August 27, 2017 God Leads His People (Planet 1) God Creates Leaders!!! Lesson Highlights: Scripture References: Genesis 1:26-31, 2:19-20 Teaching Point: God creates man and gives him a mandate to be wise, productive servants of God. Unit Memory Verse: Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Alternate Verse: Genesis 1:26a Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Story Snap Shot This Sunday we will be focusing on God s gift of leaders in His creation. We hope to show the kids that God created us in His image. We were created in His image so we could be in relationship with Him and with others. We are also to lead as His representatives on earth. We demonstrate that representation by caring for and ruling over all creation. We display His image by obeying the authority of God by ruling the earth well. And of course, we ll finish up with the one true representative of God, Jesus Christ, as both our only hope of becoming God s leaders and the sacrifice for our failure to rule this earth perfectly. Write kids names on board with total attendance! After the Rally Idea: use the icebreaker question to introduce this morning s topic and get the kids talking! 1 P a g e
Planet 1, OT Lesson 2: God Creates Leaders Icebreaker Question: Open your Bibles!!! (Get the kids to open their bibles and read!) Read: Genesis 1:26-27 What did God create? (He made man and woman.) What was the job of man? (Man was to rule creation.) What is different between man and the animals? (Man is made in God s image.) What do you think it means to be made in God s image? (It means you have characteristics like God..to be able to create, to destroy, to love, and to express different emotions.) Have the kids look up the following verses and see what human like characteristic you see! You can have the kids race or write them on the dry erase board. Genesis 18:21 (God can see.) Genesis 8:21 (God can smell things.) Genesis 3:8 (God can walk.) Genesis 8:1 (God can remember.) Psalm 34:17 (God hears.) Psalm 78:40 (God grieves.) Isaiah 62:5 (God has joy.) Jeremiah 7:18-19 (God gets angry.) John 3:16 (God has love.) 2 P a g e
August 27, 2017 God Leads His People (Planet 1) God Creates Leaders!!! Can you see the huge differences between people and animals? Can you see mankind is much more complex? How can you tell? Can you see the worth of people is so much greater than animals? How does it make you feel that as a human you have authority and yet you are under authority? Whose authority are you under? Below are other verses that share whose authority we are under! Read Romans 13:1-2 Why do we have authority? Do you want to read other verses that deal with authority? Read I Peter 2:13-18 We are to obey the laws of our country! Read Ephesians 5:22-28 Husbands have authority over wives but are to love them as their own body. Christ has authority over the church. Read Ephesians 6:1 Children are under the authority of parents. Do we obey authority perfectly? Who Does? 3 P a g e
Planet 1, OT Lesson 2: God Creates Leaders Read John 5:19 or 12:49 Jesus is the only one who could perfectly obey God! Take Home: What does this Genesis story tell you about God? He is a lot like us since we are made in His image. We are not equal to God. God is our authority and we also see different levels of authority on the earth. God is our authority because God is the Creator of all things. God s power is His Word. In John 1 the Word became flesh which meant this power was contained in a human body. That person was Jesus. That power is demonstrated in the gospel books and in His perfect obedience! Prayer Time Before you pray, allow the kids to share with you things that are happening in their lives. Be sure you write these down with their names for you to pray for as the week goes along. Ask them the things they mentioned the previous week. Older kids can be asked if they will pray for another who mentions something. As the leader, begin by opening in prayer and thanking God for this lesson: Praise God for sending Jesus Christ as His perfect representation and our hope of becoming like Him. Ask God to give us hearts that want to serve Him here on earth. Pray for any specific requests named either by praying yourself or by opening it up to those who said they would pray. 4 P a g e
August 27, 2017 God Leads His People (Planet 1) God Creates Leaders!!! Activities and Crazy Ideas: Activity 1: What makes you special? Have one kid at a time come to the front of the rooms and say.. How did God make special? Make sure you stay positive! You can even write it down on a notecard for each child so they can take it home and show their parents what makes them special. Activity 2: Follow the Leader. You can play follow the leader. You can remind the kids of the lesson that God created order and authority. Activity 3: Authority Chain. Put the child s name on the board. Ask the kids who has authority over the child. The response is their parents. Make a circle above the name of the child and put the word parents in the circle above the name. Then ask what is the next level of authority above the parents? Is it police? Grandparents? Keep adding circles of authority above each line until they get to God! Activity 4: Amazing Men & Women. Share a brief story about amazing men and women in our history. You can also share amazing stories of grandparents or teachers or anybody who did incredible things. Do the kids have any stories like that? Remind the kids that these of just glimpses of who God is as we are made in His image! Activity 5: More Amazing Write the question What would make mankind more amazing? on the dry erase board. See what they write. Would it be flight or some special power? Remind the kids how much mankind has invented and accomplished. It is evidence of our Creator! 5 P a g e
Planet 1, OT Lesson 2: God Creates Leaders Notes and Commentary 1:26 Let us make man in our image. The text does not specify the identity of the us mentioned here. Some have suggested that God may be addressing the members of his court, whom the OT elsewhere calls sons of God (e.g., Job 1:6) and the NT calls angels, but a significant objection is that man is not made in the image of angels, nor is there any indication that angels participated in the creation of human beings. Many Christians and some Jews have taken us to be God speaking to himself, since God alone does the making in Gen. 1:27 (cf. 5:1); this would be the first hint of the Trinity in the Bible (cf. 1:2). 1:26 The divine Son is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). Man was created in a way that reflects the imaging relation among the persons of the Trinity. The redemption of man from the fall and sin includes re-creation (2 Cor. 5:17), his being created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness, in the image of Christ (Eph. 4:24). 1:27 There has been debate about the expression image of God. Many scholars point out the idea, commonly used in the ancient Near East, of the king who was the visible representative of the deity; thus the king ruled on behalf of the god. Since v. 26 links the image of God with the exercise of dominion over all the other creatures of the seas, heavens, and earth, one can see that humanity is endowed here with authority to rule the earth as God s representatives or vice-regents (see note on v. 28). Other scholars, seeing the pattern of male and female, have concluded that humanity expresses God s image in relationship, particularly in well-functioning human community, both in marriage and in wider society. Traditionally, the image has been seen as the capacities that set man apart from the other animals ways in which humans resemble God, such as in the characteristics of reason, morality, language, a capacity for relationships governed by love and commitment, and creativity in all forms of art. All these insights can be put together by observing that the resemblances (man is like God in a series of ways) allow mankind to represent God in ruling, and to establish worthy relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of the creation. This image and this dignity apply to both male and female human beings. (This view is unique in the context of the ancient Near East. In Mesopotamia, e.g., the gods created humans merely to carry out work for them.) The Hebrew term adam, translated as man, is often a generic term that denotes both male and female, while sometimes it refers to man in distinction from woman (2:22, 23, 25; 3:8, 9, 12, 20): it becomes the proper name Adam (2:20; 3:17, 21; 4:1; 5:1). At this stage, humanity as a species is set apart from all other creatures and crowned with glory and honor as ruler of the earth 6 P a g e
August 27, 2017 God Leads His People (Planet 1) God Creates Leaders!!! (cf. Ps. 8:5 8). The events recorded in Genesis 3, however, will have an important bearing on the creation status of humanity. 1 1:24 31. Day six was Creation s climax for it included mankind. Though man was the last creature mentioned in the account, he did not evolve; he was created. Human life was created in (lit., as, meaning in essence as ) the image of God (v. 27). This image was imparted only to humans (2:7). Image (ṣelem) is used figuratively here, for God does not have a human form. Being in God s image means that humans share, though imperfectly and finitely, in God s nature, that is, in His communicable attributes (life, personality, truth, wisdom, love, holiness, justice), and so have the capacity for spiritual fellowship with Him. God s purpose in creating human life in His image was functional: man is to rule or have dominion (1:26, 28). God s dominion was presented by a representative. (Egyptian kings later, in idolatry, did a similar kind of thing: they represented their rule or dominion by making representative statues of themselves.) However, because of sin all things are not under man s dominion (Heb. 2:8). But Jesus Christ will establish dominion over all the earth (Heb. 2:5 8) at His second coming. God pronounced His blessing on the male and the female: they were to be fruitful and increase in number. In Genesis, to be blessed was to be enriched and fertile. Such marvelous decrees of God would be significant for Israel, that was God s representative on earth. She would enter the land of promise and would expect God s continued blessing. 2 Lecture Notes Before we start with today s lesson, let s back up for a minute to last week when we talked about God creating everything in the beginning. What did we learn about God first of all? Anyone remember? (Possible answers: God has all authority and power to create everything. He wasn t created. Everything in creation obeys God.) And to show that we walked through the 7 days of creation. Let s see if you can remember what they are. (Go to the board to start a list.) On days 1, 2 and 3, what did God create? (light and dark; sea and sky; dry land - earth) So, on the 1 Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 51). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 2 Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 29). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 7 P a g e
Planet 1, OT Lesson 2: God Creates Leaders first three days, God creates the spaces, the places where everything would go. Then on the next three days, He created what? (4: sun, moon, stars, planets, etc.; 5: fish and birds; 6: land animals, man and woman) Okay, so now we have everything in its place. Let s open your Bibles to Genesis 1 again and pick up the story where we left off. (Give them time.) In verse 25, God has just made the animals and said what He made was good. Now, can someone read verses 26 and 27? Notice this is the first time God makes something in a way that is different than everything else. What made man different? (in God s image, after His likeness) What do you think that means? (see what they say) Does God have brown hair and ten fingers? No, He doesn t, does He? In fact the Bible tells us God can t be seen at all; He s Spirit. The book of Colossians in the New Testament tells us Jesus is the image of the invisible God. (Col. 1:15) Since we can t see God, what can it mean that we are all made in His image? (see what they say) It means God created us to be like Him and to represent Him. And we are like Him in lots of ways. Remember when God was creating the world and the Bible said God saw it was good? God can see and we can do that, too. It also says God sees (Gen. 18:21), smells (Gen. 8:21), walks (Lev. 26:12), and remembers (Gen. 8:1). It also tells us He feels emotions like joy (Is. 62:5), grief (Ps. 78:40), anger (Jer. 7:18-19) and love (John 3:16). And when He made us, He gave us those same things not always like He does it, though. He doesn t use eyes to see, but the reason we have sight is because God sees. He made us to be like Him. And He did it for an amazing reason God wanted us to be like Him so we could know Him, love Him and be in relationship with Him. That s something He didn t give to any other part of all of creation. You are created especially for knowing God. And you re also created to represent Him here on earth. That means we sort of take God s role in some ways do what He does do His job with Him and for Him. Remember God is the one with all authority and power over all creation. But He s passed on some of that to us. Let s keep reading to see how. Look at verses 28-29. Who would read those for us? Okay, let s look back at what God told them in verse 28. What did God command them to do? (be fruitful/multiply/fill the earth and subdue the earth/have dominion over it) So, there are two basic parts. Just like He is in relationship both with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and in relationship with us, we are told to do good by making more relationships by having children and by loving each other just as He loves us. Then there s the second way we are supposed to obey God by subduing the earth and having dominion over it. What do you think those things mean? When you subdue something what does that look like? (take a few answers.) You might think of it like making sure people do what they re supposed to to keep things in their place to make sure things work how they re supposed to work. God did this first, didn t He? He 8 P a g e
August 27, 2017 God Leads His People (Planet 1) God Creates Leaders!!! placed the stars right where they were supposed to go. The fish live in water and He makes sure by the way He designed them that they can t live anywhere else. Well, we can t create things out of nothing, but we become leaders who use the authority He s given us to keep things in place. But how do we know we have the right to do that? Remember the word dominion? That s what that word means power and authority. God gave us some of what He has. How do we have some of the same power and authority God has? What are some ways we can make sure things and animals are subdued? (farmers planting seeds to make crops and pulling weeds; taming animals for work and play; building furniture out of wood; digging up metals and making useful things out of them) So, does this mean as leaders we get to use things however we want? Does that mean whatever we do is good? Can you think of some ways we use things that isn t good? (discarding trash wherever, wasting water, eating too much, using items to harm others, dumping chemicals which harm the land and water, over-killing animals) When God made us leaders, He meant for us to be here not for ourselves but to be here for Him. That s what it means to be His representatives. We are supposed to know what He s like and to be more like that. We re supposed to watch what He does and do things like Him. We re supposed to be leaders like God, and leaders who always remember that the power and authority we have comes only from God. So, how can this help you as you go this week? Well, if you re like me, some of you probably need to rule over some of the things you have! What are some things in your life that aren t being taken care of like they re supposed to be? (Cleaning their rooms, taking care of their things by treating them correctly, using resources like electricity wisely kids may need prompting) There s another way this lesson can help us. Are you like me? Do you sometimes have people tell you what to do and you don t really like it? (Let them mention people in authority over them teachers, parents, babysitters, siblings when parent is away, even the rules and laws over them) What did this lesson teach us that can help us when we are struggling? (God gave our leaders their authority. They are doing what God commands. Submitting to them is submitting to God s authority Rom. 13:1-2, 1 Peter 2:13-18) Remember that when God told us this, He gave it as a blessing not a punishment. This is the way we will find our happiness not in rebelling against authority, but using it and submitting to it as He intended. So, as we go to pray, let s ask 9 P a g e
Planet 1, OT Lesson 2: God Creates Leaders God to help us in both ways to become leaders who act like Him and to learn to submit to those leaders He s given us for our good. But the most important thing we can remember really has nothing to do with us at all and yet, it tells us everything about ourselves. Who did we say came to really be the image of God? (Jesus) He was the perfect man the one who got it right. He didn t say what He wanted but only spoke the words God wanted. (John 12:49) He didn t do what He wanted but only did whatever He saw the Father doing. (John 5:19) He came to do what we failed at and to pay the price for our failure. And He came to leave us an example so that we would know what it really means to be human to be a child of God to have a Father with authority and power over us and care and love for us. The more we get to know Him, the more we ll know the Father and the more we ll know the way to go ourselves. He is who we need to be like to follow after so this world truly has God s representatives on this earth ruling, subduing and multiplying rightly. If we have Him, we have everything we need for life here. If we miss Him though? We ll never know what it means to truly live. Pray with me that God would open our eyes to see Jesus so we could find life both now and forever. Suggested Follow-up Activities Teachers are free to choose the activities that they feel are best for their group. The idea is that as the children work and play, remind them of the truths they just learned. Scripture Memory: Figure out your reward system for memorizing the Scriptures provided in this section. Give the children several opportunities to tell it to you in class. Play a memory game with the kids if you have time. Craft: I m A Leader Remind the kids that today we learned about God s gift of leaders in His creation. God created us in His image so we could be in relationship with Him and with others and so we could lead as His representatives on earth, caring for and ruling over all. We can display His image by obeying the authorities God s given us and by ruling over our own areas of responsibility in a way that displays God s image most clearly just like the one true representative of God, Jesus Christ. Give each child a copy of one of the figures. Help them color their person to match their own hair, skin and eye color. Give them the fabric cut-outs of clothing or patterned paper and have them glue them on. As they work, have them tell you one way they are made in God s image and write it on their paper. (Lots of possible answers: I can see. I can feel happy. I can hear. I can think. I can help people. I can take care of things.) 10 P a g e
August 27, 2017 God Leads His People (Planet 1) God Creates Leaders!!! Younger Child Option: Prior to class, cut the paper or material into the shape of pants, shirts, skirts, etc. Materials: copies of craft page; fabric, scrapbook paper or construction paper; glue; crayons or markers Game: Follow Me Remind the kids that today we learned about God s gift of leaders in His creation. God created us in His image so we could be in relationship with Him and with others and so we could lead as His representatives on earth, caring for and ruling over all. We can display His image by obeying the authorities God s given us and by ruling over our own areas of responsibility in a way that displays God s image most clearly just like the one true representative of God, Jesus Christ. Have kids stand in a circle and choose one child to be in the middle. Remind the kids that God wants us to watch Him and then to follow what He does. Tell them you re going to play a game called Follow Me. Explain the game to them and then have the child in the middle close their eyes while you choose your first leader. When the person in the middle isn t looking, your leader will start doing a motion and as soon as they do, the rest of the circle begins to repeat it until everyone is doing the motion. Maybe the motion is clapping or patting their head or jumping whatever they want. After everyone in the circle does it, the same person will change motions. This continues as the person in the middle is trying to figure out who the leader is. The trick to explain to the kids in the circle is not to stare at the leader too long because then the person in the middle will discover it too quickly. Play continues as you have another child go to the middle and close their eyes while you select a new leader. When your time is up, remind them that just as the person in the middle had to watch closely to discover who the real leader was, we also have to watch God closely to become leaders who look just like Him. Craft/Class Activity: Flip Faces Remind the kids that that today we learned about God s gift of leaders in His creation. God created us in His image so we could be in relationship with Him and with others and so we could lead as His representatives on earth, caring for and ruling over all. We can display His image by obeying the authorities God s given us and by ruling over 11 P a g e
Planet 1, OT Lesson 2: God Creates Leaders our own areas of responsibility in a way that displays God s image most clearly just like the one true representative of God, Jesus Christ. Give each of the children a craft page and tell them to draw a picture of themselves making sure that they keep the eyes on the top section, the nose in the middle and the lips at the bottom. Once they finish, have them cut out the rectangle around it and bring it to you. Stack them all together making sure to keep the pictures in line together. Staple the papers together and then cut along the dotted lines being careful not to cut all the way to the other side. This will make a flip book where you can change the lips to another page or the eyes, etc. Show the kids the combinations you can make with all of their faces. Talk about the unique way God made each of us and the things that we all have in common. Optional Craft: Give each child three copies of the paper and have them draw different faces on each. Stack and staple their own pile together and show them how to cut through all three to make their own mini-flip book Materials: copies of the craft page; crayons or markers; scissors; stapler Craft: Funny Face (Older Child Option) Remind the kids that that today we learned about God s gift of leaders in His creation. God created us in His image so we could be in relationship with Him and with others and so we could lead as His representatives on earth, caring for and ruling over all. We can display His image by obeying the authorities God s given us and by ruling over our own areas of responsibility in a way that displays God s image most clearly just like the one true representative of God, Jesus Christ. Give each child a copy of the face outline and a copy of the various face pieces. Have them pick whatever they d like to make their face by cutting out the pieces and gluing them in place. You could also allow them to use pencils to draw in their own ideas for the parts of the face. Provide yarn or crinkled paper for hair. Show off everyone s creations and talk about the unique way God made each of us and the things we all have in common. Materials: copies of the craft pages; pencils; crayons or markers; scissors; stick glue; yarn or crinkled paper; liquid glue Notes: 12 P a g e