Youth Teching Resources Februry 19, 2017 Looking Forwrd (Jnury 1-Februry 26) Mtthew 5:13-20 Slt, Light, nd Lw Mtthew 5:21-37 Then, nd Now Mtthew 5:38-48 Seriously? Mtthew 17:1-19 Keeping Secrets www.nurturingfith.net Subscribe to Nurturing Fith to ccess the core Bible content for this lesson. Find links nd videos relted to this lesson. 1 Nurturing Fith Februry 19, 2017
Seriously? Mtthew 5:38-48 YOUTH Teching Guide by Jeremy Colliver This youth teching outline is designed to support The Bible Lesson by Tony Crtlege, printed in Bptists Tody. You cn subscribe to either the digitl or print edition of Bptists Tody to ccess the lessons. Plese lso ensure tht ech person in your clss hs copy of Bptists Tody so they cn prepre before the lesson. Prent Prep Loving your enemies might be one of the hrdest things tht we re clled to do s followers of Christ. It is even hrder s prents to love those kids tht pick on nd disrupt our own youth s lives. How do you help your students respond to injustices tht re being done is hrd line to follow? How do you stnd up for your child while loving the other? Loving the other doesn t men not holding the other ccountble, but it does men treting them with love s it is done. How you respond, while honoring your youth, will help them to relize how they should respond. Teching the Lesson Fellowship Begin your session by showing the clip Love Your Enemies from The Wr. If you re unble to show the clip, summrize it to the best of your bility, nd then fcilitte discussion using questions like the following: 1) How does the son respond to the insults? Wht does this cuse the people throwing the insults to do? 2) How does the fther respond to the insults? Wht does this cuse the people throwing the insults to do? 3) Why is it hrd to respond with love when you hve been wronged? 4) How does your fith influence how you respond when you hve been wronged? 2 Nurturing Fith Februry 19, 2017
Informtion Trnsition to the next section of the session by reding Mtthew 5:38-48 Allow the students to sk ny initil questions they hve bout the text. As you nswer their questions, you my wnt to provide some of the informtion found in Tony s commentry to nswer their questions. When the students hve hd n opportunity to shre their initil thoughts, continue the discussion by fcilitting discussion using questions like the following: 1) How do you think the disciples responded when they first herd these techings from Jesus? Did they hve reson to question wht Jesus ws sying from wht they hd been previously tught? 2) Why ws the lw eye for n eye progressive step towrd justice? How does Jesus new teching move it even further towrd love? 3) Why does Jesus wnt us to love our enemies? 4) Wht ws Jesus trying to get his followers to move towrd with ll of these lws? 5) Wht does Jesus men when he uses the word perfect here? 6) Do you think Jesus thought we could relly live this wy? Explin. If you group would like to dig deeper in their discussion, shre some of the insights tht Tony provides in the Digging Deeper (vilble in the ltter prt of this youth PDF) portion of his commentry. You my wnt to use some questions like the following to fcilitte your discussion: 1) Why does Jesus use hyperbole in his techings? 2) How similr re the techings of Jesus with the Hmmurbi Lw Code? 3) Why would someone be suing over tunic in this time? Wht does it men for us tody? You my lso wnt your group to discuss The Hrdest Question (vilble in the ltter prt of this youth PDF) if they would like to continue their discussion on this pssge. Tony poses the following question to consider s The Hrdest Question : How literlly should we tke these techings? Trnsformtion Conclude your session by leding the group through the prctice of Lectio Divin. If hve not done this before, fmilirize yourself with the prctice before leding the group. You my wnt to llow the group to shre t ech puse of the discipline. When you hve prcticed Lectio Divin, fcilitte discussion using questions like the following: 1) Wht words stuck out to you the most? Wht ws it bout these words tht mde them stick out to you? 2) Wht words were hrdest for you to her? Why do you think they were hrd to her? 3) If you completely lived out this pssge, how would it trnsform your life? How would other people rect to you? Close with pryer sking God for the strength to forgive nd to love our enemies nd to hve ptience with us s we try nd live this out. 3 Nurturing Fith Februry 19, 2017
Digging Deeper by Tony Crtlege Digging Deeper is designed to support The Bible Lesson by Tony Crtlege, printed in Nurturing Fith Journl. Wtch for the shovel icon in the The Bible Lesson, nd then reference tht item in this Digging Deeper resource. You cn subscribe to either the digitl or print edition of Nurturing Fith Journl to ccess the lessons. Plese lso ensure tht ech person in your clss hs copy of Nurturing Fith Journl so they cn prepre before the lesson. Different rules Mny yers go, shortly fter I moved to new church field, couple in the congregtion invited me to their home for dinner nd to ply crd gme clled Cnst. I looked forwrd to it, becuse I grew up plying Cnst, but hd met few other people who did. My mother s mother ws Cnst-plying fntic, nd long before ny of her twelve grndchildren were big enough to hold ll the crds in our hnd, she would tech us the rules of Cnst. Or, t lest, she would tech us her rules. I thought they were the only ones. I quickly discovered tht my new friends plyed by different rules, nd ll my confidence went down the drin. I thought I ws pretty good t the gme I knew, but plying by their rules clled for different strtegies, nd it ws hrd to brek out of my old wy of thinking nd focus on the gme they were plying. I ws so convinced tht someone tught them the wrong rules tht I went home nd looked up Cnst in the Encyclopedi Britnnic (the Internet ws still drem nd the only Google round ws bubble-eyed, donkey-riding crtoon chrcter nmed Brney Google). I lerned from the encyclopedi tht re severl different versions of the gme: not everyone plys by the sme rules. Extreme mesures It s likely tht Jesus employed hyperbole when tlking bout the mesures one should employ to void certin sins. For exmple, in vv. 29-30 Mtthew reports tht Jesus sid If your right eye cuses you to sin, ter it out nd throw it wy; it is better for you to lose one of your members thn for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hnd cuses you to sin, cut it off nd throw it wy; it is better for you to lose one of your members thn for your whole body to go into hell. Jesus knew tht chopping off hnd might deter thief, but wouldn t chnge his spirit nd one-eyed people re perfectly cpble of lust. Though employing physicl symbols, Jesus ws more concerned with inner motivtions thn outwrd behvior. His kingdom ethic clled for rdicl surgery to the mind nd hert tht rules our hnds nd eyes. Hmmurbi s lw code This copy of the fmed stele of Hmmurbi is in the Orientl Institute of the University of Chicgo. The engrving t the top shows Hmmurbi, the smller figure t left, receiving the lws from Shmsh, the sun god. 4 Nurturing Fith Februry 19, 2017
Digging Deeper continued A frivolous lwsuit? Why would someone sue nother person for his or her tunic? The sitution would probbly reflect smll-time lender who hd loned someone money, with his or her tunic s collterl. Old Testment lw spoke to similr lons, insisting tht someone who took poor person s outer clok s collterl should return it ech night, lest the person hve nothing to gurd ginst the evening chill. If you tke your neighbor s clok in pwn, you shll restore it before the sun goes down; for it my be your neighbor s only clothing to use s cover; in wht else shll tht person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I m compssionte (Exod. 22:26-27). A Romn mile New Testment references to mile reflect the Romn definition of mile s 1,000 pces, with ech pce equl to five Romn feet. The Romn mesure of foot ws slightly shorter thn tody, so tht the totl distnce ws just under 5,000 feet, bit shorter thn the 5,280 feet tht currently defines mile. The nme mile derives from the Ltin term mille pssum, mening 1,000 pces. 5 Nurturing Fith Februry 19, 2017
The Hrdest Question by Tony Crtlege The Hrdest Question is designed to support The Bible Lesson by Tony Crtlege, printed in Nurturing Fith Journl. You cn subscribe to either the digitl or print edition of Nurturing Fith Journl to ccess the lessons. Plese lso ensure tht ech person in your clss hs copy of Nurturing Fith Journl so they cn prepre before the lesson. How literlly should we tke these techings? Jesus techings my not seem prcticl. It s obvious tht Jesus ws upholding n idel tht is the complete opposite of selfishness, but ws he speking in hyperbole? Ws he intentionlly exggerting in order to mke point? Tht s possible. I doubt Jesus expects his followers to wlk round shirtless or with two blck eyes. I don t think he expects us to go empty our bnk ccounts when homeless person on the corner holds up crdbord sign. There s difference between being totl ptsy nd hving loving, generous spirit. But let s not get too comfortble. Jesus clerly expected his followers to do more thn they were ccustomed to doing, nd I suspect he expects more of us, s well. Most of us don t get punched in the fce very often. We rrely hve someone sk for the shirt off of our bcks. I suspect Jesus ws more concerned bout reltionships thn finnces. In every sitution, Jesus expects us to think of wht the other person needs, not just wht we need, nd to do wht we cn to help tht other person. He clls us to be so generous of spirit tht we show grce to every person we meet. Often wht others need most is not mteril goods or chnce to hit us gin: wht they need most is forgiveness, or understnding, or cceptnce. Few things in this world re hrder thn to love someone who htes us, or to forgive someone who hs hurt us. It just doesn t seem nturl. But wht Jesus teches here is tht wht seems nturl is not necessrily wht is best. For Christin people, our ctions nd ttitudes re not to be determined by the ctions nd ttitudes of someone else. We should not let someone else s negtive behvior mke us negtive. We should not let others hostility mke us hostile. We should not let someone else s insensitivity mke us insensitive, or let their menness mke us men. Even though we my be victims of others ctions, we re not required to live s victims, or to continue being victimized by living with cncerous grudge. Wht n incredible thought! God is kind to the ungrteful nd the wicked nd God clls us to ct in the sme wy. Tht my not seem fir to us, nd we my think it is not fir of God to expect us to ct the sme wy. But if God were not kind to the ungrteful nd the wicked, if God were not merciful, then where would we be? But God is kind to the ungrteful nd the wicked, nd becuse of tht, Jesus cme into the world nd llowed ungrteful nd wicked people to tret him terribly nd then hng him on cross, nd just before he brethed his lst, he hd the love nd the courge to forgive them. 6 Nurturing Fith Februry 19, 2017
The Hrdest Question continued Now, it my seem to us tht forgiving someone who hs hurt us or being kind to someone who htes us is impossible, but Jesus insisted tht nothing is impossible with God. We cn be merciful, even s our Fther in heven is merciful. We my not lwys feel like being merciful, but it s importnt to remember tht love nd forgiveness re ctions, not just feelings. We cn ct in merciful nd loving wy, even when we don t feel very kind towrd the one who hs hurt us. It sounds rdicl, but Jesus insisted tht we should not bse our love nd generosity on whether others re loving nd generous. Rther, we love others even when it seems crzy becuse tht is wht Jesus does, nd wht he hs clled us to do. Tht is who God is nd who God clls his children to be. Loving. Forgiving. Even to those who don t deserve it. Relly. 7 Nurturing Fith Februry 19, 2017