Kindness lesson 4 Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is kindness Kindness Going out of your way to make others happy. Episode 4 The Crucifixion Luke 23:26 43 MEMORY VERSE Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 KEY POINT God showed kindness to us first. Lesson 4 page 31
Let s Talk EARLY ARRIVAL (before service) Have some upbeat music playing and welcome children warmly. Teachers should take this time to engage the children in conversation. Ask them about their week, school, and home. Begin to establish relationships. BEGIN CLASS (service time) Introduce yourself and your assistants. Before the discussion questions, PRAY that the Lord will bless your time together. RELATE it : : : ask and discuss the following questions Think about all the things you know how to do and then think about how you learned them, the simple things you do every day and don t even have to think about it. For example: 1 How did you learn to talk? 2 How 3 How did you learn to hold a fork and knife to cut and eat your food? did you learn to be polite (saying please and thank you)? Most of you will say you learned these things from your parents. Some things they taught you; other things you learned by simply watching them and following their example. Often children have habits and traits that reflect the people they spend time with. You learn by example. Think about your habits and tell me which ones come from watching others. lesson 4 2 nd 5 th grade page 32
CONNECTit CONNECT it : : : SAY Our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles all play a role in the things we do. But there is someone else who we don t see with our eyes, but we learn about Him by reading about His life. Do you know who I am talking about? Jesus. There are some habits we learn from others that are bad habits. Everything Jesus did was good and we can rest assured that if we follow His example we will learn good habits. Today is the last lesson on kindness and we are going to look at Jesus for our example. Let s watch Virtuality now and learn how Jesus showed kindness toward us. WATCH it : : : Go to large group to see the Virtuality DVD, Fruit of the Spirit Series DVD (VOLUME 5, EPISODE 4) lesson 4 2 nd 5 th grade page 33
Let s Talk Bible BIBLE STORY : : : The Crucifixion Luke 23:26 43 BE PREPARED Read the Bible story and study the background information at home. Before you begin reading today s Bible story tell children the background information in your own words. GAME RULES Divide your class into two teams (boys vs. girls or one half of the room against the other). Have the children take out their Bibles (NIV preferred) to follow along as you read the Scriptures, and so that you can help them find the answers. They may share Bibles, if necessary. Assign a captain for each team whose job will be to give the team s final answer. Award 10 points to the first team whose captain raises his or her hand and has the correct answer. Award 50 points for the bonus questions. If needed, give the verse reference locations. BACKGROUND information : : : SAY IT in your own words Jesus is God. The beginning of John chapter 1 tells us that everything was made through Jesus. Jesus was there in the beginning of creation. Jesus always existed. Jesus is the life and the light. Jesus creation (Adam and Eve) rejected Him by disobeying Him in the wonderful garden He had created for them. Sin, death and everything horrible entered this perfect world. We could have had heaven from the very beginning of time, but a wrong choice separated us from God forever. Adam and Eve s children (that s us) were born separated from God. God loves us so much though, that from the beginning He had a plan to reconnect us back to Himself and restore all that went wrong. That plan was Jesus. Jesus left heaven and came to earth as a baby, leaving His kingdom temporarily. Jesus left heaven, a place of no suffering, to suffer in our place here. Jesus grew up normally, just as all of us do. He was raised by normal parents. No special treatment was given to Him. When the time was right, Jesus declared His purpose for being here on earth. He spoke the truth and was bold when He needed to be, but He was always kind and spoke the truth in love. Not everyone believed in Him and His purpose. We begin today s story at the end lesson 4 2 nd 5 th grade page 34
of Jesus life on earth. We re going right to the day the people rejected Him and sentenced Him to die on the cross. The people thought they had power, but in reality they had no power at all. Jesus came to die; that was His purpose. The ruler Pilate said to Jesus, Don t you realize that I have the power to release you or to crucify you? to which Jesus replied, You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above... (John 19:10-11 NLT) We begin reading shortly after the trial was over. Jesus was cruelty whipped almost to death and then made to carry His own cross outside the city to the place where criminals were crucified for all to see. READ SCRIPTURE READ IT : : : read from NIV Bible Open your Bibles and follow along as I read Luke 23:26 34 out loud. ASK it : : : award 10 points for correct answer 1 Who was made to carry Jesus cross? Answer: Simon from Cyrene v. 26 2 Who followed Jesus and Simon to the cross? Answer: A large number of people v. 27 3 What were the women doing as they followed? Answer: They were crying and mourning. v. 27 4 What did Jesus tell them? Answer: He told them not to cry for Him but for themselves and their children. v. 28 (FYI: Jesus was speaking prophecy here. Tougher times were coming. In only about 40 years Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed and things would get very tough for them.) 5 How 6 Who 7 Who many others were crucified with Jesus that day? Answer: Two other men v. 32 were these two men? Answer: They were criminals. v. 32 was in the middle? Answer: Jesus, the criminals were to His left and right. v. 33 lesson 4 2 nd 5 th grade page 35
8 Jesus came to earth to save us. Now some of the very people He came for were nailing Him to a cross. Did Jesus curse them or did He continue to be nice? Answer: He continued to be nice. He showed mercy and forgave them because they didn t understand what they were doing. v. 34 READ SCRIPTURE READ it : : : read from Bible This was an incredible scene. Would anyone come to Jesus rescue? Let s read on and find out. Follow me as I finish reading Luke 23:35 43 out loud. ASK it : : : award 10 points for correct answer 9 The 10 11 12 13 14 first crowd of women cried and wailed, but what was this crowd of people doing? Answer: They mocked Him and were cruel. v. 35 Was anyone kind? Did anyone even offer Jesus some water? Answer: No, they offered Him a horrible mix of wine and vinegar. v. 36 They placed a sign above Jesus head. Did it say that this is an innocent man? Was He being honored? Answer: It said He was the King of the Jews, but they weren t honoring Him. They were making fun of Him. v. 38 Even the criminal who hung of the other cross got in on the insults. What did he say to Jesus? Answer: He teased Jesus and said to prove He was God by saving Himself and them. v. 39 Did the other criminal insult Jesus also? What did he say? Answer: No, he said they (himself and the other criminal) deserved death but Jesus was innocent. v. 40 What was the man actually asking Jesus? Answer: He was admitting he was a sinner and asking Jesus for forgiveness to be accepted into heaven. v. 42 lesson 4 2 nd 5 th grade page 36
15 Did Jesus tell the man he had to do something nice first before being forgiven? Answer: No, Jesus accepted the criminal s request to be saved right then and there. v. 43 BONUSQUESTION BONUS QUESTION : : : award 50 points for correct answer 16 Did this criminal deserve to be forgiven and go to heaven? Answer: No, no one deserves it, which is why there is nothing we can do to earn heaven. We can only admit our sin and ask for forgiveness. God gives us grace by accepting us, and Jesus paid the debt for our wrongdoing at the cross. CONNECTIT KEYPOINT MEMORYVERSE CONNECT it : : : SAY When we wonder if we should be kind to anyone the answer is yes. God showed kindness to us first. None of us are better than anyone else; we are all sinners and deserve to be separated from God forever. That s what we deserve, but God is loving, merciful and kind. He forgives anyone who asks for it. If God sent His Son to pay by suffering so cruelly in order for us to be forgiven, why should we decide who deserves our kindness? We can t. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 God told us to be kind to everyone, but He also showed us by example. Jesus did the most loving and kind thing anyone could ever do for someone else He died for our sins so that we wouldn t spend eternity separated from God. When someone does something wrong (sin), we forgive them, but someone still has to pay for the wrongdoing. That s what Jesus did on the cross. But just because Jesus paid doesn t mean that everyone goes to heaven. As we saw in the story, one criminal was forgiven and the other one wasn t. Why? Everyone still has to choose to accept God s grace. Our responsibility is to tell others about what Jesus has done for them and the rest is up to them. However, we still need to treat them nicely. Otherwise we are not doing what Jesus wants us to do. lesson 4 2 nd 5 th grade page 37
He already forgave you but don t you want to do something for Jesus in return? The best thing you can do for Him is to love Him (by obeying His Word) and love others by being kind. PRAYER LET S PRAY : : : SAY Heavenly Father, Thank you, Jesus, for giving Your life for us. Thank You for Your love and kindness. We pray that we can extend that kindness to others. In Your name, we pray. Amen. 2 nd 5 th grade page 38
Let s Review This Month s Verse KINDNESS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS KINDNESS Going out of your way to make others happy. TODAY S LESSON Bible Story The Crucifixion Location Luke 23:26 43 Memory Verse Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 Key Point God showed kindness to us first. TIME FILLERS Ask if anyone would like to play the teacher and review today s lesson with the class. Play games to help children memorize today s Bible memory verse. TAKE HOME SHEETS VIRTUE Quest is the take-home sheet designed for children to do with their parents. The sheet contains information about today s lesson. The goal is to partner with parents to continue and to reiterate the lesson. Be sure to hand all parents a sheet as they pick up their children. lesson 4 page 39