S U N D A Y S C H O O L L E S S O N H E L P S
lunch would be of no help at a time like this. After the Lord Jesus had told the dis ciples to make the people sit down in groups, He took the lad’s lunch, thanked God for the food, and started breaking the bread and fish and putting the pieces into baskets. The disciples passed the food to each person in that huge crowd until all had eaten as much as possible. Because God does not want us to waste His good gifts, the Saviour had the disciples gather the food that was left over. They brought twelve baskets full back to God’s Son! When the multitude saw the miracle that the Lord Jesus had performed, many of them said, “ This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.” Perhaps you do not have much money or many talents to give to the Lord Jesus. He does not ask you to give things that you do not have. If you will give even a penny to Him or bring to Him your smallest talents of time or service, He will work a miracle and do great things for His work with your gift! Feb. 14, 1954 J e s u s D e c la re s H is D e ity John’s Gospel continually emphasizes the deity of Christ. It is the Gospel of His eternal Sonship. In the two passages for our study today we have two of the most direct statements Jesus ever made of His deity. Look at them carefully and prayerfully. Christ the Alleviator of Soul-Thirst vv. 7:37-44 In this passage the Saviour makes it clear that He is the One who can satisfy the thirsty soul. “ If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (v. 37). It was customary on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles to have a service called the pouring out of the ' water. Priests brought water from the pool of Siloam and poured it out at the temple to remind the people of God’s marvelous provision of Israel’s need in the wilder ness. (Cp. Ex. 17:1-6 and Num. 20:7-13.) As Jesus speaks in our lesson with this custom as a background, He tells of a far more wonderful provision which is available for all His followers in this dis pensation. It is a spiritual provision. They who are Christians have the Spirit of God within their hearts (v. 39). He satis fies man’s deepest needs and makes his heart like a watered garden providing blessing to all who come in contact with him (Isa. 58:11). It should be noted that no sooner had Christ spoken like this than opposi tion raised its head. It was so severe that “ some of them would have taken him” but the time for that had not arrived in God’s plan (v. 44). The presentation of the truth with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ always arouses opposition of one kind or another. But we need not let such opposition keep us from drinking of the Water of life. Christ the Light of the World w . 8:12-19 As there is only one sun in the heavens to give its blessing to the physical world, John 7:37-44; 8:12-19 Pointers on the Lesson
Homer A. Kent’, Th.D. Allison Arrowood (children) Lesson material is based upon outlines of the International Sunday School lessons copyrighted by the Division ,of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. •
Saviour’s blood at Calvary that is equiva lent to drinking His blood. Let us be ware of gross materialistic conceptions of Christ’s sacrifice. They who truly eat the Bread of Life shall live forever (v. 58). A Great Sifting and Its Challenge vv. 66-69 Evidently there were many who had been following Christ who were not true disciples. They had been following Him for the loaves and the fishes or to see what He would do next in the way of miracles. Doubtless they hoped that He would take over as the King of the Jews and bring them great victories. But they did not understand His words about dy ing and ascending to heaven. He was not the Messiah they were looking for. Then it was that Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, Will y e also go away? Peter answered boldly indicating that there is no one like Jesus to whom to turn. Would that men everywhere real ized this! Helps For the Children A Boy Helps Jesus John 6:1-14 Memory Verse: "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. 6:11). Have you sometimes thought that only big people — mothers and fathers and preachers and missionaries — could help the Lord Jesus with the work of God in the world? One day when the Saviour was upon the earth He preached to a great multi tude of people until supper time. Many of the people were far from home. There were no eating places such as we find along our highways today. Some of the people would become ill if they' had to walk to their homes before they could eat. The Saviour turned to Philip, one of the disciples, and said, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” The other disciples heard Philip reply that even two hundred pennyworth of bread would not be enough to feed such a huge crowd. One of the disciples, An drew, saw a little boy who had brought a ‘lunch with him. The lad had been so eager to hear each word that the Saviour had said that he had forgotten to eat his lunch. .Andrew told the Lord Jesus that the boy had five little barley biscuits or buns and two small fish. Such a small
Feb. 7, 1954 How Ch rist' S u s t a in s U s
John 6:48-59, 66-69 Pointers on the Lesson
It is too bad that we cannot study the whole of the sixth chapter of John instead of just part of it. This is the longest chapter in John’s Gospel and is a unit. Every part relates to the whole. But seventy-one verses are a few too many to consider at one time so we shall have to be satisfied to center our attention upon selected portions of the chapter. Chapter six is the Bread of Life chapter. It con tains one of the great claims, one of the great I AM ’s of Christ. To get the proper background for the lesson the teacher should review carefully the first part of the chapter which relates the account of the feeding of the five thousand. A Great Claim and Its Issue vv. 48-59 “ I am that bread of life.” Ask your class how many of the other claims of Christ they can remember which begin with the words l am. John is unique in these presentations. In the section before us Jesus makes a contrast between Him self, the spiritual bread, and the manna which was given in the wilderness, the physical bread (w . 48-51). Christ, the spiritual bread, causes men to live for ever, whereas, the manna in the wilder ness only sustained the physical body. Note that Christ is the living bread and this bread came down from heaven— two great facts! The Jews could not under stand our Lord at this point (v. 52). They were only thinking of materialistic terms as though Christ meant that His physi cal body was to be broken up and given to men to eat. W e know this cannot be for in the law the children of Israel were forbidden to eat blood in any form or manner. Jesus did not mean literal eating therefore, and certainly He was not referring to the materialistic doctrine which many people hold to the effect that in the Communion the bread and the wine become the actual body and blood of Jesus. The whole New Testa ment makes it clear that eating of the Bread of Life is to receive Christ by faith. It is to receive fully what the Scriptures reveal concerning His Cal vary experience, namely, that His blood was spilt for our redemption. When we properly recognize the shedding of the
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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