T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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Christ as Andrew did, John 1:41, to find one’s friend as Philip did, John 1:45, these are th e m arks of a tru e disciple. F inding Christ is th e beginning, follow ing Christ is th e life-long result. MONDAY, Oct. 6. Mark 1:14-20. Fishers of Men. F ishing is a science and an art. There are in teresting analogies between catch ing fish and saving souls. The first pre-requisite in successful fishing is to go where the fish are. Jesus did not merely prom ise P eter th a t he should have an oppprtunity for fishing. He said: “Thou sh alt catch men.” F ish ing is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end. If people will not come to us for the Gospel, we m ust take it to them . I t is not enough to open th e church door, ring th e church bell and th en sit down and w ait for a congregation. We m ust resolve ourselves into a highway and hedge comm ittee and go out and compel them to come in. If people will not come to church, th e church must go to them . The Gospel m u st be preached in th e open air, on th e docks, in the parks, the m ark et places and th e stre e t corners, wherever people can be found. Again, a successful fisherman m ust understand the h abits of th e fish th a t he may know w h at b ait to use and make a wise ad ap tation of means to ends. F ishing for men requ ires a knowledge of hum an n atu re. P au l was a skilled fisherman and gives a h in t of his methods in 1 Cor. 9:19-23. Pa tience and persistence are always neces sary. P eter once fished all n igh t and caugh t nothing. The Master encour aged him to launch ou t into th e deep and try once more. In other words to do the same th ing over again th a t he had already done so many tim es in vain. Ahother m ight have suggested th a t P eter should adopt new methods, secure a new outfit or take a correspon dence course on the a rt of fishing. The sequel, however, proved th a t th e re was some v irtu e left in P e te r’s shabby nets and old-fashioned methods. Some would have us b ait th e Gospel hook w ith poli tics, ethics, philosophy and science and en tertain men w ith highly-spiced and sensational sermons. The Gospel re quires no improvements or additions to make it effective. It is th e power of God unto salvation. The Christian worker has only to cast the Gospel n et a t th e Lord’s command in the same old way and leave the resu lts w ith Him.
TUESDAY, Oct. 7. Luke 5 :1-11. Helping the Fishers.
The Master had borrowed P e te r’s boat by reason of th e crowd and push-* ing out a little from th e shore had preached to th e people th e word of life. He will not be beholden to any man and w ishing to pay re n t for His extempor ized pulpit He bids P eter launch out into the deep and let down his nets for a draught. P ete r demurs, having fished all n igh t in vain. Perhaps he th ink s th a t although the Master may be a good carpenter, He knows nothing about fish ing. P eter will yield to no m an’s judg m ent in the m a tte r of his calling. It seems to him th a t th ere are no fish left in the lake. He gives expression to his though t therefo re as follows: “Master we have toiled all th e n igh t and have tak en nothing; nevertheless a t thy word I will let down a n et.” The Master said “ nets.” P e te r said “ n et.” To him th e resu lt was a foregone conclu sion. Why go to th e trouble of using all his tackle? One cast of a single net would be enough to dem onstrate his superior wisdom. To his unbounded surprise, however, even th is p artial obedience yielded an astonishing re sult. The net enclosed a g rea t m ulti tud e of fishes and P eter had a broken n et upon his hands. We may suppose th a t when P eter became a disciple, he made the Lord a p artn e r in his business as every business man should. The Lord will not be a silent p artn er, accepting dividends and contribu ting no asset. Many a business man would have been saved from bankruptcy and poverty if he had made th e Lord a member of the firm. Prov. 3:9-10. A certain Chris tia n man who had adopted th is arran g e ment, testified, “ I give to th e Lord by the spoonful and He gives to me by the shovelful.” M aterial prosperity so far as may be consistent w ith sp iritu al well being is one of “ the things th a t accom pany salvation.” 1 Tim. 4:8. WEDNESDAY, Oct. 8. Luke 14:15-24. Excuses. Those who were invited to th e g reat supper did not w ant to go. The ex cuses were mere pretexts revealing th eir unw illingness. They were not only un tru th fu l, th e ir palpable insufficiency was most insulting. The first one had invested in some real estate and he must needs go and see it. The necessity was not urgent. The land would no t run away. The second had bough t five
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