LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
DEUTERONOMY 15: 4-11 MATTHEW 25:42-45
Key Verse
“For the poor will not cease to exist in the land: therefore I am commanding you saying, “You shall fully open your hand to your brother, to the needy and poor in your land”.
Deuteronomy 15:11
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever been doing your homework and an assignment from school and something stumps you? Or have you been trying to tie your shoe laces and the silly think wont tie, and one of your friends turn up unexpectedly and solve the problem in a second, and your laces are tied and looks even more neat and beautiful than when you tied them?
A lot of times in our life having someone to help you when you need help is a very good thing. You are so happy.
God planned our lives that way. When we need help He has promised to either help you Himself or to have some turn up to help you.
God established some rules for the children of Israel. They had been slaves in Egypt with no one around to help them most of the time. As a result they felt it was every man for himself. That did not make for a good and happy life. So God, knowing how the people in Israel would accumulate money, property, and all kinds of wealth for themselves and do everything to keep it all for themselves, God established a rule that your “neighbour”, which is the same ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ must be helped when they need it. Why so? All the people in the nation were one family.
God had helped and blessed them all, and they should have the same attitude as God had. They should do the same and have the attitude to the people in the nation as God had. They were to treat each others as members of one family. God had placed them in a covenant with Him and that made them special people. They should treat each other ss special people.
When someone needed help and had run out of money to pay their debts, run out of food, needed some place to live, and just could not help themselves, the other people who were better off should help them with money or goods needed. They should not be charged interest on that loan. At the end of seven years, the balance of the loan owing should be cancelled. All debts were to be cancelled, wiped out, and everyone would be able to make a fresh start. No one should become poor and stay poor.
What a fantastic and extraordinary arrangemet god made! If only ther people followed God’s instruction, the nation would be the most beautiful on earth.
God knew people were selfish and wanted to keep everything for themselves. They forget that everything they had had been given to them by God . So God gave them this commandment that they should help their brother in need.
We learn from this that God’s love is powerful. If we are people of God we also must have a powerful love for our neighbour. We must help.
God loves to see His children, members of His family, behave like Him. When we do that He will be pleased and will bless those in need, and will bless those who helped in a special way. Everyone will be better off when we follow the commandments of God.