Theme: We are each created by God, but we are all corrupted by sin.
Color Theme: black
Key Scriptures:
- Romans 3:12
- Romans 3:23
- Romans 6:23
Black Thread Memory Verse:
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
Items you will need:
For Teaching Time:
- A black item such as a bandana, balloon, piece of card stock, etc.
- Heart stamp and black stamp pad or other small black item
- Poster board with Gospel illustration used from Day 1
- Play money
Bible Lesson:
During the Bible teaching time, you will add to the drawing of the Gospel Threads outline on the poster board. For instructions on the Gospel Threads presentation board, go HERE.
Begin by reviewing the character of God. Ask students if they remember what we talked about yesterday? Remind them that we talked about God’s characteristics and attributes. We learned that God is holy, just, gracious, and loving. Ask students what the theme color was that represented these attributes? That’s right, white.
Today, we’re going to talk about the fact that man is sinful. So although
…we are each created by God, we are all corrupted by sin.
What is sin exactly?
Sin is anything we do that does not please God. It can be an action or an attitude. Unfortunately, our sin causes us to rebel against God, be separated from him, and be dead without him
The color black will be used to represent the sinfulness of man.
Hold up your black item.
Ask students to name some ideas that the color black often represents?
Allow students to respond. Answers should include the ideas of sin, darkness, evil.
Add in the “MAN” section of your poster board illustration as you walk through the lesson.
We have each rebelled against God.
Add the word “rebelled” inside the left line. Add the Scripture reference of Romans 3:12 under the world “rebelled” if desired.
Read or ask someone to read Romans 3:12:
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
Ask the students what the word “rebelled” means? –To rebel means to resist or oppose authority. This verse means that we all rebel and turn aside or away from God and towards ourselves. We have rebelled by doing what we want to do instead of what God wants us to do.
Also, ask the children to notice who turns aside or rebels against God. The verse we just read says ALL. No one does good, not even one.
We are separated from God.
Write the word “separated” under the word “rebelled”. Add Romans 3:23 if desired.
Romans 3:23 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Yesterday we talked about the holiness of God. By definition, God’s holiness means that He cannot dwell with sin. Since we are sinners, our sin causes us to be separated from God and His glory.
Point out to students that because our sin separates us from God, two lines are drawn on the board that show a big gap or chasm. Reinforce the idea that these lines represent a separation between God and man.
We are dead without God.
Write the word “dead” under the word “separated”. Add Romans 6:23 if desired.
Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If time permits act out an illustration to demonstrate the principle of wage earning. Ask for a student volunteer. Tell the student that you want to “hire” him to work for you. Tell him you have a ditch that needs to be dug and agree to pay that student an agreed upon amount of money when the pretend ditch is dug. Let your volunteer “work” at digging the ditch for a few minutes. When finished, give “worker” his wage in pretend money. Have student sit back down.
Following the demonstration, ask the students to explain what wages are? Wages are payment we receive for work we’ve done, right? Wages are something we’ve earned.
In this case, the Bible says that the wages, or payment, that we’ve earned for our sin is death. The death that we earned is not only a physical death, but also an eternal, spiritual death.
Review:
So we have rebelled against God by putting what we want before what God wants, we are separated from God due to our sin, and we are dead without God because the punishment for our sin is death.
Hand out the small black item or stamp each student’s hand with the black stamp to remind them of the theme color. Review the idea that the black color stands for the fact that “Man has a sinful heart.”
Or just draw a black heart with a washable marker….
Finally, conclude by asking if a solution exists for our problem? Yes! God didn’t leave us to die; Hallelujah! He did something to fix our sin problem!
Tomorrow we will talk about God’s sin solution!
Download a hard copy of this lesson HERE.
Progress to Sewing Gospel Threads Day 3 HERE.
