Use this Children’s Sermon message and Sunday School lesson to teach kids how “kindness” is a Fruit of the Spirit. We have just shared some new Bible crafts on Kindness to accompany this lesson pan. You may also enjoy our comprehensive 9-Week Curriculum on the Fruit of the Spirit for Kids.
Children’s Sermon Lesson: The Power of Kindness -The Fruit of the Spirit Part 5: Kindness
Main Objective: Kindness is a virtue that is often discussed with children from a young age, although we don’t always elaborate on exactly how we practice it or why it’s so important. This message explains what kindness means and how we can show that we value other people by treating them with care and kindness. The story of David and Abigail (1 Samuel 25) is used as a Biblical example of the power of kindness.
Law/Gospel Theme: The Bible tells us to be kind to one another, forgiving each other just as God forgave us (Ephesians 4:32). We are called to show kindness to those around us, but we remember that the best example of kindness we have comes from the Lord. He forgives us through Jesus, even when our sins and actions don’t deserve it. Remembering that helps us to pass kindness onto others.
Note: This is the fifth in a series of lessons on the fruit of the spirit. The focus this week is on kindness, with the Biblical example of Abigail and David to demonstrate the power of kindness.
Optional Materials: Something soft (stuffed animal, pillow); something hard (rock or hard item).
Bible Passage: Ephesians 4:32; 1 Samuel 25 (1-44 or select verses)
Message: Note: As with most messages, the details of how you choose to communicate this are adaptable and should cater to timing as well as to your audience and student needs.
Greet children, and give them a rather obvious choice…
Hello, children of God!
I have a “would you rather” question today…let’s say that I was going to surprise you and suddenly say “here, catch this!” Would you rather I throw a soft squishy stuffed animal at you (hold up animal to demonstrate), or would you rather have these rocks flying your way? Now, hopefully that’s a bit of a “no-brainer” decision. I am guessing most people would rather have soft comfortable items tossed to them than rocks, right? But let’s think about how this might relate to the way that we treat people. We want to act with kindness and care towards those around us. Kindness shows that we value someone as a person. Now, we might not plan on physically throwing rocks at anyone (at least let’s hope not!!), but sometimes we don’t really think before we speak or act. Our words and actions can cause emotional harm, just like these rocks can physically hurt someone.
Kindness is important, and it can be a very powerful tool! There’s a wonderful account in the Bible about a woman who used kindness in a tough situation. Not only did her kindness result in saving the lives of her and her family, she even got to marry someone very famous because of it! The story tells about a woman named Abigail. Her husband was a very mean man named Nabal, who was very rich, but certainly not at all kind. Well, David and his men were traveling through the area where Abigail lived, and it just so happened they needed some supplies. David sent word to Nabal to request items, but Nabal refused to give them anything. Well, that got David mad. So mad, in fact, that he was planning to kill Nabal and his family. Of course, that was not the right way to react, and would certainly not have been the best thing to do. But fortunately, Abigail heard about it. Abigail decided that, rather than trying to fight back or hide, she would approach the situation with kindness. She came before David with many supplies and gifts. She apologized on her husband’s behalf, begging for forgiveness and to be spared. Fortunately, David was moved by this act of kindness. He blessed Abigail for saving him from doing something rash and spilling blood. Her gift and her kind words kept him and his army from following through on their destructive plans. Actually, after that, Nabal wound up dying from a heart attack. When David heard about it, he took Abigail to be his wife!
Now, your kindness might not be in cases quite this extreme, but we can still impact others with the things we say and do. And sometimes we can use kindness to reconcile with people or calm tempers in a fight. When others mistreat us, we have a choice to retaliate (fight back) or try to bring peace. Kindness can often be a way that we can calm an otherwise heated situation.
God calls us to be kind and tenderhearted to one another, because He is kind and forgiving towards us. We can demonstrate His love to others by treating them with kindness and compassion. What does that look like? Well, sometimes we have to practice kindness in a fight or other tough situation. But there are a lot of simple ways to be kind to others. Saying nice things, sharing a smile, helping out with tasks and chores, and listening when people talk are all great ways to be kind. There are many others, too! And if we aren’t sure how to be kind, or maybe we just don’t feel like being kind, you know what to do! We can always ask God for help.
Let’s say a prayer now, and ask that God grant us kindness that grows from His Holy Spirit.
Prayer:
(Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for showing us kindness and forgiveness.
Please help us to be kind to one another,
Even when it isn’t easy.
Thank you for your love
We love you, God!
In Jesus name, Amen!
Bible Verses/story to Reference:
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
-Ephesians 4:32
When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
-1 Samuel 25:23-35
The Power of Kindness – Sunday School Lesson on Kindness
Lesson focus: This lesson focuses on kindness. God wants us to be kind to others, in the same way that He shows us kindness and forgiveness. Kindness demonstrates that we value someone, knowing how God values us. Kids are likely familiar with the idea of kindness, but it’s valuable to review and discuss ways that they can show kindness.
This lesson is the fifth in a nine-week series on the Fruit of the Spirit. It elaborates on the virtue of kindness and why it’s powerful and important. This lesson uses the story of David and Abigail (1 Samuel 25) to explain what kindness can do and why we should practice it, even with people who are not always kind to us.
Passage: Ephesians 4:32; 1 Samuel 25 (the whole chapter or selected passages).
Target Audience: Kindergarten-6th grade
Optional Materials Needed: Cotton balls or pom poms; rocks; rice cakes; raisins; construction paper; writing tools.
Lesson Opening: This lesson focuses on kindness, and how we can cultivate that as a spiritual fruit. These potential openers highlight kindness in general, and also tie in with the story of David and Abigail. Here are some activities to get kids thinking (select the best ones for your audience and age group):
- Kindness toss: have students toss each other pom poms or cotton balls, catching them in cups “balloon toss” style. Move around to make it more challenging. For extra fun, have a “snowball fight” with the cotton balls. Ask students if these activities would work if we were using rocks! Note that kindness is like using soft words and actions with people (rather than harsh ones).
- Raisin cakes: To go with the Abigail story theme, make a fun snack of “raisin cakes”! Spread frosting, cream cheese, or peanut butter on a rice cake, and add some raisins on top.
- Discuss how we can demonstrate kindness to others. Provide several example people and scenarios, and have children brainstorm ways to show kindness.
- Kindness prayer chain: Help children create prayer chains with people and opportunities for demonstrating kindness. Use the chains to pray for kindness and for those who need it.
Talk about what kindness is. There are a lot of daily opportunities we have to demonstrate kindness to others, and it’s a powerful tool! Kindness can go a long way in a variety of situations.
Bible Lesson: Begin the lesson with a great Bible verse on kindness, and then move on to a more specific story about the power of kindness.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. -Ephesians 4:32
This verse helps us to remember that we are called to show kindness because we have a great example of kindness: God! As God shows us mercy and kindness in various situations, we can be kind and forgiving to one another.
Ask: What are some ways you show kindness? Who can you be kind to?
Abigail and David: This story is a wonderful example of kindness in the Bible. It is a bit lengthy, so for younger crowds, you might wish to paraphrase and describe the story, perhaps focusing in on part of the whole chapter (maybe verses 18-31). Older students can read through passages. Or you might want to narrate and have students act out or use puppets to dramatize the scenes.
Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’” When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this. And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.
-1 Samuel 25:2-13
David and his men were going through the land of this man named Nabal. Talk about a mismatched couple! Nabal is described as harsh and badly behaved, while his wife is beautiful and discerning. David requested some help and supplies (rather politely, really), and Nabal rudely refused. Now, it’s a bit of an overreaction, but David took 400 men with swords to go up and fight Nabal, with the intent of wiping out Nabal and probably everyone with him!
Ask: What do you think you would do in a situation like this? How do you normally act when someone is rude to you?
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.” -1 Samuel 25:14-17
Fortunately, Abigail learned of the attack plan in time. She knew that she had to act quickly and wisely, or everyone would be destroyed. Abigail could have run away to hide, or maybe tried to gather a counter-attack group. But instead, she cleverly thought to react to the evil with kindness and generosity.
Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”
When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.” -1 Samuel 25:18-31
Abigail took some bold steps here. She gathered gifts for David (unlike what her husband did), and then took them to him, bowing before him. David, intent on war, must have been surprised when he saw these loads of supplies, and a beautiful woman right in front of them. Abigail then pleaded her case to David, apologizing on behalf of her wicked husband, and asking David to reconsider his battle plans.
Ask: How would you feel as Abigail in this situation? Do you think she did the right thing?
And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.” -1 Samuel 25:32-35
David came to his senses at this point. He realized that God was using Abigail to keep him from shedding a lot of blood (perhaps even including this pretty woman’s), and that he didn’t need to act on his anger. He agreed to call off the attack, and naturally accepted the gifts, too!
It’s important to see how Abigail’s kindness dispelled this potentially deadly situation. When we think before we act and exercise kindness and peace rather than anger and retaliation, God can use that kindness in remarkable ways!
If time allows (depending on audience), follow up with the remainder of the story. When Abigail told her husband about it (after a drunken party), he had a heart attack and later died. At that point, David decided to take Abigail as his wife!
Review questions about the lesson:
- How can you show kindness to someone who isn’t kind with you? Have you ever experienced a situation like that?
- Who do you think you need to share kindness with today?
- Can you think of a time someone showed you kindness? How does it feel?
Close with prayer, thanking God for being kind to us, and asking for His help in being kind to others.
