unit 2: ministry of christ--lesson 5 nt2.5 jesus cleans the ......mary, jesus' mother and...

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NT2.4 Jesus Calls His Disciples © Beverly Wilson 2015

Unit 2: Ministry of Christ--Lesson 5

NT2.5 Jesus Cleans the Temple

Scripture: John 2: 12-25

Lesson Goal: After the wedding feast at Cana Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate the

Feast of the Passover. In this lesson we will learn how our worship to God.

Introduction: This is the fifth lesson in Unit 2:The Life and Ministry of Christ. The life and ministry of Jesus is

told to us in the first four books of the New Testament. After the wedding feast at Cana Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. In this lesson we will learn how our worship to God. This lesson is found in the book of John. John is one of the four books called the Gospels in the New Testament. The word Gospel means the "Good News about Jesus." The Gospels tell the life and ministry of Jesus while He was here on earth. Let's say the names of the gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Attention Getter: Let's say that you have a dollar and you want to buy a coke out of the coke machine but it

only takes quarters. What will you have to do? You will have to get some change right. So, if you give me your dollar, I'll give you three quarters. How's that? Not fair, you say! Well, you need quarters, don't you? Where else are you going to get them? Does that make you angry? Am I taking advantage of you? Have you ever been cheated by somebody? Well, in the time of Jesus, there were some religious leaders in the temple who were cheating people just like this! Let's listen to the story from the Bible and see what Jesus thinks about cheating.

Opening Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, Thank you for sending Your Son Jesus to earth to provide the sacrifice for our sins so we could go to heaven. Help us to understand better how to worship You. Help us to always respect your house and keep our hearts clean so we can serve You. In Jesus' name. Amen

Memory Verse: Our memory verse is Luke 4:8 "Jesus answered and said, 'It is written, Worship the Lord your

God and serve him only."

Lesson Video: http://youtu.be/rrThLyUugGU Jesus and his disciples had just come from the wedding in Cana. There Jesus had performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. The disciples must have been still excitedly talking about Jesus' first miracle and saying that He truly was the Son of God! They remembered how amazed everyone at the wedding was when the servants told everyone how Jesus had told them to fill the big clay pots with water and then when they poured the water into the cups, it turned into the best wine anyone had ever tasted! As the people at the wedding drank the wine, they knew that Jesus was the Promised Messiah. Only a person who was truly God could perform such a miracle.

After the wedding feast Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum, Jesus' home town. There they visited with Mary, Jesus' mother and Jesus' step brothers for a few days. Soon it was almost time to go the Jewish Passover. This was a celebration that took place every year at the temple in Jerusalem. Every Jewish man was expected to make the trip to Jerusalem during this time and worship at the temple.

Jesus and his disciples loved God and they wanted to worship Him so they began to walk the long trip to Jerusalem. They traveled along with crowds of other people who were going to Jerusalem to worship God at the temple. Passover was a very special time because all the Jewish people had to come to the temple to make sacrifices for their sins. The Temple was the only place where the Jews could bring their animal sacrifices. The Temple at Jerusalem was, for the Jews, the most holy building in the world. No matter where Jews lived--Nazareth, Cana, or Capernaum--they still had to travel to Jerusalem to the temple to worship!

http://youtu.be/rrThLyUugGU

http://youtu.be/rrThLyUugGU

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The Passover was a time when the Jews remembered how hundreds of years before God had saved his people out of slavery to the Egyptians. Remember how the Pharaoh would not let Israel go so God sent Moses to lead the people. God told Moses to tell the people that God was going to send a death angel. Everyone who believed in God was to kill a lamb and put its blood over the door posts of their home. When the death angel saw the blood, he would go on by and the oldest son of the family would not die. The Israelites obeyed God and when the death angel came their children were saved. But when the Pharaoh's son died, he let the people of Israel leave Egypt.

The Passover was also a picture of how Jesus the Promised One would come someday and take the punishment for our sins by dying on the cross. Jesus is the Perfect Lamb who would die for us so we could go to heaven. Everyone who came to celebrate the Passover had to bring an animal for the sacrifices. Some people brought lambs or goats. The poor people brought turtledoves or pigeons. Those traveling from afar brought money to buy their animal in the marketplace when they got to Jerusalem.

But instead of being in the street, the marketplace had moved right into the temple! The merchants and money changers were yelling. "Buy here! buy your animals for Passover sacrifices right here! Trade here! Exchange your money here!" The marketplace was just the opposite of what the beautiful, holy, quiet Temple was supposed to be. People were supposed to be worshipping God.

When Jesus came into the outer court of the Temple, He saw that money changers had set up tables in the Temple. There were also traders selling doves to be used for sacrifices. Jesus exclaimed. ‘Is it not written, “My house will be called a house of prayer? ‘But you have turned it into a den of robbers.”’ God's house was being dishonored. So Jesus made a whip out of cords of leather. Swinging it this way and that, He went through the court and drove out all the animals. The frightened animals raced toward the door."

Then Jesus turned and saw tall piles of money stacked on tables. He turned over the tables! Crash! Coins flew everywhere. "Get out of here!" Jesus ordered. The merchants with their sheep and cattle stampeded toward the Temple gates. No one tried to stop Jesus. The traders knew that He had the right to drive them out.

When the Jewish leaders heard it, they were very angry. They did not want anyone interfering with their business and money making. Angrily they called out to Jesus and asked Him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this? "You want a sign that I am the Son of God, the promised by the Father? All right, you shall have sign," Jesus answered.

"Tear down this Temple and I will rebuild it in three days." They did not understand and were deeply puzzled. They thought His words were utterly ridiculous because they thought Jesus was speaking of building they were in. So they angrily replied, "What nonsense! It took forty-six yea build this magnificent Temple, and you are going rebuild it in three days?"

But when Jesus said "this Temple" He was speaking of His body. God Himself lived in Christ Jesus, so His body was the real Temple of God. In a just few short years, the enemies of Jesus would "tear down or "destroy" His body by nailing it to a cross. But on the third day He would rise from the dead, His resurrection would prove that He was the Son of God. The religious leaders did not understand and Jesus did not try to explain it to them.

Even the Apostles were confused by what He meant. But after Jesus rose from the dead, they remembered what He had said and understood His meaning perfectly. Jesus was NOT talking about the temple in Jerusalem. He was talking about how in three days he would rise again from the dead. Jesus and his disciples then left the Temple.

Is it possible to worship badly now, also? Yes. We can miss the point and worship in the wrong way. If we just come to church and worship in the wrong way, that is a sin!. How does God want us to worship Him? Let's look at some symbols and see if they can help us to learn how to worship God.

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This is picture of our feet. How do you think feet help us to worship? Yes, we use our feet to come to church. God wants us to gather together as a group to worship Him. In fact he tells us that we should come together on the first day of the week--Sunday--to worship Him.

Here is a picture of a Bible. How would a Bible help us to worship? Of course we read the Bible and learn what God is saying to us. Reading scripture is the way God talks to us. So studying the Bible is an important part of worship.

These are ears. How would our ears help us to worship? Ummm we use our ears to listen to God's Word being taught. We cannot do what God says if we do not hear it first. Right? James 1:22 says, "Do not just hear the word of God but do it."

Next are our eyes. How do our eyes help us to worship? The Bible says that our eyes are the way to our heart. In other words, what we see will become a part of us and will affect how we act. If we see good things, then we will think and do good things. If we see bad things, then we will think and do bad things. So do you think that our eyes help us to worship? Yes, they do. We need to always try to look at good things not bad.

This picture is of our hands. Our hands help us to work. We can use our hands to serve ourselves or God. Did you know that learning to help others and serve them is a part of worship? Yes it is. So our hands are an important part of worshipping God.

Here is the most important part of worship. It is our heart! God tells us that when we worship Him we are to love Him with all our heart. We are to put Him first. We don't think about others and what they want, or what we are doing or what we want, but we think about God and what He wants for us. That is worshipping God with our heart.

This is a mouth. What do you think a mouth has to do with worshipping God? Well, with our mouth we talk. We can use what we say as a way to worship God. We tell Him that we love Him. We think about all the things He has done for us and thank Him. We can tell others about Christ and how He has saved us from sin. We can tell people how they can be saved too. So our mouth is a very important way to worship God.

Here is a treble clef sign in music. Music is a great way to praise God. We love to sing songs of joy and praise to God for how He loves us and cares for us. Music is a very important way to worship God, isn't it. Remember let's worship God the right way--with our whole heart! Review Questions: Catch that Question You will need a soft ball, a rolled up sock, or a bean bag. Have students form a circle and give one child the ball. The child that catches the ball answers a review question, then tosses the ball to someone else in the circle, who will then answer another question. Repeat enough times so everyone has a chance to answer a question.

1. What books of the Bible tell about the life and ministry of Jesus? (The gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.)

2. Why were Jesus and his disciples going to Jerusalem to worship? (It was the feast of the Passover.) 3. Why were people buying sheep and goats in the temple? (They needed animals to sacrifice to worship

God and ask for the forgiveness of sins.) 4. What made Jesus angry? ( The temple was to be a house of prayer, and they had made it a place of

profit and cheating.) 5. What did Jesus do in the temple to clean it? (He made a whip and used it to chase out the merchants and

he overturned the tables of the money-changers.) 6. What was the temple for? (Prayer and worship to God. A place to approach God.) 7. Why did Jesus have the authority to clean the temple? (Jesus was the son of God and He was the One to

be worshipped.) 8. How was Jesus feeling when he saw the temple grounds? (angry) 9. Was Jesus sinning when he was angry? (no, feeling anger is not sinful, and he did nothing sinful as a

result of his anger.) 10. Do we sin when we get angry? ( Anger itself is not. But we commonly sin in reaction to it. )

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11. How did the priests feel about Jesus' actions? (They wanted to kill him, so they started trying to find evidence against him.)

12. What did the priests and Jewish leaders ask Jesus? (They ask Jesus to give them a sign that He had the authority to clean the temple.)

13. What sign did Jesus give to the Jewish leaders? He told them that he would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days.)

14. What did the sign that Jesus gave to them mean? (Jesus meant that his body was the temple and that it would be destroyed or killed and in three days He would be resurrected or restored from the grave.)

15. Did the Jewish leaders understand the sign that Jesus gave them? (No they were confused. Even the disciples were confused until after the resurrection of Jesus.)

16. How do we worship? (prayer, song, communion, teaching, serving others.) 17. How should we approach worship? (worship is a time of focused devotion to pleasing God, not an

opportunity for profit, or even entertainment)

Bible Memory Verse Activity: Bible Verse Hangman Our memory verse today is Luke 4:8 "Jesus answered and said, 'It is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only." Help the students locate the scripture in the Bible and read it aloud. Repeat the verse several times together. Draw a "hangman" noose and short lines below the hangman for each of the words in the memory verse. Let students take turns guessing words in the verse. When all the words in the verse have been guessed and written the blanks, say the verse together again. Group Learning Activity: Cleaning Relay Game (Grades K-5) Divide the children into two equal teams. Give each team a bucket with some cleaning supplies in it such as mop, brush, sponge, rag, toilet bowl brush, apron, dish scrubber, etc. Be sure to have the same number of items in each bucket--one items for each team member. Teams are to run a "cleaning relay" back and forth with each child running for one cleaning item and back to the team to tag the next player who will run to the bucket and take another cleaning item until the bucket is empty. Then all team players sit down and hold their cleaning item that they retrieved from the bucket. Alternative: Give each team a mop. Each member of the team is to ride their mop to the line and back. The team who finishes with all members riding the mop first is the winner.

Group Learning Activity: Treasure Box and Coins Give each student in your class a small box with a lid and the supplies to decorate it as a treasure chest. Glue craft sticks to the outside of the box, if desired. You can also use craft foam sticks as a decoration. Treasure box crafts are often very reasonable at your craft supply store. Provide pretend "gold coins" to put in their treasure chest. Gold coins can usually be found in the party supplies department of your discount store. Say: "In our lesson Jesus came to the temple to worship and pray. Part of worship is bringing an offering to give to the Lord. What do you think God's offering is used for in the church? (to buy supplies, to help poor people, to support the church leaders; to share with missionaries; to pay the utilities and the building in which you meet.) Explain that we are to worship God by bringing the tithe and offerings to church. A tithe is 10 percent. God gave His Son and salvation to us. We show our gratitude by giving back to God as an act of worship.

Craft Learning Activity: Church with Cross

Print the two Temple templates below on two different colors of cardstock. Make one set for each child in your class. Have students cut out the pieces. Precut the pieces for younger children. Glue the main part of the church on a large pieces of paper. Match the other pieces with the faint outline on the main part and glue. Glue the cross at the top of the church. Another option: Cut out the windows of the church building and have students glue different colors of tissue paper to the back of each window. Then mount the church building on the large piece of paper.

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Group Learning Activity: Court of the Gentiles Map and Discussion (Grades 3-5) Make a copy of the Temple map and picture below for each child. Have the students locate the Court of the Gentiles where Jesus chased the cheaters out of the temple. Say: "Were Jesus' actions appropriate? Is there any time when we would be authorized to use such behavior in God's behalf? While we always look to Jesus as a pattern for our behavior, we must remember that Jesus was God's son. The temple was God's house, the home of Jesus' father. Jesus had authority there. He had the right to chase unwanted cheaters out of his father's house. It was his house, too. Just as our parents have the right to ask misbehaving guests to leave their home, Jesus had the authority to eject people from his father's house. His actions were based on his position, which is exactly what the Pharisees and others were challenging him on. They asked him, what authority do you have? He was God's Son so He had the authority! If the people needed animals, wasn't it ok to sell to them? The concept was not evil, but it was how and where the merchants sold that angered Jesus. First, they did it in the temple, a place devoted to prayer and worship. Second, they cheated the people."

Craft Learning Activity: Life-size figure: "Your Body as the Temple of God" (Gr. K-4) Have students lie down on a large roll of white wrapping paper. Draw the outline of their body. Have students color the body part as you talk about the way it is to be used to worship God. Students will color their eyes, ears, hands, feet, mouth (prayer and talking) and the most important part--your heart! Around the outline the students can write ways to use that body part to worship God. Label the drawing "My Body the Temple of God." Students can also add their hair and clothes to complete the poster. Say: "Anyone who trusts in Jesus is God’s temple because God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of them! Did you know that your body became a temple when you put your trust in Jesus? So how should we treat the temple? How did Jesus treat the Temple? He made sure it was cleaned out from things that were impure. We should do the same. "1 Corinthians 6:20 says: Christ has paid the price for you. So use your bodies in a way that honors God. Say: "Do not use your body to sin. Guard your eyes - what you choose to see; Guard your ears – what you choose to listen to; Control your feet – where you choose to go" . (For young kids, have them blink eyes, wiggle hands, and wiggle feet as you talk about these ways.) And 2 Corinthians 7:1 says: Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So let us make ourselves pure from everything that pollutes our bodies and spirits. Let us be completely holy. We want to honor God. Ask: What did Jesus say His temple should be? A house of prayer. What do you think Jesus wants YOUR TEMPLE to be? A house of prayer. PRAYER is simply talking to God. You can talk to God anytime, anywhere. There is no one who can keep you from talking to God. He WANTS you to talk to Him! Jesus wants your temple - your life - to be filled with Him!

Craft Learning Activity: Angry Faces (Grades K-2) Give each child two paper plates and a paint stick. Staple the two paper plates face to face along the edge of the rims leaving an opening for the paint stick to be inserted as a handle. Staple the paint stick in place. Provide colored markers for students to draw faces on their paper plates. Put an "angry face" on one side and a "happy" face on the other. Decorate with yarn for hair if desired. Use wiggly eyes for added fun. Say: "God made us with emotions. We are sometimes happy, sad, and even angry. Jesus got angry when he cleaned the temple but He did not sin. Anger becomes sin when we act out of selfishness or to fulfill our own desires or when we seek to destroy others, ourselves, or things. When anger is focused on fighting sin and wrongdoing it is positive and constructive. Anger can give us great energy to correct a wrong action. That was the kind of anger Jesus showed." Have students name things or situations that make them angry or happy. Talk about the godly way to handle things that make us angry.

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Group Learning Activity: Craft Learning Activity: Keys for Worship (Grades K-5) Print out Key template below in several colors of cardstock. Give students multiple copies of the keys. Let children cut out several colorful keys. On each key, the students should write something important that we should do in church when we attend. For example: one key can say WORSHIP; another key PRAY; another key PRAISE; another key SING; another key READ GOD'S WORD. Punch a hole at the top of each key. Provide some string or yarn to put the set of keys on a "key chain."

Craft Learning Activity: Prayer Cube (Grades 3-5) Say: "When Jesus cleaned the temple He told the people that His Father's house should be a House of Prayer. Today we are going to make a prayer cube. This cube will remind us of how we are to pray." Give each child a square gift box. Jewelry boxes work well for this activity. OR print the cube template below on heavy cardstock. Cover the sides, top and bottom with colorful paper or have students color the cube with markers. Give students black or dark markers and have them write the following on each side of the cube. (1) Praise God. (2) Thank God (3) Ask God for Needs (4) Pray for Others (5) Ask for Forgiveness (6) Ask for Help to Overcome Temptation.

Life Application Challenge: Behaving in Church Draw a horizontal line across the board. Write Respect above the line and Disrespect below the line. Say: "This is a respect line. We are going to talk about some things that sometimes happen in church. If the idea or situation shows respect for God and His House of Worship, we will draw a continuous line above the horizontal line. If the idea show disrespect we will move down below the line. Let's see how our graph looks when we are finished." Have you ever had a time when you just didn’t feel like behaving in church? Maybe some of your friends were “acting up” or making some jokes, and it looked like a lot of fun. Have you ever thought about why it is so important to listen and behave in church? We have the privilege of gathering with others who love God in order to hear the teaching of the Word and strengthen and encourage each other. If we are serious about growing in our relationship with God, we will want to set aside all distractions and to listen carefully. And if we are concerned for others, we will not want to be a distraction to them. Now let's talk about some specific things that happen in church. Tell if the thing shows respect or not. Let students share ideas of things that can happen in church.

Read God's Word along with everyone else.

Laugh and giggle and draw silly pictures.

Sing the words to the worship songs.

Run back and forth to the bathroom.

Listen to the sermon and take notes.

Pray when the pastor leads the congregation.

Make silly noises that distract others.

Take drinks and spill them during the service.

Play games on your phone or I-pad.

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Praise

God

Thank

God

Ask

God for

Needs

Pray for

Others

Ask for

Forgiveness

Ask for

Help to

Overcome

Temptation

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http://www.onestone.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1959430e9b7c2a6f2bd5f22e7e0e3ff8/t/e/temple.jpg

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unit 2: ministry of christ--lesson 5 nt2.5 jesus cleans the ......mary, jesus' mother and...

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