T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
m
M ay» 1940
ing the same number of attempts by an unspiritual people to justify their cold and indifferent conduct in rela tion to God, and to shift upon Him the responsibility for the situation. Taken from the American Revised Ver sion, the passages are as follows: “Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?” (1:2). “And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy,name?” (1:6). “Ye say also, Behold, what a weariness js it!” (1:13). “Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him?” (2:17). “But ye say, Wherein shall we return?” (3:7). “But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee ?” (3:8). “Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?” (3:13). What a dreadful revelation of the perverse ness and callousness of the human heart, that men should persistently try to justify themselves and put God Him self in the wrong! And on the other hand, what a revelation of the gracious heart of God we have here, as we see Him patiently and lovingly answering all the quibbling cavils from the peo ple! Had it not been for the un changeable character of God, His faith fulness to His own promises and cov enants, this people would have been destroyed by judgment long ago: “For I am the Lord, I change not; there fore ye sons of Jacob are not con sumed” (3:6). 2. “Bring ye all the tithes . . . And I will rebuke the devourer . . . And all nations shall call you blessed” (3:10- 12). Let us never forget that, al though these words may be applied in a spiritual way to the church of this age, they are addressed in the first instance to the nation of Israel. The Jewish people have suffered terribly through the centuries, and their agonies today are unspeakable. In stead of being blessed, they have been cursed by the nations. Now as Chris tians we can have no sympathy with the ungodly crimes of anti-Semitism, and every one of these crimes will re ceive the righteous judgment of the God of Israel in due time. But on the other hand, we are not to forget that the troubles of the Jew are at bottom the result of his own spiritual failure. The Jew has rejected and robbed his own God. There is coming a time when the nations shall call the Jew “blessed,” but that day will not come until the nation kneels humbly in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to confess that He is the Lord Jehovah. 3. “What profit is it that we have kept his ordinance?” (3:14). This blasphemous question reveals the utter ly mercenary spirit of the speakers. What profit is it? How terrible to become so saturated in materialism that even religion is estimated in terms of “profits” ! Yet that is precisely the motive held forth by popular religion of today. It does pay to serve God, but no true child of God could ac
cept such a motive. We serve Him be cause we love Him. Golden Text Illustration M alachi 3:10 A minister writes that a man came up to him one day at the end of the service in a frontier town and said: "Say, parson, that service and sermon was grand. I wouldn’t have missed ’em for five dollars.” The minister sug gested that he hand him, for mis: sionary work, the difference between the amount he had put in the collec tion basket and the sum he men tioned. The man stopped, looked at the clergyman, and then slowly pulled from his pocket four dollars and ninety cents, which he handed over without a word.—The Bottles of Heaven, by Revilo. Our Love Gifts M alachi 3 MEMORY VERSE: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father” (Jas. 1:17). APPROACH: We all know that if a toy or a game belongs to some friend of ours, he is the one who is to say what should be done with it, for it is keep for ourselves that which is right fully some one else’s, we always get into trouble. The people in Malaehi’s time did this, and God had to correct them through His prophet. LESSON STORY: First, the people had not given attention to God’s laws (cf. v. 7). They had gone right on in their own way. Then they had kept their money gifts from Him, and ac tually had pretended they were not robbing God—but they were, for a cer tain portion of their possessions be longed to Him as His very own. More than that,' when they should have given Him truthful answers, they had said something like this: “It is of no use to serve God anyway” (cf. v. 14). Malachi tried to make the people understand how necessary it is to give to God »that which belongs to Him— whether it is honor and love and obedience (which we cannot see)— or whether it is money or goods, which we can see and which we are to share. The Lord reads our hearts, Malachi said, and is able to judge perfectly “between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (v. 18). Does He see that we serve Him with our whole heart? his. We know, too, that love and obedi ence and kindness belong to our par ents and teachers, and we c h i l d r e n should be careful to give them love and obedience and kind ness, f o r t h i s is r i g h t . When we
Our FREE CATALOG Saves Our Missionary Unit Serves Foreign Missionaries FOREIGN MISSIONARIES everywhere for over 50 years have had confidence in Ward’s Missionary Unit as the most economical source for personal supplies and mission equipment of high quality. SECRETARIES and PURCHASING AGENTS of Foreign Missions find that our free cata log, with its 100,000 separate items, and our special quantity prices enable them to save money for their stations. MISSION BOARDS can economize by selecting hardware, paints, plumbing goods, electrical supplies and similar materials from our cata log, for shipment abroad. If you wish a Montgomery Ward catalog for export use only, write TODAY for a free copy. MONTGOMERY WARD Export Missionary Unit Chicago, U. S. A. A N E W O N E Send us any amount from 10c to $1.00 (in stamps) and we will send you double its value in sound Christian books and pamphlets, together with a list of shelf-worn or overstocked books at dras tically reduced prices. Buy, read, loan, give away, or sell for double the cost to you. Invest with “ Eternity’s Values in View.” SWORD & SHIELD BOOK STORE 40 W. Huron Street Buffalo, N. Y. HAVE YOU R EAD . . . S the first article in the Herbert Lockyer series on “The Art and Craft of Preaching” published in the April issue of THE KING’S BUSINESS? Even if you by chance missed the first, don’t fail to read the second article appearing in this issue on page 170, and those scheduled for the coming months. These articles are proving to be intensely stimulating and educa tional to those who would improve their ability to speak in public. To make sure that you will not miss a single number containing this series, check the expiration date on the wrapper of your magazine. Why not extend or renew your subscription now? THE KING’S BUSINESS will be available for a limited time only at the fifty-cent price. SEND In your renewal NOW!
T h e K in g ’ s B u sin ess 558 So. Hope St. Los Angeles, Calif.
Please extend or renew my sub scription. Enclosed find $.............. Name ...'___________ _______ ______ Address_____________________....... City............................ State.............
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs