Sometimes a very visual demonstration drives home the reality of scripture so much better than just talking about it.
**Potiphar and Prison
"Don't let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good.” - Romans 12:21
Materials needed: mini bowling ball set, balls, bouncy balls, string
God set up laws in our world to make things work smoothly. Can you think of any? Gravity. Friction. Inertia. Newton’s Third Law of Motion.
Dave experienced inertia with the van recently. Also called Newton’s First Law of Motion, inertia is the tendency of an object in motion to stay in motion (or object at rest to stay at rest) until acted upon by an outside force. You might say that the deer ran afoul of Newton’s First Law of Motion - and paid for it with its life.
Also called the conservation of momentum, Newton’s First Law of Motion is why people use wrecking balls. The weight of the ball uses gravity to smash it into the building to be demolished. The wrecking ball continues in motion until it’s acted upon by another force - the building.
Another of God’s laws, Newton’s Third Law of Motion, states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s one of the laws in play when you bounce a ball. What happens if you get in the way of a bouncing ball? You definitely feel the energy - with whatever force the ball was thrown, it’s going to bounce with almost the same amount of energy - right into your chin.
We depend on the consistency of God’s laws to function in our world. For instance, friction is what keeps our cars on the pavement. Ice greatly decreases friction and we know what happens then. You walk out the front door and find yourself on the ground. Friction may have been minimized, but gravity is still hard at work.
So what does this have to do with Joseph and Potiphar? Well, it wasn’t exactly Potiphar; it was his wife. She wanted Joseph to break one of God’s laws; she wanted him to commit adultery. Joseph knew that was wrong. He knew that it was sin - the transgression of God’s law. And he wanted no part of it.
Just as there are consequences for running afoul of God’s natural laws (like inertia, friction, and gravity), there are consequences for running afoul of God’s moral laws. Joseph did the right thing; he got out of there - leaving his cloak in her hand when she tried to grab him. Although it made Potiphar’s wife mad and Joseph ended up in prison, it would have been much worse if Joseph had broken God’s law like she wanted. It’s much worse to have God angry with you.
Your memory verse says, “Don’t let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good.” Evil is going against God’s laws; doing good is the opposite - keeping God’s laws - and that’s what we’re called to do, to obey and honor God always. You can’t run afoul of any of God’s laws without consequences.
**A Serving Savior
“Don’t use your freedom as an excuse to sin. . . Serve one another in love” (Paraphrase). - Galatians 5:13
Materials: Servant questions on cards
How do you feel about serving others? Is that something you naturally do? Is it something you think you should do but try to avoid? Or are you the one who is normally served?
Can you think of a time when you last served someone?
Are you the one who says, “Hey, can you get me a kleenex?” Or are you the one who goes to get the kleenex?
Do you look around for things that need to be done? Or do you focus mostly on what you want to do?
Do you like helping other people? Do you wish they’d do more for themselves? Do you prefer that people help you accomplish your goals?
When someone asks you to do something, what’s your first response? Is it “Do I have to?” Do you gladly help? Or is it somewhere in-between? Do you ever help someone grudgingly? You do it, but you don’t really want to.
During the time of Jesus, many people wore sandals. So as they walked from place to place, their feet would get dirty. It was custom for a host to have a servant wash the feet of their guests. It’s a nice way to help them feel welcomed, comfortable, and honored. So when Jesus got up after dinner and began to wash the disciples’ feet, it was shocking to the disciples! This was not something their esteemed Teacher, the Son of God, should be doing. There were lowly servants to do this sort of thing! But Jesus needed to teach His disciples (and all of us) that the greatest in the kingdom of God is the servant of all (Matthew 23:11). Paul tells us (Philippians 2:3) to consider others better than ourselves. That kind of humility doesn’t come naturally to most of us.
So how do you get to a place where you have a servant’s heart - willing to help those who need it, looking for things that need to be done, honestly serving in love? God works a change in our hearts - helping us to understand how Jesus came as a suffering servant. If He gave us this example to follow, we had better learn to submit to Him and learn to serve.
Here’s a place to start: Can you truly serve someone with gladness if you are upset at them over something? Work at fixing the relationship you have with the people around you, admit when you are wrong, apologize, and work to make it right. Give grace to those who have done something to upset you. Forgive, knowing how much you want God’s forgiveness.
And as for serving, how can you serve God if you are not willing to serve the people around you? (Principle from 1 John 4:20). It’s something to think about as we rapidly approach Passover.
"Don't let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good.” - Romans 12:21
Materials needed: mini bowling ball set, balls, bouncy balls, string
God set up laws in our world to make things work smoothly. Can you think of any? Gravity. Friction. Inertia. Newton’s Third Law of Motion.
Dave experienced inertia with the van recently. Also called Newton’s First Law of Motion, inertia is the tendency of an object in motion to stay in motion (or object at rest to stay at rest) until acted upon by an outside force. You might say that the deer ran afoul of Newton’s First Law of Motion - and paid for it with its life.
Also called the conservation of momentum, Newton’s First Law of Motion is why people use wrecking balls. The weight of the ball uses gravity to smash it into the building to be demolished. The wrecking ball continues in motion until it’s acted upon by another force - the building.
Another of God’s laws, Newton’s Third Law of Motion, states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s one of the laws in play when you bounce a ball. What happens if you get in the way of a bouncing ball? You definitely feel the energy - with whatever force the ball was thrown, it’s going to bounce with almost the same amount of energy - right into your chin.
We depend on the consistency of God’s laws to function in our world. For instance, friction is what keeps our cars on the pavement. Ice greatly decreases friction and we know what happens then. You walk out the front door and find yourself on the ground. Friction may have been minimized, but gravity is still hard at work.
So what does this have to do with Joseph and Potiphar? Well, it wasn’t exactly Potiphar; it was his wife. She wanted Joseph to break one of God’s laws; she wanted him to commit adultery. Joseph knew that was wrong. He knew that it was sin - the transgression of God’s law. And he wanted no part of it.
Just as there are consequences for running afoul of God’s natural laws (like inertia, friction, and gravity), there are consequences for running afoul of God’s moral laws. Joseph did the right thing; he got out of there - leaving his cloak in her hand when she tried to grab him. Although it made Potiphar’s wife mad and Joseph ended up in prison, it would have been much worse if Joseph had broken God’s law like she wanted. It’s much worse to have God angry with you.
Your memory verse says, “Don’t let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good.” Evil is going against God’s laws; doing good is the opposite - keeping God’s laws - and that’s what we’re called to do, to obey and honor God always. You can’t run afoul of any of God’s laws without consequences.
**A Serving Savior
“Don’t use your freedom as an excuse to sin. . . Serve one another in love” (Paraphrase). - Galatians 5:13
Materials: Servant questions on cards
How do you feel about serving others? Is that something you naturally do? Is it something you think you should do but try to avoid? Or are you the one who is normally served?
Can you think of a time when you last served someone?
Are you the one who says, “Hey, can you get me a kleenex?” Or are you the one who goes to get the kleenex?
Do you look around for things that need to be done? Or do you focus mostly on what you want to do?
Do you like helping other people? Do you wish they’d do more for themselves? Do you prefer that people help you accomplish your goals?
When someone asks you to do something, what’s your first response? Is it “Do I have to?” Do you gladly help? Or is it somewhere in-between? Do you ever help someone grudgingly? You do it, but you don’t really want to.
During the time of Jesus, many people wore sandals. So as they walked from place to place, their feet would get dirty. It was custom for a host to have a servant wash the feet of their guests. It’s a nice way to help them feel welcomed, comfortable, and honored. So when Jesus got up after dinner and began to wash the disciples’ feet, it was shocking to the disciples! This was not something their esteemed Teacher, the Son of God, should be doing. There were lowly servants to do this sort of thing! But Jesus needed to teach His disciples (and all of us) that the greatest in the kingdom of God is the servant of all (Matthew 23:11). Paul tells us (Philippians 2:3) to consider others better than ourselves. That kind of humility doesn’t come naturally to most of us.
So how do you get to a place where you have a servant’s heart - willing to help those who need it, looking for things that need to be done, honestly serving in love? God works a change in our hearts - helping us to understand how Jesus came as a suffering servant. If He gave us this example to follow, we had better learn to submit to Him and learn to serve.
Here’s a place to start: Can you truly serve someone with gladness if you are upset at them over something? Work at fixing the relationship you have with the people around you, admit when you are wrong, apologize, and work to make it right. Give grace to those who have done something to upset you. Forgive, knowing how much you want God’s forgiveness.
And as for serving, how can you serve God if you are not willing to serve the people around you? (Principle from 1 John 4:20). It’s something to think about as we rapidly approach Passover.