The Unmerciful Servant

Transcription

1 Week 2 Elementary (22.2) - June 10th/11th The Unmerciful Servant Bible Passages: Matthew 18:21-35 Main Point: God shows mercy to us so that we will show mercy to others Big Picture Question: Why did Jesus tell parables? Jesus told parables to teach people about God and His kingdom. Key Bible Verse: Mark 6:34- When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. Leader Preparation Your role as a leader in the classroom is the most important role in the Loop as you are the direct connection to the whole reason we gather - to share the love of Christ with kids at Park! If you are not prepared to lead well in your service, then that affects the experience of the children in your care. To help prepare for this lesson, use the following study guide to set the context for this week s lesson. And don t forget to pray before, during and after! Jesus had been teaching His disciples when Peter asked Jesus, How many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Peter suggested seven times. Jews considered it standard to show forgiveness three times (see Job 33:29-30), so Peter probably thought he was going above and beyond. Jesus answered Peter s question by telling a story about an unmerciful servant. In the parable, a servant owed his master ten thousand talents. A talent was equal to about 20 years of wages. Ten thousand talents represented a debt that could never be repaid. Faced with debtors prison, the servant begged for more time to repay the master. Instead, the master released his servant and forgave the great debt. The same servant went out and confronted a man who owed him a hundred denarii about 100 days of wages. The man begged for more time, but the servant refused and put the man in prison. When the master heard what happened, he was angry that the servant who had been forgiven a great debt did not show mercy to the man who owed a small debt. So the master put the man in prison until he could pay his debt. Jesus concluded the parable by explaining that God would react in the same way to anyone who does not forgive his brother. We are like the servant, and God is like the master. Because of our sin, we owe a debt we cannot pay. We deserve to be punished for our sin, but God the Father showed His love by sending His Son, Jesus, to pay the debt we owe. Jesus lived the perfect life we fail to live and died the death we deserve to die. We come to Him with nothing to offer but empty hands of faith. Those who trust in Jesus are completely forgiven. As you teach kids, emphasize that God shows mercy to us so that we will show mercy to others not just three times or seven times, but many times not keeping count. We have been forgiven a great debt, so we can forgive others when they sin against us.

2 Welcome // (15 minutes) Leaders: Pay attention to kids as they enter the room and be sure to greet them with a big smile! Make sure that you make each kid feel special when they arrive each week. Invite them to come sit with you and ask the discussion question below, allowing every child the chance to share. Arriving Discussion Younger As kids arrive, ask them about a time they needed to forgive or be forgiven by a friend or family member. Say: Do you think it s easier to forgive someone else or to be forgiven? We often want others to forgive us when we treat them badly, but we don t want to forgive those who treat us badly. Jesus told a story about that. We ll hear it soon. Older Ask kids to share about a time they forgave someone in the past week. Did anyone forgive them? How did they feel? Coloring Page/Activity Page Younger Invite kids to complete the Four Hundred Ninety activity page. Instruct kids to find a partner and play a game of dots and lines by connecting pairs of dots in turn. When a player completes a box by drawing the fourth line, he will write his initials in the box and take a bonus turn. Say: One of Jesus disciples asked Jesus about forgiveness. Peter wanted to know how many times he had to forgive people. What do you think Jesus might have said? We ll hear more later. Older Invite kids to complete Coin Counting on the activity page. Kids should circle the bag in each row with the correct number of coins and write the corresponding letter in the blank to reveal a key word from today s Bible story. Say: Mercy means not getting the punishment you deserve, but being shown kindness instead. Today s Bible story is about the mercy God shows to us. Pre-Lesson Activities (Optional) Younger: You owe me! Instruct the class to stand in a circle. Give one child a few pieces of play money. Direct her to pass the play money clockwise around the circle one piece at a time while you play music. Stop the music and ask the first child for the all of the play money that you gave them back (they won t have it and should be confused about what to do).. If the kids holding the play money offer it to you, remind them that they are not the ones who Older: The forgiver Instruct kids to form a single-file line. Choose one kid to be the forgiver. She will sit in a chair at the front of the room. Kids should take turns approaching the forgiver one at a time. Each kid should issue an apology. For example: I m sorry I ate your candy bar. The forgiver should keep a straight face and reply, I forgive you. 2

3 owe you money. Play again as time allows. Say: If someone gives us money that they expect us to one day give back, we call it owing money. We may also call it debt. If you owe a debt that you cannot pay back, you could get in real trouble! But what would happen if the person you owe chose to forgive your debt? What would you do? Encourage kids to give silly or outlandish apologies to make the forgiver laugh. If a player s apology causes the forgiver to smile or laugh, he becomes the forgiver. Say: These were silly, made-up offenses to make each other laugh. Each time you apologized, [ name of the forgiver ] forgave you. How many times should someone forgive others? Three times? Five times? One hundred times? That s a question we will answer when we hear today s Bible story. TRANSITION TO LARGE GROUP LESSON Large Group // (25 minutes) Opening Time: Use this time to welcome all of the kids to Loop Kids this weekend! You can open this time by asking the group if anyone has any epic week highlights or asking a fun group question! Songs: Choose 2 songs to sing at the beginning of your large group time. If you have older kids in your group, invite them to come to the front to help lead the others! Ask the group why we sing songs of praise and worship each week? Answer: To praise God for who He is and what He has done for us! Visitors & Birthdays: Ask the group if there are any first time visitors today. If there are, have them stand and introduce themselves (share their name, age, and a fun fact like favorite ice cream flavor or pizza topping). Then, ask if there are any kids in the group that have a birthday this week. If you have any kids with a birthday, invite them to stand and sing happy birthday as a group. Then let them pick a toy out of the prize bucket! Offering: As you move into the time to collect offering, ask the group why we collect offering each week. Help them come to realize that we should give back to God because He has generously given to us. Not only has He blessed us with physical and material things like health, food, and a home, but even more so He has met our deep spiritual needs of a Savior to forgive our sins! Encourage them to see the many reasons we can generously give back to God. Share that when we give to the offering box in Loop Kids, our money and tithes go to help sponsor our friends- Vivian, who lives in Kenya, Africa, and Birat, who lives in India. It helps provide them with money for food, clothing, and school. Intro the Lesson: [Large Group Leader enters wearing hiking boots and a large backpack.] Leader: Well hi-ho, kids! I see you ve found your way back to my campfire. I m glad for that. I just love having people around to share stories with. Stories are such a great way to learn about new things. Stories can help us learn from situations we may not have experienced. Jesus used stories in His teaching quite often, so that definitely encourages me to use them too. Jesus stories are usually called parables. That basically means they are stories that teach special lessons. 3

4 Big Picture Question In fact, that reminds me of our big picture question. Does anyone remember it from last week? [ Allow responses.] That s right, Why did Jesus tell parables? And do any of you remember the answer? [ Allow responses.] Right again! Jesus told parables to teach people about God and His kingdom. Jesus parables helped ordinary people understand parts of God s personality and the way His kingdom works. Last week we learned the parable of the sower. Jesus used a story about a man scattering seeds to teach us the ways people react to the gospel. Remember, not everyone who hears the gospel believes it. This week we will be learning about how God reacts to us, and about how we should react to others. Our story is called The Unmerciful Servant. Remember that unmerciful is the opposite of merciful. Can anyone help me explain what mercy is? [ Allow responses.] Great job. Mercy is choosing not to punish someone who deserves to be punished. Bible Story Video Open your Bible to Matthew 18: Use the Bible storytelling tips on the Bible story page to help you tell the story, or show the Bible story video The Unmerciful Servant. Jesus told this parable to answer Peter s question, How many times should I forgive someone who wrongs me? Peter thought maybe seven times was enough. Is it OK if we only forgive people seven times? ( No. ) Jesus said that Peter should forgive seventy times seven times. Seventy times seven equals 490. But Jesus wasn t saying that once you forgive someone 490 times, then you can stop. He told a parable, or story, to help Peter understand. In the parable of the unmerciful servant, a king told his servants to pay back what they owed. One servant owed the king fifty million silver coins! In Bible times, if you couldn t pay what you owed someone, you and your whole family would have to work to pay the debt or you would all be sent to prison. The servant did not want that to happen, so he begged the king to give him more time to repay the debt. What did the king do? He forgave the servant completely! He basically said, I forgive you. You do not have to repay me. This wasn t easy for the king to do. After all, the king wasn t going to get back his fifty million silver coins. But this was very good news for the servant. Then the servant went out and saw a man who owed him some money not nearly as much as he owed the king. He ordered the man to pay him, but the man couldn t. The man begged for more time, but the servant said no. He threw the man into jail. Why do you think the king was upset when he heard this? ( The king had forgiven what the servant could never repay, but the servant did not forgive the small amount. ) The king said that the servant was evil, and he punished him. It s easy to think the unmerciful servant was just a mean person, but the truth is, we often behave in the same way as he did! We want very much for other people to show us mercy, but we often forget or refuse to show mercy to others. In fact, the purpose of Jesus parable is to show us the way we act toward God and others. God is like the king in the parable. We have all sinned and deserve death. But God chose to show us mercy. When we say we trust God but treat others without mercy, we are like the first servant, who did not truly live out the king s mercy. God s mercy to us is so great, it makes our mercy to other people look small. When we are unmerciful, it shows that we don t understand God s great mercy to us. God shows 4

5 mercy to us so that we will show mercy to others. God showed us mercy by sending Jesus. While Jesus was on earth, He taught about God and God s kingdom through parables. He performed miracles and healed many people. But even more than that, Jesus took our sin on Himself and died on the cross in our place. He took our punishment so that we could experience God s mercy and forgiveness. Nothing we do is enough to pay the debt we owe God because of our sin. Even so, when we trust in Jesus, God forgives our sin completely. God s mercy toward us is great, and as a result we can show mercy to others. Key Bible Verse Show the key passage poster. Lead the boys and girls to read together Mark 6:34. Leader: Our key passage reminds us that Jesus had compassion on people like you and me. He knew that we could never understand God or obey Him on our own. Jesus taught about God s love and His kingdom, and then He died on the cross for our sins to show us God s love and mercy. Discussion Starter Video Leader: Have you ever accidentally broken something that wasn t yours? Watch this video and think about that question. Show the Unit 22, Session 2 discussion starter video. Ask the kids how they would react in that kind of situation. Could they show forgiveness to a friend if he broke something very important to them? Could a friend show them forgiveness if they broke something important to that friend? Leader: It is very hard to show mercy when someone does something that makes you very angry or upset. God showed us mercy by choosing not to punish us as we deserved. Instead, God sent Jesus to die for our sin and rise again. When we believe in Jesus, we can show mercy to other people and forgive them just as God has forgiven us. Invite kids to pray before dismissing to small groups. Leader: Lord, You are good to us and show us mercy even though we deserve death. It is hard for us to show mercy to others, but we know that because of Jesus, it is possible. Help us to forgive others as You have forgiven us. Help us to show the world what Your great mercy looks like. Amen. DISMISS TO SMALL GROUPS Small Group (30 minutes) Bible Story Review: Choose one of the following review activities that best fits your small group. If your campus doesn t have enough kids to do either of the activities, feel free to just use the review questions as your review time. As often as you re able to, encourage your kids to open their Bible and find the passage to help them become familiar with using the Bible. You can even take time to help familiarize them with using the Bible (finding the Old and New Testaments, using the Table of Contents, understanding the difference between a book, chapter and verse, etc). 5

6 Younger Distribute a Bible to each kid. Help the kids locate Matthew 18: Form groups of three kids. Encourage each group to work together to make a short skit that is similar to the parable but not the exact same scenario. Then have each group perform their skit for the rest of the class. Example scenarios: A parent forgives a child for breaking a window. That child goes out and demands her friend buy her a new dress when he splashes mud on her. A kid forgives her friend when he bumps into her in the lunch line. He begins to yell at a kid who bumps into him. A librarian forgives a kid who returns a book with a page torn out. That kid then demands a new poster from a friend who bent a corner while looking at it. Say: In Jesus parable, it seems a bit silly that the servant refused to forgive the other servant who owed him money. The king punished the servant when he didn t show mercy after he had received mercy. In our own lives, we tend to hold back mercy toward others even though we want to receive mercy for ourselves. We often expect other people to be more merciful than we are willing to be. Jesus showed in His parable that when we refuse to offer mercy to those who have wronged us, it shows we don t really understand how great God s mercy to us is. God shows mercy to us so that we will show mercy to others. When we experience God s mercy, it will flow through us and into the lives of the people around us as we show them mercy. Older Form three teams of kids. On a dry erase board or piece of paper, draw a column for each team and put 10 X s in each column. Explain the rules of the game. You will ask a question to a player on team 1. If she answers correctly, she may erase two X s from the board. She may take both from another team or split them and take one from two different teams. The goal is to knock out other teams by erasing all of their X s. If a player doesn t know the answer, she may ask her teammates. If her team is correct, she may erase only one X. Ask additional questions to the teams, one at a time. When you run out of time or questions, debrief. If a team s X s are all erased, allow them to continue to play. How many times did Peter think he should forgive someone? ( seven times, Matt. 18:21 ) How many times did Jesus say to forgive someone? ( seventy times seven times, Matt. 18:22 ) In the parable, how many silver coins did the servant owe the king? ( fifty million, or 10,000 talents; Matt. 18:24 ) What did the servant ask the king to do? ( give him more time, Matt. 18:26 ) What did the king do for the servant? ( The king forgave him, Matt. 18:27 ) How many silver coins did the man owe the servant? ( one hundred, or 100 denarii; Matt. 18:28 ) What did the man ask the servant to do? ( give him more time, Matt. 18:29 ) What did the servant do to the man who owed him money? ( put him into jail, Matt. 18:30 ) Why was the king angry? ( The king forgave the servant what he could never repay, and the servant did not forgive the small amount; Matt. 18:32-33 ) Who paid the debt for our sin? ( Jesus, Rom. 4:25 ) Why can we forgive others? ( God has greatly forgiven us, Eph. 4:32 ) In what Gospel can we find this parable? ( the Gospel of Matthew, Matt. 18:21-35 ) 6

7 Say: How did you feel when another team erased your team s X s? [ Prompt kids to discuss. ] Can you forgive the other teams for erasing your X s? How many times should you forgive others who wrong you? ( We should forgive without counting. ) Why is it hard to forgive? How many times has God forgiven you? Bible Story Activity Younger: Merciful/unmerciful masks Distribute to each kid two paper plates and a craft stick. Instruct them to draw a happy face on one paper plate and an angry face on the other to represent merciful and unmerciful attitudes. Help the kids tape their craft sticks to one plate and then tape the two plates together to make a two-sided mask. Allow kids to use other craft supplies to decorate their masks. Come up with situations where people might choose to act mercifully or unmercifully, and ask the kids to use their masks to show how they might react and how God would want them to react. Say: In our lives we can choose to show mercy to others and forgive them. God showed us great mercy when He sent Jesus to take the punishment we deserve. We can show mercy to others because God first showed mercy to us. If we choose not to show mercy, our bad feelings will often grow inside of us. When we choose not to show mercy, we end up hurting ourselves as well as others. Older: Draw the line Explain that one side of the room represents That s so easy! and the other represents That s too hard! The middle of the room represents I m not sure. You may choose to lay a piece of masking tape or painter s tape across the floor to help kids visualize the spectrum. Tell kids that you will read a statement. Kids should think about how easy or hard it would be for them to show forgiveness or mercy in that situation. Allow kids to move along the line after each statement. Your classmate didn t invite you to a party. Your friend spilled chocolate milk all over your shirt. Your brother borrowed and lost your favorite game. Your sister ripped your new jeans. Your dad missed your soccer game. Your grandpa broke his promise to take you to the movies. Say: Believers should not draw the line on how many times we will forgive someone who wrongs us. Through Jesus, God has forgiven all of our sin past, present, and future. God shows mercy to us so that we will show mercy to others. Key Bible Verse Activity Display the key passage poster. Read the verse multiple times, using different voices. Encourage the kids to read aloud with you. Then use sticky notes to cover a few words at a time and see if kids can still say the verse. Say: Our key passage talks about Jesus compassion for the people around Him. Jesus could see that they needed a leader and a teacher to show them what God is like. Jesus is our perfect Teacher and picture of what God is like because Jesus is God s Son. He used stories, called parables, to help us understand God better. We can have a relationship with God through Jesus. 7

8 Appendix I: Sharing the Gospel One of the greatest privileges we have as leaders is sharing the Gospel with the kids who come to the Loop! You are encouraged to be prayerful and expectant when looking for opportunities to share the good news, whether it is during the Large Group Lesson or in a conversation in your small group. Use the following guide to share the Gospel, pausing for understanding and answering any questions the child might have. If a child is ready to give their life to Christ, lead them in prayer and let your Coordinator know so we can celebrate together! Ask kids if they have ever heard the word gospel. Clarify that the word gospel means good news. It is the message about Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation. Use the following guide to share the gospel with kids. GOD RULES. Explain to kids that the Bible tells us God created everything, and He is in charge of everything. Invite a volunteer to read Genesis 1:1 from the Bible. Read Revelation 4:11 or Colossians 1:16-17 aloud and explain what these verses mean Implications: God made you, and you belong to God. God created you to know, trust, and love Him most of all. God is holy and righteous. God s commands are holy and righteous. You must obey God s commands all the time. WE SINNED. Tell kids that since the time of Adam and Eve, everyone has chosen to disobey God. (Romans 3:23) The Bible calls this sin. Because God is holy, God cannot be around sin. Sin separates us from God and deserves God s punishment of death. (Romans 6:23) Implications: You have disobeyed God s commands. You are a sinner. You deserve God s punishment of death and hell. You are helpless to save yourself. GOD PROVIDED. Choose a child to read John 3:16 aloud. Say that God sent His Son, Jesus, the perfect solution to our sin problem, to rescue us from the punishment we deserve. It s something we, as sinners, could never earn on our own. Jesus alone saves us. Read and explain Ephesians 2:8-9. Implications: You must depend on God s mercy in order to be saved. Jesus came into the world to save you. JESUS GIVES. Share with kids that Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again. Because Jesus gave up His life for us, we can be welcomed into God s family for eternity. This is the best gift ever! Read Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; or 1 Peter 3:18. Implications: Jesus died on the cross to be punished in your place. WE RESPOND. Tell kids that they can respond to Jesus. Read Romans 10:9-10,13. Review these aspects of our response: Believe in your heart that Jesus alone saves you through what He s already done on the cross. Repent, turning from self and sin to Jesus. Tell God and others that your faith is in Jesus. Offer to talk with any child who is interested in responding to Jesus. Implications: God tells you to believe in Jesus and repent of your sins and you will be saved. If you are trusting in Jesus for your salvation, you must follow Him. Jesus has promised that when you die He will bring you to heaven to live with and enjoy God forever. 8

9 Appendix II: Bible Lesson The following is this week s lesson written out in story form. You can use this if your video doesn t play or if you just want to read the story out loud to your group of kids. If you have mostly younger children, read only the bold words to make it a shorter, easier to understand story. The Unmerciful Servant Peter asked Jesus, How many times should I forgive someone who wrongs me? Is seven times enough? Jesus answered, Not just seven times, but seventy times seven times! Then Jesus told Peter a story to help him understand what forgiveness in the kingdom of heaven is like. Jesus said, One day, a king asked all his servants to tell him how much they each owed the king. One of the servants owed the king fifty million silver coins! The servant did not have any money to give the king, so the king ordered for the servant and his family to be sold as payment for the debt. But the servant fell on his knees and begged the king, Please give me more time. I will repay you everything I owe! The king felt sorry for the man, so he let the man go and forgave the debt ; the servant did not have to pay the king anything. As the servant was leaving, he ran into a man who owed him one hundred silver coins. The servant grabbed the man by the throat and choked him. Give me the money you owe me! he demanded. The man fell to his knees and begged the servant, Please give me more time. I will repay you everything I owe! But the servant refused, and he threw the man into jail. Some other servants told the king what happened. The king called for the servant he had forgiven. You are an evil man! said the king. I forgave what you could never repay, and you did not forgive the small amount. The king was angry. He punished the official and made him pay his debt. Jesus said, This is what My Father in heaven will do if you do not forgive each other. Christ Connection: Nothing we do is enough to pay the debt we owe God and take away God s punishment for our sin. Jesus came and died on the cross to pay for our sin and take the punishment we deserve. When we trust in Jesus, God forgives our sin completely. We can forgive others because God has greatly forgiven us greatly. 9

10 Appendix III: Games for Extra Time On the weeks when your service runs long, or if you went through the curriculum quicker than expected, use the following game ideas as an add-on activity! Be sure to not replace the curriculum with only games, but the following activities might come in handy from time to time. All My Friends Who... Supplies: Chairs for all but one person Have kids stand in a circle. Someone (a leader) starts in the middle and says, Hey, all my friends who (something) stand up and recognize! The (something) is something about yourself that is true. Everyone else who has this in common must leave their spot and find a new one. The person in the middle must seek out a spot in the circle. The one who does not find a spot becomes IT. Huckle Buckle Beanstalk (a game from Canada) Supplies: A small object to hide Players begin by facing the wall with their eyes closed while one player is chosen to place a small object on the floor somewhere in the room. On the word go, the players begin to wander (no running) around the room until they spot the object on the floor. Once a player sees the object, they yell "Huckle Buckle Beanstalk" and sit down on the floor.the game continues until one player remains who hasn't yet spotted the object. He or she gets to hide the object for the next round. The Zoo-keeper (a game from Estonia) Supplies: Write out different animals on enough paper slips for each child to have one. Each player is given the name of an animal on a slip of paper. They sit in a circle facing outward. The zoo-keeper walks in the outside of the circle and tells a story about the zoo. When the animal name of a player is mentioned in the story, that player must get up and follow the zookeeper. Soon a great line of players forms in this way. When all the players are in line, the zookeeper tells them to become their animals, and they all imitate which animal they are supposed to be (e.g. a bird, elephant, etc). After a while the zookeeper sits down. When the players notice the zookeeper sitting, they also sit. The player who is the last one to sit becomes the zookeeper, and the game starts all over again. Players will have different identities. Wax Museum One person is the museum guard, and everyone else pretends to be dinosaurs in a museum exhibit. The museum guard closes their eyes, faces away from the crowd, and the dinosaurs come to life. As soon as the guard turns around, the dinos freeze. If the guard spots any movement, the dinosaur is out and must sit down. The last dino standing becomes the museum guard and you can play again. Simon Says One person is chosen to be "Simon" the others stand in a straight line. Simon then calls out an action for the children to follow. It can be anything like touch your toes or jump 10 times on 1 foot, but they must say Simon Says before they call out the action. If they don t say Simon Says before the action and someone does what they say, they must sit down. Play until there is one kid left and they can become the new Simon. Knot Game Have the kids stand in a circle then all move to the center. Have each kid grab the hand of someone across from him or her. You must grab two hands from different people. Once everyone is connected, have each group untangle themselves into a circle without letting go of hands. 10