January, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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and of withdrawing the privileges o f the careless and the indifferent? How does this affect you personally?. Vs. 26-29. In how many ways is the growth o f the kingdom like the develop ment of a seed that is planted? Is a har vest assured (Isa. 55 :11) ? What is needed In the meantime (Jas. 5 :7 )? Vs. 30-32. Is the true church, the “ little flock,” in mind in the parable of the mus tard seed, or is all Christendom included? What are some of the “birds” that lodge in the “branches” ? ' Vs. 33, 34. Why did Jesus use parables: to make His meaning clear, or to obscure the truth*from those who had already will fully rejected Him? Did He speak plainly to those who honestly listened? Golden Text Illustration Let those who think Christianity is a spent force ponder the following: When Carey, the first Protestant missionary of the world, went to India, the whole num ber of nominal Christians in the world was about 200,000,000. Now there are about 500,000,000. When he, in the eighteenth century, went out from Christendom as a missionary to the dark world of heathen dom, the population of the world was about one thousand million. It is now supposed to be about fifteen hundred million, which is only another way of saying that, while the population of the world has increased during this period 50 per cent, Christianity has increased 150 per cent. O f course, it is to be understood that these figures refer to nominal Christians. — S elected . Sharing Our Stories of Jesus M a r k 4 :21-34 Memory Verse: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel” (Mk. 16:15). Approach: From the first, Jesus made His disciples realize that the word of God which He was preaching to them, they must share with others who had not heard. That is why He chose them to be His dis ciples. Lesson Story: He asked them a ques tion. He said, “ Is the lamp brought in to
it operates ? It is sown, and that is the end of it, as far as the sower is concerned. In due time ,the seed springs up and grows, “he knoweth not how.” The dis ciple’s business, like that of the sower, is not to make the seed 'grow, but merely to have it sown upon the ground, leaving the results in the hands of the One who alone understands the secrets of the growth. The growth is silent and slow without excitement. Patience is needed by all who sow. “Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it” (Jas. 5:7). ¿u t the harvest is sure. The seed will spring up, “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” The full corn may seem long in coming, but it does come; and when it does, “immedi ately” the sickle is thrust in “because the harvest is come.” The disciple must learn to sow the seed diligently at all times and in all places, and to patiently wait for the One who alone can make it grow, to per form His work, being assured meanwhile that God’s word is true : “ So shall my word be „ . . it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa. 55:11). III. T h e P a r a b l e of t h e M u st a r d S eed (30-32). While the previous parable speaks of the unseen but sure inner growth, this one speaks of the outward manifestation, as it appears to the eyes of men. As was pre viously stated, the former parable shows the true, this one the false, character of the kingdom. In this, latter parable, it has a small be ginning, implied by the likeness to the mustard seed, “less than all seeds.” But it has a tremendous growth* becoming a tree. In other words, what should have been an herb is a tree, an abnormal thing, a monstrosity. And such is Christendom today. The “little flock” despised by man, has become a great flock admired by man. Aiming at greatness in the world, it roots deeper and deeper in the earth, drawing its sustenance from below rather than from above. Forgetting its heavenly place and character, it becomes earthly in its aims and service. Moreover, it becomes attractive to the birds of the air. These, as we learn from the first parable, are only evil things. They lodge in the branches of the tree, but they do not aid the tree. They defile, pollute, and injure it, and then they take its fruit. The full development of this thought is seen in Revelation 18:2 where “the tree” is seen to be “the habitation o f devils, and the hold o f every foul spirit, arid a cage o f every unclean and hateful bird.” The parable of the mustard seed reveals the growth of Christendom as it will take place during this age. The true church was never intended to be great in the earth. The more closely she follows her rejected Lord, the more fully will she be rejected by the world. And contrariwise, the fur ther the church is separated from her Lord, the more she finds friendship with the world. But the only word our Lord ever asked His disciples to remember is found in John 15:19,20: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: . . . but the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Because the church seems to grow, the truth taught by our Lord is forgotten. But bigness is not greatness, and the church at large today has only bigness. _It is big in numbers, no longer the “little
BLACKBOARD LESSON
flock.” It is big in brains, no longer com posed o f “not rnany wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, . . . but God hath chosen the foolish things, of the world to confound the wise; . . . that no flesh should glory in his pres ence” (1 Cor. 1 :26-29). Furthermore, it is big in wealth, boasting of how many rich men are numbered upon its rolls. But with all the boasting of its bigness, braininess* wealth,, and power, the church at large, like the mustard seed which be came a tree, is an abnormal thing, a mon strosity, without spiritual influence or power. The birds of the air, the agents o f Satan, come to its branches and feel at home, and the tree: has neither the power to transform these evil things, nor the ability to keep them from polluting the branches upon which they take refuge. IV . T h e P a r a b o lic T e a c h in g (33,34). Up to a certain poirit in our Lord’s min istry, He spoke openly to the people in language they could understand. But when it was evident that they rejected Him and His claims, He turned down, as it were, the full light o f plain speech, and began to speak to them in parables. “And with out a parable spake he not unto them.” Israel had had the full light given to them in plain unambiguous speech; now they were given the truth in parabolic form, and after that the light would be with drawn completely and there would come a “ famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). A c cording to Matthew 13:10-17, the Lord spake in parables, not to make the truth clear to His hard-hearted hearers, but to darken it from them (cf. Isa. 6). In other words, This was merely taking from the rejecting one that which he had, because he would not make use of what had been given to him. Because they would not hear aright, nor take heed to how they heard, men were given the parables (cf. Isa. 6). But when our Lord was alone with His own disciples, He “ expounded all things” to them. The true disciple is one who hears aright, taking heed to what and how he hears, adding to that which has been given him ; and he is rewarded .with being given more and more. With what measure he metes, it is measured to him again. The parables o f Jesus teach us, without doubt, that nothing will stop the growth o f modernism in Christendom. Its denials of essential truth, its acceptance of error in the place o f truth, and its adoption of heresies instead of the Word o f God will increase and spread" until the Lord’s judg ment falls upon all mere profession; while the true church, the wheat among the tares, will be taken out at the time of harvest, When the great Reaper will thrust in His sickle because the harvest is come. Lesson Questions Vs. 21-25. What do you think o f the principle of increasing the knowledge of those who diligently seek spiritual things,
be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put oh the stand?” He was speaking of the little, low oil lamp which was used in those times. If it were hidden away under a bushel basket, certain ly it couldn’t give light to any orie. If it were placed under a bed, its
light would not show. The only way to make it useful was to put it up on a lamp stand. In another place in the Bible, Jesus says of His disciples, “Ye are the light o f the world,” and again, “Let your light so shine before men, that they •may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Jesus Himself always did the thing, not . which pleased Himself, but which glorified His Father in heaven, and that is what He wished His disciples to do. .They were to be humble, and they were to be good, not that people might say of them, “How good you are,” but that people might say, “ How good is your Father in heaven!” When Jesus went from this world, He left His_ disciples behind to tell the world about Him. I f they did not do this work, their lights were hidden. W e are Jesus’ disciple?, and He asks us, too, to share our stories about Him with others.
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