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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
August, 1933
F R O M T H E B O O K OF L I F E A N D E V E R Y D A Y L I F E
B y R oy T almage B rumbaugh of people on one o f these rest days, or will the church and Bible schools be unable to accommodate the crowds on Sundays? Do mental growth and physical health result from increased leisure Is spiritual de velopment more closely associated with work, or with ease? “Jesus answered them, My Father work- eth hitherto [until now]; and I work [now]” (John 5:17), The Old Testament dispensation was the age of the Father. He worked, He spake. Then the Son came into the world. “ God [the Father] who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1, 2). The Son spake as never man spake. He worked as .never man worked. Notice in the Gospel of Mark how the Servant of Jehovah leaped from task to task. Straight way this—immediately that! So weary was He from incessant labor that He once fell into a sound sleep on the hard boards of a fishing boat. He went about doing good. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Christ is the only being who could say to the Father, “I have fin ished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). The Holy Spirit works now. He ap plies the finished work o f Christ. “And he [the Holy Spirit], when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and o f righteousness, and of judgment. . . He [the Holy Spirit] shall guide you unto all truth: . . . he shall glorify m e: for he shall take o f mine and shall declare it unto you” (John 16:8, 13, 14, R. V .). The activities of the Trinity are contem poraneous and also cdnsecutive. When the Father works, the Son and Spirit also work; yet the work of the Father is con spicuous in the Old Testament, the work of the Son is conspicuous in the Gospels, the work o f the Spirit is conspicuous from Pentecost to the return of our Lord. The Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, works. The time for good works is short. We are saved by grace through faith. We shall be rewarded according to our works. W ork! for the night cometh when no man is able to work. FAITH—“ The multitude w o n d e r e d ” (Matt. 15:31). Miracles in creation, provi dence, and in the realm of grace bring
WORK—“And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep [preserve] it” (Gen. 2:15). God created Adam
SAVE—The outlook of most people is limited, even in the spiritual realm. The individual says, “ Save me.” Parents say, “ Save our family.” The mayor says, “ Save our city.” - The governor may say, “ Save our state.” The President wants to “save the nation.” However, those with the vision of Christ pray, “ God, save the world.” Most missionaries have world- vision. Should any Christian have less? JUST TWO—“If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Fa ther which is in heaven.” There is strength in togetherness. There is power in agree ment. Spiritual unity accomplishes the im possible. The Spirit reigns where harmony prevails. Where two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name, there is He in the midst of them. The prayer of one Christian is powerful. Power is multiplied when two Christians get together in Christ’s name. Churches and Sunday- schools are deficient in power because prayer has, in many cases, no part in the program o f institutions calling themselves by the name of Christ. ) gelists frequently addressed the men at the noon hour. Personal Workers multi plied in the mill. Christian literature was prayerfully and systematically distributed. Profanity was not common; prayer had a place. Agitators came from afar to organ- . ize the workmen into a rebellious union. The men did not respond. Those who were not Christians among them respected the boss. The regenerated loved him. This was indeed a Christian plant and favored by God. ■ But alas! A change—worldliness came in ; spirituality went out. Sabbath desecra tion usurped a commanding place in the program of the new regime. Evangelists were taboo. The morale of the plant al tered in a few months. The industry turned sour. The change o f key was from en thusiastic sharp to sullen flat. Smoldering rebellion supplanted spontaneous loyalty. If there were not so many mouths to feed, many of the employed would desert in- stanter. Profanity has greatly increased among the bosses, and so among the men. A pagan program has replaced Christian principles. . . . Injustice holds the scepter now, but we’ll see what we’ll see—at the judgment day, if not before. CHRIST IN; THE FACTORY—There is an industrial plant which was blessed by God for years because of spiritual leader ship. T h e Christ- spirit was found in the father and then in a son. Prayer saturated the plant. Laborer a n d boss of worship. Evan
in His image. The first man was per fect in all his parts. He looked like God.
The surrounding conditions of this per fect man were flawless. Organism and en vironment conformed. The perfect man was commanded to work. There could have been no fulness of satisfaction and no depth of contentment without it. Man ual labor was honored in Eden. Adam, however, did not only exercise his mus cles. Man had a mind as well as a body. When Adam “gave names to all cattle, and to the foul of the air, and to every beast of the field” (Gen. 2:20), he was doing mental work. The mind needs exercise. Brain work is pleasant and profitable. Adam possessed not only a body and soul, but also a spirit. When he com muned with God, his spirit was function ing. Prayer is spiritual exercise. Interces sion is the highest and hardest o f all work. Work, spiritual, mental and physical, was crowned in the garden of God by the God of the garden. “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Any part o f man not exercised deteriorates. Work—the whole manl “ Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work” (Ex. 20:9)t. . Soviet Russia introduced a five-day week o f labor. This is not surprising, for com munism is not only antichristian, but anti- theistic. The implication o f the fourth command ment is that the seventh day of rest can not really be enjoyed unless it be preceded by six days of labor. The Soviet’s scheme, if successful, will do away with the Lord’s Day. Some will be resting every day. No majority will be resting any one day. Domestic unity will be destroyed. Church and family life are threatened. Russia is imitating the at tempt of atheistic France during the Revo lution. France failed. May Russia’s sub tle scheme meet the same fate. America also seems to be revising this commandment making it to read: “ Five days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.” The Federal Bureau of Labor reports that thirty per cent of workers in the automo tive industries were on the new basis in 1929. This percentage has greatly in creased during the last three years. The increasing demand for the shorter week raises a number of questions. If all work ers are finally given the five-day work week, will they be satisfied therewith ? Will the majority make profitable use of the increased leisure? Will the highways, ball parks, and amusement centers be full
e x clam a tio n s o f gratitude from the lips of those whose e y e s h a v e b e e n opened to see God everywhere. F aith
sees farther than a telescope, beholds more of life’s minutia than a microscope, and removes bigger mountains than an earthquake.
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