The Temptation of Jesus

Art Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Making a Collage.

Key Verses:
Luke 4:5-8 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve

only him.'"

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture ahead of time.
• Gather the materials.
• Make a sample project.

Supplies List:

• Poster board
• Magazines
• Scissors
• Markers
• Glue

Presentation:

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Open with a prayer.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Discussion:
What is it that the devil is offering Jesus? power over the world; riches; authority

Can you think of some reasons why this might be a temptation for Jesus?
power and control are intoxicating - if you are in charge you get what you want
you do what you want, others do what you say
many people expected the messiah to come as a strong political ruler -
a warrior king that would re-establish Israel as a great kingdom as in
the time of King David. If Jesus had all this, then he could meet the people’s
expectations - be what they wanted, but that would mean not being what God
wanted.

What is it that the devil wants Jesus to do to get this power? worship him

Review Jesus’ reply.

Where do you think Jesus’ reply comes from?
Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) that Jesus would have learned since childhood.

Look up Deuteronomy 6:13 to see the quote there
The LORD your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall
swear.

Think back to when you studied the 10 Commandments. What else might Jesus have said?
Deuteronomy 5:7 You shall have no other gods before me.

To worship the devil would mean having something more important than God,
Jesus knew that was wrong. It is still wrong today, but there are many temptations in the world to worship other things. Maybe not worship in the sense of praying to them like God or going to church to worship them, but worshipping them by giving them priority in your life - making them more important than God.

For instance, (Update these for what is popular at the time)

1-3rd graders - pokemon cards are all the rage. Kids do most anything to collect more and
to get the special ones. Harmless enough perhaps, but if you had pokemon cards and God asked you to sell them and give the money to someone who needed it for food or clothes or shelter, would you do it? Or would they be too hard to give up?

4th and 5th graders - color game boys were so popular at Christmas that Toys-R-Us only put out a
certain number every hour to help regulate the stampeding crowds. If you had a color game boy and God asked you to give it to a child who did not have one, would you do it? Or would it be too hard to give up?

What other things, either in your life, or in other people’s lives do people seem at least tempted to worship?

cars/boats - spend so much time keeping them clean and shiny. get so upset if anything happens to it. have an importance to them far beyond their worth

their body - men who take steroids and risk destroying the body God gave them in order to be “super buff” or people who use plastic surgery to “improve” what God has given them or teens who are so eager to be as slim as fashion models that they become anorexic or bulimic.

grades/work - people who spend so much time to be perfect at their work that they have no time for relationships with God or other people

possessions - clothes, toys, gadgets, whatever is new that people have to buy, not because
they need it, but just to have it.

other people - sports figures, actors and actresses, rock stars, “royalty” - think about the uproar at the death of Princess Diana and the Kennedy deaths, yet Mother Teresa died with hardly anyone noticing

money - those who always have to have more, never feeling secure with what they, typically
unwilling to share proportionally to what they earn

Activity:

Cut out magazine pictures and draw your own pictures showing all the different things that people can be tempted to worship.

Decide on a title for your poster that will help people who see it know that these are things that we should not worship. We should worship God.
example: Worship God, not…

Have someone write the title on your poster board.

Arrange the pictures on the poster board and glue on. Display for church.

Journal Entry:

• What things are you tempted to worship (to give more time to or care more about) rather than worshipping God?

Closing:

End with a prayer.

Have the children assist with the cleanup.

Editor's Note:
How could the collage be designed or have images included to represent how we RESIST Temptation, and what our correct PRIORITIES should be?

A lesson posted by Kingswood UMC

Atlanta, GA

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.