Sin Spreads To People- Sunday October 3, 2021

Sunday October 3, 2021 (Vol 1, Unit 2, Session 2)

Hi there, and thanks for joining us this week. FriendshipKids exists to help families bring their children to Christ and disciple them to be maturing, lifelong, reproducing followers of Jesus Christ. We hope this blog will be a useful tool for you to use to fulfill that call on your life. Week by week, we will review the previous Sunday’s Children’s church lesson and help your kids grow in their faith. 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). So, let’s have some fun and teach our kids from the scriptures. 

Parent Devotional

Sin Spreads to All People

Siblings often fight and compete as children and even adults. It may be over something as innocent as who gets the last cookie or as serious as who inherits their parents’ prized heirloom.

The competition Cain felt toward Abel—the world’s first siblings—reminds us that these family tensions can cause great damage to our relationships with one another, with parents, and even with God.

In the story of Cain and Abel, we find a progressing pattern of jealousy, which led to hatred, which led to murder. The result was not one but two lost sons for Adam and Eve.

God’s disregard of Cain’s offering stirred an intense jealousy and anger within Cain. Cain raged not only because his offering was rejected by God, but also because his brother’s offering was accepted by the Lord. Cain’s jealousy led him into a pit of misdirected hatred of Abel, ultimately leading him to murder his brother. The consequence of sin—death—that God had warned Adam and Eve about had come to fruition.

Jealousy never produces anything godly in us. And why is that? It’s primarily because jealousy is nothing more than proof that we have staked our identity on what we have done or can do, rather than on what God has done for us through Christ.

When you are tempted to compare yourself to others, let that trigger a reminder of who you are in Christ.

Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” As a child of God, our identity is not dependent upon what we do, but instead upon what Christ has done to save us through His life, death, and resurrection. Rather than living in the comparison between ourselves and others, let’s live in the confidence that we have been made new. In Christ, we are fully loved and accepted.

Fight the temptation to compare. Fight the urge to compete with others before God. And trust in the finished work of Christ. For you are not your own; you were bought with a price. And that price is one you can never repay.

PEOPLE TO KNOW

Cain: Adam and Eve’s first son. He killed his brother Abel.

Abel: Adam and Eve’s second son. His name means “breath” or “vapor.”

Seth: Adam and Eve’s third son. He was an ancestor of Jesus.

Parent Guidance and Instructions

As we begin to explore this week’s devotional, take a moment to pray and meditate on the verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:7 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 do not have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or perhaps your children are too young to sit for that long. Consider the key points of the lesson 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, and memory verses. 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 to suit your children. Take some time to look at and print the activity pages and to review the lesson so you can adjust as needed. Once you are ready, go ahead and start with these songs if you would 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 week. Please contact us at the church if you have any questions or suggestions. We would love to hear from you!

Opening

“Blessings and Bummers”

Let’s get started. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives this week? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest challenges?

Parents share your blessings and bummers, encourage the kids to do the same. The goal is for kids to see God at work in the everyday, seemingly small and mundane things. It doesn’t matter if it is something as small as getting to watch a favorite TV show or something big like a new baby sibling being born, God is active and in our midst.

Prayer

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 do not deserve it! Thank you for continuing to bless us, Lord. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you to our friends as well as our families. Most importantly, we thank you always for sending Jesus to live a perfect life and die to pay for our sins. Thank you for raising Him from the dead and promising us life with you forever if we believe in Him. Please help us be thankful for all you do for us and 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!

Let’s go!

  Say:   Can you think of a time someone else got something you wanted? How did you feel? Were you happy for the other person, or were you jealous? (Let the children discuss their feelings.)

Hey, everyone! I am so glad you are here. If you brought your Bible today, hold it up. [Provide Bibles for kids who need one.] Can anyone tell me what the Bible is about? [Allow kids to respond.] The Bible is God’s Word. It tells us the wonderful story of God’s plan to rescue sinners.

The Bible tells us what is true about God and about ourselves. We can look at the world around us and see that creation is not perfect and good as God created it to be. Sin has affected everything. We’ll see today how sin spread beyond Adam and Eve.  

Big Picture Question

SAY:   Last time, we heard our new big picture question. Do you remember what it is? What does it mean to sin? Here’s the answer: To sin is to think, speak, or behave in any way that goes against God and His commands.

Sin is not just a problem with our behavior; it’s a problem with our hearts. Remember these three ways our desires lead us away from God: in what we think [point to head], in how we speak [point to lips], and in how we behave [hold out hands]. What does it mean to sin? To sin is to think, speak, or behave in any way that goes against God and His commands. Keep that in mind when you hear today’s Bible story.   

Review

SAY:   Last time, we heard how sin entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned. God had created people for His glory. He loved the first people He made, and He provided everything they needed. But their sin separated them from God, and He sent them out of the garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve left the garden with a promise: God said that one of Eve’s descendants would put an end to sin and death. Then Adam and Eve started a family. Their first two sons were named Cain and Abel. Did one of them put an end to sin and death? No. In today’s Bible story, we’ll hear how sin spread from Adam and Eve to Cain and Abel and to all people.   

Bible Lesson

SAY    Wow. Once sin entered the world, it spread! Sin didn’t affect other people just a little bit; it affected them completely.

Adam and Eve had probably been so happy to see new life come into the world when their sons were born. Maybe Eve wondered if Cain or Abel might be the One God promised would put an end to sin and death. Is that what happened? Did Cain and Abel obey God perfectly and save the world from sin? No, Cain and Abel were sinners too.

Why didn’t God accept Cain and his offering? The problem wasn’t in what Cain offered; something was wrong with Cain himself. Look at Genesis 4:7. [Choose a volunteer to read aloud Gen. 4:7.] Now look at Hebrews 11:4. [Choose a volunteer to read aloud Heb. 11:4.] God accepted Abel’s offering because he offered it in faith. God doesn’t care only about what we do; He cares about our hearts.

Remember our big picture question: What does it mean to sin? To sin is to think, speak, or behave in any way that goes against God and His commands. Cain’s heart was full of jealousy and anger. God warned Cain that sin wanted to control him. God told him to be careful and to resist the temptation to sin. But Cain acted out of jealousy and anger, and he killed his brother. Sin leads to death.

So, God judged Cain and made him wander the earth. Cain deserved to be punished, but God was kind to him anyway. God also showed grace to Cain by giving him a mark of protection.

When we look around us and see brokenness in the world—shame, conflict, poverty, and so on—we must understand that the problem is not just outside of ourselves. These are consequences of the sin inside of us all. We can’t just try to be good people and make the world better because we need to be rescued from ourselves.  

Christ Connection

SAY:   After Adam and Eve sinned, God promised to give Eve a descendant who would put an end to the curse of sin. Adam and Eve’s sin and its consequences spread to all of their descendants. Cain rebelled and Abel was killed. God hates sin, but He loves people. God did not forget His promise to send a Rescuer. Adam and Eve had another son: Seth. God’s promise would come through Seth’s family thousands of years later. At just the right time, God would provide the way out of sin by sending His Son to save sinners.   

Bible Time!

Distribute Bibles and display the Old Testament Mediterranean Map. Guide kids to open their Bibles to Genesis 4. Explain that after Cain killed Abel, Cain went out east of Eden. Remind kids that we don’t know exactly where the garden of Eden was located. Point to the region in the bottom right corner of the map and explain that some people think it may have been in that area.

Consider comparing the Old Testament Mediterranean Map to a modern-day map to help kids understand where these stories took place. (Tip: Locate the areas in and around modern-day Iraq.) Choose a volunteer to read aloud Genesis 4:7.

Say:   Before Cain killed Abel, God warned Cain to watch out for sin. Sin is like a lion waiting to pounce. Sin wants to control us, and the Bible says that sin leads to death. Jesus came to free us from sin. He changes our hearts so we can live for Him.  

DISCUSSION

Ask the following questions. Lead the group to discuss.

Say:    What does the story of Cain and Abel show about sin and people?  

Guide kids to discuss how sin spread from Adam and Eve to their children. Adam and Eve’s disbelief of God’s words led to their disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit. Sin was in Cain’s heart, and out of his jealousy he killed his brother. Sin spread to people, and we all experience its consequences. Our hope is not that the next generation will do a better job at obeying; our hope is found only in Jesus who obeyed for us.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read Rom. 5:12.)

Say:    Why is it sometimes hard for people to get along?  

Remind kids that Cain’s sin separated him from God and people. Sin not only hurts our relationship with God, it hurts our relationships with others. Sin often comes from pride—thinking you are the best. Jesus demonstrated a better way of living and loving by putting others first.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read 1 Pet. 4:8.)

Say:    What should we do when we sin?  

Guide kids to discuss how to seek forgiveness with God and with other people. We can repent—turn from our sin and turn back to God. We can confess our wrongdoing and ask forgiveness. Prompt kids to think of someone who might feel hurt by something they did. Encourage kids to seek forgiveness this week. Discuss how kids may need to make right what was wrong. For example, if they broke a friend’s toy, they may need to replace it.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read Col. 3:13.)

Key Memory Verse

Show the key passage poster. Lead kids in reading aloud Romans 3:23 together. 

Form two teams of kids and lead them to stand across from each other. Each team will stand shoulder to shoulder.

Show the key passage poster. Instruct the first team to say the first word of the passage, the second team to say the second word, the first team to say the third word, and so forth until kids say the entire passage.

Challenge the teams to see how quickly they can say the key passage. As kids master the verse, cover the poster.

SAY    All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. We saw that in the garden of Eden, in the field with Cain and Abel, and in the world around us. Praise God for showing us undeserved kindness in Jesus.

That is all I have for this week. Let’s pray together:

SAY:   Lord God, the world is broken by sin. It’s all around us and in our own hearts. We need You. Thank You for loving us and sending Jesus to rescue us from death and give us life. Amen.   

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

Thank you to Lifeway for allowing us to publish this lesson using their Gospel Project materials.