NBC Sunday School Manual For December 25, 2022 :Topic – Mary Marvels At God’s Choice
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SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON (NBC)
Sunday, December 25, 2022
TOPIC: MARY MARVELS AT GOD’S CHOICE
Devotional Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7
Background/Lesson Scripture: Luke 1:46-55
GOLDEN TEXT
And Mary said, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. Luke 1:46-47
Objectives: By the end of the lesson, class members should be able to:
I. State how Christians should respond to God’s faithful acts in their lives.
II. Identify the attributes of God that make Him Sovereign.
III. Make commitment to praise God every time for His wonderful works in their lives.
INTRODUCTION
God works in ways that no one can fathom. He is not answerable to anyone but decides on whatever He wants to do at any time. At the appointed time when He decided to carry out His initial redemptive plan for humankind, He used human instrument (Mary) to achieve the purpose. Mary was a young virgin resident in Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and was already engaged to Joseph, a descendant of David. God highly favoured Mary (Luke 1:28, 30), because she would give birth to the Saviour of the world without sexual relationship with any man, not even Joseph her espoused husband. Of course, Mary was troubled with the news from an angel because it was going to be humanly unimaginable and
socially unacceptable according to the custom in their days. However, when the plan was fully established, it would be the first and the last time of its kind in human history that a child will be born without the union of a man and a woman. Nevertheless, she accepted the proposal after she was convinced that it was divine assignment by the angel.
Mary’s song of thanksgiving in the home of her cousin Elizabeth, who was already six months pregnant is the focus of today’s lesson. She marveled at God’s choice of her as the mother of the Saviour of the whole world. In joy and excitement, she composed a song of thanksgiving to God for counting her worthy of the noble and divine assignment.
THE LESSON EXPLAINED
A. Mary’s Song of Thanksgiving Luke 1:46-49
God’s blessings on His people usually result in an outburst of praise. Immediately after the angel announced to Mary that she would become the mother of the Saviour of the world, she could not hide her joy. She hurriedly went to her cousin Elizabeth who was also pregnant in the hill country of Judea (Luke 1:39), probably to share her joy. Having received a confirmation of God’s plan from Elizabeth who testified to the divinity of the unborn child, she was prompted to extol the greatness of God. She praised God and composed a song which is known as the Magnificat taken from the first word of the song in Latin, meaning “Magnifies” She said in verse 47, “…My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” Apart from giving praises to God, Mary’s song consists of humility and calmness with an expression that all generations will call her blessed (v.48). By implication, the people of all ages would see her as highly blessed by God.
Whenever God shows us favour, the best way we can respond is through praise and thanksgiving. We should recognise our humble background and lowly beginning like Mary who willingly submitted herself to be used of God to achieve His purpose. The revelation of God’s plan for her life was enough to make Mary proud and arrogant, but she remained humble. Instead, she sang songs of praise to God and acknowledged Him as the Mighty One who has done great things for her. Therefore, she ascribed the highest honour to God who showed her compassion and kindness.
DISCUSSION TIME
1. Why was God interested in Mary to establish His purpose on earth?
2. What can we learn from the attitude of Mary in the passage?
B. Mary Extols God’s Sovereignty. Luke 1:50-55
As Mary continued in her song of praise to God in appreciation of His favour, she also hailed His sovereignty from generation to generation. She reflected on God’s concern for the poor, disadvantaged, and powerless as well as His judgment on the arrogant, proud, and self-absorbed. Consequently, she acknowledged the following:
▪︎ How God extends mercy to those who fear and revere Him.
▪︎ How God has performed wonderful deeds with His arm without consulting anyone.
▪︎God scattered the proud and their foolish thoughts. Scriptures repeatedly say that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
▪︎ God brought down rulers from their thrones and uplifted the humble.
▪︎ God filled the hungry with good thin s and sent away the rich in their emptiness.
▪︎ God remembered His servant Israel with His mercy according to His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 22:16-18). These are some of the attributes of God that make Him sovereign. Mary was a woman of faith who demonstrated obedience to God when she received the news of becoming the mother of the Saviour of the world. She could not hide her excitement in her song of praise but confessed that God has helped the humble and shown compassion to those who honour Him. Her song is a reminder of Hannah’s prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and many of the Psalms that are composed to praise God and extol His attributes. God always remember His covenant of
mercy with His people. He promised in the Old Testament that the whole world would be blessed through the seed of Abraham and now it has come to pass through the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. In fact, the summary of Mary’s song is God’s faithfulness to the covenant He made with Abraham because the birth of Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise (Genesis 12:3).
DISCUSSION TIME
1. Mention five attributes of God that shows His Sovereignty.
2. How and why should Christians magnify God?
Commitment: Based on today’s lesson, make a personal commitment to always praise God no matter the circumstances.
Fellowship and Ministry Building Activity
Class members should compile a list of God’s attributes in Mary’s song and identify the one they are particularly thankful to God for this Christmas. Class members should write out two songs of praise and use them to appreciate God for His faithfulness.
Prayer Points
1. Pray to God to open your eyes to see the things He is doing in your life.
2. Thank God concerning the things He has done for You and the things He has promised to do.
Take Home: Write down three lessons you are taking home from today’s lesson.
REVIEW: All glory be to God for His faithfulness throughout the year. It has been wonderful walking with and working for Him. I know that God has spoken to you through the different Bible characters we have considered this month. Therefore, we want to know how best you understood the lesson:
▪︎ What lessons did you learn from the miracle to Zechariah?.
▪︎ What new insights did you get about the ministry of John the Baptist? How has the Holy helped you to praise God for His faithfulness to you since the beginning of the year?
▪︎ How has the attitude of Mary influenced your decision to always praise God for His favour?