May, 1934
197
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
NOTES on
B Y M a r y G. G o o d n e r
in obedience to the Lord’s command: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psa. 46:10). The Lord’s Day is also a time of special opportunity for service (Acts 20:7), as His people bear witness to Jesus Christ, “holding forth the word of life.” Some conscientious Christians, however, so fill the Lord’s Day with strenuous service for Christ, that they are exhausted when they return to their secular employment. And when that weariness causes an irritability which mars the testimony before unbeliev ers, has the true purpose of God been ful filled? Throughout the Lord’s Day, much of the Christian’s testimony before unbe lievers depends upon whether a normal, wholesome atmosphere and a joyous spirit are maintained.—S elected . IV. J esus C hrist as L ord of the S abbath He was the Judge to decide what con stituted a breach of it (Matt. 12:1-8). He has authority over it (Matt. 12:8). He breathed into it a liberty and love un known before (Matt. 12:13). After His resurrection, He ignored it as part of the law He had fulfilled. 1. The day of Christ’s resurrection (Mk. 16:1, 2; John 20:1, 19). 2. The day the early Christians assem bled for worship (Acts 20:7). Paul “preached” (Acts 9:20), “persuaded” (Acts 18:4), and “reasoned” (Acts 17:2) in the synagogues, but no mention is made of his worshiping on the Jewish Sabbath. —S elected . V. W hat D ay ? The Sabbath obligation is plainly and explicitly and unmistakably declared not to be binding upon the Christian (Col. 2: 16,17)........... The Christian is on resurrection ground, and the natural and proper day for him to keep is the resurrection day, the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day . . . . As I have gone on up to this point, some may have thought, have we no Sabbath at all? We have not, as a matter of law. We have, as a matter of privilege, and not so much a Sabbath as a Lord’s Day. In the Sabbath, rest is the predominating idea. In the Lord’s Day, resurrection activity, spiritual work, is the predominating idea. Each of the ten commandments is an expression of an eternal principle, and the eternal princi ple stands under the new dispensation as well as under the old. The great underlying thought of the fourth commandment is man’s need of physical rest and spiritual refreshment. The Sabbath was made for man. It was meant to subserve a need of man. In the Lord’s Day, that need is met in a higher way, and it is not law now, but privilege. “The sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath.” But, though it is privilege and not law, woe be to the man who despises his privilege. He will suffer . . . . But the Christian will not keep the Lord’s Day in the bondage of a servant under law, but in the joyous liberty of a child of God.—R. A. T orrey .
2. When the late Wilbur Wright was at the height of his fame, and was acclaimed everywhere as “the emperor of the air,” the King of Spain came to see his ma chine. An orderly said, “His Majesty would like to see you fly.” “I am very sorry,” was the reply, “but we never fly on Sunday.”—P ickering . 3. When Gladstone was asked to speak into a phonograph, that the record might be made for use fifty years hence, this was his message: “I owe my life and vigor, through a long and busy life, to the Sabbath day with its blessed surcease of toil.”—S elected . II. W esley ’ s S tandard John Wesley’s mother once wrote to him when he was in college: “Would you judge of the unlawfulness of pleasure, take this rule: Whatever weakens your reason, im pairs the tenderness of your conscience, ob scures your sense of God, or takes oil the relish from spiritual things—whatever in creases the authority of your body over your mind—that thing, to you, is sin.” This rule, applied as a test to any question that may arise in regard to the “lawfulness” of any Sunday recreation will be very helpful in your decision.—S elected . III. K eeping the D ay H oly The word “Sabbath” in the Jewish econ omy meant an “intermission”—a rest day, as well as a day on which the law of God was to be read to the people. Today the question arises: How may the day be kept holy—set apart, consecrated—to the Lord ? The Shorter Catechism answers: “The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy rest ing all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.” The value of fellowship with others who know the Lord Jesus Christ is one reason for our “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25). Then, too, part of the day needs to be set aside The Lord’s Day This is the day the Lord hath made, He calls the hours His own: Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad And praise surround the throne. Today He rose, our glorious Head, And death’s dread empire fell: Today the saints His triumph spread, And all His wonders tell. —T homas A. A rne .
JUNE 3, 1934 The Christian Use of Sunday E xodus 2 0 :8; M ark 2 :27, 28 Suggestions (or the M eeting
Hymn—“O Day of Rest and Gladness.” Hymn—“Safely T h r o u g h A n o t h e r Week.” Prayer. Scripture. Quartet—“Thy Word have I Hid in My Heart.” Leader’s Message.
Testimonies. Quiet Hour.
Hymn—“More Like the Master.” Benediction—Psalm 1, in concert.
M editation on th e Lesson A reading of the entire second chapter of Mark enables us to understand more fully our Lord’s declaration regarding the Sab bath. The passage contains a record of the objections through which the religious leaders manifested their hostility to Christ. Jesus, however, boldly used this opposition to bring out the real truth, and to sweep away the false interpretation and cumber some traditions which men had given to the Word of God. The Pharisees regarded themselves as the guardians of religion and morality. One of their hobbies was the enforcement of elaborate rules regarding the Sabbath day. The Pharisees had made the law so mechanical, so burdensome, that the living quality of the divine commandment was almost entirely hidden. The emphasis was on certain acts, and not on a right heart that wished to obey. The extent of the Pharisees’ interpreta tions was ridiculous. Thirty-nine classes of work were forbidden, and each of these had endless subdivisions. The disciples would have had the right to pluck grain to satisfy their hunger on any other day of the week. But on the Sabbath, their act was “not lawful,” for the rabbis had said that to pluck heads of grain is a kind of reap ing, and to rub them in the palms of the hands is a kind of threshing. Thus the Pharisees had regarded their interpreta tions as having authority equal to that of God’s laws in the Old Testament. Jesus, however, drew attention to the heart of the law in His matchless declara tion concerning it: “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sab bath : Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” In the purpose of God, the Sabbath is to serve the highest in terests of man—not to bind him in fetters of empty formalism.
Leader’s H elps I. T he L ord ’ s D ay 1.
A great statesman was requested to grant a business interview on Sunday. He re plied, “I must keep one day in which to realize what I am and where I am going.” —F arrar .
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online