King's Business - 1929-01

January 1929

43

T h e

K i n g ' s

B u s i n e s s

February 24, 1929 Christian Growth

What thought more drear Than that our God His face should hide, And say, through all life’s swelling tide, “No time to hear!” —o— G olden T ext I llustration I f ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you (Jn. 15:7). When the famous missionary, Hudson Taylor, first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel, close to the Cannibal Is­ lands, the ship, was becalmed and was slowly drifting shoreward. Savages were eagerly anticipating a feast. The captain came to Mr. Taylor and besought him to pray for the help of God. “I will,” said Mr. Taylor, “provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.” The captain declined to make himself a laughing stock by un­ furling in a dead calm. “Then I will not pray,” said Mr. Taylor. The sails were finally put up, and while Mr. Taylor was engaged in prayer there was a knock at the door, of his stateroom. “Are you still praying for wind?” asked the captain. “You’d better stop. We’ve got more wind than we can well manage.” When they were but a hundred yards from shore, a strong wind had struck the sails. Mr. Taylor could not have taken the course he did, had he not been abiding in Christ and had he not been ready to obey the words of Christ. He was in such close union with Him that he had the mind of Christ in the matter. —o— T alking W ith O ur H eavenly F ather Matt. 6:5-13; Luke 18:15-18; John 5:14-15 We may be helped in our effort to present this lesson to the children with good effect if first of all we fix in mind for our own guidance, and then reduce

FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTL INE

Texts: Jn. 1:40-42; Mt. 16:15-18; Jn. 21:15-19; Lk. 2:40, 52; Eph. 4:11-16; Phil. 1:6, 9-11; 3:12-16; Col. 1:9-11; Heb. 6:1-3. L esson in O utline I. The First Work of an Early Dis­ ciple-Bringing his Brother to Christ. Jno. 1 :40-42. II. Peter’s Learning that Jesus is the Son of God. Matt. 16:15-18. III. The Special Duty of Feeding the Lord’s Flock Laid upon Peter. Jno. 21:15-19. IV. The Growth and Advancement of Jesus, an Example to all. Lk. 2:40, 52. V. The Things Necessary to Christian Growth Provided for All. Eph. 4:11-16. VI. Christ’s Perfecting His Saints unto the Day of Redemption. Phil. 1 : 6 -ll. VII. The Christian’s Pressing on to the Goal. Phil. 3:12-16. —o— TN order to simplify the teaching of this lesson, we suggest the following outline formed by the first letters of the word G IVE OUT—In testimony—In substance. R ENEW DAILY—By prayer—By study. O BEY LIGHT—In Life—In service. W IN OTHERS—P e r s o n a 1 work— Tracts. It is not likely that anyone will back­ slide who lives up to these suggestions. No Christian is perfect in this life (1 Jn. 1 : 8 , 10 ), and one of the worst mistakes the help of God, rises every time he falls and makes his stumbling stones paving stones in the way of spiritual progress. We are growing in grace when we do not allow yesterday’s mistakes to bank­ rupt tomorrow’s efforts. We may be sure we are going down hill when the way is all easy. It is well to remember that it is while we are resisting little temptations and living down our mistakes, that we are growing stronger. Before we consider our main points, there are two things of vital importance to be fixed in the mind: 1. We grow in grace, but we cannot grow into grace. “By grace are ye saved through faith. . . .............. not of works” (Eph. 2:8-10). A young man who sang in a choir was asked if he thought his singing in the choir would save him. “No,” he replied, “but every little helps.” He had the notion that he could grow into salvation. Scripture emphatically teaches that at this point, every little does NOT help. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his mercy he saves us, by the washing of regeneration " (Tit. 3:5). 2. A man can be saved in an instant, but he must grow by the year. Scripture one can make is to think he is never going to make any mistakes. A Chris­ tian is a born-again person who is never ashamed to confess when he has done wrong and who, by

PRAYER IS

A— SKING 1 S— - eeking ) Luke 11:9 K— NOCKING J Ye shall seek and find—When? —Jer. 29:13

Even children have no regard for one whom they believe to be insincere, and they know that God will have even less regard if prayer is offered apart from sin­ cerity. Both private and public prayer are here, the closet and the church; and though both are not performed in secret, both should be marked by sincerity. We are not heard for our “much speak­ ing,” so that there is ample room for the assurance that the heavenly Father ac­ cepts the brief simple prayer of a child; and an important part of our work is to see that the child does not outgrow this assurance in prayer when there comes the age of self-consciousness that would hin­ der its continuance. What a worthy work it is for teacher or parent to so guide the child that when this time comes they may prove to have been instrumental in keep­ ing . prayer in the child’s life, public prayer if you please, and to that extent help them to avoid the waste of a later prayerless youth and maturity. One can see that the whole lesson pe­ riod could be profitably spent in having the class grasp the scope of “Our,” the first word in the prayer. What does “Our” Father mean to them? As they look back to Christmas and ahead to Easter, do they realize that Jesus and “Our Father” were interested and are now interested in boys and girls of all classes and climes ; or do they really think in terms of “my” Father, which of course is all right in that one sense? Would it be difficult to have the class meet and kneel in prayer with children of other nations and races and really pray the Lord’s prayer, or is that difficulty one peculiar to adttlts? Each part of the Lord’s prayer may be used to deepen the impression made by the suggested use of the opening words “Our Father.” TELL ME, TEACHER : Should we boys and girls pray aloud in public, or just the older people? What are “hypocrites” and “vain repe­ titions” ? Will God do anything that I ask him? That Pharisee did a lot of things,-— why was his prayer not answered? TELL ME, CLASS: What do you think prayer is for? If you say “thank you” prayers at the table at home, can you not take your turn each Sunday here in class? Tell me just what your bed-time prayers mean ? Is the little foreigner who prays “Our Father” your brother or sister? If your little foreign brother or sister, here in America or across the seas, prays for what is good and right for them to have, do you suppose our heavenly Father wants the rest of us in His family to help answer those prayers?

to terms of the child’s understand­ ing, the idea that in Ma t t . 6:5-13 we have the self-adver­ tising hypocrite and t h e s e 1 f-effacing Helper, in L u k e 18:15-18 the proud Pharisee and the pleading publican, and in 1 John 5 :14- lS the confident pe­ titioner and the con­

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stant Provider. We may so relate these Scripture portions as to see progression, since in Matthew we see Jesus showing us how we should not pray and how we should. In Luke we are given concrete ex­ amples illustrating the Matthew passage, and in 1 John we have the confident, buoy­ ant heart of one who has come to an understanding of prayer. It will be well to get the child’s defini­ tion of prayer, to make it clear that prayer is more than asking for things; and to be prepared to give them our own definition in a way that will mean much to them. Hypocrite and Pharisee may be big words for children, but they will know what sham, false pretense, make believe, and boasting are; and they can under­ stand that if we cannot even deceive each other, who can see only the surface, then surely we cannot deceive God who knows the heart and from whom nothing is hid.

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