[Sidenote: A privilege to give extra service.] It is right that we should pay our tithes and offerings, and attend to the duties of our membership. These ought we to do. But in doing them we ought not to leave undone other things that may possibly be of even greater weight in {250} the estimation of God. Reward cannot come merely because of length of service, but must come because of the quality and the spirit of the service. And to become truly profitable servants, we must seize every opportunity for extra service. THE REFERENCES Matt. 20:1-16. Luke 17:7-11. Matt. 23:23. THE QUESTIONS 1. On what terms were the laborers of the parable employed in the vineyard? 2. How can you justify the paying of the same wage to the laborers who were employed at the eleventh hour as to those who worked all day? 3. What is the application of the lesson of this parable to man's daily work? 4. What is its application to Church service? 5. How shall we know when our service is sufficient and adequate? 6. Why did Jesus condemn the scribes and the Pharisees? 7. Show that extra service is a privilege. {251} {252} PICTURE: CHRIST DRIVING OUT THE MONEY CHANGERS, Hofmann {253} XXXIII A PROPHET IN HIS OWN COUNTRY [Sidenote: A perfect man and an exemplary leader.] In all the history of the world there has never been another man like Jesus, nor another mission like that which He performed. We have heard so much of the meekness and humility of Jesus, of His suffering all things and resenting nothing, of His going like a lamb to the slaughter, that many people have formed a picture of Jesus that is wholly unworthy of Him. Some of you, even, may possibly think of Jesus as a weak sort of man who takes all kinds of abuse. But such a conception of Jesus considers only one of the virtues in the man, and does not consider the whole man. Jesus was just such a man as every boy and girl delights to see. In body He was strong, robust, physically perfect, with a wholesomeness of body quite unequalled by any other man. No trial or hardship deterred Him from pushing forward to the goal on which He had fixed His mind. No danger daunted Him. For His spirit was as wholesome and as perfect as was His body. When He was aroused by righteous indignation. His fearlessness knew no bounds. Picture Him, for example, alone and unafraid, with a scourge in His hand, driving the money changers and the petty merchants out of His Father's house! In body and in spirit, Jesus was perfect--of the purest athletic type. But Jesus was also a perfect leader. Hence, He had Himself in perfect control. While He suffered pain as {254} do other men; while He experienced the thrill of affection and love as do other men; while He could become angry, and possessed the passions that other men do--yet He had so subdued the mortal in Him to the divine, that the baser nature never once gained power over the Son of God. In this He set us an example of how we should live. It was because of His perfect