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T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
September 1932
Mk. 10:13-16. What did the Lord Jesus mean when, speaking o f little children, He said, “O f such is the kingdom of heaven” ? What is a child’s condition and dispo sition ? ________ Golden Text Illustration Rev. Henry Bromley, a city missionary in Brooklyn, New York, was one day pass ing through a dark hall in a tenement house. He saw through a broken door a woman and three children sitting at a bare table on which there was only a loaf o f bread. He paused an instant, arrested by the indications o f refinement. While he tar ried, they all bowed their heads and re peated in concert: “ God bless our going out, nor less Our coming in, and make them sure. God bless our daily bread and bless Whate’er we do, whate’er endure; In death unto His peace awake us, And heirs o f His salvation make us.” A few hours later, at a supper in the conference room of the church, he was called upon to ask a blessing. With the scene in the chamber o f poverty fresh in his mind, he repeated Prince Albert’s translation of the German hymn, the verse the poor woman and her children had spoken over the half-dime lo a f; and after ward he related the incident. A stranger who had come to the conference room with a business acquaintance, by what seemed the merest chance, could not keep silent. He inquired if the family lived far away. Being answered that they did not, he requested that they might go at once and see them. “ Long ago,” he explained, “in a country home in Scotland, my grandmother died, my sister married and went I know not where. It is years now since I lost sight of her, but always in my house that grace is said, and I feel that, if my sister is living, it is said in her home, too.” It was one of the remarkable instances o f God’s guiding hand. These two were the brother and sister. The woman had passed from a decent home to destitution in a garret. For a time, she ceased to say this grace taught her by her grandmother, but the words, “ whate’er we do, whate’er endure,” drew her back into the custom o f early years. God moves in a mysterious way, and with whatever form o f thanks we remem ber His benefits, there is a blessing certain. Memory Verse: “Jesus advanced in wis dom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Lk. 2:52). Approach: In the Bible we read about another happy family. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a young man named Tim othy, in which he mentioned Timothy’s Timothy’s Home 2 T im o t h y 1 :3-6
BLACKBOARD LESSON CHR.IS'TIAN/ F F F D M Y L A M B S ' /
was his mother. Paul wrote to Timothy telling him to remember the faithfulness of his mother and his grandmother, and to be as faithful as they. I think that the faithfulness of Tim othy’s mother and grandmother helped Timothy all through his life. Their prayers must have followed him wherever he was and helped him on the hard journeys which he took. He went with Paul on his long second missionary journey, and he was Paul’s faithful helper. Paul even sent him on a dangerous journey alone, and wrote about him that “he worketh the work o f the Lord,” and that “as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.” Paul said o f Timothy also that he sought to serve not himself but the Lord Jesus. So, while we don’t know a great many things about either Timothy or his home, we know enough to see that all of its members who were Christians did show their faithfulness to God. Outline and Exposition However numerous and varied the prob lems o f the modern home may be, per haps they all can be solved by the applica tion o f the three grand ideas presented in the passages chosen for our lesson today. I. S u p r e m a c y o f t h e L ord ( J o s h . 24:14, 15). In the previous part o f this twenty- fourth chapter o f Joshua, the writer re counted the dealings o f God with Israel. Growing out of those dealings comes the exhortation contained in our lesson. The people o f Israel were to acknowledge the supremacy o f God because of His sover eignty in choosing them from among all peoples (vs. 1-4), because of His power in delivering them from the house o f bond age (vs. 5-10), and because o f His grace in giving them the land wherein they dwelt (vs. 11-13). The proper recognition o f what the Lord is and has done leads to the type of service for which He waits. Joshua first called upon the people to fear the Lord (v. 14), not with the trem bling fear o f a criminal before a judge, but with the fear o f a child who desires above all things to please the parent. Thé faith that trusts in the promises o f God is the faith that issues in the fear which obeys the precepts o f God. Any other faith is dead (Jas. 2 :17-20) ; that is, it never was a living faith. In the second place, he called upon them to serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth (v. 14). The service which is acceptable is that which is rendered out of sincerity of purpose to please the Lord, and is per formed in reality, not in hypocrisy. Third, he exhorted them to put away all other gods (v. 14), whether they were the gods that their fathers had served or the gods they had seen in Egypt. The liv ing God was to be supreme in their midst, holding absolute and exclusive supremacy. Lastly, he called upon them to decide definitely what they would do, whether they would serve the true God or other gods. In the light o f all that the Lord was and all that He had done for them, there could be but one answer. On the same grounds, the Christian o f today is exhorted to serve the Lord. Because of all the Lord
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their faith. Timothy was a Christian. His mother was a Christian, and his grand mother was a Christian. But his father was not. He was a Greek. It was harder work sometimes to be a Christian in those days than it is now. Christians were often persecuted and hated. But in spite of this, Timothy’s grandmother was a faithful Christian; so
OCTOBER 23, 1932 THE PROBLEMS OF THE MODERN HOME J osh . 24:14, 15; M k . 10:2-12; E ph . 6:1-9
Lesson Text: Josh. 24:14, 15; Eph. 6: 1-9. Golden Text: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). Problems of the Palestine Home J J |- h il e w e a r e thinking o f the prob- f i l M lems o f the homes in our country, suppose we consider some of the problems o f the homes in Palestine. From among the great number o f pressing prob lems, we shall choose three: ignorance and
superstition, sa n ita tion, and the treat ment o f women. Ninety per cent of the n a tiv e s ca n n o t read or write. One who can is regarded with great esteem by the others. In fact, he is in a special social class, and is called an
affendi. Such ignorance ,upon the part o f the masses makes them easy prey for fa kirs, magicians, and false religious lead ers. They can be controlled by the threats o f spells and charms so that they are in subjection to certain unscrupulous lead ers. This makes it quite difficult for the Christian missionaries to win them to Christ. The house in which we stayed, which we described last Sunday, was much cleaner than most houses o f Palestine. As a rule, the sanitary conditions are terrible. Dogs, sheep, and goats frequently occupy the houses with their human inhabitants. The water is sometimes undrinkable. In a lit tle village in which we camped one night, the entire water supply comes from cis terns. The principle cistern of the city drains the water from the main street, and is a sickly looking yellow. Needless to say, we did not take any chances on drink ing that water without boiling it. Women have very few privileges in Pal estine. They are neither seen nor heard. Many times we stopped in villages and were entertained royally by the men. They served us coffee, bread, eggs, and some times jam. These things must have been prepared by the women, although we never saw them. The men take all the honors in Palestine.
family. P a u l didn’t say very much about Timothy’s home, but he s a i d enough so that we know that it helped Timothy to be come the fine man that he was. L e s s o n S t o r y : Paul wrote especially of o n e thing which made this household s t r o n g — that w a s
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