Choosing How We Shall Live

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

Proverbs 22:1-2, New International Reader's Version

22 You should want a good name more than you want great riches.
To be highly respected is better than having silver or gold.

² The Lord made rich people and poor people.
That’s what they have in common.

Proverbs 22:8-9, New International Reader's Version

⁸ Anyone who plants evil gathers a harvest of trouble.
Their power to treat others badly will be destroyed.

⁹ Those who give freely will be blessed.
That’s because they share their food with those who are poor.

Proverbs 22:22-23, New International Reader's Version

(Saying 2)

²² Don’t take advantage of poor people just because they are poor.
Don’t treat badly those who are in need by taking them to court.
²³ The Lord will stand up for them in court.
He will require the lives of people who have taken the lives of those in need.

New International Reader's Version (NIRV) Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Object:

A long bundle of long match sticks or something that breaks easily individually but not when bundled together.

Message:

I want to share a story with you this morning. (Taken and paraphrased from The Storyteller’s Companion to the Bible, Old Testament Wisdom, Volume 5 by Michael E. Williams, editor, Abingdon Press, 1994).

There once was a king who knew that he would soon die. He gathered his children and those in the palace to come to him. He said, “Know that I will soon die, and I want all of you to keep my legacy alive, the way to live life so that all may continue to prosper.”

Do any of you know what the word prosper means? (Allow children to answer.) To prosper means to achieve and become strong. The king wanted his friends and family to continue to live life the way he tried to teach them.

“Listen well, my children, my builders, and my friends. Join together to help one another. Let the less powerful one among you obey the one with greater power, but the greater one shows mercy to all others.”

What does mercy mean? (Allow children to answer.) Mercy means offering more kindness and forgiveness than people deserve to get.

The king continues, “let the one who has knowledge teach the one who is less educated and let the less educated accept the knowledge and learn from it. Let the wealthy one give to the hungry and poor, and let the needy thank the wealthy. Remember that if you live united, together with one another, getting along with one another, you will continue to live in a good way. But, if you are divided or against one another, you will surely perish.”

What does perish mean? (Allow children to respond). Perish means to be destroyed or ruined.

Then the king turned to his knight and gave him these instructions: “Take ten arrows and try to break the bundle of arrows.” The knight used all his strength to try to accomplish what the king had asked of him, but no matter how hard he tried to break these arrows, he could not break them.

Then the king said, “Fling the arrows to the ground.” The knight threw the arrows so that they scattered everywhere.

The king called to the youngest person there and said, “Pick up these arrows one by one and break them.” And the youngest person, small as he was, snapped each arrow in half easily.

“And so, you see,” said the king, “how each arrow can be broken when it is separate but not when they are united. So too will you live and prosper as a community, when you help each other, share your wealth, and live with justice.”

What is the lesson that the king shared with his community? (Allow children to answer.) Those are all good lessons learned from this story.

I have an idea! Let’s try and see if the king’s lesson was true. I don’t have a bundle of arrows, but I have this box of long stick matches. Would one of you try to break this bundle in half? (Have one child try to break the bundle in half. Make sure you have enough in the bundle so that the child cannot break it. Now take that bundle and, just like the knight in the story, fling the matchsticks to the ground. Don’t throw them too far.) Now, will one of you volunteer to pick up the sticks one by one? (Have the child pick up a few sticks and, one by one, break them in half.) Was it easier to try to break them all together or one by one? (Allow the children to answer.)

I wonder if we learned the same lesson from the king’s story that those around him did. I pray that we did. The king is correct: if we live and work together, help one another, and live with justice, then we are living the life that the king wanted his people to live. That is the way God wants us to live. When we live life that way, we will truly be blessed!

Prayer:

God of justice, we give you thanks for the stories from others and the lessons learned from those stories. Teach me to live a life that is lived and worked together with others. I want to help others see the love that you have for them by the way I live my life. For I know that when I do, my life will be truly blessed. Amen.