LIFE AND LIGHT

"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." St. John 1:4.

Influence and power are always resultants of inner life. Jesus could say, "I am the light of the world," because He confirmed this statement by His life; because His inner life was right. Life first, then light. "In Him was life; and the life (in Him) was the light." Life, -- Light! The reason for little light, power, and influence, emanating from one's life, is invariably, a defective inner life.

Of paramount importance in the preparation for the work of the ministry and Christian work is the inner life of the worker. Other things are of secondary importance; such as general culture in the arts and sciences. One may be ever so proficient in all of these and yet fail to be a truly spiritual, soul-helpful preacher. After all, the power of the preacher is according to the life within the preacher. "The spiritual influence of the preacher in the long run is in proportion to his life."

An old minister once said, in delivering his charge to a young preacher, "Young man, you are called to this church, not in the first place to make so many pastoral calls, or to preach so many sermons, but to live among the people the best life you can."

Spiritual Power is Always in Proportion to Life

It must be so, it could not be otherwise; the reason is not far distant to see: God only witnesses to truth. If He bears witness to a wrong life He becomes partaker of evil. This may account for the chill some testimonies, demonstrations, prayers, and sermons put on a meeting. God withholds His approval because the inner life displeases Him!

Did you ever notice in what connection God is said to be able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think? Listen! It is according to the power that worketh in us! According to our inner life!

God gives us His ideal preacher in Malachi: "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at His mouth; for the priest is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." The law of truth was in his mouth. "He walked with God in peace and equity and did turn many from iniquity." Here the connection between inner life, and turning many from iniquity is clearly seen. God recommends and uses a right life. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," -(His life was right) now comes God's recommendation, "Hear Hire!"

This may be said of all lives which please Him; e. g. "Hast thou considered my servant, Job?" When the inner life breaks with God, this form of power ceases.

Like Preacher, Like Sermon

It is said a sermon is the expression of a personality. Or it is an expression of life such as in the personality of the preacher -- "a living, pulsating message coming out of the life of the soul of the preacher." Out of the abundance of the heart life, the preacher preaches. The sermon gives away his inner life, and what he is speaks so loudly that what is said cannot be heard. Henry Ward Beecher, being asked how long it took him to prepare the great sermon just preached, replied, "forty years!" It was the result of his inner life, the outgrowth of forty years' walking in unbroken inner life communion with God.

"The Gospel is an incarnation of truth through personality." "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, full of grace and truth." The personal method is God's way of disseminating truth and life- not primarily through institutions and literature. This is readily seen when we remember the difficulty of putting unction on the printed page, and that the same written truth backed by the personality of the writer, when spoken, produces such vastly different effects. The explanation of the remarkable effects of Wesley's preaching is found herein: He spoke from inner life. That always decides the measure of pure power one has. "From lip to lip and heart to heart, truth must be passed on m the Divine life in one soul to be as a torch with which to kindle it in another."

"If thou the truth would teach,
Thou thyself shouldst be true;
If another soul thou wouldst reach;
Thy soul must overflow."

Preaching is more than saying things, even though they be true. True preaching speaks out of heart, life, and experience accompanied by the Holy Ghost. It is "the living word and not professional repetition of truth." A man may study Divinity as a profession like the lawyer studies law and know no more of God than the lawyer.

Who cares to hear a man preach whose life is full of inconsistencies? How can God bear witness consistently to mere intellectualities from a rotten heart? "Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thy self?" As Dr. Hoyt puts it: "A text that has no message for the preacher has none for the hearer. He must first preach to himself if his word is to reach the reason and conscience of others. He can only have a message in as far as he can himself experience the truth of his message." He must apply not only himself wholly to the text, but the text wholly to himself.

It may seem harsh, but the preacher who fails to live a victorious inner life is useless to God. An evangelist labored greatly in prayer for a revival in a run down church. The pastor, seeing the Holy Spirit immediately poured out, and having been practically fruitless himself, abruptly dismissed the evangelist, thinking to conduct the revival and possibly get the credit himself. But he failed to remember that revivals do not come independent of the life of the leader, and as the faithful servant of God went out, the revival went out also. "Barnabas was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost," now comes the light, influence, and power in service as natural concomitants -- "Much people was added to the Lord."

Life Has Its Manifestations

What ails my boys? By the watch they cannot be still a half minute. They are always on the go. They come down the stairs like cyclones or tornadoes. Life is all. Fullness of life. Exuberant, overflowing life that cannot keep still; that must be manifested and demonstrated.

Life, spiritual as well as physical, has its manifestations. The power of Jesus was simply the expression of His victorious life:

In Him was life, then manifestations of light -- "His life was the light of men." There must be life before there can be manifestations of life. There must be spiritual life before manifestations of light. Letting our light shine implies having light. Get it within, and then it cannot be hid. No manifestations (external) of spiritual life, light, power, influence, are evidence prima facie of absence within of life. In Him life, then out of Him went light! Eye single, or heart right, and the whole body full of light is ever the result. John, the Divine, expresses the same thought in other words:

"He that believes on me (with saving faith) out of the depths of his life SHALL flow rivers of living water."

What is the use to dodge the real issue and blame conditions? Life, in Him, could not be hid! Nor can it be if it be in us. Let us be honest. Bishop Thoburn said, "Woe unto the professing Christian unto whom no one ever comes for spiritual help." God is displeased with something in his life, and this accounts for his fruitlessness. We disclose our inner life condition when light, life, warmth, and power cease emanating from us. Is not this the why of powerless preachers and workers? Have they not neglected the life which insures the power? God's plan is to manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place His providence calls us.

Have we not failed in magnifying unduly intellectual caliber as the road to attainment in the knowledge of God? Obedience is the organ of Spiritual knowledge. Indeed, extreme intellectualism may prove a hindrance to spirituality and the acquisition of knowledge in the things of God. Paul said he received his Gospel by revelation from heaven. God will not bear witness to one's ministry according to his degrees, diplomas on the wall, the length of his coat, or his white cravat; but according to his inner life. We should do our best in the providence of God to increase our fund of useful knowledge, but life should be our prime concern -- "The life was the light." An "audience is held and moved by the outgushing of a life." Violations of Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Homiletics, and Oratory which are involuntary should not concern us so much as violations of life which are voluntary and deliberate. When unintentional slips in language occur while the full heart is outpouring and gushing forth in speech, its deep feelings, we, with Beecher, should say, "If the English language gets in my way it does not stand a half chance." Finney's method was good -filling the heart with his subject and then pouring out his heart on the audience.

Did you ever remind anyone of Jesus? "A cheerful heart maketh a glad countenance." The features are the apparent seat of the soul. They register inner life. An evangelist testifies, "Pardon me, but there have been times in my life when my heart has been so full of the life of God that unknown parties (among them a Jew) in strange cities have accosted me and said: 'You are a Christian, I can tell.' " This should not be exceptional. George Mueller discovered that his first daily duty was to get his own soul happy in God; and Dr. Jowett said, "All else was useless, unless, my soul, thou live this day close to God."

What is the Holy Spirit now demanding of you, dear reader, in order to right inner life and best manifestations of the same? Let it go now. He waits and refuses to fill until you do. May be it is a private, personal, selfish, injurious indulgence, or some questionable practice in business life? Or faithless stewardship? Or you are resisting the call of God for some special service?

Carelessness in little details of life, pride, love of the world, etc., are clear indexes of the inner state. It can be proven "carelessness in little things is not consistent with faithfulness in anything." "Faithful in little, also in much." You may say, "I do not mean to defraud" But a man surely intends to do what he does do. Looseness assumes tremendous moral significance and is inconsistent with life such as was in Him. We would better be so scrupulously conscientious as to be called "over conscientious." How much better is this than to be "under-conscientious."

A LIFE WHICH IS UNDEVIATINGLY STRAIGHT, UNCOMPROMISING, SCRUPULOUSLY CONSCIENTIOUS IN EVERY LITTLE DETAIL OF LIFE, COMES NEAR BEING THE LIFE WHICH GOD WILL MAKE A LIGHT.

Let us stop crying for the power of former times until our life is as theirs: Many of us are willing to have the power men like Wesley and Finney possessed, without realizing that their measure of power was according to their entire devotedness to God, and the outcome of their inner life. O, God of Wesley and Finney! Yes, He is the same, but where are the Wesleys and Finneys of God? Are we willing to pay the price of entire abandonment they paid? All deeded over to God above a reasonable estimate of actual needs -- Quit claim our all, in God's favor; deed ourselves fully over to Him, and mean it. If so, the power of former days shall be ours, intensified.