In our place

01 · GATHER ROUND

Start with a question.

“Has someone ever taken the blame or paid for something that was your fault? How did you feel?”

Not everyone will have a story. If not, ask how they think it would feel.

03 · OPEN THE BIBLE

The broken window.

Crash! The baseball sails right through the neighbor’s window. Eli freezes. It was his hit. He knows windows are expensive, and he has three dollars in his piggy bank. Then his big sister Ava walks over, puts her arm around him, and knocks on the neighbor’s door. “I’ll pay for it,” she says, “out of my savings.” She had been saving for months.

Eli deserved to pay, but he couldn’t. Ava didn’t have to, but she chose to. She took the cost on herself so Eli could go free. That’s a small picture of something huge Jesus did for us.

Our Bible verses say we were once far from God—alienated, Paul says, like strangers who had turned against him. But now God has brought us back through Jesus’s death. Sin has a cost, and the Bible says that cost is death. Jesus paid it in our place.

Jesus didn’t die by accident, and he wasn’t trapped. He said that no one could take his life from him—he would lay it down on his own. He knew exactly what it would cost, and he chose to pay it because he loves us. And three days later, he rose again.

His death rescued us in two ways. First, it paid the penalty for sin—the punishment we deserved. Second, it broke sin’s power over us. Sin is like a bully that pushes us around and gets us to do things we know are wrong. We still sometimes give in, but because of Jesus, sin isn’t the boss of his people anymore. Jesus is, and he helps us say no.

And the best part? Jesus didn’t only rescue us from something. He rescued us for something: to bring us back to God. Our verses say he presents us holy and blameless before God. When God looks at someone who trusts Jesus, he sees them clean and welcomes them home as his own.

04 · WONDER TOGETHER

Let’s talk about it.

1. Why does it matter that Jesus died willingly, not by accident?
2. What’s the difference between sin’s penalty and sin’s power?
3. How does it feel to know that God sees those who trust Jesus as holy and blameless?

Try answering one yourself first. “I don’t know yet” is a fine place to start a conversation.

06 · TALK TO GOD

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you for choosing to take our place. You paid the price for our sin, and you broke sin’s power over us. Thank you for bringing us back to God and making us clean. Help us remember your love every time we think about the cross, and help us live as people who have been set free. Amen.

Then invite everyone to add one thing they want to tell God.

07 · MAKE IT STICK

A little truth to learn by heart.

Play Switch Seats. Sit in a circle. Each time someone finishes saying the answer, they trade seats with the person beside them—“in our place.” Keep going until everyone has sat in every seat.