Live
Note to the Teacher
This week we are exploring how to live in love, and our passage today can be understood as having us put away the old nature and put on the new.
In today’s passage, the old self that we are to put away is marked by bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, and malice. These things can work like a suit of armor to protect or insulate ourselves from harm. Though we employ them to protect us, they often isolate us.
On the other hand, the new self that we are to “put on” (though this language is not explicitly used here, following 4:17–24, it would be implied by way of contrast) is marked by kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. These things should remind us of last week’s focus on building each other up in love. and characterizes building up in love (humility, gentleness, and patience/forbearance) from last week’s passage.
| Time | Description of Activity |
| 10 min | 1. Truth, Lies, and Imitation Go around the group letting each person choose one of the following tasks:
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| 5 min | 2. Read Scripture This scripture passage is a little long, so to help students stay engaged, consider having several students read 2-3 verses each. Read: Ephesians 4:25-5:2 |
| 15 min | 3. Discussion Make two lists (a whiteboard or flip chart might make this discussion easier): The things this passage tells us to stop doing and the things it tell us to start doing (or maybe continue doing if we have already started.)
Look together at 5:1-2.
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| 20 min | 4. Discussion: Take this lesson to the next level by getting students’ whole bodies involved using the activity “The Imitation Game” from the Youth Worker Collective available at www.youthworkercollective.com/the-imitation-game-a-fun-way-to-think-about-ephesians-5 |
| 5 min | 5. Closing Close in prayer spending specific time asking God to help you live in love, and start doing what God has asked you to do. |
| 55 min |
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