Only the Name of Jesus

The week we talked about the conversion of Lydia, the following is the lesson we taught:

Paul and Barnabas parted ways to continue working to spread the gospel in different places. Paul wanted to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit would not let him. Then he tried to go to Bithynia with Silas, but again God stopped them. Then God told him in a vision to go to Macedonia.

 Paul and Silas’s trip went smoothly. On the first Sabbath in Macedonia in the town of Philippi they went to the place where they thought they would find people praying, and there they began speaking telling the women who had gathered to pray about Jesus. A woman named Lydia, a non-Jewish worshiper of God, listened to them and believed. She and everyone on her house were baptized. She even invited Paul and Silas to come stay with her.

 The bible says that Lydia, was a worshiper of God, but she had not know about Jesus before Paul and Silas told her. She was as faithful as she could be with what she knew, but until she learned about Jesus she was still unsaved. Just knowing about God is not enough; we must repent (turn from sin) and place our faith in Jesus (trust in his good works, not our own). That is what it is so important that we learn to share the gospel with others, they may know there is a God, but if they do not know about Jesus and the cross or repentance and faith they are still lost.

   Recap:

• Who kept Paul from going to Asia? (The Holy Spirit)
• Who was helping Paul? (Silas)
• What town in Macedonia did they share the gospel first? (Philippi)
• Where did they go in the town to teach about Jesus? (Where they thought they would find people praying)
• Who was the woman who first believed in Philippi? (Lydia)
• Did Lydia worship God before hearing about Jesus? (Yes)
• What did Lydia need to hear about and believe to be saved? (Jesus, the cross, repentance, faith)
• What is repentance? (To turn from sin)
• What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? (To trust in the good works of Jesus and not your own)
• Why is it important to learn to share the gospel with others? (Because it is how people come to know Jesus as their Lord and savior).

We used this story to talk about the fact that there is no other name by which men can be saved. 

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 12:4

While our actions can make Jesus attractive or unattractive to others, actions alone cannot bring people to Christ, we must proclaim the gospel with our words. As our activity we made little books that gave a basic outline of the gospel as a tool for parents to use at home to talk about the gospel with their kids. Our book had six pages with the following text:

• Learning to Share the Gospel
• Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin and its consequences into the world.
• God sent Jesus to earth as a baby to live the perfect life we could not.
• Jesus took the punishment we deserve for breaking God’s law and died on the cross. 
• Jesus was placed in a tomb, and rose from the dead three days later.
• We can receive forgiveness from sin, and enjoy eternal life with Jesus if we will repent (turn from sin) and place our faith in Jesus (trust in his good works not our own).

My hope is that parents will use the little book to simply talk about the gospel with their kids. I think we often assume that our kids understand concepts that they may not, we must connect all the point of the gospel if it is going to make sense to them. It makes no sense to say Jesus died for our sins without first explaining sin and God’s standard of perfection. Our conscience are so harden by sin, even as children, we tend to look around at the people around us to evaluate our standing with God, we are always doing better than someone else, but God doesn’t look at things the same way. Just one infraction  leaves us condemned on our own merit.

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. .- James 2:10     

God’s law is not a stone that we can etch away at as we fall short, rather it is like a sheet of glass that shatters as a result the slightest infraction. However, God is merciful and made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through the cross.

While it true that all we must do to be saved is to place our faith in Jesus, we cannot assume that our kids know what that means. Jesus’ first message was repentance, and so too must ours. Repentance is a mark of saving faith, those who behold the cross and have a changed heart will turn from sin. They will confess that they have been living for the wrong things, and turn to God in for forgiveness. They will no longer trust in their own good work, which are filthy rags to God when done in an effort gain His favor, but they trust in the perfect works of Christ, being both fully man and fully God, living a sin free life, and dying on the cross in our place. And even better than just being saved from the punishment we deserve, we are credited with the perfect life of Christ and receiving the reward due to Him.

Lydia was a worshiper of God, but she was not saved until she heard the gospel. We do not want our children to be ambiguous worshipers of a God they do not understand, it is our jobs as parents to tirelessly labor to help the understand the God that created them and how to worship Him properly! 

I hope this has been helpful, and until next time go serve your King!

To Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever

Sometimes writing lessons for little kids is hard, writing out the narrative is easy enough, except for that I forget that my audience has a somewhat limited vocabulary, but drawing out an appropriate application can be tricky. This week our lesson was on Paul and Barnabas and the opposition (3-6 yr. olds do not know what this word means) they encountered in sharing the gospel it can be found in Acts 14. I got to the end of writing the narrative and I was a little stumped. I don’t want our lessons to be stories with no deeper message. I usually think about some basic questions to help me understand why it was included in scripture: What does this account tell me about God? How should I respond to what happened in the narrative? What convicted me as I thought about what happened in this account? What theological themes do I see in the text? Can I see any examples of something Jesus taught? Asking myself questions like these helps me to draw out the deeper meaning, hopefully one I can explain to small children.

Here is the narrative (it takes about 2 min to read it our loud):

Lesson: The disciples continues their work, but it seemed that every time they preached the good news about Jesus, teaching people about repentance (turning from sin) and faith (trusting in the good works of Jesus), the Jewish leaders would begin to stir up the crowds against them (so that the crowds opposed them, and threatened them). Even though the message of the gospel made some people angry, God called Paul and Barnabas to travel around to different areas to spread the good news about Jesus they saw great success in their efforts but it was hard work.

 One day Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra and they saw a man who was lame, he couldn’t walk, he had been this way his entire life. The man listened to Paul teaching about Jesus; Paul noticed that the man was listening, and could tell that he believed. Paul looked at the man and told him to get up, and he leaped to his feet and began to walk.

 When the crowed of people around them saw what had happened they began to worship Peter and Barnabas. When the two realized what was happening, they were very upset. They said, “We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.” They continued to explain that there was only one true God, and only He is worthy of their worship. But some Jews came from other cities and stirred up the crowds against Paul and Barnabas. People in the crowd began to throw rocks at Paul, and drug him out of the city thinking he was dead. But as the disciples stood around him he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas went to another city and continued to preach the good news about Jesus.

 Paul and Barnabas were not sharing the gospel to make the crowd like them, but to show the people that the one true God is glorious and worthy of all praise. We must follow their example and live our lives in a way that shows others what a great God we serve, in this way we can glorify him with our lives whether others like our message or not.

 The Shorter Catechisms asks: What is the chief end of man?- The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Maybe it’s because I have been thinking of my own tendency to be a glory hog that the actions of Paul and Barnabas stood out so dramatically. Paul and Barnabas have been out on mission sharing the gospel, they have been run out of Antioch by the Jewish leaders, yet they kept going. In this account they are received by the crowd quite differently, upon seeing the lame man healed the people wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, saying that they were gods. Paul and Barnabas, do not revel in the glory for even a moment, they are upset and reason with the crowd to get them to stop. At every point they are pointing to God as the one worthy of glory. Then as quick as the crowd came to worship them, the jewish leaders stirred up the crowd against them. The Jewish leaders are so effective in turning the crowd that they stoned Paul, drug from the town, and left him for dead; no mention is even made of souls saved (aside from the lame man). Most remarkable is not that Paul then gets up, but that he when he got up he continued on his mission.

As an adult who wants to teach the bible to others, I find that when I come upon opposition my resolve is far weaker than Paul’s. I immediately question what it is I’m doing, and if I should just quit. This kind of thinking reveals something about my motives, while it’s a good desire to want to see people changed by God’s word, deep down I want at least a little glory for myself. I want the recognition for being good at sharing the gospel or teaching the bible. If my only concern was God’s glory than I would continue on, giving it all I have, seeking feedback, and be satisfied that God will do what he will do with my efforts. Only when I am primarily concerned with His glory will I continue to push on when it looks as though I am failing to accomplish my goal. Where would we be if Paul and Barnabas had given up, decided it was too hard, and failed to walk in obedience to God?

This account offered a great opportunity to talk about the main purpose of man while he lives on the earth. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that, “The chief end of man  is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” We are here to glorify God, our kids need to understand that they can glorify God when they obey mom and dad. As our kids grow they will face situations where obedience will mean hardship, loss of friends or the loss of an opportunity, but it is not likely that they will face a situation as extreme as Paul and Barnabas. We want them to seek the praise of God above the praise of man. While this is a head concept for young kids, one we will have to talk about it over and over, it is worth the effort as this is the heart of idolatry, wanting something more than we want to see God glorified!

Apart from a saving faith we cannot bring glory to God in this life, it is my heart felt prayer that this is beneficial as you labor to teach your child about the high call of the cross!

Devotional with Kids Made Easy! (Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance)

So this week our three year old decided he wanted to sit with me in at church instead of going to children’s church. First of all I should know better than to listen to a whiny three year old, it wasn’t that he wanted to sit with me, he just didn’t want to have to sit still and mind someone other than me. Lesson learned (one I should know after nearly three years of coordinating a children’s ministry) three year olds often protest going to children’s church, but once mom or dad are out of sight they are fine. Rest assured, next week he will not be sitting with me! Anyhow, come bedtime Monday evening I decided we would do the lesson for Sunday since it was handy on my computer, and he missed out on it due to his shenanigans. I keep our lessons short for children’s church, but try to keep as much meat in them as I can. Just because the kids have a short attention span doesn’t mean they can’t understand important lessons. When I teach I have noticed that while the six year olds gets it, but the three year olds have a hard time; however, when I taught the lesson at home our little Matthew really got it. Not only did Matthew get it, it held the attention of our oldest (who has aged out of our children’s church program). Everyday this week at bedtime we have talked about the same lesson: we have played games, I had our oldest read it to his younger brother, I have had them summarize the story and the lessons to me and then stress the important points. Certainly our eight year old understands it better then the three year old, but I am able to use one story to teach both of them at the same time, something I have never really done at home before. We usually talk about God during different times of the day, and address them both separately; however, it has been really fun doing it together and seeing our older son teach the younger is very precious. So, I have decided that I would make home devotions easy, and share our entire lesson. The lesson is short, but you can dig deeper dependent on your child’s age and ability to grasp various concepts.

Lesson:

The followers of Jesus continued to spread the gospel, and many were being saved. However, they angered the Jewish leaders, and they found no favor with King Herod. The king disliked them so much that he put them in jail, and even killed one of the disciples. When the king saw how much this pleased the Jewish people he decided to arrest Peter, and put him to death as well. Peter had already escaped prison once, so the king assigned 16 guards to keep him locked up and they used extra chains so that he would not be able to get free. Peter prayed to God, and the other believers who heard what had happened were dedicating themselves to prayer also. Despite all this Peter was not afraid; he knew that God was going to save him. Peter was so confident in God’s ability to rescue him from Herod’s evil plan that even all chained up he was able to sleep soundly.

He was awakened in the night by two angles, and found all 16 guards asleep. The angles told him to get up and follow them; his chains fell off of him and he was able to follow the angles. As they came to a gate, the gate opened on its own. It was such a strange thing that Peter though he was just having a vision; however, once he was out of the prison he realized that what had just happened was real.

The angles disappeared and Peter went to the home of Mary, the mother of Mark. When he arrived he knocked on the door, and a servant realized who it was. The servant girl called to everyone that Peter was at the door, but ut no one believed her; she called to them again “it is Peter at the door”, and again they didn’t believe her. Finally, she let Peter in, and they were all amazed. Peter told them everything that happened, and instructed them to report it all to James, the brother of Jesus then he left to find safety and to share the gospel. Herod searched for Peter, but could not find him.

Have you ever faced a tough situation like Peter? No probable not, but I bet you have had times when you were scared right? What are some things that have scared you? (give them some time to answer- if they don’t give some good answers you may ask if they have ever been afraid of the dark or if they have ever been afraid of getting into trouble for telling the truth about something they did wrong?) Do you know that God is always with you? Peter was not scared because he knew that God was going to use him life to spread the gospel, and that no matter what God was with him. Peter trusted in God and the fact that God always keeps his word. We serve a good God; He alone is worthy of our love, trust, and worship!

 Recap:

• Did the Jewish leaders like the disciples and their message? (No)
• Did Herod like the followers of Jesus? (No)
• Why did Herod want to kill Peter? (Because he knew the Jewish leaders would like it)
• How many guards were there to keep Peter in the jail? (16)
• Peter knew that Herod planned to have him killed, was Peter scared? (No)
• What did Peter do while he was in Jail? (Prayed, slept)
• What happened in the middle of the night? (Some angles appeared to Peter and helped him escape the prison)
• Why was Peter so brave? (He trusted in God to keep his promises)

 Suggestions for devotional time:

On the first night read through the lesson, then ask the recap questions giving some kind of reward for getting the answers right (I used Skittles).

On the second night have an older sibling read it to a younger sibling.

On the third night have each child tell you the story, help them by filling in any big details they miss.

On the forth night read them the lesson again, and this time dig deeper pointing out the greater meaning. (The reality of trusting God is a hard one, because on some level we all fail every day. It was lack of trust in their creator that lead Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of good and evil in the garden. They didn’t trust God to look out for their best interest, and they brought great calamity into the world through their disobedience. Peter’s trust in God is astounding, I lose sleep if I think I have put my foot in may mouth and no one is going to kill me over that. He was facing his own death, he was chained up, clearly his was physically uncomfortable, yet he slept. If we do not trust God we will not obey him; our kids need to learn this young. As our kids grow they will face unpleasant circumstances, they need to be able to obey God whether they think their obedience result in a positive temporal outcome or not.)

On the fifth day you may have them act out the narrative the best they can, and then have them explain the deeper meaning.

Other fun activities are to have them make a paper chain, and talk about how Peters chains fell off. Have them draw a picture of from the narrative and let them explain it to you, or search for coloring sheets online (you can find a lot of free recourses if you just look for them).

You may think this is awfully repetitious, and it is. That’s because it typically takes hearing something 7 times before you remember it. That’s why it is important to change your method of teaching, it will help keep them excited about what they are learning. You may not be able to hang with one passage or narative for 5 days, that’s alright. I would encourage you to move slowly through scripture with your kids, and as they get older read the narrative straight from the bible before you paraphrase it for them. It is not a race to get to the end, it’s a rich journey as you fulfill the call to raise your child/children in the fear of the Lord.

Think prayerfully about the passages through your week, not only will it give you more to share with the kids this will likely help you come to a better understanding of your own heart and the heart of the God we serve! As you teach your children they are not the only ones who change in the process.

I hope this has been helpful, feedback is always appreciated. Until next time go serve your King!!

Lessons from the Conversion of Saul for kids (and parents too)

This past week I wrote a lesson for our children’s church on the conversion of Saul, as usually the kids were not the only ones who learned a lesson. The following is a condensed version of the account given in Acts 9:1-22 it takes one minute and fifty seconds to say (Yes, I times it! I have learned that kids 3-6 have a crazy short attention span) :

Not everyone who heard the message of the disciples liked it or was very happy about what it meant. There were even some people, like a man named Saul, a religious Jew, who thought that the apostles and their followers should be put in jail or killed for the things they were saying about God. Because of this follower of Jesus fled Jerusalem for fear they would be arrested or killed. Saul sought papers from the high priest so that he could go and arrest the followers of Jesus who fled, his request was granted.

Saul was on his way to a town called Damascus when he was suddenly surrounded by a bright light, he fell to the ground and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why are persecuting Me?” Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” And the voice answered, “I am Jesus who you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood speechless, they heard the voice but saw nothing. Saul got up from the ground, but was no longer able to see anything. His friends helped him, leading him by the hand to Damascus where Saul neither ate nor drank for three days, but prayed continually.

Jesus appeared to a disciple, Ananias, who lived in Damascus, telling him to go and find Saul, lay his hands on him and heal him, so that he may regain his sight. Ananias was scared, he knew who Saul was, but the Lord reassured Ananias that He was going to work in Saul; all Ananias had to do was obey. Ananias did as the Lord instructed, he went to Saul laying hands on him; he told Saul that Jesus had sent him so that he may regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. As Ananias spoke something like scaled fell from Saul’s eyes and he regained his sight; then Saul got up and was baptized. Immediately following his conversion, Saul began preaching Christ in the synagogues. Later Saul also became know as Paul, he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament. 

 

There are so many themes in this account it was hard to decide which one to emphasize to the kids.  The themes that jump out to me are God’s ability to soften the hardest heart; that in God’s wisdom He knows exactly what it will take to open our eyes to His truth; our need to walk in obedience because it is God who works in people’s hearts; and how genuine faith radically changes the direction of our life’s.  For our kids I decided that I obedience was a good focus, and encouraged parents to address the other themes dependent on the kids maturity.

We stressed that Ananias must have been terrified, he knew that going to Saul could mean prison or death, but he obeyed Jesus anyway. As a lesson for the kids I was thinking about how they need to obey mom, dad, and ultimately God regardless of whether they want to or not. They need to know that God has a plan that they may not always understand, but that they must learn to trust that He is always at work. However, the implications of just this one theme from this passage hit me slowly over the corse of a few days. I thought of all of the opportunities I had to witness to people yet failed to, because I just knew that the message of Christ wouldn’t be well received. I also thought of all of the conflicts I slunk away from for fear that addressing differences in perspective or confronting the sin of another in love would ruin a relationship. I though of all the time friends have expressed frustration with a fellow sister in Christ over a sin or difference in perspective, yet they swore up and down that a confrontation would mean the end of a treasured friendship. How often do we fail to obey for fear of something so much less severe than prison or death?

It seems when God is teaching me something He always gives me a situation where I can put what I have learned to work, and this week He did just that. It just so happened that I ran into conflict with my most treasured friend, my husband, on Sunday. I knew I had two options, let the issue go despite the fact it needed to be addressed or deal with it despite the fact I hate, hate, hate to disagree with my husband (he is my absolute favorite person)! It would have been easy to merely wait out the situation, but I knew in my heart that wasn’t right. I needed to be faithful to God, and be willing to listen to what my husband had to say trusting that God would work in both our hearts to bring resolution. I would love to say that we each did everything right, and resolution came easily; however, that is not the case. Initially we really butted heads; however, the next day God really brought resolution. We both walked away softened toward one another, and closer than before the conflict began. I know that if I had not trusted in God to work in the situation the conflict would have eventually faded into our memories, but it would have caused a rift in our unity as a married couple. Our unity is one of the ways we, as a Christian couple, honor God and show an unbelieving world that we truly are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Failing to address our differences in this case would have diminished God’s glory, simply because I was scared making the situation worse instead of trusting the master planner to work his plan out through a small act of obedience. I am so thankful for God’s word, and His work in my life.

I encourage you as you labor to teach God’s word to your children, let it work on your heart too! God used lots of narrative in scripture to reveal his character for a reason, it is far more interesting than a list of rules and we can continually come into a deeper understanding of the principles being taught through the different accounts. Our kids do not learn simply by listening to our words; they watch our lives play out over the years, and they see the nature of our faith. If our lives are not changed by the truths of God’s word, so that we look different than the world around them, they are likely to walk away unchanged by the words we spoke. Pray God would help your children see growth in your walk with the Lord, confess your failures to them, and seek their forgiveness when you sin against them. Remember it is God that does the work in their hearts, all you have to do is walk in obedience!