December, 1933
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
431
on CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR . . . B y M ary G. G oodner
JANUARY 7,1934 H A V E W E THE BEST FOUNDA TIONS FOR LIFE? M atthew 7 :24-29 Suggestions for the Meeting Hymn—“Rock of Ages.” Hymn— “Faith is the Victory.” Prayer. Scripture. Hymn—“ He Lifted Me.” Some New Plans for 1934 by the Chair men o f the following Committees: Prayer- Meeting, Lookout, Missionary, Quiet Hour. Solo—“ Living for Jesus.” Leader’s Message. Testimonies. Quiet Hour. Hymn—“Have Thine Own Way.” , Benediction—Numbers 6:24-26. Meditation on the Lesson Characteristic o f Christ’s method of teaching, the Sermon on the Mount closes with a parable. This parable sums up in two pictures all the teaching that has gone before. In this lesson, the first for the New Year, how appropriate is a study o f the subject, “Foundations” ! Only two kinds of foundations are described in the parable in Matthew 7 :24-29—rock, and sand— and two classes of people are mentioned, both o f whom hear the Word. In this, they are alike. In outward appearance, perhaps, they are also similar. But the day o f trial shows the difference between them. Pro fessor Vincent, commenting on this parable, says: “The picture is not of two men delib erately selecting foundations, but it con trasts one who carefully chooses and pre pares his foundation, with one who builds at haphazard.” The house is man’s life; Christ Jesus is the Rock o f Ages. The wise man built his house upon a rock. “ Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” When trials, troubles, and temptations come like a flood to the one on a rock, he stands firmly, be cause his foundation is secure. An Irishman was out in a storm, on a great rock. “Weren’t you afraid?” he was asked. “Yes,” he answered, “my legs trembled, but the rock didn’t.” So it is with Christians, whose feet are set upon the Rock o f Ages. The glorious history o f missions, with its handful of faithful missionaries and its staunch native converts sharply tested by massacres and persecutions-, verifies the truth of Christ’s saying, “ It fell not.” Thousands of unknown Christian heroes also prove the truth of the words every day by their patient endurance. Sad indeed is the other picture that Christ paints o f “a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” How treach erous, unsafe, and insecure was he! Well may his life be styled “the ill-founded life.” The sand represents any basis o f life ex cept the will o f God, or obedience to Christ. It represents hearers and not do ers. Our fundamental desires may be self ish—the love of praise, power, wealth, and ease; all these are “sand.” When trials
come, such a foundation gives way, and the life fails and falls—a complete ruin. The only safe place to build is on the Rock, Christ Jesus. Wealth may take wings and depart; reputation may be blown away by a whisper; friendships may fail; good resolutions may be swept away; pleas ure may vanish; but if you build on Christ, neither fierce winds of opposition nor flood tides o f oppression can move you. With Martin Luther, you can sing: “A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing. Our helper He, amid the flood, O f mortal ills prevailing.” Leader's Helps I. O n the R ock A Christian woman lay dying. One who loved her went to See her and asked, “How are you now? Is all-well?” £•) “ I’m on the Rock,” was her one answer. It was the only thing she said, and the next day she fell asleep.— M o r r o w . II. H earing and D oing He who hears the words of Christ, and does them, is safe against all the evil in fluences of the world, safe forever; he who simply hears, and does not do, is doomed to fail of ' salvation, and be crushed in utter destruction. There is mournful dan ger in every age that men will hear Christ’s servants preach, and will themselves read, in His written Word, and stop at that, without doing according to that which they hear or read. It is a most momentous question for every one o f u s: Am I doing the sayings of the Lord?— B roadus . ■ ■ M H | h i . T he I mportance of a S ure F oundation I often watch in Boston the building of great edifices, and it is marvelous to see how rapidly, by modern steel construction, the building goes up after the foundation has been prepared. Builders often allow half the time, and sometimes half the cost, for obtaining a suitable foundation. If they cannot go down to bedrock, piles must be driven, and hundreds of tons of cement poured in. After the Washington Monu ment was partly built, it was found neces sary at great cost to go beneath it and enlarge and strengthen the foundations. In building Phillips Brooks’ beautiful Trin ity Church in Boston, the foundations were found to be too weak to support the great central tower the architect had planned, and they had to content them selves with a lower oneH-MoTE. IV. T he T rue F oundation - Jesus Christ is the only true foundation/ because: 1. He alone reaches down to bedrock. 2. He alone endures for eternity. 3. He alone is unshaken by any storm of life—“Jesus Christ the same yester day, and to-day, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8 ).— S elected . V. T houghts for the N ew Y ear I asked the New Year for some motto sweet, Some rule of life with which to guide my feet;
I asked and paused; he answered, soft and low, f..¿“ God's will to know.’’ . “Will knowledge then suffice, New Year?” I cried; And ere the question into silence died, The answer came, “Nay, but remember, too, God’s will to do.’’ Once more I asked, “Is there no "more to tell?” And once again the answer fell, “Yes, this ofie thing all other things above— God’s will to love." ■ — S elected . VI. P oor , S ad H umanity Poor, sad Humanity, Through all the dust and heat, Turns back with bleeding feet, By the weary round it came,
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Unto the simple thought, By the great Master taught, And that remaineth still; Not he that repeateth the name But he that doeth the will. JANUARY 14, 1934 UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES R o m a n s ' 7 :12-25 Suggestions for the Meeting
— L ongfellow .
Hymn—“Jesus, I Come.” Hymn—-“All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” Prayer. Scripture, Duet—“ Sweet Peace.” ,. Leader’s Message. Hymn—“Moment by Moment.” Testimonies. Quiet Hour. Hymn—“ I Need Thee Every Hour.”;-/. Benediction—Psalm 19:14. Meditation on the Lesson In the scripture for this lesson, we have a stirring account of Paul’s own expe riences, transcribed for us so that we, too, might know the folly of seeking deliver ance from sin through the law. It is a dramatic description o f the strife between the two natures of the believer. It is a story of the soul’s struggle to be holy by keeping the law. This _desperate struggle between the “ I,” which is Saul o f Tarsus, and the “I,” which is Paul the apostle, reveals the fact that, while he loved truth and holiness, he constantly did what he hated, and could not do what he wanted to do. This would be a most discouraging lesson to us all, if it ended there. We would despair of ever understanding ourselves. But praise the name o f the Lord, Paul is speaking here of the law alone. The way o f deliverance, he is to unfold in the eight chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. Paul makes a despairing cry for outside help: “ O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
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