Note: the objective of this lesson is to deepen the student's understanding of this truth: commitment to Jesus Christ includes surrender to godly behavior. Godly behavior does not "come naturally" to the man or woman who believes in Jesus. It is a learned behavior. It comes into existence through the person's surrender. The Christian is open to learning godly behavior because it reflects and honors his or her God and his or her Savior. As the Christian spiritually matures in his or her thinking, emotions, and values, the behavior becomes the natural expression of his or her daily life. To be open to this "new life" behavior, his or her mind and heart must constantly move in the direction of Jesus' mind and heart.
The author realizes that this lesson combines two images: the image of the servant and the image of the child. The child/parent relationship is used to deepen our understanding of the servant/master image in the area of godly behavior. The relationship between the Father and a young child is intended to increase understanding of our need to allow God to define and determine godly behavior. In Paul's view, there are significant similarities between the life of a young child and the life of a slave.
The parallel between God's concern for our well being and a father's concern for the well being of his child is profound.
Note: in this parallel, the common preoccupation with "feeling good" within today's culture should be an easy connection to make.
A child neither knows nor understands what is in his or her best interests. The ideal diet is pie for breakfast, candy for lunch, and cake for supper with an assortment of junk food for snacks. Why? The ultimate reason is obvious to a child! It tastes good! The ideal wardrobe is sloppy casual. Sloppy casual is appropriate anywhere anytime. Why? The ultimate reason is obvious to a child! It feels good! The ideal schedule: sleep as late as you wish and stay up as late as you want. Why? The ultimate reason is obvious to a child! It feels good!
To a child the most important consideration in all matters is personal feelings. The most important pleasure is "feeling good." To a child, "heaven on earth" exists when everything that occurs within a day causes him or her to "feel good."
Note: many adults do not regard a commitment to the "feel good" philosophy of life to be childish.
Adult parents look at the children's ideals, reasons, and criteria and smile [with a tinge of jealousy]. While feelings are important in some considerations, they are unimportant in other considerations. In every consideration, a caring, loving parent determines what is in the child's true best interest. Often the child's desire for immediate "good feelings" must be ignored.
"Feeling good" is not the immediate concern when vaccination time arrives. A child does not want that needle pushed into his or her body. The short-term effect of many vaccinations is that the child does not feel well. But it is in the child's best interests to be vaccinated.
"Feeling good" is not the immediate concern when an appendix is infected. Surgery hurts. Pain is a certainty. Hospital recovery is not a visit to a theme park.
"Feeling good" is not the supreme consideration in homework. The older the child becomes, the more homework he or she has. The more homework he or she has, the more time it requires. The more time it requires, the harder it gets. At some point, homework ceases to be fun and becomes an undesired necessity. At that point homework totally disregards having fun.
And the child moans and groans because he or she "feels like a slave!"
Yet, parents take children for vaccinations, allow doctors to perform appendectomies, and require their children to do homework. Why? Loving, caring parents seek children's best interests. Children must trust loving, caring parents even when it does not "feel good." Later, when children become mature adults, they appreciate their parents for not allowing childish feelings to determine important decisions. They realize they are blessed because their parents were concerned about their true best interests.
Note: adults, especially younger adults, hold the conviction that "feeling good" is in the adult's true best interest. Now there is a large segment of our adult population who has no personal experience in depression life, war life, or recession life. Their entire life experiences have no contact with serious war time struggles, national sacrifice, or nationwide poverty. Their entire existence has been lived in an environment that stressed "feeling good" as a main criteria of well being.
God is both our grace-filled Master and loving Father. As Master and Father He is always concerned about our best interests. We, like young children, do not understand. We, like young children, are concerned primarily about feeling good. We, like children, want God to base His concerns and expectations on our desires.
Note: Of necessity, God often deals with us as a parent must deal with selfish, self-centered children. We, as young children, rely heavily on feelings (1) to establish our criteria used to make evaluations and (2) to determine the foundation of our personal values.
Nowhere is that more evident than in Christian behavior. We think it is in our best interests for God to allow us to do anything that "feels good." Behaviors such as loving our fellow man, being compassionate and merciful, extending forgiveness, returning good for evil, and being a peacemaker seem to disregard feeling good.
Read Ephesians 4:25-32.
They should deliberately set deceit aside as inappropriate behavior for the person who belongs to God. They should make the deliberate decision to be honest with everyone. Christians accept as fact that our Creator formed a bond between all people that evil cannot destroy. Everyone is made in the image of God. [Everyone does not realize that he or she is made in the image of God. Everyone does not behave as if he or she were made in the image of God. However, neither of those situations destroy the fact that they were created in God's image.] Therefore, the Christian treats everyone with dignity and respect. Dignity and respect require that we reject deceit and devote ourselves to truth.
They must not allow anger to live in them. Unresolved anger will lead them into sin. Anger is a powerful negative emotion. (1) It quickly makes the angry person self-centered and selfish. (2) It dominates his or her thinking to the point that "I" am the only consideration. What happens to "me" is all that matters. (3) It causes the person to suspend rational thought and sober judgment. (4) It causes the person to be controlled by anger's hostile, reactionary feelings. (5) It opens the doors of one's mind and heart to Satan. Satan has unrestricted access to an angry person's thoughts and emotions. (6) Satan will take full advantage of the opportunity.
Anger destroys one's judgment and neutralizes his or her rational thought process. An angry person acts without conscious consideration of consequences.
We remove barriers to the devil's purposes. We remove obstacles to his influence. We invite him into our minds and hearts.
The converted thief should (1) stop stealing, (2) go to work [he performs labor instead of deceiving or looting the unsuspecting], and (3) do good. He will start sharing with the people who are in need.
The Christian's purpose in what he or she says is to edify those who hear him or her. The word "edify" means to build up. He or she wants those who hear his or her words to be encouraged and strengthened. The guide used for determining what needs to be said is "the need of the moment." The Christian is sensitive to other people's needs. Their needs determines what he or she says and how he or she says it. He or she wants the hearer to receive grace. He or she is not concerned about what the person "deserves;" he or she wants the person to receive blessings and good from what is said.
The person will not grieve the Holy Spirit. God allows His presence to live in the life of the believer who accepts and responds to Jesus as Lord and Christ (See Acts 2:38 and 5:32 with 1 Corinthians 6:19). That presence encourages and assists us in our devotion to God's will, God's purposes, and our commitment to godly behavior. The Spirit encourages us to move closer and closer to God. Within us, the Spirit's work is difficult enough without us opposing God's work and purposes. When we move in ungodly directions, we grieve the Spirit. The Spirit places on us a seal (an identifying mark, like an imprinted stamp or seal on a document) that states to whom we belong. We want the Spirit's seal to be obvious on the day of redemption.
The Christian will drive out bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor (the confusion created by noise), slander, and malice. Note each of these things prevents a person from loving others as he or she loves self. Note each of these things destroys unselfishness and focuses a person on himself or herself.
He or she will welcome and nurture kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness.
He or she behaves in this manner because he or she has received kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness from Jesus. He or she has already been blessed by this treatment. He or she places the highest value in life on what Jesus did for him or her. Believers who belong to Christ want to share kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness because that is what they received. These gifts are the fountain of all their blessings.
A child and a slave share a lot in common (see Galatians 4:1-5). Neither are free. Neither can do as they please. Both are under the oversight and control of someone else.
True, we are God's servants. However, our God has never exploited or abused us. We are God's servants, not for His benefit, but for our benefit. The only way that God can rescue us from ungodliness is to take control of our lives and teach us how to behave.
The American Christian lives in an entertainment/recreational/"feel good" culture. Pleasure regulates our lifestyle, the use of discretionary time, the use of a significant amount of our money, and our methods of relaxation. Pleasure is among the highest criteria for determining desirable behavior. Increasingly our culture regards "self-sacrifice" and "self-denial" as evil concepts. Increasingly our culture demands instant gratification produced by irresponsible conduct. Indulgence without consideration of consequences is considered a noble ambition.
The only way that a person will devote himself or herself to godly behavior is through the act of surrender. This surrender is not sustained by a fear of hell or a dread of death. While it begins in a profound awareness of eternal accountability, it matures into profound respect and appreciation for God. As the Christian's awareness of God's love matures, he or she cherishes godly behavior (1 Corinthians 13:11).
Speaking of spiritual reality, Paul said when we were children that we spoke, thought, and reasoned like children. Spiritually, when we became adults, love moved us to put away childish speech, thought, and reasoning. The spiritually mature servant surrenders to godly behavior.
Note: there is so much material in this lesson you cannot possibly hope to cover it or do it justice in a single class period. Make it your objective to stimulate your students' interest and appetite to the extent that they will want to continue to reflect on and think about this lesson.
Link to Student Guide
Quarter 3, Lesson 11