The Beatitudes Huddle 9 God blesses those whose are persecuted for doing right, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Matthew 5:9 (NLT) SETTING THE ATMOSPHERE As children arrive, collect the In slips from parents and see which grade they are in for their huddle teams. Remember to check all slips to make sure children are to be in Up & Out this hour. Team Time Each team leader (student leader) should spend time getting a conversation started within the team to find out more about each child. Spend time today discussing the following questions up front... Huddle Teams 1st & 2nd grade girls 1st & 2nd grade boys 3rd & 4th grade girls 3rd & 4th grade boys Is there anything new happening in your life? Can you think of anything that makes you feel that you are blessed? Are you feeling thankful for anything in particular? Was it hard to keep your focus on God instead of focusing on other things in your life this past week? Did you work on making peace? How did that feel? Opening Prayer Leader prays for the group. LESSON HUDDLE Let s all come over together and get started this morning. Good morning, Up & Out! Where we look up (pause for the group to respond) TO GOD and look out (Pause) TO OTHERS. Today we will learn about the last Beatitude. In Matthew, chapter 5, verse 10, we will read the last Beatitude but as we continue to read the next two verses, verses 11 and 12, we will notice that Jesus actually explains this Beatitude for us. Everyone, please get out your bibles and open them to Matthew 5:10-12. Can someone please read verse 10 out loud then someone else please read verses 11 and 12 out loud. (Allow 2 children to read.) 10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy
about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. Today s Beatitude is a little different from the other Beatitudes because it is the only one that Jesus explains in a little more detail. All the Beatitudes are one sentence each except this one. Having these two verses give more detail to this one Beatitude tells us that today s Beatitude is an important one and one that may be a little more difficult than the others have been. I don t think the idea of being persecuted for righteousness sake is hard to understand, but actually BEING persecuted because you do the right thing can be very, very difficult. Jesus tells us the last Beatitude (in verse 10), and then tells it to us again (verses 11 and 12) using slightly different words, so this Beatitude will really stick in our minds. In verse 10, we read that God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right. A few weeks ago we learned that to be right and just means to be right with God. You will also hear it spoken as being righteous. We are righteous when we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins and then we do our best to follow Him and be like Him. Now, what does it mean to be persecuted? (Allow children to answer.) To be persecuted means to be teased, bullied, harassed, or treated poorly because of what you believe. At some point in their lives, every Christian will face persecution of some sort. If you never in your life are teased, left out, made fun of, or get in trouble for standing up for what Jesus stands for, then chances are you can more boldly follow Jesus. Proverbs 28:1 says, The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions. We need to be courageous, like lions, when it comes to talking about Jesus and doing things that Jesus would do. Let s brainstorm for a minute and come up with a few things we can boldly do to follow Christ. (Take a minute or two and write the children s ideas, on the dry erase board, for boldly following Jesus. Some examples include praying before lunch, playing with the new kid or weird kid at recess, telling the truth when you do something wrong, showing mercy to siblings and friends when they are mean, or reading your Bible during free read time in class.) These are all great things we can do to follow Jesus--boldly. Sometimes when we do these things, people will tease us or call us weird. And that s okay. It s okay to face persecution when you are doing the right things. That s what Jesus is telling us in this last Beatitude. When we are teased for boldly following Him, we get the kingdom of Heaven. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense that the blessing or the reward for having the BEE attitude of facing persecution is receiving the kingdom of heaven. You see, we face persecution when we follow Jesus. When we follow Jesus, we get to go to heaven. So, when we face persecution, we get to go to heaven because persecution is a sign that we follow Jesus. Persecution happens to Christians all over the world. Most of us won t ever face severe persecution. We may lose friends, be teased or bullied, or lose our jobs or get in trouble with our teachers. In some places in the world though, it is actually illegal to be a Christian
or to even own a Bible. There are followers of Jesus in the world who are arrested, beaten, have their homes or churches destroyed, or are even murdered just because they love Jesus. Let that sink in for a minute. People are killed just because they love Jesus and want other people to love Jesus too. We may see that as a terrible thing, but Jesus says that we are BLESSED when we are persecuted. This is another one of those Beatitudes that doesn t seem like a blessing. How can persecution be a good thing? Well, it helps when we have a right perspective on things. If we are being bullied, beaten and burned at the stake for no good reason, then this would be really sad! But as Christians, we see things differently. We don t see the pain of persecution. We see the reward of Heaven. The thing is Heaven is SO GREAT that even being stoned to death because we love God is a blessing! We can only understand a little glimpse of what Heaven will be like. It s like seeing your Christmas presents all perfectly wrapped in shiny paper with bows on top. You don t know exactly what your present will be, but you know it will be awesome. Heaven will be awesome. Here s a small glimpse of Heaven, from Revelation 21:3-4. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, Look, God s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. Heaven is a place where we get to be happy and with God all the time forever. Nothing could be better than that, and nothing that happens to us in this life can be so bad that it would make Heaven not worth it. No matter what we go through in this life, no matter how bad, we have Heaven to look forward to. We are poor in spirit and recognize our need for a savior. We mourn over our sins and humbly submit to the Lord. When we do these things, we begin to hunger and thirst for God s righteousness. God gives us the kingdom of heaven, he comforts us and tells us we ll inherit the earth, and he fills us with his righteousness. After all the brokenness, we begin to grow in our ability to love others. We become merciful and pure in heart and peacemakers. When we begin to do those things, we will be persecuted. And that s okay, because we gain the kingdom of heaven! If there is one thing I want you all to remember from the past two months in the Beatitudes, it s this: God blesses us when we follow Him. God gives us what we need, gives us his favor, when we follow Him. He loves us and wants us to have a life full of Him. The Beatitudes are what our attitudes are when we follow Jesus. So let s follow Jesus with our BEE attitudes instead of our ME attitudes! (End by adding the persecuted bee to the Kingdom of Heaven part of the hive on the BEE ATTITUDES poster.) End in prayer. Father in Heaven, we look forward to the day that we will live with You in Heaven for ever more. Until then, we do want to live happy lives here on earth. We want to be known by our friends as the kind of person that has godly attitudes. We want to receive the blessings You promise in the beatitudes. Please help us to have Bee Attitudes in all that we do. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen
ACTIVITY: Game: Chain Tag Chain tag helps us remember those who are in chains for their faith. Clear an open space. One child is it. When it tags someone, that person joins hands with the first it and runs with them. Now the child who was tagged becomes it. While holding hands (or putting their hand on the first person s shoulder or locking arms) the second child in the line, now is it, they must tag a third person. The third child links up with the second and becomes the new it. Players must remain in contact with one another as they run and try to tag the other children. The game ends when only one person is left untagged. As you share Jesus with others in your life, they become it and begin to share Jesus with others too. It is a chain reaction you share with someone then they share with someone then that person shares and so on It can be as simple as asking someone what church they go to. If they say they don t go to church, invite them to come to your church. One day, you may see them at your church. Sometimes, parents of your friends may really like the kind of person you are. They like their child spending time with you because of your Bee Attitude. They ll ask what church you go to because they want themselves and their child to have Bee Attitudes like you. Then one day, you ll see them at your church. You may find out they have been coming since the day they asked you about your church. How awesome is that! ACTIVITY: Game: Paper Chains Supplies Needed: 11 Black paper strips (1 x 8.5 ) 11 Yellow paper strips (1 X 8.5 ) Stapler or clear tape **Give at least 2 strips of each color to each child Have the children write on each yellow paper strip (with black marker) a way to follow Jesus or share Jesus with someone like their examples on the dry erase board. They will make a paper chain to remind themselves of those who are in chains for their faith. You can have the kids make standard paper chains by cutting out strips of paper and stapling or taping them into linked circles. Have them work together to make a long chain of a yellow strip, black strip, yellow strip then black strip (like a bee). Hang on the wall. You could hang as two pieces in the shape of a cross if you want to or hang crazy on the wall like how a bee flies so randomly.