A covenant for everyone
key words
biblical reference
Luke 22:7-20
lesson objective
To understand and rejoice over the benefits of the new covenant of grace, love, and forgiveness that God establishes with us through Jesus
memory verse
“ʻThough the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,ʼ says the Lord, who has compassion on youʺ (Isaiah 54:10, NIV*).
prepare yourself to teach
In this unit, your students were introduced to the covenant concept. They also began to understand the depth of God’s love for his creation.
God’s covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David gave them guidelines on the way he used to relate to his people. This lesson adds a new dimension to the divine scheme of this covenant of mutual relationship. God, through his Son Jesus, made a new covenant of love, grace, and forgiveness. When people decide to believe in Jesus Christ, serve him and live in obedience to him, they enter into a covenant relationship with God.
God, through that covenant, gives his people the freedom to approach him and know that they can be forgiven. We can decide to be part of the covenant people through a personal relationship with Jesus.
Thank God together for his constant love and mercy shown through the covenants he made, and especially for the new covenant offered through Jesus. Use songs, poems, activities, and have a moment of prayer to thank God for his love and forgiveness.
biblical commentary
Read Luke 22:7-20. Here Jesus instructs Peter and John to prepare a place to celebrate the Passover meal, an annual celebration remembering the time the Israelites left Egypt under the powerful hand of God. In this passage, Luke focuses on the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Symbolically, Passover reminds the Jewish people of the freedom from slavery in Egypt. For the disciples of Jesus, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper became a remembering of his death on the cross to free believers from the bonds of sin.
Jesus clearly shows the price of redemption. The new covenant would cost the sacrifice of his body and the shedding of his blood. But this atonement was done once and for all. There would be no more need to continue the cycle of sacrifices demanded by the old covenant. Jesus paid the price of our salvation once and for all. When we respond to God with sincere repentance, he forgives us and begins a new relationship based on his love and mercy, not on law and judgment.
The sacrifices were an important part of the old covenant between God and his people. The people came before him, year after year, sacrificing animals without defect and offering the first and best of their crops. These sacrifices reminded the people of the seriousness of sin, and offered a system by which they could seek God’s forgiveness and develop a covenant relationship with him. However, this method had imperfect priests offering imperfect sacrifices, so the cycle of sin did not end. When Jesus came to earth and died on the cross, he established a new covenant. He became the perfect lamb, sacrificed on the cross before God once and for all, through his atoning work on the cross. In that way, he freed believers from the bonds of sin. Now, he is our High Priest who is sitting to the right of the Father. He is our Intercessor and Savior.
As you prepare for this final lesson of the unit, rejoice in the new covenant of God’s grace, available to all people through Jesus, our Lord and Redeemer. Pray for God to use this new understanding of the covenant relationship to attract each child to a deeper and growing personal relationship with him.
introduce the lesson
Say: “We have learned what a covenant is and how God proposes it to people, how he did it with Noah, Abraham, Moses and the Israelites, and David. Can you tell me more about God’s covenants? What was special about the covenant he made with David?” (He included him in the lineage of his own Son Jesus.) “God fulfilled his covenant with David when Jesus came to earth, and thus each person could decide to know and love God. That’s a special invitation that God offers us. If you want to accept it and be part of a covenant relationship with God, tell God that you do.”
Ask a volunteer to tell what else the invitation says about entering into a covenant relationship?” (Provide time for students to discuss the topic. Some will know that it means that God offered us salvation through Jesus Christ.)
Say: “The new covenant that God made through his Son, Jesus Christ, means that each person has the decision to love, obey, and serve God alone. The Bible story tells us more about this new covenant made by God through Jesus.”
teach the lesson
An Invitation
Direct the group to Student Activity Sheet #387-A. Allow them to silently read the invitation. Say: "That's a special invitation that God offers us. If you want to accept it and be part of a covenant relationship with God, write your name in the blank." Allow them to fill in the missing words at the bottom (commitment, promises, relationship). Then, ask a volunteer to tell the group about this special invitation (salvation through Jesus Christ).
The new covenant
Pass out Student Activity Sheet #387-B (The New Covenant). Read it while they follow along. If you have good readers, then have them read the story, taking turns.
Today’s lesson on covenant has an important message for your students. They need to understand that God wants to have a personal relationship with each of them.
Ask: “What did Jesus offer his followers?” (A new covenant) “Who is that new covenant for?” (For all those who wish to have a love relationship with God.) “If you want to know the love of God and want to love him too, what should you do?” (Accept this new covenant relationship with God through his Son, Jesus.) If any child expresses interest in accepting Jesus as their Savior and living in a covenant relationship with God, use the ABC’s of salvation from the students’ resources for session 12 as a guide: It is as easy as A-B-C!
A: Admit that I have sinned, and I need God to forgive me and help me change.
B: Believe that God loves me and sent his only Son, Jesus, so I can be forgiven.
C: Receive Jesus as my Savior and claim my new identity as a child of God.
connect the lesson
Let’s review the covenants
Pass out Student Activity Sheet #387-C (Review the Covenants). Have someone read the instructions. Give them time to work on the activity. You may give them permission do it together.
When everyone has finished, allow some volunteers to share their answers with the rest of the group. (Noah, all living beings / Abraham, his family / Moses, the Israelites / David, his son and the kingdom of God) Ask: “How does each of these small pictures illustrate the covenants?” (The world, to Noah. Because God promised that he would never destroy the world with another flood. The baby, to Abraham. Because God promised him a son in his old age and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. The Ten Commandments, to Moses, because God promised him that he would help and protect the Israelites if they obeyed Him. The crown, David, because God promised him that one of his descendants would reign forever.)
Tell the students to find the figure of Jesus. Ask: “For whom did God make the new covenant?” (For all people.) “In the square, draw yourself or write your name. Through Jesus, God made a new covenant of love for all people, and that includes you! Do you want to accept Jesus as your Savior?” (If any of the students shows interest, meet them at the end of the session.) “When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we decide to live in a covenant relationship with God.”
The people of the new covenant
Invite your students to make a poster or banner to celebrate that they’re included in the new covenant with God through his Son Jesus.
Hand out the last activity sheet for this session from Student Activity Sheet #387-D (The People of the New Covenant). Provide markers or crayons for use in the design of their posters or banners. Encourage them to take their posters/banners home and show them to their relatives.
Say: “God wants us to know him and develop a relationship with him. He wants to bless us and help us live for him. But sin separates us from God, and the Bible says that we have all sinned. However, we can be thankful because, through Jesus his Son, we can be forgiven and enter into a new covenant relationship with him.
practice the memory verse
Before the session starts, draw a vertical line in the center of the board.
In the group, separate students into two teams. Let them form two rows, sitting one behind the other on the floor, facing the board. Say the verse of the month together. Have a watch or clock with a second hand to keep time. When you give the signal, the first person of each group will go to the board and write the first word of the verse. Then he will run back and give the marker or chalk to the next row mate, and then that first person will go and sit at the back of the line. Whoever has the marker should write the second word on the board, and so on. Continue playing until a team correctly completes the Bible verse in the shortest possible time. At the end, say the verse together.
Then, have each student say the verse of the month. To all who do it correctly, give them a small certificate or prize (a sticker, a bookmark for their Bible, etc.).
wrap-up
Pray
Pray, thanking God for the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, and for his sacrifice on the cross. Ask God to help students live each day by pleasing him, and to remember their commitment in the covenant with Christ. Pray for your students to take responsibility as members of God’s family to obey him and live as he wishes.
Encourage
End by singing a chorus or hymn that talks about the covenant with God. You can use recorded music, or invite someone from the church to accompany you with an instrument. Tell your students: “Every person who has accepted God’s proposal to live in this new covenant, through Jesus, is part of the Lord’s family. We can sing and rejoice when we know we’re living in a relationship of covenant with him.” End by giving the students an opportunity to thank Jesus for his death and resurrection, which allows them to know God and love him. Encourage the students to have a daily devotional time alone with God.
Invite
Tell the students that the next session begins a new unit, and encourage them to attend. Remind them that this is a good time for new members to join the group.
* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™