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Junior High Lesson On Repentance
Junior High Lesson On Repentance
Because we can't erase, or pay for our own sins, we need a Savior.
Use this lesson to teach students that Jesus calls us to repentance because of His love
for us.
Bottom line: Jesus calls us to repentance because of His love for us.
SUPPLIES
• Blindfolds
• 2 balls, cones, or items that students can find
Optional: For a messy version - use food. We did this with tacos!
Place a blindfold on both of these students and have them stand on opposite ends of
the room.
Once they are blindfolded, place one or two objects on the floor.
To make this more interesting, do not put this object in the center of the room.
The teams must tell their representative where to go to find the object.
This game becomes difficult because the students are talking at the same time, making
it hard for the players to determine which team to listen to.
The first player to find the object receives a point for his or her teams.
The team with the most points at the end is the winner.
You can even make the “object” a gift card attached to a clipboard, making that the
prize for the winner.
TEACH
In our game, it was pretty difficult to hear the voice of the person you were trying to
listen to.
It would have been so much easier if we would have only had one person talking at a
time!
How many of you have ever been clothes shopping with your mom?
I remember whenever I would go shopping with my mom, she would hold up a t-shirt or
a pair of pants and yell my name across the room.
Every time, I would look around, as everyone else who was shopping would look over,
and see the shirt that my mom was holding up for me to look at.
Levi was a tax collector, and a person whose name would eventually be changed to
Matthew.
The problem is that during this time, tax collectors were one of the most disrespected
occupations.
Partially because they did not like paying taxes to a government they did not agree with.
But, they really didn’t like tax collectors because they would often raise their prices, and
pocket a portion of the tax for themselves.
Because tax collectors were thought to be dirty, untrustworthy, and thieves, the religious
people of the day did not like the fact that Jesus talked to them.
In verses 27 and 28, Jesus walks up to Levi and says two words, “Follow Me”.
It’s interesting because Jesus doesn’t tell him to stop stealing, He doesn’t tell him to get
his act together or behave differently - Jesus simply tells him to follow Him.
We read in verse 28 that he dropped everything, got up, and followed Jesus.
Levi is throwing a dinner party at his house, and Jesus is the guest of honor.
Jesus is sitting with them at the table, and is surrounded by people just like Levi, tax
collectors and others.
You see Pharisees would never be caught talking too, let alone hanging out with, and
eating with sinners.
He responds in Luke 5:31-32 (ESV) – “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance.”
Jesus was with those people that nobody else wanted to be around because He
loved and cared for them.
Some of us might have grown up in churches where we were told we had to get our act
together, dress a certain way, and have no problems in order for God to do something
in our lives.
But, Jesus doesn’t come for those who have it all together.
And in this passage of scripture, he came for a tax collector, Levi, soon to be Matthew,
who He would use to reach millions with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I’m sure none of us in here today are tax collectors, stealing money from others when
we are collecting their taxes.
But, the Bible says in Romans 3:23, that all of us have fallen short of the Glory of God.
We’ve all done things, said things, and thought things that aren’t pleasing to God.
And the Bible says in Romans 6:23, that the 'wages', or the 'cost of sin', is death.
When we watch this clip, we can't help but see the emotions on the tax collector's face
when Jesus calls him by name.
Jesus doesn’t shy away from the tax collector, but instead, approaches him.
Romans 6:23 says that the “wages of sin is death,” but that is not the end of the verse.
That we have made mistakes against God that we can't erase or pay for on our own.
Repentance is recognizing that Jesus is really who He says He is, and accepting
His gift of eternal life.
Maybe we think that someone is so rotten, involved in so much sin, that there would be
no way for Jesus to save them.
But the truth of the matter is, Jesus did not come for the perfect, He came for the
broken.
Repentance is more than just getting saved, or accepting Jesus as your Lord and
Savior.
We should stay in an attitude of thanking Him that He has rescued you from the grip of
sin, even though you still sin and make mistakes.
Maybe you’re in this room and you haven’t accepted Jesus before.
Maybe you are like the tax collector, just waiting for someone to call you by name, to
see you in the midst of your struggle, and give you a way out.
Maybe you’re in this room and you’ve been a Christian for a long time.
You’ve repented of your sins and accepted Jesus, and you’ve been growing in your
faith.
Jesus said that He didn’t come for the perfect, and believe me, none of us are perfect.
Even if you are a Christian, you will still make mistakes and you will still sin.
And so maybe today you needed to be reminded, that Jesus came because of His love
for you.
He called you out, so that He could know you and have a relationship with you.
Close in prayer.
• How do you think the tax collector felt to be hated by the religious leaders?
• Who would you say is the equivalent of a tax collector in modern times?
• When you watched the video, what stood out most about Jesus’ interaction with
the tax collector?
• What does repentance look like in your own life?
• Are there things that you have to ask forgiveness for regularly?
• Why do you think Jesus came for broken people?
• Do you think there are people that are too broken for God to fix?
• Do you think that repentance changes anything, and why?
• How has your relationship with Jesus changed the way you see the world around
you?
• Who is someone in your life that you could pray for that does not know Jesus?