101
February 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Approach: Do the electric lights ever go out in your home ? Then what hap pens? It is dark. I was reading one night and the lights went out, and it was
III. T eaching T hem Those who, by obeying the gospel, be come disciples of Christ, and who are bap tized as directed by Him, are to be taught all things whatsoever He has commanded. The other two clauses of the commission are but preliminary to this last one; for the sole purpose of making disciples is that they may learn and practice the teachings of their Master. The command ments of Christ, therefore (sometimes briefly called “the doctrine of Christ”) are what the people of God are to be taught. Those commandments are found in the gospels, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. This is vital to the ac complishment of the purposes of God. E xecuting the C ommission As soon as the apostles received the promised enduement of the Holy Spirit, they began to carry out their Lord’s com mission. For, on the very same day, they ( 1 ) preached the gospeki making many disciples; then ( 2 ) those who gladly re ceived the word of the gospel were bap tized; and (3) those who Were thus con verted and baptized “continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine," that is to say, the things which the apostles taught (Acts* 2:41, 42). Thus the commission was car ried out in all its three parts; and the re sults were wonderful and blessed. It was to be expected that, in a matter so vital to the purposes of God as the Great Commission, the enemy would seek in every way to interfere. It is therefore not to be wondered at that every part of the commission has been successfully tampered 'with. In the preaching of the gospel, while sinners are indeed urged to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour, they are Seldom told that they must receive Him as “Master and Lord.’1 Furthermore, baptism 1 is, by many evangelists, either ignored or left to chance. And as for “teaching to observe all things whatso ever” Christ has “ commanded',v it is scarcer ly ever thought of. What passes for “teach ing” nowadayses merely listening to spec?; .ulative ideas, interpretations of prophecy, dispensational notions, and the like. And this is not the worst of it; for in these last and perilous times many “ad vanced” teachers dare to set aside the Lord’s Great Commission altogether, .and to consign it to another dispensation, yet , future, Can we wonder, then, at the deplorable state of the saints of God at the present time? But, bad as it is, the remedy is at hand. It lies with the leaders and teachers to apply it; for the people them selves are not to blame. Let the pastors, teachers and evangelists apply themselves to the faithful carrying out of the Lord’s Great Commission, and then we may hope to see results more like those of the early days. But until then we are not likely to see anything but that which meets our eye on every hand—poverty and leanness, carnality and worldliness, even among those who think they are rich, and in creased with spiritual goods, and have need of nothing. J g Telling Everybody About Jesus B y M abel L. M errill Matt. 28:16-20; Acts 16 :6-15: Memory Verse: ¿ “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15.
unhappily been practically forgotten. For the gospel, as now preached, makes little or no reference to bringing men into the school of Christ, to become, for the rest of their days, His ‘“disciples.” Other bénéficiai consequences of accepting Christ are emphasized—especially deliver ance from judgment and the lake of fire; but the essential matter of “making dis ciples,” which Christ made prominent, has dropped out of sight. Let us then awaken to the fact that the first business of CHRIST’S evangelists is to make dis ciples. II. B aptizing T hem When, through the preaching of the gospel, men have been converted from their old manner of life and have become disciples of Christ, they are to be, by His command and upon His authority, bap tized unto the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This “Name” embraces the complete revelation of God (now given to men through the gospel) as FATHER, a s . SON, and as HOLY SPIRIT. At the Lord’s baptism the three Persons^ of the Godhead were revealed in an evident way for the only time in the history of tfie world. The Son was manifested in the flesh,' the Fa ther’s voice was heard from heaven, and the Holy Spirit was seen in bodily form like a dove. To this Name of the three Persons—in other words, to the full re vealed truth of Godliness —those who are converted through the gospel are to be baptized. It is by Christ’s command, and by His authority (hence “in His Name," which signifies by His authority) that this is done; and if not done according to His command, it is not done “in His Name.” . The point here involved is illustrated in Acts 19 :l-5. In the preceding chapter we read of the activities of Apollos in Eph esus, who spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, “knowing only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25). This ex pression “knowing only the baptism of John” -shows that baptism- is connected with truth, or doctrine, and that Apollos knew, at that time, only so much of the truth of the gospel as was connected with the baptism of John, and as was taught to John’s disciples. Shortly thereafter, Paul came to Eph esus and met certain “disciples,” to whom he said (literally), “Did ye receive the HOLY SPIRIT when ye believed?” They replied, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any HOLY SPIRIT.” From this answer it was apparent to Paul that they had not been baptized according to the command of the Lord, else they would have heard of the HOLY SPIRIT. So he at once asked, “Unto what then were ye baptized?” This means, as we have' seen, unto what truth or doctrine had they been baptized. “And they said, unto John’s baptism,” which was all that Apollos knew. So Paul further instructed them regarding Christ, and then they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, that is to sây, according as He had com manded. We believe this shows plainly that, from the time of the Great Commission onward “to the end of the age," no,bap tism is valid but that which the Lord Jesus Christ commanded. Even John’s baptism, which was sufficient before, was not sufficient thereafter.
so dark I could not see across the room, but had to feel my way to another room. There I found a lit tle candle, and with a match lighted it. Wh i l e the candle was not very large, it gave its light, and drove the darkness out of the room. You are just little boys and girls, but if you belong to Jesus, He is Jiving in your heart, and
wants you to tell other boys and girls. Before Jesus comes into a life it is dark, but Jesus is the light of the, world, and when He comes into a life, He makes it light. Lesson Story. Here is a picture. Bev erly, what do you see? A chariot and a man reading as he is traveling along. Who will tell us the story of the picture? (Re view). You know, boys and girls, as you were telling us of Philip and those early believers, I was thinking what a wonder ful time we will have when we all meet up in heaven, and see Philip and Stephen and all the others, and hear them tell us more of the early church. Today we are to hear about another brave Christian, who suffered much for Jesus. His name is Paul, and before Jesus came into his heart, he too-perse cuted the Christians, and he held the coat of one of the men who stoned Stephen to death. That was when his heart and life was full of darkness and sin, but when Jesus came in the darkness could not stay, for Jesus is light. Just like the darkness in a room, it can not stay where the light is, Paul became a mighty preacher and missionary, going from place to place telling everybody of Jesus and His love for them. On this journey he had with him two other men, Silas and Timothy. God, through His Holy Spirit made it known to Paul that He did not want them to go to the place they had planned. Then a vision appeared to Paul in the night. In the vision, he saw a man calling him to come over into Macedonia and help them, and they went forth (v. 10 indicates the writer. Luke joins them). The name of the city of our story is Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia. There was no synagogue or church building there so Paul and his friends went down by the banks of the river, a place where people gathered for prayer on the Sabbath day. A number of women were there, and Paul preached to them. One of the women who heard Paul preach, was named Lydia, a seller of pur ple ; she received gladly all that Paul said, and she and all her household believed and were baptized. Then she invited Paul and his friends to come and stay at her house, and Paul accepted her kind invi tation. Our memory verse says believers should go into all the world, and tell everybody about Jesus. The first word is-yTGo.” Have you gone after that boy or girl in your neighborhood, who does not go to any Sunday School or church? Suppose it were your brother or sister who had never heard of Jesus; how would you feel ? Prayer.
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