The Coolidge examiner., 1938-03-10
S~~N~~
Lmbroped 1 STTNDAV
Uniform o~-~~-
International SCHOOL
-:-LESSON-: = =
BY REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST,
Dean of the Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago.
g Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for March 13
FEEDING THE HUNGRY

JUNIOR TOPIC-A Boys Part in .
INTERMEDIATES AND SENIOR
! TOPIC-Sharing What We Have.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT
! TOPIC-Providing for the Needs of All.
MY God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus" Phil. 4:19). Such
is the assurance of Gods Word.
Countless Christians have proved it
to be true that they may trust God
to supply every need-temporal or
spiritual.
The lesson for today first presents
the disciples as they had come back
from their preaching expedition and
presented to the Lord Jesus re-
port of their stewardship in minis
tering the bread of life to the spir-
itually needy. He invites them to
a place apart from the busy walks
of daily life for time of COM
munion and rest. The multitude
would not be denied, however, and
follow our Lord to the desert place.
Having taught them, Jesus has op-
portunity to instruct His disciples
in the important ministry of supply
ing for those in need the bread for
their bodies.
/. The Ministry of the Bread of
Life.
Reports of accomplishments in
the field of Christian work, Cal
though sometimes an earnest ac-
counting of stewardship Of service
and money! are all too often pre-
pared for the purpose of impressing
men and seeking their financial as
sistance. The real report is the
one which disciples make to their
Lord. 1t concerns two vital points.
!. What they had done" ". 800
One Of the temptations which face
the preacher and teacher of Chris
tian truth is to avoid unpleasant
and difficult problems by simply
proclaiming the truth and doing
nothing about the outworking of that
truth in daily living. 1t sounds very
pious to say that we will present
the Word and let it do its own work,
but the Christian worker who
evades his duty to deal at close
grips with sin and disorder in the
church and community has not dis
charged his responsibility to Christ.
2. What they had taught ". 30).
The second temptation of the
preacher is to follow the specious
reasoning Of the modernist who says
that it does not matter what man
believes, it is what he does that
counts. The foundation of Christian
character is Christian doctrine,
therefore the disciple Of Christ must
know what to teach.
ii. The Ministry of Daily Bread.
Jesus found no rest, for the null
titudes followed Him to the other
side of the lake. Ere long the eve
ming approaches, and the disciples
begin to be concerned about how
this great multitude is to be fed.
They follow the inclinations of the
flesh and decide to solve the prob
lem by asking Jesus to
l. "Send them away" ". 36).
The church has followed their ex-
ample in dealing with the social
problems Of the people down
through the years. The result is
that being denied fellowship, COM
fort, and help by a church which
was too busy building up vast or
ganization or a beautiful order OF
worship, the common people have
responded to the appeal of political
leaders who have provided SUBJ
stitute for what the church should
have given them.
Serious thoughts are these. 1t will
not do for us to ''send them away
from the church empty hearted and
empty handed. Our Lord says
2. Give ye them to eat" ". Sd.
Reckoning hastily on what a small
boy had brought for his lunch (trust
an alert boy to be readyD, the dis
ciples soon demonstrate that it is
impossible to feed this great throng.
Logic is such a devastating thing
when it operates apart from faith
in God. They were absolutely right
in their reasoning and in their cal
culations, but they had forgotten the
one factor that really counted. Jesus
was there, and Jesus is God, and
| God is omnipotent.
3. He commanded and they
did all eat" ". SO, 42).
When God speaks all the limita-
tions of the finite disappear, and the
needs of men are fully met-with
twelve baskets full of fragments
left over!
Note the orderly manner in which
our Lord met this situation. Five
thousand men, with women and
children to swell the throng, were
seated on the grass. Jesus took the
loaveS and fishes and blessed them.
You who forget to return thanks at
the table, notice that quiet and mean
ingful act. Then He broke the loaves
and divided the fishes. No doubt
they were multiplied as the dis
| cinles nassed them out to the people.