The Jones County news., 1920-12-02
IMPROVED UNIroRn INTERNATIONAL
SUNl6YSClOL
LESSON
(By REV. p. B. FITzWATER, ID. ~.
Teacher of English Bible in the Moody
Bible Institute of Chicago)
ia 1920 Western Newspaper Union-l
LESSON FOR DECEMBER 3
THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM

LESSON TExT-Matt. 13:24-33
GOLDEN TExT-Fret not thyself be
cause of evil-doers.-Ps. s7:1.
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL-Gal es-10
PRIMARY TOPIC-Jesus Story Abous
Good Seed and Bad Seed
JUNIOR TOPIC-The Story OF the Wneas
and the Tares.
INTERMEDIATES AND SENIOR TOPIC
Wheat and Tares.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
How the Kingdom of Heaven Grows.
The parallels of this chapter SET
forth in a graphic way the condition
of affairs In the interval between
Christ's going away and His coming
again.
I. The Parable of the Wheat and
Tares. wv. 24-30, CT. 36-43).
/. The Sewers. (1) The Son of
Man ". 37). He is the One who sows
the good seed. The field In which they
are sown is the world. (2) The Devil
(v. 39). He Is In a peculiar sense
Christ's enemy. He intensely hates
Him, and with relentless energy is
striving to defeat His purpose In saw
ing men. While men slumber, he sows
tares among the wheat
q The growing crops. They are
not easily distinguished while growing,
but the effects produced when eaten
are quite different. The wheat Is
wholesome. but the tares produce i'll
ness. The chief danger in the tares
lies in their resemblance to wheat. The
chief danger of the devil is that he
strives to initiate God.
8. The harvests. There comes
time when the fruitage of the growing
crops shall be gathered. For the tares
there is a furnace of fire where there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The righteous shall be gathered into
the Lords garner and shall shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of the
Father.
II. The Parable of the Mustard
Seed (vv. 81, 32).
l. Its important beginning. 1t be-
gins as the least of all seeds and grows
to be the greatest among herbs. The
parentage and humble circumstances
of the King greatly perplexed the peo-
pie. That twelve unlettered fishermen
! SIOulu Dc StlCClCu dc Lis ~ 49,
visers is still more amazing. The proph-
ct said concerning Him that He
should be despised, rejected, forsaKen.
2. It's vigorous growth. From very
small beginnings the influence of the
Christ has gone forth so that there is
no power or influence so great as that
4 of Christianity.
Tho birds
which find lodgment in the tree do not
represent the children of men which
find safety and salvation in the church.
Birds constitute no part of the tree.
The bird is something foreign to and
independent of the tree. The branches
increase the growth of the tree, but
birds are injurious and burdensome to
1t. They are edatory-waiting to
pluck the tender buds or to prey upon
lodging is evil, blighting and spelling
to the tree.
III. The Parable of the Leavened
Meal ". 33).
1. The meal. Meal has a>wholesome
and nutritious effect 1t was used in
one of the sweet-savor offerings, which
typified Christ Iev. 2 :1-3, r. w; 1t
was food for the priests Uev. 6:15-17,
r. w; Abraham had Sarah knead
cake out of three measures of meal
for the angelic messengers (Gen.
1850; Solomon's royal table was pro-
yided with meal Il Kings 22) Elijah
was fed upon a cake made of meal
(II Kings 4 :4f) Elisha used meal as
an antidote for the poison of death In
the pot III Kings A :38-4D.
2. The woman. The woman is not
the head of the home, but its admins
Trator. Her responsibility Is to take
the bread provided by the head, pre-
pare and distribute 1t to the children.
In Scripture we find false doctrine be-
ing taught by woman (Rev. 2:20).
Dealing with doctrine rs forbidden to
woman Il Tim. 2:12). In Tim :1-3 ;
III Tim. 2 1T. 18: A :3. a; III Pet. 2 :1-3,
we find that apostasy viii be brought
In through false teachings within
the ranks of Gods people. The
meaning, then, of the parable is that
the true doctrine, the meal given for
the nourishment Of the children Of the
kingdom UI Pet. 2:2; | Tim. 4:6),
would officially be corrupted by false
doctrine. The chiIdren's food is cor
rupted by the mother.
g. The Ieaven. In Scripture, leaven
is invariably type of evil. Let the
following examples suffice as proof !:
(1) All through the Old Testament
heaven is continual and unvarying
type of evil (Ex. IL rs; Lev. 2:1D.
(2) Jesus himself makes leaven to
denote sin (Matt. 16: IS. 12; Mark 8:15).
(3) Pau! uses leaven in its usual bibli-
cal sense q Cor. 5:6-S; Gal. 5:s, 81.
Nothing Too Little.