Rccg Yaya Sunday School Teacher’s Manual — Sunday 16Th Of February, 2025

INTRODUCTION: The Bible says “love is of God” and “God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). In other words, love is a fundamental characteristic of who God is. Everything God does is driven and influenced by His love (John 3:16). Our Lord Jesus Christ emphasised this by identifying the commandments to love God as the first and general law, after which He declared the directive to love fellow human beings as the second most important law (Matthew 22:35-40). The Holy Spirit sheds more light on the link between these two aspects of love (1 John 4:20). In Song of Solomon 8:7, love is said to be unquenchable and has more worth than all of one’s possessions because it satisfies as nothing else can.

LESSON AIM: To know more about love for God and humanity.

TEACHING OBJECTIVES:.Through this lesson, students should be able to: a. Know more about loving God. b. Show more love for fellow humans.

TEXT REVIEW: Matthew 22:35-40.

A lawyer came to Jesus asking Him a question to tempt him. This lawyer asked, what is the greatest commandment in verses 35-36?

i. What is the first commandment?………..Vs 37 & 38.

ii. State the second commandment……….V39.

iii. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets…V40.

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A. The teacher should describe God’s love:

i. The Bible says that our love for God is related to the fact that God first loved us (1 John 4:19).

ii. It is also related to our obedience to Him (1 John 5:3; John 14:15).

iii. God’s love for us enables us to obey Him freely, without the burden of guilt or the fear of punishment (1 John 4:18).

iv. Loving God requires knowing Him, and that knowledge begins with His Word (1 John 2:5).

B. To love God is to:

i. Worship and praise Him only (Exodus 20:3).

i. Make Him our priority (Mark 12:30).

ii. Desire Him (Psalm 42:1).

iii. Yearn for His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

iv. Keep His Word (John 14:23; Psalm 119:11).

v. Obey Him (John 15:10; 1 John 5:3).

C. However, this is not a matter of merely following rules and registering good deeds. It is about having God’s love written permanently on our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5).

CLASS ACTIVITY 1:

Mention practical ways of showing love to God.

A. We can express our love to God through those who are created in His image-fellow humans (1John 4:20; Mark 12:31).

i. God’s kind of love is that which is given to those who did not deserve it including our ‘enemies’ (Romans 5:8; Luke 6:32-35).

ii. The Bible says we are to love others the way God loves us (1 John 4:7).

iii. We are to love the family of God (Romans 12:10).

iv. As we show benevolent and selfless love, we reflect God’s love to a lost and dying world.

B. One practical way to love others is to imagine ourselves in their shoes (Luke 6:31).

i. Loving others does not mean agreeing with everything they say or do, nor does it mean acting in ways that always gain their approval.

ii. Loving others means attending to their needs-both physical and spiritual (Luke 10:29-37).

iii. We love our neighbours best when we share God’s truth with them: Jesus alone saves (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) and meets people at their point of need.

C. We love our neighbours out of an overflow of God’s love for us and as a way of demonstrating our love toward God (1 John 4:7-12).