NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
LESSON 21
Opening Activity
MEMORY VERSE – 1 COR 13: 4–5.
First read out the verse, pausing at each adjective/verb for the students to supply (“Love is ___, love is ___ . It does not ___.”). Then ask the class to recite the whole two verses together.
Have class say names of the first 14 NT books off by heart.
LAY EACH BIBLE BOOK CARD ON TABLE AFTER CLASS SAYS IT.
Start Up
You will need: student workbooks, pens or pencils, highlighters.
New Life in Christ
EPHESIANS TO 2 THESSALONIANS
The letters encourage followers of Jesus from all centuries to live new, holy lives in Christ, doing what pleases God.
Go Fish
Your teacher will show you how to play Go Fish (from The Big Book of Bible Skills, p. 30) to help learn the order of the books of the Bible.
BEING BUTTERFLIES
Tell what happens to make this caterpillar into a butterfly.
Can a butterfly go back to being a caterpillar?
After we are baptised, Jesus asks us to stop living our old lives and start living our new lives. We are to stop living like caterpillars (pleasing ourselves) and start living like butterflies (pleasing God). See Romans 12:2.
Paul talked a lot in his letters about how the believers should live their NEW LIVES in Christ. He encouraged them not to go back to being caterpillars again.
Advice for New Life
The letters in the NT have just as much meaning for us as they did when they were written, about 2000 years ago! Below are some words of advice that Paul wrote in the letters to Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessalonica.
☆ Colour or highlight three that you would like to get better at in your life. Share them with the class.
☆ Put a question mark beside one that you don’t understand very well. Discuss what it might mean with your class.
IN MY LIFE
Ephesians 5:1–2
Be imitators of God… and live a life of love.
Philippians 2:4
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Colossians 3:9–10
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self … and have put on the new self.
Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful…
Philippians 2:14
Do everything without complaining or arguing…
Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Colossians 3:9–10
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self … and have put on the new self.
Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful…
Philippians 2:14
Do everything without complaining or arguing…
Colossians 3:16
Let Christ’s love live in you like a rich treasure…
Colossians 4:2
Spend a lot of time in prayer. Always be watchful and thankful.
1 Thess 5:15
Make sure that nobody pays back one wrong with another. Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
Health and Wellness: Balancing School and Life
Keys to Paul’s Letters
Paul’s letters contain so much information that getting to know what’s in them seems a bit overwhelming. One way to make a start is to learn just one thing about each letter. Our Bible book cards each have on them a Key Phrase or Theme - one important thing each book tells us. Follow the instructions on page 117 to match the Great Verse keys below with the Theme keys for each letter.
COLOSSIANS
CHRIST IN CHARGE
NOW LOOK UP 2:10
"Because you belong to Christ, you have everything you need. He is the ruler over every power and authority."
2 THESSALONIANS
JESUS WILL RETURN
(LOOK UP 1:7)
"[God will] give relief to you who are troubled... This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire..."
EPHESIANS
NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
(LOOK UP 2:4)
"But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done."
1 THESSALONIANS
JESUS, OUR HOPE (LOOK UP 5:11)
"So cheer each other up with the hope you have. Build each other up. In fact, that's what you are doing."
PHILIPPIANS
FOLLOW JESUS IN EVERYTHING (LOOK UP 1:27)
"No matter what happens, live in a way that brings honour to the good news about Christ... stand firm with one purpose."