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THE K I N G ’ S BU S I N E S S
December, 1940
Sanhedrin. Our Lord loved the poor and lowly, and He knew their problems, but He was no professional uplifter who avoided the rich and the great. He was interested in men, not in classes of men. 2. “They watched him” (v. 1). They did not do it for any good purpose. Isaiah foretold the situation thus: “And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (53:2). These “lawyers and Pharisees” had no eyes for Christ’s moral and spiritual beauty. He .was in the world, and the world “watched” Him, but the world •knew Him not. They watched Him in order that they might find some flaw, some fault, some infraction 'of the law which they pretended to honor but of which they really knew nothing at all so far as its inward character was concerned. 3. “And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees” (v. 3). It should be noted that there is no record
proper observance of the Sabbath, none of them is to take precedence over human need; second, if any one would obtain the highest expression of per sonality and its reward, let him humble himself, in order that he may be exalted; and third, if any one would receive the highest returns from his giving, let him give to the poor and the needy. In all of this, Jesus Himself is our greatest Example. He was the One above all others who was meek and lowly and now is exalted to the highest place; He is the One who taught by example the value of human life; and He is the One above all others who be stows His gifts upon all the poor and the needy of earth. Points and Problems 1 . “Into the house of one of the chief Pharisees” (Lk. 14:1). The American Revision translates “one of the rulers of the Pharisees.” The man was doubt less a "ruler” in the sense that Nico- demus was, a member of the Jewish
BLACKBOARD LESSON
•TAKE AO THOUGHT*— FOR y OUR. HEAUEtUy FATHER KnOUJETH h S ue 'Î eeo of flu. THESE TMinas* —.*!»,« 7 "5
‘ 15 flOT T « £ LIFE ITIORE THflfl (TlEfìT, flflD THE bODH TEIAO ttfflmBïïTWa— n. T e a c h i n g t h e P r o u d (7-11) At this dinner, Jesus noticed how each of the guests strove for the chief place. Filled with pride, each of them struggled to occupy the best seat. Jesus spoke no word against the de sire for the exalted place, but He began to teach these proud ones by what means their desire could be satisfied. The pathway to the high place was by way of "the lowly place. This teaching of course was contrary to natural in stinct, which declares that Ievery one must strive to get ahead of his neighbor. “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Over and over a ^ in our Lord taught that the humble man would be the exalted one. Whether this teaching is or is not accepted depends entirely upon how fully His Word is believed. Christy does not discourage the desire for a high place, nor does He rebuke it; rather, He encourages it, but rebukes the wrong method of attaining it and the wrong desire to be great at the expense of others. UL T e a c h i n g t h e O p p o r t u n i s t s (12-14) There are those, to whom giving is always something to be done with ex pectation of receiving a like return. In this spirit, those to whom Jesus spoke would give a dinner and invite only those who wotild return the compliment. The Lord Jesus pointed out that there is a better way of giving, and that is to give to those who, because of poverty, cannot return the gift. He suggested to His hearers that they invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, that is, the beggars. These needy ones stood in need of such gifts as His hear ers weife well able to give, but they could not make return in kind. Giving that has in it no thought of reward will lead to one’s receiving “returns” in , heaven, to be available “at the resur rection of the just.” In none of these various instances is the way of salvation presented; each case is used merely to point, out lessons that were and are greatly needed. In the valuation of personality, Jesus teaches, first, that whatever rules and regulations may be laid down for the
“ / would not have you to be ignorant” G O D W O U L D N O T H AV E BO Y S A N D G IRLS TO BE BIB LE-IGNO RAN T TODAY? Read these startling magazine indictments: “Recently thirty questions were submitted to 697 high school pupils. The average grade was only 31 . 3 %. Most of the pupils named Bethlehem as the birthplace of Christ, but some gave Nazareth, Jerusalem, and New York City. Two hundred and eight knew the number of books in the Bible, but only '143 could name five successive books in the Old Testament. Opinion was divided as to whether Christ wrote any part of the Bible. • “Only 35 of the 697 knew who wrote the book of Acts, and but nine how many times the chil dren of Israel marched around Jericho. These high schools were all in well churched communi ties and the great majority of the pupils were attending Sunday School. Such a test then reveals not so much the failure of the home, but of the Sunday School ”—The Church School Promoter. A woman missionary in the Congo read a similar list of questions. Calling in her cook from the kitchen, a native boy about seventeen years old and six years out of heathenism, she put the Same questions to him in the presence of two witnesses. He answered all the questions cor rectly, rating 100 %. The woman missionary asks "if in time Africa will have to send some of its native Christians to teach Sunday School classes in America”— Adapted from The Moody Monthly. T H E A L L B I B L E G R A D E D S E R I E S o f S u n d a y S c h o o l L o s s o n s was “called into existence” that our boys and girls should not be Bible-ignorant._____________
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