The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-11-11
INTERNATIONAL
NNDNYSOOOL
LESSON
CBy +. o. SELLERS, Acting Director of
sunday School Course, Moody Biblel In
stitute, Chicago)
(copyrisht. 1915. Western Newspaper Union.)
LESSON FOR NOVEMBER IL
WORLDS TEMPERANCE SUNDAY.
LESSON TExr-Rnmana 11.,a-,..a

Ihc early christian church had twS
outstanding problems. the question oI
the Sabbath days (two of them) anc
the question of eating meat offered tc
Idols. This lesson suggests the solu
ton OF the latter. Our modern prob.
lem of intoxicating liquors is very
much the same as this ancient one OF
the early Gentle Christians.
l. Let US not therefore Judge one
another" wv. 1870. There are Ger.
tain acts which are universally conced-
ed TO be right and within the Christian
law of liberty. There are also other
acts which are as plainly prohibited.
There are a large number of acts which
lie In the region between these two,
and men ought to be careful how they
condemn one another for these latter
things. Where good and true men diff
fer, their acts, on the matter of the
Sabbath (See Col. 2:16), or on temper
ance, must be determined as being
unto the Lord, sincerely, conscientious
~. 1t is not for us to judge ". 13),
literally, to pronounce judgment. They
nave a right to their opinion and to
their liberty of thought and action, but
(vv. II, %, 23) rs for Paul or the
Christian, he mus have a clear con-
science. He must have faith, and be
assured that he is right; otherwise he
is condemned by God and by his own
conscience, and is not a sincere Chris
tan disciple. The word therefore" in
verse ID points back to verse II, which
ought to be carefully pondered. As we
nave each to render our accounts to
God, we should stop judging one an
other. Food Is a very proper thing,
n laws are also proper, yet love Is
the ruling principle of the Christian
life.
We ought to have our liberty cur
tailed rather than have our souls lost.
If we magnify liberty to the sacri-
flee of our brothers soul we walk no
longer in love- The demands of
Christian love are more to the true
followers Of Christ than the permits
sions of Christian liberty. The privi-
lege Of eating and drinking while it
Injuries others, however harmless to
yourself, is not to be tolerated.
The word "stumbleth" here used
". 21) implies a movable tran or snare.
literally any impeachment placed in the
way so as to cause another to fall. We
must neve forget that even a weak
brother Is "a brother for whom Christ
died."
u. Let not your good be evil spoken
OF" wv. 1928. The kingdom of God
Is not meat and drink, but 1t is a life
or righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost. Our liberty is to be so
used that 1t shall not be evil spoken
of. The real proof that we are in the
kingdom of God and that the kingdom
OF God Is in us is not found in our
scrupulousness or lack of it, in our eat
ing and drinking, but in the manifesto
tons of Righteousness in our lives, and
OF having peace in our hearts (15 :13).
This peace must be manifested toward
our fellow men ". 10; Oh. Is :1S) and
being filled with 10y in the Holy
Ghost" The object of our pursuit is
to be the things which make for peace.
the things whereby we NAV fill one
smother up, not the exploitation of
some pet hobby, for the kingdom of
God does not consist of riding hobbies.
In this matter of temperance reform
we all recognize that alcohol has many
uses besides that for drinking mr.
poses, and that there are various min
ions about drinking certain forms of
1t, and various ways OF advancing the
temperance cause, all of which ore
honestly held by many good men, but
Christian patriotism demands that ey-
cry t~rue-hearted man or woman, eyery-
one who Is loyal to his country. TO bn-
mainly and to his God, should take
Paurs position, ~ That he will not
be a stumbling block in the way of the
weak and of the young. (2) That be
Will not do anything to destroy his
brother for whom Christ died. 90 That
he will deny himself anything for their
sake. (4) That his attitude will be
that of love and not of selfshness.
This places temperance on a high moral
plane, but the world is also beginning
to recognize that the temperance cues
ton Is also an economic one. The re-
cent developments in Europe, since the
war began, are tremendously slgnih-
cant. As someone has said, "Russia's
recent advance upon the eastern front
Is really an advance of an army led
by General Abstinence and not by
any particular military general. It is
not merely a question as to whether n
thing Is wrong In itself or whether Won
VIII hurt yourself by it, but the real
question is, "Will anyone be Injured.
made TO stumble, by doing what I am
dolngf" This will settle the moderate
drink question, the tobacco question.
the dance question, eard-playing oues-
ton. theater-going question, and a
thousand and n other questions.
It is well to have faith, but II ,s
also well to have the love that does
injure others by the exercise of
that faith. The question Is, "Are you
perfectly sure this thing is rightY"
III. 1--WE then that are stronaV (15:
49,. This section is In reality a con-
tinuatlon Of Chapter IA. Paul is con-
tinuing his thought that we are not
to please ourselves. but rather to live
such lives as will edify or build up our
neighbor. Our strength is not given
to us that we may glory or lord it
over our weaker brethren. bur rather