25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? on. 26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. - Milton. riches or wealth. "Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell." We can serve God with wealth, but as soon as we begin to serve wealth we cease to serve God. "He who offers God a second place offers him no place." Ruskin. 25. Take no thought for your life, no anxious thought, as the revision says. This does not forbid prudence, of course, but it does forbid worrying, which is the virtual denial of God. Is not the life more than meat? More than the food which sustains life. God gave us life, and we have a right, if we are true to him, to rely on him to preserve what he has given. 26. Behold the fowls (R. V., "birds "), which are very abundant in Palestine. God gives them their food, which they also win by ceaseless industry. Of course then he will take care of men, on whom he has lavished so many more gifts of creation than on the birds. Illustration. "God is not a crutch coming in to help your lameness, unnecessary to you if you had all your strength. He is the breath in your lungs. The stronger you are, the more thoroughly you are yourself, the more you need of it, the more you need of him.” Phillips Brooks. 27. Which of you by taking thought (R. V., "being anxious") can add one cubit unto his stature? or age, since the Greek word means also the duration of life. Both of these have their natural limits fixed by God, and it's no use worrying about them. 28. Consider the lilies. Palestine is a land of brilliant and abounding flowers. This reference to lilies" is probably quite a general one." Masterman. Wood is scarce in Palestine, and the dried flowers and grass of the field (v. 30) are often used to this day to heat ovens for baking bread. 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, the heathen, who do not know the true God. But Christ has told us of our heavenly Father, who knows all our needs, and loves us so much that his knowledge of our needs means instant supply. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, God's reign in our hearts and in the whole earth; put it first in your time, thought, zeal, and energy. Every other good thing will come with it into your life. "He who buys goods has paper and twine flung in." Matthew Henry. Illustration. "Ruskin once told a body of students that no teacher could give them gold; the most he could do was to give them the tools and show them where to dig. You will find God only as you seek him out for yourself." — Dr. William P. Merrill. 1. GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4: 7-16). The disciple who came closest to Jesus is the one who, in his Gospel and Epistles, does the most to illuminate this thought of God as a loving Father. He sums it up in the glorious expression, God IS love, the divine nature and the nature of love are one and the same; they have the same bounds, the same expression, so that whatever one may say of love one may say of God, and whatever one may seek from love one is sure to find in God. We are so familiar with these three wonderful words that we seldom realize how marvellous they are. Peter is another disciple upon whom this disclosure of God as love made a profound impression. He never forgot Christ's three-fold question, "Lovest thou me ?" (John 21:15-17). He made love the top round of his ladder of Christian virtues (2 Pet. 1:5-7). It is from him that we have the golden text of the primary department: "He careth for you " (1 Pet. 57). What a comfort this thought must have been in Peter's stormy life! "God loveth thee, O may this thought Be deeply on thy heart inwrought; Let its sweet light shine bright and clear God loveth thee, God loveth thee." -I. E. Diekenga. 2. THE FATHER'S LOVE FROM THE BEGINNING (Eph. 11-14). This passage, from the greatest of all the apostles, and from the Epistle which many consider the greatest of all his writings, unites the Genesis thought of God with Christ's disclosure of God. It pictures the Creator as loving his children before he had created them; as planning, even before the foundation of the world, to reveal himself in Jesus Christ; so that all the Bible, from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, is one long commentary on the Fatherhood of God. This is the true way to read the Scripture, and therefore the most fruitful and blessed. 3. REVERENCE DUE HIM (Matt. 6:9). Our golden text, the first words of the Lord's Prayer, couples the thought of the Fatherhood of God with the thought of the reverence due to the Father. When we pass from the awe which is inspired in us by the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator to the knowledge of our loving Father in heaven, we do not lose in reverence, but rather our reverence is increased. Familiarity breeds contempt " is not true of the Deity. The nearer we come to God, the more we revere him, because the more clearly we understand his greatness, majesty, and glory. 4. PRAISE DUE HIM (Ps. 145 1-21). Reverence leads to praise. The more we understand God, the more we shall be compelled to give him outward as well as inward honor. David was the world's greatest master of the sublime art of praising God, and Psalm 145 is fittingly named " David's Psalm of Praise." Every verse speaks praise of Jehovah. Every day the psalmist would bless him. Forever and ever he would praise him. He would praise him greatly. He would join all his generation in this praise; yes, and all generations; yes, and all God's works. Ascriptions of praise crowd upon one another. It is an eager, exultant, irrepressible pæan. And this is the praise that all God's children should give continually, in their hearts and with their voices. 5. WORSHIP DUE HIM (John 4: 24). Reverence is not enough; that is feeling. Praise is not enough; that is words. Worship also is due to our loving Father in heaven, worship which is the bending of the whole soul Godward. Our Lord himself defined the worship that we should give we "must worship him in spirit and in truth." Mere formal worship will not suffice; our spirits must give vitality to it. A trace of hypocrisy will vitiate it; we must worship in truth, in absolute sincerity. "The Father seeketh such to worship him," said Christ (John 4:23). What God seeks is certainly what his children should seek with all their hearts. Illustration. Collins, the free-thinker, once met a plain farmer, and asked him where he was going. "To church, sir." "What are you going to do there? Worship God." "Is he a great God or a little God?" "Both." "How can that be? "He is so great, sir, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and so little that he can dwell in my heart." Collins said that this answer from the farmer had more effect upon his mind than all the learned books written against him. 6. LOVE DUE HIM (Deut. 6:4, 5; Matt. 22: 35-38). The chief thought we can have regarding the nature of God is that he is love. Therefore our chief duty with reference to God is to love him; not to reverence him, to praise him, even to worship him, but to love him. No halfway love will rise to the great opportunity; it must be a love of the whole heart, soul, and mind, love that has back of it our deepest emotions, our highest spirituality, our broadest reasoning. So Moses said in the Law, so Christ said in the Gospel. If we forget all other theology, we shall have the essence of it in this. If we practise only this requirement, it will widen out into every other service of God and man. Love is the summit of thought and the fulfilment of life. Illustration. "It is said that the symmetrical dome of the Cathedral of Pisa has a wonderful musical power. Any sound, however harsh, is changed into a melody which fills the dome with harmony. No discord can reach the summit of this dome. Every voice in the building, the slamming of the seats, the tramping of feet, the murmur and bustle of the crowd, are caught up, softened, harmonized, blended, and echoed back in music.". Christian Advocate. God's love is such a dome over our lives, and "all things work together for good to them that love God." GOLDEN TEXT. - God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. — JOHN 3:16. Devotional Reading: Eph. 3: 14-21. Additional Material for Teachers: Rom. 8: 31-39; I : 1-9. Primary Topic: JESUS OUR FRIEND AND SAVIOUR. 2 Cor. 5: 17-21; Heb. Lesson Material: Luke 2: 1-20; John 1: 35-51; 3: 16. Junior Topic: WHAT JESUS DOES FOR US. Memory Verse: Matt. 20: 28. Intermediate Topic: OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR. Additional Material: John 6:66-69; 14: 1, 2; Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Tim. 1:15. Senior and Adult Topic: CHRIST THE WORLD'S REDEEMER. Additional Material: John 1: 1-14; Rom. 1:16, 17; Eph. 3:14-21; Heb. 1:1-9; 1 John 1: 1-10. THE TEACHER AND THE CLASS PLAN OF THE LESSON I. WHO CHRIST WAS, John 1: 35-51. 1. The Son of the living God, John 6: 66-69. 5. Life, Light, Word, John 1: 1-14. 1. To save sinners, 1 Tim. 1:15. Pupils of all ages need to have a clear | SUBJECT: Christ Our Saviour. idea of who Christ was and what he came to do. The younger pupils get their starting point from the story of the wonderful birth and what that meant to the world. The older pupils study the doctrine of the atonement. The pupils of intermediate ages study the phases of the great theme most appropriate to their thought and experience. In all classes the lesson must not close without making more vivid than ever before the thought of Christ as a living, loving Friend, saving from sin, helping in trouble, leading into all joy. This is a great lesson for making Christians, and the evangelistic impulse may well be most prominent in the teacher's preparation. LEARN BY HEART John 1: 49; 3: 16; Matt. 20: 27, 28. III. 2. To save all that believe, Rom. 1: 16, 17. WHAT CHRIST DOES, Rom. 8:31, 32. 1. A new creature, 2 Cor. 5: 17-21. 2. Exceeding abundantly, Eph. 3: 14-21. 3. More than conquerors, Rom. 8: 33-39. 4. Preparing heaven, John 14: 1, 2. THE LESSON IN ITS SETTING. Time and Place. - The date of Christ's baptism (Andrews) was Janu ary 27, A.D. 26, and the calling of the first disciples (John 1:35-51) took place at Bethany (Bethabara), east of the Jordan, in February, A.D. 27. THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY Among the notable books on Christ (many thousands of them) are lives by Farrar, Edersheim, Geikie, Stalker; Morgan's The Crises of the Christ; Matheson's Studies of the Portrait of Christ; Hughes's The Manliness of Christ; Phelps's The Story of Jesus Christ; Stalker's Imago Christ; Whyte's The Walk, Conversation, and Character of Jesus Christ; Watson's The Life of the Master; Joseph Cook's Orthodoxy; Bushnell's The Character of Jesus; Governor Hanly's My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. THE ROUND TABLE FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION. The nature of Jesus Christ. 35. Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39. He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. I. WHO CHRIST WAS, John 1: 35-51. Christ's entrance upon his ministry was fittingly marked with a declaration of his nature and character by the great herald of Christianity, the noble prophet, John the Baptist. He was preaching and baptizing at Bethany on the east of the Jordan, and saw Jesus, whom he had baptized the day before. Turning to two of his disciples, John uttered the memorable words, Behold the Lamb of God! (" that taketh away the sin of the world," he had added the previous day- verse 29). "He used the lamb' as the symbol of sacrifice. Here, he says, is the reality of which all animal sacrifice is the symbol." - Expositor's Greek Testament. 37. They followed Jesus. John unselfishly turned his own followers toward the greater Teacher. That 39. Come and see, said Jesus when John's disciples asked where he lived. is the way to find out about Christ, who he is and what he can do: don't stand off and philosophize or criticise, but follow him to his home, the church; live with him, and you will soon be as thoroughly convinced of his deity as Andrew and John were. The tenth hour. Four in the afternoon, the Jewish day beginning at six in the morning. 40. One of the two... was Andrew. The other was evidently John, who modestly refrains from mentioning himself, as was his custom; and the brother whom he found was James. 41. He first findeth. Simon. A good life work, if Andrew never did anything else! We have found the Messiah. In Jewish lips this was the most comprehensive of all Eurekas." Dods. It asserted that Jesus was the incarnation of the Deity, symbolized by the paschal lamb, the brazen serpent, the Jewish sacrifices; foretold by David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and many another prophet; eagerly expected for centuries by the Hebrew race. 43. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 44. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph. 46. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 51. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. 42. Simon means hearing." Cephas is Aramaic and Peter Greek for "rock or stone." Peter was a wave-man who was to become a rock-man, a foundation-man. 43. Follow me. That is Christ's summons to us all. Follow into all peril, but he goes before. Follow not philosophies, not human teachers, not fancies, Follow not promise, not dream, not procrastinate, but go. but the Son of God. Follow not take your own way, but in all points his. Whoever 44. Bethsaida, a town on the northern end of the sea of Galilee. 45. Philip findeth Nathanael, probably the apostle Bartholomew. really finds Christ sets at once to work to find others to bring to Christ. We have found him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write. No one can study the Old Testament honestly and reverently without becoming convinced that those ancient writings describe the life and character of Jesus Christ. 46. Out of Nazareth. This town where Jesus lived was in Galilee, all whose people were despised for their want of culture, their rude dialect, and contact with Gentiles." Cambridge Bible. Moreover, it was an insignificant place, and the New Testament shows that many of its inhabitants were wicked; they even tried to kill Jesus once (Luke 4: 29). 47. Behold an Israelite indeed, a man worthy of descent from Israel, a truehearted Hebrew. 49. Thou art the Son of God. Nathanael had probably been praying under a fig-tree at a distance, where Christ could not have seen him except with supernatural vision, such as the Son of God would have. Thou art the King of Israel. Thus early in Christ's ministry appear those ideas of an earthly, political kingdom which did so much to hinder Christ's work and bring it to a tragic end. 51. Ye shall see heaven open. Again Christ compares Nathanael to Israel (Jacob), this time to the patriarch's vision of angels at Bethel not far distant from the place where Jesus then was. Nathanael was to realize, all through Christ's ministry, that the angels were close to him. The Son of man. Christ's favorite name for himself (he alone uses it), most strikingly bringing out his union with humanity, though he was divine. No mere man would ever need to emphasize his humanity thus. Illustration. "Christianity is not so much the advent of a better doctrine as of a perfect character. And how can a perfect character, once entered into life and history, be separated and finally expelled? It were easier to untwist all the beams of light in the sky, separating and expunging one of the colors, than to get the character of Jesus out of the world." Horace Bushnell. |