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August 1928
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secuted the church because he really be lieved he was doing God service (Acts 26. :9-l 1). All through his Christian ca reer he invariably. acted upon the same principle (Acts 23:1; 24:16; 2 Cor. 1:12; 2 Tim. 1:3). He would hold a good con science no matter what it cost him. There are too many in these days play ing fast and loose with conscience. There ris even a tendency to sheer at a conscien tious man. The consequences of such a state o f opinion are, certain to be disas trous. There-is no hope for a people who have no regard for conscience. A con scientious, man may be wrong, for it needs the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 9:1 ), but there is more hope o f one who acts from conviction than of one who is unprincipled. The man who is acting up to the light he has, is sure to get more light. Let this be our first lesson from Paul. 2. C ourageous ; Courage is another outstanding char acteristic. W e refer not to physical brav ery, but the moral heroism that is ready to face all the consequences of doing right. He never paused to consider what might happen to him when he entered up on the course' the Lord had made plain to him. He was in the hotbed o f persecution at Jerusalem. He me't violent assault at Lycaonia, imprisonment at Philippi and the fury o f a mob at Ephesus, but never trimmed his message. . Before a Jewish council, a Roman governor or the brutal Nero, he was the same. He would not dilute his message. He knew he was right and cared not for the consequences. ¿■“None of these things move me” , he said (Acts 20:24). “Neither count I my life dear unto myself, So that I might fin ish my course with joy, 'and the ministry which I have received o f the Lord.” What was the secret o f such courage?, It was his persuasion that the Lord waS1. always with him. Faith is the germ of courage. The man who has not set his heart upon the things that are spiritual and eternal is .bound to be timid, vacillating and unre liable on moral issues. 3. C autious ,)1; While Paul was courageous he was not rash. He did not deliberately make a mar tyr o f himself as some have been wont to do. He was prudent as well as coura- g_eous._ He would even stand upon his civil rights .in order to save himself from outrage. He took no foolish chances. If, in order to do God’s will, he had to pass over a perilous path, he was ready to do it; but he did not brave danger for the sake o f display. He was not ready to throw himself away. The courage of some Christian workers needs this balance wheel. 4. C oncentration Paul kept one aim steadily before him. “ This one thing I do, forgetting those things'¿which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I Press toward the mark for the prize" (Phil. 3:13-14). In his mreaching. Paul had’ just one keynote—Christ, and,H im crucified (1 Cor. 2 :2 ). He was a special ist. He was not bent upon a dozen dif ferent enterprises. His life became mighty because all its energies were con centrated upon the doing of one thing. There is a dearth o f this earnestness and o f concentrated enthusiasm today.
You can kindle a fire by the rays o f the sun if you will collect them by the aid o f a lens, into one fiery point. If we would do things for God, we must bring our lives into focus by setting our hearts solely upon Christ and His service. When a passenger train remained an unusually long time at a station where the engine had taken in water, a passenger asked the engineer the reason of the long de lay. “Have you no water?” he asked. “ Plenty of water,” came the answer, “but it isn’t boiling.” That describes many a church member. He has plenty o f knowl edge and opportunity, but he lacks that boiling enthusiasm which inspired Paul. S. C hristlike The secret of his life was;J;“/ am cru cified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ livHh in me” (Gal. 2: 20). Becoming a Christian with Paul, meant something more than being reli gious. He was quite religious before his conversion. A man may be religious and thoroughly unchristian. It did not mean that Paul had adopted a new, creed, although that was involved. He was orthodox, yet a man may hold the Fundamentalist creed and know not the meaning of Gal. 2:20. The devil himself may be orthodox. “ Christ liveth in m e” Do you know for a certainty that you are indwelt by the living, reigning Christ? Do you know, as Paul did, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? (1 Cor. 6:19). This is a most remarkable claim. Is there any way to test it?. If it is true, men may expect to see in you something o f the spirit and power o f Christ Himself. The Christian life is to be a victorious life. In giving ourselves to Christ, we are to close our hearts against any other allegiance. We are to permit the Holy Spirit to form Christ within us. If we have the mighty Saviour homing in our hearts^ we may expect to- triumph. If we are trying to live this life in our own strength, we are doomed to failure. Paul made good hi.s claim that Christ lived in him.. Every true Christian has a right to make the same claim and can make good if he is ready to please God rather than himself. The life yielded to Christ is bound to be a fruitful life. Are you on the road that leads- to victory ? “ The life that I now live I live through faith in the Son o f God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me”- —that is the road. “Be ye followers of me,” said the Apos tle, “even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. As the mother pearl-fish lives in the sea without receiving a drop o f salt water, and as, towards the Chilidonian Islands, springs o f fresh water may be found in the midst o f the sea, and as the firefly passes through flames without having its wings burned, so a soul in whom Christ lives, by the power o f His Holy Spirit, may live in the world without being in fected with any of its poisons, and dis cover sweet springs of spiritual blessing amidst its salt waters,.and fly among the flames o f earthly temptation without burn ing the wings o f a devout life. G olden T ext I llustration Christ liveth in me (Gal. 2:20).
FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
S ELF
ERVICE ECOND MILE No man seeketh his own— l Cor. 10:29.
Lesson XII, September 16, Paul Writes to His Friends in Corinth. 1 Cor. 1-4. Lesson X III, September 23, The Chris tian Basis of Total Abstinence. • (Temper ance Lesson.) 1 Cor. 8:1-13. Lesson X IV , September 30, Review: Paul the Missionary. 'J ’HE third quarter has taken us over the story of Paul’s conversion, his early ministry and the first foreign missionary enterprise. We have traced him in his: travels as far as Corinth. '‘ ■C onversion and C all In his conversion he had undergone a revolution, both intellectual and spiritual. — <>— other apostles for instruction or authority. How Paul must have grown in the ap prehension o f the things of Christ dur ing his period of retirement with the Spirit o f God as his Instructor! God had revealed His Son in him that he might preach to the Gentiles (Gal. 1:16): : : When Paul reappeared in Damascus, he had a developed faith and an energy that bore instant fruit. He came forth as the slave of Christ. For him henceforth "to live is Christ.” He counted himself " cru cified with Christ.” He had realized his union with the risen Christ, a truth which gives the key to his life. Thus a man who probably never saw Christ in the flesh, seems to have come to know Him best. Immediately, he confounded the Jews o f Damascus (Acts 9:22). He not only proclaimed Christ, as he had done before, but he “ proved” ( 9 :20). There is preach ing—and again there is preaching. The preachers who are mightiest in the place o f retirement with God, are mightiest in their pulpits with men. It will be profitable for our review to draw some lessons from the character and work o f Paul as revealed in the ac counts o f his njissionary tours which we have been studying for the quarter. 1.1'C onscientiousness Lying at the root o f his pre-eminence we must mention his conscientiousness. This came out even before his conver sion and was a controlling principle o f his character. He went through with any work he believed he ought to do. He per Before he proceeded further, . he retired to Arabia (Gal. 1: 17), p e r h a p s to think through, ; in the atmosphere of. Sinai, the relation o f law to grace. He . did not go to the
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