The Messiah as Savior

Tonight we talked about the meaning of the word Savior.  First we asked the kids to think of a time when someone misunderstood them...a misunderstood Facebook post or text maybe.  Then we played a little game where we gave the kids each several slips of paper.  Then we asked them to write down four words and what they thought the words meant on those slips of paper.  The words were:

• erinaceous
• galactophagist
• pronk
• quackle

We collected and read their definitions out loud then.  I had the actual definition mixed into each batch.  Some of the made-up definitions were hilarious!  They were of course surprised to find out the true meanings of each word.  Who knew that galactophagist was just a big word to use for someone who drinks a lot of milk?!

We started to explore the meaning of the word Savior then.  We've all heard that Jesus saves or that He is our Savior, but what does that actually mean?  Synonyms for the word include defender, deliverer, guardian, hero, liberator, preserver, protector, and rescuer.

We showed the kids a picture of a nativity then.  (The book suggested I dig mine out of my Christmas storage, but that just was not happening!)  We read Luke 2:8-20.  We've heard this story over and over every Christmas, but this time we tried to look at it with fresh eyes.  Why does it matter that the very first thing the angels said about Jesus was that He is Savior?  What do you think the shepherds thought when the angels called Jesus, the Christ, Messiah, Savior?  Even before He taught or performed miracles or died on the cross, Jesus was called the Savior.  From the moment of His birth, offering salvation to humankind was at the very core of Jesus' mission on earth.  What's our reaction to this idea?  Why is it important?

Next we split the kids into two groups.  The "A Lost Object" group read Luke 19:1-10.  Together, they discussed the kind of person Zacchaeus was, what people in his community thought about him, and why Jesus chose to spend time with him.  They talked about what they thought Jesus meant by salvation and save in verses 9 & 10.  Who is salvation for?  What does it mean?  What can this story teach us about salvation?  We hid a coin somewhere on their side of the room and they had to find it.  The main point of their group was that the lost, even the very "worst" people on earth, can be saved.

The "All the World" group looked at a world map and read Luke 2:21-35.  They were asked to step inside Simeon's shoes and think about how he felt when he saw Jesus and realized who He was.  What might he have thought?  They had to discuss what stood out to them about Simeon's description of Jesus in verses 30 & 32.  Why?  The key point of their group was to learn that salvation is for ALL the people of the earth.

When we got back together as a class, each group shared with the other what they had learned.  Together, we read Luke 7:36-50 and talked about the point of Jesus' story and how it makes us feel.  How did the sinful woman treat Jesus.  How did He treat her?  Jesus used the word saved in verses 48-50.  In light of all that's happened in this account, what do we think Jesus means when He says she's been saved?  What does this story tell us about salvation?

We explored further Jesus' story about the two men who owed money and their debts being cancelled.  One owed about 50 day's wages and the other about 2 years' worth of wages.  In our culture there's no greater symbol of debt than credit cards.  The average American family carried $8,000 in credit card debt!  We gave a credit card to one of the kids to cut up then for a visual.  Jesus came to earth to save us from our sin - the biggest debt we will ever have.  Just as it would be a relief for someone to come along and pay monetary debts for us, we have much more peace spiritually now that Jesus has cancelled our sin debt with His salvation.

We wrapped up with a time of prayer, thanking God for our salvation and encouraging any of the kids unsure of their salvation to see us after class.  Once again, we closed with marveling over how awesome is our God who pursues us to save us from our debt of sin.

The Messiah as Lord

We had testimony Wednesday two weeks ago and the kids got to know their new friend Kerissa Wooley much better.  Kerissa's heart is to work on dramas with the youth groups and she has been joining us for class over the last few weeks and the kids have really taken to her.  She is an incredibly sweet freshman at USF that the Lord is using mightily.

Last week, the rain spoiled a big part of our lesson, but it turned out to be God's will as we joined the older youth for some "business stuff" and then just used the remainder of our time to hang out together and just share.  We never get to do that so it was a nice change for once.

Tonight we got back to Pursue and this week's lesson focused on the Messiah as Lord.  We use this name for Jesus often, but tonight we challenged the kids about whether or not they truly believed it or not...that He really is Lord over every aspect of their lives.

We asked them to think of all of the things they did over the last week - the people they spent time with, the things they did at school, in the evenings, etc...  We asked them which was the most important to them and why.  We had some posters in the hallway with different things written on them.  We gave the youth sheets of dot stickers and asked them to mark the posters from 0-3 dots based on how much loyalty they felt to each - 0 being no loyalty at all and 3 being a high amount of loyalty.  The posters included "your friends", "your family", "your favorite sports team", "ZG", "your favorite actors/actresses", "your favorite bands/musicians", "your school", "your hobbies - what you do in your free time", and "your favorite movies/TV shows".

We tallied up the dots and scored the posters then.  We talked about which ones the kids felt most or least loyal to and why.  We talked about what loyalty means.  What kinds of things are we willing to do for something or someone we are loyal to?  What sacrifices are we willing to make for that person or thing?  Merriam-Webster defines being loyal as having unswerving allegiance to something or someone!

Next we read Matthew 7:21-23 and considered how the passage made us feel.  What kind of person calls Jesus "Lord" and yet doesn't actually obey Him?

We used the concept of medieval knights to illustrate the idea of loyalty then.  In Europe, during the Middle Ages, in the feudal system a lord owned a large area of land and everything in it....from homes to people.  Knights were warriors who swore fealty to their lord.  Fealty means faithfulness.  The lord would give the knight some property and freedoms, but the knights oath of fealty to the lord affirmed that he understood that his property and livelihood ultimately belonged to his lord.  The knight also promised to go to battle for his lord if the need ever arose.  He'd give his life to fight for his lord.  In English, our word lord comes from this medieval system.  A lord is someone who owns everything we have - even our lives.  A lord is someone we'd even doe for if called upon.  This is a sobering thought when you think about what/whom we show loyalty to!

Next we read Matthew 8:1-3, 5-10, 23-27, and 21:1-3.  We talked about the situations when people called Jesus "Lord" and who those people were.  We do you think each person meant as he or she said "Lord"?  What similarities or differences are there between the way "lord" was used in medieval times, or even today. and how it was used when people spoke to Jesus?  How often have you called Jesus "Lord"?  Have you ever fully thought about what it meant?  Often, we don't even pay attention to what it truly means.  Calling Jesus "Lord" isn't enough.  We have to have a genuine faith to back it up.

The kids broke up into 2 stations outside then.  At station 1, they read Jesus' parable about a house built on the sand and one built on a good foundation (Matthew 7:21-27).  They explored the story's true meaning,  what it reveals about genuine faith, and people they know who display this kind of faith.  Then they used sidewalk chalk to write their answers on the cement.

The 2nd station of kids used a plant to illustrate the Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13:1-9, and 18-23.  The kids talked about shallow roots and being choked off by distractions.  They used spoons to dig out some of the plant's dirt to make it more shallow and talked about examples they've seen of shallow faith.  They discussed hard times and the importance of having faith roots that go deep.  Then they tied string tightly around the plant's stems to choke it off from receiving nutrients.  They discussed the things in their lives that threaten their faith.

Again, Jesus doesn't want us to just call Him "Lord".  What He wants is for us to do God's will and show that we mean it when we use that title for Him!

We showed the kids a video game remote control then.  The basic idea of the remote and a video game is that the character or object on the screen does not act on its own.  It only does what it is told or commanded to do by the player through the controller.  The player is basically lord or master over the character in the game.  How is Jesus being our Lord like a video game?  How is it different?  God gives us free will and doesn't force us to do things like the video game controller.  He lets us choose to serve Him as Lord.

What would it take for you to totally surrender yourself to Jesus as Lord, obeying His every command, just like a character in a video game?  Let's be willing to hand over the controller of our life to the Messiah...to know Him, obey Him, and live like He is Lord...to PURSUE Him as Lord as He PURSUES to be our Lord...our everything.