finding true happiness ISBN:

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1 M SA E PL finding true happiness ISBN: Randall House Copying, distributing, or sharing this study beyond the use of the purchasing church or single campus site is a breach of ethics and illegal. It is also a breach of the license agreement to remove this statement from the study or from any customized or derivative study. To purchase this study or others like it, visit

2 THE H FACTOR: FINDING TRUE HAPPINESS INTRODUCTION The Beatitudes are the beginning of Jesus famous Sermon on the Mount. Interestingly, this sermon was quite controversial at the time Jesus gave it. The Jewish religion had disintegrated into a performance-based religion of laws and traditions. Jesus words in Matthew chapters 5-7 make it clear that the attitude of the heart is very important to God. Blindly following laws and traditions was not good enough. Our motives and our attitudes are important to God. Thankfully, Jesus begins His great sermon with a description of the attitudes God desires to see in us. These attitudes are crucial in our search for the H factor true happiness. This study will focus on those attitudes and strive to help upper elementary-aged students understand how to implement those principles into their lives. OVERVIEW OF SESSIONS Session 1: True Happiness Starts With Humility Students will recognize the importance of humility and meekness and will identify ways to implement those traits in their lives. Session 2: Are You Hungry for the Right Things? Students will learn that God demands sorrow for sin and that He provides all they need to grow spiritually. Session 3: Real Mercy Students will recognize mercy and the importance of being genuine. They will identify ways to display mercy to others Session 4: Special Agents of Peace Students will learn that God desires us to be peacemakers, even when the world doesn t want peace with us. Access Downloadable Curriculum Introduction

3 Session 1 True Happiness Starts with Humility MATERIALS NEEDED Stack of boxes Bibles Pens or pencils Dictionary Whiteboard or poster board Marker Copies of student handouts LESSON OBJECTIVE Participants will recognize the importance of humility and meekness and will identify ways to implement those traits in their lives. CONNECT Before this session begins, arrange several empty boxes in the room. When group members arrive, say something like: I wonder what all these boxes are doing in here? I m going to get these out of the way. Stack the boxes, pick them up, and take them towards the door. Drop boxes along the way, fumble with the door, but do not ask for help. To emphasize the point, arrange for someone to offer to help with the boxes. It can be an adult or student. When help is offered, say something like: No thanks. I ve got this under control. After fumbling for a few more seconds, say something like: On second thought, I really could use some help. Segue into the CONSIDER section by saying: All of us need help at times. The trouble is that we don t always recognize we need help or even ask for help. And sometimes when someone is willing to help, we say no. CONSIDER Distribute copies of the handout I Problem to each person in your group. Ask your students to locate the boxes on their handout. As you read Luke 18:9-14 aloud, have students mark how many times each character says the word I in his prayer. After reading the passage, ask the students the following questions: How many times did you hear the Pharisee say I? If you could use one word to describe the Pharisee, what word would you choose? How many times did you hear the tax collector say I? These two prayers sound very different from one another. The Pharisee was very proud and thought he was good enough to earn God s salvation on his own. This is a good example of someone who needs help, but doesn t realize it.

4 Read verse 14b aloud again. Obviously, the tax collector was the one who had humbled himself in this story. Ask group participants: What does it mean to be humble? Read Matthew 5:3 for the answer. Ask: What does it mean to be poor? When you think about the story of the Pharisee and the publican, which one do you think was poor in spirit? Based on the tax collector s prayer, what do you think it means to be poor in spirit? Share some of the background of the Sermon on the Mount with the students. Ask students to write out the words to Matthew 5:3 and 5:5 on their handout. Say something like: Jesus wanted the people listening to this sermon to understand that the attitude of our heart is very important. Ask for volunteers to read the following passages: Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 5:38-39; Matthew 5:43-44; and Matthew 6:1. Ask: What is Jesus teaching in these Bible verses? In each of the passages, Jesus is saying Christians need to pay close attention to our attitudes. God doesn t just want us to do right things, He wants the attitude of our heart to be right. Inform students you are going to call out some actions and attitudes from Matthew 5 and 6. Ask them to stand up if they think what you call out is easy and sit down if they think it is hard. For a more active option, have students move from one side of the room to the other, depending on whether they think the action or attitude is easy or hard. Love your friends. Love your enemies. Fight back when someone hits you. Do not fight back when someone hits you. Do the right thing when you know people are watching. Do the right thing when no one is watching. Ask the students to sit down. The tax collector we read about earlier knew he needed God s help to live the right way. A person who is humble, or poor in spirit, knows he or she needs God s help. Knowing we need God helps us make sense of a lot of what God tells us to do in the Bible. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies. That s not easy for us to do. We need God s help with that. The Bible teaches us not to sin when we get angry. We need God s help with that. Jesus tells us to share our faith. Guess what? We need God s help with that! The truth is that if we aren t humble and don t recognize we need God, we can t even become Christians in the first place. Even after we become Christians, we must remember we still need God to give us the strength to live the way God wants us to live. That s why having a humble attitude is so important!

5 Game Option: Play Happiness Charades. Allow students to act out something that makes them happy and have the other students try to guess what it is. If you have a small class, you may want to allow each student to do this. In a larger class, divide into teams and allow one or two students from each team to act out what makes them happy. Art Option: Have students turn over the handout and draw or write a poem about what makes them happy. Ask for volunteers to share what they drew or wrote. Everyone wants to be happy. It s just a fact of life. Unfortunately, most people never find the key to unlock their lives to true happiness. That key is Jesus Christ. Even those of us who have trusted in Jesus can get confused. Sometimes our pride, desire for more money or stuff, or the situations we find ourselves in can get in the way. When that happens, everyday problems can seem larger than life. We get frustrated and discouraged. Thankfully, God has given us a road map with directions for living a life of real happiness. It all starts with understanding this very first beatitude. If we want to really be happy, we need to be humble and recognize we need God. Ask for a volunteer to read the Matthew 5:5. Say: Meek. That s an interesting word. It s not a word we hear a lot today, so let s see what it means. Provide a dictionary or computer with Internet connection for students to use. Ask a student volunteer to read the definitions from the dictionary. Say: Some definitions of the word meek sound like someone who is really weak, but that s not the attitude Jesus is talking about. The meek person Jesus is talking about in verse 5 is actually very strong. He s talking about the kind of person who stays calm when someone else has done something to hurt them. Someone who stays calm in really difficult situations. Jesus is a great example of both the attitudes we ve talked about today. He was humble and meek. Ask: Can anyone tell me some of the bad things people did to Jesus? How did Jesus respond when these things happened? COMMIT Jesus didn t argue or fight back, even when His enemies nailed Him to the cross. He continued to love the people who hurt Him, and even prayed for them. Read Philippians 2:3-8. Say: God wants us to be humble and meek; to put other people s needs before ours and trust in Him for the strength to be more like Jesus. Let s think of some ways we can be humble and meek in our lives today. Option 1 Play a variation of the stand up, sit down game from earlier in the lesson. Have students stand if the action you call out demonstrates humility and/or meekness. Have them sit down if it does not. Call out actions that are common to your students lives today (complaining about cleaning their room, volunteering to help wash the dishes, doing whatever it takes to be the first in line, letting their brother or sister choose what to watch on television, etc.).

6 Option 2 Have students think of ways to show humility and meekness at home and at school. Write their ideas on a whiteboard or poster board as they call them out. Reaffirm their ideas as great ways to follow God. End this session with prayer, asking God to give you and your students the ability to have a humble attitude. Before you dismiss, distribute copies of take-home handout Truly Meek. Encourage students to write a story on their handout about someone they know who is humble and meek. Ask them to bring their stories back to share for the next session.

7 Student Handout 1 I Problem Pharisee Tax Collector Write out the following verses. Matthew 5:3 Matthew 5:5

8 Student Handout 2 Truly Meek Think of someone you know who is humble and meek. Write a story below about ways he or she shows these attitudes.