The Jerusalem Council - Sunday May 9, 2021
Sunday May 9, 2021 (Vol 11, Unit 33, Session 1)
Hi there, and thanks for joining us this week. The following blog is here to be a tool for you to review the previous Sunday’s Children’s church lesson and help your kids grow in their faith. Please feel free to use as much of it as you choose. You know your kids and are the best possible teacher for them. God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do more than you think possible (Eph 3:20). So, let’s have some fun and teach our kids from the scriptures.
Parent Devotional – The Jerusalem Council
Acts 15
The church in Antioch praised God for His grace to Paul on his first missionary journey. Though Paul and Barnabas were strongly opposed in some places, many people heard the Gospel and believed. Paul and Barnabas took the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. But a problem arose when some Christians began saying that the new followers of Jesus—the Gentile believers—needed to obey the Law of Moses, in order to be right with God.
Paul and Barnabas debated this issue with other church leaders in Jerusalem. They met together to answer a tough question: Can a person be saved by faith alone or was something more needed? When Paul addressed the council, he insisted that God saves Gentiles the same way He saves Jews: through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
Paul testified to the things God had done among the Gentiles. God had given Gentiles the Holy Spirit. James cited the prophets Amos and Isaiah in support. The group agreed that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, He alone is all we need to be saved. They also agreed that they should not make salvation more difficult for Gentiles by adding unnecessary rules.
The church chose two men—Judas and Silas—to go with Paul and Barnabas to the church at Antioch. They wrote a letter for the Gentile believers there, encouraging them and giving them instructions for living as followers of Christ.
The message for the Gentile believers was important: Whether Jew or Gentile, salvation comes only through faith in Christ. No one is saved by the law but by grace alone. Emphasize to the kids you teach that, while the Bible does give us plenty of instruction for how to live, sinners are made right with God only by the grace of Jesus. Salvation is a gift. To receive this gift, Jesus is all we need.
Parent Guidance and Instructions
As we begin to explore this week’s lesson, take a moment to pray and remember the verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:9 says: “You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Maybe you do not have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or perhaps your children are too young to sit for that long. Consider the key points of the lesson and ask God to give you opportunities to speak them into the hearts of your children throughout the week. Let the Bible become a part of your day-to-day. Be blessed this week, my friends!
Each week we include songs, activity pages, the bible lesson video, memory verses, and possibly a craft or 2. We pray this will help you find ways to engage your kids spiritually. It is written in script form from the K-2nd grade lesson, so you can read directly from it or change it to suit your children. Take some time to look at and print the activity pages and the additional activities and information (found in the links at the bottom of the page) to review the lesson so you can adjust as needed. I have included the Bible and Discussion questions along with a breakdown of the Gospel in the Older Kids Activities pages and loads of activities and crafts on the Preschool Extra Activity Pages. Once you are ready, go ahead and start with these songs if you would like, or pick some of your favorite worship songs and then jump right in! Have fun! And remember, this does not need to be done in one sitting! Feel free to break it up over the week. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. We would love to hear from you!
Opening
“Blessings and Bummers”
Let’s get started. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives this week? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest challenges?
Parents share your blessings and bummers, encourage the kids to do the same.
Prayer
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer: Father God, Thank you. Thank you for providing for our needs. You are so good to us even though we don’t deserve it! Thank you for continuing to bless us, Lord. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you to our friends as well as our families.
Most importantly, we thank you always for sending Jesus to live a perfect life and die to pay for our sins. Thank you for raising Him from the dead and promising us life with you forever if we believe in Him. Please help us be thankful for all you do for us and look to you in all that we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
(Please add to or customize prayer time to fit your family)
Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers!
Let’s chat!
Prompt kids to share about a time they received money. Did they earn it for chores, or was it a gift? What did they do with their money?
Say • You can receive money in two ways: earning it with work or being given the money as a gift. Salvation isn’t like that. There’s only one way to get it, and that’s as a gift from God through Jesus. We can’t earn salvation no matter how hard we may try. Today we will learn about the early church making sure to teach that only faith can save, not works.
Optional Session Starter Activity
Pick one of two options or do both; this is your party. (You can find these on page 2 of the optional activity pages attached at the bottom of the page.)
Big Picture Question
Before we get too into the story, let’s set up a good big picture question to guide our study. For the next few weeks, let’s ask ourselves this: What is the Bible about? It may seem hard to answer, as the Bible has lots of different stories and lots of great lessons to learn. Even so, there’s one story that goes through the whole Bible, though it’s made up of many different books. I bet some of you know what that story is, too.
Review
So what is the one story that goes through the whole Bible? If you said the story of Jesus, you’re exactly right. All of the different stories in Scripture work together, almost like pieces of a puzzle, to tell one story about God’s desire to show His glory by saving us. Over the last few weeks, we’ve talked a lot about the early church.
After Jesus returned to heaven, His followers got to work spreading the good news about His life, death, and resurrection. Many people believed, and despite the religious leaders trying to stop Christians, they kept spreading the Gospel. As the church grew, they encountered various problems, like false teachers and confusion about what Jesus taught. The church leaders sometimes had to meet to make sure everyone was on the same page and teaching the true Gospel. That’s what our story today is about. It’s called “The Jerusalem Council.”
Bible Lesson
The Old Testament laws were very important to God’s people while they waited for the Messiah. The law showed people that they needed a savior. They couldn’t obey God perfectly, and because God is perfectly holy, that meant their weak attempts at obedience would never be enough.
If you imagine sin as a broken bone, the Law was like an X-ray machine. It showed the problem, but it couldn’t actually heal the brokenness. That’s why Jesus came, lived a perfect life, and died the death we deserve. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus.
Some leaders in the early church weren’t sure about that, though. Occasionally they would tell Gentile believers that they needed to obey the whole Old Testament law to be saved. But at the Jerusalem council, they discussed things and realized that the Law could not save anyone. But that didn’t mean the Law was useless. The Law still contains many instructions that help us live for God, such as the Ten Commandments, but obedience without faith won’t save anyone.
Christ connection
We need a firm foundation for our faith. That foundation is Jesus. The church leaders met in Jerusalem to answer a tricky question: Can a person be saved by faith alone, or is something more needed? The early church agreed that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, He alone is all we need to be saved.
Bible Time!
Distribute a Bible to each kid. Help kids find Acts 15. Ask which division Acts is a part of and who wrote it. (New Testament History; Luke) Use the New Testament Israel Map to show the kids where Jerusalem is. (H4) Remind the kids that the early church started there and grew outward.
Ask the following questions. Lead the group to discuss:
· Who gathered to decide if new believers had to obey the Old Testament law fully? (the apostles and elders, Acts 15:6)
· Who explained that Gentiles received the Holy Spirit? (Peter, Acts 15:8)
· How are people saved from sin? (by grace through faith, Acts 15:9-11)
· Why can’t we be saved by obedience to the Law? Guide the kids to discuss the ways our hearts are dead in sin. We cannot obey God perfectly because our hearts lead us astray. We needed Jesus to come and obey on our behalf, die in our place, and rise again to defeat death.
· Why is it important to obey God if obedience doesn’t save us? Remind kids that obedience is a sign of our love for God. Help them see that God saves us so that we can obey, not so that we can continue to disobey. When we have faith, the Holy Spirit changes us so that we want to obey God.
· How can we learn more about God and how to obey Him? Guide the kids to discuss the Bible’s role as our perfect source of truth. Help them understand that it teaches us what is true about God and ourselves. Talk to them about ways to study Scripture and the importance of reading the Bible daily.
Say • Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus. The early church had some members who were unsure about this, so the leaders met together to discuss it. Peter, James, Paul, and Barnabas all helped everyone see that faith is all we need to be saved. After we are saved, the Holy Spirit helps us obey.
Key Memory Verse
Read the verse together.
This key passage comes from one of Peter’s first sermons. The Pharisees wanted to force believers to stop preaching about Jesus, but Peter and John refused. Peter explained that Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus.
Memory Verse Activity:
Hide the key passage poster somewhere in the room. Encourage the kids to find it by playing “Hot or cold.” As the kids approach the poster, tell them they are getting warmer. If they wander away from the poster, tell them they are getting cooler. For added fun, consider using phrases like “you’re freezing in the snow” or “you’re boiling in lava” if they get exceptionally far from or close to the poster. When the kids find the poster, read the key passage together.
Say • This key passage helps us understand the truth of the Gospel. No one can save us but Jesus Christ alone. Some people in the early church thought that God’s law was still part of salvation, but at the Jerusalem Council, they realized that salvation comes only through faith in Jesus, not through obeying the law.
That is all I have for this week. Let’s pray together:
Lord, thank You for the free gift of salvation. You give us through Your Son. Thank You that while we were held captive by sin, You rescued us. Thank You for providing everything we need to be saved. You are all we need. May we live our lives in a way that pleases You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Thanks for joining us! I hope to meet you here again next week!
Thank you, Lifeway’s Gospel Project, for allowing us to publish this material.
Additional Activities and Information
