The International KJV Sunday (Lord's Day) School Lesson, Outline

March 17

Lesson 3 (KJV)

Called to Return

Devotional Reading: Ezekiel 34:11–16

Background Scripture: Luke 15

Luke 15:11–24

11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:

12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Graphic: YuriyVlasenko / iStock / Thinkstock

Key Verses

The father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.… For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.—Luke 15:22, 24

Discipleship and Mission

Unit 1: Call to Discipleship

Lessons 1–4

Lesson Aims

After participating in this lesson, each learner will be able to:

1. Recall the details of the parable of the prodigal son.

2. Interpret the parable as illustrating God’s response to the repentant sinner.

3. Reflect on ways to have the outlook of Jesus toward those who seek redemption.

Lesson Outline

Introduction

A. The Scandal of Forgiveness

B. Lesson Context

I. Desire (Luke 15:11, 12)

A. Description (v. 11)

B. Request (v. 12a)

C. Response (v. 12b)

II. Consequences (Luke 15:13–16)

A. Abandoning Covenant (v. 13)

B. Experiencing Hunger (vv. 14–16)

The Lure of Wealth

III. Reflection (Luke 15:17–19)

A. Reckoning with Reality (v. 17)

B. Planning to Repent (vv. 18, 19)

IV. Restoration (Luke 15:20–24)

A. Father’s Welcome (v. 20)

B. Son’s Confession (v. 21)

C. Relationship’s Renewal (vv. 22–24)

A Famous Prodigal?

Conclusion

A. The Essence of Repentance

B. Prayer

C. Thought to Remember

HOW TO SAY IT

Gentiles	Jen-tiles.
Pharisees	Fair-ih-seez.
prodigal	praw-dih-gul.

What Do You Think? What guardrails can you adopt to avoid misapplying parables to today’s situations? Digging Deeper Consider Jesus’ original intent for using parables (Matthew 13:10–17), the original audience of a given parable, and the general difficult in interpreting figurative language (Matthew 15:15, 16; 16:5–12).

What Do You Think? Without giving advice, how would you counsel someone who is about to use this verse as a basis for granting a similar request to a restless offspring? Digging Deeper Consider what the story as originally told was designed to illustrate.

What Do You Think? What guardrails can a church put in place to help members who are in danger of becoming spiritual prodigals and rejecting Christianity? What will be your part in this? Digging Deeper What are some warning signs that a rejection of Christianity is about to happen?

What Do You Think? How can the parallels between this account and that of Esau meeting Jacob (Genesis 33) inform how we deal with those who repent after having wronged us? Digging Deeper What false parallels do you see between the two accounts? How does their identification caution us in answering the question above.

What Do You Think? What should churches do, if anything, regarding unrepentant backsliders whose sins are separating them from the heavenly Father? Digging Deeper How should those actions differ, if at all, regarding the nature of the sin?

Visual for Lesson 3. Use this visual as a backdrop to the discussion question that is associated with the lesson’s conclusion, below.

To print the reproducible activity page, simply click the highlighted text below to create a pdf file on your hard drive. Then open the pdf file in Acrobat Reader and print.

Activity Page (March 17: Called to Return)

 Nickelson, Ronald L. et al., eds. The KJV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2018–2019. Vol. 66. Colorado Springs, CO: Standard Publishing, 2018. Print.