Jesus Taught About Possessions

Hi-there parents! Welcome back! Or if you're new here, welcome! The following blog is here to be a tool for you to help your kids grow in their faith while Children's Church is not meeting. Please feel free to use as much of it as you choose. You know your kids and are the best possible teacher for them. God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do more than you think possible (Eph 3:20). 

  This week’s lesson is on possessions. In Jesus’ parable, a rich man had so many crops that he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. That way, he could store everything he had and take it easy. But the man was foolish and short-sighted. He didn’t consider he could die that very night. The saying is true: “You can’t take it with you.” Rather than storing up treasures for ourselves, we should live to glorify God and live generously, using what we have on earth to make an eternal impact.

  Jesus also addressed worry with His disciples. Jesus’ followers should not be anxious about their basic needs. God takes care of the birds and the flowers. People are God’s most valuable and beloved creatures; we can trust Him to provide for us!

  Jesus contrasted the way the unsaved Gentiles lived with how believers should live. Unbelievers seek wealth and possessions as if that was the main goal in life. They act like God does not care about their needs. But our focus should not be on ourselves, our wealth, and our possessions; we should focus on God’s kingdom. We do not need to worry. God will provide. He is glad to give us what we need!

  God gives us good gifts on earth. We can steward these gifts for His glory. Earthly treasures will not last forever. When Jesus is our greatest treasure, we can live generously and trust God to provide what we need.

As we begin to explore this week’s lesson, may I encourage you with a verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures? Chapter 6 verse 9 says, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Maybe you don't have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or maybe your children are to young to sit for that long. Take the key points and ask God to give you opportunities to speak them into the hearts of your children throughout the week. Let the Bible become a part of your day to day. Be blessed this week my friends!  

Each week we will include songs, activity pages, the bible lesson video, memory verses and possibly a craft or 2. We pray this will help you find ways to engage your kids spiritually. It is written in script form from the K-2nd grade lesson so you can read directly from it or change it up to suit your children. Take a few moments to print the activity pages as well as the additional activities and review the lesson so you can make adjustments as needed. I have included the Bible and Discussion questions along with a breakdown of the Gospel in the Older Kids Activities pages and loads of activities and crafts on the Preschool Extra Activity Pages. Once you are ready, go ahead and start with these songs if you'd like or pick some of your favorite worship songs and then jump right in! Have fun! And remember, this does not need to be done in one sitting! Feel free to break it up over the course of the week. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. I'd love to hear from you!  

So, let's get started. I like to begin each week with Blessings and Bummers. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives during this time at home? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest bummers? 

  Parents share your blessings and bummers and encourage the kids to do the same. Here is mine. My blessing this week is the opportunity to spend time with my family. 

  Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we love you Lord. You are so good to us even though we don't deserve it! Thank you for continuing to bless us Lord. Thank you for protecting us, keeping us safe under your wings. Thank you for being our shelter and our strength. Thank you for our friends as well as our families. Help us to appreciate all you do for us and to look to you in all that we do. In Jesus name, Amen. (please add to or customize prayer time to fit your family)

  Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers! Let me ask you a question: Prompt kids to talk about the most important thing they own. We often own things that are very special to us. Today we will talk about Jesus’ teachings about possessions. Possessions are the things we own. How do you think Jesus wants us to view the things we own?
 

Optional Session Starter Activity (Pick one of two options, or do both, this is your party ) (In activity pages attached below) 

  As we get to the story, let’s take another look at the big picture question.

Let’s review our big picture question and answer. What did Jesus teach when He was on earth? Jesus taught about God and His kingdom. He taught that all Scripture is about Him. Jesus wanted people to know God, so He told people all about the Father. Jesus also wanted people to understand that He is the Messiah, so He used the Old Testament to show that He is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. All Scripture points to Jesus.

When we started this unit, we heard the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus taught people how they should live in God’s Kingdom. We learned that sin begins in our hearts and minds, so no one but Jesus can obey perfectly. Then we learned that following Jesus is not easy, but He is worth it. Last week, we studied prayer. Jesus taught people how to pray. He taught that we should have faith and trust God to do what is best for us. This week, we will learn what Jesus taught about our possessions. Let’s watch today's video to learn more about how to pray (Note: we are using the Jr Church video for both PreK and Jr Church this week):

I think that most of us know what it feels like to want something really badly. Greed and selfishness are a natural part of our sinful hearts. We want things we don’t have, and sometimes we make those things into idols by focusing all our attention on what we want and how we will get it. Jesus explained that is not a good way to live. Sin always keeps us from feeling joy.

It’s important to notice that Jesus doesn’t promise that God will give us everything we want. God is righteous and loving. He always does what is best. He doesn’t always give us what we want because often we want things that are bad for us. God wants to take care of us.

Jesus pointed to nature. He reminded people that if we can trust God to take care of all the plants and animals in nature, we can certainly trust Him to take care of us. He loves people more than any other part of creation. We can trust Him to meet our needs.

But what about the things we want? Well, Jesus’ teaching helps us understand a very important truth: He is more valuable than anything else. The only way to experience real joy, peace, and love is to live for God’s kingdom, worshiping Jesus as King. When we understand that Jesus is the greatest treasure, we understand that we can live without the things that we often think are so important.

God may still choose to bless you with cool toys or fun games, but people who treasure Jesus most will be transformed by His love. Believers can use all their possessions to bless other people and share God’s love with their neighbors. When we say that it is better to give than to receive, we really mean it! We’ve received all we need through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, so we can give generously to others.

Jesus is our greatest treasure. Jesus left His place in heaven to live humbly on earth. Jesus obeyed God to set up His kingdom. We can give generously and trust God to provide everything we need. When we worry about what we do and do not have, it distracts us from worshiping Jesus and obeying Him out of love. Thankfully, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross makes the way for us to have new life, so we can put away the distractions and live for God’s glory.

  Bible Time! 

  Help kids find Luke 12. Remind the kids that Luke is a part of the Gospels division of the New Testament. Help the kids draw a connection between the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew by showing them how Matthew 6:25-34 contains a very similar teaching. Help kids see that the authors of all the Bible were inspired by God to write exactly God’s Word.

 Ask the following questions. Lead kid’s group to discuss:

What happened to the rich man who stored up his possessions? (He didn’t get to use them because he died, Luke 12:20)

What did Jesus say about the birds? (They don’t plant or harvest food, but God feeds them; Luke 12:24)

What treasure did Jesus tell people to seek? (the kingdom of God; heavenly treasure; Luke 12:31-33)

What does “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” mean? Guide kids to see that when we value something a lot, we think about it. Whatever we treasure most, we will spend our time and energy trying to get or protect. Help them see that greed distracts us from loving God and obeying His commands to be generous.

What do you think treasure in heaven will be like? Talk to the kids about what they think. Encourage them to be honest. Gently guide them away from the traditional ideas of gold, silver, or jewels. Help them see that heavenly treasure has more to do with enjoying God’s perfection and living in a perfect, restored world.

How can we avoid greed and selfishness? Help kids understand that to overcome greed we must understand Jesus’ generosity displayed on the cross. As we better understand the extravagant generosity of Christ, our love for Him will move us to show generosity as Jesus did.

Say • Jesus taught people not to worry because God provides for our needs. It is not sinful to own possessions, but those who love Jesus seek ways to show generosity and glorify God with our stuff.

Write each word or phrase of the key passage on an adhesive name tag. Place one name tag each kid’s back and challenge kids to work together without talking to arrange themselves in the correct order.

Say • Our key passage comes from the Book of John. Jesus spoke these words to His disciples before He went to die on the cross. Jesus knew that it would be hard for them to remember the wonderful things He taught them about God and God’s kingdom. Thankfully, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us. He helps us remember the truth that Jesus taught so we can love and obey God.

 Let's pray: God, thank You for caring about us. We know that we do not deserve Your love. Thank You for loving us anyway. Help us trust You and live generously with all the blessings You have given us. Amen.

  Thanks for joining us! See you next week!

  Thank you to Lifeway's Gospel Project for providing this material and allowing us to publish it.