bekahcubed

Five weeks ago, my Sunday school class turned a corner.

We finished the Old Testament and began the New Testament.

Last week, we reached another bend in the road. With the book of Acts, we entered the era of the church.

And my job as a Sunday School teacher got a lot harder.

I have a dozen students, give or take. Some have made professions of faith, others have not. Some are likely regenerate, others may not be.

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Teaching the Old Testament is easy.

Almost every line tells of our desperate need for salvation and our absolute inability to effect salvation of ourselves. Every line points forward, from where many of my students likely are (unregenerate) to Christ’s work.

Teaching the New Testament is hard.

The epistles are especially hard, since they’re written to believers. Most of the epistles answer the questions “What just happened?” and “Now what?”

Good questions, necessary questions, but ones I have a hard time teaching to little unbelievers.

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The epistles can quickly become either a set of doctrines to memorize or a set of rules to follow–unless one has already been gripped by the reality of the gospel.

Which is why I must be wary.

I cannot follow the popular Sunday School treatment of the New Testament–in which the armor of God becomes something one works hard to put on and the fruit of the Spirit become something one works hard to produce.

Instead I must point my students backwards, ever backwards.

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The author of Hebrews speaks of leaving the elementary doctrines of Christ, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God (Heb 6:1)–but I cannot do this.

I am laying a foundation. My students are not yet mature. To teach them mature doctrine would be fatal–for without the foundation of repentance from dead works, I set my students up to become self-righteous dead men.

“It is easier to save us from our sins than from our righteousness.”
~C.H. Spurgeon, quoted by Tim Challies

If my students are allowed to think that they are good, that they know much, that they are wise and holy and right, I have failed as a Sunday School teacher.

Because good, holy, wise, and knowledgeable students see no need for Christ. Which means that good, holy, wise, and knowledgeable students will die in their sins.

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“I am indeed a sinner in this life of mine and in my own righteousness, but I have another life, another righteousness above this life, which is in Christ, the Son of God, who knows no sin or death, but is eternal righteousness and eternal life.

For if the truth of being justified by Christ alone (not by our works) is lost, then all Christian truths are lost.”

~Martin Luther, quoted by Vitamin Z

This is what I strive to teach my students, even as we move from the simpler to the more complex portions of Scripture. I must forever point them backwards to the futility of their works and the absolute sufficiency of Christ for salvation. Any other teaching, at this point, would be presenting a false gospel.

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Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

I know many people who are terrified of bees and who will freak out if one comes closely. They fear that the bee will sting them.

I know only a very few people for whom a bee sting will be anything more than a minor inconvenience. The majority of individuals will experience a little pain that will quickly be dealt with.

Contrary to popular belief, bees rarely sting without provocation. I have, in fact, spent hours within a few yards of some of the buzzing insects without being stung.

Bees don’t gain nourishment from stinging people, like mosquitoes do from biting people. In fact, stinging a person often deals a death blow to a bee.

It goes like this: The bee’s stinger is barbed along the end. When a bee stings, its stinger becomes lodged in the skin of the person being stung. Depending on whose skin is thicker, either the bee will manage to pull its stinger out by breaking the individual’s skin or the bee will withdraw, leaving its stinger and part of its abdomen within the person’s skin. The savvy stingee will then scrape the stinger free and apply something basic to his skin to alleviate the pain and swelling–while the bee will live only a few minutes longer before succumbing to the inevitable results of being torn in half.

The bee has managed to create minor irritation for the person he has stung–but the person has effected the bee’s death.

“The minister told the story of of two sisters, one of whom was stung by a bee, and the other fled away, crying ‘Oh, I’m afraid it will sting me, too!’ but the first sister called, ‘You needn’t be afraid, Mary, it has left its sting in my cheek! It can’t sting you any more!’ And Murray Van Rensselaer learned that his sin had left its sting in Jesus Christ, and could hurt him no more.”
~Grace Livingston Hill’s A New Name

I wonder if the bee feels a bit of triumph in that stinging moment. Does he recognize and rejoice in the pain he is causing? Does he realize that he has killed himself?

I know that the enemy of our souls buzzes like a bee. Like a bee, he flew about Christ’s head, seeking to provoke him to sin during the time of testing in the wilderness. Later, being provoked by Christ, he sought out an opportunity to sting. Time after time, his tricks were evaded by the wily Christ whose time had not yet come.

And finally, the day arrived when the enemy was set to sting. The chief priests and elders were ready. A disciple had agreed to betray his leader. A mob was prepared to demand Jesus’ death.

The bee inserted his stinger, injected the poison.

With a thrill of relief, he declared that he had fulfilled his objective. The Son of God was dead, crucified, defeated!

The bee pulled away from the crucified Lord, ready to return to his hive. The searing sensation in his abdomen told him something wasn’t right. He’d left something behind.

He returned to his hive, not for a victory celebration, but to await his death. For in stinging Christ, the bee had been defeated.

“Then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

~I Corinthians 15:54-57 (ESV)

For those who trust in Christ, the stinger is left in Christ. Death no longer has any sting. Christ has borne the sting and death himself will die.

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Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.