\ \ ) V ^ c C \ 1 1 Christ knew that men often were unreliable as fre quently they labored under great delusion and a false sense of their virtues. Jesus had no such delusions. He knew the fickleness of the crowd which could cry “ Hosanna” one day and four or five days later cry “ Crucify!” It was the common people, stirred up by the nation’s leaders, who demanded that Christ be beaten almost into insensibility; and then the same common people, seeing Him in agony, started to weep for Him. But Jesus said, “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves.” Christ had no delusions about virtue’s residing in the masses. Here is where the church, the ministry, the whole cause of God and government come into the picture. The common people must be evangelized, regenerated, taught in the ways of godly and moral living, if they are to be a stable force and not a destroying mob. The Common Man has uncommon power. World leaders know it. The dictators, the political charlatans, the deceivers, the rabble-rousers, the grafters and power-seekers always see a grand potential in the masses. Americans must know that in this crucial hour, for the strength or weakness of any democratic society is the lower middle class or the Common Man. So long as this middle class has freedom, so long as he seeks to live honestly in the fear of God, the nation is safe, even if corrupters sometimes get into high places. Awful tragedy with succeeding national calamity comes when the middle class lose their God-conscious ness and with it their moral integrity. Then they are fair game for the destroyers who know that they will fall for promises of prosperity and security to be handed them on a platter by a clever regime. That is happening today. In every nation, tyrants and woud-be tyrants seek to destroy faith in God in order that they may substitute themselves and their programs. If the middle class is put in bondage, it is easy for the destroyers to handle the comparatively few big fel lows in industry and religion. The only way to preserve democracy in America or anywhere is to keep the balance of power within the firm grasp of the middle class— the common people—and have that middle class divinely regenerated and taught godliness, morality, decency and democracy. If the common man is spiritually-minded, has faith in God, believes the Bible and in moral responsibility, the nation will be high and holy. If, on the other hand, he does not know these things, he may fall very hard for the philosophy of a government which offers secu rity : the promise of safety for everyone from the cradle to the grave. In many countries, this procedure has ended in criminal dictatorships. The Common Man must be brought to a saving knowledge of Christ. The Common Man’s great day was “ the Day of the Cross.” God never intended that the masses of men should be without the curbs, the checks and balances of redemptive religion. Just as an army of ants in the jungle can clean the carcass of an elephant more quickly than a dozen lions, so a thoughtless, godless, self-seeking, oratory-aroused, fact-starved, applauded, deceived and deluded electorate can destroy a nation more quickly than a succession of unprincipled kings. Of whom such is given, much is required. By God’s goodness and mercy America has (as yet) a free land, and the right and power to maintain it. But we can’t prosper if we take God’s gifts and turn our backs upon the Giver.
which is for God! History tells this truth. Who is the Common Man? He’s the farmer, pro ducing the world’s food; the factory laborer, producing the world’s goods; the office worker, the clerk, and the manager, directing the nation’s business. He’s the hus band, the father, and the provider for the millions of families. He’s the taxpayer who supplies revenue for government administration. He’s the man who suffers most from the graft, scandal and military waste. When government is corrupt, it is the Common Man who suffers. When war comes, the Common Man fights and dies for his country. He bleeds and dies for liberty and justice, and he bleeds and dies as well when wars of aggrandizement are created and when tyrants climb to power over the bleeding bodies of the slain. He fights and dies in what men call a just and holy war, but dies as readily in one (World War II) which Christian Commitment I had grown up in a home where church and the Bible were taken for granted. Beligion came very naturally to me. It was a religion of habit, not of commitment. I remember vividly the night in 1951, while I was sitting alone in my parents’ home. For months my words in the classroom as a teacher had been coming back to mock me. I was urging my students to stand up and be counted, but I was a silent and very comfortably seated Christian! That night in the quiet of my room, the choice was suddenly made very clear. I could not con tinue to drift along as I had been doing—going to church because I had always gone, or be cause every one else went. Either Christ was God, the Saviour and Lord, or He was not; if He were, then He had to have all my time, all my devotion, all my life! I made the choice that night. I realized too that this would mean many changes in my life. Prayer, for instance. If God hears prayer, then I must pray not only at 11 on Sunday morning, but first thing every morning, last thing every night, and many, many times between. And if the Gospel were true, then how could I be silent about it? It is one thing to talk about commitment, but it is another to demonstrate what it actually means! — M a r k O . H a t f ie l d , Governor of Oregon Winston Churchill called “ An Unnecessary War.” It is the Common Man and his wife and his family who have provided the 35,000 boys killed in Korea, and those now dying in Viet Nam. The Common Man tightens his belt and struggles on, meeting the high taxes and the needs of his family. Collectively, the faceless Common Man is today a hero, tomorrow, a fool; today a peaceful citizen, tomor row, a killer; this year, an angel of mercy; next year, a devil o f destruction. There’s only one place where the Common Man excels and that is when he trusts in God; when the common man puts his common and often calloused hand in the nail-pierced hand of Jesus Christ and walks life’s path way in His power. Then and only then can he be saved from tyrants and traducers.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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