During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide, Student Page, Family Connection Card, and other resources can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
When we think of stewardship, we often think of managing our resources such as our time or money.
Yet God has created us, and our whole lives are to be managed for Him. He calls us His workmanship, and He has prepared good works for us to do. The original Greek word for “workmanship” is the source of our word for “poem.” We are God’s poems!
Each of us is a unique poem with different talents, skills, personalities, and experiences. He wants us to use these things for good works—things He prepared ahead of time for us to do. Things like kindness, love, helping others, and compassion. He wants us to manage our work well so that these good things can flow through us to others.
Think about your work and how you can use it for God’s glory. It is important to work hard, but it is even more important to work for God. You can trust Him with your work. You are needed in this class, your church, your home, and your community. He has work for you to do! Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you to the good things He has prepared for you to do.
Encourage your students to ask their family members about times they have worked hard for something they wanted. They can then share what they learned about work in this lesson.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
As your students arrive, ask them to share with you and the other students about people who work hard in the community. When you are ready to begin class, invite the students to share their ideas.
Allow 4–5 students to respond. Suggest those in respected positions and those who work hard at jobs that serve others.
Some of these people have more money because they work hard. Some of them work hard just to meet their family’s basic needs. Some are men and some are women. They all work hard, whether their jobs are highly respected or not.
Let’s play a game to learn more about work.
Divide the students into 2 teams. Have the teams line up on 1 side of the teaching space. Place the buckets across from the teams on the other side of the teaching space. Let each team know which bucket is for their team. Spread the rocks all over your space. Then explain the activity to the students.
When I say, “Go!” each of you will find a rock and put it into your team’s bucket. You can only pick up 1 rock at a time, but you can search for more after you put your rock in the bucket. The team with the most rocks wins. Go!
Allow the students to put the rocks into the buckets. When they are finished, announce the winning team. Then take the rocks from 1 of the buckets and dump them into a pile in between the buckets. Spread around the rocks from the other bucket again. Have the students line up in their teams on the other side of the teaching space.
When I say, “Go!” this time, your team will race to put rocks in your team’s bucket. This time, you may pick up as many rocks as you want and put them into your team’s bucket. The team with the most rocks in their bucket at the end of the game wins. Go!
Allow the students to put the rocks into the buckets. When they are finished, count the rocks and announce the winner. Then take the rocks from 1 of the buckets and put them in a pile near you. Spread the rocks from the other bucket around the area. Have the students line up again in their teams across the space from their buckets.
When I say, “Go!” find and pick up as many rocks as you want and put them in your team’s bucket. No one can use the rocks in the pile near me. Go!
When the students have put all the rocks into the buckets, count the rocks and announce the winner. Put the rocks and buckets aside to use in the Responding activity. Then ask the students to sit down to talk about the game.
Some of you could take rocks from the pile and easily drop them in your team’s bucket. Others had to look around to find rocks.
It was easier to put the rocks in the bucket when there were plenty of rocks spread around the area. Everyone had to do about the same amount of work to find a rock and put it into the bucket.
The second round may have felt more difficult. You could put as many rocks into the bucket as you wanted, but those who got to the pile of rocks first had an easier time filling their bucket.
In the third round, there were fewer rocks. So when someone picked up lots of rocks, there were fewer or none left for others to gather.
Imagine these rocks were resources, such as clean water, food, or money.
In our last class, we learned about using our resources wisely. We talked about time, talents, skills, and intelligence. Work is also a resource given to us by God, and we can learn to be good stewards of it, too. Our work may be at a job that earns money, helping around the home, or our school work. Let’s learn more about the value of hard work.
Last week, we read a parable about 3 servants. The story taught us about good stewardship of the resources that are given to us. This week you will get to teach others about being a good steward of your work.
Divide the students into 5 groups. Give each group a Bible verse from the end of the lesson. The group will create a skit to teach the idea presented in the proverb. Give the groups about 10 minutes to prepare. Then ask each group to present their proverb skit.
After each skit, ask the class what the proverb is about. After a few students have shared 1-sentence answers, a person from the performing group can read the proverb aloud.
The proverbs are also printed here for your reference:
The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on.
Proverbs 16:26
One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.
Proverbs 18:9
Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Proverbs 12:11
All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Proverbs 14:23
A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Proverbs 13:4
You all did a great job teaching us proverbs about work. Here are some more practical tips to help you be good workers:
Dress appropriately for the job. Do not go to work dressed in clothing that is not appropriate for the environment or the job that you do. Your clothing should represent you and those you work for in positive ways.
If you are using the Memory Verse Poster, show it to the students.
Listen to what God says about us and work:
Ask a student to read Ephesians 2:10 aloud from the Bible.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
God created us wonderfully. We are His creative masterpieces. He also created us to work. He gave us things to do that will benefit us and others and that will bring honour to Him. Work is not a curse or a consequence of sin. It is a gift. In fact, it is one of the ways we reflect God. He works, and so do we.
Just as we saw in the parable of the servants and the gold bags last week, we learned that we are responsible for how we choose to use what we are given. We can choose to waste our resources or use them wisely.
We are going to take a quiz now about how we work. I will read a question. Answer quietly to yourself using these words: never, sometimes, often, always.
Optional: If you are using the Student Page, give the students time to complete it.
Are you surprised at some of the answers you gave? Sometimes when we ask ourselves questions like this, we can better understand how we are acting. Then we can make choices that are more in line with who we want to be and who God has called us to be.
Place the bucket with the rocks from the Connecting activity at the front of your teaching space.
As we have learned, God has a lot to say about our work. When we do it well, it is helpful to us, our family, and our community.
Think of a talent or skill you have. Now think of an opportunity you have to use that skill or talent in your work.
Allow the students 1–2 minutes to think about their answers. Have the students take a rock from the bucket and sit down while holding their rocks in their hands.
The rocks you are holding in your hands represent hard work. Rocks are hard. They are difficult to break. Some are small, such as the ones you are holding in your hands. But even huge mountains are made of rocks. And some rocks, when skilfully mined and carefully polished, are very beautiful and valuable.
Though these rocks are not valuable on their own, the hard work they represent does have great value. Hard work uses the time, talents, skills, and opportunities you have been given to help yourself and others and bring glory to God.
Sometimes you may be tired and do not want to work. Sometimes you may feel that the work is not worth your time or your effort because there does not seem to be any reward. Sometimes you may work and yet someone else seems to receive the benefits. Sometimes you have to do things you do not want to do.
Give the students 1–2 minutes to think and pray.
Take these rocks with you as a reminder that you can work hard for God and for yourself, your family, and your community. God has given you many gifts, including the ability to work hard.
Close with a blessing based on Ephesians 2:10:
Blessing: May you know that you are God’s amazing creation and that you are made to work hard and well for Him. May you see His direction in your life as you work hard to fulfill His purposes.
Lead the students in singing this quarter’s song, if possible.
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
