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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
November, 1934
rived. But we at our best have no such authority. Our authority is wholly de rived. W e can claim no divine sanction for our message except as we speak ac cording to the objective W ord o f God. To put the Christian teacher in the same category with his Lord, in the matter of authority, is not Christian at all; it is the very essence o f modernism. 3. In Acts 18:28 we are told that Apol los, having been more fully instructed, “mightily convinced the Jews.” In modern English, the word “ convinced ” no longer accurately represents the Greek verb. He “ confuted ” them; that is, he argued them down publicly, so that they were unable to answer him. To confute is not neces sarily to convince. The Greek word oc curs only here in the New Testament. Golden Text Illustration In Tremont Temple there were two col ored men; one o f them was Robert. He was born in slavery, never saw the inside of a school, and learned to read only through great effort of his own. But Black Robert knew more about the Bible than any other man in Tremont Temple. Why? I will tell you why. For years, Black Robert never read his Bible except on his knees. For two, three, four hours at a time, he read the Bible on his knees. He never went to bed that he did not put the Bible under his pillow, and when they found him dead in a hospital ward, they found the Bible under his black curly head. I had the privilege o f being under one o f the great Hebrew scholars of his day. He thought Hebrew; he was satu rated in Hebrew; he was a gentle, Chris tian man, a great scholar with a great brain. He would come straight to his What Bible Character Does This Picture Represent? You should answerwithout hes itation, these and many other Bible questions. Mail the cou pon. We will send you free big newBulletin telling how Moody B ible Institute Home Study Courses have helped 53,000 men and women through directed systematic study of the Bible. Send now. No obligation. MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL Dept. 4208 • 153 Institute Place, Chicago* III. BIBLE TEST FREE Moody Bible Institute Correspondence School j Dept. 4208 *153 Institute Place, Chicago, 111. □ Please send me Free 5-Minute Bible Test, i □ I am interested in your Class Study Plan. ! Name_____........----- ...------------------------ ----------- j Street and No.-----------~-------------------- -— -----— | City----------------------------------------- --------------— I State..._____________________________________ ■
They listen to Christ’s words, they appear to take a delight in hearing, but like the man who built his house upon the sand, these foolish listeners do not follow the hearing with doing. As long as storms do not arise or winds blow, such careless individuals cannot be distinguished from others, but when the storms o f life come, the mere “ hearers” soon fall away, for they have no Rock foundation. On the other hand, the one who hears and obeys is like a house that is built upon the solid rock. It stands the stress of wind and storm. It may feel the force o f the storm, but it is not overthrown, because the foundation upon which it rests is secure. Christ’s teaching was with authority; He taught the truth of God, whereas the teaching o f others was necessarily largely made up o f what their predecessors had tau gh t. In His words, there was no error which investigation or research, however microscopic, would be able to discover. It is this fact that makes the Bible different from all other writings; other books .may appear today to speak the truth, but to morrow they may prove to be erroneous. But nothing can ever come to light which will disprove the truth o f the slightest word contained in the Bible. Christ’s words carried life in them— spiritual life for all who heard and did them. Such life enables one to stand all the storms that may sweep and all the winds that may blow. Eternity will reveal how stable are the words o f our Lord. Because the teaching of the Lord Jesus is eternal truth, giving eternal life, how foolish is the one who hears His words and refuses to do what they require 1 Such a hearer is like the man who builds his house upon the sand. To the passer-by, this house appears to be exactly like the one built upon the rock. But the unseen portion, the foundation, is vastly different, for this house rests upon sand. The foun dation is the important thing. And the Holy Spirit has said: “ Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). The world looks at the Superstructure o i our lives, but God looks at the foundation. Whatever may be the character of the life_ building we erect, if we have the Lord Himself as our foundation, we shall be counted wise, and we shall be safe when the storms of life rage. II. A pollos a s a T eacher (Acts 18:24-28). Apollos was well instructed in the Scrip tures (v. 24), that is, the Old Testament, and he was an eloquent speaker. He had been “taught by word o f mouth” (v. 25, R. V. margin), perhaps by John the Bap tist (19:1-4). He was also a diligent worker, fervent in spirit, and willing to be used by the Lord. The subject matter o f his teaching was just what he had received from John the Baptist, which was Old Testament truth. Apollos knew nothing at that time con cerning the gift o f the Holy Spirit. Like many teachers o f today, he was wholly occupied with the earthly life o f our Lord. What he taught was true, but it was not the whole truth. He had yet to learn much which would transform his teaching and enable him to take his place among those whose teaching concerned not only the Christ o f earth, but also the Christ o f heaven. Apollos was humble enough to recognize that he did not “know it all.” He was not, as so many persons are today,_quick to disparage others when they did not agree with him. He realized that his
“ Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word o f truth” (2 Tim. 3:15). knowledge was limited, and he was open for further instruction. For the help o f such a man, the Lord always has at hand those who have already been instructed, and are therefore able to increase the inquirer’s fund o f truth (v. 26). Aquila and Priscilla, who became the instructors of Apollos, did not occupy prominent places in the early church as far as men could see, but together they occupied a most important place in the eyes o f the Lord. It is not necessary that the Christian as a teacher should be a public character. All that is needed is that each Christian should be ready to pass on to others, in humility and tender ness, what the Lord has been pleased to reveal to that one. These two godly per sons took Apollos and taught him more fully in the things o f the Lord. Thus they had a part in all his future service. Apollos not only recognized his lack of full knowledge, but when he had re ceived further light, he became even more diligent than ever in giving out what he had learned (v. 27). Knowledge from the Lord is not given for selfish purposes or for personal enlightenment, but is to be passed on to others. In this respect, Apollos proved himself a true disciple and faithful teacher. The eloquence of Apollos, his grasp of the truth, and his understanding o f Scrip ture gave him a mighty ministry. He was able not only to help the Christians, but also to silence the objectors, and this he did by showing from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. The Christian who is humble enough to be taught, as Apollos was, will find that the Holy Spirit will enable him to teach others—whether publicly, as Apollos taught, or privately, as Aquila and Pris cilla ministered. All Christians should be teachers, and the private place is frequently more important and far-reaching in its in fluence than is the public office. Points and Problems 1. The title of this lesson is “The Chris tian as Teacher,” and the passages se lected for study are Matthew 7 :24-29 and Acts 18:24-28. One hesitates to devote valuable space to mere criticism, but with the New Testament full o f appropriate and unstudied material on the subject, it is difficult to understand just why these par ticular passages were selected. All Scrip ture is inspired and inexhaustible. But the Matthew passage deals with Christ’s teach ing, while the Acts passage presents the teaching o f a disciple o f John, who needed to receive further instruction to make him a Christian teacher in the fullest sense. Moreover, the Matthew passage has al ready been assigned for study once this year, in the February temperance lesson. 2. Matthew 7 :28 and 29 record the as tonishment o f the people because Christ "taught them as one having authority , and not as the scribes.” Now it seems to me that this statement presents a sharp con trast, rather than a comparison, between the teaching o f our Lord and that o f men, even though they be Christian teachers. The Christian teacher, like his Lord, must teach authoritatively. But there is a dif ference. Christ taught with authority; we teach by authority. The authority of Christ was inherent, intuitive, and unde
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