9/18/60

Scripture: Revelation 3: 14-22

We are living in a time of struggle between two giant convictions as to the way people ought to live. The “Cold War” is not alone political and economic. It is fundamental and ideological. Probably we shall live out our lives in the midst of this struggle; because this war for the minds of men is relentless, determined, and awesome. The only peace which appears possible is the stern kind of peace which may come from Christians putting their mind and spirit to the problem and keeping it there. And there will be no peace in our children’s time if we fail to do so.

It should be said that the Christian church does well not to identify itself as such with a political or economic system. When Christians are able to get together from socialist Britain, from cooperative Scandinavia, from communist Russia or China, from capitalist United States or elsewhere, they are not held together by political or economic systems, but their common alliance is in Jesus Christ. It is not well for Christians to become exclusive chaplains to society as it is, whatever may be the current political or economic system. For the Christian faith of people should stand as the common judge and conscience of the social order if it is to meet the ethical and moral concepts of its Lord.

We Christians need to understand the fundamental undergirdings, the philosophy, the beliefs of people which find expression in their political and economic life. If we succeed to such an understanding we shall know more about the relationship between communism and Christianity in this determined war for the minds of men.

A. If we try to examine them dispassionately and analytically, we may see certain similarities between Christianity and communism.

1) In the first place, both the Christian and the communist are working to win people --- all sorts of people. Particularly, they are both working among, and out to win, the poor, the hungry, the exploited, the needy, those who suffer indignities, those who have been discriminated against, those who have been half slave, half free, the landless, the unloved. Here is challenge; here is the battleground.

The Christian church has always had a mission concern for these people. Both Matthew and Luke report Jesus as saying: “Those who are whole do not need a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” [Matthew 9: 12-13; Luke 5: 31-32] He had a constant concern for the needy, the sick, the poor, the neglected, the downtrodden.

These are the same people to whom the communists go saying, “We bring you hope, you who are tired and poor and sick and discriminated against. Ours is a hope backed by action.” The false messiahs, Fascist or communist, seek out those who are poor and insecure in the midst of fear and oppression. They operate there offering promises that stir hope. So do Christians who remember their Christ. We send our gospel to the same people.

2) Another similarity is that both are trying to win the world with a superior idea. Communism is trying to win the minds of men. It will propagandize, brain wash, persuade, threaten, bombard the mind with its doctrine in any way possible to win it for the idea behind the program of communism. A statesman and scholar of India [Radhakrishnan] has written: “The cold war --- is between two claimants for the soul of man.” Christianity is a belief before it is an act. We claim that Christian beliefs are the foundation both of the individual’s life and of the social structure.

And Christians have been a minority in the past (still are in many parts of the earth), just as the communist movement is a minority in “have not” countries today. Through much of world history, Christianity has been considered a fifth-column movement and has been driven underground, there to thrive in secret. Rome tried to burn it out. Japan tried to stamp it out, with apparent success for a long while.

But Christians have spread the word anyhow. With zeal and with passion they have accepted the consequences and suffered martyrdom anyway. They still do in some places of the earth. We continue to export our Christian beliefs today where they are not welcome. We send Christian representatives to people who are unlovely and even degenerate, believing that these people receive the promises of our Christian hope and are changed and redeemed.

Much of the revolutionary restiveness abroad in the world today has come about because unlikely communities and nations have learned to read and write; have learned that human beings have dignity in the sight of God; that there is an equality of being in God’s concern for all people. They are not content to suffer the plagues of sickness, hunger, poverty and exploitation needlessly.

3) A third similarity is that both Christianity and communism have a concept of history and a utopia towards which we work. The communist calls his a “classless” society. (He isn’t getting it, because he is trading social and economic class structure for political class control. But he preaches it, and apparently believes it.) He believes that all the historic processes work toward the classless society, where there will be no discrimination against, nor exploitation of man by man --- at least within the order of the “elect.” True Marxists appear to believe that this is predetermined in history, and that the greed in the capitalistic society will destroy itself if one waits for it to do so. Both history and time will see capitalism over-extend itself so that all the communists have to do is to be ready to pick up the pieces.

We Christians, too, have our utopia. We call it the “Kingdom of God.” We say that history moves toward its consummation. And that movement is here and now -- not confined to some future heaven. We had better understand this clearly and teach it carefully. When we pray “Give us this day or daily bread,” if means now. We pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The plea, and the belief, is that this be accomplished here, and now, upon earth as God’s will works through people to effect their well-being. It is imperative that we understand this and live in its light. For we only play into the hands of the communist if we say, “There is no hope here, and all we can do is to bear the unbearable and to stand up under the rottenness of society. We must take it, and there isn’t a thing we can do about it. We must grin and bear it. We’ll get our pie in the sky bye and bye.” There is something we can do about it. We can believe in the coming of God’s kingdom on earth, and bend our efforts toward its fulfillment as we understand God’s will for life here on earth, now.

Well. there are these similarities between Christianity and communism; (1) work among the same people; (2) the attempt to win with a superior idea (though different ideas, of course); and (3) the offer of a utopia in history (and again, differing utopias).

B. Now let us think of the differences, for they are many.

1) There is a great difference in our thought about human life. Communism advances the thought that some men can neither be helped nor saved. Get rid of them; do away with them; liquidate them. Kill owners and the rulers (at least the former rulers). Then the classless society will evolve among all who have rid themselves of oppressors.

Christians have a different concept of human nature. And it was expressed visibly to me at the beginning of a pastorate in one of my parishes. A concerned lay person said to me in effect, “Your ministry belongs to all of these people, for they all have souls.”

Part of this concept of human nature is that it can be changed, by the grace of God and the persuasion of sincere Christians. We do not purpose to kill a man, but to convert him. The direction of one’s mind can be altered. And if the direction appears to be wrong, it can be righted. That is the substance of our faith, the basis of our preaching and teaching and mission. Our Christian faith is rooted in the belief that the dissemination of the Word of God will alter life. Humankind can, like Paul, be changed from its bent for persecution to proclamation and witness! The words we use are “conversion,” “transformation,” “redemption,” “repentance.” The accomplishment we seek is changed life, in ourselves and in others.

We Christians believe that even a communist can be changed. Two men, Morris Ernst and David Loth, have made a study of American communists between 1920 and 1950. Their study indicates that, in that 30-year period, 700,000 people had joined the communist party, and had left it! The communist party in the USA has never been that large. This is the number of people who had progressed through its ranks, according to this study. It amounts to a traffic of about 25,000 a year. These two authors interviewed a large sampling of their 700,000 to learn what kind of people they were. They discovered that the majority had joined the party and left it before they were 23 years of age. Further, they found that these were children coming from homes of privilege where they had both comforts and luxuries. A striking similarity ran among them in that they seemed never to have had a sense of belonging, felt unpopular or ignored, were shy. They sought expression in a cause, and had never found it in the church. This understanding of them reveals that they are redeemable; they can be changed -- in fact they have changed. They can be challenged by the gospel of Christ and the Word of God through the church, when the gospel lays hold of them and gives significance to their lives.

2) A second tremendous difference between the Christian and the communist is our thought about God. Communism teaches that there is no God. If we are going to have an abundance of things, we have to take care of ourselves, for no one else will. The Christian says, “There is a God who cares and works with men. He is the ultimate reality, and His will shall be done in earth.”

3) Another difference is in the matter of reward. Communism says that adherence to the system pays off with more things and higher standards of living. Christianity says that one is good not because it “pays.” If we are good, it is because good is the way to be. Virtue is its own reward. And we do not go to church, and learn to live the ethical and moral life, because it pays off materially. We do not develop good character because it if financially rewarding. We seek the supreme good for our own life and for the lives of others because that is, in itself, worth the supreme effort.

4) Fourth, we differ in the means we employ. We do not liquidate Kulaks who refuse to collectivize their farms, nor send peasants to Siberia because they want land reform. The Christian, in order to be consistent, does not sacrifice others, but takes upon himself the cross. We believe that we are accountable for our acts. The Christian believes that one submits to the purpose and will of God, so far as he can know it, even when doing so looks foolish in the light of human events. He leaves the results to God, who is ultimately responsible.

These, then, are some of the differences between the communist and the Christian. They are differences in theory. What of the practice? For one thing, the communists are having difficulty in eradicating belief in God, particularly in soviet Russia, but elsewhere as well. That is their problem.

But for us Christians, our practice is our sobering problem! For we veer a lot closer to the practice of the communists than we like to admit. We condemn the atheistic materialism of the communists. From our point of view this is a devastating criticism of their order. But the sword has two edges on it, and we need to look at our own materialism and our own lack in religious belief and practice.

Do church folk customarily ask the questions about people that reveal their sensitivity of mind and depth of soul? Or do they ask “what kind of car does he drive? to what clubs does he belong? how much did he pay for his house? or his suit?” Do we respect science in our land because it is a way of knowledge and a discovery of truth? Or do we seek it for giving us gadgets? The worship of things is not confined to geographic boundaries.

Much of what passes for “religion” is the learning of techniques for recognizing God as chaplain or ball boy --- ways of getting God to do what we want. That kind of God does not exist! God is our Father; we are here to search for his mind and will! And when we have sensed some of His mind and will, it is for us to carry it into the economic and social and political decisions that we have to make were we are.

Do we trust in the power of good, or in the power of violence? The communist frankly chooses the “power of the bomb over the power of the Bible.” Do we not try to choose the power of both? Do we really believe in good means as well as good ends? Or are we prone to believe, still, that evil means are sometimes justified in the hope of arriving at good ends?

1) Christians are the hope of the world so long as they are true to the mission of Christianity. And we are true to this mission when we try to do away with the foul conditions which breed a receptivity to communism. As long as there is poverty, disease, exploitation, favoritism and denial of opportunity to some, we Christians have our work to do. The communists wax indignant over these conditions and want to avenge them. Christians need not avenge them; Christians need to attack them with compassion. Must not the Christian identify himself with the suffering folk of the world in order to help in healing man’s distress? This is the way of compassion and redemption.

2) Further, the Christian churchman needs to declare that, above all human authority, is a supreme authority that is just and good; and that His loving will brings all systems into judgment.

3) Third, Christians need to believe and teach that all people are of a common humanity, and that they have common physical and spiritual needs.

4) Fourth, as a church we need to practice a patient and persistent ministry of reconciliation between groups which are in enmity, whether by reason of social or economic status, race creed, nationality, political belief or other division. The church needs to effort to help mankind to be of one spirit.

So far as we Christians are concerned as individuals, there is no substitute for commitment. Our theories and concepts do not make us Christian. Our commitment to act upon our beliefs makes our Christianity. Love, the idea, becomes flesh in our Master and in any of us who are his disciples.

And, further, there is no substitute for zeal. Without zeal, there is no victory. And the channel for expressing the Christian zeal is his church. The Scouts, the Red Cross, the PTA, the Little League may be worthy branches, but the church is the tree. And if the tree withers and dies will leaves and buds sprout on the branches in the spring?

Third, there is no true Christianity without discipline. Discipline may mean doing the greater thing when the lesser is more alluring. It may mean sacrificing when it is not convenient. It means believing in the great good, when the despicable evil is against it; loving, when the loveless and unlovable are all around us.

Where communism wins, it is not because communism is right, but because if is zealous and disciplined.

Where Christianity loses, it is not because it is wrong, but because Christians are lukewarm. Where it wins, and where it liberates the peoples of the world, it is because it is zealous about the right, and where disciplined and dedicated Christians are committed to Christian action.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, September 18, 1960.