Nigeria Baptist Church Sunday School Manual For June 28, 2020 : Topic – WISDOM’S FEAST.
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IN PREPARATION FOR YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
NBC SUNDAY SCHOOL OUTLINE
Date:
Sunday, June 28, 2020.
TOPIC : WISDOM’S FEAST.
Devotional Reading:
Psalm 119:97-104.
Background Scripture:
Proverbs 9:1-18.
Lesson Scripture:
Proverbs 9:1-6, 8-10, 13-18.
GOLDEN TEXT:
Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding. Proverbs 9:6.
Learning Primary Outcomes/lndicators:
Learners will understand the facets of God’s wisdom and explore both practical and spiritual wisdom and indicate achievement of this by: 🔖 Explaining the benefits of walking in the path of wisdom;
🔖 Distinguishing between wise and foolish actions as used in the passage;
🔖 Expressing their decision to gain wisdom and not folly as they grow.
INTRODUCTION
e was a prudent, simple, disciplined and hard-working man but his two sons were arrogant, lazy, immoral and extravagant in all their ways. He often told them to pursue and embrace wisdom, to avoid folly, which easily leads to ruin. After his death, his two sons were left in the care of their uncle who was an entrepreneur in the city. Not long after, they began to exhibit their ill-mannered behaviour, despite their father’s warning before his death. Each time their uncle corrected them, they would leave the home for some days without informing him of their whereabouts. After sometime, the younger boy realised his mistakes and decided to return to his uncle with the promise never to be naughty. He became an advocate of good behaviour. At last, he was able to admonish his brother that “Stupidity and the refusal to learn from wisdom brings destruction and death, but safety and security come from listening to her.” Eventually, they both became responsible young adults and soon became employers of labour, as evidence of walking in the path of wisdom.
Today’s lesson focuses on the comparison between wisdom and stupidity. It shows that while wisdom leads to life and prosperity, stupidity leads to ruin and shame. Any man who finds wisdom is blessed and nothing in life can be compared with the benefits it offers, not even silver or gold. Similarly, the ways of folly lead to death. As a matter of fact, a Christian who lacks the wisdom of God will definitely live a frustrated life. So, wisdom is the principal thing in life. It is confirmed in the Scriptures that God created the whole universe together with wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-30). Therefore, everyone who desires to live well must embrace wisdom and enjoy the benefits it offers.
THE LESSON EXPLAINED..
A. WISDOM’S INVITATION TO LIFE: [Proverbs 9:1-6]
The writer continues to personify wisdom as a woman (a feminine noun in Hebrew, Proverbs 1:20; 8:1-4). According to this passage, the author outlined the efforts of wisdom and her invitation to people to her house, having made seven pillars, prepared a feast and the table. Then, she sent out invitation from the highest point of the city saying, “Let all who are simple come in here! She says to those who lack judgment. Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.” (vv. 4-5) The invitation was sent to the simple and those who lack judgment. The invitation was concluded with a strong admonition to her recipient to leave the company of ignorant people and live. Her encouragement to her invitees was to follow the path of knowledge so that they would live. Simply put, the author meant the gift of wisdom is the pathway to life and prosperity.
Apparently, wisdom’s activity of building, preparing a feast, and invitating people to her house is in sharp contrast with the foolish woman, who simply “sits at the door of her house calling to passers-by with the offer to take the “stolen water” and bread (v. 17). Nevertheless, wisdom’s gift to humanity is symbolically represented in the passage as a great banquet. Wisdom beckons on the simple (possibly those who can easily be led astray) and those who lack judgment. She calls them to a special feast that leads to life and the way of understanding. Even today, God is still calling people to receive the free gift of wisdom (James 1:5) but unfortunately, many refused to harken and have gone astray because they have failed to walk in the path of God’s wisdom. They have ignored the benefits of walking in the path of wisdom. It is so important that the author repeatedly calls his son’s attention to wisdom. In particular, he described it as a tree of life to those who embrace her and those who lay hold of her will be blessed (Proverbs 3:18). The counsel for believers is to avail themselves the opportunity to receive this free offer so that they will live meaningful, responsible lives and ultimately reign with Christ in His glory.
DISCUSSION TIME:
1. Why do some people deliberately refuse to respond to God’s invitation to eat and drink spiritual food (the gift of salvation)?
2. Get two cardboards and write on each; the path of wisdom and folly. Allow the class members to make their choices of the path they choose to follow. Let three members share with the class what influenced their decisions.
B.🎈 THE ORIGIN OF WISDOM: [Proverbs 9:8-10{
The author of Proverbs differentiated between the responses of the wise and foolish to the invitation of wisdom. The preceding verses say anyone who corrects a mocker invites insult and he who corrects a wicked man will incur abuse (v. 7). In verses 8 and 9, he sounded a note of warning saying, “Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.” Thereafter, he identified the fear of the Lord as the source and beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One (v. 10). Supposedly, the feast of the wisdom described in verse 3 is an invitation to encounter God who is the source of divine wisdom. Unfortunately, the mocker mentioned in verse 8 cannot respond positively to rebuke because apart from the fact that the seed (Christ) of God is not in him, he lacks divine wisdom and the ability to distinguish between what is right and evil. In contrast, the one who possesses wisdom because he fears the Lord becomes wiser
and increases in learning whenever he is rebuked, instructed and taught.
The Scripture says that God has given us His Word for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Interestingly, the passage clearly states the benefits of accepting rebuke or correction. Such a person will love God, grow wiser and add to his learning. Nevertheless, our disposition as Christians will go a long way to show whether we are wise or mockers. Anyone who desires to grow wiser and more knowledgeable should be ready to see and accept rebuke as a pathway to greatness, honour, riches and life (Proverbs 3:18-19).
DISCUSSION TIME:
1. Discuss ways in which wisdom leads to life and folly to destruction.
2. Explain how the fear of the Lord contributes to walking in wisdom with specific examples.
3. Why is it difficult for mockers to accept rebuke?
C. THE WAYS OF THE FOLLY: [Proverbs 9:13-18]
The author of Proverbs also identified and analysed the ways of folly that it leads to death. The passage starts with the characteristics of folly, which includes being loud, indisciplined and shameless, without knowledge or good judgment. Besides, folly is compared, in some ways, with wisdom: Unlike wisdom that carefully built her house and erected seven pillars before her invitation to the ignorant, folly is described in verses 14-17 as:
• Sitting at the door of her house on a seatatthe “highest point of the city”.
• Calling to those who pass by on their way.
• Inviting the simple and those who lack judgment to come and eat food and drink mixed wine. She [folly] says, “Stolen bread is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious.” Unfortunately, her victims do not know the implication of the invitation. So, those who have responded are already deep in the world of the dead (v. 18), because her house is a pathway to the grave.
In fact, wisdom and folly used the same language but while wisdom’s feast leads to maturity, insight, and life, the foolish woman’s deceptive offer leads to death (vv. 4, 16). Nevertheless, it is important to note that wisdom is Christ personified and He offers life, whereas folly represents the Devil whose ways lead to death. Christians should be careful not to be deceived with the offer from the foolish woman to drink the stolen water she described as sweet (v. 17). In fact, it is bitter and the consequence of yielding to the offer is death.
DISCUSSION TIME:
1. Discuss some activities in our contemporary time that can be referred to as “stolen water” and “food eaten in secret” and how to avoid becoming victims of such activities.
2. Identify some other misfortunes that can be associated with folly as indicated in the passage.
📌 COMMITMENT BASED ON TODAY’S LESSON:
🔖 My Personal Commitment
🔖 Commitment to My Church
🔖 Commitment towards My Relationship with Others
PRAYER POINTS:
• Appreciate God for His wisdom and grace upon you.
• Pray and ask God to help you follow and embrace wisdom as the pathway to life.
• Pray for those who are already in the depth of folly’s grave for God’s intervention.
Fellowship and Ministry Building Activities
• Compare and contrast the wine of wisdom personified as a woman in verse 5 with the wine of Babylon personified as a woman in Revelation 14:8.
• Identify biblical examples of men and women who demonstrated godly wisdom and the benefits they enjoyed.
TAKE HOME:
• Wisdom is supreme. Believers should pray to God for it.
• Wisdom is life-giving while folly leads to destruction.
• God is the only source of wisdom.
• Folly has nothing to offer except death.
• Christians should not follow the way of folly.
• Believers should be ready to accept discipline and see it as a step to spiritual maturity.
Remain Inspired & Be Lifted!📍