June 1931
278
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
What was the one great object of the dis persed disciples ? Is this the responsi bility of every Christian? 11:19-21. To whom was the gospel first preached? When and why was it extend ed to others? What was the response to the preaching? * * * G olden T e x t I l lu s t r a t io n Several years ago, when a railway train was approaching the city of Mont real, the engineer saw a large dog on the track, barking furiously. The whistle was blown, but still the dog stayed on the track. Just as the engine came upon him, he crouched down,and extended himself across the track, where he was struck by the locomotive and killed. The engineer, looking toward the front of his engine, saw a piece of white cloth fluttering in the wind. He discovered that it was part of a child’s dress. After backing the train, he found not only the mangled body of the dog, but also the body of a little child. The child had evidently wandered along the track and had fallen asleep there, while her faithful companion, see ing the train approaching, had done his best to save. her. Failing, he had covered her with his own body and had died with her. He had been “faithful unto death.” * * * The Gospel Spread by Persecution Acts 8 :1, 4-15 Memory Verse. —“They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preach ing the word” (Acts 8 :4). Approach .—Just as His enemies made trouble for Jesus and His disciples as soon as they found the people believing in Him, so they did with the early Chris stay in the places where they lived, work ing happily together. They had to flee across the country and hide. They had to have their meetings in secret. Some times they were killed for believing in Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus’ enemies had thought that they had put an end to Him when they crucified Him, so they thought they had put an end to His followers by stop ping them from meeting together, and by making them flee for their lives. But they forgot one thing. They forgot that God was taking care of His own people. Every time that'they made a Christian run away from his home town, they were sending farther into the world the Christian mes sage that he preached. When the priests had told Peter to stop preaching about Christ, he had answered, “I can’t help but tell those things that I know are true.” The other Christians preached this message, too, so that, instead of just the people around Jerusalem hearing about Christ, the Christians weht all up and down the land, even to the farthest parts, telling the story of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had died for them. And many believed. O / V l S l O * tian church. The priests wanted to harm the people who believed the preaching of the disciples. Lesson S t o r y.-if ? This meant that the Christian p e o p l e (they were called Christians because t h e y believed in Christ) could not
BLACKBOARD LESSON
gospel makes more progress under such conditions than it does when there is no opposition. Forcing doors for the en trance of the gospel, by means of govern mental permits or the armies and navies of so-called Christian nations, does not always further the cause of Christ. It is always true that “the blood of the mar tyrs is the seed of the church.” Missionary annals abound in illustrations of the fact that times of persecution are inevitably times of real conversion and revival. 2. By Jewish prejudice. Saul of Tarsus was a man of intense zeal. This spirit carried him far in his persecution of the saints. The bitterness of his wrath is seen in that it was ex tended even to the women. When religi ous zeal fires a man’s blood, he stops at nothing. But there may be “zeal without knowledge.” The intense power of such enthusiasm is nowhere better shown than in this incident. It is not confined'to the early church. Persecution of believers has by no means ceased. Legalism every where and always opposes the doctrine of salvation by grace alone. But although the Saints may be scattered abroad, the gospel message is not silenced; rather, it is spread to wider areas. This principle has been seen throughout the history of the church. 3. By God’s permission. Behind all the rage of man or of Satan, God stands ready to bring good out of the evil. There can never be any persecu tion of the saints except as He permits it. When the enemy attempts to hinder the progress of God’s work, he oversteps himself, as the incident in today’s lesson clearly reveals. Humanly speaking, if the disciples had been allowed to remain un molested in Jerusalem, the truth would not have spread far beyond that city’s gates. But God would have the gospel' preached far and wide. How was this ac complished? With the final rejection of the nation, He allowed persecution to break out. The disciples were scattered. They realized that their one business on earth, whether at Jerusalem or elsewhere, was to preach the Word of God. "V^ill the church of today, free from the oppres sion that the'first Christians endured, be more hesitant than they in proclaiming the Word? Will she wait until God al lows persecution to recur in order to stir believers to action and to the accomplish ment of His work? Recent events in China seem sadly to suggest that the lat ter may be true. The Lord’s commission provided that the disciples should be His witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but “in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” After they had borne witness in Jerusalem, they were forced to these other sections. It was not long until they became so filled with the spirit of evan gelism that they went to all parts of the then known world. As ’they went, they had just one thing to give—the Word of God. They did not stop to alleviate the physical suffering of the people nor to give them schools and colleges. They recognized that their greatest need was the Word, and they preached it wherever they went. III. T h e S pread of T h e T r u t h (11: 19-21). 1. The farther outreach. Some of the -disciples who had left
Jerusalem did not stop in Judaea or Sa maria but made their way farther afield to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch. The persecution which resulted in such widespread sowing of the seed, the Word of God, could scarcely be called a calam ity. It is to be noted that these disciples, for the most part, preached only to Jews. This reveals the fact that the church and her peculiar mission were still unknown to them. Some, men of Cyprus and Cy- rene who were perhaps less bound by Jerusalem training, made bold to preach to the Grecians at Antioch. 2. The hidden reasons for the spread of Christianity. First, there was the new instinct of the life within. Life always desires expres sion. How could this new nature be bet ter manifested than by making Christ known? One of the proofs that a person is born again is found in a desire to give expression to that new life which has been imparted. Second, there was the love of that new life. Love, like life, demands expression. In what better way could the love of these early Christians be shown than by giving to others that which they had found so precious? Third, there was the light of that new life. Like life and love, light must mani fest itself. Having received the light of the gospel, these believers could not con fine its beams to their own lives and com munities. 3. The manner o f their work. The gospel witnesses did their work with faithfulness, as those who had a message to deliver; with confidence, as those who knew beyond peradventure that what they preached was eternal tru th ; and with tenderness, as those who would beseech men to be reconciled to God, knowing the fearful consequences of the rejection of the message. The hand of the Lord was upon them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Thus the persecution was overruled by God to the furtherance of the gospel, the upbuilding and strengthen ing of the saints, and the increase in the number of believers. * * * L e ss o n Q u e s t io n s 7:59 to 8:1. With what event did the testimony to Israel as a nation come to a close? What spirit did Stephen mani fest? What upheld and strengthened him (7 :56) ? What did Saul of Tarsus do at the stoning of Stephen (7 :58; 8 :1) ? 8:1-4. Was Saul zealous, but mistaken? Are there many like him today? Did the persecution in which he joined tend to confine the gospel or to extend it? Did God permit this? Why (1 Tim. 2:4)?
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