GOSPELS – JESUS LOVES UN-LOVEABLES: NICODEMUS JOHN 3:1-21

LESSON AIM/THEME: King Jesus extended love and offered His “Upside-Down Kingdom” to the most unlikely people…First, Jesus loved the Pharisee Nicodemus (a surprise because the Pharisees hated Jesus) OBJECTIVES STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO...

Identify Nicodemus as a Pharisee; describe what Pharisees believed / why they disliked Jesus Define “Un-loveables”; identify how Jesus’ Kingdom was Outside-In, Upside-Down, Downward-Up Explain the metaphor Jesus used to describe new life in the Kingdom: born again & the bronze snake Evaluate their own response to Jesus – are they little Pharisees?

SUPPLIES Bibles / Story of NICODEMUS & the BRONZE SERPENT

INTRODUCTION Circles of Israel Use the “bull’s eye” page. This is to help your children see the different circles of relationships that the Jews had in their culture. Write the words in the different “levels” or areas of the bull’s eye – starting with the furthest out.

In the outer ring, explain how the people on the very outside of society were the GENTILES. The Jews believed they were God’s favorite people...so anyone not a Jew was outside God’s Big Family.

In the first inner ring, explain these were the JEWS – the special people of God. In the next inner ring, explain that a subset of the JEWS were the very religious men who kept God’s Rules (the

Torah) and wanted to make sure everyone else did too. These were called the PHARISEES. Finally, the very center of the bull’s eye was the TEMPLE and the HIGH PRIESTS who could enter the temple.

Remind the children that the TEMPLE was the building where the People of God came to worship God – but it was also the building that defined the Jewish People. It was part of their identity.

Ask the children how they would feel as a GENTILE – especially if they wanted to come near to God. Ask how they would feel if the JEWS did not think they were important enough to be a part of God’s Big Family. In many ways, there were many people in the JEWISH society who were “un-loveable”.

So the Jews thought they were special because God chose them first…they were inside and others were “out”. But that wasn’t God’s plan at all. He wanted to show his people how they were to be “Outside-In”...and he had a different idea about what “Inside-Out” meant.

LESSON OUTSIDE-IN Remind the children that last week we looked at PARABLES...and KINGDOM GROWTH / KINGDOM LIFE. Jesus explained that his Kingdom was an UPSIDE-DOWN KINGDOM. Ask the children what they think that meant. Review how the parables were about those who would be part of God’s Kingdom (Big Family) – and the Jews were shocked by who Jesus said was a part of the Kingdom! The kingdom was not for the rich and powerful but poor and weak. Today, we are looking at God’s Kingdom being OUTSIDE-IN! Point out the different groups in the Bull’s Eye – GENTILES, JEWS, PHARISEES, and PRIESTS. Explain that today we are going to look at a man who was in a the PHARISEE group. Ask the children who the PHARISEES were.

Remember...the Pharisees hated Jesus and always wanted to trap him. So, you’d think Jesus would not want to talk with any Pharisee ever! We think of him as an “un-loveable”

because he should not have loved Jesus...and so, it was a surprise that Jesus would love him! Today, we are going to look at one Pharisee that actually wanted to talk with Jesus because he thought

that Jesus was not quite right about what he was saying and doing. We are going to see how Jesus responds to this man.

Explain that the event that happened RIGHT BEFORE this Pharisee came to talk with Jesus was that Jesus went into the Temple (point out the TEMPLE, reminding the children how important it was to the Jews)...and turned over tables and got rather upset for how the Jews were treating the Gentiles – not letting them come to worship God! Let’s see what this Pharisee does...Read the story from the Big Picture Bible. After reading the story, talk about the following ideas:

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Ask the children WHY they think he came at night. It’s possible that Nicodemus came at night to Jesus to tell Jesus how it was wrong for Him to do that to the temple

The first thing he says to Jesus is that he knows Jesus is a teacher who must be from God. Ask them to tell you WHY Nicodemus said that. No one could perform the signs he was doing if God were not with him. What were some of these signs? The miracles Jesus had been doing – like the feeding of the 5000.

Review with them the idea that Jesus came to reverse sin and death and bring all those one the “outside” INTO the Big Family of God. This is what it means for us to think of “OUTSIDE-IN”! Jesus was about bringing all those who were on the outside INTO His Big Family.

INSIDE-OUT Ask the children what they think BEING BORN AGAIN means.

Talk about how Jesus was not only interested in bringing people from the OUTSIDE IN...but also changing all people from the INSIDE OUT!

The Pharisees were interested in following the rulfes that they thought pleased God. Doing everything on the outside so people could see them living up to the rules. But Jesus said that he cared more about a person’s HEART (what was INSIDE)...and then, because of the change – the NEW BIRTH – change would happen on the OUTSIDE too.

So Jesus was taking the Jews’ idea of “INSIDE-OUT” and making it “OUTSIDE-IN”…and their idea of “OUTSIDE-IN” and making it “INSIDE-OUT”!

He was offering the Kingdom of God and new birth to ALL people!

UPSIDE-DOWN Jesus explained to Nicodemus that JESUS was the NEW TEMPLE, JESUS was the NEW WAY to GOD,

JESUS was the BIG MOMENT that the Pharisees should have recognized but never did. But, to come to see Jesus in this way, the Nicodemus needed to be born again. But how?

Jesus continued to share the GOSPEL with Nicodemus…Ask the children what GOSPEL means. Then, do a chant – you say GOSPEL and they shout GOOD NEWS!...GOSPEL! GOOD NEWS! (etc.)

o In sharing the GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS!)...Jesus used this example: read John 3:14-16. o Jesus was talking about the story in the OT – does anyone remember it?

Use the Storybook and/or poster to review that story found in Numbers 21:4-9. o God saved His People from death by having Moses build a serpent for the people to look at.

Where have we heard about a snake or serpent before? A serpent came to Adam and Eve in the garden to tempt them to disobey God and live independently from him.

o Serpents were never seen as good creatures – but, in this case, they were evil because they were a picture of sin!

o Jesus told Nicodemus that he – the Son of Man – would be lifted up just like the serpent in the wilderness! He would take on the sin of His People so that when they turn to Him, they will be saved! That’s the GOSPEL! (GOOD NEWS!)…The GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS!) is an UPSIDE-DOWN Kingdom where the KING ends up cursed on a tree…the innocent one dies like the criminal…in order to give US the way to live!

The way to receive new birth is quite UPSIDE-DOWN and INSIDE-OUT! Jesus offers us LIFE through His death – being lifted up on the cross and taking our place so that we could live in his BIG FAMILY forever! Even though Nicodemus was a Pharisee (part of the group who did NOT like Jesus), Jesus still loved Nicodemus sooo much that he did not want to leave him in the dark...but wanted to give him NEW LIFE!

DOWNWARD-UP What happened to Nicodemus? It seems like he left Jesus down and more confused. Here he came to

help Jesus understand how Jesus needed to change…and left realizing that it wasn’t Jesus who needed to change – it was himself! But, that was not the end of Nicodemus.

But, because of Jesus, Nicodemus went from down to up! Read about Nicodemus: o In John 7:50-51... we see Nicodemus defending Jesus to other Pharisees o In John 19:39-42... we see that the end, Nicodemus DID believe! He came back to help care for

Jesus’ body That showed all the other Pharisees (who had hated Jesus so much that they were the ones to insist Jesus die) that Nicodemus truly followed Jesus! What faith!

Because Jesus went DOWN (dying on the cross), Nicodemus (and all of us) could go UP! AND, thus, Jesus took us from death to life…both are “DOWNWARD-UP!” AS YOU TALK ABOUT OUTSIDE-IN / INSIDE-OUT / UPSIDE-DOWN / DOWNWARD-UP...USE SOME MOTIONS TO HELP THE CHILDREN REMEMBER THESE CONCEPTS!

CONCLUSION What did we learn today?

OUTSIDE-IN / INSIDE-OUT...King Jesus did not stick to the Jewish thinking of who should be IN God’s Family and who should stay OUT. Jesus welcomed all people – from the outside in! And he wanted his people, like Nicodemus, know that we are only changed from the INSIDE OUT!

UPSIDE-DOWN / DOWNWARD-UP...King Jesus’ Kingdom is an UPSIDE-DOWN Kingdom! To be a part of God’s Big Family, we are simply to turn to Jesus and LIVE – being BORN AGAIN – just like the people in the wilderness turning to the bronze serpent and living!

Take time to talk about the idea of being a PHARISEE today. We often want to be GOOD so others think we are good – but not because we really want to be a part of God’s Big Family. This is what Nicodemus struggled with. We need to see that it is not about following the rules to please God but coming to Jesus in humility – trusting him to give us new life. Let’s PRAY!

MEMORY VERSE… For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Intro Activity: Bull’s Eye of Jewish Society

Story of Nicodemus in The Big Picture Bible

So the people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the Israelites. The snakes bit them. Many of the people died. The others came to Moses. They said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake. Put it up on a pole. Then anyone who is bitten can look at it and remain alive.” So Moses made a bronze snake. He put it up on a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake remained alive.

told Nicodemus –

to see the Kingdom, he needed to be...

!

Write the first letter of the animal pictured beneath the line.

King Jesus Loves “Un-Loveables”... Nicodemus

JESUS: Lesson 5

MEMORY V ER S E :

For so

loved the world that he gave

his one and only

,

that whoever

in him shall

but have

.

John 3:16

The King loves All People... even those others might think of as “Un-loveable”!

Finally...complete the memory verse by filling in the crossword puzzle. Hint: the verse is on the first page!

For so the that he his one and only , that whoever in him shall not but have

10

9 6

8 2

7 4

1

3

5

In the end,

told Nicodemus about the Bronze Serpent, saying...

Just as lifted up

the in the

wilderness, so the of Man

must be up, that

everyone who believes may have

eternal in him.

Use these words to complete the verses above...

LIFE LIFTED MOSES SNAKE SON

1 2 3 4

5 6

7 8 9 10 3:16