Churchill King, that Jesus Christ is the most significant person in all history; that his life and teachings have more light than any other fact of history to throw upon God, upon man, upon all the varied relations of God and man, and so upon the practical problem of daily living in its deepest aspects; that therefore the all-inclusive, indispensable need of men is to know him; and that the one supreme wisdom is to give this greatest of all persons his full opportunity with every human being and every aspect of organized society. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION I. What do we in America need more-new moral ideals, or more moral dynamic? What do non-Christian lands most need? 2. What are some of the sources for a great dynamic for highest world service? Arrange these in the order of their effectiveness upon you. 3. Choose some one religion and try to outline in a brief paragraph what allegiance to it would mean to you. 4. How has Christ influenced the civic laws of our country as compared with the laws of non-Christian lands? 5. Why do actual converts often exhibit more missionary zeal than the second or third or sixty-third generation of converts? CHAPTER VI Zeal for the Manifestation of God Great as is the Good News of a Savior of Mankind, it is not sufficient for the world Christian merely to spread this message of Jesus. He must embody the message in his own life and in society, Jesus taught that all life must proceed from within outward. The individual must first prove that he has a great Gospel by what it can do in his own heart. He must be a living witness to God's power to save from sin day by day in prosaic, practical realms. No man will listen to words if the character and daily walk behind the words belie the speaker's testimony. Emerson was right when he said, "What you are speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say." And coordinate with the manifestation in the individual there must be the corporate embodiment of the message. Christians must live together and in relation to all others in such a way that the truth of God can manifest itself in human love. The great ideal which Jesus brought into the world was a way of living together which should be God-like. It was not simply a way of living, mark you, but a way of living together. This ideal he called the Kingdom of God-the Kingdom of Heaven. Sixth Week, First Day: "The Glory of God" And he said, Show me, I pray thee, thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee.. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. . . . For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. And blessed be his glorious name for ever; And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. We sometimes think of man's glory as residing in the outward tokens of his prosperity, such as silver or gold or attire. In ancient times a nation's glory consisted in its warriors as indications of its might. In what way shall we think of the glory of God? Is it the aggrandizement of your communion, or of any human institution? Is it the majesty, the splendor, the magnificence of a king or potentate? In the verses for today Israel's prophets conceive God's glory to be the manifested perfection of his character. This glory may be exhibited in his "handiwork," "his mighty acts," "his marvelous works," "his righteousness," and in the natural world itself. But the supreme manifestation of his excellence is found in personality-"in the face of Jesus Christ" and in perfected human nature as found in other individuals and in nations. Zeal for the glory of God is, then, an enthusiasm for God's manifestation in human life. Down through the ages a holy ambition to forward this manifestation has stirred the souls of men. Let the beauty and the grandeur of this life purpose capture our hearts today. Sixth Week, Second Day: God's Method in a World Task He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.—John 1: 10-14. God chose as his method that of the incarnation. The most unique and perfect expression of this method was in his in carnation in the Man of Galilee. But the manifestation of the divine in human life is a method God is always using. If we would learn for ourselves what is the supremely effective expression of the Christian consciousness we must turn to God himself. How did he express himself most significantly? Through human life. So must we. We cannot surpass the wisdom of God. Just as God is the ultimate source of the Christian motive, so from God we discover the ultimate method of its expression. In fact, Christianity may be said to be the perpetual incarnation of God in humanity. God's greatest gift to us was not something which he did for us, but a revealing of himself to us. Just showing us what he is, and making it possible for us.to come into transforming association with him, will forever be his greatest contribution to mankind. Self-revelation, and in particular the incarnation, is God's great missionary method. And we are to be workers with him in the same method. Sixth Week, Third Day: The Obligations of Sonship ... These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father.. My Father and your Father. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. . But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God. . . Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. . . . And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.-John 17:1; 20: 17; Rom. 8: 14; John 1: 12; I John 3:1; Rom. 8:15, 16; Gal. 4:6, 7. Jesus brought into the world a wonderful and new consciousness of sonship to God. Behind this consciousness was a profoundly new experience of God, and also a revolutionary appreciation of the values in every human life. Jesus wanted to share this experience with others-in fact he placed no limit upon the degree to which we might share his experience. And in an extraordinary way he has been able to develop this same consciousness of sonship in his followers. But sonship to Jesus involved being about his Father's business, doing what he saw the Father doing, and this meant manifesting a character like God's. He had to become a Savior. Do we sufficiently reflect that this is what sonship must involve for us, too? We are genuinely saved only as we enter into the experience Jesus had. Now the manifestation of God in this world of ours is conditioned upon man's cooperation. It is not a completed and finished world into which man has been introduced. God's glory is only in process of being revealed, and he waits for full-grown sons to help him. As we see how nature waits to be scientifically controlled in behalf of such things as production, distribution, and good health; as we see how forms of physical beauty await embodiment in useful things and houses and community life, one can almost join in Paul's rhapsody when he says that "the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God," and that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:19, 22). We are to be joint workers with God in manifesting the beauty of the world and of a society of personalities like God. Life is to be environed by all that God-like, creative good will in men can do to make nature beautiful and helpful. Sixth Week, Fourth Day: The Value of the Obviously Practical And there arose also a contention among them, which of them was accounted to be greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them; and they that have authority over them are called Benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For which is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.-Luke 22:24-27. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto God, riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments; and he took a towel and girded himself. Then he |