God's Mighty Acts in Salvation E-Book

Starr Meade

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 134

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Long before we reach adulthood, the gospel ought to be shaping our lives. Paul taught the core truths of the gospel in his letter to the Galatians, and this collection of interactive readings for preteens applies those truths in understandable ways. Each reading begins with a key verse and then highlights one element of the gospel in everyday terms, followed by questions and activities that reinforce Paul's teaching. Meade guides young readers to a full picture of God's saving work, as well as a real understanding of other doctrinal concepts such as justification by faith alone, the priority of Scripture, the requirements for apostleship, and the relationship between the old and new covenants. For parents and teachers who want to awaken young hearts to a lifelong commitment to the gospel, God's Mighty Acts in Salvation is a great resource. This is a companion volume to God's Mighty Acts in Creation. 

Leseprobe

God’s Mighty Acts in Salvation Copyright © 2010 by Educational Publishing Concepts, Inc.

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Typesetting: Educational Publishing ConceptsCover design: Amy BristowCover illustrations: iStockphotoFirst printing 2010Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trade Paperback ISBN:    978-1-4335-1401-2PDF ISBN:                       978-1-4335-1402-9Mobipocket ISBN:           978-1-4335-1403-6ePub ISBN:                      978-1-4335-2432-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meade, Starr, 1956–      God’s mighty acts in salvation / Starr Meade.             p. cm.      ISBN 978-1-4335-1401-2 (tpb)—ISBN 978-1-4335-1402-9 (pdf)—ISBN 978-1-4335-1403-6 (mobipocket)—ISBN 978-1-4335-2432-5 (ePub)      1. Bible. N.T. Galatians—Children’s sermons. I. Title.

      BS2685.54.M43 2010      227'.4077—dc22

2010009996

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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Contents

1. Introduction: From Whom, to Whom, and Why? (Gal. 1:1–6)

2. The Authority of the Messenger (Gal. 1:1)

3. Rescue! (Gal. 1:3–5)

4. The Gospel: Using the Proper Tool (Gal. 1:6)

5. Galatians: The Angry Letter (Gal. 1:6–10)

6. Love Tells the Truth (Gal. 1:6–24)

7. What Can You Add to Perfect? (Gal. 2:1–16)

8. Rules for Hurting Someone’s Feelings (Gal. 2:1–16)

9. Before the Judge: Condemned or Justified? (Gal. 2:15–16)

10. A Substitute (Gal. 2:15–21)

11. Grace Given or Merit Earned? (Gal. 2:15–21)

12. A Portrait of Christ (Gal. 3:1)

13. Faith Is God’s Gift (Gal. 3:2–5)

14. The Gospel Is for Christians Too! (Gal. 3:2–5)

15. How to Read a Book (Gal. 3:2–6 with Gen. 15:1–6)

16. Blessed with Abraham (Gal. 3:7–9)

17. All We Can Earn: A Curse, Not a Blessing (Gal. 3:10–14)

18. The Right Use of a Mirror (Gal. 3:15–22)

19. Unacceptable! (Gal. 3:21–22)

20. Grown-ups Don’t Need a Babysitter! (Gal. 3:23–29)

21. Adopted by God (Gal. 4:1–7)

22. Return to Slavery? (Gal. 4:8–11)

23. Choose Wounds, Not Kisses (Gal. 4:12–20)

24. What We Do, or What God Does? (Gal. 4:21–31)

25. Legalism (Gal. 5:1–12)

26. Freedom From Is Freedom To (Gal. 5:13–15)

27. Hope for the Fight (Gal. 5:16–18)

28. Faith Produces Fruit (Gal. 5:16–23)

29. Different Trees, Different Fruit (Gal. 5:16–23)

30. Fake Fruit (Gal. 5:22–23)

31. Cultivating Fruit (Gal. 5:16–26)

32. Good Soil Required (Gal. 5:16–26)

33. Kill It! Mortifying Sin (Gal. 5:24)

34. A Deadly Enemy (Gal. 5:24)

35. When to Exercise and When to Avoid Exercise (Gal. 5:16–26)

36. Keep in Step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25–26)

37. Love Bears Burdens (Gal. 6:1–10)

38. Sowing and Reaping: The Consequences of Wrong Ideas (Gal. 6:6–10)

39. What Do You Boast About? (Gal. 6:11–18)

40. Things Worth Boasting About (Gal. 6:11–18)

A Note to Parents

Nothing is of greater value to Christians and to the church than the gospel. Each succeeding generation must clearly understand the gospel, must faithfully preserve it, and must diligently contend for it. In every era, voices will argue against the gospel, some stridently, others subtly. Christian adults have a responsibility to pass on to the generation following them both the content of the gospel and an understanding of the importance of resisting any alterations to it.

God’s Mighty Acts in Salvation takes as its springboard Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. This epistle is Paul’s “angry letter.” He wrote it to people who had accepted the gospel when he had preached it to them, but who were now entertaining changes to it suggested by false teachers. Paul’s main point in the epistle is that justification comes by faith alone. To require anything at all in addition to faith is to lose the gospel, which alone provides the way to eternal salvation.

This book is not intended as a commentary for children on the book of Galatians. Rather, it is a revised collection of talks I gave to children during the weeks that their pastor preached a series of sermons on the epistle. My goal in the talks for the children, as well as in this book, was not to explain everything in Paul’s letter, but to highlight main teachings from Galatians that children can understand. The readings in God’s Mighty Acts in Salvation give references from the epistle, but these passages do not necessarily need to be read in their entirety to your children. Whether or not you choose to read those passages will depend on their ages and comprehension levels.

May God open the minds of our children to understand his gospel, and may he awaken in their hearts an undying love for it and commitment to it. May God’s blessing rest on your efforts as you use this book to seek to cultivate such a mind and heart in your own children or grandchildren.

1 Introduction From Whom, to Whom, and Why?Galatians 1:1–6

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”Galatians 1:6

Bible” means “books.” The Bible is one big book, made up of sixty-six smaller books. One group in the sixty-six books is the group of “epistles,” or letters. Some New Testament epistles were written to one person, but most of them were written to whole churches. This book will help you look at several big ideas from one of those epistles, the epistle to the Galatians. “Galatians” were people who lived in Galatia, like Americans are people who live in America or Russians are people who live in Russia.

If you want to understand any book of the Bible, there are three things you need to find out about that book. First, who wrote it? Second, to whom did he write it? And third, why did he write it?

The first verse of the book tells us who wrote it: the apostle Paul. The second verse tells us to whom he wrote it: the churches at Galatia. Paul was the one who had taken the gospel to the Galatians in the first place. He had come to Galatia and told people there that they were sinners in danger of God’s anger because of their sin. He had told them that God had provided a Savior in Jesus Christ. Paul had urged the Galatians to repent of their sin and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, so they would no longer be under God’s wrath and could enjoy his love. Many of the Galatians had believed the gospel and had become Christians. Paul had gone on his way, and now he was writing the Galatian Christians a letter.

Our key verse shows us why Paul was writing. Some people had come to the Galatians preaching a “gospel” different from the one Paul preached. These people taught that there were things Christians must do in addition to trusting in Christ to be sure they were right with God.

This made Paul angry. Paul knew that if the Galatians believed this lie, they would not be right with God at all. So Paul wrote this letter, the letter we now know as the epistle to the Galatians.

The message of Galatians is just as important today as it was when it was written. Today, too, some people try to say that what Jesus has done to save us is not enough. They say that, if we want to be completely acceptable to God, we must keep certain rules or do certain things to add to what Jesus did for us. This part of God’s Word warns us very sternly against listening to such ideas. The gospel tells us that Jesus’ life of obedience to God and his death on the cross were in the place of his people. Jesus completely met every requirement God has, and no one can add anything to the perfect work of Christ.

As for me and my house . . .

• Look at the opening verses of all the epistles, Romans through Jude. Notice the way they almost all begin by telling who the letter’s from and to whom it’s being written. Notice how they end. These are like the “Dear So-and-so” and the “Sincerely yours” of our modern letters.

• As you look at the opening verses of these epistles, notice who wrote each one and to whom.

• To see why other epistles were written, look at: Philippians 1:12–13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1 Timothy 3:14–15; 2 Peter 1:12–13; 1 John 5:13.

2 The Authority of the Messenger Galatians 1:1

“Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”Galatians 1:1

The Galatians had mail! They had received a letter from the apostle Paul. Getting a letter from Paul was not like getting a letter from just anyone; Paul was an apostle.

The New Testament was written in the Greek language. In Greek, the word “apostolos” means a messenger. Someone sent from someone else with a message was an “apostolos.” The person carrying the message, the apostle, had all the authority of the message sender behind him. If a king sent his “apostle” to your house with the message, “Go to the palace right now,” you would go. You might not have done it just for the messenger, but you would know that all of the king’s authority was behind this message. So you would obey it.

Imagine that you’re sitting in your living room, watching television. Your little sister comes in, sees what you’re doing, and thinks you shouldn’t be doing it. She thinks you should do your homework instead. So she says to you, “Turn off the television.” Will you do it? Probably not. She’s just your sister; she’s not your boss. But suppose your sister leaves and goes to the room where your father is reading the newspaper. You hear your dad and your sister talking, then your sister returns. “Dad says, ‘Turn off the TV and go do your homework,’” she tells you. Now will you do it? Probably so, because now it isn’t just your sister telling you. She’s giving you a message from your dad, and her message carries all of your father’s authority behind it.

Sometimes the New Testament uses the word “apostle” to mean any messenger with the gospel. But “apostle” is also used in a one-of-a-kind way. Jesus appointed twelve one-of-a-kind apostles; Judas did not continue as an apostle, and later Jesus also called Saul—or Paul—to be an apostle. To be this kind of unique apostle, a man had to have been chosen for it by Jesus; he had to have been an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus; and he had to have been taught by Jesus himself. Jesus gave these apostles the task of writing the New Testament. God himself spoke through these apostles in a way he does not speak through other people.

Since Paul was an apostle, his message to the Galatians was a message from God himself. It carried all the authority of God. Whatever the Galatians read in this epistle, they were required to do.

For us too, the book of Galatians is more than just a letter written by Paul. Because Paul was the Lord’s apostle and this letter is in the Bible, Galatians is a message to us from God. As we read it, we must be prepared to change our thinking to agree with its message. We must be ready to obey whatever it says, because it is God who is speaking to us in it.

As for me and my house . . .

• Look at the first verses of other epistles to find the other apostles who wrote New Testament books.

• Some New Testament authors were not apostles themselves, but they had worked closely with apostles. Mark worked with Peter and with Paul. Luke traveled with Paul. James and Jude worked with the apostles, and they were both Jesus’ half brothers.

• Some false teachers today claim to be apostles. Why can that not be true? (Think of the three things that had to be true of an apostle.)

3 Rescue!Galatians 1:3–5

“[The Lord Jesus Christ], who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”Galatians 1:4

One of the most exciting parts of an adventure story is the escape. A prisoner is being held in a place from which escape seems impossible. One of the best escape stories in all literature is in The Count of Monte Cristo, where Edmond Dantes is locked in a dungeon that sits high on a rock in the middle of the sea. His situation seems hopeless. I won’t tell you how he does it, in case you ever read the book, but Edmond manages to escape even from that place.

The escape may involve a rescue, where the prisoner’s friends come after him to help him escape. How exciting the rescue is will depend on how desperate the prisoner’s situation is. The most exciting rescue attempts are the ones where there seems to be no possible way of escape.

A prisoner might be tied up to make escape more difficult, but friends could untie him. Or he might be held somewhere where no one can get in or out, like Edmond. The most desperate situation of all from which to try to rescue someone is when the prisoner has decided to join the side of his enemies. Imagine a man who has been taken as a prisoner of war in a battle. His friends come to rescue him, and he tells them, “I’ve changed my mind about which side in this war is the right one. I like this side better, and I’m going to be on this side now.” There is nothing the prisoner’s friends can do. The man does not want to be rescued.

Our key verse mentions a rescue when it uses the words “deliver us.” Before Jesus delivers, or rescues, any of his people, their situation is the most hopeless of all. They have joined the other side. They are a part of “the present evil age.” They have rebelled against the good God who made them, and they have joined the side of their enemies, who only want to see them destroyed. Still, Jesus rescues all who are his people.

Any rescue attempt is dangerous. The person trying to rescue the prisoner may get hurt or even killed. But he attempts the rescue anyway, hoping everything will turn out fine. Jesus knew he would die if he rescued his people. He knew that the only way to rescue them was by giving his own life for their sins. And he loved his people enough to rescue them anyway. Our key verse says that Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us.”

Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because he was afraid they were going to become prisoners again. The false teachers who had come to the Galatians wanted to take them back to the side of the enemy. Paul wrote to say, “No! You’ve been rescued! Don’t let yourselves be taken prisoner again!” Those of us who are God’s people have been rescued from this present evil age. We should be so thankful to Jesus for dying to free us, and we should be very careful not to let ourselves be taken prisoner again.

As for me and my house . . .

• Think of true or fiction stories of heroes who gave their lives to save others. Did the heroes give their lives for people they knew, or for strangers? Did any of the heroes you thought of give his life for an enemy? Or for an evil criminal? Praise Jesus for his amazing love that caused him to give himself to save wicked rebels who hated him.

4 The Gospel Using the Proper Tool