80
February 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
8. What better investment can a Christian make of his time, talents, and strength than to put them into the busi ness of repairing lives which sin has broken (1 Thess. 2:19, 20)? 9. If the Christian worker cannot love the unlovely, his service will be fruitless. 10. The world is perishing because of misdirected love. Love of self is put first, and love of God is crowded out (2 Tim. 3:1-4). 11. Love is not merely an emotion. The will is also 'involved. We have no choice in the matter—we must love or be lost. 12. Jesus Christ is the true Good Sa maritan. He beheld sinners, not “half dead” but “dead in trespasses and sins.” He came all the way to them and saved them by His atoning death. He cares continually for those whom He has re deemed from death. He is preparing a home for them and will one day return to receive them unto Himself. * * * G olden T ext I llustration A man who prided himself on his mo rality and expected to J>e saved by it was constantly saying, “I am doing pretty well on a whole. I sometimes get mad and swear ; but then, I am perfectly hon est. I work on Sunday when I am par ticularly busy ; but I give a good deal to the poor, and I never got drunk in my life.” This man hired a Scotchman to build a fence around his pasture lot. He gave him very particular directions. In . the evening,, when the Scotchman came in from work, the man said, “Well, Jack, is the fence built, and is it tight and strong?” Jack replied, “I canna say it is all tight and strong, but it’s a good average fence, anyhow. If some parts are a little weak, other parts are extra strong. I don’t know but I have left a little gap here and there a yard or so wide ; but then, I made up for it by doubling the number of rails on each side of the gap. I dare say the cattle will find it a good fence on the whole, and will like it, though I canna just say that it is perfect in every part.” “What!” cried the man, not seeing the point. “Do you tell me that you built a fence around my lot, with weak places and gaps in it? Why, you might as well have built no fence at all ! If there is one opening or a place where an opening can be made, the cattle will be sure to find it and will go through. Don’t you know, man, that a fence must be perfect, or it is worthless?” “I used to think so,” said the man. “But I heard you talk so much about averaging matters with the Lord, that it seemed to me that we might try it with the cattle. If an average fence will not do for them, I am afraid an average character will not do in the day of judg ment.” ' Jesus’ Story of a Real Friend Luke 10:29-37 Memory Verse.— ^“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Lev. 19:18). Approach. —Last week we found a great crowd of people following Jesus. Many of them believed in Him and were His friends and wanted Him to help them. But some of the people who followed Je-
3. Contrasted choices.
a. Service without fellowship (40, 41)., b. Service and fellowship (39, 42). II. The Enemies at Jerusalem (11:42- 46;52-54). 1. Pharisees. a. Scrupulous in tithing, un scrupulous in oppression (42). b. Ambitious for preeminence (43). . c. Outwardly attractive, inward ly, corrupt (44). 2. Lawyers. a. Burden bringers, not burden bearers (45, 46). b. Hinderers, not helpers of those seeking light (52). 3. Combined opposition of scribes and Pharisees (53, 54). * * * A pproach to the L esson A S the ministry of the Lord Jesus * neared its close, lines were drawn very sharply between His friends and His foes. It was dangerous to be known as one of His disciples. It was popular, at least at Jerusalem, to be among those who hated Him. One of the homes that al ways welcomed Him, -and to which He frequently resorted, was that of Lazarus and his sisters at Bethany. Little is said about them in the synoptic Gospels. It has been conjectured that this silence was due to the fact that the Jewish officials were much enraged by the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead and sought to take his life. Perhaps that hostility re mained during the early days of the Christian church. John, who wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem, could safe ly tell the whole story of the events that centered at Bethany. The various ruling classes in Israel were united in their hostility to Jesus, although they had little in common in other respects. To these rulers, and not to the coinmon people in any special sense, may be charged the rejection of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus thoroughly exposed their perfidy and announced their doom. H« * * H eart of the L esson I. The Friends at Bethany (10:38-42). V. 38. Went on their way. Probably they were journeying to Jerusalem for the feast of dedication, an annual festi val which celebrated the rededication of the temple after it had been defiled by the
Grows More Interesting I would not be without T he K ing ’ s B usiness , for I find something more interesting in it from month to month. —From Wenatchee, Wash..
sus were like the man Simon who, you remember, invited Jesus to his house just because he wanted to see this Strange
Man whom every one was t a l k i n g about. In today’s lesson we have a man who was some what like Simon, o n l y t h i s ma n showed that he was not Jests’ friend, for he asked Jesus a question which he thought He could not answer.
Lesson Story. —He said to Jesus, “Tell me, who is my neighbor?” To answer this question, Jesus told him a story. (Read Lk. 10:30-37.) Now the man who asked Jesus the question was an Israelite, and the man in the story, who was robbed and wounded by the thieves, was an Is raelite, and the priest and the Levite were Israelites. In fact, the priest was the man who helped the people to worship God in the temple, and the Levite was the man who took care of the temple. You would suppose that surely they would help their own ! countryman. But they didn’t. They were afraid that the rob bers might come back, or they were in a hurry, or they didn’t want to be bothered, or perhaps there was still another reason. At any rate, they just left him there and went on. Then along came a Samaritan. The Samaritans and the Israelites hated one another. But this Samaritan was a good neighbor. He was a real friend. He saw a man in trouble, and his one thought was to help him. It didn’t mat ter to him whether he was giving help to a stranger or to an enemy. He gave help where it was needed and that, said Jesus, is being a real friend. March IS, 1931 Jesus Among Friends and Foes Lesson: Luke 10:38 to 11:54. (Lesson Text: Luke 10:38-42; 11:42- 46; 52-54.) Golden Text: “Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you” (John 15 :14). * * * L esson in O utline I. The Friends at Bethany (10:38-42). 1. Contrasted dispositions. a. Mary, the quiet pupil (39). b. Martha, the distracted worker (40). — o —
G r e e k conqueror, A n t i o c h u s Epi- phanes (cf. John 10:22-39). A cer tain village. This was Bethany (cf. John 11:1). The name means “house of dates.” The vil
lage was situated on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives. A small village still remains on its site, and a supposed grave of Lazarus is shown to tourists, Martha received him. Lazarus is not mentioned. He may have been at Jeru salem for the feast. Martha was probably the oldest of the three members of the household. Some have concluded that she was the widow of Simon the leper (cf. Matt. 26:6-13; John 12:1-8). But this idea is pure conjecture.
2. Contrasted things.
a. “Many things”—needful for the body (41). b. “One thing”—needful for the soul (42).
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