Tag: Child

From the Gospel, Living in the Image of God

Christ Teaches Humility

Living in the Image of God M03S10

Humility is the quality of expecting others to be greater or better than you in one or more considerations, based on understanding that every person is potentially God’s representative in human interactions with you. Humility manifests as an invitation with promise—promise of care and diligence regarding the needs of others; promise of appreciation for others and any goods or service they provide; and promise of obedience to the authority of others—conveyed to them more by attitude than spoken or written words.

Christ Teaches Humility 13:37

We discuss three instances of Christ teaching regarding humility: to understand the meaning and importance of humility in human interactions. First, we discuss Christ teaching among dinner guests, where he explained a defining principle of humility: humble yourself that you may be exalted and honored by others; or the opposite, exalt yourself and you likely will be humbled and humiliated by others. Through his interactions with the dinner guests, Christ defines humility as the quality of expecting others to be greater or better than you in one or more considerations.

Second, we discuss the humility of a child based on Christ teaching. We see that a child personifies humility according to the defining principle, because of the intrinsic characteristic of childhood to expect others to be greater or better. Therefore, Christ introduces the humility of childhood as defining a standard that God expects of every person.

Third, we discuss an example based on the humility of David to understand that humility entails respect and submission to lawful authority. He was anointed to be king but recognized the authority of the people to select him as their king. Therefore, he waited patiently in humility for seven years after the death of his predecessor, until the people of Israel made him king.

Finally, we discuss Christ teaching on humility in the Sermon on the Mount, where he described the promise of blessing for humility toward God and humility in human interactions.

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The Apostles

Fear of God, Parents, and Others

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Fear of God

This bible study is focused on understanding the fear of God as referenced through an event in Ephesus during Paul’s ministry. As a result of the event, Jews and Greeks in Ephesus were filled with fear, the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor, several people openly confessed their sins, many gave up their practice of sorcery, and the gospel spread widely and grew in power. What is fear and how did it make people turn to God?

© Kimscreativehub | Dreamstime.com
© Kimscreativehub | Dreamstime.com

Generally, fear arises out of recognizing an extraordinary power to cause or drive events that inflict physical or emotional pain or bodily harm. If one responds by keeping away, hiding, or succumbing to the source of power, then that is negative fear. Christ discourages us from such fear through his teaching in Luke 12:4. If, in contrast, one responds to recognition of such power by seeking to please God, then the fear is positive and is the fear of God. Christ encourages us to fear God through his teaching in Luke 12:5. We discuss the events in Ephesus and several other similar events described in the bible to share an understanding of the fear of God. Also, we make a case that we can learn the nature of fear of parents by understanding fear of God and use the relationship in attempting to understand aspects of parent-child interactions.

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The Apostles

Choose Battles to Avoid to Focus on the War

Paul Chooses Circumcision of Timothy

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This bible study examines an interaction between Paul and Timothy at the beginning of the Second Missionary Journey. To add Timothy to his team, Paul got him circumcised despite an existing ruling of the church that circumcision is not necessary for salvation and is not required of Gentile (or non-Jew) believers. He got Timothy circumcised to forestall potential challenges about circumcision during the mission and instead focus energy on preaching the gospel. By so doing he illustrates the principle of choosing to avoid certain battles in order to focus on the war. The bible study also illustrates the value of a healthy

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parent-child relationship between churches, based on the Antioch church consulting with the parent church in Jerusalem to resolve an issue regarding circumcision of Gentile believers.

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