Jack Klumpenhower - Show Them Jesus: Teaching the Gospel to Kids

It had been a good Sunday morning with my group of fourth graders. Theyd behaved, prayed with sincerity, and participated well as I taught a lesson about Abraham. Now it was snack time. The person in charge of such things had left us with one cheese stick for each kid and a package of crackers to divide between them.

Exactly thirty-four crackers. For nine kids. I knew because one of the kids, eager to make sure he got his fair share, counted them. Its amazing how sharp math skills become when snacks are served. Another kid did the division and announced that this meant four crackers eachexcept for two kids whod have to settle for three.

I get four! one kid demanded.

No, another said, we need to split them. Some started arguing over how best to break up the extra crackers. Others were putting pressure on the timid kids to eat just three. Greed had taken over. It was so ingrained that it extended to fractions of a cracker.

I decided to put an end to it. Everyone gets three crackers, I announced.

What about the leftovers? someone asked.

They stay left over, I said. Nobody eats them. Case settled. Except it wasnt, and I knew it. Id stopped the argument but done nothing about the greed.

Weve all seen this sort of behavior, with all ages of kidsand adults. Toddlers in the nursery fight over a toy. High-school guys angle for the biggest slice of pizza.

But that morning with my fourth graders, as they settled down and started eating their cheese and crackers, I realized the argument Id just witnessed should never have happened. Not on that particular day. You see, the lesson Id just finished teachingminutes before snack timehad been about how we can avoid being greedy. Yet greed was such a habit that the moment I brought out the crackers, they forgot the lesson.

Even worse, I had forgotten it too. Id killed off the argument without referring back to the lesson at all. Id stupidly missed an obvious opportunity to use the cracker incident to apply what Id been teaching.

The particular part of Abrahams life we had studied was the account of when he and his nephew Lot separated in Canaan. God promised to bless Abraham and to give his offspring all the land, but Abraham had to learn to actually believe these promises. Early on he still operated under look-out-for-myself thinking. It led him to tell lies about his wife in Egypt.

His dispute with Lot over grazing land was his second crisis, and he responded better. Abraham suggested they divide the area, and he let Lot pick first. Lot chose selfishly. He grabbed the lush river valley, leaving Abraham the dry hill country.

We spent most of the lesson time discussing how Abraham could be so unselfish that he let Lot choose first. Abraham was the elder patriarch. Custom demanded he get the choice pick. I asked the kids how Abraham could give up such a valuable right when we fight over things as trivial as being first at the water fountain. They understood that Abraham must have believed Gods promises. Hed learned that the best things in life come from God, unearned. Abraham could give up the best part of the land because he knew God was giving him a far bigger inheritance.

We talked about how this applies to us. We discussed how God gives us even bigger blessings than Abraham got, that well have a home with Jesus forever and share all his riches. The more were gripped by this truth, the more we wont feel a need to be greedy for this lifes lesser trinkets.

That was the lesson. Id just taught all that. So as the kids munched down the last of those crackers, I decided to make up for missing the application earlier. I asked them, What does todays lesson have to do with how you acted with the crackers?

Huh?

You were arguing over the crackers, I said. Did you forget what todays lesson was about?

Slowly, one boy made a connection. Were supposed to not be greedy, he said. Another chimed in. Thats right. Dont be greedy. I guess we broke Gods rules.

Other kids nodded in agreement. They felt scolded. We forgot, they told me. Well do better next time. Well try harder not to be greedy.

I just stood there. Could I have done that badly? That wasnt the lesson Id taught at all!

I tell this story to show you where kids hearts will naturally go, even when we teach well. Id taught a good-news lesson. Id carefully avoided moralizing, instead showing Gods love and our blessings in Christ. Id encouraged the kids to believe that good news above all. Even so, in their hearts theyd turned it into nothing but a what-you-must-do-for-God lesson.

This is the way everyones heart naturally works. Our kids are programmed to try to earn points with God. Like a piece of electronics shipped from the factory with default settings, theyre preset not to believe the good news. This trust in their religious and moral efforts takes the place of trusting Jesus. Its so strong that even when you teach a good-news lesson, they easily get the wrong idea.

I should point out that not all good-news lessons end in frustration. Many times Ive seen the Spirit use the good news to break into kids hearts. Still, the scheming drive to impress God by what weve done is deeply embedded in our corrupted programming. Removing it requires being intentional. It takes deliberately pounding home the good news, over and over again.

So there we are in front of the classroom. Or were chatting with a youth group. Maybe were having lunch with a struggling teenager, or driving our own kids to soccer practice. We know the kids were with have changes they need to make in their Christian lives, but often we dont know what to say beyond stop doing that or God wants you to do this.

At such a moment the issue is not what those kids should doits how to reach their hearts. They need to rest in Jesus until they have such joy over his beauty and what hes done for them that it spills out into the way they live. It sounds hokey, but our goal must be to build love for God. There are at least two reasons for this.

When Jesus was asked which commandment was most foundational, he said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment (Matthew 22:3738). Anytime we settle for obedience without love, we arent being serious about the most important obedience of all. Nothing and nobody may come ahead of Jesus. He used scandalously strong language to explain how far above any other loves our love for him must be: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26).

Jesus also said, Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me (John 14:21). That great and first commandment is the one the others hang on. Any time we dont keep one of the others, its clear we didnt keep the first one. We loved ourselves more than Jesus.