What is Sin?

BIG IDEA: Sin separates us from God, but Jesus saves us so we are no longer separated from God.

This free Bible lesson, What is Sin?, will teach preschool and elementary students about the fall of humanity in Genesis and how God has a plan to restore humanity back to Himself.

FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Genesis 3; Romans 5:12-21

All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.

Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.

PREP & SUPPLIES

• printed and trimmed “Word Cards” (two sets per class)
• printed “RIGHT OR WRONG” cards placed inside individual envelopes
• video: The First Sin from The Bible App for Kids (link)
• small bowl of water, paper towel, permanent marker, 4 washable markers
• pencils
• printed & trimmed “My Sin” hearts
• printed & trimmed “With Jesus” hearts
• small baskets
• “Spin Your Wheels” wheel, recording sheets, and cards
• “Spin Your Wheels” small group leader’s guides

MEMORY VERSE: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIrV)

THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:

• Divide the students into two groups and ask them to form lines on one side of the room.
• On the opposite side of the room place a full set of printed & trimmed John 3:16 WORD CARDS for EACH GROUP.
• Remind students that in a relay race, one person from each team is racing at a time. At the end, the entire team can work together to build the verse.
• After the race begins, one team member at a time will race to the other side and collect one slip of paper and bring it back to the group. They must tag the next person in line before that person can take off.
• The first team to have all of the words collected and laid out in the correct order is the winner.

LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY

(SLIDE 3) Today we are going to talk about right and wrong. I have 5 envelopes, and each one has a story about a character who makes a decision. Your job is to decide whether the decision the character made is right or wrong. If you think the decision was right, hold two thumbs up. If you think the decision was wrong, hold two thumbs down.

Allow 5 students one at a time to choose an envelope and read each story aloud to the class.

Discuss the right or wrong decisions with students after each story is read aloud. (right: obeying, being kind/not making fun of someone; wrong: lying, cheating, stealing)

In these stories, we noticed that some of the characters made the right decision, but some of the characters made the wrong decision. What is another word for the wrong decisions that were made? (sin)

Sin is when we do things our way instead of God’s way.

We are going to watch and listen to the story of the first people, Adam and Eve, and learn how sin entered our world. We can read about this story in our Bible in the book of Genesis in chapter 3.

BIBLE LESSON

Show the video: The First Sin from The Bible App for Kids (LINK)

[If the video does not work, you can read this summary: The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, lived in a beautiful garden that God made for them. But Satan came as a crafty serpent and tempted Adam and Eve by saying to Eve “Did God say you must not eat the fruit from these trees?” “Just the tree in the middle,” Eve replied. “If we eat from it, we will die.” “You won’t die!” said the serpent. “There’s a reason why God doesn’t want you to eat from that tree. If you do, you’ll be like Him. You’ll know what He knows!” Eve ate the fruit. She gave some to Adam, who was with her. He ate it too. Right away, they knew things they had never known before. One thing they knew was that they were naked. They sewed leaves together to cover themselves. They had never felt fear or shame before, so they knew something was wrong. “Adam!” God called. “Eve!” “We’re hiding,” said Adam. “We’re naked.” “You know that because you ate from the tree.” God replied. Then Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. God said, “Serpent, you must crawl on your belly. A woman’s son will defeat you one day. Eve, childbirth will be painful. Adam, growing food will be difficult.” Then God made clothes for Adam and Eve and sent them out of the garden. He put an angel with a flaming sword there, so they could not return.]

(SLIDE 4) Who made the beautiful garden where Adam and Eve lived? (God)

(SLIDE 5) Satan came to deceive Eve in the form of a snake/serpent. What did he say to Eve to tempt her to eat the fruit? (“Did God say you must not eat the fruit from these trees?…You won’t die! There’s a reason why God doesn’t want you to eat from that tree. If you do, you will be like Him. You will know what He knows.)

(SLIDE 6) What happened because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience? (They were sent out of the garden; Childbirth would be painful; Growing food would be difficult)

(SLIDE 7) How did God punish the serpent? (He will have to crawl on his belly for the rest of his life.)

(SLIDE 8) The serpent was Satan. What did God tell Satan would happen one day? (God said that a woman’s son will defeat Satan.)

(SLIDE 9) Who do you think that God is talking about when He tells Satan that a woman’s son will defeat him one day? (Jesus! God made a promise that Jesus will be born of a woman in the future and will defeat Satan.)

He doesn’t tell us exactly what will happen in this part of the story, but remember that the Bible is 66 books that make up ONE BIG STORY. Here in Genesis, the very first book, God has already started talking about Jesus and how He will defeat Satan and sin!

(SLIDE 10) God loved Adam and Eve. He provided them with food to eat, work to do, and a beautiful garden to enjoy. Adam and Eve sinned when they chose to disobey God by eating from the forbidden tree. Sin is anything we think, say, or do that is against what God wants us to do. Sin is doing things our own way instead of God’s way.

Sin started with the very first people, Adam and Eve, and it is still around today.

(SLIDE 11) Sin separates us from God.

(SLIDE 12) But remember what God told Satan in Genesis 3:15: “I WILL MAKE YOU AND THE WOMAN HATE EACH OTHER. YOUR CHILDREN AND HER CHILDREN WILL BE ENEMIES. HER SON WILL CRUSH YOUR HEAD. AND YOU WILL BITE HIS HEEL.” God was making a promise that there will be a battle between good and evil, but good will win in the end! Who was God talking about when he tells Eve that her son and Satan will hate each other?

(SLIDE 13) JESUS! Jesus wasn’t actually Eve’s son, but He was born many years later in the same family line as Adam & Eve.

(SLIDE 14) The first people brought sin into the world. Sin brought pain and death into the world, but Jesus took care of the sin in the world when He died on the cross and rose from the dead. When we choose to believe in Him and turn away from sin, He saves us. Then when we die on this earth, we get to live forever with Jesus in Heaven! In the Bible in Romans, we are told: “WHEN YOU SIN, THE PAY YOU GET IS DEATH. BUT GOD GIVES YOU THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE. THAT’S BECAUSE OF WHAT CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD HAS DONE.” This is GREAT NEWS!

(SLIDE 15) Our big idea today is SIN SEPARATES US FROM GOD, BUT JESUS SAVES US SO WE ARE NO LONGER SEPARATED FROM GOD. When sin entered the world, it created separation between God and humans, but God had a plan to defeat sin. God always loves us, and He never stops caring for us. Even when we sin and disobey Him, God is faithful to forgive us when we say we are sorry and ask Him for forgiveness. So, when we believe in Jesus we are no longer separated from God!

Dear God,

Thank you for the true story of Adam and Eve that we learned about today from the Bible. We know that we all sin because sin was brought into the world through the first people. But we also know that you have a plan to defeat sin once and for all. Thank you for your plan. Please guide us daily and help us to make good decisions, and when we do sin, because we know that we will, we ask that you will forgive us for our sins.

We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.

LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY

I am going to do a demonstration that I want you to pay very close attention to about how Jesus can take away our sins and make us clean.

[This is a visual demonstration of how even though our hearts are filled with sin, Jesus can take it all away and make us clean.] You will need the small bowl of water and the paper towel with the PERMANENT heart for this activity.

For the demonstration: You will color parts of the heart with different colored WASHABLE MARKERS while explaining what each color represents (see script below for prompts). After the entire heart is colored, place the paper towel into the bowl of water and shake it around so the water can wash away the color, leaving the heart outline. Take the paper towel out and discuss.

This heart represents the hearts of all people, like you and me. But we are not perfect. We were born with sin in our hearts because of the disobedience of the first people, Adam and Eve. Sin is anything that we think, say, or do that is against what God wants us to do. Sin is when we do things our own way instead of God’s way. Sin separates us from God, and everyone sins.

This (the first color scribbles) may represent a time that you disobeyed your parents.

This (the second color scribbles) may represent a time when you told a lie.

This (the third color scribbles) may represent a time when you cheated on a test.

And this (the last color scribbles) may represent a time when you decided not to share with a sibling or a friend.

Now, your heart is full of sin and stained. When our hearts are stained by our sins, it prevents us from having a relationship with God. God is perfect, perfectly clean, and He can only allow people with clean hearts into Heaven. The punishment for our sins is that we can’t be with God in Heaven after we die on this earth. Romans 6:23 tells us that when we sin, the pay we get is death. But God gives us the gift of eternal life. That’s because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done. On our own, we can’t remove these stains from our hearts. But God loves us so much that he provides a way for our hearts to be made clean. The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that since God loves the world so much, He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not die, but may have eternal life. This is amazing news! Jesus came from heaven to earth to take the punishment for our sins. He died on the cross so that all the wrong things that we have done and will do in the future can be forgiven, and then on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and is alive again.

Watch what happens when Jesus comes into your life (place the paper towel into the bowl of water) and takes away your sins. He washes the sin away so that your heart is clean. The stains that were in your heart are washed away by Jesus and your heart becomes clean again. In the same way, when we accept Jesus into our lives, He has the power to remove the stains from our hearts and make our hearts clean.

Jesus made it possible for our hearts to be made clean. But before our hearts can be made clean, we need to:

(1) admit that we have sinned and ask God to forgive us.

(2) believe that Jesus died on the cross to be punished instead of us.

(3) invite Jesus into our lives to help us turn away from sin.

When we do this and really mean it, our hearts will be made clean and then we can have a relationship with God and live in Heaven with him forever after we leave this earth. 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, He will forgive our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure.

(SLIDE 16) We know that sin is doing things our own way instead of God’s way. We know that everyone sins. We know that sin separates us from God. We know that the price for sin is death. But we also know that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay the price of sin for us. If we believe in Jesus, ask Him to forgive our sins and live in our hearts, and if we follow Him every day then He takes away our sins and we can live with Him forever in Heaven after we leave this earth!

(SLIDE 15) We know this because: SIN SEPARATES US FROM GOD, BUT JESUS SAVES US SO WE ARE NO LONGER SEPARATED FROM GOD.

I am going to give you a paper with a heart on it and a pencil. Inside the heart, I want you to write some ways that you might have sinned in your life.

Pass out the hearts that are labeled “My Sin” at the top. Give students a few minutes to write some sinful acts inside their hearts. You may need to prompt them. (lying, cheating, being mean to a sibling, disobeying a parent or teacher, making fun of another person, pushing/shoving someone, saying bad words, thinking mean thoughts, etc.)

Now I want you to look at the sins you have written down. (Wait for about 10-15 seconds.) Now I want you to crumble your paper up into a ball. Then I want you to throw it into this basket. As you throw away your “old heart full of sin”, I want you to take a new heart. (As students throw their crumbled papers into the basket, hand them a heart that is labeled “With Jesus” at the top.) Without saying anything, I want you to take your new heart back to your seat and think about what just happened. (Allow time for thinking & discussion.)

We can throw away our “old heart full of sin” and receive a “new heart with Jesus inside” that has no sin. When we have Jesus in our life, He takes away our sin and makes us clean. That does not mean that you won’t sin anymore. It means that you will live your life trying not to sin, but knowing that everyone messes up and sins, Jesus is always there to take away your sin.

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY

Today in small groups, we are going to play a fun review game called “Spin Your Wheels”.

Each person will get:

(1) a recording sheet

(2) something to write with

Each small group will get:

(1) a spinner

(2) set of cards divided into 4 groups

– Match It (10 points)

– Memory Verse Blanks (25 points)

– Multiple Choice (50 points)

– Long Answer (100 points)

To play:

• The group members will take turns spinning the wheel, picking the top card off the category stack, and reading the question out loud. (Younger students may need help with reading & answering the long answer questions.)
• If the wheel lands on “Match It”, “Memory Verse Blanks”, or “Multiple Choice”, EVERYONE will write their OWN ANSWER on their recording sheet.
• The leader will reveal the answer.
• If your answer is correct, you will add your points to your recording sheet. If your answer is not correct, you will try again with the next question.
• If the wheel lands on “Long Answer”, the person who spun the wheel will answer the question out loud and will be the only one eligible for points. If that person does not know the answer or answers incorrectly, he or she may pick another student to answer. If that person answers correctly, he or she will get the points.

For example: (Student name) spins the wheel and lands on “Match It”. (Student name) picks the top card off the “Match It” stack, flips the card over and reads the question out loud. Each member of the group writes their own answer on their own recording sheet. (Leader name) tells the group the correct answer. Each student who got the correct answer will add 10 points to their total on their recording sheet. Then, it’s the next student’s turn to spin the wheel. But if (Student name) spins the wheel and lands on “Long Answer”, (Student name) will pick the top card off the “Long Answer” stack, read the question and answer it out loud. If the answer is correct, (Student name) gets the points. If it is not correct, or (Student name) does not know the answer he/she can pick another student to answer. Questions?

BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.

CLOSING REFLECTION

We learned that sin is doing things our own way instead of God’s way, and sin was brought into the world through the disobedience of the first people, Adam and Eve. Sin separates us from God, and the price for all sin is death. But, Jesus paid the price for us by dying on the cross and raising from the dead. So, if we believe in Jesus, ask Him to forgive our sins and live in our hearts, and follow Him daily, He will take away our sins and we can live with Him in Heaven forever after we leave this earth.

Reflection Questions:

• What is sin?
• Why do all people sin?
• What is the price for sin?
• Who can save us from our sins?
• Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?

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