Today’s Post…
This week, we will take a look at some Parables that aren’t the most well known. They all focus on spiritual verses earthly rewards. I wrote these lessons over the weekend for a team taking a mission trip to Alaska. Hope your family enjoys them!
The Rich Fool (Luke 12:15-21)
Focus – A heavenly saving’s account (What’s more important earthly riches or spiritual ones?)
Attention Grabber:
Object Lesson –
Object Lesson Materials: worn out, broken items that were once valuable or important to someone (broken watch, rusted item, clothing that has holes, etc.)
Procedure: Talk about each item – how nice it used to be, how much money it must have
cost, how much the owners must have loved them, but now they are worthless. Talk about
how earthly treasures don’t last, but heavenly treasures will. Explain that today’s parable is about someone who put their trust in the wrong kind of treasures.
Bible Study:
Read Luke 12:15-21
Jesus told the parable about a man that had a very good harvest. His barns weren’t even large enough for all he had, so he built bigger barns. He spent so much time working on getting more and more stuff here, but didn’t spend any time working on things that would matter eternally.
Did you know we have kind of a bank account in heaven?
Read Matthew 16:27
The Bible teaches that we will be rewarded in heaven based on our deeds.
Read Daniel 12:3
It appears that one way to earn a reward in heaven is to tell people about the gospel so that they become saved. Also, Jesus seems to point to using our wealth for purposes which are heavenly such as helping the poor, supporting missionaries, etc. We will talk more about this in tomorrow’s parable – The Shrewd Manager.
What will the reward be? The Bible doesn’t specify, but it does point to these two things:
- Joy (Luke 15:6-7)
- Responsibilities (Matthew 25:14-30)
There are probably other rewards too!
Read Matthew 6:19-21
Wherever you spend the most time laying your treasure, that’s where it will be stored. Since heaven is forever, make sure you spend most of your time earning treasures that will last eternally!
Craft:
Good Deeds Egg Carton Treasure Box – spray paint the egg cartons in advance. Have the kids add sequins and jewel stickers.
Found this craft and picture above here: http://www.messylittlemonster.com/2015/09/pirate-treasure-chest-egg-carton-craft.html
Add Good Deed Coins inside the box. (print on bright yellow paper if you can)
Activity:
Treasure Tag – Pirate’s love treasure! Pretend a pool noodle is a sword and use it to play tag. The person who is “it” must try to touch the others with the pool noodle. If you get touched, you become the pirate after the treasure.
For further study, this article was A-mazing!
coldcasechristianity.com/2012/are-there-different-degrees-of-reward-in-heaven/