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TH E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1942
ary pioneer in Wèstern Canada, has found an enthusiastic biographer in Raiph Connor. He tells us that Rob ertson was “a man with the best of them’’ before he left his Ontario par ish for his heroic •struggle in .Mani toba. One Sunday evening a hotel took fire, and, the alarm being sound ed, Robertson dismissed his congrega tion, took command of the bucket brigade, and succeeded in saving" the building. When Robertson was ex hausted by the tremendous strain un der which he had been laboring, a bottle of brandy was brought him by the grateful landlord.. But Robertson seized the bottle by the neck, ¡^vupg it round his head, and dashed it against the brick wall, exclaiming, “That’S a fire that never can be put out.”— The Life of James Robertson, by Ralph Connor. Good out of the Earth G enesis . 1:11, 12, P salm 104:14, 15 MEMORY VERSE: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, . ; > and ft was so” (Gen. 1:11). APPROACH: A class of small chil dren were asked, “Where does our food come from?” One answered, “ From the.kitchen” ; another, “ From gives it to us, doesn’t He? LESSON STORY: There is a place in the Bible which says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17). Food is a good gift; we could not live without it. God knows that we need to be fed. The mother in the kitchen may think that she provides the food; the groceryman may think that he pro vides it; the farmer may think that he provides it; but we know that if it were not for God’s rain and God’s sun shine, God’s seedtime and harvest, there would be no crops. ~ It is because our food really comes from God that we bow our heads at the table to thank Him for it. Do you do this in your home? It is a fine thing for evéry Christian to do. God wants us to make good úse of the different kinds of food He gives us. The grape is one of God’s good foods that is sometimes used in a bad way. Nothing is better than a . . good bunch of grapes: They are lovely to. look at; they are pleasant to taste. But when men crush the grapes and make them into wine to get drunk on, the grocery store” ; and a third, “ From the farm.” Which one was r i g h t ? T h e y w e r e all right, weren’t they? And yet none was completely r i g h t. Could you tell me where we really get our food? God
again I do not think It can be proved that the wine of this verse' is “bev- • erage alcohol.” Of course, it may be fermented wine, but this is not cer tain; The Bible teaches that the “new wine,” as well as fermented wine, makes glad the heart of man. See Judges 9:13 in the American Revision: “ And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my new wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?” 3. “It is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes'strong drink: lest they drink, and forget the law" (Prov. 31:4; 5). In this passage the meaning is unmistakable: we are here dealing with “beverage alcohol” without ques tion. And this is, as I recall, the only place where the Bible recommends its use. We should note carefully the teaching. /I t . is very definitely not recommended for “kings” or “princes,” lest they forget the law and pervert justice. In other words, beverage al cohol is not intended for men who carry responsibilities which require clear minds and sound judgment. And this means that the vast majority of men should leave it alone. “Strong drink” was recommended for only one class of men: "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish" (V. 6). In other words, its use was lim ited to the relief of suffering, as to day we use opiates and anaesthetics. 4. The p a s s a g e in Ecclesiastes should be read in the American Re vision: "I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom" (2:3). Here we have the perfect picture of the so-called “temperate drinker,” an ideal set forth by the great Greek philosopher Aristotle. Solomon set out to drink “wisely.” He purposed to drink just enough to'cheer his flesh but not to go beyond the point where drink begins to depress instead of cheer. Not many men can stop here. But Solomon tried it, and found that in the end “ all was-vanity and vexa tion of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun” (2:11). Wine may cheer for a moment, but it cannot feed the spirit of man. Golden Text Illustration P roverbs 20:1 James Robertson, the home mission- BLACKBOARD LESSON
His conclusion was that "under the sun” all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Solomon made his mistake in the choice of the field of his investi gation; it had no heavenly aspect; in reality it left God out. How, then* could it yield true satisfaction? V. T he F alse P rophets (Isa. 56:12) It is well known that the influence of 'intemperance weakens the sense of proper proportion and gives false views to the intemperate persop. Isaiah denounced the false prophets who applied this principle to gain their own selfish ends. ^Not only then,- but also now, alcoholic beverages are often indulged in, simply because of the guile and falsity »of those who promise good by this means. VI. , T he W arning E xample (1 Cor. 10:6, 7) This passage has no connection with the scriptures we have considered earlier in this lesson,, bpt it is pre sumed the International Lessop Com mittee desired to use it to point out the dangers of intoxicating drink; When the apostle warns the believer that he must pot “lust after evil things,” as Old Testament characters had lusted, he is really saying that all the desires of the new creature in Christ Jesus are to be brought under the control of the Son of God. • It is unfortunate that, in days like these when the liquor traffic is such a terrible' menace to the well-being of society, the temperance teaching of the whole Bible should be largely overlooked, and efforts to modify the teaching should be advanced. Points and Problems 1. “And they drank, and were merry with him” (Gen. 43:34). The title given to this lesson by the Committee is “Discovering Why People Drink Bev erage Alcohol.” And I suppose this particular verse was chosen to show that men sometimes drink alcohol to make “merry.” There was plenty of drinking and drunkenness in Egypt, but sometimes men drank fresh and unfermented juice of the grapes. See Genesis 40:11 for what was evidently a custom in the palace of the Phar aohs. Here the butler tells his dream: “I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” Certainly this would not have been “ beverage alco hol” in any sense. And it is interest ing that archaeologists have found pictures in Egypt depicting this very scene, showing that it was a common custom. Therefore, we 'may observe that Joseph and his brethren may have been drinking “ beverage alco hol,” but this is not certain. 2. "And wine that maketh glad the heart of man" (Psa. 104:15). Here
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