Based on ideas from Ed J. Pinegar and Richard J. Allen, in a forthcoming book called, “What We Need to Know and Do.”
Preparation: On a large piece of poster board, draw a variety of doors with large keyholes. Cut out a number of cardboard keys. You will also need Bibles for each person.
Temptation is an essential part of life on earth. Satan’s goal is to make everyone as miserable as he is, and he does this by trying to get us to disobey God. It’s important for children and teenagers to become skilled at recognizing and avoiding giving in to the temptations of the world, and instead to remember the promises they’ve made to take on the Savior’s name and to keep the commandments. This family night lesson helps them recognize temptation, accept it as a part of life, but to know they do not have to give in to it.
Ask your family to turn to Luke 4 in the New Testament. The quotes used in this lesson and the link to the chapter are from the King James translation of the Bible.
Ask them to imagine they had been fasting for forty days. Do they know what it means to fast? It means Jesus had been without food or drink all this time. If your children are younger, show them how many days it is on a calendar. Ask them how they’d feel if they’d gone without food or drink for that long. How do they think Jesus felt? He had a body, and felt the same things they would feel.
Ask them how they think having been without food or drink for so long might affect their ability to make decisions and choices. Sometimes when we are tired and hungry, our minds aren’t as clear and our willpower is weak. Jesus had been baptized by John and then went off alone to fast for forty days in preparation for beginning his ministry. Satan knew this and hoped Jesus, like us, would find it hard to think clearly or be strong while he was weakened from the fast. Remind them that even though Jesus was sacred, he still had a human body in many ways and would be just as hungry and tired as we would be.
Ask someone to read verses 2 through 4. In these verses, we learn that Satan, knowing Jesus was hungry, tried to convince Him to turn a stone into bread. He was tempting Jesus to do something wrong. Why do you think it would be wrong for Jesus to turn the stone to bread when He was hungry. (He was given these special powers to do God’s work, not to satisfy his personal needs, so it would be an abuse of his priesthood.)
How did Jesus respond? What did He mean?
Satan realized Jesus wasn’t willing to destroy His promise to be our Savior just for some bread, so he tried another temptation on Jesus. This was a more serious one.
Next, ask someone to read verses five to eight. What did Satan want Jesus to do this time? Why would this be wrong? What did Jesus do?
Ask someone to read verses nine to twelve. Ask the same questions again. Invite them to notice that in verse thirteen we see Satan didn’t leave Jesus forever, just for a season, meaning a time.
Ask the family to notice the pattern to how Jesus responded to each temptation. Ask them if Satan also tries to tempt us today. Tell them Satan will never give up trying to turn us away from God and His commandments, and so we always have to be alert and ready to stand up to him, even when we’re tired. We can look at how Jesus handled His temptations to find clues for handling our own.
Jesus saw Satan and knew who he was. Will Satan appear directly to us to tempt us? No, he comes to us through other people, media, and any place there is someone willing to convince us that evil is not evil. Satan comes in disguise, and might be disguised as a favorite actor, a best friend, even a teacher. (Make sure they realize those people are not really Satan. This means that anyone who wants us to disobey God’s commandments is doing Satan’s work.)
Ask someone to read John 14:15: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Invite them to read Matthew 7:21 also to see the consequences of not obeying the commandments: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Jesus taught us that if we love Him we will keep His commandments. This means we have to resist temptation, even when it’s hard or we don’t understand why God wants us to do something.
We can’t resist temptation until we know what is expected of us. Ask your family to list the places they can learn the commandments.
Show the poster with the doors. Explain that temptations can cause a locked door between us and God. It’s important we discover the key to unlocking the temptation, so we can go into God and shut out the temptation. Ask your family to name several temptations they might face, such as invitations to “cool” parties that involve drinking, cheating on tests and so on. As they name each one, write it on a door. Then hold up a key and ask the person who thought of the temptation to come up with a key that would unlock the power of the temptation, making it powerless so you could enter into God’s presence. (Remind them no unclean thing can enter into God’s kingdom so they must learn to overcome the temptations to become unclean. You may also want to discuss repentance when they do sin.)
Example: Door: Someone is making fun of me and I’m tempted to yell at them.
Key: Read stories of how Jesus reacted when people were mean to Him. Determine to follow His example.
They key to overcoming temptations is always to draw closer to the Lord and to follow His example and teachings. Encourage your family to work on finding personal keys to their own temptations. Give each person a key on which to write something they will do to improve their ability to overcome temptations.