The Torn-Up IOU

Object Lesson · Upper elementary · 10 min

YOUR Ministry Name Here!

POWERED BY KIDOLOGY

OBJECT LESSON · Ages 9–11 · 10 MIN · Matthew 18:21-35

The Torn-Up IOU

BIG IDEA

Because God has cancelled a debt I could never repay, I'm free to cancel the small debts other people owe me.

SUPPLIES · 7 ITEMS

	8–10 sheets of plain paper		A roll of tape
	A thick marker		One coin (any coin)
	A Bible		Small slips of paper — one per child
	Pens or pencils

HOW TO SHOW IT

YOUR NOTES

Before class (3 minutes of prep, not part of the 10)

Tape the 8–10 sheets of paper end to end into one long strip. Write across it in huge marker letters: '10,000 TALENTS' and then, in smaller letters underneath, '= 200,000 YEARS OF WAGES.' Fold or roll it up so the kids can't see it yet. Put the coin in your pocket. Have your Bible open to Matthew 18.

The Owe Question (1 minute)

Sit the kids down and say: 'Quick one — has anyone ever owed you something? A dollar, a snack, a turn?' Take two fast answers, then move on. Say: 'Harder question. Have you ever owed somebody something you could never pay back?' Take one answer. Then: 'Hold that. Jesus told a story about exactly that, and it gets uncomfortable before it gets good.'

Building the Impossible Debt (2 minutes)

Say: 'A man in Jesus' story owed his king some money.' Hand one end of the paper strip to a kid and walk backwards, unrolling it across the room. Get others to hold it up. Then say: 'Ten thousand talents. One talent was about twenty years of pay for a normal working person. So this is around two hundred thousand years of work. If he started paying today and never ate, never slept, never stopped, he'd still be paying when the sun burned out. There is no plan. There is no payment schedule. He is finished.' Pause and let them look at it.

The Tear (30 seconds)

Say nothing for a second. Then walk down the line, take the paper out of their hands, and tear it. Really tear it — rip it in half, then in half again, and let the pieces drop on the floor. Some kids will gasp or laugh. Let that happen. Then say quietly: 'Gone. The king said one sentence and the whole thing was gone.' Wait three seconds.

Naming It From the Text (1.5 minutes)

Read Matthew 18:23-27 aloud. Then say: 'Notice what the servant asked for — be patient with me, I'll pay you back. He wanted more time. The king didn't give him time; the king cancelled it. More than he asked for, and way more than he deserved. There's a word for that: mercy. Mercy is not getting the punishment you had coming. That's what those pieces on the floor are.'

The Uncomfortable Turn (2 minutes)

Take the coin out of your pocket and hold it up. Say: 'Now watch this.' Read verses 28-30. Then: 'A hundred denarii — about a hundred days of work. Real money, not nothing. But hold it next to two hundred thousand years.' Hold the coin in one hand, point at the torn paper with the other. 'He'd been let off THAT. And he grabbed a man by the throat over THIS.' Ask the group: 'Why would he do that? What makes a person who just got let off everything squeeze somebody over a coin?' Take two answers — don't give them yours — then move on even if it feels unfinished. It's meant to.

What the Master Says — and What It Means for Me (3 minutes)

Read verses 32-35. Land on the king's question: 'Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Then say: 'Here's what Jesus is telling us. The debt we owed God — every wrong thing, every time we hurt somebody, every time we walked away from Him — we could not pay it back. Not with good behaviour, not with more time. Jesus paid it and God tore it up. That's grace: getting something good we never earned. And people who have been forgiven like that become people who forgive — not to earn it back, but because you can't hold a coin that tightly once you've seen the torn paper on the floor.' Hand out slips and pens: 'Write one name, or one thing somebody did that you're still holding. Nobody reads it but you. Fold it up.' Give them about thirty seconds. Then: 'That's your IOU. This week, tear it up — and go do the thing that makes it true. Tell them it's okay. Sit with them again. Stop bringing it up. And if the thing on your paper is big and heavy, that's real, and God knows it. Start where you can, and come talk to me after if you want.' Close with the prayer.

Only if you have time left over

DO	The four questions in the discussion list are EXTRA. They are not part of the ten minutes. If the lesson runs long, skip them entirely. If you finish early, pick one — not all four — and let the kids talk until you're out of time.

THE PASSAGE · Matthew 18:21-35

Peter asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive someone. Jesus tells a story about a servant who owed his king an amount of money no person could ever pay back. The king cancels the whole thing. Then that same servant walks out, grabs a man who owes him a small amount, and has him thrown in prison over it. When the king hears, he is furious: 'Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Jesus ends by saying we are to forgive each other from the heart.

TALK ABOUT IT · PICK ONE OR TWO

YOUNGER

The king wiped out the whole debt in one sentence. If you were that servant walking out the door, what do you think you'd be feeling?

The servant asked for more time. What if the king had given him exactly that — more time — instead of cancelling it? How would the rest of the story be different?

OLDER

Is there a difference between forgiving someone and pretending they never hurt you? What would you say the difference is?

Jesus says to forgive 'from the heart,' not just with your mouth. What do you think that actually looks like on a Tuesday at school?

BEFORE YOU TEACH IT

Please review and adapt all generated content before use.

YOUR Ministry Name Here! · OBJECT LESSON · The Torn-Up IOU KIDOLOGY.ORG

Want the whole thing?

Create a free account and add 3 pieces to your own library — or pick a plan and make your own.

Create Your Account Already a member? Sign in

Back to everything