Teaching

Our SuperVerse, Philippines 2:6–7, today says:

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

Who knows what the word humble means?

To be humble means to not think too highly of yourself, and to put others first. What is the opposite of humbleness? 

Pride is thinking too highly of yourself and believing you are more important than others.

Have you ever been having so much fun somewhere that you just didn’t want to ever leave?

Have you ever been so cozy and comfortable in bed that when the alarm goes off, you have a hard time getting up to go to school?

Yes, I know days like that - it’s tough to leave a good situation for something less desirable!

Now, think of this. Jesus is God, and He was with the Father when the world was created. Jesus lived in heaven with God - an absolutely perfect place with no sin, sickness, sadness, selfishness, or pride. Heaven is filled with God’s goodness. Blow up the balloon a little bit; hold it so the children can see “Jesus.” It is filled with His love, blow up a little more, and Jesus is filled with God’s unlimited power. Blow it up completely and loosely tie the balloon closed.

Hold the balloon above your head. How difficult do you think it would be to let go of all of this, look up to balloon, to come down to a sinful world filled with evil and to be born as a helpless little baby who can’t do anything for Himself? Drop the balloon to the ground.

Yes, I can’t even imagine doing that! Jesus willingly gave up the privileges He had and emptied Himself, pick up balloon and carefully untie, slowly release the air in the balloon and place it on the ground, to live as a human. He set aside His unlimited power and subjected Himself to being mocked, persecuted, and put to death on a cross! He had the power to resist and to call an army of angels to His side—but He didn’t! Why?

He did this because He loves us so much.

The SuperVerse says that although Jesus was equal with God, He did not cling to or refuse to give up what He had. Instead, He willing let go to serve as a slave or servant to all.

Yes, Jesus had the ability, before His arrest and crucifixion, to pick back up His privileges and power that He had temporarily emptied Himself of, but He chose not to! Pick balloon up and inflate again and tie the knot tightly this time - hold the inflated balloon above head with “Jesus” visible to children. But, after His death on the cross, Jesus was resurrected in power and returned to Heaven where He lives with God for ever and ever.

Hebrews 10:12 says:

But our High Priest [Jesus] offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

Can we ever praise Jesus enough?

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Today, our Superbook challenge has to do with following Jesus’ example of being humble and serving others.

Have children sit at tables, then hand out the materials to make the Superbook Secret Servant Packets. Tell the children to make their envelopes by folding the pattern along the dotted lines in the order shown, then put their names on the front. They should then cut apart the Superbook Secret Servant cards and place them in their envelopes.

For the next two lessons, our challenge is to pray and ask God how we can humbly serve others, then surprise those people by doing something kind for them. You can leave behind a Superbook Secret Servant card to keep them guessing about who helped them! The next time we meet, I will ask you to share the results of your challenge with us!