Listen up, little ones
Listen for the word sanctification.
Reading
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8—The Will of God
Optional Reading
1 John 5:17
Keys for kids
- The will of God is your sanctification.
- But you can’t obey God perfectly.
- Through Christ, your efforts are acceptable to God.
Questions
- What is the will of God?
- How can you do God’s will?
- Who helps you to do God’s will?
Notes
(See Saturday for authors.)
The person who loves the world is doomed to pass away with the world. This is what 1 John 5:17 says. However, it also says that the one doing the will of God will abide forever. So, what is the will of God?
1 Thessalonians 4:3 gives the answer: your sanctification. God wants you to become more and more like Jesus. And if you’re becoming more and more like Jesus, you are becoming less and less like the world. Therefore, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life will be the opposite of you, because you are being conformed to the image of Christ!
But we must remember: the obedience that we offer up to God is the obedience of faith. We obey because of what Christ has done, and we offer it up in faith, knowing that through Christ, our deeds are accepted before God. We toil and strive as those who have been forgiven through Christ, not as those who are seeking to make things right with God. Therefore, when John says, do not love the world, we don’t despair because we can’t do this perfectly. Instead, by faith we put to death worldliness, and even when we fall seven times, we rise up again.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 143b, 111a
Prayer
- Thank God that He helps you to do His will.
- Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.