A More Perfect You
The Pursuit of Perfection in Christ
The Deeds of the Flesh
教学策略
The focus of this lesson is on producing the fruit of the Spirit in the Christian’s life. Of special note are four groups of activities Paul describes and condemns as being those that will lead Christians away from the Kingdom of God.
学生学习成果
- Know: Understand the dangers of the deeds of the flesh.
- Feel: Value walking in the spirit.
- Do: Pursue the elements of actual perfection.
课程内容主体
讨论问题
以下是课堂引导讨论部分建议使用的问题。也提供了对问题的建议回答，以帮助学生理解各个概念。这些仅为辅助讨论而设，不被视为“对错”答案。
1. How are we saved and considered perfect before God?
Through our obedient faith in Jesus. This includes our repentance (turning from focus on self and sin to focus on Jesus) baptism (immersion in water) and, living faithfully (walking by the Spirit).
2. Using Paul's words from Galatians 5:19-21, outline the works of the flesh and what Paul states they lead to. Also discuss how Christians deal with overcoming these in our world today.
- Group 1: Sexual sins – They lead to immorality, impurity and sensuality.
- Group 2: Spiritual blindness – These lead to idolatry and sorcery (attempts to manipulate the spiritual world).
- Group 3: Divisive spirit – These lead to enmities (hatred), strife, jealousy, anger, disputes, dissension, factions and envy (Note: See also Proverbs 6:16-19 – what God hates).
- Group 4 – Insobriety – These lead to drunkenness, carousing and sins caused by the loss of control of our spirit.
Collectively, these lead to our destruction. We overcome these by submitting to God's will in an active way. We cannot remove ourselves from awareness of these destructive elements in our world, but we point ourselves and the world to a better way by submitting to Christ and living pure lives.
3. How can you use this lesson to grow spiritually and help others come into a relationship with Jesus?
Paul is writing to Christians that have turned away from these and turned to the teachings of Jesus. However, to return to these is to reject Jesus and thus lose one's salvation. We must be on guard to eliminate these deeds of the flesh from our lives as we seek actual perfection.