Family Worship is a devotional plan which equips your family to build upon the gospel truths your child learns Sunday in children’s church.
We include scripture, questions, and a prayer for you and your child to engage with throughout the week. It is our goal to give you tools to help model a personal worship practice for your children.
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Unit 6 • Session 3
Big Picture Unit Question:
Why should we obey God? We should obey God because He made us, He loves us, and His plans are good.
Christ Connection:
In the early 1900s, there was no treatment for bacterial diseases that were killing millions of people. In 1928, Penicillin was accidentally discovered and found to be the treatment needed to save lives. It saved thousands of soldiers in World War II. Penicillin continues to be used as treatment for bacterial infections, and there is no way to count the number of lives saved by this medicine.
It probably sounds strange for people to use mold as a medicine, but not as strange as how God brought healing through a bronze snake. The Israelites continued to grumble and complain, even after all God did for them. Finally, God had enough of their disobedience, so He sent judgment in the form of venomous snakes. Many of the people were bitten and died from the snakes.
The Israelites knew they had sinned and deserved God’s judgment, but they pleaded with Him to remove the snakes. God told Moses to make a bronze snake and mount it to a pole. If anyone looked at the snake, they would recover from the venomous snake’s bite. God showed mercy to the Israelites by providing a way—as strange as it may sound—for them to be healed.
We all deserve to be punished for sin, and the ultimate punishment is death. God shows us mercy in an unexpected way by sending His own Son to suffer and die for our sin. God offers us a way to be healed through the sacrifice of Jesus. Anyone who looks to Him for salvation will be saved. That’s the good news of the gospel!
Like the Israelites, we sin when we complain and do not trust God. The Israelites faced death for their sin, but when they looked to the bronze snake they were healed. The consequence for our sin is also death, but when we look to Jesus and trust in Him, we will be saved.
Questions:
1) Why is complaining a sin?
Tell kids that complaining is a sin because it shows a lack of trust in God to take care of and provide for us. Share how God is in control of all things, including the circumstances of our lives. Complaining shows that we don’t trust God to be in control.
2) How can we turn away from complaining?
Discuss how we can recognize that our complaining is a sin and ask God to forgive us. Through faith in Jesus, God forgives us of our sins. Tell kids we can pray and ask God to help our hearts be thankful and recognize all the ways God takes care of us. Remind kids the Holy Spirit lives in Christians to help them obey and trust in God.
3) Why is Jesus’ salvation better than being healed from a snake bite?
Share how Jesus provides complete forgiveness from sin forever. Tell kids that while the people’s healing was good and needed, it didn’t fix the main problem: the people needed new hearts and to have their sin forgiven forever. Discuss how faith in Jesus saves people from sin and how He changes our hearts to want to obey God because we love Him. Tell kids that faith in Jesus gives us the hope of living with Him forever in the new heaven and earth.
Pray:
Lord, You are merciful and good. We thank You for sending Jesus to die in our place. Help us look to Him for our salvation and keep our eyes on Him as we live for Your glory. Amen.
Worship Video
The Apostle’s Creed
We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
