Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 9, Number 50, DeMotte, Jasper County, 2 November 1939 — IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON [ARTICLE]

IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. D. D.

Dean of The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.)

Lesson for November 5 Lesson subjects and Scripture texts selected and copyrighted by International Council of Religious Education; used by permission. RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE KINGDOM LESSON TEXT—Matthew •: 17-20, 38-45; 6.1-4. GOLDEN TEXT—Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect;—Matthew 5:48. “Righteousness in the kingdom,” the title of our lesson, properly relates its teaching to the kingdom of the Messiah w’hich is to come on the earth, and to the condition w’hich shall then prevail. At the same time w r e agree w’ith Dr. James M. Gray that “it would be wrong to press this too far and to say that the Sermon on the Mount has no application whatever to the Christian church or the time in which we live, for God is the same through all dispensations and the underlying principles of His government never change.” Certainly it is true that if all of the men and all of the nations of the earth were, on this Armistice Sunday true followers of Christ and ready to carry out the teachings of this lesson, there would no longer be any possibility of war. This means that the best peace propaganda is the sending of missionaries and teachers to all the earth to win men to Christ. Our lesson should be studied and taught with great care lest we confuse morality w’ith Christianity and make it appear that men are justified before God by their good works rather than by their faith in Christ. I. Christ Fulfills the Law (5:17-20). The law of God is eternal, never to be abrogated, never set aside. Christ Himself, although we might properly say that He w’as in reality the Law-giver and thus had pow’er arid authority over the law’, indicated His purpose in coming to be that of giving the law its full meaning, not of destroying it. One could wish that those who profess to be His servants might have the same measure of regard for God’s law. If they did, they obviously w’ould not be so ready to ignore it, so quick to change it or explain it away, and far more ready to accept with their Master every “jot and tittle,” that is, even the minutest detail of His Word, Recognizing Christ as the fulfillment of the law should • prepare one to manifest obedience to every moral precept through His grace and by His strength. Certainly it should not lead anyone to lawlessness or carelessness regarding details of the daily walk. Fellowship with the Saviour should be revealed in consistent living (v. 20). 11. Christ Explains the Law (5: 38-45). Look at verses 21 to 37. The spirit of murder is anger (vv. 21, 22). A lustful look is adultery (vv. 27-30), and it is better to be blind than to be guilty of it. Divorce is linked very plainly with adultery (vv. 31, $2). Swearing is forbidden (vv. 33-37). Thus Christ strips outward conformity to tile law of its apparent virtue and reveals that with God it is the spirit that gives meaning to the act. He goes on to make plain that God alone is wise enough to' take vengeance, that w r e ought never to retaliate with evil for evil. Note that verse 39 probably refers to-an insult rather than to physical violence; that in verse 40 it is a question of a difference of opinion in which the other man feels that he has a legal right to your coat; and that here, as in verses 41 and 42, it is not a matter of letting a wicked or scheming person defraud you of your rights or property, but rather of doing what is required of you in an ungrudging spirit and of being generous with others who are in need. In Christ we are to be like our heavenly Father and love our enemies (vv. 43-45). 111. Christ Illustrates the Law (6: 1-4). Possibly it would be more appropriate for us to say that Christ here illustrates the right and the wrong way of fulfilling the law. How very clear He makes it that the one who, while ostensibly doing the will of God, actually is seeking the recognition and glory of men has received his full reward, for men have applauded his act ot generosity. The transaction is complete and God has nothing to do with it at all. On the other hand, the one who gives in the spirit of Christ, not wanting men to know of his faithful stewardship (v. 4), and in fact making no reckoning of it himself (v. 3), may be certain that he has a heavenly Father who takes careful account of the loving deeds of His children and who will reward him, both in this world and in the world to come.