In the months to come, God willing, the JOYSS section of The Tidings magazine will feature more ready-to-use Sunday school materials. Given available magazine space and the huge variety of teaching materials that could be featured, this will need to be a carefully managed venture. Still it is prayerfully hoped that this shift in emphasis will be helpful. It will help, too, if you, as readers and teachers will give me feedback and suggestions. And if you have a neat class activity that has worked for you, I would like to hear about it.
For now, the materials will be offered without a lot of “how to use” instructions. If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that Sunday school teachers are resourceful and don’t need me to tell them how to do things! So please have at it!
(1) Gimme, Gimme, Gimme! A life management case study
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt 5:6).
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt 6:25-26)
The Problem
- Only a few days into the exodus journey, what was Israel’s complaint? Exod 15:22-24.
- One month into the journey, what was Israel’s complaint? Exod 16:1-3.
- At the end of the exodus journey, in the 40th year, was the new generation of Israelites any better than their parents? What was their complaint? Numb 21:4-5.
- Did God let Israel starve to death during the exodus? What lesson did He want His people to learn? Deut 8:2-3.
A Modern Equivalent
Several years ago the food at one of our Bible schools was noticeably subpar. Before the week was half over, a group of young people formed a committee, selected a spokesperson, and complained to the Bible School Committee. A list of the kinds of food the young people wanted was drawn up and presented to the Bible School Committee. In the meantime, some of the young people started going off campus to eat and bring in food. This was a clear violation of Bible school rules.
Questions for thought and discussion
- How about us? Are we any different from the Israelites of old?
- How many of the Bible school students that did not go off campus for food starved to death during the week? Take a guess!
- What is the purpose of Bible School anyway?
- Identify similarities between the conduct of the young people in this case study and that of the Israelites during the Exodus.
- If we are resolved to be different from the average complaining human being, what kind of attitude must we develop toward life’s problems?
- How did Jesus understand the main issue of this case study? Matt 4:1-4.
(2) A Matter of Life or Debt. A life management case study
This is the all-too-common story of a young couple that mismanages their lives. It is the kind of story that faithful young people can decide to prevent before it happens.
The Problem
Brother and Sister X are in their mid-thirties. He is a businessman and she works in the health care field. Their combined salaries come to well over six figures (more than $100,000 a year). They are also in deep financial trouble.
After their daughter was born, Bro. and Sis. X decided to move out of their modest apartment and buy a house. They wanted to live in a respectable neighborhood, and the house they bought turned out to cost more than they really wanted to pay. Their monthly mortgage payments are now almost twice what they used to pay for rent.
The house needed a facelift. The kitchen was outdated and the appliances were a bit old, so they ran up hundreds of dollars in restaurant bills over a two-month period, while borrowing thousands more to remodel the kitchen. To this was added other decorating costs throughout the house, some new furniture, a home entertainment system, and a large new deck in the back — all bought with credit.
Bro. X often has to meet business clients around town, so he decided to get a nicer car. The new car added a few hundred more to the monthly bills. At the same time, the price of heating oil went up unexpectedly, and utility bills took a sharp increase.
Today Bro. and Sis. X are tens of thousands of dollars in debt, not counting their mortgage and car payments. They have “maxed” several credit cards and cannot always meet the minimum monthly payments on all of them.
The debt just gets deeper and deeper. It is possible they will face foreclosure on their home. Bro. and Sis. X quarrel bitterly with each other about who is responsible for the mess they are in.
Questions for thought and discussion
1) Can Christadelphian families get themselves into financial problems like this? Is it justifiable?
2) What do you think are some of the reasons that people get into financial problems like this? Does it speak well for their priorities in life? Does it speak well for their understanding of Bible principles? What principles?
3) Identify as many things as possible in this story that indicate that Bro. and Sis. X are not facing life or themselves realistically, let alone faithfully.
4) What have Bro. and Sis. X done to their spiritual life? How do you know? How does Matt 13:22 apply in their case?
5) How can any Christadelphian avoid getting into a mess like this? (Here are a few Bible references that help: Prov 8:18-21; 11:4; 11:28; 13:7; 23:4-5; Luke 12:15; 14:28-30; 16:10-13; 1Tim 6:6-11. Can you think of others?)
6) What would you do to get out of a financial mess like this?
7) What alternatives did Bro. and Sis. X have to:
- Purchasing the expensive house they did?
- Running up restaurant bills?
- Borrowing thousands to remodel the kitchen?
- Getting a fancier car?
- Redecorating and purchasing expensive things on credit?
- Being caught off guard by the rise in oil prices and utility bills?
- Getting additional credit cards and “maxing” them (i.e., using the cards to their credit limit)?
- Quarreling over who is at fault for the mess they are in?
8) Why do you think Bro. and Sis. X did not choose some of these alternatives in the first place?
9) Do you think it is possible for you to get into a financial difficulty like this? Why?
10) Based on this case study, identify:
- One thing that contributes to bad decision making.
- Two principles of good decision making.
Digital copies of these case studies can be obtained on request.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One