Above:  A Globe

Image Source = Christian Fischer

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GEO_Globe.jpg)

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Matt. 9, 37-38

1.  “The harvest is plenteous.”  The needs of men are great–beyond computation.  The basis of duty is need, not desire of the needy.  [There are] 1 1/2 billion people, only 1/3 Christian in name.  So deep is their sin.  They need Christ.

2.  “Seeing the multitudes He was moved with compassion,” etc.  Preyed upon by false teachers, they were distressed as sheep without a shepherd.

Our hearts ought to go out to there.

3.  Yet “the laborers are few.”  Everywhere the call is for workers.  The missionary societies of the U.S., Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, British Colonies, and Continental Europe have not over 18,000 missionaries and 100,000 native helpers to reach 2/3 the people of the world.  Our church [the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1845-1939], assigned 40 million, has about 1,000 missionaries and native helpers, one worker to every 40,000 souls.

The Lord [is] deprived of His harvest for lack of workers to gather it for Him.  Should we be heartless about it?

4.  No wonder He would we should pray that laborers be sent into His harvest.

Let us pray that many may be called even today.

What are you going to do in life, live for self or others?

Does He call you?

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Above:  The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Pompeo Batoni

(Image in the Public Domain)

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EDITOR’S COMMENT:

There are three prisms through which to read this parable:  the wasteful, disrepectful, and lost son; the resentful, dutiful, older brother; and the father, whose love is extravagant.  The traditional prism, given the parable’s usual name, “Parable of the Prodigal Son,” is the the first one I listed.  But reading it through the other prisms also reveals helpful insights.  Much of the theological beauty of parables of our Lord and Savior is the compact, multi-layered nature of them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 31, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT AIDAN OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Luke 15, 18-24

1.  This son thought too little of house and too much of money.  He chafed under the restraints of home, wanted to go carefree out into the world.

So do men want to have their way.

2.  He took a journey–away from home ties, away from love–away from plenty.

Men in sin leave their Father and wander.  All sin is going away from heaven’s riches and to nothing good.

3.  [He] wasted his substance.  [He] had a gay time, but it was a great waste.

Sinners waste the wealth of personal worth and of opportunity though they could enrich the world with a good life.

4.  He sank to a great depth.  While the famine raged, he ate the husks intended for the swine.  “No man gave unto him.”  In “great want” “I perish.”

Yes, only God, has food for the soul.

5.  But he came to himself and resolved to go back home.  There even the lowliest servant has wealth he has not now.

6.  The loving father who had yearned over his lost boy is so glad to welcome him home.

Won’t you come home?

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Above:  Ascension of Christ, by Benvenuto Tisi

(Image in the Public Domain)

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Luke 24, 46-47

1.  Jesus came to save the whole world.  He died for every man.  “Where sin abounded grace did much more abound.”  He “tasted death for every man.”

2.  Herein is revealed the passion of God and Christ for a lost world.  God cannot look on in indifference while a world perishes in sin.  He loves the world and makes the greatest sacrifice that He may save.  Jesus’ heart broke in Gethsemane.

3.  This suggests the attitude of His church.  Indifference to the lost is not Godlike, but a passion for sinners is.  The church ought to love men so much that it can’t rest short of its greatest effort to save everyone.  When this heartbreak takes possession of the church missions will result assuredly.

4.  This is the ground of the command, go.  Because of his death and passion, therefore he says, go.  “Go for my wandering boy tonight and tell him I love him still.”

Ours must be a world plan, even as is His.  We must act from love as does He–a love that knows no bounds.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Above:  Parable of the Unjust Steward, by Jan Luyken

(Image in the Public Domain)

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Luke 16, 1-12

1.  God created the world and lastly man, putting him in charge of it all with the command to subdue and replenish it.  Hence it appears that man is a steward of God’s to have the oversight of whatever He possesses till his stewardship shall end at death.

2.  Of what ware we stewards?  Of whatever of this world’s goods we have; of our natural gifts–speech, ability to do certain things.

3.  All is to be used for His glory and according to His own righteous will.  It is ours to use not for self but for Him whose it is.

4.  At death our stewardship must end.  [We] can’t take a penny with us, but [we] must render [an] account to God for our conduct here.  His approval means heaven; his disapproval means hell forever.

5.  How then shall we live?  For the future, as did this steward.

By rightly using earthly things enhance our happiness in the world to come.  If we are not faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to us the true riches?

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Luke 18, 1-8

1.  “They ought to pray.”

(1)  It is indispensable.  There is no spiritual life without it.  God offers grace to those who “habitually ask, seek, and knock.”

(2)  Sin is a power man can’t resist unless aided by divine power.  But a constant temptation is to grow weary if the answer is not realized early.

2.

That we faint not consider this otherwise helpless widow who by her importunity won her case before an unjust judge who granted her request “lest she wear me out with her constant coming to me.”

3.  

How much more will we win our quest before God seeing [that] He is the very opposite of this judge; for He delighteth in mercy and desireth to bless all the children of men.

4.

He can answer prayer and does though nature’s laws exist.  He has made provisions to answer prayer.  “Continue to ask and ye shall receive.”

A sinner at prayer.  “Two worlds–heaven and hell–take notice.”

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Above:  The Tower of Siloam, by James Tissot

(Image in the Public Domain)

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Luke 13, 5

A fundamental doctrine.  John and Christ and the Apostles preached it.

1.  Who must repent?  All who have sinned.  “All have sinned.”  Hence all must repent and turn to God.

2.  What is repentance?

(1)  Must be conviction of sin or man can’t repent.

(2)  Confession of sin–all must be confessed–nothing hidden.  Else one’s repentance is not genuine.  It is sin that disposes one to cover up his faults.

(3)  Forsaking of sin.  Pluck out right eye, cut off right-hand–hold on to nothing wrong.

(4)  Restitution of injuries if possible and forgiveness of others who may have wronged one.  Get right with man and God.

(5)  Then trust Jesus to pardon all and he will forgive most wonderfully and freely.

3.  But all must repent, or perish eternally.  If man holds on to sin it will ruin him eternally–Prov. 1, 31.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

John 3, 7

1.  This is an important doctrine.  One’s ideas here will influence all his other views.  Its relation to experience is of great moment.  Be correct in opinion and experience of it.

2.  The ground of the doctrine is that scripture reveals man as a sinner.  His sinful nature necessitates the experience.  All have sinned.  Gen. 6, 5 & 8, 21; Ps. 5, 15 & 58, 3; Jer. 17, 9; Isa. 1, 5-6; Rom. 3, 23.  That Christ died for all Paul uses to prove that all have sinned.  Else why should Christ die for all?

3.  What is regeneration?

Not mere reformation, or good resolutions.  “To cause to be born anew, to bring forth again.”  The change in man (Gal. 5, 6-6:15) wrought by the Holy Spirit dethroning sin and enthroning Christ.  A complete moral change (see Ezek. 36, 25-27).  Depravity and uncleanness acquired by transgressions necessitate “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

4.  How is it received?  By faith.  God’s grace is conditional; He does not impose it upon those who do not want it.  “Ask and receive,” but ask in faith.  Man’s first step in sin was through unbelief.  His last step in finding mercy is faith.  The terms are simple and so easy [that] anyone can meet them and be saved.  Are you thus saved from your sins?

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Above:  Jesus in the Home of Mary and Martha, by Jacopo Tintoretto

(Image in the public domain)

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Luke 10, 42

Martha was domestic & must have undertaken more than an ordinary meal.  Mary quite forgot other matters sitting at the feet of Jesus.

1.  One thing is needful–compared to it all else is insignificant.

(a)  Man is a soul that will abide forever.  It is of first importance.  Religion is man’s chief concern.

(b)  It is man’s temptation to become so engrossed in other matters as to neglect his soul.  Pity he yields!  No one ought to become so busy that he has not time for daily meditation and prayer.

2.  It is all the result of choice.  God delegates this sovereign right to every man.  It adds dignity and happiness to man.

When this choice is made all other questions take their proper place.

3.  There are rich results that flow if one chooses that good part.  Surely pardon, peace, and constant fellowship with Christ & heaven at last are all the heart could wish.

Let everyone attend to the one essential thing–choose Jesus first.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Above:  The Sermon on the Mount, by Carl Bloch

(Painting in the Public Domain)

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EDITOR’S COMMENT:

I, for the sake of clarity, point out that my great-grandfather used the word “professor” to refer to one who professes something, not a person who teaches at a college or a university.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 17, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Matt. 5, 6

1.  The difference in men is in their motives, their longings which color the whole life.  All have some motive that outranks all else.  The heart is a kingdom with some sovereign passion.  One may not know just what is; but it is that which receives most thought & endeavor & gives the highest pleasure.

2.  Jesus says [that] the man who hungers after righteousness is blessed–has a passion for God.  “Religion is the autocrat of the heart.”  He demands the first place & is the soul’s very life:

(a)  A good appetite indicates a healthful body.  A hungering for God shows soundness of heart.  The most religious people strive for God more than any others.

(b)  The passion of professors for worldly pleasures, while the church work languishes, reveals an unsound heart, a loss of healthful appetite.  Such things can’t fill but produce satiety; often disappointment.

3.  All who yearn for & obey Him are filled with peace & joy–are satisfied with Him alone.

4.  How, then, may men have this warmth of affection?  By letting in His messages of love till the heart is warmed.  O for a yearning after God!

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT

Above:  Christ Pantocrator

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John 14, 21-23

1.  Though going away, Jesus says he will come to his disciples, manifest himself to them and abide with them.  [He] will send them the Comforter.

2.  But Jude wants to know how it will occur, how he will manifest himself to them, and not to the world.  His answer is full of meaning.

(1)  If a man love me–this is a command and great privilege–he will keep my word–obey me.

Love is the source and proof of obedience.  Here is the trouble with worldly church members.  True Christians do not want to be wrong.

(2)  My Father will love him.  “God has an eternal preference for good men.”  To such He gives the Spirit.  Thus the Father and the Son will come to him and manifest themselves.

3.  The obedient soul finds a gracious sense of the divine Presence.  This manifestation is assuring, comforting, strengthening, and full of glory.  It is not a sporadic affair, but is a constant and abiding presence.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT