Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 12, Number 9, DeMotte, Jasper County, 8 January 1942 — IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL Lesson [ARTICLE]

IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL Lesson

By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST, D. D. Of The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.)

Lesson for January 11 Lesson subjects and Scripture texts selected and copyrighted by International Council of Religious Education; used by permission. THE INFANCY AND BOYHOOD OF JESUS LESSON TEXT—Luke 2:25-3s, 39. 40. GOLDEN TEXT — Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.—Luke 2:52. •’Nobody knows what a boy is worth. And the world must wait to see: For every man in an honored place Is a boy that used to be.” Jesus was “only a boy’’ as He grew through infancy and childhood, but in that baby and that boy rested all the hopes of mankind. While He was not just like any other boy, yet His growth and development were normal, and we may learn much that will enable us to help the boy in our home, in our block, or in our church. The mother vs Jesus, in fulfillment of the law of her people, on the eighth day identified Him with the nation (Luke 2:21), and then at the end of 40 days brought Him, with her humble sacrifice, to present ... Him to the Lord. There a beautiful and prophetic scene took place as the Holy Spirit revealed to godly old Simeon His I. Complete Salvation—in a Baby (vv. 25-35). The Holy Spirit (not yet come as the indwelling presence in believers’ hearts) had come upon Simeon, a man right with God and w'ith a deep longing in his heart for the coming of the Messiah—“the consolation of Israel.’’ He was assured of living until that day, and now as he waited in the temple the babe who fulfilled that promise was laid in his arms. He blessed God as he broke forth in ' praise and prophetic utterance. Note the full conception of the work of the Redeemer—deliverance from bondage and fear, of death, light to the Gentiles and glory to Israel, a stone of stumbling but also of rising again. A revealer of the hearts of men—yes, and One whose sacrificial death would pierce the heart of His mother. One is glad that Simeon and Anna (v. 36) and “them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem” saw in Mary’s infant son the Son of God incarnate, for round about was unbelief (John 1:11), hatred (Matt. 2:16), and indifference (Matt. 2:4, «>• Is it not so today? Christmas has just been celebrated. How many saw the babe in the manger as Jesus the Saviour? The scene changes—the little family is back in Nazareth in the humble home—and there we see 11. Perfect Development in a Boy (vv. 39, 40). The period from infancy to accountability (12 years) is summed up in the full-orbed growth of the boy Jesus described in verse 40. The one business of every child from birth to 12, or somewhere around there, until the period of adolescence, is to grow without any sense of responsibility except obedience to authority; and obedience in the case of a child is always in order to give the child perfect freedom from everything else, without any sense of responsibility. That is the story of Jesus: He grew!’’ (G. Campbell Morgan). Growth is, first of all, physical. Jesus stands by the side of every boy and girl as the body grows from babyhood to maturity, sor 5 He too that experience. We may talk to Him as an understanding friend about the physical needs and problems of our children. Let us remember that here, as elsewhere in Scripture, the physical body is recognized as important. Mentally, He experienced growth. The strange, apocryphal talcs about the child Jesus, representing Him as a man of mature wisdom in a child’s body, do not compare even remotely with the beautiful naturalness of a keen-minded boy asking questions, observing, always learning. Boys and girls, you may talk with confidence to Him about your lessons, your growing interest in this exciting world of ours, of your need for guidance in learning. Be sure that He will understand. The crowning touch upon the growing personality of the child is the spiritual. We jread of Jesus that “the grace of God was upon him.’’' “Grace,” says Dr. Morgan, “is first, that which delights and charms. Grace, secondly, is desire to impart to others the things that make them happy. Grace, finally, is the activity that does this at all costs.” A gracious child is an altogether delightful being; and when that graciousness is the result of the “grace of God’’ upon him, it is surpassingly lovely, for it makes him Christlike, even in the days of childhood. Great and grave has been the neglect of the spiritual life of children for whom much has been done physically and mentally. Christian parents must not make that mistake —and they need not, for the Lord Jesus here too stands ready to counsel, guide, encourage, and strengthen them in every good purpose and deed.