Sin and God is Holy

THESE STUDIES ARE USED FOR ALL AGES-TWEAKING NEEED

Day 2-
Know God is Holy, We are Sinful

Objectives:
1) To explain the Holiness of God, and the imperfection of us (humanity), and how this breaks relationship with God. Wherever they are at in their maturity, stretch them in their understanding of the seriousness of sin apart from Christ.

Lesson:
1) Who God is: God is Holy
a. Recap from yesterday, that God is Creator, God is All-Loving, and he wants to have relationship with humans who were created to like him so that there can be relationship.

b. Transition to talking about God’s Holiness. Say something like, “One thing that we didn’t talk about is God’s perfection.”
Liken Holiness to Perfection.
Question: What are some things that are perfect, that there is nothing wrong with them? Make sure kids understand what holiness is before reading these passages.

Leviticus 11:44 “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Leviticus 20:26 “You are to be holy, because I am holy.”
Leviticus 22:32 “Do not profane my holy name.”
Ps. 77:13 “Your ways, O God, are holy.”
Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect.”


Show what represents perfection or holiness here.

2) Who we are: Man is sinful
What is sin?
Not doing or being what God the Creator says is best.
a. Sin as a Position (Past Tense)
a. Genesis 6:5 “
b. 1 Kings 8:46
c. Isaiah 53:6
d. Romans 3:23
e. Ephesians 2:3
f. Romans 5:12
 We are sinful from birth because our parents were sinful, and their parents were sinful, all the way back to Adam and Eve
 All of Creation is locked in Sin because it is passed on

b. Sin as an Action
 Anything we do that goes against God. Romans 3:23
 Anything we don’t do that goes against God James 4:17

NOTE: Kids will often have a hard time thinking of themselves as sinful- try and help them look at there own lives and think of times that they knew what they were doing was wrong and they did it anyways. It is not just murders or people who commit “big” crimes but something that we all struggle with everyday.

Ideas: For younger kids, tell the Story of Adam and Eve. Maybe act it out.
Emphasize that God made people to be holy and we chose not to be holy in disobeying God. Emphasize that we were once perfect, but now we have sin in our lives from going against God. Emphasize the separation from God.

For Older kids, remind the kids about the story of Adam and Eve. Ask them what they would have done in the situation. Most would say, “I would not have eaten it.” Remind them that every time they sin it is like eating the fruit, and bringing sin into the world.

3) Broken Relationship: Connect God’s Holiness and our inability to be in relationship as people who sin and the eternal consequences
a. Romans 7:24- Body of Death
b. Romans 3:10-18- “Worthless, no one who does good, ruin, misery, no peace, no fear of God.
c. 2 Corinthians 4:4- “Blind”
d. Romans 6:23a
e. 2 Peter 2:4-10, Revelation 20:15- destined for judgement, hell- Be very careful if using these verses!

If using an illustration, show what represents sin here. Remember, kids should not be comfortable.

Response:
Have the kids share how they react to the fact that God is perfect, we are not, and how we can’t be in relationship. Review the fact that humans were created to be in relationship with their loving creator. However, we cannot be in relationship if we are imperfect. Talk about missing out on relationship with God on earth, do not emphasize hell. This helps prevent a “fire insurance” mentality of conversion.

Illustrations:
To keep continuity through your Bible Study, use the same illustration that you used to explain holiness and perfection to explain the consequences of sin.

Dirty Kid/Supper - Ask the kids if they ever play outside and get dirty. Do their mom’s make them get clean? Sin is like a child playing outside, and gets dirty. His/her mom calls them in for a supper that she has prepared the child’s favourite meal. She wants the child to come in and have supper, but asks the child to become clean. Living in sin is like not washing-up and missing out on your favourite meal.

Discussion Idea for older kids – What happens when you lie, cheat, or steal from one of your friends? What are the effects on your friendship? Sin not only effects relationship with God, it effects relationships with others. Sin has its root in selfishness. The whole world has a hard time being friends with each other because of sinful selfishness. Ask each kid to share something that breaks relationship in the world. Is there anything that breaks relationships apart from selfishness?

Staircase illustration – trying to get to God without touching the stairs.
Go to the stairs at the jungle swing. Have the cabin stay at the bottom, and tell them that they need to get to you (God), at the top of the stairs. The only thing is, they can’t touch the stairs. How can they get to God? Explain the illustration showing the effects of sin.
Use actual stairs!

Bunk Illustration – have the kids go on side of the cabin on a top bunk, and you go on the other side of the cabin on a top bunk. Tell them they need to make a bridge from one side to the other, because you need to get past sin. Encourage them and act as if they could do it. Explain the separation of sin. Bridge Illustration:
A twist, is to talk about an island paradise such as Hawaii or some other island destination. Talk about how great it is. But, how do you get there? Trying to get to God in sin is like swimming to Hawaii. We can’t on our own. What if we built a bridge? What if we try and be good, like God is? Have the campers go and pick up as many rocks as they can in one minute. Have the campers think of a way to be good for each rock they put down between the bunks. We can’t be good enough. We could spend our whole lives throwing rocks in the ocean, and never get to God.

Line illustration – Start at one end of the cabin, and say something hypothetically, “If you had lied to your sister, take a step.” “If you have stolen something, take a step.” Tell them not to look back. Have them look back, and see how far they are from God. Don’t play guilt trip, let the Holy Spirit do that. Don’t be accusatory, keep it at a “might have happened level.”

Target Illustration – Have the kids throw paper balls at a target. Every time they miss point and say, “Sin”. They may get it in sometimes, but God wants it in all the time or else relationship is broken.

Consequences Illustration – Use a balloon. Blow it up and say this is God making Creation. He made creation perfect, just like this balloon is round. He finished creation (tie it) and let us go do our own things. He said, “If you obey me, you can live forever in this perfect state.” However, we disobeyed. Pop the balloon. We can’t get back to a perfect state.

Million Dollar Speeding Ticket – For older kids, ask about speeding. Say they were driving and speeding, and were pulled over by a cop, who wrote them up a million dollar speeding ticket. You are surprised at how much, and go home wondering how you’ll pay it. The cost for sin is your life – way more than a million dollars. Use Romans 6:23a.


Sin is so much bigger than what you do wrong. The consequences are unbearable. Sin permeates the world. It is a cycle. Pain causes pain. Sin breeds sin. It’s like a disease. The world is wrong.

Verse of the Day: