The Readings
Acts 9:1-32; 13:1-3
Acts 19
Philippians
Psalm 17
Memory Verse
Philippians 4:8: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Teachers of young children
Look at what I wrote to parents above: about Jews and Gentiles, and about Acts 9. It’s possible to focus too heavily on the issues between Jews and Gentiles (at the expense of the text itself), but a basic comprehension is absolutely critical to understanding the whole New Testament.
Not only this, but you, as a teacher of young children, will be able to plant seeds that grow to maturity later. Think about what it would be like to know, for your whole life, that the world operated a certain way, and that God expected you to think a certain way. And then, suddenly, this God did something so significant that it redefined everything – that it subjected everything.
With younger kids, you can’t get too deep about this because they don’t have much “entire life” to have to redefine. I’m sure you intuitively see this. However, what you can do with kids is show them that the Jews understood the world a certain way; that worldview was redefined by the “Event” of Jesus; and those first generations had the hardest time sorting it out. An important seed you get to plant is that the people in this first generation weren’t just dense; they were wrestling, just like we all do.
Teachers of older children
I’ve paid little attention to the Acts 19 reading because the other two are so profound, but this might be a good passage to tackle with older students. The stories happened in Ephesus, a major city on the west coast of Asia Minor. Paul, about 20 years into his ministry, had spent considerable time in Ephesus and there was a growing church there. Here, the Gospel (called “The Way”) encounters stiff resistance in forms we don’t often think about.
In other places Jewish leaders had stirred up trouble for Paul, both out of jealousy for the crowds he drew and contempt for his message. But here, idol manufacturers get upset because of lost business. Can you picture “Artemis Brotherhood Local 45” carrying picket signs about Christianity stealing their jobs? How would you feel if the new religion in town was threatening your line of work?
This story is a grand opportunity. Put yourselves in the shoes of the silversmiths: they don’t believe in Jesus, and if they did then they’d have to find another line of work. Their jobs are threatened. Did they have families? Livelihoods? Dismissing them (“Silly idol makers”) will likely be read as callous, scornful of their work and their families. Who doesn’t find much of their identity in what they do and who they do it for? Yet, people need to hear about Christ: it’s a heaven and hell issue. How could a Christian navigate this?
Teachers of adults
We don’t have time for much of what Paul wrote, and indeed are focusing on narratives in order to understand the spread of the church, rather than observe the development of doctrine. You’ll probably have students who say, “But what about Romans?… What about 1 Timothy?” Well, yes. We’ve been skipping past a lot this whole time. Go back and read it later: but all of Romans – not just the familiar parts. See how Paul’s arguments unfold, how the middle section about virtue is the natural child of Act 1, how Romans 8 (“All things work together for the good of those who love God…”) is the crescendo of a symphony, how all those verses we learn in isolation exist in context.
This context is what I’m after, and that’s why we focus on narratives here. Paul’s Epistles mean so much more, are so richer, and are better interpreted, if we know more about the movements of the church and its greatest missionary. Paul’s letters were not etched at a Writer’s Retreat; Philippians wasn’t an attempt to pen a marketable message for the “struggling Christian” segment; His letters were written in time, in place (for him and the readers), and often in response to something that needed attention in their churches. Get to know the story, as much of it as you can, then read and reread the Epistles.
A Theory: The Epistles’ fulfill a place and purpose in the New Testament that the Prophets fulfilled in the Old. They fill out the story – giving both a personal and a Divine perspective on the movements of the church and world. And Philippians, written near the end of Paul’s journeys, reveals a relentless God and His grateful servant.