrow and trouble and encourages us to go forward with courage. The Bible changes our lives as it did Augustine’s and Luther’s and the lives of so many others. (S52).

Wanted – a sense of mission Acts 22:14, Rom. 12, I Cor. 12. 8/29/37 (6/25/42, 10/3/43, 1/21/51). I once stayed in an apartment in New York City with a Harvard communist and a British traditionalist who taught me the importance of being connected to a cause bigger than myself. Christians also are linked to a Great Power and Cause greater than themselves and have a direct commission to serve others. Christians, however, often lack this sense of mission or call from God. A sense of mission is necessary in life because it makes the smallest task seem important. Abraham, David, and Paul, among many others, all had that sense of mission. So did Christ. All of us as Christians are linked to the great plan of God. We are slaves to Christ. Just as having a mission gave Paul both his message and his courage, so it will be for us. Therefore let us go about the tasks that we have been assigned. (S53).

A sense of mission – how gained Acts 22:14-15. 9/5/37 (6/25/42, 10/10/43, 2/11/51). Each Christian, not just the minister, is called to a life of witnessing. All of us can find useful work to do for the kingdom. We all have our roles. Our first mission is to know the will of God. We need to learn God’s plan for ourselves and for our world, and to be trained in how to carry out this plan. We fail because we try to make our will, God’s will, rather than making God’s will, our own. Christ first trained His disciples before sending them out into the world. It is through prayer that we find out God’s will for us. Second, we need to keep Christ before us as our inspiration. We need to do as He did. Third, we need to hear Christ’s voice above the din and competing voices of the world. If we can do these things, then we can become Christ’s hands, feet, and voice to the world. (S55).

The banishment of self-pity Phil. 4:11. 11/28/37 (5/18/47, 5/15/49, 11/20/55). Paul was always learning something about the Christian life. In the midst of adversity Paul could say, I have learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content. Most of us pity ourselves rather than being content. Self pity, however, is spiritual poison. When pity is focused outward on to others, it is a strength; but when it is focused inward on to our selves, it is a weakness. We must fearlessly face the reasons for our self-pity: We pity ourselves because things do not turn out the way we thought they ought to. I had this