We studied about the Messiah as servant tonight. We started out asking the youth what one of the most disobedient things they did as a child was, whether or not they got caught, and if they felt guilty afterwards.
Then we played a revised edition of rock-paper-scissors. The rules were lawyer beats jury, jury beats judge, and judge beats lawyer. The kids stood back-to-back and, on the count of three, turned to face each other. For lawyer, they had to point at their opponent and say "Guilty!" For jury, they scratched their chin and said "Hmmmm..." For judge they had to pound their fist into the palm of their other hand and shout "Order in the court!" The kids played best two out of three with their partners and winners paired with other winners until just one youth was standing.
Next we asked the kids to consider a part of Scripture viewed as lawyers and a judge while they played the role of the jury. We picked a judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney and the rest of the youth were the jury. We explained that parts of Isaiah often played out like a courtroom scene to get the point across about human guilt and judgment. The prosecutor then read Isaiah 1:2-3. The judge read verses 4-6. The prosecutor read verses 11-12 & 15-17. And the defense attorney read verse 18.
We talked to the kids about the relationship between Israel, God's people, and God at this point in Scripture. What did the prosecutor say God accused Israel of doing? What hope did the defense attorney offer from God? As the jury, would you have been as gracious as God and offered Israel a chance to be free? Why or why not?
In Isaiah 1:18, even after Israel rejected God, He still told them He would take their sins away. We talked about this paradox...how Jesus can be both King (as we discussed last week) and Servant (as He appears to be this week). Both seem contradictory, yet both are true. They give us depth...a deeper view of the Messiah.
We talked about the four passages in Isaiah then that are sometimes called servant songs. Each describe Messiah as a servant and what He will do for God's people. The kids read Isaiah 42:1-9, 49:1-7, 50:4-9, and Isaiah 53 in groups of two or three then and answered questions about each of the passages in centers set up around the room. We brainstormed as a group then possible song titles for each of the servant songs, if they were modern-day musical hits.
We read Isaiah 53:4, 5 then and asked the kids how they felt knowing that Jesus became a servant to the point of dying for our sins. We had these words also written on a piece of poster board and, as we played some praise and worship music, we asked the kids to go up and write one sentence on the poster that reflected how these verses made them feel....like "He did it for me. He was killed because of my sin."
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would go through terrible suffering for us. He would do it to bring us good news, to bind up and heal our hearts, and to set us free from sin. - Isaiah 61:1 - We asked the kids to really think about the personal difference it makes in their life knowing that the Messiah suffered for them. THIS IS THE VERY GOD WHO PURSUES THEM AND A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY. We pray they will fully grasp how awesome, humbling, and unthinkable that truth really is.
We ended with a YouTube called Jesus, the Suffering Servant. Don't forget parents to encourage them every day to complete their 5 for 5 World Challenges. They are short, themed devotionals that will ground them in what we talked about here tonight.
