Lesson Text: Matthew 5:1-2 and 17-18:
1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."
Jesus said that He did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. Do you know what it means to destroy something? It is to tear something up to where it cannot be used anymore. Let’s say that you are playing in the sand and you build a sandcastle and then you knock it down. You have destroyed it. Jesus told them and us that He did not come to tear down (destroy) what the Law and the Prophets said.
He then said He came to not to destroy but to fulfill the law and the Prophets. Fulfill means to make complete. Here is a "for instance": Mommy tells you to go clean your room. If you go into your room and do not stop till you are finished cleaning it properly, you completed (fulfilled) what your mommy told you to do. Jesus said that He came to make the Law and the Prophets complete. He fulfilled the teachings of the Law and the Prophets and then He gave His New Testament law which is a better law than the Old Testament law.
Family Discussion:
Discuss what it means to destroy and then what it means to fulfill.
TELL WHICH ACTIONS DESTROY AND WHICH ONES FULFILL:
1. Tommy drew a picture of his family, then he tore it into pieces and threw it in the garbage.
2. Sam was outside playing with his cars and trucks. He found daddy’s hammer and started pounding his cars and trucks till they were smashed to pieces.
3. Suzie and Johnny wanted to finger paint. Mom said alright but they had to clean up their mess when they were finished and they did.
4. Amy pulled the arms, legs, and head off of her new baby doll.
5. Troy and his dad were building a bird house for mom. They followed all the instructions and finally the bird house was finished, ready to give to mom.
Which ones were Christlike?
Put a C by the ones who did not destroy but fulfilled, like Jesus did, and then replaced what they had fulfilled with a better one just like Jesus did:
6. ___ Mark was taking art lessons and his project was to paint a picture of his family. He painted his mom, dad, and himself seated on their sofa in their family room. When he finished it mom hung it on the wall. She was very proud of his painting. Two years later Mark had a baby sister named Janet. He looked at the painting he had done and thought about Janet not being in the picture. He then painted a new picture of his family, this time adding Janet. He then replaced old picture with the new. The new one was much better and it had his complete family in it.
7. ___ Billie wanted to surprise Rusty by making him gravy. She had never made gravy before. When she finished cooking it she tasted it and it tasted horrible! She threw it in the bottom of the garbage can and put lots of garbage over the top of it so no one would notice it. She then started over and this time she cooked something different.
8. ___ Joy got a new puppy, her puppy needed somewhere warm to sleep at night. She found a box and put lots of old rags in it and set it out back by the house for her puppy to sleep in. It rained that night and the next morning when Joy came outside to see her puppy, he was all wet and shivering. The box and rags in it were all wet too. She had to throw the dog bed she made for her puppy in the trash. Joy told her dad what happened and he said that he would build her puppy a dog house. He built the dog house that day for her puppy and they added cedar chips in it with a doggie pillow. Now Joy's puppy would stay dry and warm.
9. ___ Jason and Marcy had a digital camera. They loved to take pictures, especially pictures of animals. The only problem was their camera did not always take the best pictures. They saved up some money and went to Wal-Mart to look at newer cameras. They found one they could afford and bought it. When Jason and Marcy got home they began taking pictures with their new camera and then they compared the pictures from the new camera with the ones they had taken with the old camera. They both agreed that the new camera took much better pictures so they put the old camera away.
10. ___ Anna was supposed to write a paper explaining what destroy and fulfill meant for Sunday school. She worked very hard on the assignment. When she finished she had mommy read the paper and her mother said it was very good but Anna's writing was messy and hard to read. Anna then decided that, even though it took more time and work, she would rewrite the paper being neater this time. When she was finished, her new paper looked much better than her first one.
YES OR NO
1. Jesus came to fulfill the law and the Prophets.
2. Jesus came to destroy what the Prophets said.
3. Jesus came to destroy the law.
4. Jesus came to fulfill the teachings of the Prophets.
5. Fulfill means to make complete.
6. Destroy means to tear something up so it cannot be used anymore.
7. Jesus is God’s Son.
8. Jesus loves us.
9. Jesus wants us to be good.
10. The devil wants us to be mean.
See how many times you can find Jesus’ name in the letters below:
J
O E P Z A T B JE
Y S C M I F L ES T U J E S U S S
U
P S J E S U S US
X Q J E S U S S