Master Teacher: 3rd Quarter 2017

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corp.

Master Teacher is the teacher’s quarterly to be used with Adult Christian Life and College and Career. Each lesson contains extensive biblical exposition and specific instructions for the teacher. The outline of the lesson is reader-friendly, and includes suggestions for maximizing teacher/student interaction and topics for making the study informative and enriching.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Apr 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781681672649

Book preview

LESSON 1 FOR WEEK OF JULY 2, 2017

THAT’S NOT FAIR!

UNIFYING TOPIC:

Moses and the Burning Bush

LESSON TEXT

I. God Approaches Moses

(Exodus 3:1–6)

II. God Enlightens Moses

(Exodus 3:7–9)

III. God Sends Moses

(Exodus 3:10–12)

THE MAIN THOUGHT

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:9–10, KJV)

UNIFYING PRINCIPLE

People get accustomed to living with the injustices that prevail in society. What does it take to address injustice? God called Moses to address injustice and empowered him to act with the knowledge of God’s identity, purpose, and presence.

LESSON AIM

To examine the details of how Moses was called and the self-revealed nature of God, who called him.

LIFE AIM

To empathize with God’s awareness of injustice and God’s desire to correct it.

BEFORE YOU TEACH

Consider . . .

Focus for College and Career—Young adults may greatly desire to experience a call from God to some great work and may be tempted to confuse their deep desire with that call.

Focus for Adult Christian Life—Older adults may have thought they heard God calling but turned away instead of turning toward the call. They may be embarrassed or ashamed that they failed to respond more positively.

Supplementary Study Materials

For further reference, see today’s lesson from Boyd’s Commentary, New National Baptist Hymnal, 21st Century Edition, #490 (NNBH #499), and God’s Promises Bible.

Teacher Helps

For teaching supplements visit http://www.rhboydpublishing.com.

First Step: Discuss how people felt about being asked to do something for which they had no preparation.

Second Step: Ask class members to share times when their life routines had been significantly disrupted and how they felt. Which of those emotions might have Moses also felt when God appeared to him?

Third Step: Have class members read Exodus 2:23–25 and Exodus 3:7–9 aloud. Ask the class to wrestle with the question of why God sometimes waits to address injustice.

Fourth Step: For College and Career: Ask students to name injustices they are aware of in the world and discuss what can and cannot be done about those injustices. For Adult Christian Life: Brainstorm examples of appropriate and inappropriate ways to confront injustice in our world. How can believers confront injustice in ways that honor what they know of God’s character?

Fifth Step: Close with a prayer that God will show us all how to do a better job of completing the work that is before us.

God’s Word in Life

We serve a God who is righteous and loves justice. As His people, we are called to pursue righteousness and justice. The way we respond to injustice shows how committed we are to what God’s loves. Individually, it is nearly impossible to eradicate the evils of poverty, racism, xenophobia, and more. However, when the people of God come together, they have power and influence to confront evil political systems.

On April 4, 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered a speech against the Vietnam War at the historic Riverside Church in New York, New York. African-American soldiers were dying at higher rates than soldiers of any other racial or ethnic group. While they fought an unjust war on behalf of their country, their families still experienced racial injustice and discrimination on American soil. The American church— black and white Christians included— did not confront these evils. To this lack of action, Dr. King observed, Sometimes silence is betrayal. †

— EXPOSITION —

Introduction

In the Bridgeway Bible Commentary, Donald Fleming says of Moses, For eighty years [God] had silently guided his life (http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bbc/exodus-3.html). As an infant, he had been rescued from death by a daughter of Pharaoh, raised in the royal household, and was given charge over the very people from whom he was born. After having murdered an Egyptian taskmaster in a fit of rage over the excessive cruelty he saw, Moses fled. He eventually settled in Midian, where he found a career as a shepherd, a family, and a wife, but he probably felt the tug of what he had left behind in Egypt. Every facet of his life—birth, upbringing, sense of justice, and occupation—was to form his character and call from God. It must have seemed to Moses that his life had been one crisis after another, yet God was always there, shaping and preparing him for the moment that had now arrived.

I. God Approaches Moses (Exodus 3:1–6)

The story of God’s call of Moses begins like most stories where God steps in and dramatically changes someone’s life. Moses was just going about his business, tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. There is no indication that Moses had any idea what was about to happen. Suddenly, God appeared on the scene, making a fiery entrance.

The area around Mt. Horeb (or Mt. Sinai, as it would become known) is covered with acacia shrubbery, which is described simply as bush in our text today. They are somewhat similar to American mesquite, tending to be without foliage and very dry for much of the year. A fire starting in an acacia shrub could quickly ignite a large brush fire and kill sheep and every living thing as it raged. So, when Moses spotted a bush that appeared to be on fire, he would have tried to put it out, or at least contain it, in order to protect his herds. This bush, however, was not burning like a normal acacia shrub on fire. The blaze was fierce, but the bush was not being consumed by the fire. God had gotten Moses’ attention. Exodus 3:2 says that an angel appeared to Moses in the midst of the flames. Do not be misled by the common image of angels as being charming creatures with wings and harps. This was an angel of fire, radiant in glory and awesome in power. Moses must have wondered how a bush could have caught on fire in the middle of nowhere. He now had his answer. Having drawn Moses to the bush, the angel stepped aside and God called to Moses.

The writers of the Commentary Critical and Explanatory note that Moses saw a fire, but no human agent to kindle it; he heard a voice, but no human lips from which it came; he saw no living Being, but One was in the bush, in the heat of the flames, who knew him and addressed him by name (https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/exodus-3.html). There are only two possibilities for such a sight. Either Moses had gone crazy or God was there and he knew Moses by name.

For more information about MT. HOREB, visit www.rhboydpublishing.com.

Because He knew Moses must be terribly confused, God did not delay in explaining the amazing sight to Moses. First, He told Moses to remove his sandals, which was the usual practice when a person entered a place of worship. What had simply been a spot in the desert was now holy ground because God was present. God told Moses exactly who He was: the God worshiped by his father; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God of Israel. Moses, in terror that he would die, hid his face from the glory of God.

The stage was set. God had appeared to Moses, called him by name, and revealed to Moses Who was speaking to him. At this point, God began to enlighten Moses about why it was all happening.

II. God Enlightens Moses (Exodus 3:7–9)

God told Moses that God had been watching over Israel the whole time, had heard every cry as the Egyptian oppressors whipped the people of Israel, knew everything they had suffered, and had now come to put things right. What a comfort it is to know that God is not distant, uncaring, or indifferent to the trials of life!

CALLED

(Hebrew: qara’)

To call, to summon, or to invite. The call of God always is an invitation to join Him in accomplishing His will, thereby becoming His chosen instrument.

For many years, the people of Israel had groaned under the lash in the land of Egypt, making bricks. Moses, living as an Egyptian, had personally watched in horror and finally acted in anger at the sight of the cruelty inflicted on the people. Where had God been while all this was happening? He had been watching, making note of every lash, listening to every cry of anguish. We don’t know why God waited so long. But we know from this story that God sees and has a purpose to end all that His people endure.

The time had arrived for the people to be delivered from the injustices that they had suffered for so many years. God had come down to speak with Moses as part of God’s plan to bring the people out from bondage in Egypt and lead them to the land that had been promised to their ancestor, Abraham. The Enduring Word Commentary states, "God did not just then decide to give Israel the land of Canaan. It was the land that He promised to the patriarchs some 400 years previous to this" (David Guzik. https://enduringword.com/commentary/exodus-3/). That