Show apt E in U SA S A L B D scripture SCRIP TUnE matthew S 57 devotional READING matthew 1344 53 ideal world lesson tor for february 27 1949 anew NY MAN with a revolutionary new idea has to try to explain it jesus was no exception As a young teacher of religion he had bad to answer the question which older teach era ars were bound to put to him it if your teaching Is new how can it be true and if it Is true what can be ne new w about it this w was a a f a air I 1 r quest question lon the sermon on the mount is 13 jesus andr foreman awer to it the main theme of that sermon is the kingdom of god an ancient phrase but with new meanings as jesus used it we can say the ideal world and mean just the samo same thing the right hight people j JESUS ESUS emphasizes above all the kind of people who belong to gods ideal world this would be surprising to some modem planners communists think that it if you can once get a world in which every one has enough to eat and drink and wear a world where nobody is poor or everybody Is as poor as everybody else which Is all the same thing you will have the perfect world jesus would know this Is nonsense but the fact Is that even alter after you yon got your perfect social system with perfect politics and perfect distribution of wealth even a perfect climate and soil you would still be nowhere near tho the ideal world unless you improved your people the wrong kind of people will spoil the best kind of system so we find jesus talking not about systems but about people Is this you ton HAT WE call the beatitudes WHAT W matt 57 12 Is jesus eight point program tor for the citizens of the ideal world the right people are happy people to begin with the word translated blessed la is a regular greek word for happy but the main difference between different kinds of people Is not that some want to be happy while others do not rather it is that they are made happy by different kinds ot of things jesus ideal people are humble not proud they see their sins and are sorry for them they are meek that Is they are not in a hurry to demand their own rights they do not merely admire goodness they are positively hungry for it they are merciful not careless or cruel they are pure in heart and not only in speech and act they are not mere peace wishers or peace lovers who but peace makers they are people who are brave enough to do what Is right not only when it Is comfortable and popular but even when it brings them slander and suffering salt 0 YOU really want an ideal DO world the best way to begin Is to learn how to be a citizen of such a world jesus used two interesting te simple words to describe the kind of people he means you are salts salt he said you are light salt and light are old fashioned things but they have never gone out of date no one has invented a good substitute for either one so there Is no substitute for a really good christian christiam liv ing here and now like citizens of the ideal world to come christians are both salt and light salt because they give a taste to otherwise flat or bitter life salt because they keep human society from going rotten this world Is in a bad enough mess as it Is if but what it would be tt if all the chris fians were removed from it at t once one hates bates to think light AND ND like salt light bought ought not to be too noticeable 1 A glaring light Is bad on the eyes as too much salt is bad on the ton tongue u e so a christian is not supposed d to rub his goodness in on other people so to speak he is as indispensable as salt in bread and should be as inconspicuous but light like salt if it Is any good has to be applied directly A strong light concealed in a ste steel 1 I tube does i no good swishing the glass end of the saltcellar salt cellar around in the soup gives it no flavor the salt must get into the soup the light must touch what we see copyright by the Inter international mation council no copy kah 20 of HeUr e arieus laus educe education 0 a on a behalf f 0 i 40 protestant denominations released by features N |