How I’m Teaching the Old Testament at Youth Group

This is the second installment of a series about “What I’m teaching at Youth Group.” You can read part 1 here. The first two articles demonstrate two ways youth workers are teaching expository series in their ministries. Part 3 and part 4 are designed to instruct readers how to develop a book-of-the-Bible or an expository-topical series.

As we kick off a new school year with our students, we will begin a study in the Old Testament during the Fall semester. Our students just walked through the New Testament in their Bible reading plan last year and will be starting an Old Testament reading plan this year. Therefore, to help them better grasp how to read, interpret, and apply the Old Testament, I wanted to provide an overview while focusing predominately on the law and the Ten Commandments.

Why Study the Old Testament?

Another purpose of walking through the Old Testament this Fall with our students is to help them see its importance. I remember sitting through my first Old Testament survey class in seminary many years ago. My professor told us on the first day of class how important studying the Old Testament was to our lives as Christians.

Here are some of the reasons he shared why we should still read and study the Old Testament today:

1. This was Jesus and the Apostles’ Bible

2. The Old Testament is roughly 75% of the Christian Bible.

3. Jesus affirmed all the Old Testament was about and points to him (Luke 24:26-27).

4. We cannot fully understand the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus without the books in the Old Testament because the life of Christ and salvation are explained in the New Testament by referring to the Old Testament (Acts 13:23, 33-34; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor 10:11; Gal. 3:6, 7, 10-13).

Our students cannot have a proper understanding of the life and teachings of Jesus in the NT without understanding the Old Testament.

Structure of Messages

The teaching series format will begin with a two-week overview of the story of the Old Testament. I am using insights from the chapter “How to Read and Study the Old Testament” in Bible: Can We Trust It? by Andrew Mathieson. I will walk through the four key themes that depict the Old Testament narrative (Messianic Prophecy, Kingdom, Covenant, Substitutionary Sacrifice) by teaching two each week. The goal of this overview is to provide our students with a “big picture” approach to see the storyline of the Old Testament and where the story of redemption is preparing for the promised hope to be fulfilled in Jesus.

After this, I will take two weeks to provide an overview of the law, specifically seeking to clarify the purposes of the law, how to interpret it, and how it applies to us as Christians under the New Covenant. I will also clear up common misunderstandings about some of the “weird laws” in the Old Testament that are often misinterpreted by students in our ministry (and by the influencers they listen to on TikTok). [1] Underscoring that God had already redeemed and made Israel his people before the giving of the law will help prevent students from having misconceptions about thinking Israel became God’s people through obedience to the commands of God.

From here, we will spend the remainder of the semester walking through each of the Ten Commandments. Taking one commandment each week, our goal will be to help our students answer four key questions pertaining to how we understand and apply God’s commands:

1. What did this command mean for the Israelites?

2. How does this command reveal God’s character?

3. How does this command show us our sin and need for a Savior (including, how does Jesus fulfill this command)?

4. How should we live out the principle of this command today (also addressing if/how the New Testament addresses this command)?

Won’t the teaching of the Law lead to Legalism?

One objection youth leaders may be faced with when teaching the Law is the temptation or tendency to legalism or moralism. However, if understood in light of the gospel and the grand narrative of Scripture, the law is good, right, and holy (Matthew 5:18; Romans 7:12; 1 Timothy 1:8). In Ethics as Worship, Mark Leiderbauch and Evan Lenow offer four reasons the law is still beneficial for believers living under the New Covenant today: The law reveals the character of God, condemns people of their sin and awakens a need for the gospel, restrains sinful people and society from being as bad as they otherwise would be, and guides Christians into rightly ordered worship through the shaping of their character and the guiding of their behaviors (see page 152 of Ethics as Worship for more).

All of the Bible is important and points to Jesus, which even includes commands like the one that says we should not boil a calf in its mother’s milk! Examining God’s precepts will hopefully help our students see that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness to equip them for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

By teaching God’s commands this semester, my prayer is that students would better see the glory of God, how they fall short of this glory, and the grace that God has provided through Jesus Christ to redeem them from their sin. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law, he is the one who obeyed the Law in their place, and it is through studying the Law that students will see this truth and seek to grow in their faith and affection for their savior. 

Below is an outline for all the lessons we will walk through this Fall:

1. Intro to OT Part 1: Why We should Read and Study the OT/Messianic Prophecy and Kingdom.

2. Intro to OT Part 2: Covenant and Substitutionary Sacrifice.

3. Understanding the Law Part 1: How to Read, Study, and Apply the Law.

4. Understanding the Law Part 2: The Prologue to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19).

5. Commandment 1: Who We Should Worship

6. Commandment 2: How We Should Worship

7. Commandment 3: Bear God’s Name

8. Commandment 4: Enjoy Sabbath Rest

9. Commandment 5: Honor and Obey Authority

10. Commandment 6: Value Human Life

11. Commandment 7: Value Faithfulness and Purity

12. Commandment 8: Be Good Stewards

13. Commandment 9: Speak Truthfully

14. Commandment 10: Be Content in Christ