Rich Young Ruler: Matthew 19:16-30
We believe that spiritual development happens in the home as well as at church. We hope that these ideas will help you engage as a family. It’s designed to help you connect with your child about the lesson they had this past week. Use all the ideas one night, or spread them out throughout the week. Enjoy!
- SCIENCE EXPERIMENT items needed: 2 eggs, 2 clear glasses of water, salt
Beforehand, put lots of salt in one glass of water. Make sure it is dissolved completely.
What did Jesus want the rich young man to do? Accept answers. Gently place one egg in the plain water. The egg will go to the bottom of the glass. Jesus wanted to see if the young man was willing to go all the way with his devotion to God. The egg went the entire way. For the man to go all the way he would have to prove that his god was not his possessions. Jesus told him he could prove that by selling everything he owned and giving the money to the poor.
But what did the rich young man do? Accept answers. Gently place the other egg in the salty water. It will not go to the bottom, but will be suspended halfway or make its way back to the top (depending on the amount of salt you have in the water). The rich young man couldn’t go all the way in his devotion. There were other things that were more important to him that he couldn’t give up. What got in his way? It was his riches. What do you think got in the way of this egg so that it didn’t go all the way to the bottom like the other one? There was salt in the water. There was something in the rich young man’s life. What do you think it was? Did God hold first place in the young man’s life?
The young man said that he had kept the commandments since he was a child, but Jesus pointed out that he hadn’t by what he tells him to do. What does Jesus tell him to do? Jesus said to go and sell everything and come follow Him. The first commandment is to worship only the one true God but the man’s actions and decisions made it obvious that he was worshipping his possessions instead.
- ACTIVITY: Scavenger Hunt items needed: loose change
Most houses have loose change laying around in the craziest places … under cushions, in a candy dish, on the dresser top, down in shag carpeting. Send all the members of the family on a 3-minute scavenger hunt to find as much loose change as they can around the house. Set the timer on the stove and when it goes off, everyone must return to the starting point with the treasure they have found. Don’t forget to check the car, because there’s always a few coins under the mats!
This doesn’t look like much, and it’s actually money we aren’t paying attention to or we would have taken care of it. Count it and see how much you’ve gathered. (This is a great sorting exercise for younger kids and math exercise for older kids). What can you do with this change? Are you willing to give it up? Or, are you thinking of something else you could buy for yourself with it? Encourage your kids to decide how they could help someone with this change … and then actually make it happen. It is important for them to experience first hand how the money is used to minister to someone—no matter how little there is.
- ACTIVITY: Dress Up items needed: Jewelry, fancy clothes, ties etc...
Two things kids get a kick out of: putting on a costume and taking funny pictures. Let’s do both. You can do this with one child or with all of them at the same time. Find things around the house that the kids can wear that will mark them as someone who is rich. Don’t worry about things fitting, because that’s a big part of the fun of dressing up. Take a picture of each child.
Then, ask each family member (yeah, that’s you too, parents) to round up five things that are their prize possessions—things they would not want to give up. Place each person’s items around them as they sit on the floor. Now, take another picture.
The rich young ruler didn’t want to give up his riches in order to get the Kingdom of Heaven. He had kept all the commandments except the first one. Do you know what the first commandment says? It says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” What was the rich young ruler’s god? The wonderful things he owned. He made them more important than God.
How important are the things you own? Could you give them up if God asked you to?
- KNOW YOUR BIBLE items needed: Bibles
Look up these verses together. You can find online versions of the Bible at http://www.biblegateway.com
Discuss how they relate to the story of the rich young man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to receive the Kingdom of Heaven.
1. 1 Timothy 6:10
2. Luke 16:13
3. Deuteronomy 6:4
4. Luke 14:13
- Scripture Memory
Galatians 3:22 (NCV)
”Instead, the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ.”
- Thought For The Week
AS SURVIVORS WE SHOULD HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE OUR GOD