Setup:

1. On a table or stand near the teaching area, place the three pairs of sunglasses and two glasses of water.

Lesson

1. Hold up the two glasses of water. Ask the children to indicate by a show of hands which glass they'd rather drink from: the one with clean water or the one with dirty water. Explain the following:

    Unless we're being a little weird, everyone would rather drink the glass of clean water. Why do you think that is? (Allow someone to respond).

    We want to drink from the glass of clean water because we just want water, not a bunch of little specs of dirt or whatever else there is in the other glass. We just want water.

    There's a special word we use to describe something that's clean from any dirt or spec, something that's not mixed with anything else. That word is "pure." (Write "pure" on the chalk/wipe board in large writing in the center.)

    Which one of these two glasses is pure water? (Allow someone to respond.)

    The glass with only water in it is pure water. It's 100% water and it's not mixed with anything else.

2. Explain the following:

    Jesus used the word "pure" when was teaching his disciples about the best way to be truly happy, or blessed. It's in a verse in the book of Matthew. Would someone be willing to read it from my Bible for us all?

    Select a child to read Matthew 5:8 from an NIrV Bible. If necessary, help him/her locate the verse. After reading instruct him/her to sit back down, but keep his/her finger on the verse, as you'll be asking a few questions about it in a minute.

    Explain the following, having your volunteer reader answer your questions about the verse by consulting the Bible if the other children are unable to remember:

    In this verse, Jesus said that we can be blessed, or truly happy, if we have something that is pure. What was it that Jesus said needed to be pure? (Allow someone to respond.)

    Jesus said, "Blessed are those whose hearts are pure." (On the chalk/wipe board, draw a large heart around the word "pure.")

3. Explain the following:

    Jesus said that, if we want to be blessed, or truly happy, we need to have a pure heart. What did we say the word "pure" meant? (Allow someone to respond.)

    We said the word "pure" describes something that's clean from any dirt or spec, something that's not mixed with anything else. So, do you think Jesus is telling us to make sure we keep dirt or other specs off of our hearts, or to be careful we don't mix our hearts with anything else, like our stomachs, our kidneys, or our liver?

    Probably not. I don't think Jesus is telling us that, to be truly happy, we have to keep our heart from getting dirt on it or from mixing with our other body parts. That'd be a really weird thing for someone to say!

    But what did Jesus mean then?

4. Point to the large heart you drew on the board. Explain the following:

    "What word do we sometimes replace with a drawing of a heart? For example, if I wrote the names "Bill" and "Jenny" and drew a heart between them, what word would the heart stand for?" (Allow someone to respond.)

    We use a heart to represent the word "love." We sometimes say that we love someone with "all of our hearts." On Valentine's Day, we give our loved ones little heart shaped candies and cards to show that we love them.

    So, when Jesus said, "Blessed are those whose hearts are pure," he meant that, to be truly happy, we should have a pure love for God. Remember, the word pure means "not mixed with anything else." We should love God more than anything else.

    But, Jesus didn't only say "Blessed are those whose hearts are pure." There was one more part to that verse.

5. Ask your volunteer to read the verse from the Bible again. Explain the following:

    First, Jesus said, "Blessed are thsoe whose hearts are pure." What was the second part of that verse? (Allow someone to respond.)

    Jesus said that those whose hearts are pure will "see God." (On the board, below the word "pure," draw a pair of eyes.)

    To "see God" means that those who love God and trust in Jesus with all their hearts will be able to spend forever with God. Those whose hearts are pure will get to see God!

6. Ask for a volunteer. Have him/her come up front and stand near the glasses. Explain the following:

    To help us remember that those whose hearts are pure will see God (or those who love God more than anything will spend forever with him), we're going to have our volunteer look through three pairs of sunglasses.

    One pair of glasses is pure. One is slightly dirty, just a little bit impure. And one is completely dirty, and completely impure.

    What we're going to do is have our volunteer try these glasses on one at a time. To see how well he/she can see, I'll hold up a card with some words written on it. We'll have our volunteer try to read it as best as he/she can.

    Have your volunteer try on the clean pair of sunglasses. Hold up the first card while standing a few feet away, and ask him/her to read it out loud. Ask him/her to explain how well they could see through the glasses.

    Next, have your volunteer try on the slightly dirty pair of sunglasses. Hold up the second card while standing a few feet away, and ask him/her to read it out loud. Ask him/her to explain how well they could see through the glasses.

    Finally, have your volunteer try on the completely covered pair of sunglasses. Hold up the third card while standing a few feet away, and ask him/her to read it out loud. Ask him/her to explain how well they could see through the glasses.

7. Ask your volunteer to explain which pair of glasses were the most pure and why. Explain the following:

    Just like looking through clean and pure sunglasses makes it easy to see words on a car, loving God and trusting Jesus more than anything with pure hearts makes us able to see God, to spend forever with him.