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Truth or Dare (Part 2)

Lesson 2: The Truth About Being Nice


Lessons in this series: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Overview Lesson Index

Lesson Workbook - Click here


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

Scripture Memorization

Ephesians 4:32


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 (10 minutes)

• What makes a person nice?
• Have you ever met someone who was mean or rude?
• 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, we feel presurre to fit in, 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 students' 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 are we 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? (With 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 reasons why we act unkind or unloving? (Give students time to answer. Maybe you can share a story about road rage or being wronged 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? (Harmoniously, kind-heartedly, etc.) What would that look like?
2. Does verse 9 condone or speak against revenge? Why?

Revenge is not an excuse to be unkind 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 that person is annoying, too loud, self-conscious, mean to you, selfish, 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 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.)

(If time allows, read the following texts, too. The hope is that the students 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 that the Spirit produces kindness.)
1 Corinthians 4:13
Proverbs 11:17
Proverbs 14:21

It’s obvious: there are tons 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, 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 (10 minutes)

There’s one more passage that we should hit on that you all know.

Read Matthew 7:12.

This is the Golden Rule. 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, inconsiderate, or unkind, stop and pray that God will help you show kindness. Let people know you belong to Jesus because you are kind to everyone with whom you come into contact.


Discussion Questions:
1. What are some ways kindness is shown? (Words, actions, helping out.)
2. What are some practical ways to be nice? (Be courteous, respectful, complimentary, encouraging, considerate, etc. Don’t be sarcastic.)

Do something nice this week. Pray that God will help you to show kindness. Let’s pray right now that we all will do that.

CLOSING PRAYER (2 minutes)

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