Listen Up! (to Find Real Treasure) VBS Lesson

This fun VBS lesson gives phony directions and will teach a great scripture principal about how following the Lord to the prizes of heaven means following his voice – carefully! It is also a lesson in how we should think about money. Zany fake treasure hunts and blindfolds and confusion will teach the concept of what real treasure is, and if we are to follow it, we need to understand it well”¦and practice at it!

1 TIMOTHY 6:10:
THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.

JOHN 10:27:
MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME.

Materials:

– Monopoly Money, 1 complete set
– Black marker
– Five $1 bills

Preparation:

Give the real money to one of your assistants and have this lesson readily available to you.

Lesson:

Yesterday we talked about treasures in heaven. Can anyone remember the scripture? Say it with them.

Matthew 6:19-21: 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We are going to mix that up with another scripture to have some fun. The other scripture is 1 Timothy 6:10: The love of money is the root of all evil. We’re going to play a pretty complicated game, so I will have to be very careful reading the instructions! Look carefully at these notes as if you’re intensely studying them. Here we go. Step 1: Have Ms. [Assistant] holding prize money in her hands for those who win.

Look over at your assistant and her five one-dollar bills. Ms. [], what are you doing over there?

She should be taking her dollars out of her wallet and holding the neatly in her hand. She should say, “I’m getting ready to give out prize money.”

How interesting! We’re going to have money as a prize in a game to teach us how not to love money?? I’m a little confused myself! Well, I’m just following instructions. The instructions say”¦ read off of your lesson”¦ Step 2: Have all students fold their hands and keep them that way. So. Everyone fold your hands.

After they have folded their hands… Step 3: Throw the fake money up in them going to do that now. Fly awayfake money! Nobody unfold your hands or leave your seat yet! Make a huge deal of walking around a bit and throwing some here, some there.

After the fake money has gone all over the place”¦ come back and read. Step 4: Tell your students that when you say, “Go!” They should go and collect all the prize money, not leaving a single piece. I’M NOT SAYING “GO” YET. I’m carefully reading my instructions.

Step 5: Tell your students they must go about on their knees and they may not crawl while collecting the prize money! I can guess why the instructions say to stay on your knees yet not crawl, but can anyone take a guess at why that’s in the rules? It prevents head-banging accidents. All right, I’m about to follow step #4. You can all begin to collect the prize money in three”¦two”¦one”¦GO!

Let the kids go about collecting the fake money, reminding them not to crack heads. If any fake money pieces are torn, nobody gets them.

The whole time, the assistant should sit with the five one dollar bills very visible in her hands but without calling any attention to them.

One student may actually figure it out: The instructions said to collect the prize money, not the fake money. The assistant had referred to her real dollars as prize money; therefore they should be trying to get the dollar bills from the assistant and not be flying around after the fake money. If this happens, the assistant should discreetly give the real money to the student who is that sharp, but tell him to him to keep the money out of sight and sit quietly and not attract any attention to himself.

Point out any stray dollars of fake money you see that they may not. Once all money has been collected, bring everyone back to the table.

Everyone count your prize money and see how much each person has. Let them count. Help littler ones or engage older kids to help younger ones when they are finished.

Here’s the deal. I was reading my instructions really carefully. Was everybody listening to me? Yes. Maybe.

Now I’m going to read my final instruction. It says, “Step 6: Tell your students that if they followed instructions carefully, no one would have any more than five dollars. Groan, boo, hiss.

Let’s listen back to the instructions once again.

Step 1: Have Ms. [Assistant] holding prize money in her hands for those who win. Ms. [Assistant], did you sit there with the prize money? Yes, I did.

Step 2: Tell everyone to fold their hands. Did everyone do that? Yes.

Step 3: Throw the fake money up in the air. Did I do that well enough? Yes.

Step 4: Tell students to get the prize money”¦ wait. What’s going on here? Let them guess.

I threw up the fake money, but I told you to get the prize money. Did anyone get the prize money? If so, applaud the student for listening; if not, have the assistant hold it up.

We spend so much of our lives chasing down fake treasure. Bicycles, Boxes and clothes are all good for a season. But after a season, what happens? They break or wear out. Those are fake treasures. They are fun, for a season, and Jesus does want you to have lots of fun, especially as kids. However, they are stuff. They are not treasure.

Why do we store up fake treasure? Because in real life, we often act like everyone did who was playing this game. We don’t listen to the person with the treasure closely enough to hear what they’re really saying. In real life, Jesus has the treasure that is in heaven. What are some of the things we do that involve listening to what Jesus had to say? We can read the Bible carefully, and we can listen when we pray to him to see if he might answer us.

Some people believe that Jesus can’t really talk to us because we don’t hear him aloud. But even Jesus himself said that is very untrue. We have to listen carefully when we pray. He says in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” To get to the treasures in the Kingdom of Heaven, it is important to believe he is leading and guiding us by speaking to our hearts.

It would be far more beneficial down here on earth if we listened to what Jesus said in the Bible and prayed more and listened for his voice… than if we went chasing around for fake treasure… for things that don’t last.

What exactly are treasures in heaven and what do we have to do to get them? Obviously we don’t have to be chasing around a room after fake
treasure”¦ I can show you best what treasures in heaven are by asking you a few questions:

Question #1: Which would you rather have: An xBox or two loving parents? Parents. When we think of a treasure in heaven it helps us to think of something on earth we can compare it to. We know an xBox might be fun for a while, but there is no way, ever, it can compare to a loving mom and dad.

One of the treasures we will have in heaven is love.

Question #2: Which would you rather have: A small, sturdy and tree house, or a tree house builder, who arrived at your house with lots of wood and plenty of tools and who could listen to your desires? The tree house builder. A tree house is not alive. It can’t move or bend for you; it can’t alter itself for your size or your desires. A tree house builder means you don’t have your product on the spot. You can talk about it and build it together. You’ll not only get the tree house of your dreams, but you’ll have become wise about building just from his wisdom.

Another treasure in heaven is wisdom.

Final question: Which would you rather have? A stuffed animal or a puppy? Puppy. A real puppy can play with you, lick your face, love you and bring you great joy. A stuffed toy is fun to sleep with or play with, but we all know that isn’t a real companion. Companions have the gift of life from God and they make us happy.

Another treasure we’ll have in heaven is happiness.

s one final instruction. Everyone listen up. We have the Apostle Paul speaking to us in the following verse from 1 Timothy 6:10. Ms. [Assistant] is going to ask you a question about what we heard from God in his word.

Let’s see how well you listened:

1 Timothy 6:10 says, THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.

If you are the first five to get the answer correctly, you get a prize from Ms. [Assistant].

Listen carefully: 1 Timothy 6:10: The love of money is the root of all evil.

Hand out pieces of paper and markers or pencils.

Ask the question: According to the Apostle Paul, yes or no: Is money evil? Have everyone write their answer down. Tell them not to let anyone look on their paper. Turn their yes or no answer upside down.

When all have their word written down, have the first five students turn over their answers one at a time around the table.

The answer is NO! Go on to the next five and the next five. Give out a real dollar to the first five who got it right.

The LOVE of money is the root of all evil! That’s what the Bible says, and there is a big difference! We need money to live, to eat, to take care of our families, help the church, help the poor. Money in and of itself is not evil – it is necessary. When people start to LOVE money, that means they want to collect stuff and keep it for themselves and not share with others. It is the LOVE of money that is wrong.

Do you see how it’s important to listen carefully to what God has to say? When we read our Bibles, what should we do? Listen carefully. When we pray, what should we do? Simply ask God and thank him and leave again? No, we should listen, too, with our hearts.

Be sure to check out our other great VBS activities and ideas, like the Kingdom Of Heaven Treasure Hunt! And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter and Come Hangout with Us on Google+!