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Sunday School Lesson (Continued from Page S) patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such there is no law. ? Galatians 5:22-23 Exploring The Questions As you have just read, some powerful words are hidden in this little sermon. So many thoughts are compressed into just a few verses that we will have to look carefully in order to get the full meaning. It is hard to miss the points, however: (1) Love for one another is the true mark of -a Christian. (2) Christ is the supreme example of love. (8) Our obligation as Christians is to perform acts of charity. Our problem today is often how we shall express our con cern for others. As we saw in the opening story of the lesson, good intentions are not enough. There are all kinds of ways of doing things for other people, but not all of them work out as we expect As in so many passages of Scripture in this study, we catch from the writer of First John the unmistakable connection be tween believing and doing. But we do not know who he was; he identifies himself in Second and Third John only as "the elder." "Elder" was a popular des ignation, particularly in the Asian churches, for thoee who carried on the teaching of the apostles. No other sign of au thority would have been neces sary for the sermon to be ac cepted by the people. We may reasonably conclude, then, that First John was written to churches in this elder's sphere of influence and circulated un der his supervision. Another point to note here is the (dose connection between First, Second, and Third John and the Gospel of John In vo cabulary, literary style, and theological ideas. Host scholars believe they were written by the same person or, at least, persons from the same school of thought. This would date First John near the beginning of the second century. Finding Help With Tour Questions In 1 John 3, the writer di vides men into two class? ? those who find the source of their values in God and thoee who are dominated by the Devil. Beginning at verse 11, the con trast is drawn between bate, as tt is seen in Cain's act o f mur der, and love, demonstrated in Jesus' willing sacrifice of hi* own life. The exhortation in verse 11 to love one another i s especially directed at this point to those in the church. Note in verse 16 that the writer talks about lay ing down our lives "for the brethren." A writer in The In terpreter's Bible explains that one reason for this ettiphasis was the drawing together of Christians as a result of perse cution. But their concern was not limited to persons in the church, for missionary activity provided the setting for John's letters. Love Conquers Death 6The contrast in verse 12 be tween the evil deeds of Cain and his brother's righteousness is one similarity between First John and the Gospel of John. Both writings teach that dark ness hates light and nhHnira from it. We can see the con nection, then, between Righteous ness and light and between evil and darkness. _ In verse 13 the author is say ing: "Do not be surprised that you are hated. This reaction is as old as time ? the righteous life is an offense to those whose deeds are evil." As Cain hated Abel, so the pagan world hates Christians. Love is associated with life; hate, with death or murder. Where Cain deals death, Christ gives life. The meaniny of fact for Christian action is spell ed out in verse 16: "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." This is a familiar New Testament th?m? The Fruits of Lore As I said before, John's letter is straight talk. Those who hate are murderers (verse 15), and no real Christian "has the world's goods . . yet closes his heart" (verse 17). The turn of the screw comes in verse 18: Dont just sit there; do some thing. C. H. Dodd, a biblical scholar, explains it this way: "This downright concretenesa, almost crudity, in stating the moral requirements of religion, belongs to the genius of New Testament Christianity in gen eral. . . . The fact is that Chris tianity derived this advantage from its origin among a people (the Jews) for whom religion HARGETT FUNERAL SERVICES Where sympathy expresses itself through sincere service. 905 East Market Street ? 203 North Beech Street Most Modern Equipment All Facilities Available ? Air Conditioned Chapel Opposite New Postal Bonding The Harsrett Family Greensboro, N. C. Can 278-8298 was ethical, and morality was expressed In baldly concrete precepts." Shakespeare put It like this: "They do not love that do not show their love." Another per son has defined love as "the willingness to surrender that which has value for our own life to enrich the life of anoth er." The final verse in Chapter S reminds the Christian that un less we keep Jesus' command to love, we can have no intimate union with God, no mutual in dwelling ("abide in him, and he in them"), no spiritual in spiration. This statement does | not mean that the elder has 1 taken us back to salvation by' works. But works of love are I such a certain by-product of the Christian faith that they identify the Christian. Love in Daily Life One problem for Christians, of course, is that we tend to wait for some heroic act by which to "lay down our live*." But the expression of love can be a very mundane, cloee- to home sort of thing. This point is illustrated in a story told by Keith Miller. He confesses that in the early years of bis marriage, when thingi went wrong, he would try to set them right by bringing his wife a present. He notes, however, that this practice never quit* brought the result he had hoped for. Then one wintry evening when he was in the living roam trying to read the newspaper, bis three little girls begaa 'climbing all over me as If I were a ladder." When he finally gave in to their giggling and squirming and began to play with them, he noticed out of th* corner of his eye that his wife's (Continued oa Pace I) WANTED 100 BOYS TO SELL Prizes will be given each month to the boy who sells the most papers. The Future Outlook is circulated on the following newstands all week. Wolf Store Shaw's Curb Market 1548 McConnell Road 1418 E Market Street Bright Grocery Triangle Luncheonette Mt. Zion 1330 E Market Street Ethel's Bake Shop Variety 926 Gorrell Street 1402 E. Market Street Sampson's Pharmacy Withers Shoe Shop 107 N. Pearson Street E. Market Street Soathgmte Barbecue Wynn Drug Store Southgate Shopping Center 814 Gorrell Street j THE FUTURE OUTLOOK OFFICE HOURS \ 8:00 A M - 5:00 P.M. ? Mondays and Wednesdays 8:00 A-M. -12:00 Noon ? Tuesday Tuesday Evenings ? Registration for new sales agents and pictures brought in. Wednesday ? Summarizing of all first-hand news for publication. We cannot give prices for cuts and advertisements over the tele phone. Please come to our office during office hours. Brief announcements may be phoned in to the Future Outlook. The Futore Outlook 1306 E. Market St < ' w * t 278-1758
The Future Outlook (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Dec. 4, 1970, edition 1
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