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Lesson 6-Physical Culture

“Mental, Physical, Spiritual”

 Read:

Luke 2:40

Luke 2:51-52

The Desire of Ages 68-74, 84-92

 

Jesus Works in the Carpenter Shop

 The Bible says of Christ “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him.” In this verse, we see mentioned the mental, physical and spiritual growth of Christ-the subject our discussion today.

 If we want our children to be pure, we must train them to be diligent workers. Work will save not only save them from a multitude of evils, but will train them in habits that will benefit them in this life and the life to come.

“Christ was the only sinless one who ever dwelt on earth; yet for nearly thirty years He lived among the wicked inhabitants of Nazareth. This fact is a rebuke to those who think themselves dependent upon place, fortune, or prosperity, in order to live a blameless life. Temptation, poverty, adversity, is the very discipline needed to develop purity and firmness.” (DA 72)

It is not enough for our children to complete the job; they must perform and complete it with a good attitude. This will require much patience and spirituality. “Jesus carried into His labor cheerfulness and tact.”

“The more quiet and simple the life of the child-the more free from artificial excitement, and the more in harmony with nature-the more favorable is it to physical and mental vigor and to spiritual strength. (DA 74)

The nature lesson for this section is on the tree, and what a fitting example it is. As Jesus worked with trees (wood) in the carpenter’s shop, so He works with us to fashion and make us into something beautiful.

Trees must have sunlight to grow. Christ is the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings. Trees must have water and light. Christ is the Living Water and He is the Light of the world as well as a light that lights each step of the path we must take. “A tree must have food to live. A man must have spiritual food to live spiritually.”

The lesson also nicely parallels traits of a man and a tree:

Tree	Man
Roots	Feet
Trunk	Body trunk
Branches	Arms
Leaves	Hands
Bark	Skin
Fruit	Character

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical Training

In the beginning, physical labor was a blessing and a joy. God put both Adam and Eve in a garden to work to make it beautiful. Their work was not drudgery. After sin, work is no longer enjoyable in the same way, but it still provides benefits to us physically and well as mentally and spiritually. Gardening especially can be very rewarding and yield results that benefit a family or entire community.

“At the creation, labor was appointed as a blessing. It meant development, power, happiness. The changed condition of the earth through the curse of sin has brought a change in the conditions of labor; yet though now attended with anxiety, weariness, and pain, it is still a source of happiness and development. And it is a safeguard against temptation. Its discipline places a check on self-indulgence and promotes industry, purity, and firmness. Thus it becomes a part of God’s great plan for our recovery from the Fall.”

“As a rule, the exercise most beneficial to the youth will be found in useful employment. The little child finds both diversion and development in play; and his sports should be such to promote not only physical, but mental and spiritual growth. As he gains strength and intelligence, the best recreation will be found in some line of effort that is useful. That which trains the hand to helpfulness, and the young to bear their share of life’s burdens, is most effective in promoting the growth of mind and character.”

Both boys and girls should learn life skills. This includes boys being able to cook, clean and wash dishes as well as girls learning to take care of their cars and do yard work.

“Since both men and women have a part in homemaking, boys as well as girls, should gain knowledge of household duties.   To make a bed and put a room in order, to wash dishes, to prepare a meal, to wash and repair his own clothing, is a training that need not make any boy less manly; it will make him happier and more useful. And if girls, in turn, could learn to harness and drive a horse, [fix and drive a car], and to use the saw and the hammer, as well as the rake and the hoe, they would be better fitted to meet the emergencies of life.”

In studying agriculture and/or having a garden, students can learn much in regard to “the nature and preparation of the soil, the value of different crops, and the method of production while at the same time experiencing the “invigorating effect of exercise, sunshine, and pure air.”

An entire list including useful Labor, Nature and Hobbies, and Missionary Activities is included in the lesson on pages 259-261

 

Recreation

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

While we should teach our children to be diligent and work hard, we must also make time for their recreation-a time to come aside from their labors and be refreshed. There must be a balance of school work, labor and recreation.

“Again, excessive study, by increasing the flow of blood to the brain, creates morbid excitability that tends to lessen the power of self-control, and too often give sway to impulse or caprice. Thus the door is opened to impurity. The misuse or nonuse of the physical powers is largely responsible for the tide of corruption that is overspreading the world. ‘Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness,’ are as deadly foes to human progress in this generation as when they led to the destruction of Sodom.”

 

“Teach the students that right living depends on right thinking, and that physical activity is essential to purity of thought.”

 “There is a distinction between recreation and amusement. Recreation, when true to its name, re-creation, tends to strengthen and build up. Calling us aside from the ordinary cares and occupation, it affords refreshment for mind and body, and thus enables us to return with a new vigor to the earnest work of life. Amusement, on the other hand is sought for the sake of pleasure and is often carried to excess; it absorbs the energies that are required for useful work and thus proves a hindrance life’s true success.” (MCP 313)

“It is the privilege and duty of Christians to seek to refresh their bodies and spirits and invigorate their bodies by innocent recreation, with the purpose of using their physical and mental powers to the glory of God. Our recreation should not be scenes of senseless mirth, taking the form of the nonsensical. E can conduct them in such a manner as will benefit and elevate those with whom we associate and better qualify us and them to more successfully attend to the duties devolving upon us as Christians…The religion of Christ is cheering and elevating in its influence. It is above everything like foolish jesting and joking, vain and frivolous chitchat. In all our seasons of recreation we may gather from the Divine Source of strength fresh courage and power, that we may the more successfully elevate our lives to purity, true goodness, and holiness.” (My Life Today 211)

Lesson 5-The Underteacher

“The Teacher and the Mind”

 Read:

Matthew 26:6-13

Mark 14:3-11

Luke 7:36-50

John 12:1-11

The Desire of Ages, 557-568

Our lesson unfolds at the house of Simon the leper. Christ had healed him of his leprosy and as a token of his gratitude; he invited Christ to a feast at his house. Also present were Lazarus, who had been recently raised from the dead, his sister Mary from whom Christ had cast out seven demons, Martha who was working feverishly serving the guests, the disciples, and others.

Mary comes to Christ, hoping to be unnoticed and she bestows upon Him a box of very costly perfume that she has purchased to show her appreciation of what He has done for her. The smell of the perfume alerts others to her actions. The focus of our lesson is how Christ responds to several of the individuals attending the feast.

“How did mean at the feast respond to godly acts poured forth under the direction of the Holy Spirit?

• Judas and others criticized
• Simon condemned
• Jesus commended

The Saviour dealt in the most remarkable way with each mind at this feast. His concern was that all would be freed from sin.”

 

Judas

Judas was irritated at what he considered a waste by Martha. He shared irritation and displeasure with the other disciples and soon many at the table were irritated and displeased as well. Judas pretended that He would have taken the perfume that she used on the Saviour and given it to the poor, insinuating that giving it to the poor was more important that giving it as a gift to Jesus. His thoughts were selfish and he was not even being honest about what he would have done with the gift. In fact he had already been stealing money from treasury bag over which he was in charge. “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and the bad, and bare what was put therein.”

Christ responded directly to Judas: “Let her alone; why trouble ye her?” She hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensover ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.” Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

Although Christ did rebuke Judas, He did it gently. “What a sharp lesson Christ might have given him who had dropped the seed of criticism and evil thinking into the mind of the disciples! He who reads the motive of every heart and understands every action, might have opened before those at the feast dark chapters in the experience of Judas.” “In commending Mary’s action, which had been so severely condemned, Christ had rebuked Judas. Prior to this, the Saviour had never given him a direct rebuke. Now the reproof rankled in his heart. He determined to be revenged.

Judas’ response to being rebuked by Christ had nothing to do with how Christ treated him. Christ was gentle with, but he refused to be corrected.

 

Simon

Simon was a disciple of Jesus. He was one of the few Pharisees that had openly accepted His teachings. “He acknowledged Jesus as a teacher, and hoped that He might be the Messiah, but he had not accepted Him as Saviour. His character was not transformed; his principles were unchanged.

With Simon, we see that he did not even verbalize his thoughts. He said within his heart “This Man, ifhe were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. Christ acknowledged that Mary was indeed a sinner: “Seest thou this woman? I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much…” and then He contrasted Mary’s act of love with Simon’s. In Simon’s mind, he knew he was a sinner, but he thought his sins to much less than that of Mary’s. Christ used a parable to show Simon the error in his thinking.

“By the two debtors in the parable, Simon and the woman were represented. Jesus did not design to teach that different degrees of obligation should be felt by the two persons, for each owed a debt of gratitude that never could be repaid. But Simon felt himself more righteous than Mary and Jesus desired him to see how great his guilt really was. He would show him that his sin was greater than hers, as much greater as a debt of five hundred pence exceeds a debt of fifty pence. Simon now began to see himself in a new light. He saw how Mary was regarded by one who was more than a prophet. He saw that with keen prophetic eye Christ read her heart of love and devotion. Shame seized upon him, and he realized that He was in the presence of One superior to himself. ‘I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman (whom you despise) since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.’ “Plainly yet with delicate politeness, the Saviour assured His disciples that His heart is grieved when His children neglect to show their gratitude to Him by words and deeds of love.

 In order for us to deal with the minds of our children and others in the way that Christ did, we must have a basic understanding of how the brain works, the differences between young impressionable minds and older, and the difference between the minds of boys and girls. The lesson provides us with a list of Right and Left Brain functions. “Notice how Jesus worked for each individual mind at the feast at Simon’s house, as parent-teachers can work with each of their individual children.

 

 

Lesson 4- Illustrations

“Remember”

 

Read:

Matthew 19:13-15

Mark 10:13-16

Luke 18:15-17

The Desire of Ages, 511-517

 

Forbid Them Not

Our lesson begins with Jesus telling how He feels about children. “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”

Two major points are covered in these verses.

1.  Children are important to God and in no way should they be discouraged from coming to Him. This includes our behavior towards them. “Never give them cause to feel that heaven will not be a pleasant place to them if you are there.” (DA 517.3)

2.  In order to receive the kingdom of God, we must be little children.

Children are never too young to be brought to Jesus. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15). “Among the Jews it was customary for children to be brought to some rabbi, that he might lay his hands upon them in blessing; but the Saviour’s disciples thought His work too important to be interrupted in this way. When the mothers came to Him with their little ones, the disciples looked on them with disfavor. They thought these children too young to be benefited by a visit to Jesus and concluded that He would be displeased at their presence. But it was the disciples with whom He was displeased. The Saviour understood the care and burden of the mothers who were seeking to train their children according to the word of God. He had heard their prayers. He Himself had drawn them into His presence.” (DA 511)

Parents are to look at children as “young members” of God’s family. We are to share with them the lessons that God is sharing with us “This the Christian home becomes a school, where the parents serve as underteachers, while Christ Himself is the chief instructor.” (DA 515)

We are to study nature for lessons that God has given. In the training of flowers we would not be harsh or rude, but gentle, giving it all that it needs. So it should be with our children. We should not speak harsh words, but instead in the beauty of holiness seek to “fashion their characters after the pattern of the character of Christ.” In order to do this, we must first have firsthand knowledge of the character of Christ.

The Education of Israel

In the Garden of Eden education was centered in the family. As the son of God, Adam learned lesson from God and them imparted that knowledge to his family. “Theirs in the truest sense was a family school.”

After the fall, the plan of education was adapted to man’s condition with Christ as the representative of the Father. “He ordained that men and women should be His representatives. The family was the school, and the parents were the teachers. (Ed 33)

In Eden, God showed the method of education that He desired to establish in Israel. He designed that men would work with their hand and be industrious and that manual labor would be a blessing to him. During the Israelites journey through the wilderness, God purposed to retrain their minds. “A pillar of fire by night, it assured them of the divine protection; and while they were locked in slumber, the bread of heaving fell gently upon the encampment. On every hand, vast, rugged heights, in their solemn grandeur, spoke of eternal endurance and majesty. “Here, by the manifestation of His glory, God sought to impress Israel with the holiness of His character and requirements, and the exceeding guilt of transgression.” (Ed 34-35)

In the training of Israel, God used the sanctuary as an object lesson to teach the plan of salvation. “Another lesson, the tabernacle, through its services of sacrifice, was to teach was the lesson of pardon of sin, and power through the Saviour for obedience unto life. “

In the education of Israel, God sought to impress upon their minds His order and organization. The Hebrew encampment itself was arranged in perfect order with the tabernacle in the midst, the tents of the priests and Levites around it and then each tribe camped according to the order laid out by God. “Thoroughgoing sanitary regulations were enforced. These were enjoined on the people, not only as necessary to health, but as the condition of retaining among them the presence of the Holy One. By divine authority Moses declared to them, ‘The Lord they God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee…therefore shall they camp by holy’ (Ed 37-38)

Hence we see that Education includes all habits and aspects of life including how we keep our homes and our person.

“True education is not the forcing of instruction on an unready and unreceptive mind. The mental powers must be awakened, the interest aroused. For this, God’s method of teaching provided.” (Ed 41)

 

The School of the Prophets

What was Studied in the School of the Prophets?

• Character Development
• Scriptures (Law of God, Mathematics, Prophecy, Sanctuary, Prayer, Faith, Holy Spirit)
• Nature
• Sacred Music, Poetry, Voice Training
• Sacred History
• Health
• Reading
• Practical Trades

God established to Schools of the Prophets “to serve as a barrier again the wide-spreading corruption to provide for the mental and spiritual welfare of the youth, and to promote the prosperity of the nation by furnishing it with men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors.” “These schools proved to be one of the means most effective in promoting that righteousness which exalteth a nation.”

“The discipline and training that God appointed for Israel would cause them, in all their ways of life to differ from the people of God other nations. This peculiarity, which should have been regarded as a special privilege and blessing, was to them unwelcomed.”

Our homes can be individual schools of the prophets, where God’s love reigns supreme and character building is the main goal. “God does bid the youth to be less aspiring. The elements of character that make a man successful and honored among men-the irrepressible desire for some greater good, the indomitable will, the strenuous exertion, the untiring perseverance are not to be crushed out. By the grace of God they are to be directed objects as much higher than mere selfish and temporal interests as the heavens are higher than the earth. And the education begun in this life will be continued in the life to come.”(PP 592)

The Lives of Great Men

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life” Proverbs 11:30

In this section we see a list of several great men including Joseph, Daniel, Moses, Elisha and Paul. For these men, their childhood played a great role as to how their characters were formed. “In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God.” “A shepherd boy, tending his father’s flocks, Joseph’s pure and simple life had favored the development of both physical and mental power. By communion with God through nature and the study of the great truths handed down as a sacred trust from father to son, he had gained strength of mind and firmness of principle.” The secret of Joseph’s life Inspiration has set before us. IN words of divine power and beauty, Jacob in the blessing pronounced upon his children spoke thus of his best-loved son: Joseph is a fruitful bough, Even a fruitful bough by a well; Whose branches run over the wall: the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him ,and hated him: But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob…. “ Loyalty to God, faith in the Unseen, was Joseph’s anchor. In this lay the hiding of his power.

 

Illustrations in Your Lives-Parents

In talking with our children, we should share with them how God has led us to educate them and how our lives will be different according to God’s will and plan for us. I know for me personally, I have had to apologize to my children for not always doing things God’s way-partly because I was ignorant of His way.

There are many ways to teach and use History in our households. One way is by simply sharing our family’s story with our children. In my home, I love to take pictures and collect pictures from older relatives. These pictures often tell a story of our families. They help me remember portions of my life to share with my children. Be sure to capture moments of your homeschool and go back and discuss and share. You will be amazed at how much you have accomplished.

 

Nature Lesson: Twigs

 

“On a grassy plain a little tree beings to grow in a bent position. As it matures, it continues to be a bent tree.

Some trees hang down over cliffs and embankments. Others grow wide and round with plenty of space, sunshine, and water.

Trees that are planted too close together grow tall and thin because they are trying to grow upward toward the light.

Trees at the coast tend to grow the direction the wind blows them.

Fruit trees are sometimes trained with their branches flat against a wall.

Trees can be kept clipped to make hedges.

Trees can have all their lower branches cut off and the top cut to form a ball.

Trees planted next to each other have had their branches twisted together so they eventually grow together and join.

Trees grow in many shapes and positions.

Make parallels between trees and children. Look up trees in the Bible such as the cedars of Lebanon and do research on these trees. Share your findings with your family.

Additional Resources:

Teresa’s video class on Lesson 3:

Part 1 : https://youtu.be/cQh225XY9p8

Part 2: http://youtu.be/Su5uV_ETkSU

Part 3: To be added soon (having techinical difficulties)