37
January 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Lesson Story : Jimmie what do you call the place where you live? Home. Is there any difference between a house and a home? .(Review, emphasizing cheerful and loving obedience to father and mother.)
46. It was the temple, and while they must have found the ceremonials of the temple fulfilled in Christ and therefore no longer needed, they did not break away from this form of public woship. They were men and women of prayer, vs. 42. They remembered the hours of public prayer, and the times of private devotion were not fogotten. They remembered, in the breaking of bread, their Saviour’s death in their behalf,—verseS 42, 46. • f. Brotherliness. “Had all things com mon and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every (each) man had need,” verses 44,45. This was not community of goods as advocated by the Socialists. This was not a matter of necessity in any believer’s life. The pooling of possessions was a matter of free will on the part of the individual in behalf of some needy brother or sister. “Both those who had and those who had not were alike thè inheritors of a king dom which could only be entered by the poor in spirit—alike members of a family and household in which one was Master and all were brethren. In this poverty of spirit and this sense of brotherhood ‘the poor man knew nò shame, the rich no haughtiness.’ ” g: Praisefulness. We coin •a word to express the thought. Hallelujah folk they were. Not lip. service, but the attitude •and the expression of the heart. They lived and moved in the spirit of praise. h. Gladness of heart. T h e y were Christians of the bright and shining face. They rejoiced in the Lord, because the joy Of the Lord was in their souls: What a church with sueh a membership ! B. The Practical Results, a. F e a r came upon all. vs. 43. b. Many signs and wonders were done by the Apostles, vs. 43: c. They had favor with all the people. If the membership of the Church today revealed the characteristics of the believ ers of that early day, as noted above, there would be far less ground for just criti cism on the part of the world. d. Souls were s a v.e d and members added to the company daily. It must be noted that it was the Lord that saved and added, But it was to a company of real Christians and working through such that He was able to accomplish.
means the glorifying, not of ourselves; but of the heavenly Father. Light dis pels darkness. L i g h t points the way. Light attracts attention. T h e shining disciple does his part to bring day where there is spiritual night. He makes plain the path for some benighted soul to follow back to God. He turns the attention of men toward God. And in so doing he is lost to view himself. God is manifested. The duty is clear. “Let the lower lights be burning.” “Brighten the corner where you are.” “Ye are salt. Ye are light” The, verb is present tense—“are.” The disciple has come to be. He has a present duty. Not in the far tomorrow, not in some far land, but here and now he is to be a sweetening, preserving influence. He is to shine in behalf of the Father. PART TWO Acts 2:42-47—Workers in and. through the Church of Christ -—or Being and Doing in Practice. The Setting. —We have just had to do with words of Jesus to His disciples. He spoke as their teacher. N ow we have disciples of Christ-—possibly s o m e of those that heard His S e r m o n on the Mount, and with them others—living the lesson. Two years and more have passed. The crucifixion, t h e resurrection, t h e ascension, have taken place. Pentecost has just been. To the one hundred and twenty of the upper room have been added the three thousand new believers of that great day of the Spirit’s outpouring and following Peter’s evangelistic message. From whatever quarter these converts came as individuals this augmented com pany is still in Jerusalem. And under inspiration Luke gives us a revealing and attractive picture of the life of the Apo stolic Church in those earliest days of the Christian era. H e r e is a message needed by the Church and its membership today. The Picture. A. T h e Characteristic of those believers. a. Steadfastness. “Strong adherence to,” is the root meaning of the word. vs. 42 “They continued steadfastly.” They were not spineless, wobbly Christians, They had convictions. They stood for them. They had set out on a course. They held to it without wavering. b. Teachableness, vs. 42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doc trine—(teaching).” They had their own mind but saw in the apostles spirit- filled men and accepted their teaching as the Word of God. Disciples today should be teachable. But let the teachers be first Spirit-filled. c. Unanimity, vs. 42 “The fellowship.” vs. 44 “were together and had all things common.” There is no evidence at all of a “church row.” Apparently t h e r e were no divisive cliques. ‘ d. Singleness of heart, vs. 46. The root meaning of the word is “a field without stones.” How suggestive of the one objective that held sway in those Christian lives. W e a r e reminded of Paul’s “this one thing I do.” ' e. Loyalty to the stated observances of the faith. They went to church, vs.
Today we are going to hear about the disciples and others who believed in Jesus, and how they praised God in the early church. I Wonder why we go to church ? As we learned in our story last week wh?n we say church, we are liable to think of the building, but the real meaning of church is not
a building, but the people in the whole world who are saved ; those who believe in Jesus as their Saviour. The people who believe in Jesus go to the church building to worship the Lord Jesus. We can worship Him in our homes, but the Bible tells us to come together and sing our. praises and worship. Those who truly love Jesus find great joy in gathering in the Lord’s house on His day to worship Him and show their love. After Jesus arose from the grave and went back to heaven, the disciples went among the people and preached Jesus to them. ¡They did not have an easy time, for in those days, those who did not be lieve in Jesus, treated the believers cruel ly and persecuted them in every way they could. The believers often met in secret to worship. They were not ashamed of Jesus,:but the rulers gave permission to the leaders of the enemies of Jesus, to put the Christians in prison, and often they were put to death. How we ought to praise the Lord for the great blessing we have in our land; we can worship and praise God at any time and anywhere. Our story tells us that these early Christians were full of praise and were true to God’s Word. O, boys and girls if we are true to God’s Word, the Bible, we too will praise Him and be full of joy, even when we have hard things to do ; when we can not have our own way. I wonder how many of us show a smil ing face when father or mother tell us we cannot do something we very much wished to do ? Did you know the Bible tells us to praise' Him at all times ?; (1 Thess. 5: 18). Now here is something else we learn about the early church. There were peo ple saved every day, and they were added to the church. That ought to be true of all true churches today, and it is true when the people belonging to the church love the Lord Jesus with all their hearts. Then they will obey God’s Word by doing what it says, and they will be happy, and our hearts will be so full of praise we just cannot help praising God wherever we may be. We will tell others what a won derful Saviour Jesus is. When Christians live a life of praise, it will make those around them hungry to know Him too. Let us just stop now and see how much w;e haVe to praise Him for. First of all we praise God for Jesus who died to save us from our sins. We praise Him for our parents, our homes, our schools, our health. There is a place and work in the church for every one who be longs to the Lord Jesus. Do you really belong to Him? (Prayer).
THE LITTLE FOLKS B y M abel L. M errill Praising God in The Church Matt. 5:13-16; Acts 2:42-47.
Memory Verse: “Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as Should be saved.” Acts 2 :47. Approach: A few days ago I was in a home, and a little canary bird was in a cage. He was not making any noise at all, until several gathered around the piano and began to sing. In a few moments he too began to sing. He enjoyed the music and had a part in it. Whenever I hear the little wild birds singing from the tree tops, I love to think of them as praising God their creator. The Bible tells us praise glorifies God. (Prayer.)
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker