Sunday School Lesson on Humiliation and Exaltation Topic Discussion

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Sunday School Lesson on Humiliation and Exaltation Topic Discussion

1.Paul uses four rhetorical "if-statements." todepict an attitude of unity. Which of the four doyou find most helpful personally? Why? Whatother phrases would you use to describe yourrelationship to the Lord?

Answers will be personal and wide-ranging. Ifstarting a phrase with "if' seems awkward for thelast question, use the word because. For example,"Because Christ held nothing back when Hecame to serve, we should be willing to share ourdeepest concerns for one another."

2.Wouldn't it be great if those in the churchwere always of one mind! What are some thingsthat cause dissonance within the church? Whatactions can we take to keep dissonance and dis-unity from gaining a foothold?

Many examples could be cited—differences inmusical tastes, different expectations on missionfunding, and different preferences on how staffmembers should spend their time are just three.Worship, evangelism, nurture, and benevolenceare core tasks of the church. Yet too often it is theperipheral activities are the ones that cause diffi-culties. For instance few churches seem to make itthrough a building program without hurt feelings.Secular leadership philosophy may be able tooffer the church some help by means of its theo-ries on "change management." But the examplesand teachings of Christ, Paul, Peter, etc. will un-doubtedly be of the greater help. If your churchis thinking about making a major change in somearea, an advance Bible study on how charactersof the Bible handled (or should have handled)change will be invaluable.

3. Well-intentioned counselors often equategood psychological health with certain assertivebehaviors. How does verse 3 help you respondto this kind of philosophy?

While an entire study could be devoted to thistopic, it is safe to generalize that self-assertivenesstraining often is not centered in the lifestyle thatPaul is advocating. Yet we should not go to theextreme of thinking that Paul is teaching com-plete self-deprivation.

We see in Paul the stance that a very con-trolled, spiritually mature attitude is needed in

order to relinquish an opinion that can cause di-vision. The same is needed in order to allowsomeone else to have the praise when it could beours instead.

4.The ultimate test of Jesus' humility came asHe submitted to the atrocities leading to thecross. How will you use Jesus' humility as amodel in your own life?

An amazing thing about Jesus' humility wasthat He underwent such brutality when He hadthe power to put a stop to it at any time (Mat-thew 26:53). Often we speak of someone in a cer-tain situation as being "brave" or "courageous."But if we examine that situation carefully, wemay discover that the "brave" choice the personmade was his or her only real option. This isquite different from the situation of Jesus. Hishumility best serves as an example for us whenwe have alternative paths from which to choose.The discussion can help your class under-stand the amount of control that Jesus had toshow as He yielded himself to the mockingcrowds and taunting soldiers. We can note thatthe types of humiliation and sacrifices we makepale by comparison.

5.Before Jesus' exaltation to the right hand ofthe Father, He led an earthly life of humility.What are one or two specific things you will dothis week to model that humility?

A smart aleck once said that he was trying todevelop a sense of humility that he could beproud of. Hmmm! Joking aside, we realize that alife of humility probably won't yield many re-wards in an earthly sense. We embrace thislifestyle because this is what Jesus desires (John13:1-17). We embrace this lifestyle even thoughit runs counter to the me-first mentality thatcharacterizes our world.

To fail to use a life of humility is very dis-pleasing to God. James and John got themselvesinto a bit of trouble when they talked to Jesusabout the exalted positions that they wanted (seeMark 10:35-45). Rather than spending too muchtime thinking how high we can rise, we are un-doubtedly better off meditating on and practicinga lifestyle of humble service.

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