Christian
Churches of God
Lesson:
Tenth Commandment
(Edition 3.0
20050729-20070517-20211024)
The Tenth
Commandment says: You shall not covet. In this lesson we will review what it
means to covet and how to avoid it.
Christian Churches of God
E-mail: secretary@ccg.org
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Lesson:
Goal:
Teach the children what it means to covet and why God does not want us to covet our neighbour’s things.
Objectives:
1. Children will be able to understand the meaning of the Tenth Commandment.
2. Children will understand ways in which we covet .
3. Children will discuss some of the more difficult times in the Bible when individuals chose to covet and review the example of Jesus Christ.
Resources:
The Ten Commandments (No. CB17)
The Creation of the Family of God (No. CB4)
Lesson: The Battle of Christ and Satan (No. CB81)
Relevant Scriptures:
Exodus 20:17, Deuteronomy 5:21, Matthew 6:19-21, Is 14:13, 1Kings 21:1-29, Ps 37:4, Luke 4:1-13, James 1:27, Micah 6:8, Romans 13:8-10, Philippians 4:8, Psalm 103:2-5, 1Jn 5:3
Memory Verse:
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.
Format:
Open the study with prayer.
Poster Board Activity (Optional). If using the poster board from the previous lesson add the tenth commandment to the poster board.
Lesson on the Tenth Commandment
Do activity(s), time allowing.
End with prayer.
Lesson:
1. Read through the paper The Tenth Commandment, No. CB79 unless it is read as a sermonette with the children present.
2. Children’s questions are in bold. This is a general review of the material covered in the lesson.
Questions
and Answers:
Q1. What is the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment basically says you shall not covet your neighbours’ things.
Q2. What does it mean to covet your neighbours’
things?
A. Covet means to lust after or have strong desire.
Q3. What does the Roman Catholic religion do with
the tenth commandment?
A. The Catholic religion splits the tenth commandment into two commandments. They claim the ninth commandment is you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife and the tenth commandment says you shall not covet your neighbour’s goods. This is because they do not list the third commandment (no idols) as one of the commandments.
Q4. What does the number ten symbolise?
A. Ordinal completeness and perfection. God’s commandments are perfect, and they all tie together building upon one another.
Q5. How does coveting start?
A. Coveting begins in our mind. Once we allow the desire for something or someone to grow stronger and stronger, we eventually break this commandment and usually others as well.
Q6. What does the Bible teach us about our
physical possessions? Should they be our focus?
A. No, God tells us our treasures are in heaven. This doesn’t mean we don’t have physical things or enjoy our physical things, just that we do so with the right attitude and priorities.
Q7. What is the first Biblical example of
coveting?
A. When Lucifer (Satan) coveted God’s position and throne.
Q8. Did Satan’s coveting of God’s throne lead him
to break any other commandments?
A. Yes, eventually Satan broke all of God’s commandments.
Q9. In 1Kings 21 we find the story of Naboth and
Ahab. Who was Ahab and what did he
desire?
A. Ahab was the King of Samaria and he desired his neighbour Naboth's land.
Q10. Did Ahab need this land?
A. No, as the King, Ahab had plenty of land. He did not need any more land; he simply wanted this particular piece of land because it was near his house.
Q11. Was Naboth willing to sell his land?
A. No. This land was his inheritance and according to God’s laws, Naboth was not to sell it, but keep it for his inheritance.
Q12. At this point, what should Ahab have done?
A. He should have stopped asking and stopped coveting, or he could have asked to lease the land until the next Jubilee (Lev 25:15-16). He should have focused on all the wonderful things he did have.
Q13. Is that what happened? Did Ahab stop coveting his neighbour’s
property?
A. No, he allowed his wife to kill Naboth so he could have his property.
Q14. Was God pleased with Ahab’s actions?
A. No! The prophet Elijah was sent to Ahab to tell him that God was not pleased and that he and his family would be punished and killed.
Q15. What did Ahab do once he realised that God
was not pleased and he broke God’s laws?
A. He humbled himself and repented. His life was spared because of that.
Q16. Who do Ahab and Naboth represent in this
story?
A. Satan and Jesus Christ.
Q17. Are there things we can do and think on to
avoid coveting?
A. Of course. It is not wrong to want things; we just need to be careful to not cross over to coveting. We must remember to put God first and he will give us the desires of our heart. We must be appreciative of everything that we have and count our blessings. We need to learn to practice pure undefiled religion and walk humbly with God. When we do these positive things we will greatly reduce the tendency to covet.
Activity
Options
1.
Presents
In this activity, each child will get the same present, but they will have to choose from presents that are presented differently. The present can be something simple like a small bottle of bubbles all wrapped differently; some extravagantly and some very simply. One should look even quite ugly. One for each child, all numbered consecutively.
Supplies: same small gift for each child, wrap all the gifts differently, some very poorly maybe in brown paper or newspaper and others very beautifully. Number each gift and create a corresponding list of numbers that will be cut and placed in a bowl.
Welcome the children to the lesson and allow them to draw a number and collect their present. Have the children place their gift on the floor and proceed to go through the Questions & Answers. After the last question, change the focus of the group to the presents. Ask the children how they feel about the presents. To the ones with the fancy wrapping: do they feel happier that they got the fancier present? Do they think it is going to be a better present? To the ones in the sad and small wrapping: do they think the others did better? Are they sad? Are they jealous? Would they rather have had a different present? Open them. They all get the same thing. Can they see that they were coveting the fancy presents but that there was no point as they all got the same thing? Our prize in life is the same: it is to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The journey there is like the wrapping. Sometimes things are bright and shiny and beautiful, other times things are very challenging and difficult yet it is up to each one of us how we handle the journey.
2.
Play
The play of 1Kings 21 is Lesson: The Battle of Christ and Satan (No. CB81). The children can put on a play or puppet show for the congregation.
3.
T/F Game
T/F Game is based on 1Kings 21; therefore, make sure the paper The Tenth Commandment CB79 is read prior to playing the T/F game.
Supplies: Four chairs – two labeled T and two labeled F, painters tape and questions,
Place the children in two teams with even numbers if possible. Have the four chairs placed back-to-back in pairs. Name one pair “true” and “false” and the other pair “true” and “false”. Have each team sit some distance away from the other group’s pair of true/false chairs. Drawing a line, or using a painter's tape line may help them keep their distance; just far enough away so that it is a fun race to the chair.
An adult asks a true/false statement such as those below and the team determines the answer (i.e. T or F). The adult nominates the children who will run to the chairs and tries to match the agility of the children. One nominated child races against the child from the other team to sit on the right chair (T or F). The children then sit back down with their own team and help answer the next question. The team with the most children on the correct chairs wins. Each child has a turn at being the team’s runner.
True or false statements?
Players in the Bible story of 1Kings 21
● Ahab was happy with all God had given him. F (he wanted Naboth’s land)
● Naboth was an innocent man. T
● Jezebel discouraged Ahab from sinning. F (she was the one who acted out the plan for Ahab to get the land he was coveting – to do so involved murder).
● Jezebel encouraged the men of the city to sin. T
● God was angry with Ahab and Jezebel. T
● add as many questions tied to 1 Kings 21 and the commandments as you wish
4.
Word Searches
Supplies: word searches and pencils. The word searches can be done individually, as a group or given to the children as activity to do at home
Close with prayer.
The Tenth
Commandment Word Searches
H R B T W K E P W A
G O D O S V P Z F X
Q U N I O A O S A Y
Y U K L C T E W M E
H O N O U R H F I B
X A V M L R D S L O
D E A W B Y X O Y L
T S C P N F Q E M M
H T N E T S S Y F L
W S O T X U A O G S
BOOTHS COVET
FAMILY FEAST
GOD HONOUR
LOVE OBEY
TENTH
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COMMANDMENT |
CONTENTMENT |
COVET |
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FAMILY |
FEAST |
GOD |
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HOLY |
HONOUR |
LOVE |
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OBEDIENCE |
SPIRIT |
TABERNACLES |
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TENTH |
THANKFULNESS |
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❑