Youth Teacher: January- March 2022

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

Youth Teacher is a quarterly resource for instructors that assists with discussing issues pertaining to youth ages 12-17. Sections such as Biblical Emphases give background knowledge of the lesson. All lessons include relevant life concerns and lesson applications to help the teacher relate the Bible to the lives of young people. It is used for Seekers for Jesus and Teen Scene.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781681679143

Book preview

Lesson 1 for Week of January 2, 2022

UNDESERVED MERCY

UNIFYING TOPIC:

Justice, Vengeance, and Mercy

LESSON SECTIONS

I. Cain Is Jealous of Abel (Genesis 4:1-7)

II. Cain’s Vengeance, God’s Mercy (Genesis 4:8-13)

KEY VERSE

And the LORD said, What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! (Genesis 4:10, NRSV)

BIBLICAL EMPHASES

1. Cain was jealous of his brother Abel because God favored his brother’s offering.

2. Jealousy took over Cain, and he murdered his brother Abel.

UNIFYING PRINCIPLE

Some people become angry when their best efforts don’t result in the anticipated outcome. How do people deal with their anger and disappointment? God punished Cain because he allowed his anger to turn to rage and then to murder.

LESSON EMPHASES

•God is just in the face of human sinfulness.

•There is great danger in allowing sin to control us, including the horror of murder, which can result from dark thoughts and actions.

•We must repent of thoughts and actions that harm others and ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Consider Your Students

SEEKERS FOR JESUS: Youth realize that anger and jealousy can sometimes get the better of them.

TEEN SCENE: Teens understand that disagreements with siblings or other family members occur and can create opportunities to either sin or extend forgiveness.

Materials Needed to Teach

For further reference, see today’s lesson from Boyd’s Commentary, and The New National Baptist Hymnal, 21st Century Edition.

Need more teacher helps?

Visit http://www.rhboyd.com.

Suggestions for Effective Teaching . . .

SEEKERS FOR JESUS

STEP 1: Begin class with prayer. Review last week’s lesson by asking several questions regarding the Scripture and topic. Introduce the theme(s) of this new quarter of study.

STEP 2: Intro Activity — Play a game of Crossed the Line. Create several sets of simple scenarios, e.g. Laugh with your best friend when he trips on a branch; laugh at the new kids when he gives the wrong answer in class. Ask participants to decide if each scenario crossed the line from harmless to questionable. How about from questionable to sinful? Discuss together why each response was chosen. Assure participants that when the line is crossed, God’s forgiveness and mercy are available.

STEP 3: Today’s Word — Invite a volunteer to read the print passage for today.

STEP 4: Consider This — Ask a volunteer or two to read the Consider This section. Discuss how it relates to today’s lesson and to the students’ own lives.

STEP 5: Last Thoughts — Read the Last Thoughts section, and discuss. Answer any questions that are presented in the section. Explain that the Bible often mentions envy. Divide the class into teams. Give teams time to find several Scriptures regarding envy and jot down what God/Jesus has to say about it.

STEP 6: Closing — Ask students if they have any questions about the lesson. Encourage them to find several ways to bless and appreciate their siblings this week. Take prayer requests. Form a circle, and close in prayer.

TEEN SCENE

STEP 1: Begin class with prayer. Review last week’s lesson by asking several questions regarding the Scripture and topic. Introduce the theme(s) of this new quarter of study.

STEP 2: Intro Activity — Invite participants to journal about a time when they spoke or acted in such a way that they needed to ask forgiveness from another person and from God. Challenge them to write a letter of apology to someone they’ve hurt or offended. Allow for a few minutes of meditation, reminding participants that God removes sin as far away from us as the East is from the West.

STEP 3: Dissect and Digest — Have the students read the Dissect and Digest portion of the book and the accompanying questions.

STEP 4: Heart of the Matter — Ask a volunteer to read and discuss the Heart of the Matter section found in the student book. Consider how the story is relatable to their lives. Discuss the following: Cain’s counter question (Am I my brother’s keeper?) to God’s interrogation attempts to place blame back on God. (God is the keeper of all, Cain implies; humans don’t keep other humans.) In what ways do we make excuses for the sin in our own lives?

STEP 5: Activity — Research together the ancient Israelite practice of sacrifice, seeking to understand what kinds of offerings were made. Invite participants to set their modern sensibilities aside for the moment and try to put themselves in the shoes of these ancient people. Discuss how it might have looked and sounded to make all these sacrifices in the prescribed way. Discuss how our relationship with God can be cultivated through offerings. Rather than animals or crops, what might we offer Him today?

STEP 6: Closing — Ask for prayer requests. Form a circle, and close in prayer.

— Lesson Overview —

Introduction

It’s likely that, at one time or another, you’ve been in a situation that prompted you to be jealous of someone—maybe a sibling, colleague, or friend who acquired the exact car you wanted or the promotion that should have been yours. What sort of thoughts and emotions did you struggle with at the time? In today’s lesson we’ll read about brothers Cain and Abel. Both brought an offering to the Lord, but only one was accepted by Him. This sparked jealousy, and a series of unfortunate events followed.

I. Cain Is Jealous of Abel (Genesis 4:1–7)

Adam and Eve gave birth to their first son, Cain, with the help of the LORD (v. 1). Later, Eve gave birth to their second child and Cain’s brother, Abel. As Cain and Abel grew, they adopted different areas of work and responsibility. Even in a family with close ties, it is common for siblings to have different interests and to pursue different ways of making a living. Cain and Abel both multiplied the gifts God had given them while also caring for His creation.

While Cain worked the soil, Abel cared for the flock. Cain and Abel both presented offerings to the Lord after some time: Cain gave some of the fruits of his labor, while Abel furnished the firstlings of his flock (v. 4). Scholars have offered various possibilities as to why God viewed Cain and Abel’s offerings so differently, but the reason remains unclear. Perhaps the use of the indefinite article an provides some insight into why the Lord accepted one gift while rejecting the other. The Bible states that Cain brought an offering (v. 3)—not necessarily the best of what he had. In contrast, Abel gave the Lord his best. We know this because of two specific terms: firstlings and fat portions. Firstlings, or first-born animals such as lambs, were considered more valuable than others. First fruits of the crops and firstlings of the flocks and herds all belonged to God. In Deuteronomy 26:2, the Hebrews were told, You shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose. Likewise, in Nehemiah 10, the people of God committed to the covenant with these words: We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our soil and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree . . . and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks (vv. 35–36).

It is natural for people to want to please those they care about and to feel hurt when they don’t receive the response they desire. It appears that Abel gave his best to the Lord but Cain did not, and the Lord was apparently displeased with Cain’s offering. As a result, Cain became angry. Anger, along with disappointment and confusion, are emotions that might surface when we don’t live up to someone else’s expectations. In this case, God expected a certain degree of honor from Cain—and His expectations are always just and righteous because He never errs.

Verse 7 of our lesson reveals that when a person does well in following God’s commands, his or her offerings will be accepted. Notice that sin is given lion-like characteristics with the word lurking and reference to its desire to take down the vulnerable (v. 7). The implication is that sin hunts for easy prey. But we have hope because the verse closes with an encouragement to master sin.

II. Cain’s Vengeance, God’s Mercy (Genesis 4:8–13)