Faith of Our Fathers – Part 8

The local historian G.R. Balleine was also a clergyman, and in 1940, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he penned a series of 52 lessons around the Apostle’s Creed. Balleine being first a foremost a historian, there’s a lot of history there that I’ve never come across before, and I have studied church history quite a lot.

He’s also master of the pithy anecdote or illustration to bring something to life, which is why Frank Falle says the original history, flowing freely, is a better book to read that its more worthy revisions. Joan Stevens was a fair historian, but she could not write nearly as well as Balleine, who has an almost intimate chatty style.

The last paragraph I think rather dates the piece - while exorting social reform, Balleine also exorts foreign missions (a very Kipling like imperialist idea ("lesser breeds") which had been rightly abandoned between 1942 to 1963 by Max Warree of CMS. And there is also the reference to Temperance Reform, although it could be argued that governments concerns about a society where alcohol is too freely available and alcoholism is a major problem, is picking up on some of the same concerns.

I’m hoping to put some or all of this book online on Sundays.

Faith of Our Fathers – Part 7
By GR Balleine

LESSON VI.

The Christship of Jesus

Christ

PASSAGE TO BE READ : St. Mark viii. 27-30.

TEXT TO BE LEARNT : "We believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ "(St. John vi. 69).

AIM : To lead the children to look forward to the coining of Christ's Kingdom.

HYMNS : " Thy Kingdom come," and " Hail to the Lord's Anointed."

APPARATUS : Picture of St. Peter's Confession.

HOMEWORK: Make a list of of ways in which life would be different, if we were living in Christ's Kingdom.

THOUGHT FOR TEACHERS : The name " Christian " labels us as men who believe in a Messiah, in Someone Who is able to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.- C. Jones.

1. ART THOU THE CHRIST? (Luke xxii. 67.)

(a) When our Lord was a Baby, Joseph and Mary gave Him the Name of Jesus. This was His only Name through His boyhood and early manhood. But, after He began to preach, his disciples added a title to His Name, and called Him Jesus Christ.

In the ancient world, titles general came after, not before, a name. Caesar, for example, means Emperor so, when a man was made Emperor, he added it to his name, e.g. Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Tiberius Caesar. In the East to-day, where we speak of General Gordon, an Egyptian says Gordon Pasha ; where we speak of Mr Jones, an Indian says Jones Sahib. Remember that Christ was never our Lord's Name. It was a title that His disciples gave Him.

(b) What did that title mean ? " Christos " is the Greek word for the Hebrew title "Messiah." So, when the disciples called our Lord " Christ," they really called Him the Messiah. This was the name that the Jews had given to the great Deliverer Whom they expected to appear. For centuries they had served and worshipped the one true God, yet for centuries they had been crushed and persecuted by the heathen. They felt thatt this kind of thing could not go on for ever. Sooner or later God must vindicate His honour, reward the Jews for their faithfulness, and punish the heathen for their blasphemies.

Prophet after prophet had encouraged them to believe this. How exactly this would happen, they were not quite so certain. Some thought that there would be a great war in which the Jews would conquer the world. Others expected a sudden supernatural upheaval in which God would destroy the heathen. But all agreed that nothing could happen, till the right Leader came, a descendant of King David, Who would lead them to victory, and organize the new Kingdom of God. And they gave to this long-expected Liberator-Who-was-to-come the name of the Messiah or the Christ, Hebrew and Greek words which meant the Anointed One.

(c) For many generations every one had been wondering when this Christ would appear. "I know," said the Samaritan woman at the well, "that Messiah cometh, which is called the Christ. When He is come, He will declare unto us all things " (John iv. 25). Old Simeon believed that he would not die until " he had seen the Christ " (Luke ii. 26). When the Baptist began to preach, " all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ" (Luke iii. 15) ; but " he confessed, I am not the Christ " (John i. 20).

As soon as Jesus began His ministry a hot discussion arose as to whether He was the Messiah. Some said, " When the Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than those which this Man hath done ? " (John vii. 31). But others asked, " Shall the Christ come out of Galilee ? " (John vii. 41). Eventually the mass of the people decided that He was not the Messiah. He was so utterly unlike the kind of Christ that they had been taught to expect. They said He was a Prophet, perhaps even the great Prophet who was to prepare the way for the Messiah, but certainly not the Messiah Himself.

If any were still inclined to play with this idea in their minds, the Rulers threatened to excommunicate them. " The Jews agreed that, if any man did confess that He was the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue " (John ix. 22). And Jesus did not undeceive them. It would have been too dangerous. If He had declared Himself the Christ, half Galilee would have sprung to arms and begun to massacre the Romans.

II. THOU ART THE CHRIST (Mark viii. 29).

(a) His disciples, however, felt sure that He was the Christ. The first time St. Andrew met Him, lie went to fetch his brother saying, " We have found the Messiah, that is to say the Christ " (John i. 41).

Stronger and stronger the conviction grew in their minds, though Jesus Himself apparently never said anything about it. At last one day He asked them, saying, " Who say ye that I am ? " Peter unhesitatingly declared, " Thou art the Christ." (Read Passage.)

Jesus did not contradict him. On the contrary He replied, " Blessed art thou, Simon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven " (Matt. xvi. 17). Yet even then " He charged His disciples that they After His should tell no man that He was the Christ " (Matt. xvi. 20).

(b) After his resurrection this became one of the earliest articles in the Church’s Creed and one of the constant topics of the Apostles' preaching. St. Paul at Corinth " testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ " (Acts xviii. 15). At Thessalonica he declared, " This Jesus Whom I preach unto you is the Christ " (Acts xvii. 3). St. John indignantly (1 John ii). asked, " Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ? "

[Of course, no sane teacher will hurl all these texts at unoffending children's heads. They are quoted for the teacher's own instruction, to make quite clear that " Christ " is not a meaningless surname, but a title with a very important controversial doctrinal significance.

For the children teachers will draw a vivid picture of every one discussing whether Jesus was the Messiah : the people eventually deciding No : but the disciples deciding Yes, and going out to preach their faith with passionate enthusiasm.]

III. WHAT THE CHRISTSHIP MEANS FOR US.

(a) What has all this to do with us ? To a Jew no doubt it was very interesting to know that Jesus was the Messiah Whom his nation had expected so long, but has this any message for us, who have learnt to call him by far higher titles, " God's only Son," " our Lord " ?

(b) If Jesus claimed to be the Messiah Whom the prophets foresaw, it means that, in general outline at any rate, all that they foretold of the Messiah may be expected to come true of Jesus. First and foremost the Messiah was to triumph and to reign. In many ways Jesus appeared to fail. The multitudes deserted Him. His own disciples forsook Him. He was crucified. Even today the greater part of the world is nonChristian. His enemies seem stronger than His friends. When we sing " Jesus shall reign where'er the sun doth its successive courses run," we get that hope largely from Old Testament pictures of the Messiah.

(c) The Messiah was to reign in this world, not in some future Heaven beyond the skies. This is important. People sometimes talk as though our Lord simply came to die in order that His people might be happy in Heaven. He Himself clearly believed that He was the promised Christ, Who was to establish a Kingdom of Heaven in this world. It gives us a wonderful hope for the future. Evil will not always flourish.

This poor old world of ours will some day see the prophets' hope fulfilled ; a Kingdom of Righteousness, where tyranny, injustice and wrong shall cease and men shall do right out of love for their righteous King ; a Kingdom of Peace, where men shall beat their swords into pruning hooks and shall learn war no more ; a Kingdom of Joy, where life shall no longer be full of grief and pain : "The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy." "He shall reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet."

(d) But we must not fall into the Jewish mistake, and think only of a Deliverer Who will do something for us. We believe in a Deliverer Who wants to do something in us and through us ; not merely to change our surroundings, but to change ourselves. Christ must first reign in our hearts, before He can reign in the world. His will and not our own must rule our lives. The Kingdom must first come in us; then it must come through us. It will not come, as the Jews expected and some Second Adventists still expect, by any supernatural upheaval, but by the steady faithful work of those who accept Jesus as King.

We must throw more and more strength into the work of Foreign Missions, till all nations bow before Him. We must make stronger and stronger the work of His Church at home, till every stubborn and frivolous life acknowledges Jesus as King. We must help every movement, e.g. Temperance Reform, Social Reform, that makes it easier for people to be good and lessens temptation. It is sheer hypocrisy to say in the Creed that we believe in Jesus as the Christ, unless we are trying in every way to hasten His Messianic Kingdom.