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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
January 1926
First Th ings First Rev. John Roach Straton, D. D., Pastor Calvary Baptist Church, New York City This New Year’s Message by Dr. Straion came to ns last year too late for the January number, bat we are 8**6 to f lTO Th5 t£ie. Space would not permit ns to print the entire sermon, but ™ L e choice portions which convey a greatly needed message for the church tor thecom ing J«ar. we pray that The King's Business Family may be constrained to put Christ and His commission to all believers, first) In their daily life.
things first, not to over-emphasize the temporal and the material, but to recognize that divine Providence who will surely care for us if only we put our trust in Him, and to place the emphasis upon the spiritual realities, which con stitute at last the true life of man. The Master summarized a ll.of the selfish and material istic forces, which war against the soul and clamor for our first allegiance, under the term Mammon. This is an
T E X T : "T h e re fo re tak e no thought, sayin g, W h a t shall we e a t? or. W h a t shall we drink ? or, W h erew ith a l shall we be clothed? F or a fter all these things do the Gentiles s e e k : for your heavenly F ath er know eth that ye have need o f a ll these things. But seek ye first the kingdom o f God. and his rig n t- eou sn ess; and all these things shall be added unto you. — M at thew »¿11-33. HIS text is a text of contrasts in choosing. It recog nizes that there are two worlds: the material and the spiritual. The great material world of sun and stars a n d rushing
Aramaic word, but it came most likely from the Hebrew "Amman”— m e a n l n g that which props, supports, or that which is r e l i e d upon and trusted. So the Master pic tured the rich fool, who filled his barns and said: “ Soul, thou hast m ack goods laid up for m any yearsi take th la e ease, e a t, drink and be m erry.” But Jesus’ answer to all of this was: “ Thou fo o l, th is n igh t th y son l sh all be required o f theei then whose sh all those things be which thou hast provided» • * • So is he that lay eth up treasure fo r h im self, and Is not rich tow ard Godt’ (L u k e IX t 1 », 11 ). Christ’s Challenge SO today, as in the past, Jesus Christ stands in the midst of the ages a n d s t r e t c h e s forth His nail pierced h a n d s and says: “ Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteous ness.” He tells us that there is another Kingdom more blessed and blissful far than that of the material. It pos sesses all that is good and worth while in the material kingdom, and yet it goes in finitely beyond these things, and bestows upon its subjects those s p i r i t u a l treasures which are unto everlasting life: the riches of hope, the far vision of faith, the warm
streams and flower-decked fields and waving forests, lies all about us; but stretching far beyond the limits of these things of sense, is the won derful world of the spiritual, where v i s i o n s of beauty charm us, g l o w i n g Ideals beckon us on, and Faith and Hope and Love abide. To some eyes and some hearts, indeed, only the mud of the real is here. But before others the entrancing country of the ideal stretches in its beauty far and away, with its rivers and continents of ethe real loveliness, with its moun tains of aspiration, with mys tic domes and spires of its palaces of dreams, and with all the radiant beings that live beneath its skies. Against Mammon
The great poet was right when he said: “ The world is too much with us” ; and these words of the Master, calling us away from the material things, come to us, in the midst of the turmoil and the selfish scramble of a material istic age, ringing in their beauty like golden bells. They call us away from anxiety about what we shall eat and what we shall drink and wherewithal we s h a l l b e _______________ clothed, and point us to the
Dr. Straton in the "ou tdoor pulpit” o f C alvary B ap tist Church, designed by h im self and built under h is direction. F rom it he has preached to great crowds in m any places on the streets o f New Y ork . M ay God m u ltip ly this kind o f preachers and preaching to the churchless crowds In our cities, in obedience to tils command, "G o— give the Gospel to every creature. It does not require much im agination to hear the sound o f H is voice from H eaven saying to this devoted servant, "L o , I am w ith you alw ays.
heart beat of love, the Inspirations of friendship, the Joy of fellowship with the great minds and the noble hearts of the past, opportunities to serve, the chance to do good, and, above all, harmony with God, a clear conscience, clean hands, a pure heart, a sense of forgiveness», cleansing from sin, peace that the world does not give— sweet, serene and abiding forever— and the high hope of heaven to crown all! These are the treasures which belong to the Kingdom of God. (Continued on next page)
bountiful providence of God, which provides even for the fowls of the air and decks the lilies of the field with a rarer raiment than even Solomon in all his glory ever knew. Jesus Christ was no apologist for laziness or indifference. He was Himself one whose hands were calloused with hon est toil. This text, therefore, is not an invitation to sloven liness. The Bible says, "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat.” We are to do our best in every field of useful endeavor, but we are, according to His teachings, to put first
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