Youth Group Lesson On Humility
Youth Group Lesson On Humility
Youth Group Lesson On Humility
Created by MinistrytoYouth.com
Lesson Overview
The Point: As human beings it's natural to focus on yourself - what you want and
the problems you face. Jesus teaches us a different. He teaches us to be
humble, which means we focus on serving others rather than being consumed
with ourselves.
Bible: “and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For
even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his
life as a ransom for many.” - Matthew 20:25 (NLT)
Opening Game
Supplies: None.
Space Requirements: Just enough room upfront for two teams of two.
This is a timed trivia game. You will need four volunteers that will become two
teams of two. In each team, you will have the clue giver and the person who tries
to answer.
The clue giver will be given a set of “phrases” that they must get their teammate
to guess. They may not say any word in this phrase while giving the clues.
If they use a word in the phrase, that phrase must be skipped and may not be
counted in their final total.
Each team will have 30 seconds to correctly guess as many of their phrases as
they can.
Either person on the team may pass at any time, and if time allows at the end,
they may come back to that question.
If both teams complete all of their phrases, the team to do it in the shortest
amount of time, wins.
Phrases to use for Opening Game (feel free to add or create your
own):
• In my humble opinion
• Humble Pie
• Humble Abode
• Humble Beginnings
• Mother Theresa
• Dali Lama
• Abraham Lincoln
• Gandhi
• Fumble
• Jumble
• Tumble
• Rumble
• Johnny Depp
• Angelina Jolie
• Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)
• Russell Brand
• Humble
• Humble the Poet
• Humble Heroes
• The Humble Bee
Game Tie-in
What does it mean to be served “humble” pie? What was it about Abraham
Lincoln that gave him the reputation of a very humble man?
As a human being it's natural to mostly think about the things you want and need.
It's easy to get consumed with the problems you face in life and the things you
don't like about life at the moment.
You need a new iPhone, you want to be the star player on the basketball team,
you need to get an A in Math this year, you really don't like your brother, your
coach yells too much, the list goes on.
When you focus mostly on yourself - what you want/need, the problems you face
- you become self-absorbed.
He calls it humility.
At worst, humility can been seen as a weakness. Even one of my most trusted
resources gets it wrong!
Wait, what?
Do you see how the English language has warped the word “humble” to the point
that it can be associated with inferiority or low status? Does this mean that
humility is only for the weak? No!
Before coming to earth, Jesus resided in heaven at the right hand of the Father.
He created everything. He is the most awesome (in the truest definition of the
word) Ruler.
So, one would expect Him to come to earth and correct everything we did to
mess things up by acting like the all-powerful King that He is right?
Wrong.
He was born a Jew, a lowly race of people living under the thumb of the mighty
Roman Empire. He never became an earthly king.
In fact, He lived out His adult ministry as an iterate (i.e. homeless) preacher and
teacher.
The moment that He started that would later be called Christianity was founded
on this very principle.
Humility was at the very core of what it meant to be His follower back then, and it
still is today.
“and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For
even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give
his life as a ransom for many.” - Matthew 20:25 (NLT)
Whoever wants to be first (the most important, the most popular, the greatest,
etc.) must become a slave.
Is there any people group more lowly, more unimportant than slaves?
In our modern world, slavery is considered evil, but throughout the vast majority
of human history it was a common practice.
So what is He saying? Jesus did not come to be treated like an idol, a revered
hero that sits around letting people serve Him.
Jesus is who we are supposed to emulate. After all, the word Christian means
“Little Christ” or “Jesus wannabe”.
He washed His disciples’ feet. He gave up comfort for hardship so that we could
have eternal life.
He tended to the needs of others long after He had reached the point of
exhaustion. He was both King and Servant.
We will never be King, but we are God’s hands and feet on earth.
The ultimate goal is to put other people's needs and wants above our own, but
that may seem like a big jump at the moment.
For now, stop wasting so much time and energy on what you want and need.
Stop dwelling so much on the problems you face or what you don't like about
your life right now.
What small or big things can you do to help them with their problems?
How can you serve them? What can you do to bring them a little happiness and
joy today?
Jesus told us to wash each other’s feet just like He washed ours.
1. Before today's message, what is the first thing that came to mind when
you thought of the word humility?
2. Take a moment to think about a person in your life that strikes you as very
humble. What makes them seem humble to you?
3. A common phrase in Jesus' ministry was "the first will be last, and the last
will be first." What do you think He meant?
4. Who can you serve this week? What can you do to serve them?