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.
The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Psalm 33:5
God’s Word is clear—He loves righteousness and justice. But we live in a broken and fallen world that is filled with evil. Slavery, sex trafficking, corruption, and abuse of the poor are far from what God loves. The Bible is also clear on another point—God is tender toward the sufferings of the oppressed, abused, poor, and vulnerable. He is a powerful defender and rescuer and will always bring justice, either in this life or in eternity. His justice includes both righteous anger and strong compassion.
Think about the worst injustice you have experienced or seen. How did it make you feel? Close your eyes and think about those feelings of anger or helplessness. Then give these to the Lord. God’s righteous anger against injustice is even greater than yours, and He is never helpless. Today, no matter what injustice surrounds you, rest and hope in God. He is powerful enough to bring justice in any situation, even in ways we do not see.
Encourage the students to ask their family members to share about injustice they have seen or experienced personally. The teens can then share the tips they learned to encourage justice in their lives and communities.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Greet your students with a smile as they enter class. Your warm welcome helps each teen feel valued.
Start the class with a race to help the students begin to understand the ideas of fairness and justice. Divide the students into 2 teams, and have the teams line up at 1 end of your teaching space. When you say to start, the first teen in each line will run to the other end of the teaching space, turn around and run
back, and tag the next team member. The students will repeat this process until the last person on each team has run. Once the race is over, declare that the winning team is the one that finished last.
The students will likely complain and try to convince you to change your mind. Be polite but firm in your decision. If time allows, have the teens race again. Again, announce that the team that finished last is the winner.
After the race, have the students sit down to talk about the activity.
The students will likely answer that the game was not fair because those finishing fastest did not win.
Students may answer that they felt angry, hurt, or upset.
We live in a world where bad things can and do happen. Some of these things feel unfair, and some of them are unjust. The Bible teaches us about God’s justice so we can understand better how to treat one another justly.
Teacher Tip: Justice is an important concept for students at this age. It helps them to make sense of their world as they grow into adults. Because of this, youth can often inspire change through their influence with their friends, homes, and communities.
Allow 2–3 students to share their thoughts. Do not correct them. They will learn more about the differences as part of the lesson.
“Fairness” can be described as doing things in a way that does not favour one person or group over another. However, your view and my view of what is fair in a situation may be different because we may both want different results. Fairness is often based on how we see things in comparison with others.
“Justice” means doing what is morally right based on God’s standard. God alone is good and right, and justice is one of His character qualities. God’s justice restores things to the way He intended, and this quality comes from His love. Unlike fairness, God’s justice is the same for everyone—it does not depend on comparing the situation or people with others.
God’s justice has 2 qualities: His vengeful anger against evil and His loving compassion, which restores those who have been treated unjustly. His justice always brings about restoration and healing, either here or in eternity.
Injustice is an offense against God’s justice. It is a wrong done that violates another person in some way. It is a mistreatment or abuse of another person.
Remind the students not to use names when they share their stories. They should share only the situations.
God is always just, so the Bible is filled with verses about justice. Let’s read a few of them.
Divide the students into groups of 3–4. Give the first group the Bible and the reference for 1 of the verses below. Have a student in the group read the verse aloud. Then ask the question below the verse. Give the teens about 2 minutes to talk about the answer with their groups. Repeat this for each of the verses, picking a different student to read the verse each time.
Optional: If possible, provide a Bible for each group to look up the verses on their own. This reminds them that the verses read in class are from the Bible, and it helps them to understand how to use the Bible. Provide each group with the reference for a verse, and encourage them to find the verse in the Bible. Offer your help as needed.
For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Psalm 33:4–5
[God] is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Deuteronomy 32:4
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Isaiah 30:18
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
Romans 12:17–19
Have the students remain in their groups for the rest of the lesson. After the discussions about the verses, ask the class:
God is angry when people treat others unjustly. He is good and loving, and all He does is good and just. He is angry about all injustice.
The Bible tells us that God is the judge. He is the only one without sin who can punish those who have done wrong. Also, vengeance often causes us to commit a sin in return for the wrong done to us.
God loves all of us. When a person treats another person unjustly, the Bible tells us that God is angry. The Bible also tells us that God is always good and that He always acts justly.
The best example of God’s justice is the sacrifice of Jesus. Because God is always just and holy, our sin separates us from Him. Even though He loves us completely, He is always just. So He could not forgive our sins without a payment to restore our relationship with Him. Instead of making us pay the debt, which we could never pay, He sent His Son, Jesus, who died as a sacrifice to pay our debt of sin and to restore our relationship with God.
It may seem like there is very little you can do about injustice in your family, community, or country. But there are many things you can do that will make a difference. Over the next few lessons we will learn some ways to have God’s heart for justice.
Listen to what the Bible says about acting justly.
Have a student read Micah 6:8 aloud from the Bible. If that is not possible, the verse is printed here for you.
And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
Love mercy and walk humbly with God. Add the following ideas if they are not mentioned: compassion, kindness, and caring are similar to justice.
We can show compassion and treat all people with kindness, mercy and respect. When we see injustice happening, we can get help from a caring adult who can defend the person who is being hurt. We can also comfort someone who has been hurt and pray for that person.
God is always just because He is holy and perfect. But evil and injustice are part of our sinful world. Even in unjust situations, we can show justice in our own lives.
Think of an unjust situation you have seen in your community. Share that with your group. Remember not to mention names, only the situations.
Give the students 3–4 minutes to talk about their ideas. Then ask each group to share 1 situation with the class. Remind them not to use the names of the people who have behaved unjustly or been treated with injustice.
Now think about the unjust situation your group shared. What is 1 way you can help to bring justice in that situation? Remember the first thing to do is to ask God to help you see the situation through His eyes. Then pray for change, help when it is safe, set a good example, and trust Him to bring justice.
Give the groups about 10 minutes to talk about how to bring justice in the situations they thought of by using the tips they learned in the lesson.
Optional: If you have time, you can have the students act out their unjust situations and how they would help to bring justice in those situations.
You can help to bring justice in your family, community, and country by showing compassion and mercy to everyone, including those who are being treated unjustly. You can seek to love others the way God loves them and ask Him to give you His eyes and heart to treat those around you with justice and to help you to recognize injustice when you see it.
Think of a time you experienced injustice.
Listen to this verse about the way God brings justice.
If you are using the Memory Verse Poster, show it to the students.
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Amos 5:24
God’s justice is like a stream that never fails. It rushes over injustice, covering it and washing it away. It is powerful, bringing justice even in situations where it seems that justice will never be possible. We can trust that God is bringing justice in every situation because He is always good and always just.
Optional: If you are using the Student Pages, the students can complete the activity on their pages.
Close with a blessing based on Amos 5:24. If you have a pitcher of water available, pour a little bit of water over each student’s hands as you speak this blessing over him or her.
Blessing: May God’s justice roll on like waters and righteousness like a never-failing stream
in your life. May you show justice to others and help them to see that God is always just and always good.
Lead the children in singing this quarter’s song, if possible.
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.
