Seekers for Jesus: 3rd Quarter 2016

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

Seekers for Jesus is a quarterly written especially for young people ages 12-14. In addition to introductory material and biblical exposition, each lesson contains a section to help students apply the lesson to life. Questions are interjected to gauge the student’s understanding of the presentation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Apr 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781681671352

Book preview

Lesson 1

07.03.16

MATCHING WORDS WITH ACTIONS

Romans 2:17–26, 29

Background Scriptures: Psalm 104; Romans 2:14–29

Word Up! Live up to your profession of faith .

THE REAL DEAL ON TODAY’S LESSON

To allow more space for exposition, all lesson print Scripture passages may not appear in their entirety.

SIDELINE QUESTION: What are ways that Christians practice spiritual conceit?

TODAY’S LESSON

Have you ever known someone who bragged about his or her talent or skill in something? Maybe it was a friend who bragged about his talent in basketball or one who boasted about her skill in volleyball. Often it happens that this person really doesn’t possess the talent he or she claims to have. Have you ever noticed how often the person who brags the loudest, who is most sure of him- or herself, is also the person who has the most to hide? Sometimes in order to cover up the things we are not proud of or what we are ashamed of, we put up a false front to make ourselves look better than we actually are.

Today’s lesson talks about this kind of thing. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in the city of Rome. That church was made up of both Jews and Gentiles. But things were not good: the two groups were fighting with each other over who was more favored. In today’s lesson, we will see how neither group had any room for boasting.

I. Boasting in God (Romans 2:17–23)

Before his conversion, Paul was an enthusiastic persecutor of the Church. He knew what it meant to be a good Jew. He understood the fight in the Roman church because he once thought the same way. Paul told the Jewish Christians that they were not following the Law that they were teaching others. They had a high opinion of themselves, which made them feel like the Law of God did not apply to them.

The Jews saw circumcision as a guarantee of God’s favor. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant that God had made with them and a pledge of His blessing for them. What the people failed to understand was that the physical act of circumcision also required an inward transformation of the heart. As Paul told them, Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision (Rom. 2:25, NRSV). The Jews regarded the Gentiles as barely-reformed pagans who lacked the benefits of God’s favor because they were not circumcised. But Paul told them that the uncircumcised Gentile who followed God’s Law would be regarded as though he had been circumcised. One’s relationship with God is a matter of the heart. A heart yielded to God produces the outward signs of obedience to Him. This is the person that God considers circumcised. In believing that circumcision was all it took to be in God’s favor, the Jewish Christians in Rome became conceited. Their arrogance led them to disobey the very Law that they required others to