During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide, Student Page, Family Connection Card, and other resources can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Luke 19:10
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15
Crowds lined the dusty road and thronged all around the Teacher. So many people, young and old, men and women, rich and poor, healthy and sick, longing for a glimpse of Him. In the midst of all these people, one man stood out to Jesus. The short tax collector named Zacchaeus, who desired to see Jesus so much that he climbed up a tree to see Him over the crowds. Jesus was seeking those who knew they were lost. He called out to Zacchaeus to have relationship with Him—to be His friend.
Even after we are His, Jesus continues to seek to teach us more about Himself. The infinite, great God desires to know you and have you know Him. He has called you friend. Spend a few minutes praising Him for His incredible friendship and all it means to you.
Share the Salvation Path with the families of your students. You can send copies home or just share it in a family meeting so that they will know how to share this with their children.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Ask the children to call out words that describe a friend. Each word should start with a letter from the word FRIEND. Children can give more than one suggestion for each letter.
Optional Supplies:
On a large paper or board, write the word FRIEND vertically. Write words that the children call out next to the letter with which it starts.
Example:
End of Option
You will have a lot of contributions from the children. Keep going until they run out of ideas. Some of the ideas may be funny—that is okay! Take about 3 to 5 minutes for this activity.
Today we will talk more about friends and the best Friend of all—Jesus!
I will tell you a story about a man named Zacchaeus. This is a true story from the Bible that really happened.
Zacchaeus probably did not have very many friends, even though he was rich. He was probably lonely too. People called Zacchaeus a sinner. That probably hurt him. No one wants to be called a sinner, even when it is true!
Why didn’t people like him? He was a tax collector. The Jewish people who lived in Israel hated tax collectors for very good reasons. Tax collectors were Jews, and yet they were collecting money from other Jews to give to the Romans who ruled over them. If that was not bad enough, tax collectors were known for cheating their own people. Sometimes they would collect more money than the Romans required so they could keep the leftover money for themselves. This is corruption. That is one way that Zacchaeus became so rich.
Jesus came to Jericho, where Zacchaeus lived. He was just passing through, but something happened that caused Jesus to stop. He met Zacchaeus! Zacchaeus’ life as a sinner was about to change.
We do not know how Zacchaeus heard about Jesus. Perhaps everyone was talking about Him—how kind He was, how He was a good friend to the poor and sick, how He taught about God, and even called God His Father. However he heard of Jesus, Zacchaeus did not want to miss a chance to see Him in person. But that turned out to be a big problem! Zacchaeus was very short. In the crowds of people around Jesus, he would never be able to see Him. So he did a very funny thing for a grown man to do. He ran ahead of the crowd on the route through town that Jesus was taking. Then he climbed into a sycamore-fig tree so he could look down and see Jesus when He passed by.
His plan worked much, much better than Zacchaeus could have ever dreamed. Jesus walked right up to the tree where Zacchaeus was and looked up at him. The Bible does not tell us what Zacchaeus thought, but he may have been surprised and even a little scared!
Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must come and stay at your house today.”
Wow! What do you think Zacchaeus did? Of course, he immediately climbed down out of the tree and welcomed Jesus. He was very glad to welcome Jesus to his home.
We can imagine that he might have said something like, “Oh, yes, Jesus, You are very welcome in my house. You must stay with me. I will make a wonderful meal for you.” Zacchaeus was excited to meet Jesus. He may have thought that if Jesus came to his house they could become friends.
Now the people who saw what was happening were not happy. They probably thought that Jesus did not know that Zacchaeus was a tax-collecting sinner. He was not the type of person they thought Jesus should be friends with, but Jesus knew what He was doing.
Zacchaeus stood up and said to Jesus, “This is what I will do immediately. I will give half of everything I own to the poor. If I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay him back 4 times as much as I took.”
Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Salvation has come to this house. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Jesus came to save those who do not know God. He came to save them from their sins and be their Forever Friend.
This is the only story in the Bible about Zacchaeus, but it is a wonderful one! He met Jesus and Jesus changed his life! When we meet Jesus and become His friends, our lives change too.
Optional: If you are using The Action Bible, ask your children to read the story on pages 608–610.
Encourage the children to talk about the story.
Jesus wanted to be Zacchaeus’ friend. Did you know that He wants you to be His friend too? How amazing! Jesus, who is God, wants to be your friend. Jesus wants to be your best friend forever! Here is something wonderful Jesus said to Zacchaeus:
Read the verse from your Bible. Then share the optional Memory Verse poster if you are using it and have the children repeat the verse with you.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Luke 19:10
The Son of Man is a name Jesus called Himself. You can paraphrase what Jesus said and put your own name in the verse. It might read, “Jesus came to look for me and make me His friend.”
Give the children a moment to tell a friend the verse with their own names in it. For example, “Jesus came to look for Philip and make me His friend.”
Review the Salvation Path in the front of this guide. It would be wonderful if you could make copies of these pages for the children. The Salvation Path is included in the Student Pages, if you are using them. What follows is another review on how to ask Jesus to become our Forever Friend.
Optional: If you are using Student Pages, there is a copy of the Salvation Path in them. Send it home with the children so they can review it.
Some of you may want to ask Jesus to be your Forever Friend. Even if you are not sure if you want to be Jesus’ friend yet, listen and let me know if you have any questions.
1. God Loves. Romans 8:39 says that when we join God’s family, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God.” Jesus loved Zacchaeus this way.
2. We Sin. Sin is choosing my own way over God’s or doing anything He does not want me to do. Our sin separates us from God because He is holy. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned” and so are separated from God. Jesus loved Zacchaeus but not his sin.
3. Jesus Died. Even though each of us chooses to sin, and God hates sin, Romans 5:8 tells us that God still loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die in our place. Jesus lived on earth as a man, but He never sinned. Jesus took our punishment for us. God provided a way for us to connect with Him again so we can be His friends forever.
4: God Forgives. Romans 6:23 says that “the gift of God is eternal life.” Not long after Jesus met Zacchaeus, Jesus died on a cross to pay the price for our sins (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:3). Jesus did not stay dead. The Bible tells us that He rose from the dead and lives today. This means that since Jesus took the punishment for our sin, we can be forgiven and be a part of God’s family. It is a gift God offers us!
5: We Accept. A gift is something that must be accepted. If you do not accept the gift, it is not yours! Romans 10:9 tells us how to accept the gift God offers us. It says that if you “declare with your mouth” and “believe in your heart” that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead for you to be saved, then you accept God’s gift and become part of His family. We can be friends with God forever.
You might pray something such as this: “Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and deserve to be punished. I believe that Jesus died on the cross to take my punishment. Thank You for forgiving my sins. I accept this free gift and want to be part of Your family forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
When you accept God’s gift of forgiveness, you become part of God’s family! It is like being born again and having a second birthday! And God has some wonderful presents for you, including His Word (the Bible), which tells you all about Him and how to live as part of His family. He also gives you the Holy Spirit, who will live in you and help you live in a way that pleases Him. He gives you the church, where you can join with others who are part of His family. And He gives you prayer, which means you can talk directly to Him anytime and anywhere.
Offer to talk with any child who expresses interest in becoming a Christian. Be sure to include children who are not yet ready to become Christians as you end today’s time together by encouraging volunteers to stand and shout, “I thank God for friends who are ________.” The child should add a description of a good friend like they talked about at the beginning of class. Remind them they can include Jesus if they want! For example, they could say, “I thank God for Jesus who wants to be my Forever Friend.”
Pray this blessing over the children. If you have a small enough class, pray it over each child individually.
Blessing: (Child’s name), may you know that Jesus is your Forever Friend. May you learn to trust in Him and live your life for Him.
Worship with your children, celebrating how great God is!
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
