In this article Pastor Kazee discriminatingly shows the difference between what is accepted by Christendom as Christian influence and that spiritual power of God without which the chariots of Zion lag and mighty efforts promoted by God's people somehow bear disappointingly small fruitage. It is a searching article for those who will let it do its work, and many there be who need its admonition. - Editorial Note / Victor I. Masters
Is Christian Influence Enough?
By Buell H. Kazee
Morehead, Kentucky
Western Recorder, 1942ABOUT THE time I entered the ministry they were beginning to launch specialized teaching on stewardship - meaning then the spiritual use of money. They soon began to add to this various stewardships for which we were responsible, such as the "stewardship of time," "stewarship of talents," "stewardship of personality," "stewardship of influence" and so on.
Stewardship of influence meant "Christian influence," and all the others were involved in this. As to the general flock of "stewardships," I could never see any good basis for dividing them up minutely. A "stewardship of the Gospel" might be deduced from such expressions as "stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1), and "stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10). But outside of these I see no Scriptural basis for all these minute projections.
"Christian influence" is not a biblical term, though I admit the value of what it seeks to convey. Every Christian needs to live so that his influence over others will verify his profession of faith in Christ. He ought to live so that people can tell he is a Christian. This is generally understood to mean that he is moral, decent, honorable, honest, on the side of justice and right; that he is generous and, kind in his relationships to others, benevolent with his possessions, loyal to his church, and conscientious in his positions.
I THESE are the characteristics which mark the man as a Christian. All of this is splendid in the life of any man, and it is to be commended. But let me emphasize this fact, that while they are the things that mark a Christian character, they are not in themselves the power which operates in a Christian to do the Lord's work of convicting and saving the lost.
I have often stood beside a great railroad engine, looked it over carefully, and have seen the characteristics that mark it definitely as an engine. Its "influence" was very convincing, as far as what it was is concerned. But when I came to consider what it could do, I was taught that it must depend on a power which came from a source outside the engine. It could never move itself or a train until there was poured into it a proper fuel and the "mysterious power of fire had released the potential energy of the fuel into the engine.
What I am trying to say is that it is not enough to con- vince people that we are Christian by the standard of Christian morality. Had the rich young ruler been a little more benevolent, he might have qualified as a Christian according to the world's highest standard. Meeting the world's judgment standard of what it is to be a Christian is not enough. That standard will vary according to the varying attitudes of the world's best minds. The world is no proper judge of what a Christian ought to be, and we ought not to be satisfied to remain Christian merely on the level of the world's notion. One may conduct himself so that the world would call him Christian, and yet have no degree of power in the life.
Another error about Christian influence is that it will suffice to make the lost about us want to be a Christian. Christian influence, as it is commonly understood, is not sufficient to make another man want to be a Christian. Christian influence may call forth the respect and admiration of the world, but it takes something that will often make the world (as such) despise us to convict men of sin.
Christian influence, as we commonly use the term, is a summation of the Christian moralities. No man will be harshly criticised by the world for possessing these characteristics, except in rare cases. But what does Jesus mean, after telling His disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit in them, when He says: "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God. And these things will they do because they have not known the Father, nor me" (John 15)? you out of the world, therefore the world hateth They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God. And these things will they do because they have not known the Father, nor me" (John 15)?
II CHRISTIAN influence assumes that we will call to us the respect of the world through the character of Christian moralities. But what is it that drives the world against us? I answer, IT IS SPIRITUAL POWER.
Jesus had no influence with the world after He quit feeding loaves and fishes, and began to talk of the power of God to make men turn from sin. Rebellion was what He found as the usual response to His message, except where power of God convicted for sin and made rebellious hearts surrender. We read that immediately after Pentecost the church was "praising God and having favor with the people." But what had brought this favor? Was it the personal influence of the one hundred and twenty who had demonstrated to and convinced the world about them that to follow Christ was the better way of life? No, that was not what brought favor. It was the convicting power of the Holy Ghost that made the people surrender and cry out, "Brethren, what shall we do?"
Why did the "world" rise up against Peter and John, for helping a lame man to walk, and put them in jail? Because the power of the Holy Ghost was evident in their act, and it condemned. If Peter and John had given the lame man a good offering, and had gone on into church, people would have commended them, and that would have been Christian influence. But spiritual power at work drove the multitude against them. Why were the disciples scattered abroad? Because of their power to heal, and their stubborn unwillingness to surrender this divine power up for human influence.
I could go on with this recitation. But I submit, God's work has always been run on spiritual power. Christian influence I do not decry. I commend it. It is that which marks a Christian before the world, but it will never be sufficient to convince the world.
I fear we have launched the modern program of world-saving on the basis of Christian morality rather than on the power of the Holy Ghost. "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you." THROUGH THIS POWER was the promise that "ye shall be witnesses unto ME."
Jesus was more than morally Christian; He was spiritual. His saving power did not commend Him to the world; it condemned and convicted the world in His presence. We follow the wrong spirit and purpose when we try to commend ourselves as Christians and our Christianity to the world.
To get the world to receive it, we must condescend to what the world thinks a Christian ought to be. That standard will be too low. But that is what we have done in a large measure. We have tried to make Christianity acceptable to the world rather than to convict the world, of its sins. WE HAVE LOWERED THE FENCE SO THE WORLDLING CAN JUMP IT RATHER THAN TELL HIM HIS HOPELESSNESS TO GET ACROSS WITH ANYTHING THAT HE MAY BE, AND DEMAND THAT HE SUBMIT TO THE POWER OF CHRIST TO GET OVER.
III CHRISTIAN influence is good, but the church for real progress was never dependent on it. Someone has said truly that Jesus did not have influence enough to avoid the Cross, but He had enough power to endure it and come forth from the dead. It is this power which He bequeathed to the church. Paul did not have enough influence to keep out of prison, but there was power in him and Silas to shake the shackles from their feet and the jail doors open.
It was not their Christian influence that convicted the jailer; it was the power of God. Through the ages the church was never more powerful than when it was in deadly conflict with the world. Only when the battle is pressed do we need spiritual power. Christian influence is a thing that makes life easy for us when we are not attacking.
I frankly believe that our whole program (with some exceptions) is based on the attempt to commend ourselves and our churches to the world by Christian morality and example rather than to convict the world of its wrongs by the mystic power of the Holy Spirit within us. We have been trying to slip up on the world and win it, by guile rather than to charge it with the sword of the Spirit and condemn it and convict it of its sins. I have been using the term "Christian influence" in the sense of right living and Christian morality. If that is all we have, we are lost. That may ever make us popular with the world, but the moment we begin to evince the power of the Holy Ghost in our preaching and testimony, we shall immediately find the world against us.
This power will separate us from the world - if, indeed, we do not have to separate ourselves from the world before we can receive this power. It will lead us into constant conflict with the world, and center the wor[l]d's hatred upon us, but this will be the evidence of its convicting power. Men do not love light because their deeds are evil.
Supernatural, spiritual power is what throws light on man's impotency. Daniel in the lion's den, the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, Elijah at Mt. Carmel, David and Goliath, Moses at the Red Sea - these are examples of convincing power. Wherever the church progresses spiritually it will have to be under the thundering guns of God's power, where convicting preaching and praying and witness, all prompted and initiated by the Holy Ghost Himself, will cut down the enemy before us and bow him to surrender or drive him into the darkness.
Wanted: The miracle of a conviction among God's people which cannot be produced by Christian morality, but only God Himself through His Spirit within us.
========================== [From the Western Recorder paper, June 4, 1942, pp. 4-5; via microfilm copy at the SBTS Archives; provided by Adam Winters, Archivist. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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