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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
May, 1935
Object Lesson A S unday B anana .
thing but whales.” If all were equally honest, they would confess that the real reason that the services o f the sanctuary did them no good was that their hearts were too full o f business to listen.— Sun day School Chronicle, in 5,000 Best Mod ern Illustrations, by Webb. The L o rd ’s D a y M atthew 12: 1-8; J ohn 20: 19; A cts 20: 7 ; P salm 100 Memory Verse: “Remember the sab bath day, to keep it holy” (E x. 20: 8). Approach: W e have been talking about going to God’s house on the first day of each week, and about some of the things that we do there. I wonder whether you
is through Christians that the world gets- whatever measure o f divine truth it may possess. Hence the individual Christian automatically becomes a missionary by reason o f the fact that he has the Holy Spirit and the W ord o f God. The sin o f which the Spirit convicts the world is unbelief o f Christ Jesus the Lord. This is the sin in which all other sins are involved and embraced (cf. John 6:29; 1 John 3:23). The average person does not look upon unbelief as being the heinous sin it is, much less as being the sin of all sins; at its worst, it is to him merely a misfortune, and at its best, it is pride o f intellect. Yet it is to reprove the world o f this sin that the Spirit has- come. The Holy Spirit does not witness against a broken commandment — sin against law ; but He witnesses against un belief—sin against grace. The righteousness o f which the Spirit convicts the world is the righteousness o f Christ as revealed in His return to the Father, following the Son’s sacrificial work on earth. In this manifested holiness all righteousness is involved and embraced. The world denied Christ, counting Him unrighteous; but God acknowledged Him and proclaimed His righteousness by exalt ing Him to God’s right hand. The judgment of which the Spirit con victs the world is the judgment in which all other judgment is involved. Man, as such, was under probation until the cross revealed what he was; since then, the pro bation days are over. “Last of all” God sent His Son, saying, “ They will reverence my son.” By the world as such, the Son was slain. At the cross, man’s account was closed forever; man was shown to be wholly guilty and without a shred of righteousness. The righteousness man needs and must have, if he is to be accept able to God, is found in the person of Jesus Christ, who is now at the right hand of God. The very fact that Christ is there speaks of the settled judgment o f man. II. The word “if” is idiomatic with Paul and has the force o f “since” (vs. 10, 11). There is no suggestion o f a question. There is, rather, the assertion of the fact of the indwelling presence o f the L ord: “ Since Christ be in you.” The believer is dead to all the old creation, discharged from it. He has entered upon a new sphere, the sphere of grace, in which love, not law, reigns, and in which the Spirit is life because o f righteousness. Verse 11 does not speak of physical healing, but of the resurrection o f the body. If our Lord tarries, we shall all die, as far as the body is concerned, but this passage gives us the assurance that the body will be quickened by the Holy Spirit. The words here need careful consideration. By “Jesus” is meant that historical Person who died upon the cross and was buried in Joseph’s tomb; by “ Christ” is meant that mystical being, the Head together with all the members. God sees the resurrection of that “ Christ” as though it were already accomplished, while Christians wait for the event to occur in fact (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12; Phil. 3:20, 21; 1 Cor. 15:52, 53). ' The indwelling Holy Spirit leads to holy living (vs. 12-14). W e are debtors, not at all to the flesh, but to the Spirit. The flesh, like the law, can give nothing but death; therefore we are not debtors for anything to the flesh. But a holy life is necessary to pay our debt to grace (v. 14). T he S pirit ’ s W ork i n the C hristian (Rom. 8:10-17).
Objects: A banana and a knife. (Pre pare the banana by inserting a threaded needle under the skin at one of the cor ners and passing it between the skin and the banana, bringing the needle out at an adjoining corner. Use a long enough thread so that the knot end will be left projecting two or three inches from the first hole. Insert the needle in the open ing it made in coming out, and continue around the banana in this manner, until the circle is complete and the starting place is reached. Then pull on both ends of the thread which come out the same hole, and the core of the banana will be cut. Do this six times at regular intervals, which will cut the banana into seven pieces before the skin is removed.) Lesson: W e are to have a Sunday ba nana this morning. Now, don’t get ex cited. It is not a banana sundae, such as you might get at an ice-cream fountain, but a Sunday banana. Here it is. It is the strangest banana you have ever seen, even though it looks very much like an ordinary one. I have never seen the in side o f this one, but I know that it is different. When God created the world, He di vided each week into seven days, just as if I should take this knife and cut the banana into seven pieces, (Place the knife near the banana in six places as if you in tended to cut it, but do not let it touch the banana.) It will be necessary for us to peel this banana to see how it is different. Lookl It falls into seven pieces! Remember that when God created the world, He made each week seven days long. He gave the peo ple o f earth six days in which to labor, and He reserved the seventh for rest and worship. I am going to give each of you six boys on the front seat a piece o f this banana. There is just one left for me. You may eat the pieces I gave you. Did you enjoy them? You boys may each come and cut off a piece of mine and eat it. And now there is practically none left for me. This is often the way people treat God with re gard to the days o f the week. He gives them six days in which to do for them selves the things that are necessary; and when Sunday comes, they take a part, and often the whole, o f His day for pleasure or for work. W e should remember that one day belongs to God. 3:14-21; 4 :l-6, 30 Christ, rather than witnessing against things. The New Testament teaching con cerning the Holy Spirit in relation to the world has to do solely with conviction and conversion. Apart from this ministry, the work o f God in the world is said to be per formed by the Son. The Holy Spirit is not now working in the consciences o f pagan peoples, except as those pagans hear the Word of God through Christians; that is, the Holy Spirit does not speak directly to pagans. (See John 14:16, 17; 1 Cor. 2:14. Genesis 6:3, that much misused passage, has in view only the people of that generation when Noah was preaching.) Verse 7 declares that the Spirit will come “unto you,” that is, to disciples. It
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have ever thought of why it is that we have Sunday. Why is it different from the other days of the week ? L e s s o n Story: Away back at the be- g i n n i n g of time, when G o d created the earth, He work ed at it for six pe riods of time, which
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the Bible calls days, and then He rested. Ever since that time, it has been a good thing to rest every seventh day. When God gave Moses some rules, or laws, which were to tell the people the right way to live, one o f the laws said: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy w ork : But the seventh, day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work. . . . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” And that is the reason that one day in every seven is different from the others. It is God’s day. It is a day for rest and worship. It is the day on which we come into God’s house to sing His praises and to learn more about Him. King David has told us how to worship God. He says: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.” There are many people who forget that this is the thing to do on Sunday. They use it as a day o f pleasure, not as a day o f rest and worship.
JUNE 9, 1935 THE H O LY SPIRIT (Pentecost Lesson) J oel 2 :28, 29 ; L uke 11:9-13 ; J ohn 3 :5-8 ; 14:16,17, 26; 15:26, 27 ; 16:7-15 ; A cts 2 :1-21, 32, 33 : R omans 8 :1-17. 26. 27 : 1 C orinthians 12:1-13 : E phesians 1 :13, 14; Lesson T ext: J ohn 16:7-11; R om . 8 : 10-17, 26, 27.
Golden T ext: “ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons o f God” (Rom. 8:14). Outline and Exposition I. T he S pirit ’ s W ork T hrough the C hristian (John 16:7-11). T he work o f the Holy Spirit through the Christian is to convict the world of sin, o f righteousness, and of judg ment. This is the world’s greatest need, the Christian’s greatest business, and the Spirit’s greatest desire. The conviction is wrought by the Christian’s witnessing to
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