The Fundamentals: Volume 12, Chapter 3: The Sunday School's True Evangelism

8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 12, Chapter 3: The Sunday School's True Evangelism

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C

1

HAPTER III

•

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL'S TRUE EV ANGELISJ\1

•

BY CHARLES GAL,LA UDET TRUMBULL, ,

•

•

'EDITOR ' ''THE SUND .. \Y ,SCH ,QOL, TIM .ES, ,'

PHILADELPl '.{IA, 1

PENNSYLVANIA

rl''he,re ar ,e m

1

ore tha :n thirty millio

1

11 perso ,ns rep

1

or·te,d· in

the

enro]lment

of

the Sunday Schools

o f

tl1e world. But if

all these

persons, and

all

cl1urch

members

as well, knew

,vhat

the Sunday School is really for, the enrollment would leap

Upwar

d

millions up

11

0n milli,ons,.

, The Sund .ay School is of

ten

spoken .

of

as the child of

tl1e cl1urch, or

tl1e

ch.urch of tomorrow, or a branch

or

devart

tnent 0

1

£

'tl1e

church. It is mor

1

e than any and , all of these.

Tl1e tru

1

e Sunday S

1

choo,l is

1

the Cl1urch of Jesus

1

Christ en

glaged in syst

1

en1atic ,study an.d teacl1in,g

1

0£ the Word of G1od

for three

great purposes :

to

bring into

the body of

Christ

those within tl1e membership of the Sunday School who are

not

yet

members of

tl1e chu1·

c:h

or

of

Christ;

'to

train 'UP

tho se

Who are

in Christ into a full-grown knowledge and ap,propria

tion of the riches

which are

theirs because they ·

are Christ's ;

and to send out into the world fully equipped, victoriou .s soul

Winners who shall be Christ's living epistles to those who

do

.

not yet l


2/19

46

The Fundamen tals

•

day School partly in theo·logical ter ·ms, the purpose of the

Sunday School is Bible stu ,dy for · justifica ·tion, san .ctificati

1

on

and service ..

I

Whoever needs to know what

tl1·e

Bible has to

say about

next-world freedom from tl1e penalty 0

1

£ our sins, and this

wo1ld

freedom from the po,wer of

0

1

ur

sin,

together with the

su.pe.rnatural power of God .as, th e equipm ,ent of the f

ttll

gro ,wn

man for servic

1

e, may properly b,e in the Sunday 1School. Only

those

who do no~

need the fulle st possible message

of

the

Bib

1

l,e on the s

1

e subj ect,, can log ·ically stay out side the Sunday

,Sch,o.o,1.

And that mea.ns that few can

1ogica11y

or safely stay

outside

the

Sunday School. The

true S,unday

School is the

whole Church of God engaged in systematic Bible study to

asce·r·tain the whol ,e will of Go

1

d as r,evealed in His Word for

thei ,r

lives+

Witl1

the

cradle roll at

one

end of the age

limit

for non -attending membe rs and the home

departmen ·t

at

tl1e

other end for non-attending members, there is little reason

today for any

1

on,e to rema in outside tl1·e membe·rship,

o,f

the

,Sunday Scl1ool. It is not necessary

to

attend t.he

Sunday

services of the Sunday School in or

1

der to be a member in

full and

regular standing~

Liter ·ally

the

entire

church

mem

bership can with great

pro ifit

be

enroll

1

ed : babies, invalids,

,sh·ut-ins, tr ,aveling men, mothers tied down by home

dutie ,s·,

railroad men .. telegr ,aph or telephone operators, the Sunday

School welco

1

mes the representatives of

every

walk in life.

Blessed stories are told

,of

the

home.

dep

1

artm

1

en.t, such as of

the engineer miles fro

1

m his SundaJ Sch

1

ool, safeguarded i11

the cab ,of his

l

1

ocom

1

ot·ive

by

his nea ,rness to his Lord, and

rejoicing in his privilege of studying the same Sunday School

les son that the

boys,

and girls in the home school are poring

over. Or about tl1e telegraph operators wl10, miles apart fro ·Jl1

each o,th,er,

co,m·pare:

not

1

es over the wir ,e about their Sund.ay

School lesson. Cradle roll members don t do much reading or

studying for

themselves;

but

when

the enthusiastic, tactful,

I

•


3/19

•

The Sunday Schoo,l s True Evangelism 47

loving cradle roll superintendent hurries aro,und to a home in

the neighborhood and asks for the

name

and enrollment of

th~ baby

not

yet twenty-four hours old, you may be sure

that

that household, especially the father and

mother,

are

not offended at this show of

interest

in the little life which

•

ls

all the world

to

them. - And stony hearts

that may

have

seemed

hopelessly remote from the Gospel have been warmed

and Won to a

wide -open

acceptance of the

love

of Jesus

Christ

because the littlest member of the family first entered

the

Sunday

School

through

the cradle roll.

. 1 hus it is that,

from any way we

look

at

it, the

true Sun

day

School is a

migl1ty

evangelistic

agency. If the Sunday

it one. The true Sunday School of the Church

of Jesus

splendor of

the

Good News

better

known, both to those

Within

and without.

A young crockery merchant in New ·vork State who

rejoiced

in

Christ

as his Saviour had found tl1at when he

to be

used for

the saving of

others,

his Lord took him

at

his

\Vord. Saving souls became his great

joy .and

interest.

He

Wanted to do more

systematic work

in

that

line, and

to know

et

there were

sixteen

thousand

young

men in that city.

ire Sunday S,chool just then meeting as one class in a rear

r?

0

tn,

this man-hunter noticed some

young

men waiting

out

lttcht and

with

him

find

a place

for

a

Bible

class that

he

•


4/19

48

The undamentals

tl1e,n

a,nd ther ,e ask

1

ed

tl1

em to

form

with him.

They liked the

novelty of the idea, an~ the class was

f

or1ned, the

n1embers

sitting on the back of a s.eat while their teacher £aced

tl1em,

standing. Under the scaffolding, amid dirt and plaster, he

taught l1is first men's class, praying and telling the lesson

sto

1

ry in simple

language.

From that b

1

eginning the young crockery merchant got

more and more intere ste

1

d in bringing together

young

men

for

organized Bible study in Sunday School classes. In si)C

mo

1

ntl1s his class of

eighteen

had grown to one hundred

and

eight.

In tl1e

n

1

ext seventeen

y

1

ears,

three

hundred ,a·nd fifty ,.

two men

were won to Chri st

in that one class. He gave up

his crockery bu siness to

give

his

whole

time to

young men's

Sunday School

Bible

classes. After he

l1ad

brought

tl1ree

hundred thou sand men

into

the

Sunday

Scl1ool for

organized

effort and systematic Bible study, his ideas got large, and

he we11t on unti ,J, he ,actually be,gan to tallc about wanting a

million

not dollars, but

men.

It

is

not

as

easy to

get a

mil ..

lion men enrolled in an organized Bible class movement as

it

is

to get 'three hun dred th ,ousand, even

if you

have a

whole

conti11e,nt

to

work in; and

perl1aps

some

didn't

expe

1

ct to

see

''tl1e man wl10 wants a million, as

he

liked to call himself,

succeed during his lif

e-tin1e

i11 his expansive ,vi sh. But

he

got his million; and now he signs his letters ,, ''Yours for 3

million more. Marsl1all A. Hudson, Fou11der and Pre s,ident

of tl1e World's Baraca Bib,le Class Union, has

shown

wl1at

ju st one depart1n

1

ent of

the tr L1

e Sun

1

da,y

School can be and

do

as a mighty

evangelistic agency. His

worlc wottl .d not

staY

limited to men, but

has

reacl1ed out to a similar work

for

women, the Philathe ,a movement.*

The quiet, persistent, undef eatable evangelistic work

o

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*Two little

books telling

of Mr.

Hudson's

methods, one

oil

the B,ar ,aca work for men, the

oth

1

er

0

1

n the Ph1l1tl1e,a

work

fot

New

ork,

at 50c

each.


5/19

•

The Sunday School s True Evangelism 9

Widely known

as

is. tl1.e

blessed work

of

the

Bar aca and

.Philathea classes but none the · less effective on that account.

of a city church on personal soul winni ng and had among

?ther things urged the duty of being willing to risk mistakes

111

doing this work rather than make

the

greatest mistake of

saying nothing for Christ. · After the meeting a woman came

up and

told him

of

her experience.

She was

a

Sunday

School

ace talk upon tl1e subJect with the girl but finally determined

he found her 1n ;

and

although she had ample opportunity

age failed her

1

and talking about ·anything and everything but

. YeWithout

hav1ng once

mentioned

the subJect. Starting home

1

n.discouragement the teacher had not gone far from the house

.

1

e doorway

why

she

had

called

to see

her and in a

blunder-

ouse for the second time and went home but not before the

0

he.r

.At the next communion service o f their chur~h the teacher

d

her

how

glad she

was

that

she had

taken

this step.

And


6/19

•

•

so

then she said to her, Tell me, what was

1

it

that

finally

in~

fluenced

you

to do this?

f

Why,

it wa,s what you said

to

me

that

day

y,ou

called,

was tl1e

reply·~

And a

Sunday

S

1

cl1ool

teache·r

was

gla,d

that she

had

dared to make a,mistake for her Lord.

There ar ·e

many metl1ods

of

evangel.ism. of

which the Sun

da,y

School

makes

blessed use. Decisio n

Day when wisely

,obs

1

erved has

1

res

1

ulted in gre ,at b1elssing, On this day a direct

appeal to

accept

Jes ius

1

Chris ·t

as

Saviour is n1ade

from

the,

platform

to

the

school or the department

as a

whole, and

op

po1tunity

is given for

f

1

ormal respo :nse i.n the

way

of

signed

cards

1

0r

1

otherwise. T he

ob1,e.rv1nc

1

e 0

1

f

su

1

ch a

da.y

is mo

1

st

blessed

wl1en the re

has been earnest, .

faithfu ·t

preparatio

1

n

for

it in prayer, by teachers

and

officers. It seems

better not

to

have the day an.nounced in

advance

to

the

~chool,,

but

only to

teac.her,s

an

1

d

1

offi1,ers,

that they ma,y· p

1

r,epare

for

i,t in,

prayer

a11d r1

personal work.

But

the all-tl1e-time

evang ,elisn1 o,f

the

faithful teacl1er is

the surest an

1

d most effective. Most eff

1

ective, that is., if ac

companied

by

all-the ·-time

prayer ·. Prayer

meetings of

thie

teach ,e.rs

for

t·he

conversio11 and

consecration of tl1, pupils is

a secr ,et of the co

1

ntinuously evangelistic Sunclay School.

What

sort

of teachi1tg

is

done in the Sunday ScJzool in

which true ev

an.gel1:S1n

s

co nspicuous?

It

is teaching th,at

ass1.1mes

that the

·whole Bible ii1

the

ins,pired W 0

1

rd of God; unique,

authoritat ,ive,

inf

al lib l

1

e. The

acceptance of destructive criticism s theories and

conclusions

can

have no

place in this

t,eaching.

The

evangelistic school knows that all men (and

1nent

1neans1

men ., women and

1

.hildren )

1

are

lost unt .il

sa.v

1

ed

by

tl1e

b]ood

of

Jesus

Christ. The teaching

in

such

a school

brings

out

clearly

the

lost condition of

the

entire human

r:ace by

nature, a,nd reco .gnizes

no,

possibility

of salvation

by e·duca

tion1

character, or

any other

works

of

man . . It

gives

full


7/19

The Sunday School s

Trite

Eva,ige lism

51

•

recognition to ed11cation as the duty and privilege of the

Christian, but it does not substitute education for salvation.

The evangeli stic Sunday School holds up the Lord Jesus

Christ

as

the

only Saviour of

men,

accepting the Word

of

the Holy Spirit that ''neither is there any other name under

heaven,

that is given among men, where in

we

must be saved.

A.ndbecause no man or created being can save another created

being that is spiritually lost, the uncreated deity of Jesus as

Saviour is recognized and declared.

Tl1e

new birth, accom

plished by the Holy Spirit in the

one who

believes in Jesus

Christ as Saviour, marl{s the passage from death unto lif e,

that is the

Gospel of the evangelistic Sunday School.

Tl1e

workers in suCh a Sunday Sc]1oolknow that no human

being can save a sou l; they know that no human being, no

tnatter ho,w faithfully and truly he tells tl1e story of salvation

and

0ffe·1·s

the Gospel

invitation, ·can win

another soul-

to

Christ

or

enable

that

soul to

believe

on Christ

as

Saviour.

It

•s reco,gnized tha ·t tl1is act of· acceptance and belief i.s not the

result of hum .an teaching or telli ng or persuading

0 1

inviting,

biut

is a supernatural work

of

God. The ref

ore

the evangelistic

teacher

depends chiefly

upon

prayer to succeed in

ihe

cl1ief

lllission of the

Sunday Schoo l.

Tl1e

teaclier recognizes that

.Prayer is the great secret, the great essentia l of effective evan

ge]istn.

The

evangelistic teacher prays

souls

into salvation

before even expecting to

be

used to that end

in

teaching or

Pers

onal conve rsat ion.

Not all so-called Sunday Schools are evangelist ic. Not all

are being supernaturally used of God in tl1e iniraculous work

of

bringing

lives into the new birth and the new

]if

e in Christ

Jesus. There are dangers that tl1reaten the Sunday School

of today probably more than in any preceding •gener ati on.

These dangers not only threaten; they are disastrou sly and

effectively at work in many schools.

Tl1e under111ining work of the destructive criticism has

Crept into Sunday Schoo l lesson helps. Not only in so-called

•


8/19

52 The undamentals

independent courses of Bible study but in helps on the

In

ternational Lessons, issued by regular denominational boards,

are found lesson con11nents that assume the error and human

authorship of parts of the Bible instead of inerrant, inspired

authorship. It has been a distres sing thing to many to note

thi s terrible encroachment of the Adversary as he. uses the

very tools of the Church of Christ to lead teachers and pupils

away from the hope of eternal life. For, as has been well

pointed outj the Adversary's first 1nove is to discredit parts of

the Bible, th en the aton e111entof Jesus Christ, then the deity

of Chri st. And without a Saviour who is God the evan

1

gelisn1 of the Sunday School is not the Good News.

Not long ago The Sunday School Times had occasion to

investigate a certain Completely Graded Series . of Sunday

School lessons (not the International Graded Lessons) of

which the publisher said: These lessons are already in use

in thous ands of up-to-date Sunday Schools. The various

cour ses of study have been prepared under the direction of metl

who are recognized as authorities in this country in religious

education, and they therefore en1body the results of the latest

scholarship . Upon looking into the lesson courses themselves,

such stateme nts as the following were found:

It is easy to see that the age that produced the Gospels

would not be anxious for scientific accounts of the deeds of

Je sus, but that it would expect of I-Iin1 exactly the acts that

are attrib ut ed to Him. It is possible therefore that sorI e

events, like the restoration of the centurion's servant, were

si1nple coincidences; that others, like the apparent walking

of

Jesus on the water, were natura l deeds which the darkne ss

and confusion caused to be misunderstood; that others, like

the turning of water into ,;vine, were really parables that be

came in course of time changed into miracles. As nearly all

the miracles not of healing had their prototypes in the Old

Testament, 1nany of then1 at least were attributed to J est 5

because men expected such deeds from their Messiah, ar1d

, finally became convinced that He must have perforn1ed therJl·

-EDITOR.


9/19

•

•

•

'

The foregoing p,aragraph was f ron1 a help for

the

Inter -

mediate teacher.

In a s,i,.1nilar

volume

for

the J

11ni

1

or

t,eacher

'there

appeared

tl1

e

following discussion

,of

tl1e

rea,sonable ness

of miracles :

•

''There ar 'e some scholars who find traces of th is tende11cy

t,o magnify 'the n1arvelous even i,n ·tl1e Gospels tl1emselves,

whi.ch, with all tl1eir uniquene ss, ar,e hun1an docu111ents,

'' t·i.t

ten by flesh and blood hu1nan beings. For example, in our

story

of Jairus' dat1gl1ter., Marl


10/19


11/19

The Sunday School ~ True Evangelism

·scholarship does not seem, in dealing with Jesus, to be deal

ing with the same eternal Christ who was disclosed to John

and Peter and Paul and others of like

min

and experience.

Indeed, the limitless ascriptions of John, the sweeping decla

rations of Peter, the passionate abandon of Paul, by no means

characterize this kind of scholarship. On the contrary, its

]

esus is far less than the New Testament Christ; its New

Testan1.ent a record quite open to reasonable doubt. Yet the

superior advantages of lesson helps embodying the results of

this attitude toward Jesus and the record of his life are

widely urged upon teachers and pupils in the Sunday School

today."

Just here those who have the Sunday School at its highest

point of evangelistic efficiency should have clearly before them

the facts concerning the course of Graded Lessons issued by

the American Section of the International Committee. It is a

seventeen year course, of which sixteen years of study have

been issued, running from the first year "Beginners, for four

year-olds, through the third year Senior, for nineteen-year

olds." The writer had occasion to discuss this course of les

sons in the columns of "The Sunday School Times" ju st before

the International Sunday School Convention held in Chicago

in June of

1914,

and takes the liberty of printing here a por

tion of what was said at that time:

"These lessons are renclering a greatly needed service in

awakening the Sunday School world to the claims and rights

of the child. They are showing what a supremely delicate

and difficult task it is to bring to the child, in the way that

child nature is entitled to, the instruction that God intends. It

is to be hoped that these lessons have mad,e it impossible for

the Sunday School ever to go back to what may have been its

armer carelessness, indifference, and ignorance on this sub

Ject.

"There is welcome evidence that the Graded Lessons are

resulting in bringing pupils to decision for Christ. Mrs.

Bryner, the International Elementary Superintendent, recently

Published in the state Sunday School papers the results of her


12/19

•

The undamentals ·

inquiry of state and provincial

el,ementary superintendents

concerning the spiritual resttlts that can be reported from the

int ·roduction of the Graded Lessons; and tl1e testimony was

most encouraging. One

school reported that the numb ,er of

Junio ,rs coming naturally int,0

1

the chur ·ch had increased .sev

enty-five percent sin,ce the adoption of these lessons in that

scl1oo·t,

''In

the

First Year

Senior

there

is. excellent

topical study

,offered on

'The

N,eeds

1

of th ,e W

0

1

1·ld,'

'The

St.andard

1

0£

Su

1

c,

cess,' 'Tl1e Challenge to the Individual;' and this year offers

also two complete book studies, t.akin,g up the Book 0

1

f

Ruth

in tl1ree lessons and the Epistle of

J

a1nes in nine lessons.

''The opportunity

for com.plete

book sttt

1

dy

is still

further ·

extended in the T·h'ird Year Senior, just ·issued by· t'he Les.son

Committ~e,

offering ·

opportunity for

bri,ef, rap ,id

surveys of

more than

twenty

o·f

the

b,ooks

of tl1e

N,ew

T·es,tament. ,

Tl1e

doctrine of salvation is well taught here also, in a lesson de

vote1d t,o 'Developing ·

the

TI1eolo,gy of Salvati

1

on.,'' f ro1n

Ro

1

mans.

''In such p

1

oints as these, and in many other admirable op

p,o,rtu.nities for t.horough-go ,i.ng Bible stt1dy., the Interna ·t.ionaI

Graded

Lessons

off

er

the S,unday

School a

rich field for

profitable

worlcl

''Yet in spite of all this there are other factors in tl1is

series o,f Graded Lessons , tl1at ar ,e fairly chat·acterized a.s re

grettab 1e and harmful .. If 011 e asks why these words should

be

used, here is the answer:

,·,Bec,ause

there -are elements ·

here · thlat·

tend

to

1ninimize

or

ignore

the unique

an .d

supreme character and authority of

the Bible as the inspired Word of

Goel I

tl1at tend to blur the

line between the natural and the supernatur .a1 ;, that tend to

place nature study on the same plane ,as, Bible study in gainin ,g

a knowle ,dge of

God; and

that tend

to

a

lack

of

empl1asis on

certain vital d

1

octrinal teaching , of

t.he

Gos

1

pel of

c ·hr·ist. ·

• ''Extra-Biblical lessons

have

been inserted througl1out this

Gr ,ade

1

d series, that is,

lessons th

1

e

material

for whic .h i.s

drawn

•


13/19

. The Sunday School s T rue Evangelism 57

chiefly

fro1n other literature than the Bible. .In one instance

ts - -in the Second Year In ·te1--me,diat,e, a full six months is ·de

\roted to

the

study of

Later Christian Leaders, including such

characters as Lutl1er, Calvin, John Wesley, the Earl of Shaf tes ..

bury and Florence Nightingale; and th ree months of tl1e six

a.re devoted to the sludy of a single mod.ern missi

1

on1ry, Al.ex

ander Mackay. A note · from the Les son Com.tnittee points

out that the material upon which these tl1ree months lessons

.are ba.se

1

d is f

1

ound in the

well-k·11own

b

1

0

1

o·k Ug ,anda s White

Man of

Work,

tl1e Committee having previously

said:

It is

1 1

1nten.de:d that a mo1~ecaref uI analys ,is of a single character

shall prepare the pupil for the nine n1ontl1s study in the life

of Christ

which .will immediately follow in the lessons for tl1e

Third

Year Intermediate.

Ju st what

effect will it

have

upon

fourteen-year-old s to bring in a bool


14/19

•

58

The Fund.amental s

witl1

intense earnestness : 'We

deny at

every point

that our

c,our .se is

a

BrB·L·E

cours .e;

ou1· course . is a CH

1

I.LD-TEACHING

course ..

As

we speak of

'the

Sunday

Scl1001't

1

oday, ·we refer

t·o

the

very

limit.ed opportu .nity for

Bi.b.le study

offered

in

the ses,sion

of an h·our o,r .so on

Sunday,

where the actual Bib .le situdying,

B.ibte teaching

period

is about thirty

minu·t,es.

This is the

church's chfef a.nd

onl.Y

Bible teaching

service,

at present, in

t.he vast

1najori·ty

of · chur ·ches. To give

any o,ther f

01·m of

matef"ial tl1an

th ,e

B.ible

the right

of way in

tl1is r,estricted

peciod is a

perilous thing.

The

church

must

have

a

service

of

Bible study and Bibl,e.

te.aching.

Its very li,fe, and

the life

of

the home and the community, depend

upon

this. Nothing

tl1at

is ext1~a-Biblical can be permitt .ed to

1

enc·roach

upon tl1at vital

pa .rt of

the ,church's

work..

It will be a sad day

in,deed when

t 1is question is considered even debatable

by

the maj·or·ity of

tl1e 1nemhersof the Churc .h of Chri .st on ,earth.

•

''It is important

to

recognize also that there is no real

dilemma between the Bible

and child-tea .ching.

We do

'not

have to choose between the

two,

W·e must have them

both,

and we can.

Th·e Bible

is God's

best pro,vision

for

cl1iid

·teacl1ing1

''There

is a

real danger, also, in using nature as the chief

material for

Sunday School teaching ·,. even ·

with th,e

yo·ungest

beginners ...

Nature study

has

its

valued

place as material

to

· illustrate Bible truths ,,

Our

Lord

use,d

it in tha ·t wa.y. But

tl1ere is no s,ucl1 reve lation of God in nature as there i.s. in ·the

Holy

Scriptures. Nature is natural; the

Bible

is supernatural.

Th ,e two

1

a:re in

no

sense

·equal revelations

of

the :heart

of ,God

and

of

the Gospel

1

0£

Chris

1

t . .

Indeed, nature is a sin-distorted,

sin-cursed thing · God ·made this very

plain

when He said in

t.he Garde .n o·f E.den, 'Curse,d is the ,ground for

thy

sake ;

• . . . . . thorns also

and

thistles shall

it

bring

for·th

to

thee,' as He told Adam and Eve how they had degra .ded even.

the ea.rth

beneath

tl1eir

feet

throu .gh t11eir

sin. It

n1ay not

be


15/19

The Sunday School s True Evangelism 59

necessary or wise that the little child should be taught this;

but it is very necessary that the teacher should have this in

lllind

in using nature material to illustrate the ways and the

love and the protection of the Heavenly Father. It puts sharp

limitation ·s upon our use of nature materials, and it suggests

that such nature material, in and of itself, should ·not

e

the

leading material in any lessons for Sunday School study.

. Apart from the question of nature studies as such, there

is

present in the International Graded Lessons the modern

steadily encroaching atmosphere of the 'natural' as over

against the 'supernatural.' The atmosphere in many col1eges

today is an atmosphere that denies the supernatural. There

are evidences, here and there throughout this scheme of 1es

sons, of such a handling of the Bible as one would give to any

other book. Such lesson titles, for example, as 'Gideon, the

Man

Whom Responsibility Made Great' (First Year Inter

tnediate), 'Abraham-. .The Challenge of an Ideal' ( Second

Year Senior), 'The Development of Religious Ideas in Ear1y

Israel' ( Second Year Senior), are hints of this; as is also

the note on Lessons

7

to 22 of the First Year Intermediate,

~David, the Man Who Showed Himself Friendly' : 'the aim

is

to show that David's power to make and retain friends ex

Plains his career and his character.' This ignoring of God's

sovereign grace as the secret of David's career is not suf

ficiently offset by the close of the note, that David's 'intimate,


16/19

•

60

The und

amentals

lif ,e

oif victor ,y,-by-f ree

1

do

1

m in Christ which this

Epistle

so

gloriously

brings out. . ·

''Many

would have been glad to see somewhere in these

lessons, among the

many

statements

of aim and purpos ,e

of tl1e

courses for · the. ,diffe.r·ent years, .a dec.la1"at.i

1

on Of aim tl1at the

pupil

shall come to recognize man's lost condition as

consti·

tuting our need of a Saviour. This is nowhere stated. It is

sta ted that

the

less

1

ons

have the

aim of bringing the pupil to

the personal

acceptance of

Jesus as

Saviour and Lord ;

and

that is

good.

But

a clear declaration

of

the universal need

of tl1e new birth would have given increas .ed

doctrinal

st r,ength to the serie .s. This lack is

accentuated

by sucl1

ex

pressions , as

the fallowing : 'The average age of thirteen calls

for a new ~ype of J,essons whi,ch shall mal


17/19


18/19

•

•

62

The Fund

1

amentals

tionizing. There is no socia l service worker in America today

whose work can compare, in the very result s for Whi,ch the

social

.service

p

1

rog ·ram

a:ims,,

with

tl1,at of

,Sunday's.

And

so

the

Sunday

School of ·

true eva11gelis·m

will d,o an

effective .

work in social service; but

it will

do

it

in tl1e

Lo1·d's

way.

One last word. If the

Sunday

School is

real.1y

to

do

its

work ,as an

evangeliz ,i,ng la.gent .,

the Sunday

S

1

·h.ool must

co

1

n

sist

0

1

f

workers whose personal Iivesl are ra

1

diant :

with

vic't0

1

ry.

The S

1

unday School of true evangelism declares

with

C

1

on

vincing poVt~er

the

1nessage of the

victorious life.

H ,ere is an evangel, a Good

New,s,

which is all too new to

many a f

1

ollow·,r of th ,e Lord Jesus Cl1rist who

rejoice :s

jn

the Sunday Schoo

1

l a .s hi s

fi-eld

of

s,ervice.

But

our Lord

wants it to be the experienced possession of · His every fol-

lower.

Evang ·elism that is lirn,ited to the G

0

1

od N'ews

that there

is

f

reedo ·m f 1-om

the penalty of ot11·

sins is

1

onl

1

y a h.alf-way

evangelisin. It ·is

a

c·rip

1

ple,d, halti1rig

evangelism~

If w,e

wo11ld

tell ''that

sweet

story of

old,'' let

us tell the whole story.

And the

whole

story

is

that our

Lord

l esus

Clirist came

not only

to

pay·

the penalty of

our .sins but

to

break the

power

of our sin. I-le laid aside His glory and came from heaven

to eartl1,

not

1

011ly tl1at

m

1

en migl1t

be

saved

f ron1

dyi11g the

second death, but also that they 1night live without sinn ing in

tl1is prese11t life.

Here

is Good News

indeed;

so

good

that

to

•

many

it

sound s too good to be true. But, praise God, it is

'true ' Wl·1en the Ho

1

y Spir ·it s,aysl t:o

us,

''S ,in .s,11.allnot h.ave

dominion ov,er, you: for

ye

are not under law, bu ·t

under

grace,'' He

means

it. When Paul

declared

in the

exultant joy ·

of the Spirit, ''The

·taw of

the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus

made me free f r,om the law o ,f

sin,' '

he mlea nt

it.

It was trite.

An,id th

1

e same Spirit of life i.n Christ , Jesus i,s rna:kin,g men f 1~ee

to day from the law of sin, when they are ready to take 1-Iim

at His w,ord,

When

the beloved Apostle wrote, under

the

•


19/19

The Sunday School's True Evangelism

63

direction of the Holy Spirit, My little children, these things

Write I unto you that ye may not sin, he meant just that.

When our Lord Jesus Himself said, first, Every one that

con1mitteth sin is the bondservant of sin ; and then, instead of

leaving us h6pelessly there, went on to say: If therefore the

Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed, He was

trying to tell us what His whole salvation is.

The victorious life is not a life made sinless, but it

is

a

life

kept from sinning. It is not, as has well been said, that the

sinner is made perfect here in this life, but that the sinner

even in this life has a perfect Saviour. And that Saviour is

lllore than equal, while we are still in this

life,

to overcoming

all

the power of our sin.

The Keswick Convention in England has for forty years

been blessedly used of God in spreading abroad the Good

N

ws of the Gospel of victory over sin. The

Iif

e that is sur-

rendered unconditionally to the mastery of Jesus Christ and

that then believes :inconditionally in the faithfulness of that

Saviour Lord to make His promises true, begins to realize

the meaning of the unspeakable riches of God's grace.

.

There are Sunday School teachers who are rejoicing today

in the privilege of telling their classes the whole message of

true evangelism. May God mightily increase the numbers of

those who shall bear witness, by their victorious lives and

by

their eager glad message, to the whole evangelism of the

Word: the saving and the keeping power of our wonderful

lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then, ''If He shall be mani-

fested, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before Him

at Bis coming.

Documents

The Fundamentals: Volume 12, Chapter 3: The Sunday School's True Evangelism