Resume: Having candidly surveyed, east month, the task before us, and having enumerated three hindering causes retarding its speedy completion—(1) the growing spirit and practice of colonization; (2) the_____________ growing contentment with, and conformity to, this present world; and (3) the subtle spirit of uncertainty that has sought entrance into the minds of some—the survey of impending obstacles is here continued. This, then, leads to a study, in the succeeding issues, of the divine program outlined for the finishing of the work, and imperative to its accomplishment.
4. Increasing dependence for the financial support of our world work upon mechanical pressure and sheer moral duty, instead of the impelling force of divine love, is another tendency that, strange as it may seem, nevertheless stands as a deterrent to that vastly greater inflow of means, planned and purposed in the mind of God for the finishing of the work. Heavy emphasis upon goals—with their frequent appeal to emulation, rivalry, and local pride—has all too often superseded a yearning love for the salvation of perishing souls. Developed with the best of motives as an aid to flagging zeal, these adjuncts have, in many instances, nearly superseded the spiritual promptings they at first were designed merely to support. Created to be a servant, they have frequently become our master. Projected as a help, they have at times virtually become a substitute. And their abuse has been reflected in the tragic adjustment of church records at the fourth quarter of the year, as the natural corollary to the plan.
But the mighty program we have undertaken can never be brought to its climax simply by intensification of the present program, with its pressure all along the line. The present arrangement, effective and efficient as it is, is below God's ideal. And, while it has been productive of amazing results, it has at the same time retarded that larger, sacrificial giving demanded in the final phase of the movement. There is, moreover, growing discontent with what is recognized to be really a human expedient—reliance on mechanical aids and pressure. That we are operating below both our possibilities and God's design for us, is the profound conviction of many of our most discerning, loyal, and godly leaders. An unprecedented consecration of ourselves and all we have on the altar of consuming sacrifice and service, under compulsive love for perishing souls, is God's plainly declared plan for finishing the work.
Faced with the demands of our mighty program we have, in our anxiety, appropriated the methods of efficient, worldly organization about us—their pro-rata goals, campaigns, slogans, drives, and pressure. Often men are appraised and rated on the basis of their abilities in those lines, and their service made contingent thereon. This very fact makes it most difficult for pastors to encourage a dispersing movement from our large churches, as called for in the Spirit of prophecy. Effective as present plans have proved, I am persuaded they are not God's ideal. Abuses have crept in, and we have not checked them. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, it will be changed before the work is finished. The question is, When and how? It may take restrictive laws and persecution.
The plan in vogue cannot be supplanted suddenly, without a proper transition. There must be no collapse in our world operations. And men fear to touch the problem lest, without the vital spiritual experience essential to the better way, any relaxation of the mechanical pressure would result in a falling off of funds, which must not be. This is one of the really great problems demanding study. It must be enumerated, if we be not recreant, in any faithful and searching study of the factors determining the finishing of the work.
5. Mention should here be made of another deterrent—that subtle professionalism that has crept into the ministry of not a few. We as a people have tended to become increasingly like the nominal churches about us, just as Israel of old became like the nations surrounding her. Thus it was that she lost that separateness, uniqueness, and spiritual integrity that God designed for His ancient people. We too, as workers, have in all too many instances, grown professional in our ministry. But just to the degree that professionalism has made its inroads, just to that degree has our message lost the power and virility in its appeal. The true evangelical passion wanes, and the vividness and reality of the life-and-death issues of the everlasting gospel become sadly dimmed.
Some have become skilled propagators of doctrinal belief for intellectual acceptance, instead of ministers of the grace of salvation, on fire for God. Some have become virtual business managers and efficiency experts for their churches, instead of heralds of the swiftly approaching day of God. With some such the work of the Lord ceases to be a holy passion, and becomes a means of livelihood,—with the tragic loss of vision, compromise, and subservience to expediency that is inevitable.
It is this distorted viewpoint and spirit of professionalism that has at times led to unholy maneuvers to secure or retain advantage or position. Rivalry and struggle for power spring from a mistaken concept of the real nature of gospel ministry. Men would not dare to engage in such manipulation did they really sense the sacred character of ministry of the word, the fearful responsibility of handling holy things with unsanctified hands, or the danger of injecting personal ambition or human pride, biased judgment or blighting prejudice, into their own plans and decisions.
These are things that bar the Holy Spirit from the life, and hamper any personal participation in a forward move. And this can be corrected only by the converting, sanctifying power of God, or by purging the ministry of such elements as will not yield to this cleansing work of the Spirit.
These several strictures are not merely my words. They are not simply my analysis. They are not just a human depiction. They are but a synopsis of the portrayals of the pen of inspiration, set forth repeatedly in the Spirit of prophecy in terms far stronger than those here employed. This too, then, is a very real factor in considering the finishing of the work.
6. Last, and greatest of all—and underlying every other hindering cause—is the lack of the Holy Spirit in our lives and work. This is our supreme deficiency. And to have that lack supplied should be our greatest burden as we seek for God's ways and means of finishing the work. Made available by our heavenly Father as the one means indispensable in reaching the hearts of men, ripening the harvest of the earth, and finishing the work, if the Holy Spirit. as -"lacking, all else- is vain. Yet how appallingly apathetic we are about it all! We seemingly have time and energy for everything else, though this is our chief deficiency. We do not seek until we find, nor perseveringly ask until we receive.
The words "lack" and "lacking," appearing so often in the solemn admonitions of the Spirit of prophecy, in describing our relation to the Holy Spirit, have burned themselves into my deepest consciousness. Truly, it is lack of the Spirit that makes our lives so lukewarm, and our efforts ofttimes so fruitless. It is lack of the Spirit that makes our messages so tame and powerless that men are not moved as the times demand. It is lack of the Spirit that causes us to turn in desperation to human expedients. It is lack of the Spirit that explains the pronounced mechanical trend and the developing professionalism in our ministry.
It is lack of the Spirit that leads ministers into sensationalism to arrest the attention of the multitudes. It is lack of the Spirit that permits of rivalry, struggle for position, and division in the church or ministry. It is lack of the Spirit that leads to colonization in convenient centers, and that closes pocketbooks in covetousness against the appeal of perishing souls. It is lack of the Spirit that leads us to dwell upon minor matters and miss those of major moment. Yes, it is lack of the Holy Spirit that blinds our eyes to our own deficiencies, and to God's great purpose for us. Thus it comes to pass that we do not sense the forces available for us, and the resources indispensable to us.
Beyond all controversy, the greatest single factor requisite to the finishing of the work is the outpouring of the latter rain, which will bring all other indispensables in its train. One man, working under the power and blessing of the Holy Spirit, will accomplish vastly more than the intensified efforts of a score laboring without this divine aid. And perhaps our greatest single danger and deterrent is that we shall consent to this fact without setting ourselves with all the heart to seek and receive the proffered Spirit. We literally wear ourselves out in quest of more and better plans, that will prove largely futile if we are without this most indispensable of all requisites. Let us beware lest familiarity breed an unconscious contempt, or at least a fatal indifference.
The significant, heaven-born declaration that spiritual revival and spiritual reformation is the greatest of all our needs, and that to seek this should be our very first work, remains unaltered. This admonition we have never fully accepted. The Holy Spirit, we are expressly told, is grieved away by our rivalry, covetousness, self-seeking, disobedience, pride, and complacency. It is lacking because it is not sufficiently sought, nor properly appreciated, and because of unwillingness to surrender to its control. Thus these factors act and react upon each other. 0 that God would startle us from our self-satisfaction to seek after this greatest of all blessings until it be found!
L. E. F.
(To be continued)
