Welcome to Part 2 of the “Jesus is a Guy, Not a Rule Book” Bible Study Lesson. If you missed Part 1 of this Bible Study, you can find it here. For this part of the lesson, you’ll learn the ins and outs of the children’s church activity itself.
Sunday School Bible Study Activity
Invite one student to come up to the front of the room. Blindfold him. Make sure he can’t see. Move him to the wall, which he should face so he won’t be tempted to raise the blindfold. Take your notes and the container and move to all four corners of the room while you ask the student questions–this is so the blindfolded student has no idea where you’re actually leaving the candy container.
As you walk around, ask the following questions, leaving the bucket up high somewhere and far off from the blindfolded person.
- Let’s pretend we have magic powers. We could “design a best friend for ourselves.” What traits would your best friend have?
- If you had a friend who was all those things and never let you down, would you start to feel peacefulness, security, kindness, or mercy?
- Have you ever had a friend where you expected to do all the talking but no listening? Would you be treating that person like a real friend if all you did was talk but never listened?
- What if you had a friend who had just a ton of stuff and all you ever did was ask to use it or borrow it and never said thank you or did anything nice in return? How would that friend feel?
- If you had a friend who was bringing a pizza over and he rang your doorbell, what would you do? Would you let him stand outside until the pizza got cold, because your favorite TV show was on? Would you wait for the commercial to answer the door? In Revelation 3:20, Jesus said, “Here. I. Am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” You’d better believe”¦it’s a great pizza.
The most important thing about Christianity is that Jesus is a person. He’s not a rule book. He wants to hang out with you”¦ even more than he wants you to do all the right stuff.
Turn to the kid who is blindfolded. Tell him you have hidden treasure in this room that has peace, security, and mercy in it. Tell him go to around on his own and find peace, security and mercy. Give warnings if it appears he might trip over something. If students ask if they can give him hints, say no. Because in real life, only Jesus can get us to peace, security, and mercy. Let the blindfolded student stumble around for a few moments.
What [student’s name] needs is a really good friend”¦one he can really trust. Let’s pretend for a moment that I’m Jesus. This is how it works.
Go to the blindfolded student, hold out your forearm, and tell him to put both hands on it. Tell him you’re going to take him to peace, mercy, security, and other “treasures.”
Ask him if he trusts you. If he jokingly says, “No,” back off. Let him try it on his own. Ask if he trusts you again. When he says, “Yes,” walk slowly backwards as he walks forward toward the treasure. Steer him away from obstructions like chairs as you go.
When you get to the container of candy, hold it out and give it to him. Take off the blindfold.
Good friends might be able to tell you how to find peace. But they can’t lead you to it. Jesus can, and Jesus will.
You should stop often during your day – especially when temptation is coming close – and listen for his friendly voice. James 1:5 says, “If ever you need wisdom, ask our generous God [and his son Jesus], and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you [make you feel stupid] for asking.”
Do this, and you’ll find you’re coming closer and closer each day to being utterly peaceful, to feeling safe no matter what, and to not letting evil people bother you in the least.
Jesus has knocked. Let’s sit down and eat our treasure with Him”¦and maybe we can think of some stuff to ask him this week when we’re alone in the quiet.
Divide the treasure, which they can eat during group discussion.
What do you think about this Sunday school Bible Study lesson? Does it seem like a good way to demonstrate the importance of relying on Jesus for guidance, or do you think your students will misunderstand the message?
Be sure to come back tomorrow for Part 3 of the “Jesus is a Guy, Not a Rule Book” Bible Study Lesson.