TOPIC ABRAHAM: GENEROUS AND STRONG

SUNDAY SCHOOL JANUARY 3,2021 LESSON 1, TOPIC ABRAHAM: GENEROUS AND STRONG 

Memory Verse: Galatians 3:9 

They then which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham (KJV) 

Central Truth 

Generosity is an essential characteristic of godly living. 

The Lesson Outline 

1. Unselfish Act of Deference 

A. Prosperity and Strife 

B. Unselfish Peacemaking

2. Divine Covenant 

A. Letting Go and Keeping 

B. Blessed and worshipping 

3. Rescue and Blessing 

A. Strength in Trusting God 

B. God-Given Victory 

Teaching Goals 

1. Impart and Reinforce knowledge: Inform and remind your students of  the Biblical facts concerning Abraham’s life and character. 

2. Influence Attitudes: inspire students to cultivate the same confidence  in God that cause Abraham to be spiritually strong and courageous. 

3. Influence Behaviour: Appeal to students to pursue a relationship with  God by faith in order to cultivate godly characteristics. 

Introducing the Lesson 

Write on the marker board: Faith. Doubt. Unbelief. Then ask: (1) would you define doubt as weakness faith? (2) Would you define unbelief as  wilful rejection of what one ought to believe? (3) Would you say that  when in doubt, we will move either toward faith or unbelief? Emphasise  that Abraham moved toward faith in Gog, and became a more godly  man in process. 

Commentary and Application 

1. Unselfish Act of Deference 

A. Prosperity and strife 

Soon after Abraham (called Abram) first arrived in Canaan, a severe  famine spread over the land, and he made a temporary journey to Egypt  as a result. After leaving Egypt, Abraham returned to Bethel in Canaan.  This was the location of his second encampment in Canaan. Where he  had called upon the Lord.  

By God’s providence, Abraham came out of Egypt with increased  wealth, and both he and his nephew lot prospered in Canaan. Most of  their wealth was in livestock, and soon the herdsmen of Abraham and  the herdsmen of lot became embattle over lands for herding. This strife  strained the relationship between Abraham and his nephew. 

Questions for application 

How might Abraham’s many journeys, which grew from his initial  commitment to follow God, have prepared him to deal constructively with  the crisis in his relationship with Lot? How can string faith help us better  face struggles within relationships? 

Material prosperity put in jeopardy the peaceful relationship between  Abraham, and Lot. What might this teach us about our view of material  blessings, as well as our response when we are blessed this way? 

B. Unselfish Peacemaking 

To make peace with Lot, Abraham made an amazingly unselfish  offer. He invited Lot to survey the whole land of Canaan and then  choose for himself any part he might desire. With unwavering trust in  god to provide for him, Abraham said he would accept whatever  remained of Canaan after Lot made his choice.

Viewing Canaan from a high promontory, and seeing in the distance  the lush, green Jordan Valley, Lot chose what seemed to be the best of  the land. But at the southern end of the valley, were the five sinful cities  of the plain. Motivated by selfishness and greed, Lot made a terrible  mistake when he “pitched his tents near Sodom”. 

Questions for Application 

Genesis 13:13 highlights the grievous sinfulness of Sodom. Why, in  spite of having experienced God’ blessings, might Lot have chosen to  make that area his new home? 

Note the contrast between what Abraham did to make peace with Lot,  and what Lot did to please himself. What can we learn from this about  human nature and godliness? 

Response to the world 

What are our priorities? What do we value most? Abraham’s effort to  restore harmony between himself and Lot’s revealed his priorities.  Likewise, lot’s unwise choice spoke to the values he allowed to govern  his living. 

Our attitudes and behavior reveal what we value most. Whose life  more resembles yours, Abraham’s or Lot’s? How will your choices  impact your work with God? 

2. Divine Covenant 

A. Letting go and keeping 

After lot and gone, Abraham remained on the high ground  overlooking the land of Canaan. God told Abraham that all the land he  saw in every direction would be given o him and his offspring forever. 

Abraham lost none of the land of Canaan through his peacemaking offer  and lot’s selfish choice. 

By faith in God, Abraham demonstrated the spiritual principle of  letting go of something to keep it. By giving priority to doing what was  right, being willing to let go of whatever part of Canaan Lot wanted,  Abraham kept all of the land of Canaan. When we let go of our own will  and entrust ourselves to god, we, too, will experience God’s blessings  and provision. 

Questions for Application 

In what ways have you experienced the spiritual principle of letting go  and keeping? Explain. Why it is important to live by this principle, and by  keeping faith in God? 

Why can it be difficult for even mature Christians to let go of their own  priorities and understanding in order to trust God? 

B. Blessed and Worshipping 

God promised to make Abraham’s descendants innumerable. Abraham did not know how God would ring this to pass, seeing that he  and Sarah had no children. Indeed, many more years would pass before  Isaac, the son of promise, would be born to them. From our vantage point, we can see that God fulfilled this promise to Abraham by raising  as his descendants the nation of Israel. God also sent the Messiah,  Jesus, the son of Abraham, as Saviour of the world, god has given us  spiritual descendants of Abraham, all who live by faith in Jesus Christ. 

After promising all the land of Canaan to Abraham and his  descendants, god then commanded Abraham to walk through the length  and breadth of the land, and survey it. Abraham believed God and 

obeyed, and traversed the whole land of Canaan. At the places where  he camped, he built a simple altar to testify of his faith. 

Being sincerely grateful for the blessing of god on his life, Abraham  worshipped the Lord everywhere he went in Canaan. He was a witness  of the One True God, and evangelist to all who encountered him. The  Canaanites, seeing Abraham’s altars, would know he did not worship  their many gods, because their altars where architecturally impressive,  constructed of carved stones. Abraham’s simple altars would identify  him as a stranger and pilgrim in their midst, whose life was governed by  a God they did not know. 

Questions for Application 

Abraham devoted his whole life to worshipping God everywhere he went  in Canaan. As Christians, how do we offer our whole lives in worship to God? 

Abraham’s many altars built in Canaan would be visible evidences that  he worshipped the true God. As witnesses can we show to the world that  testifies of our faith in Christ? 

Response to the word  

To live in covenant relationship with God by faith, we must distinguish  between the temporal and eternal, and the main focus of our living must  be on things eternal. Abraham was a pilgrim and stranger in Canaan,  and he knew this land of promise was not his permanent home. Rather,  he was looking forward to the city whose architect and builder is god. 

This world is not our permanent home. We are called to live for God given realities that will endure forever. How should such realities impact  the way we think and live?

3. Rescue and Blessing 

A. Strength in Trusting God 

Genesis 14 contains the first account of war in the Bible. For twelve  years the kings of the five cities of the plain in Canaan paid tribute to  four kings from Mesopotamia, in the area east of Babylon. These  Canaanite cities were Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar.  (They were likely the area to the southeast of the Dead Sea.) In the  thirteenth year, the Canaanite kings refused to pay this tribute, perhaps  thinking that the kings would not trouble themselves to travels to Canaan  to enforce the tribute. However, they invaded Canaan, determined to  force the Canaanites to remain subject to them. 

Abraham stayed out of this war, which raged only perhaps 25 miles  east of where he lived, until he heard that his nephew Lot, and all of his  family and possessions, had been taken. Abraham then prepared to  rescue his nephew. He had a small army of 318 servants and also had  Canaanite allies in three brothers, Aner, Eshcol and Mamre and some of  their servants. 

With trust in God to give him victory, Abraham and his army routed  the kings and their armies, pursuing tem to Hobah, near Damascus and  about 120 miles north of Abraham’s camp in Hebron. Many were killed,  and the rest fled. It was a complete victory for Abraham. 

Questions for Application 

How can we see the hand of God in Helping Abraham rescue Lot and  his family? How has God helped you in difficult struggles or situations?

We know from Scripture that Abraham had strong faith and trust in God  that gave him courage to do great things. Why is it important that we  who are Christians have strong faith and trust in God? 

B. God-Given Victory 

Through God’s aid, Abraham was able to rescue Lot and his family,  and the other people who had been taken captive by the Mesopotamian  kings. Abraham was also able to recover all the material possessions  these kings had taken from Lot and Canaanites. In observing that none  of those taken captive by the Mesopotamian kings were killed, and all of  the plunder of the war they had taken was recovered, we can conclude  that God had provided a miracle. Without question, God was with  Abraham and his army, and gave to them the victory. 

Abraham, his army, and the people rescue returned to Canaan,  bringing with them the material possessions recovered from the  Mesopotamian kings. Upon this return, Melchizedek, the king of Salem  (Jerusalem), and Bera, the king of Sodom, came out to meet them.  Melchizedek, “the priest of the most High God brought bread and wine to  the meeting with Abraham and his company, and he pronounced god’s  blessing on Abraham. 

In response to Melchizedek’s ministry and blessing, Abraham paid  tithes to Melchizedek, God’s priestly representative, from all the material  goods he had brought from the war. By doing this, Abraham  acknowledged that his victory over the Mesopotamian kings was of God,  and all that had been rescued belonged to god, including the people and  the material possessions. 

After Abraham paid the tithe to Melchizedek the king of Sodom  Proposed that Abraham keeps the remainder of the recovered material  possessions for himself and his allies, and return to him only the rescued 

people. Abraham promptly informed the king of Sodom that he would  keep nothing of the recovered goods for himself. Abraham had made a  solemn pledge to honour God and not enrich himself with the spoils of  war. Abraham gave God all the glory for his victory over the  Mesopotamian kings. Also, we might conclude that Abraham refusal to  compromise his integrity by allowing it to appear that he had been  enriched by the ungodly Sodomites. 

Questions for Application 

How do we know that the amazing victory of Abraham over the four  Mesopotamian kings was a work of God? What does this teach us about  how we can be victorious over the spiritual forces of wickedness that we  confront? 

What did Abraham’s act of tithing on the good recovered from the battle  reveal about his attitude regarding material possessions? Jesus said  that if we are Abraham’s children (by faith), we will do the works of  Abraham. What is the implication of this for our giving? 

Response to the word 

Abraham was a man of peace. He did not choose war but war came  to him, bad circumstances can come at any time, changing our lives and  plans in ways we would never have chosen. We must be prepared for all  eventualities, whether they are good or bad. It took great faith and  courage for Abraham to pursue four mighty kings who had defeated five  kings in Canaan. However Abraham believed God would give him  victory.

In doing what is right, we too must trust in God to give us victory. Let  us trust God like Abraham, and then give God the glory for the  successes he gives us. 

Call to Discipleship 

Abraham followed God, and it is clear from Scripture that he trusted in  God, depended on God’s direction for his life, and lived for God. As  Christians, our first calling is to follow Christ, to reveal through how we  live that we trust in Christ, to depend on Him to give direction to our  living. We live for Him, and not for ourselves. 

Take a moment to think about your trust in the Lord. Rejoice in  Him for the direction and hope He brings into your life, and then resolves  to trust in Him at all times.  

Ministry in Action 

Abraham took a step of faith to rescue Lot and his family. While we likely  will never go to war, we too may need to take a step of faith to help a  fellow believer. Encourage students to examine the needs within your  church. Develop a plan for helping those in need, even if it involves  taking a major step