Truth or Dare (Part 2)
Lesson 2: The Truth About Being Nice
Lesson Workbook - Click Here for NIV Click Here for KJV
LESSON OBJECTIVES
Goals
1) To remind students that their behavior is a reflection of their heart.
2) To illustrate the Golden Rule.
3) To motivate students to be nice to people no matter what obstacles they may face in doing so.
Topics
Attitude, Behavior, Caring, Friendship, Kindness, Truth, Truthfulness
OPENING PRAYER (5 to 10 minutes)
GROUP BUILDING (15 minutes)
(Sit in a large circle. Go around the group and ask for volunteers to share times when someone was kind to them.)
• How did that act of kindness impact your day, week or life?
GETTING STARTED (12 minutes)
Discussion Questions:
1. What makes a person nice?
2. Have you ever met someone who was just mean or rude?
3. Why do you think people don’t like being around people who are mean?
Today we’re going to talk about the truth about being nice. Nobody likes mean people, but did you know the Bible is clear that we should be nice, kind, and loving. Sometimes we excuse not being nice for different reasons: we’re mad, someone deserves to be told off, someone treated us poorly, etc. But God calls us to a kindness that is not situational.
DIGGING IN (30 minutes)
(The goal here is to slam the class with Scriptures. You may not get through them all. Chances are examples will come up from your own life or the student’s lives. That’s okay. The point of the lesson is to show that this is a moral issue and that being kind is something Christians are called to be.)
Let’s start by reading some Scriptures about niceness. First is a verse we should all memorize.
Read Ephesians 4:32
Discussion Questions:
1. According this verse, how should we treat one another? (kind, tender-hearted, forgiving)
2. Based on this verse, should we hold grudges, be rude, or not care about people? (no)
3. Why is it that we are called to live like this? (because Jesus did)
There are more examples of this being our motivation in Scripture.
Read 1 John 4:7-11
The point is plain, we should love one another because God loved us first. Love is talked about over 500 times in Scripture. It’s talked about the most concerning God’s love for man. But the love we should have for one another is a common usage as well.
Read John 13:34-35
Discussion Questions:
1. What does this verse say about how we should treat one another? (love)
2. What does it mean to treat someone in a loving way?
3. What does this verse say will happen if we treat one another that way? (people will know we belong to Jesus)
4. When Christians fight, treat each other poorly, or are rude, what do you think people think? Is it possible they assume we don’t belong to Jesus?
We mentioned earlier that sometimes we justify being mean or rude. What are some of the reasons we can give to acting unkind and unloving? (give kids time to answer. Maybe you can share a story about road rage or being done wrong somehow when you did not show kindness. This will help them see you are flawed, too.)
Read 1 Peter 3:8-9
Discussion Questions:
1. How does this Scripture say we should treat each other? (harmonious, kind hearted, etc.) What do you think that would look like?
2. Does verse 9 condone or speak against revenge? Why do you think that is?
Revenge is not an excuse to not be kind to someone. Neither is someone who is hard to get along with. How many of you know someone who is just hard to get along with. Maybe they’re annoying, too loud, too self-conscious, or whatever. There’s one in every group (if there’s not one in your group of friends, it might be you!
Just because someone is difficult to get along with doesn’t mean they are not worthy of your kindness.
Read Ephesians 4:2-3
Discussion Questions:
1. Does this verse answer the question of whether or not we should put up with people who are hard to love? (yes) How so? (by forbearing, persevering, etc.)
2. Why is this important, according to these verses (because it preserves unity)
(As time allows, read the following texts, too. The hope here is that the kids begin to realize the vast amount of passages on love, kindness, and being nice to people.)
1 John 3:11
1 John 3:23
2 John 1:5
Romans 12:10
Galatians 5:22 (notice here that the Spirit produces kindness)
1 Corinthians 4:13
Proverbs 11:17
Proverbs 14:21
It’s obvious…there are a ton of passages on kindness, niceness, and love. It is not an optional teaching. It’s not something that we pick and choose when to do this, either. We should love one another. We should be kind to those who are hard to be kind to. We should not be rude or inconsiderate.
MAKING IT REAL (5 minutes)
There’s one more passage that we should hit on that you all know.
Read Matthew 7:12.
This is the Golden Rule, and here Jesus says it is the summarization of all the Law and the Prophets.
I want to challenge each of you to be nice. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say it. If you can’t be nice, at least don’t be mean. If someone makes you mad, don’t return anger for anger. Don’t consider yourself responsible for revenge for a friend. It almost sounds too simplistic, but just be nice.
This week, I want you to pay close attention to your niceness. If you find yourself being rude, mean, vengeful, or unkind, stop what you’re doing and pray that God would help you to be kind and that people would know you belonged to Jesus because you are being kind to everyone you come into contact with.
Discussion Questions:
1. What are some ways kindness is shown? (words, actions, helping out)
2. What are some practical ways to being nice? (please and thank you, paying compliments, encouraging people, saying nice things, not being sarcastic, etc.)
Do something nice this week and pray that God would help you to show kindness. Let’s pray right now we could all do that.
SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION (5 to 10 minutes)
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)