Sat Nov 15

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the word Jesus.

Reading

Matthew 27:24-37; Hebrews 12:2—Make Jesus’s Joy Complete

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Jesus’s death on the cross was a terribly sad event.
Jesus’s death on the cross brings great joy to believers.
We delight in Jesus.

Questions

(some read these before notes, then ask them after)

What makes you sad about Jesus’s death?
What makes you joyful about Jesus’s death?
How should we respond to Jesus’s death?

Notes

(See below for all authors.)

What makes you sad about Jesus dying on the cross? One of the things that should make us all sad is that left to ourselves, we would reject Jesus. Had we been there, we would have shouted “crucify him!” Secondly, Jesus was wounded for our sin. It’s not just other people’s sins that put Jesus on the cross. It’s my sin. It’s your sin.

What makes you joyful about Jesus dying on the cross? Both the reason why and the effect were in God’s planned out will. Jesus bore your curse (if you savingly trust him). Jesus gave you his clean garments, his righteous robes.

Since Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him, as we reflect on his finished work for us, we can find joy in that work. We can delight in Jesus. We can, because we are united with him and find joy in doing God’s will—not perfectly as Jesus did, but truly and even increasingly. Look to Jesus. Run to Jesus. Follow Jesus.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 100d, 88a

Prayer

Pray that you will always find joy in Jesus.
Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.

Notes this week are drawn in part from commentaries by John Calvin, William Hendriksen, Kent Hughes, Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Michael Bentley, John Legg, Richard Brooks, the Theological Dictionary of the Old and New Testaments (TDOT, TDNT) and notes from the CSB Study Bible, and the Reformation Study Bible (RSB).