Matthias the Apostle Lesson At-A-Glance Scripture Reference Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Church Season Easter 7 Gather (10 minutes) Lesson Focus I am the right one for the job. Bible Memory Verse One of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection. Acts 1:22b Arrival Activity Kids relay race by drawing with straws. Activity Pages, small straws, paper, food coloring, bowls, cleanup supplies Opening Conversation Kids review previous week, build relationships, and learn the new Bible Memory Verse (BMV). Opening Prayer Kids use the BMV in a litany prayer. Spark Bibles, Spark Bible Stickers Straws (one per kid) Open the Bible (15 minutes) Matthias the Apostle Story Kids learn how a new apostle was chosen. Optical Challenge Kids try to figure out optical illusions. Just Pick One Kids hear the story of a kid who has to choose between two friends. Spark Bibles, Chart paper, paper, markers Matthias the Apostle 97
Activate Faith (15 minutes) Lesson At-A-Glance Fun Facts Kids learn interesting facts about the number 12. Thumbs Up on the New Guy Kids create a crew of finger puppets to narrate the story of choosing Matthias. Send (5 minutes) Spark Bibles, Scissors, markers, tape Closing Conversation Kids look at the Faith on the Go! options. Closing Prayer Kids pray to be called and sent as disciples. Family Pages Finger Puppets from Thumbs Up on the New Guy Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content! Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to explore this Bible story with the kids you are leading. You will also find four downloadable resources for this lesson: an Activity Page, a Family Page, and two additional in-class activities. 98 Matthias the Apostle
Gather (10 minutes) Arrival Activity If some kids arrive earlier than others and you need a lesson-based activity, make copies of the downloadable Activity Page and set them out for kids to try. Activity Pages Divide group into teams of two and give each team two straws. Place bowls of water tinted with food coloring so that they are available to all teams. We are going to have a water drawing race. You and a partner will try to finish a drawing that includes the things that I say. The catch is that you will be using straws and water! Kids will stick straw in water, place finger on top, then ease finger off the top of the straw to release the water slowly, drawing whatever challenge you call out. Invite them to practice by writing their names before you begin. To do the drawing quickly, each kid should be working on part of the picture. Get kids set up with supplies, then challenge them to draw the following or other ideas that you have: Small straws Paper Food coloring Bowls Cleanup supplies A tree under the sun A house with a car next to it A dog and a cat A baby and a kid Shout done! when you think you ve finished your painting! Let kids show off their paintings then clean up together. Opening Conversation Allow time for kids to share their Faith on the Go! experience from the past week and to review the Bible Memory Verse (BMV). Prior to the activity, cut the straws into different lengths. Today we re going to learn about a man named Matthias [pronounced Matthy-us ]. We don t know much about him except that he was chosen to do something important for God. Can you imagine being chosen to do something important for God? The Bible is full of stories of people who were really surprised when God chose them. Take all the straws and hold them so that the lengths are impossible to determine. Invite each kid to pick a straw. Starting with the person with the shortest straw, I d like to give each of you a chance to share about your week. Tell us what was good and what was not so good. Give each kid a moment to share. Spark Bibles Spark Bible Stickers Straws (one per kid) Matthias the Apostle 99
Let s check out our new Bible Memory Verse. It s a short one: Acts 1:22b: One of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection. Let s find that in our Bibles. Acts 1:22b is found on page 1204 in the Spark Bible. Say it together a few times, then try to recite it by memory. Encourage kids to put I Memorized It stickers in their Bibles. Opening Prayer For our opening prayer, I d like you to keep using that short Bible Memory Verse. Today we re going to learn about how another average fellow was chosen by God to be the latecomer disciple. It could have been him, and now, it could be any of us chosen to do something important for God! So I ll say something and you respond One of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection. God, you make room for people of all types in your crowd of believers. (One of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.) We don t think of ourselves as a big deal, but we know you have big plans for each one of these kids. (One of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.) In whatever they do, they can point others to you. (One of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.) Help us all to be your disciples. (One of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.) Amen. Open the Bible (15 minutes) Matthias the Apostle Story Divide the group into two teams. Point to one team: You are Team Joseph. Point to the other team: You are Team Matthias. Distribute paper and markers to the two teams. Kids can work together or in small groups. After Jesus resurrection, the twelve disciples were down to eleven. They decided to add a new guy to replace the one who was lost. It s important to note that it probably had to be a man. Women were disciples of Jesus too; the Bible speaks of them often. But two thousand years ago, it was a different culture. Women would not have normally traveled with men, especially with those who were not family members. Spark Bibles Chart paper Paper Markers 100 Matthias the Apostle
You can imagine that it was a tough choice to fill the open spot. Let s find out how the other eleven disciples decided. Turn to Acts 1:15-17 and Acts 1:21-26. These are on pages 1203-1204 in the Spark Bible. The Book of Acts is also known as The Acts of the Apostles. It is the story of the early church and Jesus followers immediately after his death and resurrection. The Christian church was being birthed and Jesus followers were trying to figure it all out during a scary, uncertain time. Ask for two volunteers. Each of them will read one section of the story. There are two candidates: Joseph called Barsabbas, also known as Justus, and Matthias. Not much is known about either of these guys, but their names give us some hints to help. Write the following on chart paper: Justus means one who is upright, just, or a doer of justice. Matthias means gift from God. Have you all seen campaign signs and advertisements? Who hasn t? Using the hints from the story, I d like team members to work together to write a campaign poster for your guy: Joseph or Matthias. Invite kids to work on their campaign posters for a short time, then share with the group. Read the I Wonder statements on the front of the leaflet. Ask a volunteer to read Look It Up! on the second page of the leaflet. Help kids discover what Judas did. Luke 22:47-48 is on page 1164 in the Spark Bible. Optical Challenge Casting lots was like playing Rock, Paper, Scissors for the last piece of cake. Drawing straws was one version of this game: one person held different length pieces of straw (the grass, not the kind you stick in your chocolate milk!) in their hand so just the ends were showing. They lined the ends up evenly so the actual length of each piece was not visible. The person who drew the short straw was the winner. But did Matthias really draw the short straw? Or was it an optical illusion? Check out the Optical Challenge on the second page of the leaflet if you want to see what I mean! Answer Key THE MEN ARE THE SAME HEIGHT THE CIRCLES ARE BOTH PERFECTLY ROUND YOU CAN T BUILD THE PICTURED TOWER FROM RECTANGULAR BLOCKS THE HORIZONTAL LINES ARE PARALLEL TO THE GROUND (AND EACH OTHER) Matthias the Apostle 101
Just Pick One At some point in your life, you may have a very best friend. And sometimes, you may even have two! The problem with having two best friends is that when your mom says you can take one person, you have to pick. Let s read a story about a kid in that type of situation and see what he does. Read Just Pick One on the front of the leaflet. When finished, discuss the following questions and other thoughts kids have: Who would you pick and why? What s the problem with having to choose between two people? Have you ever been left out for a really good reason? Did it still hurt your feelings? Activate Faith (15 minutes) Fun Facts What s your favorite number? Why? Has anyone ever noticed how often 12 shows up in regular things? We count 12 months, 12 hours on a clock, and 12 inches in a foot. Twelve was popular in the Bible too: Jacob had 12 sons, there were 12 tribes of Israel, and Jesus had 12 disciples. Check out the Fun Facts on the third page of your leaflet. Let s find out more about the number 12. Read through the Fun Facts together. Now it s time for a math quiz! Have you ever taken a true/false math quiz? If you think the statement is true, moo like a cow. If you think it is false, quack like a duck. True or false: The human body normally has 12 ribs. (False; 12 on each side = 24) True or false: Twelve people have walked on Earth s moon. (True) True or false: A gross measurement is 144. (True; 12 dozen or 12x12=144.) True or false: A human first walked on the moon in 1912. (False; it was 1969.) True or false: Twelve or twelfth is in the Bible 1,200 times. (False; it appears 247 times.) True or false: A dozen donuts are better than a baker s dozen donuts. (False, unless you don t like donuts! A baker s dozen = 13.) True or false: The 12 days of Christmas begin on December 13. (False; the twelve days of Christmas begin on December 25.) 102 Matthias the Apostle
Thumbs Up on the New Guy We really don t know much about either Joseph or Matthias, but they must have been good guys! They both probably had gifts and talents that would be useful as a follower of Jesus. We re going to make some finger puppets that are modern day disciples. Direct kids to Thumbs Up on the New Guy on the third page of the leaflet. Let kids cut out a character or two (or create one of their own on the blank puppet). Scissors Markers Tape Have kids fold the puppets on the dotted line and tape the ends together so the puppets will fit over their fingers. Let s use our finger puppets to act out how modern day disciples might talk about how they use their gifts and talents to follow Jesus. Allow kids some time to ad lib a conversation between the characters. Encourage kids to create voices and personalities that fit the puppets. Send (5 minutes) Closing Conversation We don t know much about Matthias, except that he was not a big deal in the Bible. He was never mentioned before this text, but there he was, ready to be chosen as the newest disciple of the Lord. God can use anybody to proclaim God s love! God will make use of you! Let s check out the Faith on the Go! options on the back of the leaflet. How might God use you through a couple of these choices this week? Closing Prayer Please don your finger puppet and let s pray. I ll throw out a petition and your finger puppet will say Like me! God, you call people to follow. (Like me!) We don t have to look like any big deal... (Like me!) But you give us big jobs to love, follow, and tell others! (Like me!) Send us out into the world as your chosen disciples! (Like me!) Amen. Family Pages Finger Puppets from Thumbs Up on the New Guy Be sure to send a leaflet and a Family Page home with each kid. Matthias the Apostle 103