OUR HEAVENLY FATHER
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
MATTHEW 6 24-34
Key Verse
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”.
Matthew 6:34
INTRODUCTION
Everything we see on earth and in the universe has been created by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All three are called God. They are Sspirit Beings and not made of flesh and bones and material substances as human beings are. They are infinite and that means they have holiness, love, mercy, compassion, patience, power, creativity, genius, and all other virtues without limit. They love to create and so they made the universe, the heavens, angelic beings, the earth and human beings and all kinds of life forms such as animals, birds, fish, and plants.
Men were created in the image and likeness of God and so they could be close to God and have fellowship, intimacy, closeness, and communication with Him. They could also be close and have relationships with each other in a similar way to the closeness and intimacy and love that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have with each other.
The Bible therefore pictures us as having an Heavenly Father giving us an idea by having fathers on earth what a father should be like. Fathers should care for their families, love them deeply without any limits, be kind, have mercy, and do everything to make sure the family and the children will have their needs me and they will succeed in life.
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount therefore pointed out that the people of God who believed on Him had a Father in heaven and they should behave as He behaved. Since this Father in heaven was so great and loving and made sure that they had the best, they the believers in God should not worry and have anxiety when the troubles of life came. They should remember they belonged to God, trust and obey Him, and work and do what was right. He was responsible to take care of them and so worrying and anxiety made no sense. Worrying could not increase how tall they were or add one minute to how long they lived. Worry and anxiety would not help but would make their life worse.
Jesus pointed out God looked after the birds who were quite helpless and vulnerable and even though they did all they could to get food and shelter God provided that for them. God was so creative that in summer the wild plants in the field were more beautiful than even the rich king Solomon. They did not last long but while they lived no one was more beautiful than they. God looked after the birds and the plants and He would just in that way look after human beings who were more valuable than the valuable and beautiful birds and the plants. So Jesus told His disciples they should seek first the kingdom of God and do what they could to make the Kingdom of God extend all over the earth and bring people to come to know God, love Him, obey Him, and trust in Him . They should concentrate on doing the righteous things God wanted them to do. That was more valuable than worrying and being anxious over what was happening around them. When they did as God wanted God would make sure His blessings would come to them. He was their Father