Curriculum
Forgiving and Forgiven
Memory Verse:
“Leave your gift there at the altar. Go and make peace with him. Then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:24
Bible Background
What Kids Will Learn
God created us to need Him and need friends. Relationships are so important to God, and He gives wise instruction on how to be a good friend and forgive others.
Scripture Summary
Matthew 5-7 contains one of Jesus’ most beloved sermons, The Sermon on the Mount. The name was given because Jesus was standing on a hillside as He proclaimed these precious words over several days.
Jesus challenged religious ways. Position, status, and wealth are not important. What is important is relationship–relationship with Him and others. He wants us to obey genuinely with our whole hearts.
Religious leaders and those who were listening were quite familiar with Old Testament teachings. Moses in the Ten Commandments said it was wrong to murder. Jesus was sharing a deeper, more heartfelt approach in that it was wrong to even get angry with a brother (a possible precursor to murder) as it also goes against God’s command to love others.
Loving others well includes extending forgiveness, and forgiveness can be hard. But Jesus gives us the power to forgive and even got us started by forgiving us first.
Jesus went on to give more practical advice. Resolve conflict before it escalates to going to court. If someone was unable to pay a debt, it was customary that he was thrown in jail. If no one paid the debt, the prisoner remained in jail until he died. Jesus continued to teach about heart matters that lie beneath the visible sin of adultery, divorce, and lies.
This portion of the Sermon on the Mount is challengingly beautiful as it causes us to look deeper. Sin isn’t limited to only the Ten Commandments. Sin includes the condition of our hearts as we navigate relationships.
Why Is This Important
We’re all human and will need to ask and extend forgiveness as we interact with other imperfect people. Jesus desires for us to navigate a relationship with Him and others well–with genuine honesty.
Teacher Devotion
Scripture
Forgive From the Heart
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)
We’ve all seen the scene play out countless times. Two children have a disagreement, and it gets heated. Whether fists or harsh words are flung at each other, a well-intending adult steps in to break it up. As an attempted resolution, the adult prompts each child to apologize. Each child quickly says, “I’m sorry!” (complete with eye roll, hurtful exaggeration, and piercing tone).
That’s not the picture of forgiveness from the heart. If I’m honest, forgiveness from the heart is hard. I feel vulnerable. I could be exposing myself to further hurt. I would often rather reinforce my defences as I hurl jabs and hurt back over the walls to my enemy.
But Jesus calls us to forgive from the heart–time after time after time. He wants us to experience receiving and giving the raw, genuine, true forgiveness for which He paid the ultimate price. I think of the unforgiving debtor in Matthew 18:21-35. If you have time, read the entire story. Essentially, a king wanted to settle all of his financial accounts. The king’s master then settled with their servants. One particular servant couldn’t pay his large debt and begged for mercy. The master forgave the debt.
The forgiven servant then found another servant who owed him a small amount of money. The first servant didn’t forgive the debt of the second servant. The master found out and was enraged that the first servant didn’t extend the same forgiveness given to him and sent him to jail.
We’re all sinners. We all make mistakes. We’ve all been forgiven for far more than we deserve. We can extend that same forgiveness, forgiveness from the heart, to others.
Prayer
Dear God, thank You for forgiving me. Please help me remember Your love and forgiveness as I interact with those around me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Bible Memory Verse
“Leave your gift there at the altar. Go and make peace with him. Then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:24
SAY: Today’s Bible memory verse tells us what to do if we remember that someone has something against us. Our memory verse has three action words we’re going to focus on: leave, go, and come.
Read the verse, then SAY: I’ll say an action word and you’ll say what we’re supposed to do after that action word. It’ll sound something like this:
Leave (your gift there at the altar) Go (and make peace with him) Then come (and offer your gift)
Say the action words many times. Then work with children to say the entire verse together with the reference.
Encourage children to go home and share their memory verse with their families.
Interactive Bible Experience
You’ll Need: Large bandages, Pens, Bible
Read Matthew 5:23-24.
SAY: Jesus was very clear in our Bible lesson today that He wants us to get our hearts right with God before we give our offering. We’re going to do an activity to help us remember to do that.
Give each child a bandage and a pen. Have children scribble on the inside of their bandage.
Have children put their bandage on their arm. Then SAY: Sometimes when we hurt people, it’s like we’ve scribbled on their hearts.
God wants us to go to those people and ask them to forgive us.
Ask kids to tell about a time they hurt someone and then asked for forgiveness.
SAY: It can be hard to say we’re sorry. Jesus wants us to go to those people to say we’re sorry and ask for forgiveness.
Have children take off their bandages and give them to you. Keep them until the prayer time.
Snack
Forgive S’More Snack
You’ll Need: Graham cracker halves, Chocolate squares from candy bars, Marshmallow cream, Plastic knives, Plates, Napkins
Tell children that they are going to make S’Mores today because forgiveness is not something we do one time. We may need to forgive people and ask forgiveness from others s’more and s’more and s’more.
Have children follow these steps to make their snack:
- Lay half a graham cracker on your plate.
- Lay chocolate squares on top of the cracker.
- Spread marshmallow cream on the chocolate.
- Lay half a graham cracker on top.
- Enjoy.
Game
Forgiveness Chairs Game
You’ll Need: Music and something to play it on, A chair for each person
Get Ready: Put chairs in a circle.
Have children each sit in a chair in the circle. Explain that when the music plays, children will walk around the circle. When the music stops, they must sit in a chair. If they don’t have a chair, they are “out.”
Each time you play, take away another chair. Play until there are three children who are out.
Then SAY: Let’s forgive the people who are out. They didn’t do anything wrong, but to help us understand what forgiveness is let’s put the chairs back. Come and join us again.
Play again several times, each time “forgiving” children and bringing them back together.
Craft
Offering Box Crafts
You’ll Need: “Offering Box Pattern” printed on card stock for each child, Heart stickers, Markers
Make an Offering Box for each child by following these steps:
- Print the “Offering Box Pattern” on card stock.
- Cut along the solid lines to cut the box.
- Cut the slit open for inserting coins.
- Fold down along the dotted lines.
- Glue the tabs inside the box flaps.
SAY: We’re learning to get our hearts right with others before we give our offering to God. To help us give our offering to God, we’re going to make Offering Boxes.
Help children follow these steps:
- Write their name on one box flap.
- Children can decorate the Offering Box with stickers.
Encourage children to take their Offering Boxes home to remember to give their offering after they have made their hearts right with others.
Prayer
Healing Hurts Prayer
You’ll Need: Bandages from the Interactive Scripture Reading activity, New bandages, Pens
SAY: Sometimes we hurt people whether we mean to or not. Sometimes we hurt their feelings with words. Sometimes we hurt their bodies with actions. When we do that, it makes them sad. And it makes God sad, too. God wants us to fix the hurt we’ve caused by telling people we’re sorry and asking for forgiveness.
Give each child a new bandage and pen.
SAY: Maybe you’ve hurt someone that you need to go talk to today. If you can think of someone like that, we’ll help you write their name on the padded part of your bandage.
Allow time.
SAY: When we hurt others, it hurts God and it hurts us.
Have children put their bandage on their hand or arm. Then have children put their other hand on top of the bandage while you pray.
PRAY: God, thank You that You love all of us. Thank You that You don’t want us to hurt each other. Please help us make things right with people every day. In Jesus’ name, amen.
