IntermediateBible Teacher

March, April, May 2017 • SPRING QUARTER

For Teachers of Teens Ages 12 Through 14

Writer: Richard A. Lint

Edited and published quarterly byTHE INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF THE

GOSPEL WORKER SOCIETYUNION GOSPEL PRESS DIVISION

Rev. W. B. Musselman, Founder

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Lessons based on International Sunday School Lessons; the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright© 2013 by the Committee on the Uniform Series and used with permission. Edited and published quarterly by The Incorporat-ed Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press Division, 2000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44109-5812.Mailing address: P.O. Box 6059, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-1059. www.uniongospelpress.com

Editorials............................................................................................................... 2

The Love of God

UNIT I: The Nature of God’s LoveMar. 5—The Source of All Love—I John 4:7-19............................................................... 5Mar. 12—God’s Overflowing Love—Eph. 2:1-10................................................................ 10Mar. 19—Manifesting God’s Love—John 15:1-17.............................................................. 15Mar. 26—God’s Merciful Love—Joel 2:12-13, 18-19, 28-32.............................................. 20

UNIT II: The Work of God’s LoveApr. 2—The Lord Is My Shepherd—Ps. 23:1-6................................................................ 25Apr. 9—God’s Saving Love in Christ—John 3:1-16......................................................... 30Apr. 16—God’s Love Triumphant (Easter)—John 20:1-10; I Pet. 1:3-5, 8-9..................... 35Apr. 23—God’s Reconciling Love—Rom. 5:6-11; 8:31-39................................................. 40Apr. 30—The Good Shepherd’s Love—John 10:1-15........................................................ 44

UNIT III: The Extent of God’s LoveMay 7—God’s Disciplinary Love—Jonah 1:7-17.............................................................. 48May 14—God’s Protective Love—Jonah 2:1-10................................................................ 52May 21—God’s Love for the Lost—Jonah 3:1-10.............................................................. 56 May 28—God’s All-Embracing Love—Jonah 4:1-11......................................................... 60

Daily Bible Readings............................................................................................ 64

Vol. LXXXI No. 2

IntermediateBible Teacher

SPRING QUARTER March, April, May 2017

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WRITER’S FORECASTThe unifying theme in this quarter’s

lessons is God’s love. The four lessonsin the first unit focus on the nature ofGod’s love. In lesson 1, we read theApostle John’s bold declaration thatGod is the source of love. Without God,there would be no love.Lesson 2 records the Apostle Paul’sexciting news: We have been madealive by the love of God. At one time wewere spiritually dead. However, be-cause of God’s overflowing love, wehave been made alive. Jesus called Himself the True Vine,as we learn in lesson 3. If we remain at-tached to the True Vine, we receive lifeand spiritual provision through ourconnection to Him. Also, we producespiritual fruit. God is merciful, lesson 4 tells us. Heused the Prophet Joel to call the sin-ning people of Judah to turn from theirsins and repent. The five lessons of the second unit

focus on the work of God’s love. Thestudy passage for lesson 5 is the twen-ty-third Psalm. This psalm pictures theLord as the Good Shepherd who lovesand cares for His sheep.In lesson 6, we find that Nicodemus

wanted to talk to Jesus, one teacher toanother, but Jesus shocked him bysaying that he had to be born again. Ofcourse, Jesus was talking about a spir-itual birth, but Nicodemus did not un-derstand that. Since April 16 is Easter Sunday, les-

son 7 presents the resurrection story. Inaddition, there are brief passages fromI Peter that highlight the power of theresurrection in the lives of believers.

Jesus died for sinners. That is thegood news of lesson 8, because we allare sinners. However, when we put ourfull faith in what Jesus did for us on thecross, we are transformed from God’senemies into His friends. Lesson 9 recounts how Jesus calledHimself the Good Shepherd. Jesus isthe Good Shepherd because He lovesand cares for His sheep. In response,we know and love our Shepherd andfollow Him.The extent of God’s love is highlight-

ed in the four lessons of the third unit.All four lessons are based on the bookof Jonah. In lesson 10, we read thatGod sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn thewicked people living in that city thatjudgment was coming. Instead ofobeying God, Jonah ran from God’scall and ended up in the belly of a greatfish. Of course, that was not the end ofthe story.Jonah was a victim of his own bad

choices. In lesson 11, we see that hecame to his senses and called out toGod from the great fish’s belly. In re-sponse to Jonah’s prayer of repen-tance, God acted to save his life.Jonah received a second chance to

carry out his God-given task to preachto the people of Nineveh. Then, as les-son 12 shows, the people of Ninevehgot a second chance. When they re-pented and changed their evil ways,God changed His mind about destroy-ing the city.Jonah had no compassion or love

for the people of Nineveh. He actuallywas angry when God chose not to de-stroy them. The stark contrast be-tween God’s universal mercy and loveand the prophet’s narrow nationalismbecomes obvious in lesson 13.

PLEASE NOTE: The Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press Division, most earnestly en-deavors to proclaim fundamentally sound doctrine. The writers are prayerfully selected for their Bible knowledge and yield-edness to the Spirit of Truth, each writing in his own style as enlightened by the Holy Spirit. At best we know in part only.“They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts17:11).

Intermediate Bible Teacher 3

You probably would never expect tofind the names of the Bible charactersJohn and Jonah in the same sentence,let alone in the same title. John was theNew Testament “apostle of love,” butJonah was a reluctant Old Testamentprophet who answered God’s call onlyafter God backed him into a corner—and then he wanted his preaching min-istry to be a total failure. Jonah was ac-tually angry when the people ofNineveh responded positively to hispreaching and God changed His mindabout pouring out His wrath on them.However, John and Jonah may have

had more in common than appears atfirst glance—beyond the fact that bothnames begin with the letter J. Both fig-ure prominently in this quarter’s les-sons. Of the first nine lessons of thequarter, the writings of the ApostleJohn are featured in all but four ofthose lessons. Then the last four les-sons of the quarter are all based on thedeeds, misdeeds, and reluctant min-istry of Jonah.So by taking a closer look at bothJohn and Jonah, we can gain a betterunderstanding of many of this quarter’slessons.The Apostle John is rememberedfondly as the apostle of love. Again andagain in his letters, he urged believersto “love one another” (I John 3:11, 23;4:7, 11; II John 1:5). According toChristian tradition, when John was avery old man, well into his nineties, herepeatedly exhorted the believers inthe church at Ephesus to “love one an-other.”However, John was not always akindly church elder urging believers toexpress Christian love to other people.When he and his brother, James, wereyoung disciples of Jesus, the Mastergave them the epithet “Boanerges,which is, The sons of thunder” (Mark

3:17). Apparently, that epithet was ap-propriate. The young disciples tendedto be impetuous and could actually beill-tempered and even intolerant. On one occasion, Jesus’ disciples

saw someone who was not a part oftheir group casting out demons. In-stead of rejoicing because someoneelse was also opposing Satan, they or-dered him to stop. Apparently theythought they had an exclusive right tobe the contenders against evil.When John reported this incident toJesus, no doubt expecting a commen-dation from the Master, Jesus actuallyrebuked the disciples with the admoni-tion, “Forbid him not: for he that is notagainst us is for us” (Luke 9:50).Sometime later, Jesus passedthrough Samaria on His way toJerusalem. Since He was going toJerusalem, He was not well receivedby the Samaritans. This stirred up theanger of the “sons of thunder.” Theywent to Jesus and asked for His ap-proval for them to call down fire fromheaven to consume the inhospitableSamaritans (Luke 9:54)—not exactly

John and Jonah

the kind of attitude expected from theapostle of love!Again, Jesus corrected His intoler-ant disciples. “He turned, and rebukedthem, and said, Ye know not whatmanner of spirit ye are of” (Luke 9:55).The “spirit” Jesus referred to was notthe spirit of love but the spirit of intol-erance and anger and prejudice. Johnand his brother had much to learnabout the Christlike attitude that is re-quired of true followers of Jesus.To his credit, John learned much

about the true nature of love from hisclose association with Jesus. Since hewas young and impetuous, it took awhile for John to incorporate thoselessons on love into his personallifestyle. However, he did grow and de-velop and mature in his understandingof love. When John stood at the cross with

the Master’s mother, Jesus confident-ly entrusted the care of His mother tothis disciple (John 19:26-27). No doubtJesus’ emphasis on love in His teach-ings and His lifestyle was having a pos-itive effect on John’s attitude. He stillhad much to learn about love, but hewas not the intolerant hothead that hehad been.As John showed himself to be intol-

erant and prejudicial, so did Jonah.When God told him to go to Ninevehand warn the wicked citizens of thatpagan city that divine judgment wascoming, Jonah ran away from God’scall. Jonah was not afraid to go to Nin-eveh—at least that was not his primaryreason for not wanting to go. He sim-ply did not want to be a missionary toNineveh. He did not want the people ofNineveh to hear God’s message of im-pending judgment and repent. Hewanted God to destroy them.When Jonah did communicate

God’s message and the Ninevites re-pented and God stayed His hand ofjudgment, Jonah was downright angry.He lamented to God, “I fled before unto

Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gra-cious God, and merciful, slow to anger,and of great kindness” (Jonah 4:2). The Apostle Paul asked rhetorically,“How then shall they call on him inwhom they have not believed? andhow shall they believe in him of whomthey have not heard? and how shallthey hear without a preacher?” (Rom.10:14). Jonah understood that formu-la. He knew that if he did not go to Nin-eveh and preach, the people would nothear. If they did not hear, they wouldnot repent. And if they did not repent,God would not withhold His hand ofjudgment.David Livingstone was the great

missionary pathfinder who took thegospel of Jesus Christ to the people ofcentral Africa. He was inspired to be-come a missionary when he heardRobert Moffatt express his concern forthe unsaved of Africa, saying, “In thevast plain to the north I have some-times seen, in the morning sun, thesmoke of a thousand villages where nomissionary has ever been.” RobertMoffatt had a heart of compassion forthose who needed to hear the goodnews about Jesus Christ.Jonah did not have that heart ofcompassion. His heart was confinedby narrow nationalism and prejudice.He believed God’s salvation was onlyfor Israelites, and other people did notdeserve to be saved. His short bookends before we discover whether heever changed that prejudicial mind-set.We know that the Apostle John ma-tured from intolerance and prejudice tocompassion and love. In his lateryears, he became an outspoken pro-ponent of love. We can only hope thatJonah lived long enough to see the er-ror of his prejudicial attitude and that inhis later years, he was able to proudlydeclare that he was the preacher whosaved the city of Nineveh from divinejudgment.

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Intermediate Bible Teacher 5

I JOHN 4:7 Beloved, let us loveone another: for love is of God; andevery one that loveth is born of God,and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth

not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the loveof God toward us, because that Godsent his only begotten Son into theworld, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we

loved God, but that he loved us,and sent his Son to be the propiti-ation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us,

we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at

any time. If we love one another,God dwelleth in us, and his love isperfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwellin him, and he in us, because he hathgiven us of his Spir�it.

14 And we have seen and dotestify that the Father sent theSon to be the Saviour of theworld. 15 Whosoever shall confess thatJe�sus is the Son of God, Goddwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and be-

lieved the love that God hath to us.God is love; and he that dwelleth inlove dwelleth in God, and God inhim. 17 Herein is our love made per-

fect, that we may have boldness inthe day of judgment: because as heis, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but

perfect love casteth out fear: be-cause fear hath torment. He thatfeareth is not made perfect inlove. 19 We love him, because he firstloved us.

LESSON 1 MARCH 5, 2017

Scripture Lesson Text

NOTES

Love was one of the favorite themesof the Apostle John. In his three shortletters, he repeatedly called for believ-ers to love one another. We are not able to love other peoplebecause we are naturally kind and loving.The ugly truth is that we were born sinfuland selfish. We thought of ourselves first,not others. However, when we acceptedChrist by faith, we were transformed, andour hearts were filled with the love ofGod. That is why we are able to do whatwe could never do on our own.

LOVE COMES FROM GOD—I John 4:7-8We are able to love other people be-cause we have access to the source oflove. When John told us to “love one an-other,” he also told us how that is pos-sible: because love comes from God. You may wonder, “If God is the source

of love and love comes from God, howare people who reject God able to love?”Love is a universal experience, not sim-ply a Christian experience. Unsavedpeople are able to feel and express love,but even their love comes from God.They may not believe in God or even ad-mit that He exists, but they still dependon Him for the love they have for theirfamily members and friends.

Of course, most of what the world calls“love” is not love at all. It is selfish andself-centered emotion focused on“me”—what makes me feel good andwhat pleases me. The other person’s rolein the relationship is simply to make mehappy and to feel good about myself.God calls us to a higher level of love.He calls us to a level of love that is un-conditional and unselfish, which putsothers first and thinks first of the otherperson. This level of love is possible onlythrough a relationship with Jesus Christ. Love is the essence of God’s char-

acter. John did not say, “God is loving.”He said, “God is love” (I John 4:8). Lovedoes not describe God’s actions; loveis the essence of His character. God isnot loving in a sentimental or emotion- al sense; He is the very embodiment oflove. He is love personified. A person we may consider loving can

do some truly unloving things. Howev-er, since God is love, He will always betrue to who He is. Everything He doesis consistent with His nature of love.

GOD PROVED HIS LOVE FOR US—I John 4:9-10How do we know that God reallyloves us? He proved it by His great actof love: sending His Son to be the Sav-

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Lesson and Its Truth

The Source of All LoveLesson: I John 4:7-19

Read: I John 4:7-19

TIME: about A.D. 90-95 PLACE: probably from Ephesus

GOLDEN TEXT—“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (I John4:11).