Youth Group Lesson on Compassion
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Lesson Overview
• God modeled compassion for us by sending His son. Jesus spoke a lot about what it means to have compassion and love for others. This youth group lesson focuses on loving others with compassion the way Jesus teaches us!
Breakdown
• Main Scripture: Matthew 7:21; Luke 16:19-31; Matthew 25:40
• Bottom Line: You’re called to love the people who could never repay you.
Capture: Grab their attention with an illustration.
• Illustration/Story: Have you ever seen one of those sports moments when the game comes down to the final seconds and one team starts celebrating a little too early? You see the kicker of a football team start to celebrate without even realizing he missed the game-winning kick. (Share your favorite one of these sports moments… bonus points if you find a video example from the end of a game!)
• It’s one thing when people have this over-confident attitude over a sports game; it’s a whole different situation when people have this attitude over their eternity.
Connect: Connect them to God’s word.
• Tension Question: Are you confident where you will spend eternity? Even Jesus tells us that there are people who are confident they will spend eternity in heaven with Him who are mistaken.
• Scripture: Matthew 7:21 — Scripture is clear, true faith is backed up with action, and not just any action — the will of God!
Consider: What does this mean for us today?
• Scripture: Luke 16:19-31 — Give the context for how Jesus used parables in Scripture to communicate hidden truths. While Jesus makes it clear that not everyone will spend eternity with Him, He told parables that illustrated Kingdom truths so that the truth would be revealed to anyone who heard it and they might be saved.
• In this case, this parable illustrates how those who are true disciples of God treat other people.
• In this parable, the rich man thought he had his whole life together. He lived lavishly, but in the end, that wasn’t what mattered. It was the man who had nothing in his life who ended up in the Kingdom of heaven.
• The point of this parable isn’t that the rich go to hell and the poor go to heaven — it’s about how we live. The rich man walked past Lazarus every day, never stopping to care for him.
• God cares about everyone — even those who have nothing to offer. He calls us to love people the same way. • Bottom Line: You’re called to love the people who could never repay you.
Collide: How do we apply this in our lives?
• Scripture: Matthew 25:40 — God takes seriously how we treat other people. He says how we treat others may as well be how we treat Him.
• Scripture makes it clear, God calls us to treat “the least of these” or those who could never repay us, the way we would treat Jesus himself.
• How do you treat people who could never repay you? Do you go out of your way to be generous, or do you walk by them like the rich man did Lazarus?
• Share about a time you helped someone you knew could never repay you. What happened? What did God show you about that situation?
• Application: Treat everyone the way you would treat Jesus.
Call: How do we respond to the message?
• Altar moment: Come to the altar and give Jesus your life! When you believe in Jesus, the way you treat others will show God’s love to the world.
• Small Group Questions:
1. Are you confident where you will spend eternity? If yes, why? If no, why not?
2. How do you treat people who could never repay you?
3. Who are the “least of these” you could show love to in your life?
4. What are some ways you can love those who cannot repay you this week?