86
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
March, 1933
( f ile^ f^ vou k lou sW ORLD
SITUATION
en eva
aCfeen a t I
B y S. D. GORDON
I ESUS WAS a world man in size and reach, in the p a s s i o n o f H is heart, and the plan of His life. He was a Jew,
o f som e th ings. But t h e thought ful man tries to see things as they actu ally are. Only so can he live and think and pray with intelligence.
humanly, born of a Jew mother, but He did not come to the Jew. That was only the door way. He came through the Jew door, but He came to a world. He lived a generation o f time in Pales tine. But He did not come to Palestine merely, when He left His Father’s house. That was only the doorsill. He stepped on and across the Palestine doorsill, but He came to a world. He lived in a world in all the outer cir cumstance o f His life. He died for a world, He said. And at the last He talked
The fact that a man is in the pulpit of any communion, in any country, tells you nothing as to his beliefs, in the essentials of our Christian faith as seen in its historical setting. Simply as a matter of historical re view, there are five essentials of our Chris tian faith: 1. The distinctive Book of God, apart from every other book, this easily comes first.
2. The distinctive personality of the one Man o f the Book, the One full human, clearly more than human beyond what words can tell, this is the close second. 3. The distinctive death that that Man died, quite apart from that o f any other death, a death for other men. 4. The badness of sin that necessitated such a death. 5. And that every man must choose as he chooses, for or against this Christ, for his future as well as the present; these make up the five simple essentials. You can’t make them less; you needn’t make them more. It is regarding beliefs in these that I refer to the man in the pulpit. There is a second bit here. And it pains my heart to say it. The fact that a man is in the membership of a church, or in its officiary, tells you nothing as to his beliefs or, or, as to his moral character. There are always fine excep tions. This is the broad characteristic. Then it is noted that there is a generation o f young peo ple that do not know the simple A -B -C o f salvation through Christ. The second outlook is on the moral conditions. And little need be said here. The public prints are full of it. By common consent, the moral fabric o f the race is ragged, and the rags stink. The free use o f cologne water and flowers dbes not conceal the foul odor. There are
to a little group o f mep about their going to a world. And so it is the natural thing for Jesus’ followers to be concerned about, and interested in a world, the whole world. One may live in a narrow corner and live a common place round in its outer touches, but if he is true to his Master, his spirit horizon is as broad as the earth. He is concerned to keep warm sympathetic touch with the man by his side, but his praying takes account o f the whole race as well as the man nearest at hand. So we are to talk a bit together simply and briefly about the present world situation. Everybody agrees just now that it is a troublous situation. And the point o f observation will not be the United States simply, important as this is. The lookout place will be Europe. Since the Sixteenth Century, Europe has been the axis o f the action of the whole earth. The racial tides have swirled about Europe. Their flow and ebb have been marked on the European beach. S ix L ooks O u t Six looks out on the present entire world situation, then, we will take, very simply and briefly. And the first will be the religious outlook. And it will hurt to speak
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