What’s the hardest Bible lesson you’ve ever had to teach to kids? Was it Balaam and the talking donkey? (What’s that all about anyway? Is Balaam the good guy or the bad guy?) Was it the story of Esther, where God’s name is never mentioned? How about Samson, who was pretty much just a selfish strong guy?

• 

Maybe you’ve never thought these stories were particularly difficult to teach. I know I hadn’t. Balaam obeyed God (sort of) and God’s people were blessed. Esther was brave. Samson – well, don’t be like Samson. Be like Esther. Or David. Or Abraham.

Show Them Jesus by Jack Klumpenhower gave me an entirely different perspective.

Klumpenhower challenges his readers to understand and teach the Bible as one continuous story pointing to Jesus. The problem with much of the well-intentioned Bible teaching for children, he says, is that:

We’ve been dispensing good advice instead of the good news. Eventually, kids will tire of our advice, no matter how good it might be. Many will leave the church. Others will live decent, churchy lives but without any fire for Christ. We’ll wonder why they’ve rejected the good news, because we assumed they were well grounded in it. In fact, they never were. Although we told stories of Jesus and his free grace, we watered it down with self-effort – and that’s what they heard.

(pg. 18)

In the first half of the book, Klumpenhower builds a strong case for placing the Good News at the center of every Bible lesson. In the second half, he gives practical ideas and examples that demonstrate how to find the gospel in every Bible story, even the prickly Old Testament ones. Klumpenhower encourages us to start by asking three questions of our kids and ourselves:

1. What is God doing in the story? This is especially important in the Old Testament, where it might be easy to lose the thread of the gospel and treat characters as heroes to emulate (or not). Klumpenhower reminds us that the Old Testament is not a collection of good and bad examples. Instead, these stories are always about what God is doing. God is always the main character.
2. How does God do the same for us, only better, in Jesus? How is King Jesus better than corrupt King Saul, or even sinful, yet repentant, King David? How is Jesus the Lamb of God better than the sacrificial lambs of the OT? How is Jesus the perfect man better than Adam?
3. How does believing this good news change the way we live? With this question, Klumpenhower urges us to go after our children’s hearts, not just their behavior. “The good-news teacher skillfully steers a kid’s heart by showing the breathtaking beauty of Jesus,” he explains. “Once kids grasp this…they won’t say ‘We broke God’s rules.’ Their first thought will be, ‘We broke our Father’s heart.’” (p. 66)

At the end of each chapter, Klumpenhower includes a section entitled “Questions You Might Be Asking.” These were some of my favorite sections in the book, because he uses them to deal with common hang-ups we experience in grasping the concept. For example:

• Isn’t this overkill? My kids already know the gospel. What more could they possibly learn?
• Wouldn’t it be better to say we should be God-centered? Aren’t you leaving out whole chunks of teaching about God by focusing only on Jesus?
• This method makes it sound like the Old Testament only points ahead to Jesus. Wasn’t he already working in Old Testament times too?

Klumpenhower addresses these and dozens of other questions in his Q&A sections, and I found them thought provoking and helpful. He also closes out each chapter with a section that shares ideas to help teachers and parents start implementing the big ideas from the chapter immediately.

In Luke 24:27, we read: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to [the disciples on the road to Emmaus] in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Jesus himself is our example for interpreting all of Scripture – even the Old Testament – in light of the one essential story of the Bible: the Story of Jesus. If that was his approach, shouldn’t it be ours as well?  

If you teach kids, have kids, have grandkids, want to have kids, or want to minister to kids – or even if you are looking for a practical resource on how to find Jesus in the Scripture yourself – I highly recommend Show Them Jesus. It has truly changed the way my husband and I approach Bible reading and teaching in our own home and in the context of children’s ministry, and we’re so excited that it’s now available to you through the Resource Center in the Atrium.

This book is available at the Resource Center. When it reopens, you can stop by before or after a service to purchase it. In the meanwhile, you can purchase it online or contact the church office to pick up a copy.