617
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
October 1928
secration (cf. 3:22; 8:39). (2) It is "ac ceptable to' God ”—if should be our desire to please. Him. (3) It is “ our reasonable sendee”—-the “logical” thing to do. W e cannot produce a single good reason for not yielding our lives to God. The focus point of the Christian life is to recognize Christ’s absolute ownership. We are not our own', we are "bought with a price” (TCor. 6:19-20). W e have no right to do as we please with the prop erty of another. Consecration is simply returning stolen property—turning back to Christ all that which He has bought aird paid for. _ dfy We are to present our bodies “a living sacrifice,” This probably contains a thought of the burnt offerings (Lev, 1 : 6 - 9), which typically set forth Christ as offering Himself to God in perfect de votion to the Father’s will. A living sac rifice is, therefore, a life completely dedi cated to Him (Gal. 2:20). St. Anthony, we are told, was once meditating at the seashore and wondered why, in the Old Testament, fishes were not used for sacrifice. He decided that it was because a fish could not easily be brought alive to.the altar, and in a dead sacrifice God had no pleasure. This is at least suggestive. Are we wanting to offer God a dead sacrifice? He wants our bodies while they are thoroughly alive. If we have Christ within, we will not "conform” to the world without (v. 2 ). To conform is to, become like—shaped— to follow the line of, least resistance. How many there are in the church who try to be religious on Sunday and “good sports” fhe rest of the week! Those who have one eye for Christ and one eye for the world will find no satisfaction in either. Instead of being " conformed” we should be “ transformed by the renewing o f our minds” (v. 2). The word “ re newing” occurs elsewhere only in Tit. 3 :15, which teaches us that the renovating pro cess is the work of the Holy Spirit. This is also made clear in 2 Cor. 3:18. When body and mind are yielded to Christ we will prove three things for our selves: (1) That God’s will is “good ” — it means a satisfied life. (2) It is “ac ceptable ”—it wins the favor o f God. (3) It is “ perfect ”—there is nothing short about it. It brings one the full measure of peace. The first effect of the consecrated life will be that we shall not think of our selves more highly than we ought to think (v. 3; cf. Mt. 5:3). God cannot use some Christians because they consider themselves so great. Billy Sunday says: “ Some are all front door and when you open the door you are in the back yard.” Robert Spence, a prosperous Methodist, used to pray: “Lord, save me from that great man Robert Spence.” God must prick the bubble of our false greatness, before He can make much use of us. Verses 4 to 8 compare Christians to the members of the human body. This is a favorite illustration of Paul’s (1 Cor. 12). The service of one member to another is like the harmony and helpfulness the Cre ator has established between the several members of the body. The hand comes to the defense of the eye. The eye keeps watch for the welfare of the foot. The mutual helpfulness of these members is perfect. Such should be the helpfulness o f Christian to Christian. The apostle now proceeds to stress the need of Christian love, out of which this helpfulness flows.
teacher should read.) Paul tells the Christians they should put on the armor of light, and not walk in darkness. He names over some of the sins and crimes, and Shows it is because of disobedience, first to God, and then to all law and order. These forbidden sins and crimes are all connected closely with drinking, drugs and tobacco. Quarreling and murders and all other crimes of violence, have their origin more frequently in drinking than in any other cause. How many of you boys and girls have a baby brother or sister in your home? Do you love them? O f course you do, for they are the dearest things God ever gave us, so pure and innocent, and as they grow up they will do the things they are taught to do. Yet the men and women who are living in sin and crime today, were once dear,-kweet babies. We are al ways on dangerous ground when we dis obey those who have rule over us, or when we injure these bodies with alcohol or tobacco. God places us in homes with parents to guide and train us, and He has told us in His Word to obey our parents. (Teach M. V. and emphasize the great need.)' (Prayer.) ■ N ovember 11, 1928 Peace and G ood Will Text: Rom. 12:1-21 L esson in .O utline I. Exhortation to Consecration. Vs. 1 , 2 . 1. Full surrender to God, spiritual service. V. 1. 2. Non-conformity to the world. V. 2. II. Oneness of the Body o f Christ. Vs. 3-8. 1. Humility enjoined. V. 3. 2. Church compared to the physical body. Vs. 4, 5. . 3. Each is to use his God-bestowed gift. Vs: 6 - 8 . III. Principles of Christian Conduct. Vs. 9-21. 1. Various manifestations of love. Vs. 9-15. 2. Retaliation condemned. Vs. 16- 19. 3. Good tb be returned for evil. Vs. 20 , 21 . '—o - -. H ERE we have one of the most prac tical chapters of the New Testament —the “ Consecration Chapter.” It is the opening of a new seqtion of this great doctrinal e p i s t l e , ’Sjw ' .¿m,
G olden T ext I llustration Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling o f the law (Rom. 13:10). The ten commandments may be sum marized thus: 1. Supreme Love to God can have “no other gods.” 2. Love resents every effort to represent its object as bird, beast or serpent. 3. Love cannot dishonor God’s name by taking it in vain. 4. Love makes one reverence the Lord’s Day. 5. Love makes home happy. 6 . Love can never kill. 7. It is not love but lust that breaks the seventh commandment. 8 . Love prevents lying lips and stops the voice bf slander. 9. Love will give, but never steal. 10. Love has no covetous eyes for his neighbor’s possessions. Obedience to Law Romans 13:1-14. Memory Verse. —“ Children, obey your parents.” Eph. 6:1. Approach —The younger classes have in this lesson the very necessary teaching of obedience—obedience to their parents, their teachers, the laws of their town. Lesson. Story — (Review, describing the loving farewell of Paul to his friends and the elders of the Church at Ephesus, and his plea for them to be faithful to the work God had given them.) Oh, boys and girls, how we need to be faithful to the work God has given us to do. In our story today we have some more very help ful words from Paul, in a letter he wrote to the Christians at Rome, where he had expected to go soon, and sent the letter to tell them he was coming. We are told it is right to obey the ones who rule, or have authority over us. Often those who are in office are not good true men or women, but they are to be respected and obeyed because o f the office they hold. However unworthy they may be, or how ever faulty may be their government, it is. better than no law at all (anarchy). For all power is of God. Since God is the source of all human authority, it is to be honored as coming from Him. W e must remember, also, that God is above all earthly rulers, and they are not to be obeyed if their commands conflict with His. As the early disciples said when told not to preach in the name of Jesus, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). (Teachers, stress obedience to par ents and teachers, and show the trend of the day, and how the crimes of today are committed by youth, even boys and girls. Peloubet’s Notes give a splendid article on the benefits of prohibition, which every R e ck lessd isob ed i ence to law is be coming very com mon t o d a y even among b o y s and girls, and few les sons of the year are required more than this. S h o w the pupils what are the consequences of a disobedient boyhood or girlhood. Con sider the excuses for . such disobedience that are often offered, and show how foolish they zre^-Peloubet’s Notes.
the general subject of which is the right eousness of Go d . The great Christian doctrines of redemp- t i o n , : j ustification and security h a v e been fully set forth
in the preceding chapters. The word “ therefore” of our opening verse links the whole practical appeal to the sublime ar gument of the previous chapters. When Paul would incite believers to greater de votedness, it is by entreaty in view of the standing they have in Christ. The argument of the first verse is three fold: (1) 1 He beseeches us “ by the mercies of God ”—gratitude demands con
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