UNIT 8#2 THE COLOSSIAN CHURCH K/1 ST GRADE PAID IN FULL!

UNIT 8#2 THE COLOSSIAN CHURCH K/1 ST GRADE PAID IN FULL! CONCEPT Jesus paid for all sins past, present and future! GOAL Christian students will learn students will learn that because of Jesus God never moves away from us. Non-Christian students will learn students will learn that all of us owe a debt to God and that Jesus paid for all of our debt. PASSAGE: Colossians 2:13, 14; John 18:22-40, 19:14-30 Key verse: "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the debt; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." Colossians 2:14 (NIV paraphrase) PLANNING AHEAD Lesson Supplies Learning Activity #1: Plastic hammer Learning Activity #3: Printed paper w/ outline of cross & John 3:16, 1/child Printed nail signs, 1 sign/child 4-5 rolls of masking tape Glue sticks Optional Activity: 2 bandanas Craft Supplies Activity Station: My Sin sheet, 1/child Adam Raccoon at Forever Falls, Glen Keane Bible costumes and head coverings Several balls of varied-color yarn Craft sticks, 2/student Scissors Masking tape Markers, Crayons I Had a Debt CD CD player Teachers please note: For clarity, the shaded areas in the Planning Ahead section indicate supplies that are in and should be returned to your classroom SHARED SUPPLY bag. Items followed by an asterisk* are to be supplied by the teaching team. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 8#2 Page 1

BACKGROUND INFORMATION / TEACHER HELPS Oh, to truly understand the depths of our sin and the riches of God's grace!! "Really to understand the significance of the Cross in your daily life, you must realize you are as great a debtor to the mercy of God as the worst of sinners. Until you accepted Christ's pardon, the same sentence of death lay upon your soul as upon Judas'. If you have not sinned as grievously as someone else has, it does not mean you are a better person; it means that God has been gracious. Our old nature (whose residue is not cast off until heaven) has the devil's stamp of 'traitor' on it from the day we were born. Our sovereign God had every right to crush us for it then and there just as we destroy a nest of poisonous snakes, not for any harm they have yet inflicted, but because we know their potential danger. "Can you honestly say that when God first came to you your thoughts were pure and your intentions holy? Were you not already armed with the weapons of rebellion a covetous spirit, a deceitful heart, a lying tongue? Oh, yes, you had a nature fully charged with enmity against God. It lay like unfired gunpowder, waiting for a flame! Fall on your knees in humble gratitude to the One who sent His Spirit and grace to stop you, even while your nature meditated on nothing but war against God and His laws." 1 As believers, how many of us know on the intellectual level that our past, present and future sins are forgiven and yet fail to boldly approach the throne of grace when we blow it? Do we clean ourselves up on the outside, but refuse to delve into the deeper recesses of our sinfulness and allow God's grace to touch us there? Do we keep God at arm's length, knowing that if truly honest with ourselves, we would have to cry out like Isaiah, "Woe is me, for I am ruined?" The irony is that God knows the depth of our sinfulness. He knows all there is to know our failures, our pride, our fears. He knows we are but dust and yet He loves us with an everlasting love a love that willingly sacrificed to bring us back into relationship with Him. As we grow and continue to marvel at the grace of God, we will realize on a deeper and deeper level the significance of "Paid in Full" stamped on our certificate of debt! We will also realize how great a debt we owed. In Luke 7, Jesus was invited to dinner at Simon the Pharisee's home. And behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. When she learned that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume. As the narrative continues, she washes His feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and then anoints them with perfume. Simon is put out by this and Christ responds with a parable of two debtors both unable to pay the sums they owed and both graciously forgiven their debts. Jesus directs the question to Simon, "Which of them therefore will love him more?" If both were unable to pay the debt, you would think both would be equally grateful and yet the answer is "the one whom he forgave more." With which debtor do you relate? How much do you perceive you have been forgiven? Our sins, which are many, have been nailed to the cross! For you! For me! He bore our sins in His body upon the tree. As someone has said, Behold Him on the cross, bending His sacred head, and gathering into His heart in the awful isolation of separation from God the issue of the sin of the world, and see how out of that acceptance of the issue of sin He creates that which He does not require for Himself that He may distribute to those whose place He has taken. Standing overwhelmed in the presence of this suffering, feeling our own inability to understand or explain, and with a great sense of might and majesty overwhelming us, we hear the next words that pass His lips, It is finished.... How it was accomplished in the depth of the darkness man will never know. I know only one thing He bore my sins in His own body upon the tree. He stood where I should have stood. The pains of hell that were my portion were heaped on Him, and I am able to go to heaven and merit that which is not my own, but is His by every right." 2 Oh, to truly understand the depths of our sin and the riches of God's grace!! How wonderful if a single child understands that his certificate of debt was nailed to the cross at the crucifixion and accepts the forgiveness God offers. Additional Reading: John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:24; Hebrews 7:27, 10:10-14; Matthew 20:28 1 William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, Volume One, 1986, World Challenge, Inc., Banner of Truth Trust, p. 194. 2 Billy Graham, Peace with God, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953, pp. 83, 84. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 8#2 Page 2

LESSON PLAN SET UP INCORPORATION 15 MIN LEARNING ACTIVITY #1 LG GROUP For Drama: Draw a large cross on the white board. For Good News: Complete a My Sin handout to use as a visual. Activity Stations: Craft God's Eye Cross Instructions: Hold the craft sticks at right angles to form a cross. Tie the end of the yarn at the center. Wrap the yarn over stick 1, around and under it and again over it to stick 2. Wrap over and around stick 2 and again over and onto stick 3. Wrap over and around stick 3 and again over and onto stick 4. Continue until about ½ of the way to the ends of the sticks. Tie the yarn, loop and knot it. Cut the loose end close to the knot. Use two or more colors for variety. My sin Instructions: Read through the words on the page with each child and have him/ her circle the sins he/she has committed. The goal is for each child to realize that they sin. Story Adam Raccoon at Forever Falls Instructions: Read the story to the children. Music I Had a Debt Instructions: Teach I Had a Debt from provided CD words & chords attached. Missions Prayer Instructions: Talk about and pray for Oasis Giving campaign and adopted missionary child. Drama The Crucifixion performed by classroom teachers & students. Characters: Teachers Narrator, Prompter, and Jesus Children Guard (child with hammer) o Students to play: Pilate and Soldier o Jewish crowd (rest of class) Instructions: Narrator is seated in front and off center. Three children and teacher to prompt are in the wings. The "guard," remaining children and other teachers are seated in audience as the Jewish crowd. Have the cross drawn on the whiteboard in front of the class. Instruct children in the Jewish crowd to repeat after the narrator when prompted. The Jewish people were waiting for God to send His Son but they didn t think He would be like Jesus. If He were the King of the Jews, He would be powerful and wear a crown. So the leaders arrested Jesus and took Him to the Roman leader named Pontius Pilate. They thought Jesus was lying when He said that He was the Son of God and the King of the Jews. For that lie they thought He should be killed. Enter Pilate, Jesus and Soldier with prompter Pilate said to Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews? Pilate repeats, Are you " Jesus said I am, but not the way you think. My kingdom is in heaven, not on earth. Jesus repeats XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 8#2 Page 3

Pilate did not think Jesus was guilty of any crime but he decided he would let the people decide this. Pilate took Jesus before the people and asked, Should I let Jesus go? Pilate repeats The crowd shouted, No! Children in crowd stand and repeat No! Pilate then asked, What should I do with Jesus? Pilate repeats The crowd shouted, Kill him! Nail him to a cross! Children in crowd repeat So Pilate let the soldiers take Jesus away to kill Him. Exit Pilate child may join crowd They took Jesus away and nailed Him to a cross while the crowd watched. The guard stood by. Guard in the crowd pretends to nail hands to cross with toy hammer Jesus hung on the cross all day. He was very weak. He said, My job is finished. The debt is paid in full. Then He died. Jesus repeats After this, Jesus was buried. After He was dead for three days, God brought Him back to life again. Jesus visited His disciples and then went to heaven to be with God. Since Jesus lives in heaven with God, we know that if we believe Jesus died on the cross to pay our debt, we will someday live in heaven with God, too. The End LESSON LG GROUP Jesus paid our debt on the cross. Let's find out what that means. Does anyone know what it means to be in debt? One kind of debt is when I borrow money from someone. I am in debt to the person who gave me the money until I pay the money back. When I pay the money back, I am no longer in debt. I don't owe anything. When we break a rule at school or home there are consequences, or a debt, to pay. That bad choice has to be punished. When we have taken the consequences, we have paid the punishment for breaking the rule and we are no longer in debt. The Bible talks about a debt that everyone has to God. When we sin and make wrong choices, XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 8#2 Page 4

we break God's rules. That sin has a consequence that has to be paid. Every sin has to be punished. Let's think about the lists we made of our sins. (Hold up "MY Sin.") This list is my sins against God. Just one of these sins is enough to keep us from God. God is perfect. He never sins or makes wrong choices. God wants each of us to be His friend, but God can't be with sin. There is a debt or punishment owed before I can be a friend with God. Some people might say God, I'll figure out a way to be good enough to pay back my debt so I can be your friend." But God says there is no way we can ever pay our debt. So, what can we do about these sins against God? Is there any way we can ever have the debt paid so we can be His friend? LEARNING ACTIVITY #2 SM GROUPS LEARNING ACTIVITY #3 LG GROUP God did an incredible thing! The Bible says that He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to take the punishment we deserve for our sin. Instead of punishing us, God punished Jesus. That s why Jesus died on the cross. Colossians 2:14 says, "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the debt; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." This is our key verse. Jesus paid our debt for us. When Jesus died on the cross, every wrong choice that anyone has ever made or will ever make was punished right then. God took care of that debt once and for all. We each have to tell Him that we want His death on the cross to pay for our sins. Because I have done that, I can write "debt paid" on my list and [write on & crumple up your paper] throw it away. If we ask God to count Jesus' death on the cross for our sins, our debt is paid in full. This is what it means to become a Christian. What an amazing thing for God to do for us! Let s get into our small groups and talk about what God. What is our key verse? What does it mean? Do you think you will never be mean or selfish again once you become a Christian? Of course not as long as we are alive we will still sin. What should we remember when we sin? (Sins have all been forgiven and won't keep God from loving us; we can always go to Him and thank Him for His forgiveness.) What are some things you struggle with every day? (Take some time to discuss.) These things hurt our relationship with God because we may withdraw, not really believing we have been forgiven or trying to do things to get back in God s favor. Even though we may move away from God, He never moves away from us. Let's pray now and thank God that He sent Jesus to pay the debt we owe God. If you have never asked Jesus to pay that debt, you can do that while we pray. Then you will be God's friend forever. Those of us who are Christians can pray that He will help us remember "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the debt; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." We can always go to Him as our friend who always loves and forgives us. Let's make a cross that reminds us that Jesus paid the debt we owe God. Object Lesson Paid in Full cross 3 Instructions: Have each child place several pieces of masking tape over the cross outline. Overlap masking tape often for textured affect. Using the sides of crayons, make bold strokes of color on the tape cross. Have each child write one sin he committed this week on the nail sign and glue the sign on the cross. This is so they may know that their sins were paid for, too. When Jesus died on the cross, He took the punishment for all the sins of all people who have ever lived and will ever live. He took the punishment so we don't have to. He took the punishment for each of the sins you have nailed to your crosses. If you have told Jesus you want His death on the cross to count for your punishment, then you are forgiven and will never be punished for your sin. If you haven't told Jesus you want His death to count for your sins, you will have to take the punishment for all of your sins. So, why don't you decide to ask Jesus to forgive you? I want to teach you the song on the back of your "MY Sin" paper about the debt Jesus paid. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 8#2 Page 5

OPTIONAL ACTIVITY GOAL: FUN. Game Fox and Hound 3 Object: Grab the Fox s tail before he gets to his den. Instructions: Have kids sit or stand in a circle. Choose one child to be the Fox and hand him/her the bandannas. Direct the Fox to tuck one of the bandannas inside his/her waistband or belt so it hangs down like a tail. (If the child has no waistband or belt, have the child simply hold the bandanna in back at the waist like a tail.) Say: This is a speedy, sly Fox. The rest of you are Hounds who like to chase foxes. The Fox will walk around the circle holding a bandanna. If the Fox drops the bandanna behind you, pick it up and chase the Fox. If you snatch the Fox's tail before he/she gets around the circle to your place, you're faster than a fox! But if the Fox gets safely to your place, you become the next Fox. I Had a Debt A A7 I had a debt I could not pay D He paid a debt He did not owe A E E7 I needed someone to wash my sins away A A7 And now I sing a brand new song D Amazing Grace the whole day long A E A Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 8#2 Page 6