Jesus’ Crucifixion - Sunday November 1, 2020

Sunday November 1, 2020 (Vol 9, Unit 26, Session 5)

Hi-there parents! Welcome back! Or if you're new here, welcome! The following blog is here to be a tool for you to help your kids grow in their faith while Children's Church is not meeting. Please feel free to use as much of it as you choose. You know your kids and are the best possible teacher for them. God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do more than you think possible (Eph 3:20).  

Parent Devotional: This week’s lesson, "Jesus' Crucifixion" is found in Matthew 26–27 and John 18–19.

Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection are the center of the gospel. Jesus accomplished the plan God had been working out throughout the Old Testament to bring salvation to sinners, and it happened in such an unlikely way.

In the Book of Acts, Peter testified to the Israelites about Jesus’ death: “Though He was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail Him to a cross and kill Him” (Acts 2:23). Crucifixion was a horrific way to die. As you teach kids, rather than focus on the graphic details of how Jesus died, emphasize why He died. Two primary reasons stand out: God is loving, and God is just.

First, God is loving. He sent His Son to be the Savior of the world because He loves us. (See John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:10.) Jesus submitted to the Father’s will; He humbled Himself and came to earth as a man, and He laid down His life because He loves us. (Eph. 5:2)

Jesus lived the perfect life we failed to live and died the guilty death we don’t want to die. Those who trust in Him receive forgiveness and eternal life. 

Second, God is just. God’s law for the people was plain. (See Deuteronomy 6:5.) But God’s people, and all people, broke the law. We have loved other things more than we love God. That is sin. So why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn’t He just say, “You are forgiven”? Because God is just, He requires due payment for sin. To simply forgive sin without requiring a payment would be unjust.

Jesus was our substitute, taking our place on the cross and absorbing God’s wrath on our behalf so we can be forgiven and declared righteous. (See Rom. 3:25-26; Col. 2:13-15.) Jesus died to rescue sinners from slavery to sin, and when we trust in Him, we are free indeed.

As we begin to explore this week’s lesson, take a moment to remember the verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:9 says: "You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Maybe you don't have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or maybe your children are to young to sit for that long. Take the key points and ask God to give you opportunities to speak them into the hearts of your children throughout the week. Let the Bible become a part of your day to day. Be blessed this week my friends!  

Each week we include songs, activity pages, the bible lesson video, memory verses and possibly a craft or 2. We pray this will help you find ways to engage your kids spiritually. It is written in script form from the K-2nd grade lesson so you can read directly from it or change it up to suit your children. Take a few moments to look at and print the activity pages as well as the additional activities and information (found in the links at the bottom of the page) also to review the lesson so you can make adjustments as needed. I have included the Bible and Discussion questions along with a breakdown of the Gospel in the Older Kids Activities pages and loads of activities and crafts on the Preschool Extra Activity Pages. Once you are ready,go ahead and start with these songs if you'd like or pick some of your favorite worship songs and then jump right in! Have fun! And remember, this does not need to be done in one sitting! Feel free to break it up over the course of the week. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. I'd love to hear from you!  

So, let's get started. I like to begin each week with Blessings and Bummers. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives this week? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest bummers? 

Parents share your blessings and bummers and encourage the kids to do the same. 

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, Thank you. Thank you for providing for our needs. You are so good to us even though we don't deserve it! Thank you for continuing to bless us Lord. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you for our friends as well as our families. Help us to appreciate all you do for us and to look to you in all that we do. In Jesus name, Amen. (please add to or customize prayer time to fit your family)

Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers! 

Prompt kids to tell about times they did something to help someone else.

Say • Helping others is a great way to show you love them and God. Sometimes, we might have to sacrifice, or give up, something we enjoy in order to help someone else. For example, to help your parents prepare dinner, you may have to give up some time you would have spent playing with your friends. Today we will learn about the greatest sacrifice—and show of love—that has ever happened. Can you guess what it is? 

Optional Session Starter Activity Pick one of two options, or do both, this is your party. These are found in the activity pages attached below.

Let's take a look at our big picture question and answer. What did Jesus do to save us? Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead. We have hope because of God’s perfect plan to send His Son, Jesus. He lived a life without any sin, perfectly obeying all of God’s laws. He died the death we deserve to die, as though He were a criminal guilty of sin. Then, He rose again to prove His sacrifice was perfect and complete. When we have faith in Jesus, God says we are righteous with Jesus’ righteousness and gives us eternal life. Hope comes from the truth of the gospel. 

You may remember that a few weeks back we learned about Jesus’ triumphal entry. People welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem as their King. They sang praises to Him and followed Him lovingly. When the religious leaders tried to trick Him, Jesus spoke with wisdom and authority. While eating the Passover meal, Jesus commanded His disciples to remember His sacrifice. Then, Jesus went to pray in the garden, where Judas betrayed Him. Jesus allowed His enemies to arrest Him. Today, we’ll see what happened after Jesus’ enemies arrested Him.

This story is the saddest story in the history of the world. All people are guilty of sin, and the Bible teaches that we all deserve death. Jesus is the only Person who ever lived who did not deserve death, and He experienced one of the saddest and most painful kinds of death.

Though a week before the people had praised Jesus, now the crowds laughed at Him, called Him names, and demanded that Pilate nail Him to a cross. The people even called for a murderer named Barabbas to be set free. They preferred a dangerous criminal be on the loose rather than Jesus. 

It’s important to realize that Jesus could have stopped the whole process at any time if He had chosen to. Jesus could have explained to Pilate how He had not broken any laws. He could have used His power as God to instantly transport Himself away from His enemies. But instead, Jesus chose to let the evil plan happen. Jesus knew that the evil plan of His enemies was just a small piece of God’s wonderful, unstoppable plan!

And so, Jesus carried a cross to a hill outside the city and allowed the Romans to nail His hands and feet to it. Jesus died on the cross for our sins—on purpose, of His own free will.

We deserve to die because of our sin, but God loves us and kept His promise to send a Savior. Jesus never sinned, but He died in our place. He was the blood sacrifice made once and for all for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, and those who trust in Him have forgiveness and eternal life.

Bible Time! 

Distribute a Bible to each kid. Help kids find John 19. Ask the kids which books contain accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion. (Matthew–John) Remind the kids that the Gospels also tell of Jesus’ life and ministry. 

Ask the following questions. Lead the group to discuss:

How many men were crucified with Jesus? (two, John 19:18)

What did the sign over Jesus’ cross say? (Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews; John 19:19)

What did Jesus say right before He died? (“It is finished,” John 19:30)

What do you think Jesus meant when He said it is finished? Guide kids to think through the various layers of meaning. Jesus’ death provided the payment for sin, ending its power over people. His death was also the completion of the most difficult part of His mission on earth. Discuss the importance of Jesus’ death in purchasing our salvation.

Why did Jesus have to die? Help kids process the depth and weight of sin. Remind kids that God created us to love and worship Him by enjoying Him. Explain that sin is rebellion against our Creator and King. The fair payment of sin is death, and the only way for us to escape that death was for Jesus to take the penalty for us.

How do you feel when you think about Jesus’ crucifixion? Remind kids that Jesus’ crucifixion is both wonderful and terrible. For a perfectly righteous man to die instead of us is a great tragedy. However, God used that tragedy in a beautiful way, to provide life and hope for all who trust in Jesus. Only God can work wonderful things from terrible situations.

Say • Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. We could never do anything to earn such a gift, and God gives salvation freely to all who believe in Jesus. Thankfully, Jesus did not stay dead either! He rose!

Great job with the discussion guys! Let's take a look at our memory verse: Phillipians 2:8.  

We learned today about the story our key passage is based on. Paul explained that Jesus didn’t die because He deserved to or because He had no control over the situation. Jesus died on the cross because He was obedient to God’s plan—100 percent, all the way. We have forgiveness and eternal life because of Jesus’ perfect obedience, including His death and resurrection.

Optional Memory Verse Activity:

Before the session, cut the pool noodles into sections that are about two inches in length. Write each word of the key passage on a section of pool noodle. Cut a slit along each section of noodle so that they can be placed onto a hula hoop. During the session, challenge the kids to place the key passage on the hula hoop in order. Then allow volunteers to say the key passage from memory. Praise each kid’s efforts and encourage kids to continue working to memorize the key passage.

Say • Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. God could have chosen to allow all of us to die apart from Him, but Jesus obeyed God’s plan and came to earth to rescue us. Jesus is the perfect example of what obedience and love looks like. He is our Savior.

That's it for this week!

Let's pray:    Father, thank You that Jesus was courageous in the face of great difficulties. Thank You that He perfectly obeyed Your plan to save us. Help us obey You out of love. Help us be bold in the face of scary times. Amen.

Thanks for joining us! I hope to meet you here again next week!

FCBC is grateful to Lifeway Christian Resources for allowing us to publish this blog using their Gospel Project materials.

Additional Activities and Information