Romans: Give Account to God

ROMANS 14:12

 

Scripture verse: “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

 

Objectives:

  1. Students should be able to recite the verse and to discuss its significance.
  2. Students should be able to list some concrete areas in which they need to be more responsible, and some ideas for progress in these areas.

 

Possible Lesson Plan:

  1. Open with prayer.

 

2.   Review again the background of the book of Romans from the last lesson.

3.   Starting with Chapter 9, again have each student read and summarize a chapter. This allows the students to begin to read Scripture for meaning and context and understand its significance. Not enough students? Again, the teacher can summarize and discuss the other chapters. Chapters 9,10, and 11 would be good ones to be quickly summarized by the teacher.

  • Chapter 9,10, 11: God’s promises to Israel – How has God shown His faithfulness to Israel through the ages, from Abraham through Moses? Who did God send to Israel to remind them of His faithfulness? (prophets – which 2 quoted here?)Who rejected the word of God? Who accepted and believed? To whom did Paul preach? Discuss the tree with native and grafted branches: What is the root? Who are the natural branches? Who are the grafted branches? Paul is dealing with Jewish believers and Gentile believers – how about Orthodox Christians of Orthodox Russian/Greek/Romanian/etc. vs. converts? Do we see some of the same tensions???
  • Chapter 12: the love of the body of Christ – What is the body of Christ? (the church) What are some of the gifts? How is Christian love manifested among us? Give examples from our own time and parish…
  • Chapter 13: Relationship of Christian and the civil government – Where does the government get its authority? How should we respond to the exercise of that authority? Should we pay taxes…even if we disagree with their use?
  • Chapter 14: the fasting chapter, read at the beginning of Great Lent – Why read then? How should we fast? How should we respond to those who fast more or less rigorously than we do?
  • Chapter 15: Skip this chapter if time or students are lacking…review of Paul’s work with the Gentiles
  • Chapter 16: Greetings to fellow Christians and the benediction – See if you recognize any of the believers: Priscilla and Aquila (with whom Paul stayed in Corinth), Rufus (son of Simon of Cyrene, who was he?) Dissect the benediction phrase by phrase.

 

4.    Scripture lesson: Romans 14:4-13. What is the context of today’s memory verse? In Rome there were Christians who felt they were free in the Lord to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to break the Jewish law.  Other Christians were upset by this and their faith was being threatened.  Even though Paul calls the “free” Christians “strong” and the younger believers “weak”, who does he reprimand? Can we truly enjoy freedom without responsibility? Are there people today who brag about what they are allowed to do, without thinking of the consequences?

 

5.   What is “responsibility”? Should teenagers be as responsible as adults? What reasons do teens give for irresponsibility? (too young, someone else’s fault, anger, bad luck?) In what areas can teens take responsibility for their own lives and to what degree? Making my bed? Cleaning my room? Family life? Environment? My own feelings? Drugs and alcohol? Problem of world hunger? War in Bosnia? Choosing own friends? Reaching darkest Africa for Jesus? Reaching my friends for the Gospel of Jesus? Some Scriptures discuss areas of responsibility of every Christian; how well do we measure up? (Genesis 1:28, Exodus 32:22, Matthew 25:15, Matthew 27:24, Philippians 1:27)

      Where did “not my fault” thinking begin? (Garden of Eden) Do we see this also in the adult world? Think of some examples: Warring nations blaming each other, workers blaming managers and managers blaming workers for poor productivity, Congress blaming the President and the President blaming Congress, one racial group blaming another for its woes, etc. When does this tendency to blame others begin in our own lives? Do sisters blame brothers to get out of trouble or vice versa? Students blame teachers for bad grades? In this Scripture, the “weak” believers were blaming the “strong” and the “strong” felt the “weak” were holding them back from their freedom in Christ. Sound familiar?

What are some areas in your own life where you can begin to take more responsibility?

 

     6. Close with prayer.