Sabbath School Lesson for December 28-January 3, 2025
Introduction to Lesson 1, God Loves Freely
Memory Text: ” ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.’ ” Hosea 14:4 NKJV
God’s love is offered to us free of charge. There is nothing we can do to earn it. There is nothing we can do that would prevent Him from offering it to us. There is healing in the kind of love God generously bestows upon all His children. No matter how much we have rebelled against His authority, He is ready and anxious to welcome us into His waiting arms of love and purge us of any wrongdoing we may have done.
Our Creator wants nothing more than our willing acceptance of Him, so that our surrender will allow us to become the creature He designed us to be–one that is full of the same grace and love that He demonstrated by taking our nature and dying for us on a cruel cross.
- Sunday: Beyond Reasonable Expectations–God responded generously to the Israelites who worshiped a golden calf at Sinai.
- Monday: Unrequited Love–Hosea’s marriage to an unfaithful wife was a living object lesson for us of God’s kind of love.
- Tuesday: Love Freely Given–God does not need our love, but He does enjoy it.
- Wednesday: Many Are Called, but Few Are Chosen–The parable of the wedding feast shows us the extent of God’s invitation to love Him.
- Thursday: Crucified for Us–Christ willingly gave His love and showed us the plan of redemption by dying at Calvary.
Sunday: Beyond Reasonable Expectations
Many times Israel did unspeakable things to test God’s love. One of the most disheartening times of backsliding happened at Mt. Sinai, where Moses had just received the tablets of the ten commandments. They had experienced a miraculous rescue from bondage in Egypt, but Moses found them shamelessly worshiping a golden calf when he returned from the mountaintop.
God’s conversation with Moses following this incident included the often-misunderstood statement that “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” This does not mean that God’s love is arbitrary or that we are predestined to either be loved or forsaken by God. It merely lets us know that God, as our Creator, has the right and authority to grant grace and compassion on even the most undeserving among us.
Verses to discuss:
Exodus 33:17-23 and Romans 9:15-18
- Why does it say that Pharoah hardened his own heart during the first five plagues, and then says that the Lord hardened his heart for the last five plagues?
- How does one’s heart become hardened?
- What exactly does God do to show Himself to us today, and for what reason?
Monday: Unrequited Love
What is unrequited love? It is simply love that is not returned, or reciprocated. It is when the receiver of love openly refuses to show any love in return to the one giving it.
God instructed His prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute, who repeatedly broke their marriage covenant. This resulted in Hosea often having to accept her back, despite her infidelity. God used Hosea’s experience to be a living object lesson to illustrate His own frustration with Israel when they turned to other gods and broke their covenant relationship with Him.
This emphasized to the nation of Israel the voluntary, free nature of God’s love for us. He expected them to willingly give love in return. He doesn’t force any of us to love Him. Our love, like His, must be given openly and freely.
Verses to discuss:
Hosea 14:1-4
- How would you describe God’s love, and why does He continue to accept us back, despite our backsliding, unfaithful behaviors?
Tuesday: Love Freely Given
We sometimes mistakenly think that God needs our love, and that’s why our world (and others) were created. But Acts 17:25 points out that God doesn’t need anything–including our love or worship.
Two things must be considered. First, that He is the Creator of all things, giving all of us the breath we need to live. And therefore, He is free to love or not to love His creatures (Revelation 4:11 and Psalm 33:6). Secondly, love existed before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). There was ample love between the members of the Godhead before any of us were created.
God’s love is so abundant in grace and mercy that He made a way to reconcile our broken love relationship with Him. Through Jesus, we are able to see God’s love up close and personal. He has done all He could to reveal His love to us, even to the point of death for His Son. See Hebrews 1:1-3.
Verses to discuss:
Acts 17:25, Revelation 4:11, Psalm 33:6, and John 17:24
- Why does God not need our love?
- How does this change the sense of value we place on His love?
Wednesday: Many Are Called, but Few Are Chosen
Jesus’ parable in Matthew 22 about a wedding feast angered the religious leaders who were trying to find a reason to silence Him. In this parable, the Master Teacher likened the kingdom of heaven to a king who arranges for the wedding of his son. Although his servants invited many people to the wedding feast, the invitation was ignored by most guests, with weak, flimsy excuses given. Shockingly, many of the servants were even mistreated and killed.
So, the invitation was sent out to more people, and finally guests from far and near began to arrive. All but one had come wearing the appropriate wedding garment that had been provided for him. Understandingly, the king dealt with the disrespectfully-clothed guest by throwing him out of the party.
The closing statement of this parable was that “many are called, but few are chosen.” That summed up well God’s call, or invitation to love Him. Just because the Israelites were invited to love God didn’t mean that all of them would accept the invitation and come appropriately dressed. In fact, many had chosen not to.
Jesus tried to show them that only those who love God willingly and obediently will be allowed in God’s kingdom of heaven. Merely receiving an invitation does not guarantee your acceptance there.
Verses to discuss:
Matthew 22:1-14 and Isaiah 61:10
- Why did this parable anger the religious leaders who heard it? How did they recognize themselves in the parable?
- Why were the guests told to wear a special wedding garment? What might that garment have been a symbol of?
- Why is it hard for us to see someone (or even ourself) as self-righteous, rather than having Christ’s righteousness covering us?
Thursday: Crucified for Us
No where has God’s love for us been demonstrated more poignantly than when His Son willingly gave up His life, in exchange for ours (John 15:13). We have no doubt that Jesus did it willingly and knowingly (John 10:17-18 and Galatians 2:20). He knew the sacrifice He was making and the impact it would have on the world, and ultimately the universe.
It struck Jesus with sadness one day as He and His disciples approached Jerusalem, a stubborn city that had turned its back on their Lord many times (Matthew 23:37). He knew, of course, that soon the people there would clamor for His crucifixion. And yet, the Messiah expressed grief, not condemnation, over their rejection of Him.
Jesus continued His mission of serving and dying for all people, despite the great pain it caused Him. The Godhead had ordained the plan of salvation before the foundation of the world, if such an emergency as sin became a reality (Ephesians 1:4). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shared equally in their love toward us and grief over our continuous backsliding.
Verses to discuss:
John 10:17-18, Galatians 2:20, and Ephesians 1:4
- What part did the Son of God have in giving up His life for us?
Matthew 23:37
- What is most surprising to you in Jesus’ crying, lamenting, over Jerusalem at this point?
- Why would it have caused concern among the disciples?
Friday: Final Thoughts
Ellen White writes in Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 415, 416:
“The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. The light of the Sun of righteousness is to shine forth in good works–in words and deeds of holiness.”
In other words, WE will be God’s last-day message of love to a dying world. We should be doing all we can to acquaint ourselves with God’s abundant love and grace, and practice sharing it with every breath we take, each and every day of life we have on earth. It’s a responsibility we can’t afford to take lightly or pass on to someone else.
Next Week: Covenantal Love
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