Lying is Badder than Bad

KEY VERSE

Proverbs 12:22

STICKY STATEMENT

Big or small, a lie is a lie.

LESSON OBJECTIVE

Children will learn that telling a little lie, mixed with the truth, is still a lie God will judge and will choose to tell the truth.

CHECKLIST

1. A PowerPoint is available for this lesson.

2. $50 of play money (Introduction)

3. Visual 1 (Introduction)

4. Snakes & Ladders game (Younger Adaptation)

5. Visual 2 – Masks of Ananias, Sapphira attached to paint stick – (Body)

6. Bag of coins for the clinking sounds (Body)

LESSON OVERVIEW

Tell the children about the choice Ananias and Sapphira made to sell their property and give the money to the church. Even though the property belonged to Ananias and Sapphira, and was theirs to use as they wish, Ananias and Sapphira decided to lie about how much

money they received. God judged their sin of lying. Big or small, a lie is a lie, and God will judge. The class will discuss times when a child might be tempted to lie in a big or small way and how important it is to tell the truth all the time.

Younger Adaptation

Teacher’s Note: Display Snakes (or Chutes) and Ladders board game. Use the game board and markers to show how their truthful answers would move up the ladder and their lies would cause them to move down the snakes (chutes).

All of you probably have played this game. Snakes (or Chutes) and Ladders can be a lot of fun. Today we will use the game to remind us about telling the truth and lying. If you land on a space that has a ladder on it, what happens? [Allow children to respond. You move up.] When you land on a snake (chute), where do you move? [Allow children to respond. You move down to the end.] We will say that the ladders are the honest answers that delight/please God. The snakes (chutes) are lies that you tell.

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Let’s see how you would move on the game board with these situations.

Situation #1You tell Tommy’s mom that he was doing homework at your house when both of you were really playing video games. What did you land on, a snake or a ladder? [Allow children to respond, snake or chute. Move a marker down the chute.]

Situation #2After school, your mom asks you if you fed the dog today. You tell her yes because you filled his bowl at breakfast. Did you land on a chute or ladder? [Allow children to respond, ladder. Move their marker up the ladder.]

Let’s try one more.

Situation #3If Mom asks at bedtime, “Did you brush your teeth?” and you thought, “Well, I did last night.” So, you said, “Yes,” was that the truth or a lie? [Allow children to respond. Move the marker down the chute.] Just like it would be awful to keep landing on snakes (chutes), lying is also awful.

INTRODUCTION

Teacher’s Note: You can choose to do the Younger Adaptation for the Introduction. If you do, continue teaching at the Body section of the lesson. If not, show Visual #1 and teach this Introduction. Hold $50 of play money in your hand.

In my hand I am holding $50. This is not real money, but let’s pretend that it is. On the board you can see two lists of items. Let’s look at the list labeled, Charitable Giving. If this $50 were yours, and you had to spend the whole amount, which items would you want to purchase to give to that ministry? [Allow children to respond and encourage their generosity.]

Let’s look at the other list labeled, Spending Options. None of the things on this list are bad. If fact, there are some things on that list that I would like. Again, if you had $50, which items would you purchase and why. [Allow children to respond.]

Now, let’s say you receive a real gift of $50. That’s a lot of money. Let’s also say that you remember telling your parents that if you ever got some money, you promised to give all of it to your favorite missionaries. What would you do? Would it be okay for you to send some of it to the missionaries and keep some for yourself? Is it lying when you say one thing and do something else? [Allow children to respond.]

BODY

Let’s read what God says about lying. [Read Proverbs 12:22.] God’s Word says lying lips are an abomination. Things that are abominable just aren’t bad, they are badder than bad! God hates lying! However, the last part of that verse has some encouraging words which say that God delights in those who are truthful.

Sin is anything that we think, say, or do that displeases God. One of the Ten Commandments says that we should not lie. So, lying is a sin. Is there such a thing as a “little white lie”? Some people think that lying is okay if it is just a little lie, or if they don’t get caught. Big or small, a lie is a lie.

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What if you only “stretched the truth”? When you fake part of the story or cause someone to believe something different than the way it really happened, you are lying. You might even be tempted to say, “I didn’t do it,” when you really did to avoid getting into trouble. Not telling the truth is lying. Big or small, a lie is a lie.

Teacher Note: Use the masks of Ananias or Sapphira in the appropriate places as you teach.

Acts chapter 5 gives us the true account about a couple, Ananias and Sapphira. [Hold up both masks.] They found out the hard way how seriously God takes lying. Ananias and Sapphira were part of the new church in Jerusalem. When I use the word “church,” I do not mean the building but the group of Christians who truly believed on Jesus to save them. Every day countless numbers of people were receiving Jesus as their personal Savior. The church was growing, and they gathered often to hear the disciples teach them about how to live as Christians.

To help their fellow believers, some of these new Christians sold their property and brought the money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira noticed this. They also decided to sell some of their property and give it to the church.

Pretty soon the “for sale” sign went up on Ananias and Sapphira’s property, and it was sold. Ananias and his wife started counting up the money. [Jingle the coins as you drop them into the bag.] They sold their property with the purpose of giving all the money to the church. For some reason, they changed their minds and decided to keep some of the money. They probably thought, no one told them that they had to sell their property. No one said that they had to give all the money. After all, it was their money. Wasn’t it okay for them to give or keep their money as they wished?

Well, here’s what Ananias and Sapphira did. They decided to bring some of the money to the church but say that this was all the money they received. Was this the truth? No! They planned to lie to the Apostles and the leaders of the church. Ananias and Sapphira knew they were lying; but “no one else would know their little secret.” Or so they thought!

When our actions and our words don’t match, that is a lie. Big or small, a lie is a lie. They must have talked their story over and over until they both had it straight. How about you? Do you have to practice your story? Who knows your heart even before you start to speak? Even if you are really good at lying, and I hope none of you are; lying is sin and God knows.

[Show Ananias mask and hold the money bag.] Ananias took the money to the church to put it at the feet of the Apostles. No one would know that they had kept out some of the money. They were giving “all the money” from the sale of the property. Wink, wink. Would God really care if they gave most of their money but not all? It was only a little lie, but big or small… a lie is a lie.

As Ananias walked to the front where Peter was preaching, his bag jingled loudly. [Jingle bag of money.] He laid the bag on the ground at Peter’s feet. Peter stopped and looked straight at Ananias. This was the moment that Ananias had waited for… everyone was watching!

Peter asked, “Ananias, why are you lying to the Holy Spirit?” Gulp. “Wasn’t the property yours?” Ummmm. “All the money was yours to do what you wanted with it. You lied to God!” Let’s look at Acts 5:3-4. [Read Acts 5:3-4.] Ananias didn’t say a word. He fell down dead. [Drop the mask of Ananias on the floor.] Everyone was watching all right as the dead body of Ananias was removed.

[Hold up Sapphira’s mask.] The Bible says that three hours later, Sapphira walked into the gathering and told the same “little lie.” Yes, that was all the money, she proudly announced. Apparently, she was not aware of what happened when her husband told the same lie. Wham! [Drop Sapphira’s mask.] Sapphira dropped dead right there just as Annanias had earlier.

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I guess we could say that God is “dead serious” about lying. In the account of Ananias and Sapphira, God judged their sin of lying immediately as an example to the early church and to the rest of us on how much God hates lying lips. Now let me ask you, have you ever seen someone drop dead after they lied? [Allow children to respond.] When someone lies, they aren’t likely to drop dead, but they will suffer consequences for lying sooner or later.

APPLICATION

Think about when you have lied. Why do you lie? At the moment, you may feel like lying was your best or easiest choice. Ananias and Sapphira thought it was fine to lie about money. You may have chosen to lie by not saying anything when mom says, “Who left their muddy tracks on my clean floor?” Or, maybe you told your friends about how you were the hero on the soccer team, and the story got bigger and bigger, and less and less like it really happened. Big or small, a lie is a lie.

It doesn’t matter if others know your lies or not, God always knows. Most likely God will not judge you like He did Ananias and Sapphira. Proverbs 12:22 tells you that lying lips are abominable to God, badder than bad. However, the good news is that He delights in you when you are truthful. You don’t have to be abominable. Choose truthful lips over lying lips the next time you are faced with an opportunity to tell a lie or tell the truth. If there are some lies that you think you are hiding from God or others, now is the right time to confess your lies to God. As I pray, quietly ask God to forgive you for lying and choose to tell the truth. [Close in prayer.]

PERSONAL TRAINING TIME

Goal of this Personal Training Time

Discuss lies a child may encounter and how to choose to be truthful and not sin.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some lies someone your age might tell? (Have children share lies that they may tell to their parents, siblings, or teacher. Discuss how they are lying when they know the truth but say nothing.)

2. The consequences for the lie that Ananias and Sapphira told was death. While you will not die, why should you always tell the truth? (Proverbs 12:22 says that God hates lying lips but delights when we tell the truth. Also discuss that people will not trust us if they cannot count on us to always tell the truth. They may get into trouble for lying.)

3. What is your plan to always tell the truth? (Ask God to help you. Pray when you are tempted to lie, or ask someone to remind you if they hear you tell a lie.)

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PARENT CONNECTIONWe learned from the account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 that big or small, a lie is a lie in God’s eyes. The next time you make a special treat like brownies or cookies, ask your child how many of the egg shells you should add before the treat will be spoiled. It would only be a little “crunchy.” Obviously, they won’t want egg shells in the brownies or cookies. Teach them that just as a little bit of egg shell will ruin the brownies, big or small, a lie is a lie that God will judge.

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Visual 1

Visual 2a

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Visual 2b

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