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LESSON 2: THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW

“You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” – Jesus the Christ

Think back to your days on the school yard. What was the law of the jungle? The weak kid, the overweight kid, the kid dressed poorly, the different kid, was ignored at best and in many cases the object of abuse. If you’re like me you might be feeling some shame right now as you think back on those times. Good. Now let’s help our children be “other than” when it comes to their treatment of the defenseless and needy.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 1: BEING DOCTORS WHO MAKE HOUSE CALLS

What if Jesus had stayed in the temple courts or the synagogue teaching? What if He never ventured out into the community, never called old Zach down from the tree, never ate with tax collectors and sinners, never touched the sick and hurting? Why don’t doctors make house calls these days? I’m not sure, but wouldn’t it be interesting if suddenly people stopped going to a doctors office or hospital when they were ill?

What if they thought that was the last place to go to be healed? How long would it take for the docs to begin making house calls again? Not long I suspect. Is the church today, the body of Christ the great Physician, staying in the hospital building waiting for the sick to show up? Or, worse yet, staying in the hospital talking about the remedy but secretly hoping that the sick stay away?

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 3: ENCOURAGE AND SHARE YOUR BLESSINGS

The Bible mentions “one another” or “each other” some fifty times to give the body of believers instruction on how to live together. Contrary to what many of us have always thought, these passages are not directed at how we relate to the world but rather how we should relate with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like God gave the nation of Israel the law in order to make them stand out as “other than” in the world, He has given the church the “one anothers” as a means to bring Himself glory in the world through us.

Today we’ll look at two of these: encourage one another and share with one another.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 2: FORGIVENESS AND PRAYER – A LIFE-GIVING COMBINATION

The church is made up of people, and as people being transformed into the image of Christ we are by definition not finished products. This leaves us open to mistakes or offenses committed against one another. The question is not whether we offend one another but rather when it happens how do we respond in a way that is not of this world? Forgiveness and prayer.

his is the model we have in Christ. If we behave as the world behaves we diminish our witness to the lost, inflict pain on the body of Christ, and damage our own walk with the Lord. As we take a look at the topic of forgiving one another and praying for one another, take personal inventory of your relationships in the church. Are you actively praying for those with whom God has brought you into relationship within the body?

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 1: SERVE ONE ANOTHER

“You Should Do As I Have Done For You” – Jesus

The dusty and dirty conditions of the region necessitated the need for foot-washing. Although the disciples most likely would have been happy to wash Jesus’ feet, they could not conceive washing each other’s feet. This was because in the society of the time foot-washing was reserved for the lowliest of menial servants. Peers did not wash one another’s feet, except very rarely and as a mark of great love. Luke points out (22:24) that they were arguing about who was the greatest of them, so that none was willing to stoop to wash feet. When Jesus moved to wash their feet, they were shocked. His actions serve also as a symbol of spiritual cleansing (vs. 6-9) and a model of Christian humility (vs. 12-17). Through this action Jesus taught the lesson of selfless service that was supremely exemplified by His death on the cross.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 3: LOVING YOUR FAMILY AS CHRIST LOVES THE CHURCH

As we started this section on loving our neighbor in the family, or “Family Ties,” we focused on how, in His wisdom, God created for us a physical picture of the spiritual family He had in mind for all who would call on the name of Christ. We’ve also looked at how that earthly family, whether biological or adopted, is a training and proving ground – bettering God’s children for life with our spiritual brothers and sisters.

This week we’ll discuss caring for our earthly family, placing priority on them, and setting them before ourselves. This is yet another mirror image of what we’ll discuss in our next section, loving your neighbor in the church…God’s family. I pray that as you prepare this week you will take time to consider the relationships you maintain with your siblings and other relatives. How is Christ reflected in those relationships? For me, these questions have been convicting, comforting, and inspiring at the same time. Hopefully you will be challenged by God’s word as well.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 2: HONOR YOUR PARENTS – THE BRIDGE

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12. ‘Honor’ is a word that has fallen out of favor in our modern western culture. This is particularly the case when it comes to the giving of honor to parents by children whether grown or still at home. The fifth command is the first of six commands that God gives concerning our behavior towards our fellow man. It is the “bridge” between the commands about loving God and those about loving our neighbor. So it is fitting that in our study we will begin here. This week we will look at what it means to “honor” our parents. We’ll consider how this is a picture for how children relate to their Heavenly Father. As you prepare this week take some time to consider how you “honor” your own parents, even if they may not be very “honorable.”

As you prepare your heart and mind for this week’s lesson take a fresh look at some of these verses and make a mental note of the ways in which we can honor our parents, our elders, and everyone else. God puts much value or weight, as the root of the Hebrew word for “honor” indicates, on age and the elderly. Scripture is clear that special deference and care must be given to our parents and elders, especially those within our own family. Consider the ancient Chinese culture, which places great value on honoring parents, and their longevity as a civilization when you read anew this “command with a promise.”

BIG IDEA: Honor your father and mother all your life.

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Leviticus 19:3
Ephesians 6:1-4
Proverbs 1:8
Proverbs 23:22
Matthew 15:4-6
1 Timothy 5:8
Leviticus 19:32
Deuteronomy 5:16

UNIT VERSE:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. – Mark 12:30

SECTION VERSE:
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. – Psalm 28:7a

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• What does it mean to “honor” your father and mother?
• Does this change as you get older? How?
• Name a way you can honor your father and mother now and one when you are all grown up.
• How do you dishonor your father and mother?
• How is honoring your parents like honoring God?

PRAYER:
Thank God for your parents and your grandparents.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 1: PARALLELS BETWEEN THE FAMILY OF GOD AND OUR EARTHLY FAMILY

God uses many metaphors (parallels) in the Bible to describe how He relates to us, how He relates to the church, and how we relate to one another. One of these is the metaphor of “God’s family.” In this picture God is the parent and we the children. Jesus is our brother, and we, the church, saved by grace through faith, are the adopted brothers and sisters in this family (Ephesians 1:5 and Galatians 3:26, John 1:12-13). How does the Father want us to love our family? To answer this question we must first look to how He has loved us and also how the Son, our adopted brother, has loved us. Jesus said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” It is at the source of divine love that we must begin and end our Quest.

As you prepare your heart and mind for this week’s lesson take a fresh look at some of these verses and make mental note of the ways in which our family life parallels our life in God’s family. What can we learn about how we relate to God and what insights might we gain about how God views us as His children, through the lens of the human family? We as individuals were created in the image of God. We as families reflect that likeness to an even greater degree.

BIG IDEA: God places us in families.

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
John 19:25-27
Ephesians 1:5
Malachi 4:5-6
Galatians 3:26
John 1:12-13
1 Timothy 5:4-8
Ephesians 6:1-4

UNIT VERSE:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. – Mark 12:30

SECTION VERSE:
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. – Psalm 28:7a

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• Tell me about your family. How many children? Brothers? Sisters? Grandparents? Cousins?
• What relationships do we have in God’s family? How is it similar to our earthly family?

PRAYER:
Thank God for the family He has blessed you with.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

A number of years ago, Tina Turner sang a song titled, “What’s love got to do with it?” According to the scriptures, love has everything to do with it! The love you are to have for God and for one another holds a preeminent place in the sight of God.

1 Corinthians 13 asserts that one can possess spiritual gifts, great faith and all knowledge but if he does not have love, he is nothing. Think about that for a moment. You could have the faith of Abraham, perform the miracles of Elisha or Paul, utter prophecies and be the most astute theologian in the world and yet be a nobody before the eyes of God… Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments are the commandments to love. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40).

Love is a sign or mark of Christ’s disciples (John 13:35). Moreover, it is evidence that a person has been born again and knows God (1 John 4:7- 8). An unloving Christian is simply an oxymoron, that is, a living contradiction. As Christians, we are called to faith and hope. We are to “clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col. 3:12). We are to bear with one another and forgive one another…

What’s love got to do with it? Everything!

As you prepare your heart and mind for this week’s lesson take a fresh look at some of these verses and make mental note of the differences between human love and divine love. Also note for yourself what divine love is and what it isn’t, what it does, and what it doesn’t do. Understanding divine love is critical to our understanding of the great commandments to love God and to love our neighbor. Enjoy this time of meditation in the Word.

BIG IDEA: Only God can teach us to love one another the way He loves us.

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
John 4:7-8
1 Corinthians 13
Matthew 5:44
John 13:34-35
Colossians 3:12-14
Romans 5:8
1 John 3:16

UNIT VERSE:
And here is the second one. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” There is no commandment more important than these. – Mark 12:31

SECTION VERSE:
Everyone should provide for his own relatives. Most of all, everyone should take care of his own family. If he doesn’t, he has left the faith. He is worse than someone who doesn’t believe. – 1 Timothy 5:8

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• Why is love important?
• What does it mean to love God?
• What does it mean to love your neighbor?
• Why should I love my neighbor? What if they aren’t very nice? How is this like God’s love for us?

PRAYER:
Think about some people who are not very nice to you, people who you dislike. Ask God to help you love them as He loves them.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 3: THE PURPOSE OF STRENGTHS

Remembering back to our first lesson on strength we said that, “First, He is the fountainhead of our strength. Second, He stands ready to renew our strength if we will seek Him, trust Him, and wait on Him. Third, God gives us strength not for our own selfish interests or nonsense but to glorify Him and do the good works of the Kingdom that He has prepared in advance for us to walk in.” Let’s talk this week about that last point. The Bible teaches that as followers of Christ we have been given the right to be called “children” of God. It goes on to teach us to imitate God, “as dearly loved children.” In what ways can we imitate God?

The Living God is in His essence a savior and defender. Psalm 68 says He is a “Father to the fatherless and defender of widows.” Psalm 34 tells us that He is “close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 82 extends these duties to us. “Stand up for those who are weak and for those whose fathers have died. See to it that those who are poor and those who are beaten down are treated fairly. Save the weak and those who are in need.”

Do not make the mistake of thinking that this only applies to physical oppression either. Jesus says of himself (and by extension his followers), “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” The Spirit of the Lord is upon all of His children now and in His strength we are to be imitators of our Heavenly Father. The fact that Jesus  immediately moved from loving God to loving our neighbor isn’t coincidence. This makeover isn’t to be kept to ourselves. God saved us, but left us in the world for a reason. We are being made over for a purpose! Let’s get to it!

BIG IDEA: God gave us strength so we can help others.

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Hebrews 13:16
Philippians 2:4
Luke 6:38
1 John 3:17
Galatians 6:2
Romans 15:1
Ephesians 2:10

UNIT VERSE:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. – Mark 12:30

SECTION VERSE:
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. – Romans 12:2

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• What does it mean to “conform”?
• How can we conform to the image of Christ?
• Why should we conform to His image?
• How can we use our strengths for others?
• What are some signs that show God is renewing our strength?

PRAYER:
Ask God to show you how you can use your strengths to help others.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 2: APPROPRIATE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR STRENGTHS (A LESSON FROM DAVID AND GOLIATH)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

There are many wonderful theological messages to be gleaned from the account of David’s defeat of Goliath. One message that should not be taken from it however is that David was a skinny kid, unprepared for battle, who, despite his overconfidence, was used by God to miraculously defeat an experienced warrior. Many times the way we teach this to children leaves them with the idea that they to can face the metaphorical “giants” in their lives if they just believe. Let’s take a closer look at the account before we get the children in our care metaphorically body slammed by their giants.

The key to this account is not knowledge of God and His covenant promises to Israel. We know that King Saul and the soldiers of Israel would have known well these promises. So David’s advantage was not superior knowledge. What David had that set him apart was experience with God. David makes the case to Saul when he says, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” David had high confidence of victory because his experience with God had shown him that God was with him. But it should not be missed that David had significant skills and strengths. We know that David was a shepherd and from our understanding of the Ancient Near East we know that one tool of a shepherd for protecting his flock was the sling. We also know from scripture and other sources that a skilled slinger could be deadly accurate at distances of 250 meters (nearly 3 football field lengths!) Here is the math. David had been given strength and skill by God plus David knew God’s promises plus David had experienced God’s faithfulness equals one headless Philistine warrior. Our children need to know God, know and develop the strengths He has given them, and put those into action to experience God’s faithfulness. Strength that comes from God can be trusted absolutely. That is a formula for changing the world for
Christ.

Just for fun: Watch this Israeli sling demonstration on YouTube. You will never read David and Goliath the same way again.

BIG IDEA: Know your strengths and don’t be afraid to use them for God.

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Matthew 25:14-30
Ephesians 6:10
Psalm 139:14
1 Corinthians 10:31
Colossians 3:17,23
1 Samuel 17

UNIT VERSE:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. – Mark 12:30

SECTION VERSE:
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. – Psalm 28:7a

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• Why is it important to identify your strengths?
• Does everybody have the same kind of strengths?
• Does it matter how you use your strengths? Why?
• What are some strengths you have that you can use for God?

PRAYER:
Identify at least five of your strengths and ask God to give you the confidence you need to use them for His glory.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 3: REMEMBER WHEN?

Why is it that God spends so much time in the Bible telling His children to “remember” Him? I’d like to venture four reasons I believe are grounded in scripture. When we fail to remember God we risk…

1. Falling into idolatry/trusting ourselves or our possessions (Deut. 8:13-14)
2. Never growing in trust of/faith in God (Isa. 40:20-21)
3. Stumbling into sin and suffering the Father’s discipline (Deut. 8:19)
4. Forfeiting a generation to the enemy (Judges 2:10-11)

So how can we use our minds to remember God? Here are five ways, listed below, that God has ordained for us to remember Him, who He is, and all that He has done. Help your kids use their memory to love God this week.

1. In His Word – God’s Word is our primary means of remembering who He is and all that He has done throughout history. As adults our most important duty in the kingdom is to take the words of God and, “Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Speak about them when you go to bed. And speak about them when you get
   up” (Deuteronomy 11:19).
2. In song – Remembering God in song is a theme we see in scripture over and over again. How wonderful it is that our Creator gave us music, knowing the power it has to help us remember as well as to connect our heads to our hearts and emotions.
3. In prayer – Prayer should not only be about asking for help but about remembering to God all that He has done. When we thank God in our prayers we are “remembering” that God alone is responsible for providing our every need. (Nehemiah 9)
4. In true Christian fellowship – Fellowship is much more than potluck dinners or bowling night. It is about gathering together to remember God to one another. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
5. In traditions and memorials – Traditions and memorials are things that we, in the bible church movement have largely banished from the life of the church. While a healthy dose of caution about tradition becoming idolatry is warranted, the Bible is also clear that God has given us tradition and memorial to help us “remember” who He is and all that He has done. (Joshua 4:4-7, Luke 22:19)

I hope that these will serve you well in helping the children in your group apply their minds to remembering God for who He is and what He’s done.

BIG IDEA: A makeover mind remembers who God is and all that He has done.

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Joshua 4:21-24
Proverbs 22:6
Psalm 103:1-5
John 14:26
Deuteronomy 11:19
Proverbs 3:1-6
Deuteronomy 8:1-5
Deuteronomy 24:9

UNIT VERSE:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. – Mark 12:30

SECTION VERSE:
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. – Psalm 28:7a

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• What are some ways God has blessed you and your family?
• Can you think of a time when God has made a way for you and your family?
• Why is it important to remember God’s goodness in our lives?
• Is God working even in our bad situations? Should we remember them?

PRAYER:
Think about five things God has done for you. Think about five things God has done for your family. Thank Him for them.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.