[AI translation] My Christian Brothers and Sisters! The very first, almost astonishingly remarkable feature of the story we have read is that it shows us the extraordinary power and force that is at work in Christianity. Is it not amazing that one man in Christ, such as the apostle Paul was, can become such a mighty instrument in the hands of God? We read that no ordinary miracle was wrought by God through the hand of Paul. Wherever the apostle did not personally go, it was enough to take a piece of his clothing, his cassock or his apron to the sick, and miraculous healings were wrought under his influence. At his one powerful command, evil devil spirits tormenting men fled like a frightened company of burglars, and eternal human souls were delivered from the influence of satanic powers.Jesus performed such miracles while on earth, such unearthly power emanated from His divine person, such devil and disease casting power of His word. Now, after His ascension, in the person of the apostle Paul, it is as if Jesus were present, continuing His work of saving people in person! Indeed, what Paul once said about himself when he declared: 'It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me' (Gal 2:20), was not just a rhetorical flourish, but a harsh reality. Behold, this is what Christianity is today: Christ living in the hearts of men on earth, continuing to act among and for the benefit of other men! Behold, this is Christianity: the escape from Satan and the liberation from all the misery and suffering that corrupt and destroy our human life, under the divine power of Jesus Christ.
So what is Christianity? It is nothing other than the continuation of the life of Christ, of Christ's actions in me and by me on earth, the reality of which can be measured by the transforming, blissful effect it has on the human destinies and human lives around me! It is also clear from this story how attractive and desirable such Christianity is. The vision of Christ's power at work in the apostle Paul had an effect not only on people who longed for God, but also on those who were masters of the most pagan practices. The Scriptures speak of "idle exorcists". These were sorcerers, quacks - the ancestors of today's soothsayers, palmists, spiritualists and other misguided practitioners of the occult - who were so taken by Paul's teaching that they suddenly saw the futility and worthlessness of their whole previous teaching. Their souls were filled with the desire to be able to work as effectively and as mightily as Paul does. They were eager to learn the apostle's "craft".
This passage of the Word reminds us of a great truth: that the true Christian life is always so attractive, so desirable, that even those who have lived in a worldview far removed from serious, profound Christianity will find themselves longing for it. If we could live Christianity so powerfully, if the power of Christ could flow through us as it did through the Apostle Paul in the Word, can we imagine what a compelling mission it would be on earth?!
This story is about spiritual gifts, the power of miraculous healing and exorcism, which in themselves are astonishing and bring many to their knees before the power of Christ. But that is not all Christianity is! If we could show something of the love of Christ, or of moral purity, or of a life of purity of body and soul, or of serenity, peace, happiness, reconciled in God, that too would make the power of Jesus visible to men, and would attract souls. A Christianity that does not have a good influence on the world around it is already under the bad influence of the world around it. Take a look around you: are you, with your Christian life, a redeeming influence on the people around you, or are they an influence on you? Then there is your family: is your grown-up son or grown-up daughter not a loitering, comfort-seeking person? Isn't your spouse throwing up like this without any serious spiritual support?! Do you not think that they are not only dependent on you for their daily bread and clothing, that you are not only responsible for their education, but that you are also responsible for their souls? The spiritual life of your environment becomes the life you live for them. They will be influenced not by your words, your wise teachings, your anxious admonitions, but by your spirit, your actions, your behaviour. Many children learn from their parents to socialise, to sit decently at table, to speak in foreign languages, to play bridge, to paint lips and nails - but do they learn to follow Christ seriously?!
We read that the apostle Paul cast devils out of people. Let us not think that this is something that is totally alien, impossible in modern life. Have you not felt that when you have been with someone who lives fully in Christ and in whom Christ lives in him, it is as if demons were cast out of you by his presence? One by one the demonic forces of vanity, impurity, and base passions are driven out of your soul, and being with him is almost a spiritual bath of cleansing for you? Some people radiate the power of the life of Christ in such a way that we almost become better, we become ennobled in their presence. Why does our life not have this ennobling effect on our environment? Why is our Christianity not also desirable in the eyes of the sceva? Oh, if it were, much would have been different in our lives long ago! Is not the fault there with us as with the sons of Sheva? Where did these young men go wrong? After all, they called on those with evil spirits the name of Jesus, just as Paul did. They said, just as the apostle said, "We compel you to Jesus,... get out of this man!" They may even have taken the apostle's gestures, his tone of voice, and even dismissed the example before them. If they had to take an exam, they would have passed it with flying colours; if they had to present the apostle's practice on stage, they would have proved to be faithful imitators, excellent actors - yet they passed it.
What happened to them was what happened to the master tailor in one of Mikszáth's novels, who faithfully copied the miraculous speaking robe, held in high honour before the Turks, so that no man could have seen the difference between the real and the imitation, and yet when he marched out before the enemy with the magic robe on his back, before which the Turk should have knelt, the Janissaries rushed up and killed him. The sons of Sheba learned only the words of Paul - without Paul's faith. They only wanted to achieve something in others that they had sensed in Paul - but they did not allow this power to flow freely in themselves. Their saying is typical of them: 'We force you to believe in the Jesus whom Paul preaches...' They invoke the name of Jesus without having believed in Him, without having had personal fellowship with Him, and without even really knowing Him. They sought to achieve results in others through the holy name of Christ, without having anything to do with Christ themselves.
Can you see why we cannot make an impact on those around us by being Christians ourselves? Why can we not unlock the great resources of Christianity and use them to purify our families, to revitalise our church life, to sanctify our whole public life? It is because good intentions and human effort are not enough, because the name of Christ does not work until we ourselves personally come under the influence of Christ from the very beginning! It is not enough to talk about Christianity, it is not enough to refer to Christ, it is not enough to use His name as a sign, because the name of Christ is not a magic word that works magic, changes people, makes them Christians, purifies them - but Christ must live in us in order to see the results of His power in our own lives! Our problem, as the sons of Sheba, is that we have learned only the vocabulary, only the phraseology of Christianity, and we repeat it, we repeat it. We are actors, and good actors at that, who are great at imitating the movements, the appearances, the forms of Christian life. Even we ourselves take our own theatre as reality, and we complain and wonder that all our efforts, all our good intentions, fail, that our efforts produce no results.
This Word is a very serious warning, teaching us that you can only pass on Christ if you first become His very own. Yes, as I said before, we must first come under the influence of Christ in all things. How? By active obedience. Christianity copied from the true Christian, that is, Christian affectation, imitation, is no more worthy of anything than a disguise copied from the true speaking robe. It could not deceive the Turkish army.
My brothers and sisters, the Bible story says that the devil immediately noticed that in the speech of the sons of Sheba he was not confronted with the personal power of the living Jesus, but with the mere, empty mention of Jesus' name. At Paul's word, the devil fled like a whipped dog. He pounced on the sons of Sheba, overpowering them, wounding and shaming them. No one is more cowardly and pitiful than the devil, the satanic being, when he feels the living Christ near him. But there is no stronger, more reckless, and more wicked power than the satanic power, when it perceives that it is only showing that Christ is there. He who has but the name of Jesus on his lips, who has not the Spirit of Christ in him, Satan fears not; he will do with him as he pleases.
Remember: last Sunday I said that the gesture of laying down our offering, gathered in a week of sacrifice, on the Lord's table: this gesture of the heart expresses that, behold, this is how we are placing our whole life in the Lord's hands. Is it really a sign that you are giving your heart, your whole life, to the Lord? In these envelopes, Jesus is looking for our hearts. Will you find it there? If so, it will have an amazing impact on your life, on your family, on those around you. Then others will be attracted by the example of your life, and then your word will have an impact, your work will have an impact, our Christianity will have a power.
Christ is calling you: be all mine! And this world around you is unconsciously longing for you to be all Christ's!
Amen.
Date: 20 September 1942.