VERSE: 1 Timothy 6:6-12
MEMORY VERSE: 1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Ephesians. In order for the Bible students to memorize all the books of the Bible, continue writing books of the Bible on small strips of paper, so the students may taken them home to memorize. Ephesians is the special book at this time. By adding a book each week, the students will eventually meet the goal of reciting all 66 books of the Bible from memory.
PRAYER: Pray that all those in the Bible class avoid loving money; instead, may they all be rich in good works and laying up treasures in heaven.
SPECIAL SONG: The Books Of The New Testament (see March 2014 - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog. Click on orange icon to hear tune.)
VISUAL AID: Draw a bag of money, a fancy car, and a big house on the white board or chalk board. As the Bible teacher teaches the lesson, cross out each of the drawings. Replace them with a big heart with the word "GOD" in the middle of it.
LESSON POINTS:
- We studied last time about how God's ways are higher than our ways are and how God sees things differently than we do. Most people think that getting rich and buying fancy cars and huge mansions are the most important things they can do as they try to gain more and more money each day as they live here on the earth, but we find that our heavenly Father does not want His people to love money so much that they forget Him. It is written in the book of First Timothy that "the love of money is the root of all evil." (1 Timothy 6:10). Does the verse say that money is the root of all evil? No--the "love" of money is what makes it wrong in God's eyes. Do we need money? Yes--we need to buy food and our apartments or houses, we need to buy clothes. There are many ways that we can use money, but what does God say that is wrong with money? It is sinful for us to LOVE money so much that we can only think of things money can buy for us and we forget that God is the one who supplies us all of the things we need (Philippians 4:19).
- So, if God does not want us to love money, what does He want us to love and follow? Listen carefully as we read 1 Timothy 6:11 together. God wants us to follow righteousness or doing good, godliness or being like God. He wants us to have faith in Him which we can get by hearing God's Word (Romans 10:17). Loving Him and others is important to God. Always being patient with others and being humble in the things that we do is how God wants us to be, not thinking about money so much that we can only think of getting more and more!
- Should we trust in riches? First Timothy 6:17 says that the rich people in this world should not think that they are better than everyone else and that they should not trust in their riches, but that they should trust in God who gives all things. We should all do good and be rich in good works rather than money. We should be willing to help others with the money we possess (1 Timothy 6:18) and always trust God for what we need.
- Read Matthew 6:19-21, 24-33. After reading these select verses, ask the students what treasures can be laid up in heaven (not riches of gold and silver, but obeying God and keeping His commandments, doing good to all men, things of a spiritual nature, etc.) Ask the students what is one of the most important things in God's eyes (Read Matthew 6:33 again).
Materials: White paper, crayons.
- Hand out white paper to students.
- Students write "SHOULD WE LOVE MONEY???" at the top of the paper. ( A drawn heart and a money sign is fine instead of words.)
- Write "1 TIMOTHY 6:10" under the title.
- Students draw a bag of money, a car, a house and a red heart somewhere on the paper.
- Inside the heart, students write the word "GOD".
- Students cross out the bag of money, the car, and the house and circle the heart, showing what is important to God.