Know: Review the ways in which living in and through Christ instructs the ways in which we relate to others.
Feel: Sense the dangers that spiritual pride carries, especially for Christians who believe themselves safe from temptation.
Do: Love our neighbors as we care for ourselves, thus fulfilling the law of Christ.
Learning Outline:
Know: Doing Good
How should Christians relate to their brothers and sisters who have stumbled?
Why is it especially important to treat others who are burdened as we would like to be treated?
Feel: Spiritual Pride
Why is spiritual pride such a danger to Christians?
How can we guard against an indifferent, cold, critical spirit?
Why is a thoughtful self-examination and evaluation important?
What biblical examples illustrate the perils of thinking too much of our own abilities?
Do: The Law of Christ
How does loving our neighbor fulfill the law of Christ?
Where do our greatest challenges arise in bearing one another’s burdens?
What family members do we need to serve in this way?
What gender, racial, tribal, or class prejudices do we carry that need to be eradicated?
Summary: When the law of Christ is fulfilled in our lives, we will care for those who have fallen and who are burdened. We will recognize our own weaknesses and humbly submit to every evidence of truth, lest we become spiritually proud and blind.
Learning Cycle
STEP 1—Motivate
Key Concept for Spiritual Growth: God has commissioned the church as His transforming agent upon the earth.
The omnipotent Savior might have bypassed humanity when reaching the lost world. What could sinful, weakened, vacillating humans contribute to this noble enterprise? Dispatch the sinless angelic host, mobilize the faithful creatures from other galaxies, or utilize divine remote controls: the omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the universe had these and thousands of additional options at His disposal. Nevertheless, He included the fellowship of redeemed individuals, the church, as His distributing agency.
Care should be exercised in expressing this truth. The church has the privilege and opportunity of sharing and modeling the gospel before fallen humanity. This sacred responsibility, however, is not proprietary. Humans do not possess franchise authority, and they cannot deny access to God. The Holy Spirit is God’s primary disseminator of grace with the church, assuming the role of cooperating agency. Rather than denying access to God, the church’s work is to expand access. What glorious opportunities! The church works hand in hand with God to evangelize and nurture fallen human beings. Miraculous transformation and reformation occur constantly within this divinely originated and ordained fellowship. Changed lives, restored relationships, guilt-free consciences, and spiritual support form only a portion of the benefits enjoyed through association with God’s church.
Opening Activity: Every new day brings renewed hope. Fresh opportunities, coupled with release from the previous day’s missteps and mistakes, can make each day a much-anticipated and celebrated event. Share print media articles, newscast downloads, and/or other information about new beginnings from current sources. Discuss why the prospect of something new generates widespread interest and high expectations. Compare the church’s role in pointing us to the Lord, who provides release from prior mistakes and a chance to start afresh, forgiven and cleansed.
STEP 2—Explore
Just for Teachers: Scripture proclaims release for captives, release from condemnation, and freedom from dominating propensities. This remains heaven’s highest work. Jesus sacrificed everything at Calvary and then commissioned His representatives (the church), energized through His abiding Spirit, to enlighten a darkened planet with spiritual expectation. That expectation includes forgiveness for every transgression, deliverance from every imaginable temptation, and an increasing intimacy with God through which our lives are continuously transformed and renewed. Believers find meaning through assisting newer believers with encouragement, stimulating the confidence that matures only whenever obstacles have been encountered and overcome successfully.
Bible Commentary
I. Restoring the Fallen (Review Galatians 6:1 and Matthew 18:15–17 with the class.)
The church’s constant objective is restoration, not condemnation. Many understand the terminology of church discipline punitively. Well-intentioned members, zealous to protect the church’s reputation, declare that the erring must be separated in order to avoid contamination. This is a very dangerous approach. The religious leadership of Christ’s time was anxious about condemning the adulterous woman in John 8; but were they themselves sinless? Had they no need for forgiveness? Was there no divine condemnation for their hypocrisy? Perhaps the notion of protecting the church’s reputation needs reexamination. Compare the work of a hospital. Hospitals exist for the purpose of physical healing and restoration. Does every patient leave the hospital alive? Obviously not. Does the presence of occasional casualties nullify the hospital’s mission and purpose? Would your community declare that the local hospital should close because it lost a patient? Should hospitals limit their services to those with common colds and other easily curable diseases in order to enhance their track records and bolster their reputations, turning away trauma patients, cancer victims, and other difficult cases? Rather than dismissing difficult cases, physicians aggressively tackle them, researching new methodologies and techniques to effect healing. Disease is meticulously studied, new therapies are developed, and yesterday’s death-sentence diseases become today’s miraculous breakthroughs.
Perhaps those who work with spiritual illness should adopt a similar attitude. Thus, discipline would become redemptive rather than punitive, and the church’s reputation would rest upon the compassionate and aggressively creative way that believers fight the sin disease. Christians should forcefully battle sin, not sinners. Obviously, some will be lost. But should churches start limiting their ministry to good citizen types in order to bolster their success rate, their action would prove that they have forgotten their purpose. Discipline, in Paul’s usage, refers to training in righteousness. It is a series of actions or behaviors whose objective is forming a more intimate relationship with God. Far from being punitive, Paul’s discipline is restorative and positive. Like fine-tuned triage units, churches become centers for cooperation and accountability in achieving a common goal: the healing of sin-scarred hearts through the life-giving love of God.
Consider This: What should characterize the attitude of those who take up the work of visiting backsliders? How did Jesus approach the fallen? How can Christians safeguard themselves against the temptations from which they would rescue the fallen? What does sharing one another’s burdens mean?
II. Sowing and Reaping (Review Galatians 6:6–10 with the class.)
In the context of bearing one’s burdens or responsibilities, Paul urged the responsibility of supporting the teachers who proclaimed sound doctrine. Using proverbial language familiar to his readers, he urged them to make sound investments because those who expected a bountiful harvest must plant abundantly. While the immediate context regards the material support of teachers, the text enjoys an even wider spiritual application. Spiritual attainments are proportionate with spiritual investments. Those who desire greater spiritual strength must engage in spiritual exercise and avoid spiritual fast food. Little investment equals little advancement. Spiritual profitability arises from investing time with spiritual things.
Consider This: Whenever believers’ lives are dominated by secular media— television, radio, Internet, and so on—how can they expect significant spiritual progress? What should dominate the Christian’s time should he/she desire intimate fellowship with God? How can Christians invest themselves spiritually in others, especially those who are not yet believers?
STEP 3—Apply
Just for Teachers: Those concerned about their financial future understand the value of investment planning and are willing to expend significant financial resources in order to maximize the return on their investments. Sadly, churches often proceed haphazardly about business that far exceeds finances in importance. Christ’s sacrifice was infinitely more valuable than the world’s pooled monetary worth; yet, believers randomly, rather than intentionally, approach the work of investing in the lives of nonbelievers. Through the eyes of the following exercise, seek to cultivate intentionality about spiritual investments that reach the spiritually drifting souls in your community.
Activity: Create a deck of cards from plain 3 x 5 cards (minimum: 10). On each card, list a phrase that expresses one means by which the church can transform society. Focus on methods that your church has employed or those offering the most potential for your community. Have members pick cards at random. They should read the card and express the concept in their own words. Have them evaluate the effectiveness of the concept in terms of the church’s work of spiritual transformation using a numerical scale from 0 through 10 (10 being optimal and 0 representing total ineffectiveness). Members should justify their evaluations by offering their reasoning to the entire class, who, in turn, should offer their observations.
Gather the salient points and develop a profile of those characteristics that best prepare the church for its role of spiritual transformation. The list should not be limited to the following assortment of activities and approaches. Use whatever is appropriate and omit the rest. List: (1) distributing literature, (2) children’s summer camps, (3) parent-sitting the elderly, (4) inviting neighbors to evangelistic meetings, (5) visiting the imprisoned, (6) visiting the homebound, (7) coaching children’s baseball, (8) street-corner preaching, (9) door-to-door evangelism, (10) offering health classes, (11) acquiring clothing and basic necessities for the destitute and disadvantaged, (12) forgiving a fellow member for unkind words spoken, (13) mending a child’s pants, (14) taking single-parent children picnicking, (15) sharing with neighbors about Sabbath keeping.
STEP 4—Create
Just for Teachers: While planning and committees are valuable tools, the church never transformed a life in a committee meeting (never say never, but you understand the point). Merely talking about the gospel’s transforming power (as in a Sabbath School discussion) does little to fulfill the gospel commission. Challenge your class to get outside the walls and into the streets, making a difference in those ways in which God has uniquely equipped your class.
Activity: Develop an approach to some community need during the final phase of your Sabbath School that the class commits to carry out. Set actual dates, times, and deadlines for accomplishing various phases of your endeavor.
Adjust My Preferences
Welcome! Please set your reading preferences below.
You can access this panel later by clicking the
preference icon
in the top right of the page.
Key Text: Galatians 6:10
The Student Will
Learning Outline:
Summary: When the law of Christ is fulfilled in our lives, we will care for those who have fallen and who are burdened. We will recognize our own weaknesses and humbly submit to every evidence of truth, lest we become spiritually proud and blind.
Learning Cycle
STEP 1—Motivate
Key Concept for Spiritual Growth: God has commissioned the church as His transforming agent upon the earth.
The omnipotent Savior might have bypassed humanity when reaching the lost world. What could sinful, weakened, vacillating humans contribute to this noble enterprise? Dispatch the sinless angelic host, mobilize the faithful creatures from other galaxies, or utilize divine remote controls: the omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the universe had these and thousands of additional options at His disposal. Nevertheless, He included the fellowship of redeemed individuals, the church, as His distributing agency.
Care should be exercised in expressing this truth. The church has the privilege and opportunity of sharing and modeling the gospel before fallen humanity. This sacred responsibility, however, is not proprietary. Humans do not possess franchise authority, and they cannot deny access to God. The Holy Spirit is God’s primary disseminator of grace with the church, assuming the role of cooperating agency. Rather than denying access to God, the church’s work is to expand access. What glorious opportunities! The church works hand in hand with God to evangelize and nurture fallen human beings. Miraculous transformation and reformation occur constantly within this divinely originated and ordained fellowship. Changed lives, restored relationships, guilt-free consciences, and spiritual support form only a portion of the benefits enjoyed through association with God’s church.
Opening Activity: Every new day brings renewed hope. Fresh opportunities, coupled with release from the previous day’s missteps and mistakes, can make each day a much-anticipated and celebrated event. Share print media articles, newscast downloads, and/or other information about new beginnings from current sources. Discuss why the prospect of something new generates widespread interest and high expectations. Compare the church’s role in pointing us to the Lord, who provides release from prior mistakes and a chance to start afresh, forgiven and cleansed.
STEP 2—Explore
Just for Teachers: Scripture proclaims release for captives, release from condemnation, and freedom from dominating propensities. This remains heaven’s highest work. Jesus sacrificed everything at Calvary and then commissioned His representatives (the church), energized through His abiding Spirit, to enlighten a darkened planet with spiritual expectation. That expectation includes forgiveness for every transgression, deliverance from every imaginable temptation, and an increasing intimacy with God through which our lives are continuously transformed and renewed. Believers find meaning through assisting newer believers with encouragement, stimulating the confidence that matures only whenever obstacles have been encountered and overcome successfully.
Bible Commentary
I. Restoring the Fallen (Review Galatians 6:1 and Matthew 18:15–17 with the class.)
The church’s constant objective is restoration, not condemnation. Many understand the terminology of church discipline punitively. Well-intentioned members, zealous to protect the church’s reputation, declare that the erring must be separated in order to avoid contamination. This is a very dangerous approach. The religious leadership of Christ’s time was anxious about condemning the adulterous woman in John 8; but were they themselves sinless? Had they no need for forgiveness? Was there no divine condemnation for their hypocrisy? Perhaps the notion of protecting the church’s reputation needs reexamination. Compare the work of a hospital. Hospitals exist for the purpose of physical healing and restoration. Does every patient leave the hospital alive? Obviously not. Does the presence of occasional casualties nullify the hospital’s mission and purpose? Would your community declare that the local hospital should close because it lost a patient? Should hospitals limit their services to those with common colds and other easily curable diseases in order to enhance their track records and bolster their reputations, turning away trauma patients, cancer victims, and other difficult cases? Rather than dismissing difficult cases, physicians aggressively tackle them, researching new methodologies and techniques to effect healing. Disease is meticulously studied, new therapies are developed, and yesterday’s death-sentence diseases become today’s miraculous breakthroughs.
Perhaps those who work with spiritual illness should adopt a similar attitude. Thus, discipline would become redemptive rather than punitive, and the church’s reputation would rest upon the compassionate and aggressively creative way that believers fight the sin disease. Christians should forcefully battle sin, not sinners. Obviously, some will be lost. But should churches start limiting their ministry to good citizen types in order to bolster their success rate, their action would prove that they have forgotten their purpose. Discipline, in Paul’s usage, refers to training in righteousness. It is a series of actions or behaviors whose objective is forming a more intimate relationship with God. Far from being punitive, Paul’s discipline is restorative and positive. Like fine-tuned triage units, churches become centers for cooperation and accountability in achieving a common goal: the healing of sin-scarred hearts through the life-giving love of God.
Consider This: What should characterize the attitude of those who take up the work of visiting backsliders? How did Jesus approach the fallen? How can Christians safeguard themselves against the temptations from which they would rescue the fallen? What does sharing one another’s burdens mean?
II. Sowing and Reaping (Review Galatians 6:6–10 with the class.)
In the context of bearing one’s burdens or responsibilities, Paul urged the responsibility of supporting the teachers who proclaimed sound doctrine. Using proverbial language familiar to his readers, he urged them to make sound investments because those who expected a bountiful harvest must plant abundantly. While the immediate context regards the material support of teachers, the text enjoys an even wider spiritual application. Spiritual attainments are proportionate with spiritual investments. Those who desire greater spiritual strength must engage in spiritual exercise and avoid spiritual fast food. Little investment equals little advancement. Spiritual profitability arises from investing time with spiritual things.
Consider This: Whenever believers’ lives are dominated by secular media— television, radio, Internet, and so on—how can they expect significant spiritual progress? What should dominate the Christian’s time should he/she desire intimate fellowship with God? How can Christians invest themselves spiritually in others, especially those who are not yet believers?
STEP 3—Apply
Just for Teachers: Those concerned about their financial future understand the value of investment planning and are willing to expend significant financial resources in order to maximize the return on their investments. Sadly, churches often proceed haphazardly about business that far exceeds finances in importance. Christ’s sacrifice was infinitely more valuable than the world’s pooled monetary worth; yet, believers randomly, rather than intentionally, approach the work of investing in the lives of nonbelievers. Through the eyes of the following exercise, seek to cultivate intentionality about spiritual investments that reach the spiritually drifting souls in your community.
Activity: Create a deck of cards from plain 3 x 5 cards (minimum: 10). On each card, list a phrase that expresses one means by which the church can transform society. Focus on methods that your church has employed or those offering the most potential for your community. Have members pick cards at random. They should read the card and express the concept in their own words. Have them evaluate the effectiveness of the concept in terms of the church’s work of spiritual transformation using a numerical scale from 0 through 10 (10 being optimal and 0 representing total ineffectiveness). Members should justify their evaluations by offering their reasoning to the entire class, who, in turn, should offer their observations.
Gather the salient points and develop a profile of those characteristics that best prepare the church for its role of spiritual transformation. The list should not be limited to the following assortment of activities and approaches. Use whatever is appropriate and omit the rest. List: (1) distributing literature, (2) children’s summer camps, (3) parent-sitting the elderly, (4) inviting neighbors to evangelistic meetings, (5) visiting the imprisoned, (6) visiting the homebound, (7) coaching children’s baseball, (8) street-corner preaching, (9) door-to-door evangelism, (10) offering health classes, (11) acquiring clothing and basic necessities for the destitute and disadvantaged, (12) forgiving a fellow member for unkind words spoken, (13) mending a child’s pants, (14) taking single-parent children picnicking, (15) sharing with neighbors about Sabbath keeping.
STEP 4—Create
Just for Teachers: While planning and committees are valuable tools, the church never transformed a life in a committee meeting (never say never, but you understand the point). Merely talking about the gospel’s transforming power (as in a Sabbath School discussion) does little to fulfill the gospel commission. Challenge your class to get outside the walls and into the streets, making a difference in those ways in which God has uniquely equipped your class.
Activity: Develop an approach to some community need during the final phase of your Sabbath School that the class commits to carry out. Set actual dates, times, and deadlines for accomplishing various phases of your endeavor.