Sunday School Lesson on Justice Topic Discussion

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Sunday School Lesson on Justice Topic Discussion

1.Though Christians claim to believe thetruth, what are some ways in which it mayappear that we do not have the truth? How canwe do better?

A danger of those who claim to be loyal followers of the New Testament is to be very strongin orthodoxy (right teaching or doctrine) whilebeing weak in arthopraxy (right practice). Churchleaders who preach one thing but do the oppositecan find themselves in public scandal. There is aword for this: hypocrisy.

Jesus reserved some of His strongest criticismfor those who neglected right practice (Matthew23:23). Faith is dead if it is not put to work(James 1:22; 2:17). Notice that the third LearningGoal for each of these lessons focuses on applica-tion. That could be a good place to begin tomatch doctrine and practice!

2.What are some ways that you rejected thehealing that God desired to provide? Hose didyou turn this around?

God sent prophets to Israel to warn them andlead them to repentance, and He also raises uppreachers and teachers in the church today tochallenge us. But as Israel ended up attacking themessenger, we can do the same. Some preachersfeel pressure to avoid preaching on certain sinsbecause people may be offended. If those mes-sages are suppressed, that can end up being a re-jection of the healing that God wants to provide.Similarly, we can be guilty of surroundingourselves with teachers who say what we preferto hear instead of what we need to hear (compare2 Timothy 4:3, 4). Self-delusion can be difficultto break down! The solution begins with broken-ness before God.

3. What factors can cause us to think we canhide our sins from God? How do you avoid thistrap?

Though we intellectually know from our studyof Scripture that God is everywhere and that Heknows all things, we can still fool ourselves intobelieving that God will not care about our sin.One way we do this is simply to deny that whatwe have done is sin. We have ways of rationaliz-ing sins to the point where we feel we have not

sinned. We convince ourselves of this, andthereby think we've convinced God.

Sometimes we hide behind the feeling that wehave not committed a "major" sin. As long as oursin is not as bad as someone else's, we are OK.We can also try to hide our sins by making our-selves the victims, blansing others for "driving usto it" instead of taking responsibility for our ownactions. Discussing our situation with a spiritu-ally mature Christian can be the first step towardcorrection.

4.In what areas do you need to repent? Howdid you receive God's blessings at a time yourepented?

Failure to make God first in our lives and inour churches calls for repentance; anything lessis idolatry. For some, buildings, budgets, andplans have become more important than makingdisciples and practicing spiritual disciplines.God has been known to withdraw His bless-ings because of "sin in the camp" (see Joshua 7).To truly repent and thereby receive the blessingsof God may me., in severe cases, that churchleaders stand before the congregation and confessthat they have not led the church in maintainingthe proper priorities. It may mean going to thosewho are not like us in skin color or economicclass and confess that we have judged them im-properly (James 2:1-4). This list can be long!

5.What are sonic ways that God has provid-ed for you? for your church?

God is able to bless as abundantly beyondwhat we can ever ask or imagine (Ephesians3:20). He has sustained His people, His church,through 2,000 years.

There have been congregations seemingly onthe verge of extinction, but God, by His grace,has pulled them through. As God led Israelthrough the wilderness wandering, so He leadsus through our difficult times. God has led us outof our "Egypt"—out of our bondage to sin—andis faithfully leading us to the promised land ofHeaven. God has even provided for us in Hispromise that this tabernacle in which we live,this tent, this body of flesh, will one day be re-deemed and we will receive a new body.

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