The Lord's Prayer
A Model: Our Relationship with God and Man
Summary of Citywide Children’s Meeting
Regarding the next few Lord’s Prayer Lessons
We had fellowship concerning the next two lessons in this series, THE LORD’S PRAYER—A Model: Our Relationship with God and Man (1 of 2) and THE LORD’S PRAYER—A Model: Our Relationship with God and Man (2 of 2). These two lessons will be covered over the course of three weeks as follows:
February 13, 2022
THE LORD’S PRAYER—A Model: Our Relationship with God and Man (1 of 2)
We will cover this lesson in one weekend. But we do not necessarily need to cover every part of it.
The approach suggests asking the children if they can explain/define sin and to make a list. You will probably get a list like – lying, stealing, killing … maybe cheating. It is good to get an understanding of the children’s thoughts about what they think is “sin”. They may think of outward sins, but there are also inward sins like jealousy and hatred.
In the Lord’s pattern of prayer, He shows us that we need to ask forgiveness for our debts. See if the children know what a “debt” is in the monetary sense and see if they can explain. If not, help them with this understanding. A debt is when you owe something to someone else. It could be money or other things. Ask the children to think about why “sins” might be called “debts”. When we sin, we owe an apology to God and to the person we sinned again. These are like debts.
The second question asks if the children ever say “I’m sorry”. Sometimes in English we say, “I owe you an apology.” That is part of our debt. For example, if you get mad and break your friend’s pencil, you also owe them a new pencil. The lesson also gives a lot of good examples about taking things without asking, etc.
According to the lesson trespasses are against people and sins are against God. The distinction in words is not important, but it did come out in our fellowship that many of our children are very well-behaved and feel like they do not sin. It is important to help them touch their conscience to realize that they ALL sins, even the seemingly “good” ones.
Examples shared today:
- Hate – Your brother is mean to you. You get upset and inside say, “I hate my brother.” Hatred against your sibling is sin. Also the Bible says not to call your brother stupid (fool), and some of the children may be guilty of doing that.
- Jealousy – a classmate might get better grades, have prettier clothes, cooler sneakers, or someone may get called on more in class. Our jealousy is also a sin.
These are not seen by anyone, but require us to repent and say we are sorry to God.
Additional points:
- Forgive us our debts is a simple prayer. We do not need to go on and on.
- Be specific when you remember specific sins and offenses.
- Make a habit of asking for forgiveness. Do not let sins and offenses pile up.
Once we have covered sin, debts, inward unseen sin and confession/repentance, the good news is that God forgives us! Maybe they have some experience of confessing to a parent and being forgiven. It is a wonderful feeling. When we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We should learn not to just confess our sins in a general way, like, “Lord Jesus, forgive me of all my sins”. We should learn to confess them one by one, and maintain a righteous and proper relationship with both God and man.
February 20, 2022
This second part can be split between 2/20 and 2/27.
THE LORD’S PRAYER—A Model: Our Relationship with God and Man (2 of 2)
This lesson in general is covering our need to forgive others. When we realize how much God has forgiven us, we are more willing to forgive others.
Part 1 – Page 1 including Peter’s question and the Lord’s answer. “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Seven times seems to be a lot. But the Lord answered, “Up to seventy times seven.” The main burden is to forgive. Forgiving is not easy unless we realize how much we have been forgiven. Use all the math problems as game-like activities to impress the children how much they may have sinned. How many sins in a day, multiplied by a week, multiplied by a year, by a lifetime? God still forgives. Use these portions from the second page to summarize/end the lesson.
- God’s forgiveness is thorough and complete. When God forgives, He does not remember our sins anymore (Jeremiah 31:34c). He even says that He casts all our sins into the depths of the sea! (Micah 7:19b) Can you find anything in the deep sea? As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12). He forgives and forgets, yet how often we remember every incident of offense against us, even very minor offenses. If only we would realize God’s abundant grace and mercy toward us, it would be easy to forgive others.
- God’s desire is that we would be like Him in forgiving others. Whoever needs mercy must learn to be merciful and whoever has obtained mercy must also learn to be merciful. We all need mercy! We all have obtained mercy from God!
February 27, 2022
As a continuation, the second half of the lesson covers the parable of the slave who owed a great deal of money and was forgiven in Matthew 18:23-35. We can go over the details of the parable with the children. Here the burden is not simply forgiving when it is difficult or forgiving many times. It has the same burden to know how much we have been forgiven, reinforcing the points above but goes a little deeper. (All these points develop the parable further.)
- God’s forgiveness is immeasurable.
- God’s forgiveness is unconditional.
- God’s desire is that we would be like Him in forgiving others. Although this is mentioned in the previous week, here we see a negative example of someone who was forgiven but not changed or softened in his heart.
- The Lord’s warning—the consequences of not forgiving others. Just retell this part of the story. Better not to try to apply to them.
Additional point: Don’t forget the overall context for the lessons is still the Lord’s prayer. The Lord is teaching us how to pray, showing us the importance of asking for forgiveness and for forgiving.