The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-01-26
The
sundays School
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
MENTS FOR FEBRUARY 6.
Subject: Almsgiving and Prayer,
Matt. 6:1-15-Ccmmit to
Memory Verse 6.

Memory verse q. {
GOLDEN TEXT.-"Take heed that
ye do not your righteousness before
men, to be seen of them" Matt. 6:1,
R. V.
TIME.-Midsummer A. D. 49,
PLACE.-Horns of Hattin.
EXPOSITION-I. How to Give
Aims, IA. We should avoid doing
our righteousness to be seen of men.
II we do It to be seen of men, it will
be seen of men and we will have our
only reward in their praise, the high
er reward from Father who is in
heaven will not be ours. This does
not necessarily forbid all gifts in pub
lie Il Cor. 1871, p. Our Lord Him
self commended a gift made in public
(Luke "21:1-4). But while the gift
may be in public, the object should
not be to be seen of men. God knows
the gift of which no man knows. He
seeth in secret ". 4; CT. Heb. ABB.
We should avoid to the uttermost ali
ostentation in our giving (v. s.. We
need not fear that our aims will not
be rewarded. We may not have a re-:
ward here, but we shall hereafter
Matt. 1881, 80, 37-40; Mark 10.
FL; Acts 10:1-4). The best reward
Is in the very giving itself (Acts 2G:t.
$50. The reward will be in proper
ton to the bou%ntifulness Of our Civ
ing e Cor. $3.50. The reward that
God gives for we'll doing is a legiti-
mate motive (cf. Heb. 11:6, 26), but
it is not the supreme motive for the
Christian G. Cor. STA; Cor. 10.s
81.
II. How to Pray. sis. Hypocrites
love to pray in such away that their
prayers shall be noticed. The race Is
not dead yet. Many a mar who prays
in public has more thought CT what
the audience will think of his prayers
than of how they will affectaGod. To
be seen of men is the hypocrite's
motto, to be heard of God is the true
believers aim. Our Lord by His
words here does not condemn all pub
lie prayer (cf. John 6:11). What
He does condemn is that kind Of pray.
ing in public that seeks the notice
and admiration of men. Those who
pray in that way receive their full re-
ward in the notice they get Thai
sort of reward IS not worth much.
The choicest place of ~prayer.is In the
inner chamber with the door shut,
shut in with the Father, the world.
shut out. There are times when pub.
licity in prayer is a duty dan. 6:10),
but it is a bad sign when a a prays
more in public than he does in pri-
vate. Our prayer should be to Our
Father" ". g.. He is in the secret.
place; while He is everywhere, tits
in the secret place that He especially
manifests Himself. He sees In secret.
The prayer offered in secret He rec.
ompenses openly. He recompensessi It
by giving what we ask Matt. TT; I
John 5:14, 15), and by giving far
more than we ask (Eph. 3:20). We
should not babble in prayer, multiply
ing words for the mere sake OF, words.
This does not forbid the repetition
that comes from intense earnestness
(Matt. 26:44), that is meaning
FULL" it does condemn the use Of.
words that are meaningless. We have
an illustration of vain repetitions In
1 Kings 1926. There is no need Of
using many words; Father knows
our every need before we pray; but
He would have. us utter it to Him that
We may realize 1T too, and that we
may realize Who it is supplies the
need. In verses Gil Jesus gives US a
model prayer. Not that we are al
ways to use these words, but we are
to pray according to this plan. The
characteristics of this model prayer
are: First, 1t is offered to our Father
in heaven; second. that it seeks first
Of all His glory, His kingdom and His
will; third, that 1t is brief; fourth, 1T
is to the point; fifth, that it is hum,
BILE, the expression Of N who real
ICES his own p%roneness to sin. This
ought not to be called the Lords
Prayer" The LORDS Prayer" is
found in John IL. This is the disci-
pies prayer, taught him by his Lord.
God is to be addressed as Father"
the thought of the Fatherhood. of God
lies at the very foundation Of the
Christian doctrine of prayer. God is
everywhere, but the chief place of His
manifestation is in heaven (cf. Ps.
1853; Is. 66:1; John 1928; Acts
1:9; Mark Ill; John 1929. Gods
kingdom is coming when the King
comes (Rev. 11:15). One of the
sweetest prayers a true child of God
can offer is, "Thy will be DONE" No
one has a right to offer 1t who is not
making Gods will the absolute rule
Of his life. We can ourselves answer
this prayer in so far as we do Gods
will in everything. The time is COM
ing when Gods will will be done on
earth as perfectly as it is nov done in
heaven. 1t is right to pray for tenn
poral things. We should seek from
God so much food as we need fer the
present moment. We should live a.
day at a time ". III. The only one
who can properly ask God to forgive
him his sins is the one who is forgiv-
ing those who sin against him. For
one who is not forgiving others to Of
fer this prayer is for him to ask God
to damn him. God in His infinite
wisdom may bring us into the place
of temptation for our highest good,
but any one who has a realization OF
his own weakness will cry to God not
to bring him into temptation. This
prayer is utterly opposed to that spirit
that rushes into places of unnecessary
temptation (cf. 1 Cor. 10:12). There
is an Evil one," and We need to be
always on our guard againot his wiles
tcf. l Pet. SIS; Eph. Gil, 12).
Colonel G. L. Norton is Dead.
U1e.o rLo.1oa ol,o,J nT1-fAn