The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1961-09-23
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
SEPTEMBER "a, 1861
BY Rev. George A. Harper,
Sill Avenue g.,
Greenwood, Miss.

LA HMAN.
Lesson Texts John; Print
-3 John verses LA.
MEMORY SELECTION -
/ have no greater Joy than
to hear that my children walk
in truth - g John, Verse a.
One of the great joys of a min
lister is to experience success
in his labors.
To a large degree, a minis
ter needs to experience a mea-
sure of success to succeed in
his ministery. Another great
Joy of a minister is to observe
that his members and converts
walk in the light, grow in
grace, BECOME strong in the
Lord and established in Chris
tian experience. One of the
great griefs of a minister is to
observe that his converts and
members are negligent in at
tending church services, fail
ing to give their testimony for
the Lord, or backslide.
GREETINGS AND GOOD
WISHES TO GAIUS:
The elder does not identify
Gaius beyond the fact that he
is a true Christian. We can
not be sure that Gaius was
an office holder in the church.
Gaius was one whose good
works were better known than
any personal history of him.
How we would relish just one
human interest story about
Gaius, but history was more
impressed with his true belief
than in anything else about
him. Gaius was the kind Of
man whose genuineness radia-
ted from him to others. The
elder was so impressed with
Gaius that he prayed that the
condition of the physical
health of Gaius would be equal
to the SoundnesS of his soul.
1t was a source of great joy
to the veteran preacher to
have travellers testify to the
truth of the life of this humble
laymen.
THE HOSPITALITY OF
GAIUS:
Those who travel frequently
in the interest of Kingdom
work have a ready apprecia-
ton for Gaius. A Christian
missionary brother was treat
ed with the same warmth in
the home of Gaius, whether it
was the first time or a habitu-
al visit. The home of Gaius
must have been a kind Of oasis
in the midst Of GOODNESS and
hospitality. 1t was on easy mat
ter to be a Christian any place
in the known world of the
first century. For example.
there were no church build
ings. This was not because of
the poverty of all Christians.
The poor among the Jews who
become Christians had previ-
ously worshipped in synagog-
ues and made pilgrimages to
the temple at Jerusalem. Then
there were at least a few veal
thy Jewish believers. The rea-
son for no church buildings
was not entirely economic, ii
at all. In the first place, dur
ing the first century Christian
ity was on the Roman list OF
illicit religions. That means
Christianity was neither recog-
nized nor approved by the Ro-
man government. Thus to be-
come identified with Christian
ity was equal to becoming a
subversive. Then again, the
life which grew out of belief
in Jesus cut directly across
the grain of life as it was lived
by both non-believing Jews and
Gentiles. Christianity in &C
ton always struck fire. The
true believer was outstanding
~ different.
THE OVERBEARING MAN
NER OF DIOTREPHES:
Lest one should think thai
the only opposition to good
works would be found outside
the church let us consider an
other person. There was one
Diotrephes in the church who
was as much liability to the
cause as Gaius was an asset
Diotrephes was a focal poin'
of trouble and confusion in the
church. His kind of trouble
was much more ruinous to the
Cause than any evil machina
tions from outside. 1t appears
that ninfronh0c wac q ruler hx