Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-12-04
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
FOT DC. y-ECIS 0.T-eHU
BY DIR. MARION MICH. HULL

! because of unfair treatment and th'
citizens right of appeal, he came
into Italy. Here for two years h,
preached in his own hired house
although still prisoner; anC
through his words in this center o.
the world, the gospel was carried
into every part of the then known
earth.
The inspired record ends there, sc
far as Luke, as a recorder, is con
cerned, but by fair deduction we
| may know from other letters thai
Paul wrote that he was released
from prison only to be arrested anC
brought to Rome a second time
While there is nothing in the Scrip
ture to prove this statement, it is
highly probable that during this in
terVal Paul went into England and
| there preached among the heather
the unsearchable riches of Christ
! We do know that when he wrote the
letter to the COlOsSianS he could say
to them the gospel; which is come
unto you, as it is in all the world
! Q:6). That letter was written about
thirty years after the death of
! Christ, or at the close of the first
| generation of Christianity, reckon
| ing the ordinary generation to be
thirty years.
Succeeding Generations
! All! but here is the tragedy of it
no generation since has oVertaken
| it's task, Now the task, we have
| learned, is not conversion, but evan
| gelization. Jesus said they were to
be His witnesses. James summed
| up the conclusions of the first Chris
tian convention thus: Simeon hath
declared how God at the first did
visit the Gentiles to take out of
them a people for His Name" Our
task is to witness in order that the
Holy Spirit may take out. Nowhere
in the word are we given to under
stand that the world is to be con-
verified by the church; but rather
that the church is to be gathered
out and taken away from the world.
There is a vast difference between
converting the world and eVangeliZ-
ing the world. The early church
realized this, and went at the latter
task with energy and enthusiasm.
The former task was never accom-
plished; the task of evangelizatlon
was accomplished by the first gen.
GRAFTON of Christians.
Possibly through misunderstand-
ing of our task We of this genera
ton have fallen far short of the ac-
plishments of the early church
and of our own possibilities. To-
dav there are over one thousand
million people who have never even
heard the name of Christ. Surel7
we are far from having evangelical
the world of our generation-and
this generation is the only one we
can evangeliZe; the last one has
gone, the next has not yet come;
this generation is our problem, to
witness to them of Christ is our
task.
Conversion Of the world is far
Their off than ever, under the pres
lion not included in the above list
are made up of Christians, Jews
and every polyglot religion that one
might name. Of the Christians
many have a name TO live and yet
are dead. Their lives give the lie to
their protested allegiance to Jesus
as Lord. They are Indifferent to His
house; they desecrate His day; they
dishOnor His word; they are even
some of them-making Him the il
legitimate son of Joseph! II only
those were counted who can be de-
pended on to do the work of the
Lord, the world is a. long way off
from being converted.
And yet-and yet, if these COM
paratively few even would only
catch the vision Of their ascending
and be filled with the hope of their
returning Lord, it would take only
the briefeSt time to eVangelize the
world. If one Christian should win
one other the first day. and these
two win two others the next day,
and these four win four others the
next day and so on, it would take
less than one month to have the
whole of the 100000 people in
the world at the feet of Jesus.
When we compare the difficulties
under which the church of the first
generation Iabored with the oppor-
tunities of this generation, the great
er is their glory and our shame.
Think of the ease and rapidity of
travel today, of the Smallness of the
world today, of the incompatible
wealth and facilities of modern
times! Shame On us. Shame on us.
And glory to them!
There arc other motives, and high |
er ones, that should urge us on to
worldwide endeavor than the match
less example Of the early church.
The need of the world, the reflex
influence on the church itself are
two. But the command Of Christ
ard the hope of His return are suf-
ficient and the highest of all. This
was what stimulated the early
church to its successful endeavor; /:
should be our stimulus, too. There
is no argument when we consider
the command of Christ; the march
ing orders of the captain must be
obeye1 without question. But if any
thing else were needed, the hope
that the onetSou may win in some
far-off land may be the last one
needed to complete the body of
Christ and thus make possible His
return, should make you anxious to
do