C.A.C SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON FOR APRIL 9, 2023 : LESSON SIX/DIVISION II, TOPIC – UNCOMMON GRACE IN MOSES MINISTRY

SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

THEME: Some Characters WHO GROW in the LORD’S Grace and Knowledge

January – June, 2023

Unit Two: Spiritual Growth Before Christ Came

April 9, 2023

LESSON SIX

DIVISION TWO

TOPIC: UNCOMMON GRACE IN MOSES MINISTRY

MEMORY SCRIPTURE

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say (Exodus 4:12)

April 9. II. IN BUILDING THE TABERNACLE (Exodus 25:1ff; 35:4-29; 36:3-7).

It isn’t cheap to embark on the huge project of building a Tabernacle for God. Ask Solomon who built the Temple in Jerusalem. Many of the edifices we have as our places of worship today actually cost us lots of resources. So, Moses must have enjoyed the uncommon grace of God to construct the Tabernacle; the first of its kind. How he got the picture, the interpretation and the implementation still baffles. Grace works more effectually where there is availability, willingness and readiness for the things of God.

A. GRACE MOTIVATES THE PEOPLE’S GIVING (25:1ff; 35:4-29; 36:3-7)

The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the LORD (35:29a).

i. 25:1-7: Before work on the tabernacle started, God instructed Moses to ask the people to provide all that was needed for the project, including their time and skills (cf. 35:10ff). All of these things were of great value to the wandering Israelites.

ii. v. 2: Grace challenged them to give willingly and immeasurably. God desires willing offerings from His people. He prompted them to give willingly. Grace helps the believers not to be forced to give.

iii. 36:3-7: Grace aids obedience. The people obediently and abundantly provided everything needed for the project, out of free volition (v. 3; 35:20-29), to the extent that the builder asked Moses to stop giving! They had too much! (vv. 6-7).

iv. That is a beautiful illustration of joyful, abundant and generous giving to the Lord by His people; and that could have happened only by grace. Isn’t that what is lacking amidst us that so many of us have to be coerced before we give to God’s work?

v. No one can give willingly, except the grace to do so is upon him or her. The people willingly released what God had given them for the construction of the Tabernacle, because of their understand of the generosity of grace, which inspires benevolence.

B. GRACE GIVES THE WORKERS NEEDED SKILLS (35:30-36; 39:1-43; 40:30)

And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship (35:31).

i. God gave specific instructions for the building of the tabernacle, and other things. The rich materials to be used in the construction were freely donated by the people (36:3-7).

ii. 35:30-35 (cf. 31:1-11): Craftsman would be needed for the enormous work (35:10ff). So, God graciously equipped some men with the needed skills for the project’s execution (31:2-6). He even called 2 of them by name: Bezalel of Judah and Oholiab of Dan. Grace locates man and his ability wherever he may be stationed! (cf. Jn. 1:47-50).

iii. vv. 30-34: Grace commissioned the 2 of men to do the engravings and designs as well as teach others in the art of crafting. What has God graciously given you in His body (Eph. 2:10)? Are you faithful to it (1 Cor. 4:2; Col. 4:17)? Do you conceal God’s grace to yourself.

iv. v. 31: God’s Spirit and Grace endowed the men with talents and intelligence to work with the raw materials for the artistic designs (31:4-5), even the Ark of the Covenant (37:1).

v. 36:8ff: Bezalel and Oholiab graciously taught other craftsmen appointed by God. Led and aided by these 2 men, the craftsmen ably completed the project to specifications, by God’s grace (36-39:43).

vi. God gives His people a variety of abilities. Don’t look down on your skills; they are manifestation of God’s grace in your life, and for His specific purpose in your life.

vii. Like apostle Paul, every believers should be able to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). That strength, is the grace of God that works in us. Do not belittle it.

LESSONS DERIVED

1. When God’s grace fills our heart, we receive strength to go extra mile for Him.

2. God’s grace is all you need to do God’s bidding; be willing, and submit to Him.

QUESTIONS

1. Highlight God’s grace upon Moses in leading the people out of Egypt.

2. Explain the secret behind the people’s response to the building of the tabernacle.

SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS:

ANSWER TO QUESTION 1:

* God’s grace upon Moses was amazing, unequally and unprecedented!

* He was a product of grace, raised under an unpalatable situation, for the deliverance of the Jews.

* He grew miraculously in the palace of Pharaoh, before he departed, and later returned to Egypt as the vessel of God for the deliverance of God’s people.

* He was used by God to trouble the obstinate Pharaoh, who refused to recognise Yahweh, the God of heavens and earth.

* While Moses eventually led the Israelites out of Egypt, God’s angel separated the enemies from God’s people with a dark cloud.

* Grace divided the Red Sea into two for God’s people to walk through on dry land (Ex. 14:21-22). Since then, we have not seen anything like that.

* After they had escaped miraculously, God’s grace still saved the people from being recaptured by the enemy (Ex. 14:23).

* Grace led them into the Sinai as they went to the Promised Land (Ex. 15:22).

ANSWER TO QUESTION 2:

* The secret behind the people’s response to the building of the Tabernacle was grace (Phil. 2:13).

* Ahead of time, grace had miraculously provided them with needed materials before they left Egypt (Ex. 11:2-3; 12:35-36).

* The fact that it was God that demanded those materials from them was another gracious motivation (Ex. 25:1-7; 35:10ff).

* Obedience was another secret;÷grace helped them to obey because they were willing (Ex. 36:3-7).

LIFE APPLICATION:

A boy had been sentenced to death by drowning in the river Nile, even before he was born. But God miraculously kept him alive and got him graciously raised in the palace of the same king who passed the sentence. This boy later became an adult and killed somebody in a rash attempt to defend his own brother from the same bloodline; he had to run away from being killed in return. He lost his royalty and become a shepherd in another land. After forty years, the God of covenant appeared to him in a very mysterious way. There, God graciously commissioned this runaway, stammering murderer turned shepherd, to be His mouthpiece and leader of His covenant people. Moses was not in any way qualified to be called and aided by God to do exploits for Him; but G.R.A.C.E chose him and worked for him. May God’s grace handpick you for outstanding exploits for the glory of God in Jesus’ name. Amen.

CONCLUSION:

Glory be to God in the highest for helping us come to the end of lesson 6 – Uncommon Grace in Moses’ Ministry. No matter who you are, or what your life might have been, you are encouraged to humbly pray that God should furnish you with His grace, so that with ease, you can achieve your God-given purpose on earth. May God drench your life with grace in Jesus’ name. Amen.

DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READINGS FOR WEEK TWO

Mon. 3: Let My People Go, Or Else (Exod. 8:21-24)

Tue. 4: Livestock Would Not Be Spared (Exod. 9:3-6)

Wed. 5: Land Of Egypt Engulfed With Hail (Exod. 9:23)

Thur. 6: Locusts Besieged The Land of Egypt (Exod. 10:13)

Fri. 7: Light Disappears From enemy’s Territory (Exod. 10:22)