Jesus is our Savior

This week we continued our series Jesus is Our All in All, we looked at Jesus as our savior. If you read last weeks lesson you’ll notice some striking similarities, because repetition is good for kids we decided reuse the first paragraph. Ephesians 6:1 provides a great way of showing kids they have sinned because they don’t obey perfectly, and are therefore guilty before God, the good judge. This opens the door for the good news of the gospel, and helps it sense. 

Lesson: 

Do you know what sin is? (It is disobeying God’s instructions to us) God gives us instructions/directions just like our mom and dad do. When we don’t obey those instructions it is sin.

Did you know that God gives children a special command? Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.” God says that you are to obey your mom and dad, and he says that if you do you will be blessed.

Do you always obey mom and dad the first time they ask you to do something? No, no one other than Jesus ever obeyed his or her parents perfectly. Which means that we have all sinned, right?

When we die we will face God as the judge, a good judge has to punish those who break the law, and if we have sinned we have broken God’s laws. That means we all deserve to be punished. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s forgiveness; we are helpless to save ourselves. (You may want to spend time discussing this concept with your kids, for example if a someone stole something of value would a good judge let them off because they did a good deed or just said they were sorry? Of corse not… driving home the point good works do not get us to heaven)

The good news is that God is full of compassion and mercy, and so he sent Jesus, His only Son, to save us. He lived the life we could not; he NEVER sinned. Then instead of getting the reward he deserved, He took the punishment we deserve. When we come to Jesus asking for forgiveness, turning from our sin, and trusting in His good works, we get our sins forgive, God places the Holy Spirit in our heart, and we are saved from the punishment we deserve. When we face God He will no longer look at us and see the sins we committed, he will see the good works of Jesus. (This is a good place to reiterate that it’s not the good things that we do, but the good things that Jesus did that get us to heaven. We only get the good works of Jesus credited to us when we admit we can do nothing to improve our position, and seek the mercy of the Judge. God would be a bad judge if good works were enough to buy our way to heaven, it would be like a bribe, but good judges seek justice. God deals with sin in one of two ways: on the cross or with eternal punishment in Hell – justice is always served!)

Review:

• Are you a sinner? Have you broken God’s laws? (Yes)
• What does God do to lawbreakers? (He has to punish them)
• Is there anyone who has kept God’s law perfectly? (Only Jesus)
• Why did God send Jesus? (Because he had compassion and mercy, and to save sinners)
• Jesus never sinned; did he get the reward He deserved? (No)
• If Jesus didn’t get the reward he deserved, what did he get? (The punishment we deserve)
• Can we do anything to earn God’s forgiveness? (No)
• How can we receive forgiveness for our sins? (Go to God and ask for forgiveness, turning from our sin, and trusting in the perfect life of Jesus). 

This is the gospel, it is the most important message we will share with anyone ever; there are so many things you can say or do as you spend time with your kids, but they really can’t hear this enough. The gospel is not only the entry point to faith, it should be our motivation for holy living. I would love to hear how you share the gospel with your kids! And as always I hope this is helpful as you lead your children to the cross!

Jesus is Our Portion

We are starting the new year at our church by trying something a little different, we are working at adapting the lessons taught in the main service for our children’s ministry. I will be posting the sermon and the lesson for kids here in hopes that parents will continue to work at teaching these lessons at home. The current series is called Jesus is Our All in All, we will be looking at all the things that scripture says Jesus is. This week: Jesus is Our Portion 

Do you know what sin is? (it is disobeying God’s instructions to us)

Did you know that God gives children a special command? Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.” God says that you are to obey your mom and dad, and he says that if you do you will be blessed. Do you always obey mom and dad the first time they ask you to do something? No, no one other than Jesus ever obeyed their parents perfectly; which means that we have all sinned against God, and that we are all in need of forgiveness.

The good news is that when we come to Jesus repenting of our sin (turning from our sin) and trusting in Him we get our sins forgive, God places the Holy Spirit in our heart, we can have a relationship with Jesus, and we then have lives that are peaceful, not because we have everything we want but because we have a relationship with Jesus. We come to Jesus to get Jesus, that is what it means that he is our portion. When we come to Jesus to get something other than forgiveness, and a relationship with Him we will walk away empty-handed.

 In Luke 12:15 (NASB)- Jesus said, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

• Is it bad to want good things? (no)
• Will having good things on this earth help you know Jesus?  (no)
• Did you know that you are suppose to love God and love Jesus more than you love any other thing? (Hopefully yes- you may want to give examples- you are to love Jesus more than mom and dad, you favorite toy,…)
• Can we come to Jesus because we want good things?  (No)
• Do we get good things when we come to Jesus? (Yes)
• What are the good things we get when we come to Jesus? (forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and a relationship with Jesus)
• So, why do we come to Jesus? (To have our sins forgiven and to enjoy a relationship with Jesus.)

So, I began with a simple gospel presentation to provide some context for the kids, and then pulled out the key verse from the passage used in the sermon. The sermon text was Luke 12:13-21, I would encourage you to take the time to explain the parable to your child at least once during the week, ideally after reviewing the lesson. I would have included it in the lesson; however, it would have made the lesson too long for a big group. I would also encourage you all to listen to Jesus is Our Portion  as you work through the material with you children.

We live in a culture that teaches that coming to Jesus means wealth and prosperity, these are concepts completely contrary to the teaching of scripture. Our children need to understand that in this life hardship will come, especially if we are followers of Jesus, but there is great spiritual blessing amidst out trials if we have a close relationship with Jesus. This is why we strive to live lives honoring to him, turning from sin, because it is the path that leads us closer to Him!

I hope this is encouraging as you labor to lead your child to the cross!