310
May 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
tory. A Christian has a perfect right to his own opinion,, and is free to find wise occasions on which to express it ; but so far as his practical conduct and daily life are concerned, he should loyally accept existing conditions, and take care »to. be no disturber of.the peace, A question of casuistry arises here. Is it ever lawful for a Christian to resist the law ? Assuming Hampden to have been a spiritual Christian, was he justified in re fusing to pay the “ship-money” ? The an swer may be that no rule is without excep tions ; and that cases may occur in which principle is involved, and loyalty to the absolute right, which is loyalty to God, demands resistance, even at the cost of being misunderstood, and of suffering. Still, the general rule is that Christians should make peaceable citizens, and in so doing they help to secure that general pro tection from evil-doers, and security for honest trade, which are the primary duties of social government, whatever form it may take. II. Christians always have a pQ w er at command for the silencing of those who slander them .—“The ignorance of foolish men” ^means baseless, senseless slanders. Men in positions of authority are always subject to the malign influence;; of the slandered. . Christians in a heathen city' could not fail to attract attention by their Very difference from others. Slanders start with next to nothing, and grow until shamefully wicked things can be said, all utterly baseless, but too easily believed, be cause men find such strange pleasure in hearing of the failure of the good. Very seldom, indeed, can a slander be followed through, fought, and conquered. But the Christian can always live it down. He can be calm, he can be silent, he can keep on in his life of purity and charity, and that will tell in the long,run. Slanders have no staying power; well-doing has. The good man, if he will be persistent, is sure of victory, for God is on the side of the good. III. Christians are free to sustain all gracious relations .—An old divine, dealing with the saying that “a Christian is a man who may do what he likes," replied, “That is_ quite true, only a Christian is a man with a new set of likes." The Christian is free unto righteousness; free to do everything right, and kind, and worthy. But the Christian is not free to do wrong. He is under the strictest obligations not to do anything unworthy of the name he bears. What sort of things a Christian is free to do is indicated in verse. 17. 1. Treat every man respectf-uliy and consid erately, as he would wish them to treat him. To a Christian man, every man, no matter how poor or ignorant he may be, is to be honored for the- image of God in him. 2. Keep up all that is becoming to the family relation within the Church of God. 3. Let the cherished, reverent sense of God put serious and careful tone on all the conduct and association of life. 4. Set good example of good manners in the social and ,national life. Good manners recognize what is due to persons placed in positions of trust and responsibility. ala Peter Tells Us How to Behave 1 Peter 2:11-17. Memory Verse: “We will drink no wine." Jer. 35:6. Approach : Show piece of soft clay, such as is used in kindergartens. Form
it into a cup, vase or some other object. Ask them to notice how yielding the clay
officers, who know what is best for our good, and the safety of others. We should honor and respect our teachers, and all who have the rule oyer us. Let us think of the clay, and whenever we want to have our own way at home, or school, or wherever we may be, may we remember that if the clay had not been willing to be moulded, it would have re mained just a lump of hard clay like a common rock. If we are Hot willing to- let Jesus rule-our lives, we will have our own way and drift away from the Lord,, and get into all kind of trouble and sin, and our lives will be wasted, and our souls lost forever. Many boys and girls are smoking, and you know they are injuring these wonder ful bodies God has given to us.; Others are using alcoholic drinks, which are very harmful. Tobacco and alcohol not only hurt the body, but dull the brain, so we cannot think clearly. Many accidents happen every day because the minds and. bodies are in bad condition, because peo ple will not take care of their bodies. We can injure our bodies by not getting enough sleep. Let us learn a lesson from the birds. They are awake as soon as the day begins, because they go to bed early, and they do not have any of the poison of tobacco or ialcbhol in their bodies. Our memory verse tells us how to be true and. brave. Let us learn it. If we take Jesus into our hearts He will give us strength to- keep our bodies strong, for He will mould US.. ; ■—o-HL"- FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTLINE ONSISTENT HRISTIAN ONDÜCT OUNTS Let your light so shine.—Matt. 5 :16. C nesses are the suggestion of his strength.. A man must have something in him to be impulsive; there are energy and enter prise in the man who speaks at once, and he may learn, by and by, wisdom and self restraint.” From his first introduction to Jesus, he became passionately attached to Him, whcilly devoted, almost jealous; unable to- bear anything that seemed a slight to Him or even to hear Him speak of Himself and His mission in a way that suggested de feat. Being à natural leader, Peter seemed to- be always.expecting Jesus to say and do what he would do. This enthusiastic ad miration explains many of Peter’s impul sive acts and statements. He little knew the weakness of his own nature and the pressure that would be brought to bear. The glorious thing about him is that he recovered himself after he had reached the depths, showing that he was indeed the “rock-man” our Lord had seen in him. Restored by his .divine Lord, he started on a new career, and though his faults
is, and how readily you", can shape it as you wish. I could have made a plate or even the figure of ; a child out of it. It was in my hands to make what I choose. We are in God’s h a n d s , and if we will let Him do with
us as He thinks best, He will make our lives b e a u t i f u 1 and useful.—Primary Teacher. Lesson Story : Tn our.'story ¡last week we saw a man sleeping between two .sol diers, and his wrists were chained to the soldiers. Horace, can you tell us the story ? Edith was absent last week, so she did not hear it. (Review):. Peter was not always brave and strong, but after he learned to let the Lord Jesus take full charge of his life, he became brave and true, and led many people to know His Saviour. He was like the clay. Peter knew that to have your own way is to grow selfish and mean, and do things that (¡harm the body. God gave us these won derful bodies, and it is a sin to do any thing that hurts them. In our story today, Peter is talking to the people who love the Lord, and he is sounding a warning against doing things that harm us, and when we do wrong, it leads others to do the same wrong things. He tells us we should obey those who are over us. Boys and girls, begin first in the home, obeying father and mother. If we learn this lesson well, as \ye grow older and come to know the Lord Jesus we will obey Him by doing as His Word teaches us. In this story Peter says when we do right, others, seeing our lives, will follow and glorify God too. We will not break the laws, of our schools; we will obey the traffic signals, and you know there are signs on our streets and roads how fast to drive autos. We will not drive too fast when we obey these signs placed there by
Ü? Ü Î gfe J une 26, 1927 Review : Life and Letters o f Peter
'T ’HE teacher should, be able to work out an interesting character study by as signing to different members of a class one of the lessons on Peter, and requir
ing the Student to bring out good or weak points of char acter discovered in the study. Portions of Scripture, not cov ered by the Interna tional Lessons; m ay be assigned.
To assist in the preparation of such a lesson, we submit some outstanding points. In every way Peter seems to be the most prominent of our Lord’s disciples.: Even the beloved John makes a vague impres sion upon us in comparison with Peter. He seems to be about the only man we know until Paul appears on the scene. Behind that peculiar make-up of Peter, our Lord must have seen the great pos sibilities of a noble life and service. Dr. Tuck says: “To one who is skilful in reading human character, Peter’s weak-
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker