Follow In His Steps - Lesson 3

By Stafford North

LESSON 3

We Serve—Part 1

Background Information for the Teacher

Objectives

  1. The student will have a growing interest in finding additional ways to serve.
  2. The student can explain the benefits of serving.
  3. The student can participate in sharing about those who serve well.

Preparation for the teacher:

  1. Be ready to write words on the board.
  2. Have words for class members to use in singing the song “Make Me a Servant” if you think they won’t know all the words to that song.

Theme:  “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as he walked” (1 John 2:6).

Lesson Plan for Conducting the Class:

Introduction:  (10 minutes)

  1. Check roll and introduce visitors.
  2. Prayer, especially about class members and asking help as we seek to be like Jesus.
  3. Sing “Make Me a Servant, Lord, Make Me Like You.”  Link this to our studies.

Learning Experiences:  (27 minutes)

  1. Read 1 John 2:6.  Q:  How important is it for us to be in Him?  A:  All spiritual blessings are “in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).  If we want spiritual blessings, we must be “in Christ.” Q: How does one get into Christ?  A:  Gal. 3:26-27.  By having faith in Jesus Christ and then being baptized into Christ.  Q: So if we claim to live in Him, what must we do?  A:  Walk as He walked.  That is what we have been studying about—follow in His steps.  So once we are “in Christ,” we must continue to grow in our likeness to Him.  This is a never ending process because we will never be all that He was.  On the other hand, we must continue to strive to be more and more like Him.  That is what this series of lessons is about—helping us to know how we can become more and more like Jesus.
  2. The first quality we are working on is to SERVE like Jesus served.  Q:  As we seek to serve, a good question to ask is, “What are the benefits of serving?” A:  We help the person who needed help.  We learn to be thankful for what we have.  We develop some important characteristics.  Q:  What characteristics will we tend to develop in our own character as we serve others?  A:  Kindness.  Patience.  Generosity.  Obedience.  Love.  Since these are all important qualities to develop if we want to be like Jesus, we should spend time serving others.  This will mean that we are acting like Jesus, and it will mean that we are following in His steps.
  3. Now we would like to spend a few minutes sharing with each other examples of people serving.  You can mention people in the class, in the congregation, people in other congregations, or people in the world at large.  Perhaps you have written something on your card you would like to share.  As we mention these, I will write on the board a word or two that will characterize the type of service the person you mention is doing.  We are doing this because in the next lesson, we will be looking at many ways to serve and will be asking which of these might each one of us might personally want to do and which of these would we like to see the congregation more involved in.  So, now tell us about some people who SERVE.

(Those mentioned may do something like helping the poor, teaching children, visiting the shut-ins and the hospital, caring for the building, writing cards, providing food, helping the poor, visiting the prisons, etc.  At some point, work into this part of the class a reading from Matt. 25:34-36 about Christ saying that those who helped “him” will hear Him say, “Come you who are blessed by my Father.”

Application:  (8 minutes)

  1. Look carefully at the list on the board.  Are you SERVING all you can right now or would you please the Lord by doing something more?  What is a category of work you would like to know more about? 
  2. Sing again the song “Make Me a Servant.”  Sing it rather slowly and as a meditation.
  3. In our next class meeting, we will give you the opportunity to carry your thoughts about serving a step further by asking you to find a way of serving beyond what you are doing now.

Assignment:

  1. Let’s say our five words together—STEPS.
  2. Keep looking for examples of serving which you might like to mention in our next class meeting. Write them on your card to mention in class next time.

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