November 1932
T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
492
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR . . . B y M ary G. G oodner
DECEMBER 11, 1932 WORLD BROTHERHOOD L u k e 10:25-37 Suggestions for the Meeting “ Come, we that love the Lord, And let our joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord, And thus surround the throne.” Silent Prayer—Close by singing softly the chorus of “Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow.” Hymn—“ We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations.” Special Music—Song or instrumental number, by a foreigner, if possible. Leader’s Message. Two-minute Talks by Previously Ap pointed Speakers: What foreigners live in our town, and how do they live? How may we show friendship to for eigners ? What fine traits have you noted in foreigners ? Hymn—“ Blest Be the Tie that Binds.” Mizpeh Benediction. Appoint some member of the C. E. So ciety to ascertain the number of foreigners who live in your city, whether they have a C. E. Society, and whether they are mus ical. Invite them to come to your meeting; have them play or sing (if they can) ; show a friendly, cordial spirit; look for their finest traits; read up on their country so as to be able to talk interestingly to them. Above all, let them see Jesus in you. There can be no true brotherhood outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let every effort on your part be toward only one end—in troducing them to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Meditation on the Lesson This familiar story o f the Good Samar itan is most appropriate for our thinking on “World Brotherhood.” Intense race prejudice existed between Jew and Gentile, so much so that John tells us the “Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” Jesus taught for eternity, so, in this thrilling story, He taught most graphically our duty to any one and every one who needs our care, regardless o f race or con geniality. The Christian religion is the only one that teaches kindness and love to all. Pride and self-righteousness, both in the lawyer who tested Jesus, and also in all o f us who read the story, were rebuked by Christ. True love to our neighbor is not in “looking on,” however tender-heartedly, but in showing mercy, helping, and saving the sufferer. The Samaritan was said to have compassion on him. Another transla tion might be, “It cut him to the quick.” And all his subsequent actions were an ex pression of this inner feeling. The lesson comes home sharply to the self-righteous who seek to justify them selves; to the unsaved, who may remember who had compassion on them to rescue them; to the believers, who should learn to “go and do likewise.” Quotation in Concert—
is the only real unity, the only possible un ity, the only unity that is of value. “As” He came, “ so” He sends. Have we gone? The Christian life has two impera tives : “ Come to me” and “Go and tell.” Illustrations I. S e c t a r ia n is m R e b u k e d On the boat coming from America, a man said to me, “My church is the church.” I replied, “Go, fill your bath tub with salt water and say, ‘This is the ocean.’ ” — G y p s y S m i t h . II. A P l a c e o f H a r m o n y It has been said, whether by poetry or science matters not, that there is a certain point in the upper air, in which all the dis cordant sounds of the earth—the rattle of wheels, the chime of bells, the roll of the drum, the laugh of the child—meet and blend in perfect harmony. Surely it is more than a pleasant conceit that, when once lifted up in fellowship in Christ Jesus, we meet in a high and heavenly place where all things are gathered together in one. — W il l ia m A d a m s . And graven on Thy hand. Beyond my highest joy, I prize her heavenly ways, Her sweet communion, solemn vows, Her hymns of love and praise. — D w ig h t . II. N o n - C h u r c h o r N o n -G o in g ? We talk about the non-church goers; but what about the non-going church? — G y p s y S m i t h . III. T h e C h u r c h ’ s O n e F o u n d a t io n She is His new creation By water and the word; From heaven He came and sought her To be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died. Discussion Material I L o ve T h y C h u r c h I love Thy church, O God 1 Her walls before Thee stand, Dear as the apple of Thine eye, The church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord:
DECEMBER 4, 1932 HOW CAN WE WORK FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY? J o h n 17:18-23; 1 C o r in t h ia n s 3:6-8 Suggestions for the Meeting Hymn—“’Tis the Blessed Hour of Prayer.” . _ Hymn—“What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Prayer. Scripture Lesson-Read responsively. Solo—“Cling Close to His Hand.” Roll Call—Scripture verses by all. Leader’s Message. Round Table Discussion: Should Christian unity be spiritual or organic? What kind of unity did Jesus speak of in John 17? Hymn—“All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” Psalm 133—In concert. Meditation on the Lesson “As”—“so”—they challenge the very fiber of our being. Jesus here declares the very purpose of our lives in this remark able comparison. It is a most precious passage and one peculiarly appropriate for Christian Endeavorers, whose aim is “to do whatever He would like to have me do.” Jesus tells in this verse how we may ful fill that aim. It is a marvelous privilege He bestows on His disciples, when He says that just as God sent Him into the world to save it from sin, to bring men to a knowl edge of God the Father, so He, Jesus, is sending His disciples into the world to ful fill the same mission, to carry on the same work, to preach the gospel, to help the poor, to relieve suffering, to lead men to God. “How could He send them into the world,” says Godet, “when they were in the world already? Because He had raised them to a sphere above the life of the world, and it was thence that He sent them into the world, as really as He had Himself been sent from heaven.” Would that Christians had done “so” ! Christ then prays for the unity of His fol lowers, in that wonderful twenty-first verse: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” The true unity of the church, here por trayed by Christ, would soon convince an unbelieving world of the reality and power o f the gospel. “I in them, and thou in me,”—it is the unity o f the vine and its branches which Jesus had just told them about in John 10. We see clearly by this picture what is the real unity of the church. Each branch has its individuality, is really a miniature vine. No two are alike. They are of different sizes and shadings, in different positions, some higher and some lower, some bearing larger clusters than others; and yet all are one in the vine, Christ Jesus—His life, His love, His Spirit flowing through all alike, and all bearing heavenly fruit. This
Yet she on earth hath union With God the Three in One, And mystic sweet communion With those whose rest is won; O happy ones and holy I Lord, give us grace that we, Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell with Thee.
— S t o n e .
IV. A S a f e R u l e
In essentials, unity, In opinions, liberty, In all things, charity.
— S ele c te d .
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