Teach students about the dangers of alcohol but also about forgiving others. Includes a teaching guide and 2 games.
Game: Try Not to Laugh
Make funny faces at the kids. The first one that laughs has to get up and make funny faces at the group. Keep playing until everyone has had a chance to stand up. If some are good at not laughing, call on them to make faces.
After the game, say, It’s fun to laugh at other people when they’re being silly and they want you to laugh at them. But it’s mean to laugh at people when they make a mistake. We’re going to talk today about a son who laughed at his father when his father made a mistake.
Lesson
Ask students, What do you think? Are Christians allowed to drink alcohol – beer and wine and things like that?
What happens if somebody drinks too much alcohol?
They can get drunk and make bad decisions. They can get sick and throw up. They can become addicted to alcohol and spend too much time and money on drinking instead of doing other things that God wants them to do. Sometimes, they can even get mean and hurt other people.
In our story today, we’re going to find out what happened when someone in the Bible drank too much alcohol.
(Summarize Genesis 9:18-29 using this Bible story and asking the included questions as you read.)
After Noah and his family and the animals with them came off the Ark after the Flood, Noah started a farm and planted some grapes. When the grapes were ready, he took some of them and mashed them up into grape juice. Then he let the grape juice sit and get old for a while and, eventually, it turned into wine.
Noah drank the wine and he drank so much that he got drunk and was lying naked inside his tent!
What mistake did Noah make in this story? (He got drunk.)
And when Noah got drunk, what embarrassing thing did he do? (He took off all his clothes and laid around naked.)
Noah’s son, Ham, saw his father, Noah, lying there naked in the tent and he thought it was so funny. He went out and told his two brothers, Shem and Japheth, “Dad’s sleeping in the tent naked!” And Ham made fun of Noah.
Do you think Ham should have made fun of Noah? (No. God doesn’t want us to make fun of anyone and we should especially show respect for our parents.)
So Shem and Japheth, Noah’s other sons, walked in backward and laid a blanket over Noah so that no one else would see him naked.
Do you think that was a nice thing that Shem and Japheth did for Noah? (Yes. They didn’t make fun of Noah when he made a mistake, like their brother, Ham, did. Instead, they helped Noah by covering him up.)
So when Noah woke up, he yelled at Ham for making fun of him, but was happy with Shem and Japheth.
Remember, God doesn’t want us to get drunk because He doesn’t want us to make mistakes like Noah did. And God doesn’t want us to make fun of other people, either. We should be like Shem and Japheth and help people when they make a mistake, not make fun of them.
Does God make fun of us when we make a mistake? (No.)
God helps us when we make a mistake. He helps us say we’re sorry and He helps us not to make those mistakes again.
So, if we help people when they make a mistake like Shem and Japheth did, then God will be happy with us.
Game: Try Not to Laugh (Take 2)
Hold the ultimate silly tournament. Students pair up and make funny faces at each other simultaneously. The first one to laugh is out. The other pairs up with another winner until you find the one child who is the best at not laughing.
Remind students that sometimes we have to keep ourselves from laughing so that we don’t hurt someone else’s feelings.
Closing Prayer
God, thank You for warning us about the dangers of drinking too much alcohol. We also thank You for teaching us how not to laugh when someone makes a mistake. Instead, show us how we can help someone when they make a mistake. Amen.
This children’s Sunday School lessons is available for your Kindle app or in bound book form in my book, Created: Children Sunday School Lessons for Genesis 1-11.