CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH WORLDWIDE.
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS.
MEGA THEME:
THE LIFE OF CHRIST(continued).
For the period; July through December, 2017.
Lesson Three; JESUS’ CONCERN FOR PEOPLE
For September 3rd and September 10th, 2017.
Part 1 of Lesson 4
Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter and healed the 38-year sick man, to demonstrate His genuine concern for all of us. Do you believe Him?
MEMORY SCRIPTURE
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT
Jesus is the only antidote to all life's challenges. In fact, the final authority to silence evil.
INTRODUCTION
Textual Source: Luke 7:1-17, John 5:1-15, Luke 8:26-39.
This is the last lesson in Unit I, which is all out to teach us more about Jesus and His relationships. In the previous lesson, we Lear ed about Jesus and His social life. We learned some lessons for His interaction with the different kinds and classes of people He encounter in His stay here.
This week's lesson is the fourth in the series. It talks about Jesus’ concern for people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the compassionate God, who loves all. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. There is neither tribalism nor discrimination in Jesus’ action.
In this lesson, we shall be looking at how Jesus showed His concern for people, by demonstrating His power and authority, through great faith, compassion and mercy. Jesus is ready at all time, to meet our needs.
Few instances of how Jesus showed concerned and compassion for people's situation would be set out in the lesson, as a representation of how He generally dealt and still deals with people, in principle and practice. Some of the cases are the raising of Jarius’ daughter and the widow of Nain’s only son. Others are the healing of the man in Bethsaida and the deliverance of the tomb-living demoniac. In all these, one thing is common --- Jesus is genuinely and passionately concerned with our different situations.
In this lesson, we would see better that Jesus Christ has final authority to tackle all evils and challenges of life. We must believe Him and have strong faith in Him. May God help us. Amen.
LESSON OUTLINE
1. THE SICK AND THE BEREAVED
• The Sick
• The Bereaved
2. THE SATAN-OPPRESSED
• Bound In Sin
• Bound By Demons
1. THE BEREAVED/WIDOWS/ORPHANS. (Matthew 8:5-17; Luke 7:11-17)
~> The Sick (Matthew 8:5-17)
And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them” (v. 4).
▶ Jesus never missed His mission to go about doing good (Acts 10:38). For instance, after an all-night personal prayer vigil, He alighted, only to start healing the multitude, when He should be relaxing (Luke 6:12ff). That is His level of concern for our welfare.
▶ vv. 5-7: The centurion here, a gentile, had come begging Jesus to come and heal his beloved servant. Jesus’ willingness to go, shows His concern for our welfare over and against racial, religious or legalistic barrier.
▶ vv. 8-13: Jesus has the authority to heal. His genuine concern for the sick servant, whom He had not even seen (humanly speaking), and the desire to bring glory to God, made Him to send the Word of healing of the servant, without waiting for any gratification from the obviously well-to-do centurion --- difference between God Shepherd and the hirelings.
▶ vv. 14-17: Again, it was Jesus who saw the Peter’s in-law was sick. And He immediately addressed the situation. This shows His concern for the family of His followers ---- quality of a good leader.
▶ In addition, Jesus’ response to the hypocritical, inhumane and spiritually insensitive question of those people in Matthew 12:9-13, shows the much value He places on the man's life than undue legalism.
~> The Bereaved (Luke 7:11-17)
When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her,”Do not weep” (v. 13).
▶ vv. 11,12: Jesus entered Nain amidst the funeral of the only hope of a widow. What a pity! Life has been fair to no one. You aren't alone in whatever you are going through. All you need is Christ’s timely intervention.
▶ v. 13: What a compassionate Christ. The scene in v. 12 was very pathetic. He genuinely emphasised with the heartbroken widow. May God give us the genuine and selfless concern for others.
▶ vv. 14,15: Touched and moved by the widow’s plight, He moved to touch the coffin, and to the utter amazement of the hopeless widow, with her mournful entourage, the supposedly dead young man, cane back to life.
▶ Touching that coffin is an indication of Christ’s preference to help restore the widow’s hope than remaining ceremonially clean. Truly, we have the High Priest who is genuinely concerned about our situations (Hebrews 4:15)
▶ A similar level of concern was shown when Jesus got to Lazarus’ tomb (John 11:35,36), before commanding the dead man back to life.
▶ Even while dying, Jesus had concern for the bereaved. He didn't leave His about-to-be-bereaved mother without consolation and help. He arranged one (John the Beloved) to take care of her for Him, the rest of her life (John 19:25-27).
LESSON DERIVED
★ Jesus is deeply concerned for everyone in all situations. All we need to do is to come to Him with, and in faith.
★ Jesus is always available to help everyone. Don't hide your situation from Him.
WORK TO DO
Jesus is people-oriented. He is ready to give all, to ensure total wholeness. Discuss.
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