A Sunday School study plan for kids by Bible Lessons 4 Kids including large group lesson, small group lesson and family devotions. For more information, please read About Bible Lessons 4 Kidz.
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Main Point: Jesus calls sinners to follow Him because He loves them.
Key Verse:
But here is how God has shown His love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8
Props: Two dolls, one with a red “cut” drawn on its head (or two pictures of children, one with a drawn-on “cut”). Two adhesive bandages.
Say: Many of Jesus’ teachings were new ideas to the people who heard them. But they contained very, very important truths about the kingdom of God. So Jesus often used simple examples to help people understand what He was saying. Who remembers what these simple stories are called? Parables. That’s right. Jesus used parables to show people what the kingdom of God looks like and what it means to follow Him and be His disciple.
Jesus taught some of His parables to crowds of ordinary people who gathered to hear Him speak. The Parable of the Mustard Seed is a good example of this. Jesus told that story to help a large group of people see that the kingdom of God is becoming huge like a mustard plant—huge enough to hold every single person in the crowd! Other times, Jesus told parables that were meant to help the religious leaders of the time understand that the kingdom of God is for anyone who follows Jesus, not just for people who follow a bunch of religious rules. We’re going to look at one of those parables today. The Parable of the Doctor Who Comes to Heal the Sick is one He told to teach truth to the religious leaders. But like all of Jesus’ teachings, it is full of truth for us, too. That is the amazing thing about the Bible. Even though it is the record of things that happened thousands of years ago, it is still valuable and filled with truth today! Let’s read together in Luke 5:27-32.
Teacher Note: This is a beautiful passage of scripture. Not only does it illustrate the love Jesus has for sinners, but it provides a very clear picture of how believers are to live. Jesus called Levi, a man from a particularly hated class of people, to follow Him. As a tax collector for the Romans, Levi would have suffered the scorn of the Pharisees. “According to Rabbinism there was no hope for a man like Levi. He was excluded from all religious fellowship” (from On Eating, Drinking and Being Merry, by Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org.
It is not surprising, then, that Levi wanted all his friends and fellow sinners to meet the One who set him free from hopelessness. Jesus never hesitated. He and His disciples were pleased to eat and drink with the very ones the “church crowd” avoided. How else could they share the good news of the kingdom of God with those who needed good news the most? The Pharisees didn’t like this. And today, many Christians who are overly devoted to legalism and the appearance of righteousness probably wouldn’t like it either. Many who claim the name of Jesus would never consider attending a banquet with the types of people Jesus shared a meal with that night. But what furthers the kingdom of God more? Fellowshipping exclusively with those who are just like us? Or meeting the lost and the broken where they live, sharing the hope of the gospel and the forgiveness of sins for all who believe? Jesus showed us how we are to live that night at Levi’s banquet. We are to share the good news with those who need it most, in humility and gratitude that we have been set free. May we say, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10a, “It is by the grace of God I am what I am...”
Say:
After this, Jesus left the house. He saw a tax collector sitting at the tax booth. The man’s name was Levi. “Follow Me,” Jesus said to him. Levi got up, left everything and followed Him. - Luke 5:27-28
Teacher Note: In Matthew 9:9, the tax collector called by Jesus is named Matthew. In Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27, he is named Levi. Many scholars believe Matthew and Levi are the same person. Matthew would be the Greek name, and Levi the Hebrew name. As a tax-collector, Matthew worked for Greek-speaking Romans, but gathered taxes from Hebrew-speaking Jews.
Say: Levi was a man who worked for the Roman government collecting taxes. A tax is money collected by a government from its citizens. For instance, when you buy a book at the bookstore, a certain amount of tax is added to the price of the book. The government then collects the tax money that you pay on the book. Most grown ups pay taxes on the money they earn at work, on the things they buy, on their homes, on their cars. You get the idea.
In Jesus’ time, Israel was under the control of the Roman empire. People in Israel didn’t like this at all. They were not a free nation. They had to obey Roman laws and submit to Roman authority. And because tax collectors worked for the Roman government, they were a constant reminder that Israel was once again under the authority of a foreign government. Every time a citizen had to pay money to a tax collector, they may have thought really bad thoughts about the person taking their money.
That was probably more than enough to make tax collectors unpopular, don’t you think? But there was something else that made people hate the tax collectors. Many of the tax collectors were also very dishonest, and collected more money than they were supposed to. What do you suppose they did with the extra money they collected? That’s right. They put it in their own pockets and kept it!
So for these reasons Levi was probably not a very popular person in his community. But as we just read in the Gospel of Luke, that didn’t matter at all to Jesus. When Jesus saw Levi sitting in his tax booth, He felt compassion for Levi. Jesus wanted Levi to follow Him and be His disciple. He wanted Levi to give up the life of sin that he was living and enter the kingdom of God. Something about the way Jesus said “follow me” must have made a big impression on Levi, because he immediately left the tax booth—and all the money he had collected that day!—and followed Jesus.
Application: Before Jesus called him to follow, Levi was an outcast. Does anyone know what that means? A person who is unwanted. An unpopular person. Someone no one wants to be around. The world may not care about outcasts, but God does. The world may not see their loneliness, but God does. In fact, God feels very strongly about His children who are rejected by the world.
Psalm 68:6 says, God gives lonely people a family. He sets prisoners free, and they go out singing. When Jesus called Levi to follow Him, He was offering the tax collector a place in His forever family. He was giving Levi freedom from a life of sin. Levi didn’t have to be a prisoner of sin any more! And when we follow Jesus, we are free, too.
Say: Levi must have felt pretty happy when Jesus invited him to follow. Up to this point, people had avoided him all day long, every day. They said mean things to him and hated him for being a tax collector. They gossiped about his sinful life. They never thought that he might be a real person with real feelings. When they were paying their taxes they probably never talked to him about the weather or his family or whether he enjoyed his job or not.
But Jesus had shown him kindness. He even wanted Levi to be part of His extended family of followers. Jesus was the Man so many people wanted to be near, the one many were calling the Son of God, the Teacher who was surrounded by huge crowds everywhere He went. And He had noticed Levi! He had invited him to follow.
So what do you think Levi did after he got up and left his tax booth? Let’s read Luke 5:29-30 to find out.
Say:
Then Levi gave a huge dinner for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of the law complained to Jesus’ disciples. They said, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” - Luke 5:29-30
Levi had received a new life from Jesus. He had been invited to follow Jesus. He had entered the kingdom of God that very day. He was SO happy! So he decided to give a big party to celebrate his freedom and his new life. He wanted to honor Jesus and thank Him for what He had done. But Levi also wanted everyone he knew to meet the man who had seen him and been kind to him and asked him to be part of his family of followers.
Deep down inside Levi had always known that his sin was keeping him from a right relationship with God. But now, because of Jesus, he had a second chance.
But there were people at the party who didn’t think Levi deserved a second chance. They didn’t think that a second chance was even possible for a tax collector. Some of the people at the party were Pharisees and teachers of the law. They thought that the only way to be right with God was to follow a bunch of religious rules. Some of these rules were from the Bible, but most of them were made up by the Pharisees. They thought that anyone who didn’t follow all their rules would never find favor with God.
Tax collectors like Levi were especially looked down upon by the Pharisees. To them, he was among the worst of sinners. Levi wouldn’t even have been allowed to be part of the synagogue or to worship with others. But here Jesus was, eating dinner with a bunch of tax collectors and other sinners, acting like He was their friend. The Pharisees began to complain.
Application: The Pharisees didn’t understand the joyful celebration at all. They didn’t understand why Jesus would be there, feasting with sinners. They didn’t like it that Jesus seemed to be turning their whole religious world upside down.
Most of all, though, the Pharisees didn’t understand that Levi wasn’t all that different from them. Because everyone at that party—except Jesus—was a sinner. The tax collectors were sinners. The Pharisees were sinners. Even the disciples were sinners.
Romans 3:23 says, Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory. That includes Pharisees. And that includes you and me. We may not be tax collectors, we may not be thieves or murderers, but we are all sinners. And any sin, big or small, separates us from God.
But when Jesus says to any sinner “follow Me,” and that sinner decides to follow Him, God forgives their sin and gives them a new life. They are part of the kingdom of God! If only the Pharisees had opened their eyes to that truth, they would have been partying instead of grumbling.
Say: When the Pharisees complained to Jesus’ disciples, Jesus overheard them. He knew it was the perfect time to teach some truth to the religious leaders who thought they were so much better than the other party guests.
Look with me at Luke 5:31-32. Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a doctor. Sick people do. I have not come to get those who think they are right with God to follow me. I have come to get sinners to turn away from their sins.”
Jesus knew the Pharisees would object to almost anything He said. If He quoted scripture to them to explain why he was eating and partying with a room full of sinners, they would argue with Him. So Jesus did what He did best...He used a parable to communicate deep truth to people who didn’t want to hear any truth at all.
Jesus compared sinners to sick people. When you are sick, really sick, you need to see a doctor to get well. The doctor knows the right medicine to cure your illness. Without the doctor’s care, you will remain sick, and maybe even get worse.
Hold up the two dolls or two pictures of children. Say: I have two dolls (or pictures) here. One is perfectly healthy. The other one, has a pretty nasty cut on her forehead. Let’s say I’m a doctor. But I’m kind of a strange doctor who doesn’t like sick people or injured people at all. I only want to be around people who don’t have anything wrong with them. But doctors are supposed to do things like put on bandages and prescribe medicine, right? So to feel like I’m doing my job, I’m going to take this bandage and stick it on the forehead of the perfectly healthy doll. Apply the bandage to the doll without the cut. I think we can agree that it’s pretty silly for a doctor to only treat healthy people, when there are sick and hurting people out there who really do need a doctor’s care.
Say: Jesus was using this simple example to show the Pharisees how wrong their thinking was. They thought He should only be hanging out with people who weren’t sinners. But Jesus said that it was the sinners who needed Him most. Just like healthy people don’t need a doctor, perfect people don’t need a Savior to forgive their sins.
Let me ask you this. Are there actually any perfect people who don’t sin? No, we all sin. Jesus was the only one who didn’t sin. You’re right we all sin and are wounded by our separation from God. We’re all more like this other doll (or picture). Hold up the doll (picture) with the drawn on cut. This doll is hurting. She has a really bad cut on her head. And she just can’t figure out how to heal the cut on her own. She needs a doctor to make her better. Put the second bandage on the doll (picture) with the cut. There. Our little doll here has been healed. She has a second chance at health thanks to the doctor.
Application: This is what Jesus said He came to do. He said, I have come to get sinners to turn away from their sins. When Jesus says “follow Me” to sinners like Levi and me and you, He’s like a kind, merciful, wonderful doctor. He sees our sin-wounds and our sin-sicknesses and He says, “I can make you better if you will only believe and follow Me.”
There is a word you hear in church sometimes. That word is REPENTANCE. It means to “change your mind,” or to “turn away from sin.” Jesus said He came to call sinners to repentance. He called Levi to repentance, didn’t He? When Levi decided to follow Jesus, he left his tax collection booth behind. Following Jesus required him to repent of his sin and turn away from the life that was separating him from God. Repenting doesn’t mean that you won’t sin any more, but it does mean that you change your mind about what you want to do. Levi wanted to follow the Savior who saw him and loved him when no one else did. Continuing to sin so boldly when he had been given a second chance just seemed wrong. So he left that life behind. He repented.
It is so incredible that Jesus wants to bring imperfect sinners like Levi and like us into His kingdom! His love for sinners leads Him to say “follow Me” to even the worst offenders. And isn’t it great that forgiveness comes from the simple decision to follow Jesus, rather than from obeying all the religious rules that the Pharisees made up?
Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for sin. Levi’s sin. My sin. Your sin. We don’t have to be good or sinless to receive God’s forgiveness. All we have to do is believe and follow Him.
Teacher Note: Self righteousness is a huge obstacle to being a follower of Christ. The Pharisees were plagued by self-righteous attitudes, and their haughty spirits are the reason why they found it so hard to accept Jesus for who He is. It is inevitable that a person who is righteous in his or her own eyes will find no cause to follow Jesus. In contrast, a person who knows their sinful nature and sees how it keeps them from fellowship with God will readily follow Jesus into the kingdom. Their humble spirits allow repentance where once there was just bold and willful rebellion. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:3
Key Verse:
But here is how God has shown His love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8
Main Point: Jesus calls sinners to follow Him because He loves them.
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© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
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Main Point: Think of others as better than yourselves.
Key Verse:
Don’t do anything only to get ahead. Don’t do it because you are proud. Instead, be free of pride. Think of others as better than yourselves. - Philippians 2:3
Props: Six chairs, arranged in a row before the lesson begins. Six pieces of paper labeled #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6 and taped to the chairs.
Say: Jesus loved to tell stories to help people understand big ideas about the kingdom of God. Who remembers what these stories were called? Parables. Right. Parables were told as simple stories, but they contained big truth, and Jesus knew that everyone—from the youngest child to the most educated Pharisee—would understand His teaching better if He gave them examples and stories they could relate to.
Jesus told these stories in many different situations. Sometimes, a person in the crowd would ask Him a difficult question, and He would answer it by telling a parable. Sometimes the Pharisees would try to get Him to say something embarrassing, and He would use a parable to point out their own wrong thinking. And sometimes—like in the parable we will look at today—Jesus saw people behaving badly because their hearts were far away from God, and He told a story to show them how their attitudes and actions were not what God wanted.
In Luke 14, Jesus was invited to eat dinner at the home of an important Pharisee. Many other people were there, too—important people as well as people who were hoping to become important. As the guests took their seats at the table, Jesus watched them very, very carefully. And He didn’t like what He saw. They were behaving very badly, as we will see. So Jesus decided to tell the Parable of Honor at the Banquet to show them how important humility is in the kingdom of God. Let’s read together in Luke 14:7-11.
Teacher Note: The behavior of the banquet guests in this parable seems to show that a “good” seat at the table didn’t just reflect social standing, but might actually create it. For example, if you snagged a seat next to someone very important, you were guaranteed several hours of that person’s attention. You could sell yourself or your ideas without interruption, and you could be seen doing so by others. This behavior must have been particularly disappointing to Jesus in light of the miraculous healing that He performed right before the guest began their game of musical chairs. Luke 14:1-6 says this:
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched. There in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him and sent him away. Then He asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” And they had nothing to say. (NIV)
It is sad to think that their silence might not be the result of contemplation of Jesus’ merciful healing or provocative words, but rather a result of their own ruthless mental strategizing over seats at the table.
Say:
Jesus noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table. - Luke 14:7a
Teacher Note: Even Jesus’ own disciples were fixated on the honor and prestige that came with procuring the best seat. Mark 10:35-37 says, Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want Me to do for you?” He asked.
They replied, “Let one of us sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your glory.”
Consistent with this parable, the places of honor at Christ’s moment of glory on the cross didn’t go to the disciples who sought them, but to two lowly thieves.
Say: Before we read any further in this parable, we’re going to attempt to act out what was going on at the Pharisee’s banquet. We can’t understand what Jesus says next unless we can imagine exactly what Jesus saw as He watched the guests choosing their seats.
Raise your hand if you have ever played musical chairs. Almost everyone has played that game, haven’t they? Well, as Jesus watched the guests at the dinner party, He saw them playing a game that was a lot like musical chairs, only without the music!
I need five people to help me recreate what the dinner guests were doing. Select five children and have them stand in a straight line next to the arranged table and chairs. Say: This chair that has the #1 written on it represents the seat where the most important banquet guest was sitting. Maybe that person was the Pharisee who was hosting the party. Maybe it was a very wealthy man. We don’t know exactly who the most important person was, but at our banquet, he is sitting right here! Have the first volunteer sit in the chair marked #1.
Say: Now it is time for the banquet guests to be seated. Everyone at the party wants to sit near the most important guest. They want the HONOR of being seen with him. In just a moment I’m going to ask the rest of my volunteers to pick which seat they want to sit in. Let me remind you, volunteers, that everyone wants to sit as close as they can to the person in chair #1. Have the second volunteer choose which seat they want. If for some reason they don’t pick chair #2, remind them that the goal is to sit as close to #1 as possible and have them move to chair #2. Say: What do you think the next person is going to do? Sit in chair #3. Try to get #2 to give up their chair. OK, volunteer #3, pick your chair. Continue having the volunteers select their chairs until the first five chairs are full. Ask the child in chair #2: Who is the most famous person you can think of? Hannah Montana. Tiger Woods. etc. OK, let’s pretend you are sitting next to ______. How does it feel to sit right next to ________? Isn’t it great? Do you feel important? Don’t you feel more important than those other kids at the table?
Say: Our volunteers were very polite in choosing their chairs. But the guests at the banquet were probably a lot less well behaved. They might have tried to trick another guest into giving up his seat. Or perhaps they argued with someone over the seat they wanted. They may even have tried to force someone into giving up their chair.
Application: But here is something very important that you need to know about any banquet or party. The guests may think they are free to sit anywhere they want. But in reality, the host can rearrange people however HE wants. It’s kind of like the seating arrangement in your classroom at school. There might be one desk that everyone wants. Perhaps it’s the one closest to the window so they can look outside. Or maybe it’s the desk closest to the door so they can be the first one in line for lunch. One kid in the class might think that they’re special because they got that seat on the first day of school. But the truth is, teachers can rearrange the seating charts any way they want, any time they want. The teacher knows each child in the class and will rearrange them according to where each child will learn the best. If someone else earns the privilege of sitting in that special seat, the person who got it first might just find themselves sitting somewhere else entirely.
It’s that way with God, too. So often we think we’re in control of our own lives. But our heavenly Father may have different plans for us than we have for ourselves. Proverbs 16:9 says, In your heart you plan your life. But the Lord decides where your steps will take you.
Now let’s keep reading in Luke 14:7-11 to see what Jesus says next in His parable.
Say:
Jesus noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table. So He told them a story. He said, “Suppose someone invites you to a wedding feast. Do not take the place of honor. A person more important than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come to you. He will say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be filled with shame. You will have to take the least important place. - Luke 14:7-9
Randomly select another child from the class to come up to the front. Say: All of our guests have selected their seats. They have tried their hardest to sit close to important people. They want everyone at the party to think that they are important, too! And what better way to do that than to be close to the people who are powerful or wealthy or popular? At this point, the guests in the best seats are feeling pretty good. They are probably planning out all the jokes they are going to tell and all the ways they are going to impress the other guests at the banquet. But something unexpected is about to happen. Another guest has just arrived at the party. He (she) is late because he (she) is a really, really important person and has been in important meetings all day. Point to chair #6 and Say: If I’m the host of this banquet, am I going to put this really important guest in the worst seat? No! I’m going to put them in the best seat! That means this guest (indicate the volunteer in chair #2) has to move. The only empty seat is the worst one that nobody wanted to sit in. Have the volunteer in chair #2 move to chair #6 and seat the new volunteer in chair #2.
Say: This banquet guest has gone from the best seat at the party to the worst seat at the party in just a few seconds! How do you think he (she) feels? Embarrassed. Disappointed. Ashamed. All this guest’s plans have fallen apart! How embarrassing. He (she) was proud of how important he (she) looked in the best seat. But now he (she) is the least important looking person at the banquet. Thank the volunteers and have them return to their seats.
Application: So far in this parable we have seen what Jesus says NOT to do. He says don’t try to be the most important person, because if you do you might end up feeling ashamed and embarrassed and disappointed. And this doesn’t just apply to parties, like the example in the parable. It applies to all parts of your life. For example, some kids always have to act like the most intelligent person in class. They think they are better and smarter than everyone else. You probably know someone who is like that. Maybe they raise their hand for every question and laugh when other people say the wrong thing. They might even think they know more than the teacher sometimes! While it’s good to study and know the answers, a student who seeks honor for themselves will try to prove they are better than everyone else. According to this parable, they shouldn’t do this, because a time will come when they will be humbled.
Jesus said, “Do not take the place of honor because you may have to take the least important place.” A time will come when you will be humbled.
If we’re not supposed to take the place of honor, then what ARE we supposed to do? Let’s read the end of the parable to find out, and let’s look more closely at what it means to be humble.
Say:
“But when you are invited, take the lowest place. Then your host will come over to you. He will say, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. Anyone who lifts himself up will be brought down. And anyone who is brought down will be lifted up.” - Luke 14:10-11
What Jesus said at the end of the parable sounds like a kind of upside down thinking, doesn’t it? He says that when you try to make other people think you are important or better than them, then you will be humbled against your will. But if you humble yourself, then God will honor you!
What does it mean to be humble? Well, people who are humble don’t think that they are better than others. In fact, they think just the opposite. They see others as being more important than they are. And they don’t just think that, they act like others are more important, too.
Philippians 2:3 says, Don’t do anything only to get ahead. Don’t do it because you are proud. Instead, be free of pride. Think of others as better than yourselves.
It is hard for people to do this though, isn’t it? We like to think that we are better than other people. We like to think that we are smarter than a younger brother, or more popular than certain kids at school. But over and over in the Bible God says that He doesn’t like it when we act proud or better than others. In fact, the Bible says that it is a sin to be proud. And like any sin, the sin of pride separates us from God.
Psalm 138:6 says, The Lord is in heaven. But He watches over those who are free of pride. He knows those who are proud and stays far away from them.
Proverbs 18:12 says, If a man’s heart is proud, he will be destroyed. So don’t be proud if you want to be honored.
And Romans 12:16 says, ...Don’t be proud. Be willing to be a friend of people who aren’t considered important. Don’t think that you are better than others.
Application: Even though it is hard for us to be humble, we have an excellent role model to look up to, Someone who shows us what it means to put others first and be a friend to those who aren’t considered important.
That role model is Jesus. Even though He was God’s own Son, Jesus was a humble servant to others. Did you know that on the night before He was crucified on the cross, Jesus humbled Himself enough to wash His disciples’ feet? Jesus, the King above all kings, showed us what it means to think of others as more important than ourselves when He scrubbed the dirt and grime off of His friends feet. And when He was done, He said, “I have given you an example. You should do as I have done for you.” - John 13:15
Does this mean that we have to wash people’s feet to be humble? No. But it does mean that we have to be willing to put them first. We have to be ready at all times to show others that we think they are more important than us.
The next day, after He washed His disciples’ feet, Jesus did something even more amazing. He humbled Himself enough to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus—the Son of God, the King above all kings, the only person who has never sinned at all—suffered and died so that we could be forgiven for our pride and all our other sins that separate us from God.
Say: When we consider what Jesus did for us on the cross, and when we look at Him as our role model, we can start to get rid of our pride. He will help us be humble. And when we are humble, God promises that He will honor us.
Key Verse:
Don’t do anything only to get ahead. Don’t do it because you are proud. Instead, be free of pride. Think of others as better than yourselves. - Philippians 2:3
Main Point: Think of others as better than yourselves.
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© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
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Main Point: We want to have a teachable heart where God’s truth can produce good fruit.
Key Verse:
But still others received the seed that fell on good soil. They are those who hear the message and understand it. They produce a crop 100, 60 or 30 times more than the farmer planted. - Matthew 13:23
Props: Handful of seeds; large basket of fruits and vegetables
Say: People love stories. From the time you were a young child, your parents read stories to you. Stories are passed down from generation to generation. Everyone likes to hear a great story.
Last week we said that Jesus often taught people by telling stories called parables. But Jesus didn’t simply telling stories to entertain or to get people’s attention, Jesus told parables because He wanted to change lives!
An old definition of parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Parables tell a story using something we see every day to help us understand a spiritual truth that we can’t see with our eyes. When Jesus taught in parables, He used things that the people of His day were familiar with. If Jesus were here teaching with parables today, they would be different because our culture is different. There might be fewer stories about farming, and more stories about computers!
The parable we are going to read today is about planting seeds. Most of the people that Jesus was speaking to were farmers. They understood all about seeds and plants because they grew their own fruits and vegetables. Today, not all of us know about planting seeds, since we can go to the grocery store to buy all of our food.
So, let’s look at how a seed grows into a plant. All seeds contain nutrients and energy inside of a hard, protective coating. First the seed is buried in the ground. When the seed is in good, soft, warm soil, it sends out a little root that goes down into the soil. The root starts to drink up the nutrients that are in the soil. This gives the teeny tiny plant more energy. It gets enough energy to start growing, and then a tiny stalk starts to reach up out of the ground. With the sun shining on the stalk, and nutrients going into the root from the rain and soil, more roots grow, and the plant begins to thrive.
Say: Let’s read together, beginning in Matthew 13:1.
That same day Jesus left the house and sat by the Sea of Galilee. Large crowds gathered around Him. So He got into a boat. He sat down in it. All the people stood on the shore. Then He told them many things by using stories.
He said, "A farmer went out to plant his seed. He scattered the seed on the ground. Some fell on a path. Birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky places, where there wasn't much soil. The plants came up quickly, because the soil wasn't deep. When the sun came up, it burned the plants. They dried up because they had no roots. Other seed fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and crowded out the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It produced a crop 100, 60 or 30 times more than what was planted. Those who have ears should listen and understand." - Matthew 13:1-9
Say: This parable/story is more about the ground than the sower. Teacher: Have a handful of seeds, and show students how a sower/planter would plant the seed.
Say: A farmer went out to the field to sow seed. He scattered the seed on the ground. Demonstrate this action by scattering seeds on the ground. As he scattered the seed, he noticed that the seed falls on different types of ground.
Some of the seed fell on a path. A path is where many people have walked, and the dirt there is well worn. The ground of a path is harder than the ground on either side of it. The more people walk on a path, the more “packed down” the dirt becomes. The seed that fell on the path could not sink down into the dirt. Before the seed could even take root, some birds came and ate the seed.
Some of the seed that he scattered fell onto rocky places. Ask: Do you see much dirt here? No. Do you think that this is a good place for things to grow? No. Say: It is possible for things to grow on the rocks, but usually, plants don’t live long. Plants must have roots down in the soil. But in rocky places, the hard rocks block the roots. Any seed that started to grow in the thin soil soon withered in the intense heat and died.
Other seed fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and crowded out the plants. Ask: Have any of your parents ever asked you to pull weeds out of your yard or garden? What is the number one rule about pulling weeds? You must get the roots out! If you don’t pull out the roots, the weeds will grow back. Weeds are very strong and forceful. Wherever there are weeds, they take over the good plants. The strong roots of the weeds use up all the nutrients in the soil, and the plants are left with nothing. These plants barely grow at all; they don’t produce fruit or vegetables.
Finally, other seed fell on good soil. It produced a crop 100, 60, or 30 times more than what was planted. Farming experts know just what kind of soil is needed for their crops. They will add the right kind of fertilizer (vitamins and nutrients) so their plants can grow. They want their seeds to grow into large, healthy plants that will give them good fruits and vegetables. If it is done right, a handful of seeds will produce bushels full of good things to eat! Compare your handful of seeds to your basket of fruit /vegetables.
Say: Jesus said that the same seed produced no crop, some crop, or a great crop. The seed was the same in every place, but the condition of the soil was different.
This may seem like a strange story for Jesus to tell. But remember, many of the people who were listening to Jesus were farmers. They knew a lot about dirt and soil. Jesus was talking to them using words and word pictures that they could understand. Jesus wasn’t teaching them something new about farming. He was using what they already understood about farming to teach them something they didn’t know about the kingdom of God.
This is what Jesus was saying to the people: The seed that is sown is the gospel - the good news about Jesus.
The soils are the hearts of the people who make a choice about the message. The condition of a person’s heart can be compared to the different kinds of soils that received the seed.
Say: Now we’ll look at this story again with the understanding of what each part of the story stands for.
Ask: If the seed stands for the truth of Jesus, the Word of God, and the soil is the hearts of people, what would it mean to scatter the seed on the soil? Listen for answers. It is when someone hears the truth through teaching, or reading the Bible.
Say: Let’s look at the four different “soils,” or hearts:
Hard Path: Some of the seed fell on a path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some people hear the truth, but like hardened paths, they do not let it sink into their hearts (Zechariah 7:12). Soon Satan takes the truth away. (In the Bible, birds are sometimes a picture of Satan.) If people do not receive and respond to the word with faith, their opportunity will be stolen by the evil one.
Rocky Places: Next, some of the seed fell onto rocky places. These people hear the message with great joy, but like seeds on rocky soil, they do not let it take root. They seem to be happy to hear about Jesus and His great love, but they do not let it sink into their hearts. On the outside, they may express great enthusiasm, but inwardly, they do not carefully consider it. There were great crowds who followed Jesus, but only a few were His true disciples. When these people face pressure or bad circumstances, they quickly forget about God’s word. A true believer follows Jesus no matter what.
Teacher Note: Some of the “rocky” people may be under the misunderstanding that God will take away all of their problems. Therefore, when problems arrive, they fall away. God’s word never promises that life will be easy, without any trials. He promises something far better. He promises that He will be with us in our problems. He promises that everything will work together for our good - to become godlier and to bring glory to God.
Thorns: Still other seed fell among thorns. Some people hear God’s Word and start to grow and bear fruit. But soon they become worried about the problems of daily living. They may think if they only had more money and more “things” they would be happy. These wrong beliefs take up all the person’s time and energy, just like the weeds steal all the nutrients from the good plants. These people do not focus on living for God, so they don’t produce any spiritual fruit. There is nothing wrong with the sower or the seed. The problem is the soil - the person who hears the Word. He must trust God to deliver him from his worries and greed so that he can grow in God’s Word.
Good Soil: Still other seed fell on good soil. It produced a crop 100, 60, or 30 times more than what was planted. Isn’t it great to know that some of the seed fell on good soil? This represents the people who heard God’s word and believed it. They put their trust in Jesus. Their hearts received the message of the kingdom, and the seed will take root.
But just like when you plant actual seeds into the ground, the message of the kingdom will grow gradually. We don’t plant a seed and see a plant the next day. True growth takes time. And sometimes when we plant seeds, we see different kinds of things that actually grow. Some trees produce fruit; some plants produce vegetables. Some produce lots of fruit, and some produce little. Even the soil that produces a small crop is “good.”
The same is true in the hearts of believers. There are people who hear the same truth, read the same Bible, grow to the same church, but produce different kinds of fruit. Some are missionaries to other countries. Some are simply sharing God’s love with a friend in need. Everyone’s fruit will look different, but if each person allows God’s truth to grow in their heart, it will be the right kind of fruit. It will be kingdom fruit.
Application: Our county government has an office that tests soil. You can dig up a few handfuls of dirt from your yard and send it to them. They will put it under their microscope and see what it contains. In a few weeks, they will send you a report of how good your soil is for growing things. You will find out if there are good nutrients in your yard, or if you need to add something to make the soil just right.
That is very helpful for growing actual seeds and plants, but how can you test the soil of your heart? Jesus gives us the answer: We can look at the “fruit” in our lives. Teachable, faith-filled hearts (like good soil) will produce much spiritual fruit. Last week, we talked a little about this fruit. The spiritual fruit that comes from God’s Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, forgiveness, healing, righteousness, glory, grace, compassion, knowledge and truth. Another fruit is sharing God’s truth with others. So the test for good “heart soil” is checking to see whether there is any of this fruit in your life. If so, you know that God’s word has taken root in your heart. You have believed the truth of Jesus, and your beliefs guide your actions. You have trusted Jesus, so His Spirit lives in you.
It is interesting to note that a plant does not “decide” when to bear fruit. It just happens. In the same way, we can’t “decide” when we’re going to bear spiritual fruit. Fruit comes naturally when we remain connected to the Vine. Jesus said, “I am the Vine. You are the branches. If anyone remains joined to me, and I to him, he will bear a lot of fruit. You can't do anything without Me.” (John 15:5) We must stay connected to Jesus, because without Him, we cannot bear any fruit!
We aren’t responsible to make the fruit. We are responsible to keep the soil in good condition. Good soil has sunlight, water, and nutrients. How do you think we can “water” and “fertilize” our hearts? Read God’s Word, listen to good teaching, pray, listen to God. (Jesus is the Light!) Good soil is also free of rocks and weeds. How can we keep rocks and weeds out of the soil of our hearts? We don’t plant things in our heart or mind that are against God - bad TV show, movies, books and video games.
Now, for the “problem soil.” Sadly, there are three kinds of “heart soil” that don’t bear any kind of spiritual fruit. These people don’t share the truth that is deep down in their hearts. Instead of good fruit, their lives are full of worry, fear, greed, and frustration. They think more about themselves than about the Lord. If this sounds like your life, there is only one way to make a change! Jesus says He is the WAY (John 14:6). Confess: Tell the Lord that your heart has not been good soil. Ask Him to plow up the hard places and replace them with a good, soft heart that will be the perfect place for His truth to take root and grow. Listen to God’s promise:
PPT VERSE
I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. - Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
Additional Teaching for Older Students: We can also see ourselves as the “sower” in this story. As you begin to share the truth of Jesus with others, you will see these four different reactions. Some people will be good soil. They will accept the truth, it will grow deep roots, and they will bear much fruit. But, sadly, others will be like the four problem soils. God wants everyone to follow Him (2 Peter 3:9), but each person has the free choice of whether to accept the truth. Remember that you are not responsible to make the seed grow! (1 Corinthians 12:3) You are just asked to spread the seed (Acts 22:14-15). It’s always right to pray for God to soften the hearts of those you speak to!
PPT KEY VERSE
Key Verse:
But still others received the seed that fell on good soil. They are those who hear the message and understand it. They produce a crop 100, 60 or 30 times more than the farmer planted. - Matthew 13:23
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: We want to have a teachable heart where God’s truth can produce good fruit.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT CUE
Main Point: We should show love and compassion to others, just as Jesus shows love and compassion to us.
Key Verse:
Here is My command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. - John 15:12
Props: A hand mirror. A globe or world map. A marker and pad of Post It notes.
Say: From time to time when Jesus was teaching, someone would ask a question that was meant to test or trick Jesus. Sometimes the person asking the question just wanted to see how much Jesus really knew about the scriptures. Other times the questioner wanted Jesus to say something that would make the crowd angry with Him.
Today we are going to look at a parable that Jesus told after He was asked two questions by someone who wanted to test Him. Remember, a parable is a small, seemingly simply story that reveals BIG truths about the kingdom of God. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we find several tough questions and a BIG answer that reveals an even BIGGER truth about God’s kingdom. Let’s read together in Luke 10:25-37 to see what those questions were, and how Jesus answered them with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Teacher Note: The structure of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is defined by two main questions. The first, “What must I do to receive eternal life?” is dealt with in verses 25-28. The second, “And who is my neighbor?” is answered in verses 29-37. In between these two questions, Jesus asks a couple of questions of His own: “What is written in the Law?” and “How do you understand it?”
Jesus asks these questions in lieu of giving an outright answer to the initial query from the scholar who seeks to test Him. The man’s intent in asking the question was probably to compare Jesus’ ideology to that of Jewish law. He more than likely expected Jesus to contradict the Jewish bottom line.
But Jesus, in asking the questioner a question in return, sets out to show that Jewish teaching is not wrong at all, but that the practice of it often is. Once the scholar has answered his own question using scripture, Jesus basically says: “Good answer. Now go do it.” These words, as we will see, prompt the man’s second question and Jesus’ beautifully powerful Parable of the Good Samaritan in response.
Say:
One day an authority on the law stood up to put Jesus to the test. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to receive eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you understand it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love Him with all your strength and with all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do that, and you will live.” - Luke 5:27-28
Teacher Note: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love Him with all your strength and with all your mind” is from Deuteronomy 6:5, and “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” is from Leviticus 19:18.
Say: The man who stood up to ask Jesus a question was an expert in the Jewish law. The law was the set of rules that God gave to the Israelites through Moses. The law includes the 10 commandments and many other rules found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. The law was God’s way of showing the Israelites how to live a life pleasing to Him, and how to prevent sin from creating separation between God and man. Of course, no one could possibly keep all the laws. People’s sinful nature would continue to destroy their relationship with God. That’s why God allowed people to make sacrifices to atone for the sins they did commit. Does anyone know what atone means? To atone is to make up for something you have done wrong. If I ate your cookies without asking, I can’t undo that; I can’t give them back. I could atone for it by making you some more cookies. In the case of sin, we can’t undo that either. By His grace, God allowed His people to atone for their sin by making special animal sacrifices. By atoning, our relationship with God is restored, or made right again.
By the time Jesus started traveling and teaching, the Pharisees had added so many extra rules to the original law that God had given that people were feeling completely crushed by all the rules they had to keep. All day long they worried about which laws they were breaking and if they were going to be caught.
So you can imagine how interested people must have been when the expert in the law stood up and asked Jesus what someone had to do to live with God forever. It’s really too bad, though, that the man asking the question didn’t think that Jesus could actually teach him anything. The legal expert thought he already knew the answer. He thought that he would be able to show the crowd that Jesus didn’t know the law as well as he did.
So what did Jesus do? He resisted the urge to give the man an answer and said, “You know the law. What do you think it says about this.” Well, the man must have felt really smart when he quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. He said that we needed to do two things. First, love God with everything you have. And then, love your neighbor as you love yourself.
And you know what? The answer the legal expert gave is completely right! Jesus said to him, “OK. You know what the law says. Now do it.”
Do you think this might have made the man nervous? I do. Because the legal expert knew that keeping the whole law is something he could not do. He just wasn’t strong enough or good enough to keep every single rule and regulation all the time. And he knew there could never be enough sacrifices to make up for all the times he broke the law. Jesus knew this too, and wanted to show the man how badly he needed someone to rescue him from his life of sin and disobedience to the law.
James 4:17 says, ...when you know the good things you should do and don’t do them, you sin. Jesus is reminding the man that there is no possible way to love God with everything you have, that there is no way a sinful man or woman can love other people as completely as the law requires.
Hold up the hand mirror so the kids can see your face reflected in it. Say: Jesus is using scripture like a mirror. He is holding it up to the man and asking him to look at his life. He is asking him if he can really keep the law and earn eternal life by obeying all the rules and regulations.
Application: Is it possible for anyone to lead a sinless life? No. Just like the man asking Jesus the question about eternal life, we will always mess up and do something that separates us from God.
James 1:22-24 says this: Don’t just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says.
Suppose you listen to the word but don’t do what it says. Then you are like a man who looks at his face in a mirror. After looking at himself, he leaves. Right away he forgets what he looks like.
The legal expert was someone who had listened to the law his whole life, but he wasn’t really sure what it meant to actually follow it. When studying the law, he would briefly examine his life—like looking in a mirror—but then he would turn away from it without trying to live like God wanted him to. Immediately, he would forget that his failure to keep the law was sin. He just didn’t want to face what he saw in the mirror.
Say: But when Jesus reminded the man to do what the law said, the man got nervous. He wondered what it really meant to love your neighbor as you love yourself. He wanted Jesus to assure him that he was already doing what he needed to do for eternal life. So he asked another question...“Who is my neighbor?”
Maybe he thought Jesus would say that his neighbors were his close friends and family. Or legal scholars like him. Or his fellow Jews. The man probably wanted to believe that his neighbors were people that were easy to help. People who didn’t require too much time or effort or money.
The man wanted to feel good about what he saw in the mirror. He wanted to look good in front of his friends in the crowd. But Jesus had a deeper truth to reveal to the man. Something that could only be told through a parable, a small story that contains BIG truth about the kingdom of God. Let’s look at Luke 10:29-37.
Say:
But the man wanted to make himself look good. So he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers attacked him. They stripped off his clothes and beat him. Then they went away, leaving him almost dead. A priest happened to be going down that same road. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. A Levite also came by. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side too.
But a Samaritan came to the place where the man was. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him. He went to him, poured olive oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey. He took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins. He gave them to the owner of the inn. ‘Take care of him,’ he said. ‘When I return, I will pay you back for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?”
The authority on the law replied, “The one who felt sorry for him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do as he did.” - Luke 10:29-37
Say: This parable must have come as a big shock to the legal expert. In the story, the first two men who noticed the victim were Jews like him. First a priest and then a Levite passed by the dying victim on the road, but they just crossed to the other side and kept walking. The victim was obviously very hurt. He obviously needed help. The priest and the Levite were very religious men who knew everything about the law! Yet they wouldn’t help the poor injured man at all. In fact, these two men had just been in Jerusalem, probably to worship God and perform their religious duties in the temple. But they wanted nothing to do with a person who needed their help so badly. They knew the law backwards and forwards, but had no idea what it meant to really keep it. They didn’t know what it meant to have a close, loving relationship with God.
Who remembers who actually did help the man who needed help? A Samaritan. That’s right. A Samaritan came along next. Samaritans were people who lived in the area called Samaria. Now, a Samaritan was not a Jew. In fact, Jews and Samaritans were actually enemies. They didn’t agree on very much regarding religion. But the Samaritan had something that the Jewish priest and the Levite didn’t have. He had compassion. Compassion is really feeling the pain or sadness that someone else feels, and wanting more than anything to help that person. The Samaritan felt sorry for the man who had been beaten and stopped to help him.
Application: The Samaritan didn’t have a first aid kit in his saddle bag. He didn’t have any medical training. He didn’t have a way to call a doctor or an ambulance. But he knew the victim needed help badly. So he got to work and used the resources he did have to take care of him. The Samaritan had a little wine and some oil and a bit of cloth. So he used those to clean the man’s wounds and bandage them up. Then he gently placed the man on his donkey and walked to an inn, where he knew the man could get some rest. Then the Samaritan took out two silver coins to pay the innkeeper to look after the man. Not only that, but he promised to come back in a couple of days to check on the victim and pay the innkeeper more money if necessary.
The Samaritan made a lot of personal sacrifices to help the man who had been beaten. He used his own supplies to treat his wounds. He used his own money to pay the innkeeper. He took a lot of time to help him, and promised to devote even more time to him later. This was no easy thing the Samaritan did! And he did it all without grumbling or complaining.
Hold up the globe or the map. Point to the place on the globe or map where your class is being held. Say: This is where we live. It is easy to think of the people in our neighborhood as our neighbors. It is easy to think of our friends and family as neighbors. It is easy to think of people who are just like us as neighbors. But when Jesus told this parable, He asked, “Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?”
Do you see how Jesus changed the question that the legal expert had asked? The expert had asked, “Who is my neighbor.” But Jesus said the real question should be, “Who am I a neighbor TO?”
The Samaritan had shown real love and compassion to someone in need. The experts in the law had looked the other way. Knowing what the law says is not enough. To love your neighbor as yourself, you have to put it into practice. You have to show love to those in need.
Say: At the end of the parable, Jesus gave a very simple instruction: “Go and do as he did.” But how can we do that? It is not always easy to love other people the way we should.
In John 15:12, Jesus says this: “Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you.” If we are trying to love other people with our own strength, it is a very hard thing to do. We might be tempted to just look the other way like the priest and the Levite did.
But when we remember how much love Jesus showed for us when He died on the cross, it is our natural response to take that love and pass it on to other people. It’s like Jesus is pouring His love into our hearts, and we pour it back out into the lives of anyone in need. Jesus was the perfect neighbor to us, taking care of us when we were helpless to take care of ourselves, healing our sin-wounds when we were powerless to heal ourselves.
Application: Write the word “neighbor” on a Post It note and stick in on a random place on the globe or map. Say: I just wrote the word “neighbor” on this piece of paper. Did I stick the paper somewhere close to where we’re at? No. Because Jesus wants us to see anyone in need, anywhere, as our neighbor. Wherever we see people hurting, He wants us to show them compassion. Those hurting people might be in your school, or your own home. But they also might be thousands of miles away.
Jesus wants us to always be watching for those who need love and compassion. He wants us to remember what He did for us on the cross. He wants us to remember how much love it took to die for our sins, so that we might live forever with God. And He wants us to show that same love and compassion for others who need it.
As the priest and the Levite proved, that is hard to do if we’re just living by a bunch of laws and religious rules and too busy doing things our own way. But when we believe that Jesus has rescued us from sin and separation from God, we have His love in us. And we can’t help but share that love with our neighbors, wherever they might be.
Teacher Note: “Jesus Christ is the only righteous man to have lived on this earth. He alone fulfilled the law perfectly. And yet He took our sins upon Himself, bearing the curse of death which the law pronounced upon us. And by trusting in His death, burial, and resurrection on our behalf, our sins are forgiven and we receive the free gift of eternal life.
“Since this eternal life is not the result of our good works, but the result of God’s grace manifested in and through Jesus Christ, we have nothing to be proud of, no basis for feeling self-righteous. And because God has been merciful and gracious to us, we can show mercy and compassion toward others. Grace leaves no place for self-righteousness; it is the basis for compassion. That is what Jesus is trying to help this lawyer to understand through the parable of the Good Samaritan.
“And just as this despised and rejected Samaritan became the ‘savior’ of the robbery victim on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, so the despised and rejected Jesus of Nazareth has become the Savior of all who trust in Him.” —from The Good Samaritan by Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org.
Key Verse:
Here is My command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. - John 15:12
Main Point: We should show love and compassion to others, just as Jesus shows love and compassion to us.
PPT CUE
PPT CUE
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: The Kingdom of God is worth far more than anything else.
Key Verse:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure that was hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. He was very happy. So he went and sold everything he had. And he bought that field. - Matthew 13:44
Props: Small plate of fruit, dark glasses, bandana; Strand of pearls (artificial is fine)
Say: This summer we have been studying the parables that Jesus taught. Parables are stories about everyday people and things that help us understand spiritual truths.
Two weeks ago, we read as Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. The seed starts out really small, but in time it grows to be one of the largest plants in the garden. This is like the kingdom of God because it grows in the hearts of believers, and it grows throughout the world as more and more people enter the kingdom.
Last week, we read Jesus’ parable about the four soils. In this parable, we learned that different people hear God’s truth and accept it in different ways. Ask: Who can remember the four different soils Jesus talked about? Hard path, rocky places, thorny, and good soil. Say: The hard path was a symbol for people who hear God’s word but ignore it. The rocky places stood for the people who like hearing God’s word at first, but they don’t let it take root in their hearts. When problems come, they forget all about God’s word. Next, the thorny soil stood for those people who trust God’s word and begin to bear fruit. But then they let greed and worry take over their heart and mind, and that chokes out the truth that they know.
Finally, there was good soil. This stood for the people who hear God’s word and believe it fully. They put their trust in Jesus. Their hearts receive the message of the kingdom, and the seed takes root and produces lots of spiritual fruit. We want to be the kind of good soil that Jesus talked about. We want to have a teachable heart where God’s truth can produce good fruit.
Teacher Note: These parables are not a plea for us to sell all we have in order to obtain the kingdom - for we truly have nothing to offer God (Ephesians 2:5-9). Instead, they are a call for us to desire the kingdom above all else. Consider the words of Jim Elliot, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” The emphasis is not on what we give up, but on the unfathomable new life that is being offered to us.
Say: Jesus often used parables to teach what the kingdom of God is like. This week, we’ll look at a parable in which Jesus told how much the kingdom of God is worth.
Before we read the parable, I want to tell you another true story. In 1998, a man named James Hill found a small cave full of emeralds on his family’s property in North Carolina. The total weight of the emeralds was about 3,300 carats. (Just as a comparison, the diamond on a woman’s wedding ring may be about one-quarter or one-half of a carat.) It turns out that Mr. Hill’s emeralds were some of the best quality emeralds in North America. When they were cut and polished, they were worth millions of dollars. Was this a big hidden treasure? It sure was, and it was right in the man’s own backyard!
Now, let’s turn to Matthew 13:44 and read what Jesus said about hidden treasure. Jesus told a parable about a man who found something in a field that he did not own.
PPT KEY VERSE
Jesus said:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure that was hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. He was very happy. So he went and sold everything he had. And he bought that field. - Matthew 13:44
We are not sure what this man was doing in someone else’s field. Maybe he was a hired helper for the man who owned the field, or maybe he was just passing through. Or maybe the field was for sale and the man was looking it over before deciding whether to buy it. Whatever the reason he was there, he found an amazing treasure, maybe similar to the emeralds. This was a great surprise! Instantly, the man knew that the treasure was incredibly valuable. He was full of joy over this discovery. He went home and sold everything he owned: his house, his furniture, his jewelry, his sheep and goats. Then he took all the money that he had made, and he bought that field. Clearly, the treasure in that field was worth more than everything else that the man owned.
When the man found the treasure, he could have covered it back up, gone about his business, and forgotten all about it. But that’s not what he did. The treasure was too great to forget about! The man was so excited to know that he could possibly own that treasure. He probably laid awake each night thinking about the treasure until it was his. Notice that the man sold EVERYTHING. He was left with nothing. He knew that the treasure was better than his home and his belongings. The treasure was so important to him, that he joyfully gave up everything else in the world to gain that treasure.
Say: Jesus began His story with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like...” Let’s talk about the kingdom of heaven for a minute. (Matthew uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven” while the other authors use “kingdom of God,” but they are one and the same.) The kingdom of God is wherever the will of God is done. Because each of us sins, none of us can do the perfect will of God. On our own, we cannot be part of God’s kingdom. But Jesus came to make the kingdom available to everyone (Mark 1:15). Jesus takes away the sin of everyone who trusts in Him (John 1:29). The person has a change of heart, and he or she truly wants to do God’s will. By the grace of God, He sends His Holy Spirit to live inside of that person, and he or she is then able to do God’s will. That person is part of God’s kingdom.
New life in God’s kingdom is much more than going to heaven when we die - although that will be wonderful! Kingdom life is here and now. It is knowing the Father, the King. It is listening to His voice. It is having His peace, His joy, His love, and His power. It is the best life possible. Jesus said, “I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.” (John 10:10)
Life outside of the kingdom of God is way less than God intended it to be. It is not full life because it is life that is separate from God (Isaiah 59:2). Teacher: Call up a volunteer. Put dark glasses on her and tie the handkerchief LOOSELY to cover her nose and mouth (bandit style). Life outside the kingdom is sort of like this. I have this beautiful fruit. But with those dark glasses on, you can’t see all the nice colors. When I peel it, you can’t smell it like I can smell it. I can take a bite and taste the amazing flavors. But you aren’t quite able to taste it. Jesus came and offered the kingdom. Everyone who chooses to trust in Him has kingdom life - life to the fullest! Take off the glasses and bandana and allow the volunteer to eat the fruit. Thank your volunteer.
Jesus compared the kingdom of God to the hidden treasure. The kingdom of God is the treasure. The kingdom of God is FAR more valuable than anything in this world. There is nothing that even compares to a loving relationship with the Creator of the universe!
Application: When we discover that we can enter God’s kingdom, we have a choice to make, just as the man in the field did. We can see the treasure and we can just go back to our old way of life. Or we can see God’s kingdom, full of peace, love, forgiveness, freedom, and joy, and want that more than anything else.
Jesus is not saying that you must go out and sell everything you own. He is saying that you should be willing to. He is saying that NOTHING compares in value to the new life that the King wants to give you. You should not love anything or anyone more than you love the King, God Himself. If you belong to the kingdom, you have the greatest treasure! This treasure is freely given by God, the King, to everyone who trusts in Him.
Say: Jesus continued by telling another, similar parable.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who was looking for fine pearls. He found one that was very valuable. So he went away and sold everything he had. And he bought that pearl. - Matthew 13:45-46
Teacher: Show your pearls. Pearls are very valuable. Ask: Does anyone know where pearls come from? Listen for answers. Say: Pearls come from oysters. These are underwater animals that live inside of a shell. The shell has two parts that are hinged together like this. Place your hands together like an oyster shell. The oyster opens its shell to let water and food in. And sometimes a piece of sand or shell gets in. The oyster creates a coating that covers the sand or shell. As time goes on, the sand is coated with more and more layers of this coating. Eventually, after several years, it ends up looking like a beautiful, shiny stone called a pearl. The bigger and more perfectly round the pearl, the more valuable it is.
Pearls were especially valuable in Jesus’ day. Treasure seekers searched the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean to find oysters with pearls inside. Not every oyster has a pearl, and not every pearl is big or round.
The man in Jesus’ parable found a very valuable pearl. This story is very much like the first parable. But in this parable, the man was actively looking for the treasure. This man was like the people who had listened to God’s promises of long ago, and were waiting for the Messiah, the Savior, to come. Even though these people had been looking for God’s kingdom, when they found it, it was far greater than what they had expected.
Just as in the first parable, the valuable pearl was a symbol of the kingdom of God. And like the first parable, the man gladly gave up everything he owned to get the pearl. He, too, knew that nothing he owned could compare to the great treasure he had finally found.
Application: The point of these two parables is the great value of being a part of God’s kingdom. Jesus is not pointing out what we must give up to enter His kingdom. He is telling us that it is worth more than everything else. Both men GLADLY, JOYFULLY gave up everything else to claim their new found treasure. Jesus makes it clear that we should not let anything keep us from entering the kingdom of God. And when we know the value of what we have as members of the kingdom, shouldn’t we share it with everyone we know?
Mr. Hill, the man who found emeralds in his backyard, hired guards to keep watch over his treasure. Why? As we can imagine, he was afraid that when people heard about his discovery, they would sneak onto his land and grab whatever pieces of emerald they could find. The problem with his emerald treasure was that there was a limited supply.
But our treasure - our immeasurably better treasure - has no limit! As we learned two weeks ago, the kingdom of God will grow and grow! Jesus wants it to grow! He promises that it will grow - and God ALWAYS keeps His promises! God wants ALL people to believe in Jesus and enter into His kingdom (1 Peter 2:9). Share your treasure!
Key Verse:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure that was hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. He was very happy. So he went and sold everything he had. And he bought that field. - Matthew 13:44
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: The Kingdom of God is worth far more than anything else.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT CUE
Main Point: Jesus came to look for lost people and save them.
Key Verse:
The Son of Man came to look for the lost and save them. - Luke 19:10
Props: A large box labeled “Lost & Found.” Various items to place in the box (a baby doll, a pacifier, a jacket, a cell phone, a book, etc.).
Say: Jesus loved to show people what His Father is like. He knew better than anyone that God is a wonderful, loving, faithful, merciful God. But as He traveled and taught, Jesus saw that many people didn’t understand God. Their wrong ideas about God came from the Pharisees and the rule makers and the teachers of the law. Often, it seemed like these religious men didn’t want ordinary people to see God as a Father who loved them and took care of them. The Pharisees and rule makers wanted people to think that knowing God required a lot of effort and education. It was almost like the Pharisees had their own exclusive little club—a club that allowed only the most important, educated, obedient people to be members!
That’s why the Pharisees got so angry when Jesus hung out with tax collectors and other people considered to be the worst sinners. They didn’t want Jesus to teach these people about God. They didn’t want these “sinners” to think they were important to God. They didn’t want sinners to believe that God could save them.
But from the very beginning, Jesus said that He came to earth to hang out with sinners, the people who most needed to hear that God loves them. He told them as often as possible to turn away from their sin and follow Him. Jesus taught sinners about the kingdom of God and how they could be part of it. He gave them everything they needed to understand His Father’s heart.
That’s why Jesus used so many parables. Remember, a parable is a simple story that contains big truths about the kingdom of God. Everyone who wanted to know about God could understand His parables—children, adults, shepherds, teachers, people with an education, people who never went to school, Jews, gentiles, EVERYONE! And in the two parables we’re going to look at today, God’s wonderful, loving heart is revealed in a big way. We will see that God loves sinners and delights in saving them. Let’s read together in Luke 15:1-10.
Teacher Note: The central idea of the Parables of the Lost Sheep & the Lost Coin is that God actively seeks those whose sin has taken them far away from His presence. We see God pursuing His rebellious people throughout scripture. In Genesis 3:9, God searched for Adam and Eve, calling out to them, “Where are you?” He didn’t wait for His fallen children to come to Him, but actively pursued their companionship. God pursued Moses from the day of his birth, finally meeting with him in the burning bush and changing Moses’ heart. God pursued the fugitive Jonah right into the ocean.
In the New Testament, Jesus moved toward His disciples when they were caught in a terrible storm on the Sea of Galilee, rising above storm and hardship to pursue them and command their storm. When Lazarus died, God pursued him even beyond death to awaken him with His voice of life. And, in the greatest pursuit of all, God sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world so we could receive life through Him.
God loves us, seeks us, pursues us, longs to bring us into His kingdom. And when we choose to be found, to turn from sin and enter into His loving embrace, He welcomes us into His kingdom and fellowship with great celebration. Here is the central truth of God’s pursuit of us: We love because He first loved us. - 1 John 4:19
Say:
The tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were whispering among themselves. They said, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” - Luke 15:1-2
Teacher Note: This passage highlights the differences between the way common people heard Jesus and the way the Pharisees heard Jesus. Why was there such a disparity? In Matthew 23, Jesus detailed all the ways in which the Pharisees were hypocrites. The word He used over and over to describe them was “blind.” These men, who “love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues” (Matthew 23:6) would be subject to great woe because they “...shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces” (Matthew 23:13). The common people heard in Jesus’ words an open invitation into the kingdom. The spiritually blind Pharisees, meanwhile, heard a threat to their elite religion, which had been tailor-made to keep out the riff raff.
Say: Jesus always seemed to have a crowd of people around Him, didn’t He? Think for a minute about some of the reasons why a bunch of people would gather around a person who was teaching. If that teacher was handing out $10 bills, he would probably have a pretty big crowd surrounding him. Or, if he was acting out his words with puppets, he might attract some people who wanted to see a puppet show. Or, if the person was talking about something really, really exciting and out of the ordinary, people would gather around him simply to hear his ideas.
Jesus wasn’t handing out money or putting on a puppet show to attract crowds. People followed Him and gathered around Him and listened to every word He said because the subjects He talked about were so amazing. Jesus talked about the kingdom of God and how it was growing and growing. He talked about what life in the kingdom looked like. And He talked about how anyone could enter the kingdom of God if they turned from their sin and received God’s forgiveness.
These ideas were so different from what the Pharisees had always taught the people. Maybe that’s why the Pharisees grumbled at the same words that made ordinary people celebrate. Maybe that’s why the crowds followed Jesus everywhere while the Pharisees and rule makers stood off to the side, talking to each other about how many headaches Jesus was giving them. There were four main reasons why the Pharisees complained so much about Jesus.
#1) The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus getting all the attention. The Pharisees loved being the guests of honor at banquets and loved having the best seats in the synagogues. But at the banquets and parties Jesus attended, He was the guest of honor, not the Pharisees. And the guests at these events were not the kind of important people who would make the Pharisees look better.
#2) The Pharisees wanted only people who were just like them to be saved. Jesus hung out with anyone and everyone who came to hear Him teach, and told them that anyone could enter the kingdom of God.
#3) The Pharisees focused on rules. The Pharisees felt important because they were the only ones who understood all the complicated rules and regulations they required people to obey. When Jesus taught about God, though, He used simple words and parables so that everyone could understand.
#4) The Pharisees talked more about sins you could see than about the condition of people’s hearts. Jesus told His followers that sin results from a heart that is far away from God. The Pharisees wanted people to think that your heart and your thoughts didn’t matter, as long as you looked like you were leading a sinless life.
Application: God wants us to be less like the grumbling, proud Pharisees and more like Jesus. That means thinking of others as more important than ourselves. It means telling everyone about Jesus and helping them understand that they can be part of God’s kingdom. It means focusing on the simple truths of God and keeping our hearts close to Him. And it means celebrating when anyone believes that Jesus died to pay the price for their sins. We aren’t part of an exclusive club, we’re part of the kingdom of God, which is big enough to hold everyone in the whole world!
Now let’s keep reading in Luke 15 to see what happened in the two parables that Jesus told the grumbling Pharisees.
Say:
Then Jesus told them a story. He said, “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them. Won’t he leave the 99 in the open country? Won’t he go and look for the one lost sheep until he finds it? When he finds it, he will joyfully put it on his shoulders and go home. Then he will call his friends and neighbors together. He will say, ‘Be joyful with me. I have found my lost sheep.’
“I tell you, it will be the same in heaven. There will be great joy when one sinner turns away from sin. Yes, there will be more joy than for 99 godly people who do not need to turn away from their sins.” - Luke 15:3-7
Say: Jesus heard the Pharisees complaining about His willingness to hang out with sinners, to talk to them, to eat with them, to be the guest of honor at their parties. And He couldn’t resist telling them a little story—a parable—about a sheep that was lost and then found again.
Raise your hand if you have ever played the game hide-and-seek. Nearly all of you, it looks like. In hide-and-seek, if you’re it, you pretty much HAVE to go looking for the people who are hiding, right? What would happen if you covered your eyes, counted to 100, said “ready or not here I come” and then just walked away from the game? Everyone who was hiding would sit there and wonder if you were ever going to try and find them. Maybe they would eventually give up on you and just go home to watch television. When it’s your job to look for people, you’re not going to give up before you even start.
But that’s exactly what the Pharisees thought Jesus should do. They thought He should give up on sinners. They thought He should stay far away from the tax collectors and other people they didn’t approve of. They wanted Jesus to stop looking for people who needed to hear about God’s kingdom and start acting more like the prideful rule-makers.
But Jesus didn’t agree with what the Pharisees were saying. And the Parable of the Lost Sheep was the perfect way to show them how wrong their thinking really was. Jesus knew that every single Pharisee would look for a sheep that had gone missing, because sheep were valuable. If even one ran away from the flock, it would be a painful loss for the owner. But once that missing sheep was found, even the harshest Pharisee would be very, very happy. He wouldn’t kick it or beat it on the way back to the pasture. He wouldn’t scold it for being a naughty sheep. No, even a Pharisee would be kind to the tired and frightened sheep, placing it on his shoulders for the long trip home. Then he would tell all his friends that the missing sheep was back where it belonged. He might even throw a party to celebrate the fact that his searching paid off!
Say: Psalm 95:7 says, He is our God. We are the sheep belonging to His flock. We are the people He takes good care of. Listen to His voice today.
The lost sheep in Jesus’ parable is like a sinner who has wandered far away from God. He feels lost and alone in the big, cold world. He thinks there is no shepherd to care for him. But in reality, the Good Shepherd—Jesus—is always looking for lost sinners, just like a shepherd keeps searching for runaway sheep. Then, when one of those sinners turns his heart away from sin and back to God, when He accepts the rescue that Jesus offers him, this parable says that all heaven celebrates.
The Pharisees didn’t want anything to do with those who sinned (even though the Pharisees were sinners, too!). But Jesus is the Good Shepherd who won’t stop looking for His lost sheep. That’s why He spent so much time hanging out with sinners, eating with those the Pharisees hated, and teaching the people who never thought they could be part of the kingdom of God.
Say: Now, when Jesus was finished telling the Parable of the Lost Sheep, He told another similar story, the Parable of the Lost Coin. Maybe the Pharisees kept grumbling while Jesus told His story of a sheep who was lost and then found. Or maybe they were confused by the simple words He used to teach a big truth about God’s heart. The second parable goes like this:
“...suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. She will light a lamp and sweep the house. She will search carefully until she finds the coin. And when she finds it, she will call her friends and neighbors together. She will say, ‘Be joyful with me. I have found my lost coin.’
“I tell you, it is the same in heaven. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who turns away from sin.” - Luke 15:8-10
There wasn’t a single Pharisee listening to Jesus that day who wouldn’t search for money that was lost. They valued their riches and their coins too much. The woman in the story lost a single coin, but she only had ten coins in all. So this one coin was very important to her. If a Pharisee misplaced wealth, they would look everywhere for it. They would search and search until they found it. Then, they would celebrate.
Put the lost and found box filled with items on a table or chair next to you. Say: How many of you would search high and low for something that was really important to you? I have a box of lost items here. Pull out the first item. Say something like: This ______ might look unimportant to you, but the boy/girl who lost it is really, really upset. This ______ is his/her very favorite _____. No other ____ could ever take its place. The boy/girl who lost it keeps visiting the lost and found box every day, hoping the _____ will turn up. Even though day after day after day, this ______ isn’t in there, the constant searching eventually pays off! The _____ is finally found! After all that searching, the _____’s owner isn’t just going to go home and forget all about the long search. He/she is going to tell everyone that his/her favorite ______ finally showed up.
The Pharisees would probably take one look at our box of lost and found items and think to themselves that there is nothing of importance in it. But to the kid who owns these items, they are very valuable! Similarly, the Pharisees looked at the crowds of sinners listening to Jesus teaching about the kingdom of God and thought that there was no one of value in those crowds—only sinners.
The Pharisees couldn’t understand that to Jesus, every sinner is a prize worth searching for. In Luke 19:10, Jesus said, The Son of Man came to look for the lost and save them. To the Pharisees, this sounded like a waste of time and a whole lot of trouble. But to Jesus, it was the most important thing in the world. Because He dearly loves every single person, whether they have wandered away from God or are close to Him. Sinners were of no value to the Pharisees, but to God they are His much-loved children. That’s why Jesus was willing to do anything to find the lost sinners of this world. He was willing to hang out with them and teach them and tell them that His Father loved them more than anything. He was even willing to die on a cross so that they could be forgiven for the sins that separate them from God.
Application: If we are lost, it’s not because God lost us. It’s because our sin has caused us to wander far away from Him. God will never stop loving us, even if we run away from Him. And He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross to pay the price for our sins once and for all. Jesus rescued us. And if even one lost person believes that the Son of God died so their sins would be forgiven, then they will be lovingly returned to a right relationship with God, and all heaven will have a party to celebrate!
Key Verse:
The Son of Man came to look for the lost and save them. - Luke 19:10
Main Point: Jesus came to look for lost people and save them.
PPT CUE
PPT CUE
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT CUE
Main Point: God longs to bring everyone into His kingdom.
Key Verse:
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattest calf and kill it. Let’s have a big dinner and celebrate. This son of mine was dead. And now he is alive again. He was lost. And now he is found.’” - Luke 15:22-24
Props: A plate of delicious, healthy food (ripe fruits and veggies, fat slices of bread, etc.). A plate of unappetizing, inedible food (overripe/blackened banana, torn crusts of bread, watermelon rind, corn cob with no kernels on it, etc.).
Say: Today we’re going to look at a parable about being lost and found. This story is the last in a series of three lost-and-found parables that Jesus told. Does anyone remember what the lost items were in the other two parables? A sheep. A coin. That’s right. In the first parable, a shepherd leaves 99 other sheep to look for one that has wandered away. In the second parable, a woman searches her house from top to bottom to find a lost coin. And in both parables, there is a celebration when what was lost is found again. At the end of each of these stories, Jesus said, “I tell you, it is the same in heaven. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who turns away from sin.” Jesus said this to explain to the Pharisees why He hung out with tax collectors and other people that the rule makers considered to be sinners. Just as there were celebrations when the sheep and the coin in the parables were found, there is a celebration in heaven when even one sinner leaves his sinful life behind and turns toward Jesus.
Today’s parable, the Parable of the Lost Son, shows how even people get lost sometimes by living a rebellious and sinful life. But we are never so lost that God cannot find us. And when someone who is lost because of sin turns away from that sin, there will be a great celebration to welcome him home again!
Let’s read the Parable of the Lost Son together in Luke 15:11-32.
Teacher Note: It is so interesting to see the progression of these three parables and to imagine how the Pharisees might have responded to each. The rule-makers, so disapproving of Jesus’ associations with tax collectors and “sinners,” would likely have understood the importance of searching for valuable possessions that had become lost. Sheep were a prized asset, and it would almost make sense to leave the 99 to rescue a lost member of the flock. Similarly, money was near and dear to the Pharisee’s hearts, so the idea of searching high and low for a lost coin might have seemed logical; the coin in question, though not worth much on its own, was actually 10% of the woman’s wealth.
But in the Parable of the Lost Son, the lost item is an individual not unlike the people the Pharisees loved to hate—a sinner, a rebel, a thoroughly disgraced and ostracized member of the Jewish community. In all three parables, there is a celebration when the lost becomes found. And in all three, Jesus pointedly communicates to the judgmental Pharisees that God Himself seeks out the lost and the sinful and rejoices when they repent and return to abundant kingdom life. After hearing all three parables, did the Pharisees understand the celebration of a repentant sinner as completely as they understood the celebration of a recovered treasure? Sadly, they never seemed able to view sinners as the prize rather than the enemy.
Say:
Jesus continued, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger son spoke to his father. He said, ‘Father, give me my share of the family property.’ So the father divided his property between his two sons.
“Not long after that, the younger son packed up all he had. Then he left for a country far away. There he wasted his money on wild living. He spent everything he had.
“Then the whole country ran low on food. So the son didn’t have what he needed. He went to work for someone who lived in that country, who sent him to the fields to feed the pigs. The son wanted to fill his stomach with the food the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything. - Luke 15:11-16
Teacher Note: There is no attempt whatsoever in the Parable of the Lost Son to minimize or disregard the seriousness of the son’s sin. Jesus received sinners and ate with them, but He never minimized their sin. And in this parable, He taught that great sin requires great repentance. The lost son began the long repentance journey home when he suffered the painful consequences of his rebellion and foolishness.
Say: At first, this seems like a story about a pretty typical family, doesn’t it? There is a father and two sons living together and working the land. But nearly right away we see that one of the sons was not typical at all. The younger son wanted to be free from all his father’s control. But to do that, he needed something from his father. What was it? Money. His share of the inheritance. A gift. Right. The younger son wanted to receive his inheritance before his father even died. Since an inheritance is a gift you receive after someone’s death, this was a pretty unusual request that showed he did not respect his father. The Bible says that when we respect our parents, things will go well in our lives (Ephesians 6:1-3).
But the father loved his son and agreed to give him his share of the inheritance. What a contrast! The father was generous, trusting, wanting his son to enjoy the abundance of a lifetime of hard work. But the younger son was selfish. He wanted the freedom that money would bring, and he believed that being free from his father’s presence would make him truly happy. So, of course, once he got the money he moved out. Let’s look again at what Luke 15:13 says: “Not long after that, the younger son packed up all he had. Then he left for a country far away.”
Not only did the younger son move out, but he moved as far away from his father as he could! Can you believe it? His father gave him a huge gift, and the son couldn’t wait to get away and enjoy all his newfound wealth.
Application: The younger son made a couple of really bad decisions. First, he decided to try and meet his own needs instead of depending on his father. He thought that if he had enough money, he could live exactly as he wished to live. But the Bible tells us that we should Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. — Proverbs 3:5
The second mistake he made was taking his father’s gift—a gift beyond measure when you consider how rare it was—and moving as far as possible from the one who gave the gift. Plus, he took everything else with him when he went. Have you ever heard someone say, “He really burned all his bridges”? When someone says you’ve burned your bridges, it means you have made it impossible to go back to the way things were before. In this parable, the younger son “burned his bridges” by taking his father’s gift and all of his other belongings and moving very far away. No one would make the mistake of thinking he was just on vacation! They knew he intended to be gone forever.
The younger son resembled God’s description of the Israelites in Jeremiah 5:23...”But you people have stubborn hearts. You refuse to obey me. You have turned away from me. You have gone down the wrong path.”
In the case of the younger son, the wrong path was the one that led him away from his father. I don’t want to go down the wrong path, do you? Going the wrong way is how you get lost! But Psalm 23:3 says that God “guides me in the right paths for the honor of His name.” So if we trust God to show us the right way to live our lives, we will never get lost.
Say: Now let’s pick up where we left off in the middle of verse 13 and read through verse 16.
“There he wasted his money on wild living. He spent everything he had.
“Then the whole country ran low on food. So the son didn’t have what he needed. He went to work for someone who lived in that country, who sent him to the fields to feed the pigs. The son wanted to fill his stomach with the food the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything.” - Luke 15:13b-16
Uh oh. The son thought he had it made in the shade with all that money he got from his father. But he made the terrible decision to exchange the love and warmth of his family for the temporary pleasures of sin. He didn’t want to work in the fields anymore. All he wanted to do was to spend his dad’s hard-earned money. He wasted his father’s money on all kinds of things he didn’t need and things that were not even good for him.
Now, what happened next to the son is very sad. There was a famine in the country where he was living. Does anyone know what a famine is? A food shortage. A time when everyone is hungry. A time where there is no rain and the crops die. It sounds like the son was living like the rebellious people in Psalm 68:6b, which says, ...those who refuse to obey Him live in a land that is baked by the sun.
When there is a famine, the food that is available becomes very, very expensive. But the son had spent all of his money and he couldn’t afford the high priced food. He had to get a job! He ended up working as a pig feeder.
Now, there are two things you need to know about pigs to understand this parable. First, they are very dirty, very smelly, and very hungry. Second, the food they eat is disgusting.
Take out the plate of disgusting food. Hold up each item and describe how bad it looks and smells. Describe how bad it would probably taste if you actually ate it. Say: Day and night, this was the kind of food the son had to feed the pigs. It might be good food for pigs, but it is definitely NOT good food for people. But the son was hungry enough to eat it. At this point, the son’s life was as bad as it could possibly get. Once his money ran out, his friends left too, and there was no one to give him any good food. He was actually hungry and desperate enough to eat THIS. Hold up one of the more disgusting pieces of food.
Application: Everyone lives for something. The younger son decided to live for himself and his own pleasure. But as we can see from his example, that didn’t really work out very well. His life was filled with suffering. But John 10:10b says that living for Jesus gives us the best possible life. It says, I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.
Let’s read further in the parable. Look at verses 17-20.
Say:
“Then he began to think clearly again. He said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food! But here I am dying from hunger! I will get up and go back to my father. I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven. And I have sinned against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.”‘ So he got up and went to his father.” - Luke 15:17-20a
Take out the plate of good foods. Hold them up one by one as you are talking. Say: At his lowest point, something happened to the son’s heart. He began remembering how GOOD things were back home. He remembered how everyone always had the best foods to eat. Even the workers ate delicious food. He began remembering the good times around the dinner table. He remembered his father’s hugs. He remembered how safe and loved and secure he felt in his home. He became homesick! And he began to plan a way to return to his father.
The son decided to go back, confess his sins to his father, and ask for mercy. This is called repentance. When you repent, you “change your mind” and “turn away from sin.”
Say: As he got closer to home, the son wasn’t sure what would happen. He didn’t expect his father to treat him like a son after what he did, but he hoped that he might be allowed to be a hired worker. He hoped his father wouldn’t send him back to the pigs and their terrible food.
Application: Acts 3:19 says something really amazing. It says, ...turn away from your sins. Turn to God. Then your sins will be wiped away. The time will come when the Lord will make everything new. What an incredible promise! When we repent, God says He will wipe our sins away and make us new. How is this possible? Well, it’s only possible because Jesus died on the cross so that our sins could not only be forgiven, but also be completely wiped away. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, God can give us a fresh start and a straight path into His kingdom, even when we think our sins have burned all our bridges behind us. Because Jesus died to pay the price for our sins, we can always find our way back home.
So. What do you think will happen when the son returns home? Let’s finish reading and see!
Say:
“While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him. He was filled with tender love for his son. He ran to him. He threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattest calf and kill it. Let’s have a big dinner and celebrate. This son of mine was dead. And now he is alive again. He was lost. And now he is found.’
“So they began to celebrate.
“The older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants. He asked him what was going on.
“‘Your brother has come home,’ the servant replied. ‘Your father has killed the fattest calf. He has done this because your brother is back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry. He refused to go in. So his father went out and begged him.
“But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve worked like a slave for you. I have always obeyed your orders. You never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But this son of yours wasted your money with some prostitutes. Now he comes home. And for him you kill the fattest calf!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me. Everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad. This brother of yours was dead. And now he is alive again. He was lost. And now he is found.’” - Luke 14:20b-32
Say: The son was hoping his father would make him a slave. Instead, his father saw him while he was still far away and ran to meet him! He was so happy to see his son again after such a long time away. He never stopped loving his son, even when the son stopped loving him for a while. And he never stopped hoping that his son would return home.
When the son confessed his sins to his father, the father didn’t punish him or lecture him or turn his back on him. The father threw a party to celebrate!
Application: This is how it is with God when we repent and turn away from our sins. When we set out to return to Him, He is already running to meet us. He is already celebrating, because more than anything else, God wants everyone to be part of His kingdom. Sometimes we turn our backs on our true home—God’s kingdom—but He will always celebrate when we humble ourselves and return to Him.
Say: This parable lesson wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the lost son’s older brother. His brother always worked very hard to please his father. He kept all the rules and never ran away with half the money like his younger sibling did. He was jealous and angry that his brother got a party when he returned. He thought that all of his hard work made him the better son. He thought that if anyone deserved a party it was him!
It is interesting that the older brother said that he “always obeyed” his father. Really? Can anyone honestly say that? No. The older brother only wanted to see the younger brother’s sin, not his own. In this way, the older brother was a lot like the Pharisees who loved to grumble about the sinners Jesus welcomed and ate with. They thought they were perfect and more deserving of His company than a bunch of tax collectors. But the Bible says, Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory. - Romans 3:23
Application: Sometimes we are like the rebellious lost son, thinking that our way is better than God’s way, but then repenting when we finally see how wrong we are. Other times we’re like the older brother, thinking that we’re not “as bad” as some people and refusing to repent for the sin we won’t even admit to having.
But no matter who we resemble more, we have a Heavenly Father who wants us to live forever in His kingdom. Our Father never gives up searching for us when we’re lost in sin, and He always forgives when we repent. He wants to run to meet us when we are still a long way off, and He wants to celebrate when we’re at home in His kingdom where we belong.
Key Verse:
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattest calf and kill it. Let’s have a big dinner and celebrate. This son of mine was dead. And now he is alive again. He was lost. And now he is found.’” - Luke 15:22-24
Main Point: God longs to bring everyone into His kingdom.
PPT CUE
PPT CUE
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: The Kingdom of God will grow and grow.
Key Verse:
May Your kingdom come. May what You want to happen be done on earth as it is done in heaven. - Matthew 6:10
Props: Mustard Seed; dry yeast and bread dough with yeast that has risen
Say: Jesus was the greatest teacher ever. He had amazing truth that He wanted to tell people. He wanted people to know who God was, what God was like, and what life was like in His kingdom. Most of the time, the truth that Jesus wanted to teach was very different than what the people already believed. Jesus wanted to change the way people thought. So Jesus taught these truths in a way that people could understand; He taught in parables. Parables are real life stories with a deeper meaning of truth. Parables used common, everyday people and situations to teach things that are difficult to understand.
It is sort of like this: A kindergarten teacher could say that 5-1=4. This is truth. But for young children who do not yet understand subtraction, she might say, “I had 5 apples on my desk. Yesterday Sam ate one of my apples. Now I have 4 apples left.” The apple story is a parable about subtraction.
Jesus used parables to teach spiritual truth in a way that people could understand and remember.
Additional Teaching for Older Students: Sometimes, the people - especially the Jewish leaders - were stubborn (Matthew 13:15). They did not want to hear the truth. When Jesus told truth by using a story, they couldn’t really argue with Him. For example, instead of saying, “Your behavior is wrong,” Jesus could tell a story about their actions, and each person listening could figure out how it applied to their own life.
Jesus told many parables about what the kingdom of God is like. The kingdom of God is VERY different from this world, and Jesus wanted people to know how wonderful it is, so they would want to become a part of it. Jesus told His disciples that through His parables, they had been “given the chance to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 13:11) Ask: Wouldn’t you like to learn the secrets of the kingdom of God? Over the next several weeks, we’ll read the parables and explore the secrets that Jesus wanted us to know.
Say:
Jesus told the crowd another story. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Someone took the seed and planted it in a field. It is the smallest of all your seeds. But when it grows, it is the largest of all garden plants. It becomes a tree. Birds come and rest in its branches." - Matthew 13:31-32
Say: When you hear the word mustard, you probably think of the spicy yellow stuff you put on a hot dog. That is the same kind of mustard. People use mustard as a spice, and when they grind up mustard seed and mix it with water or vinegar, we get ketchup’s best friend. (We believe the Romans were the first people to make prepared mustard, so it is possible that Jesus ate mustard similar to ours!)
The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds there is. But when it is planted in the ground, it grows up to be one of the largest plants. It can grow up to 12 feet tall. That’s twice as tall as a grown man! It can look more like a tree than a plant. As Jesus said, birds even come and rest in its branches.
Hold up a mustard seed. The seed starts out very small, but it is very powerful. Within the seed is the ability to grow an enormous plant. The growth is slow and steady. If you looked at it every day, you might not see much change. But if you planted the seed, walked away, and then came back in one year, you would see a huge change! The seed would become an enormous plant, bearing fruit and providing a place of rest for the birds. Just try to imagine a plant, 12 feet tall and 6 feet wide, all packed into this tiny seed! Now that is one powerful seed.
How is this like the kingdom of God? Well, we can look at this parable in two ways. In the big picture, this parable explains the kingdom of God worldwide. And on a more personal level, this story explains the kingdom of God within each believer.
Say: The people that Jesus was speaking to were Jewish. Remember, the Jews were God’s chosen people. Through the years, God promised that He was going to send a man to save them. The people misunderstood what this meant. They thought God would send a king to rescue them from the Roman government. They expected the Savior to set them free with military force. But that was not at all what God had planned. God sent the Savior to save them from their own sin.
With this parable, Jesus was telling His listeners that their way was not God’s way at all. God’s way was meek. The Savior, Jesus, came as a newborn baby. He grew up as a carpenter’s son. He quietly stepped onto the scene. He spoke out to small groups of people, and then more and more people came to listen. He had a small group of followers at first. Without much warning, the kingdom began to grow as people put their trust in Jesus.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, a handful of disciples were left to spread the truth of God’s kingdom. They were like that tiny seed. In the huge population of the entire world, they were like a little speck. But just like that mustard seed, they were full of hidden power. They had God’s Holy Spirit in them. As the disciples traveled and taught, more and more people believed. The worldwide kingdom grew and grew. Just like the mustard plant produces more seeds for planting, the disciples made more disciples. The disciples’ disciples made disciples. Just like the mustard plant grows tall and wide, the kingdom of God spread in every direction. God’s kingdom continues to grow today. The truth of the kingdom will be preached in ALL nations (Matthew 24:14).
All over the world the good news is bearing fruit and growing. It has been doing that among you since the day you heard it. That is when you understood God's grace in all its truth. - Colossians 1:6
When Jesus taught this parable, God’s kingdom on earth consisted of only a few ragged fishermen. But in time, the kingdom has grown to reach nearly every single nation. It has grown just as Jesus said it would!
Application: Many of you are part of God’s kingdom. You are like one of the buds on the huge plant. God has used many of you to spread His kingdom. And He will continue to use you at home, at school, and someday maybe even around the world. Like the mustard plant grows and grows, God’s kingdom will continue to grow until Jesus returns.
Teacher Note: The original language in Luke 13:19 suggests that this seed is not a deliberate “plant,” but a careless “toss” (ballo). Nonetheless, the seed made it’s way into the earth, sprouted roots, and grew. This may be Jesus’ way of addressing the Jews who did not care to hear the truth and tossed it aside. In spite of their disregard for the kingdom, it would take root and flourish.
Say: The parable of the mustard seed also describes how God’s kingdom grows in the life of each believer. When a person puts his trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of him (2 Corinthians 5:5). This is similar to the mustard seed being planted in the ground. No one can see it from the outside, but it is definitely there.
At first, the believer may not even feel very different, but the Spirit is powerful. It has the power to transform a person, just like the seed has the power to produce a huge plant.
The full-grown plant produces good things. It makes branches that are good for the birds to rest on, and it makes mustard seeds that are good to eat and good for making more plants.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit produces good things in each believer. The spiritual fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But that’s not all! The Spirit also brings forgiveness, healing, righteousness, glory, grace, compassion, knowledge and truth.
Like the plant, the growth is sometimes slow. You might not see changes overnight, but in a year’s time, the influence of the Holy Spirit in the person’s life has grown greatly. In a few years’ time, the results might amaze you. The person will be very different from the way he was. His beliefs, attitudes, and actions will no longer be ruled by his own thoughts and feelings. He will be ruled by the Holy Spirit.
Application: Remember how we looked at the huge mustard plant and tried to imagine all those leaves, flowers, and branches packed into this tiny seed? Now, let’s imagine something even more amazing. If you have put your trust in Jesus, all the good things of God’s kingdom are packed inside of you! If you are a believer, God’s Spirit is in you. Close your eyes, and try to imagine God’s love, joy, peace, forgiveness, healing, righteousness, glory, grace, compassion, and so much more, inside of you!
By God’s amazing grace, those things grow in you little by little. It will take more than a week or month. But in a few years, if you depend on the Spirit inside you, you will be amazed at how much the kingdom has grown in your life. Before you know it, without warning, you will be bursting with kingdom fruit. You will live your life to bring honor to God, the King, and you will focus your life on how to grow the kingdom far beyond yourself.
Say: Then Jesus told another parable that was very similar.
Jesus told them still another story. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast," he said. "A woman mixed it into a large amount of flour. The yeast worked its way all through the dough." - Matthew 13:33
I love eating bread or rolls with yeast in it. Yeast makes bread taste delicious (like the rolls at Ryan’s or O’Charley’s). I have some yeast here. Hold up yeast. When yeast is mixed into bread dough, there is a chemical reaction that makes tiny air bubbles all through the dough. These air pockets make the bread light and fluffy when you bake it. If you don’t add yeast, your bread will be flat and firm - not fluffy at all.
It only takes a very small amount of yeast to puff up a large amount of dough. I have a big bowl of puffed-up dough here. Show your dough. It only took a teaspoon of yeast to puff up this entire batch of dough.
This parable about the yeast was very much like the parable of the mustard seed. The main point of both parables was this: Sometimes things that start out small end up really huge! One small thing (like the mustard seed or the yeast) can affect everything around it in a BIG way. These parables must have been a great encouragement to Jesus’ disciples who had joined the kingdom when it was very small on earth.
Application: Sometimes we get discouraged when we are trying to live out the kingdom life. Sometimes it seems like no one notices when we do the right thing. Sometimes we don’t feel like we are producing enough fruit. Sometimes it seems like people don’t want to hear the truth about Jesus.
These parables should encourage you very much. While we might not be able to “see” the growth of the kingdom every day, it is growing - both in the world, and in the hearts of the believers. We could not stop the growth of God’s kingdom any more than we could take the yeast out of a batch of dough, or force a mustard plant back into its seed! Listen to the promise that Paul wrote to encourage his friends:
PPT VERSE
I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. - Philippians 1:6
Teacher: Re-read the verse, and insert the names of kids in your group. (I am certain that God, who began the good work within Haley, Trevor, Amaan...)
Say: This promise applies to each person who belongs to the kingdom of God. God ALWAYS keeps His promises! God will grow His kingdom in the believers and around the world.
PPT KEY VERSE
Key Verse:
May Your kingdom come. May what You want to happen be done on earth as it is done in heaven. - Matthew 6:10
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: The Kingdom of God will grow and grow.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT CUE
Main Point: Keep on praying to God!
Key Verse:
The prayer of a godly person is powerful. It makes things happen. - James 5:16b
Props: A door knocker. A loaf of bread, a large rock, an egg, a toy fish (or picture of a fish), a toy snake (or picture of a snake), a toy scorpion (or picture of a scorpion).
Say: Parables are such a great way to learn more about the kingdom of God. But did you know that they are also a great way to get to know Jesus really well? Think about it. When all your relatives gather together for a family reunion or a Thanksgiving feast or a wonderful day at the beach, storytelling is sure to be a big part of your day. Maybe your grandfather likes to tell stories about fishing, or your aunt likes to tell stories about her world travels. You can learn a lot about people by the stories they tell and the way they tell them. You might even say that listening to people’s stories is like looking into their hearts and minds. The things that are most important to them will show up in their stories.
Jesus loved to tell parables, because He loved stories and the way they helped people understand big truths about the kingdom of God. Today, we’re going to look at a parable about prayer. It’s called the Parable of the Persistent Friend. In this parable we’re going to get to see a few things about Jesus that we might not have known before. For example, this parable is pretty funny. Did you know that Jesus had a sense of humor? And did you know that it’s impossible to bother Jesus too much with our prayers? He never gets tired of hearing them! Let’s turn in our Bibles to Luke 11 so we can learn about the Parable of the Persistent Friend together.
Teacher Note: This is not the only time that Jesus encouraged us to be bold and persistent in our prayers. On the night before His crucifixion, in the beautiful, intimate setting of the upper room, Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet and then comforted them with amazing teaching about how the world would look once He was no longer living among them. In John 15:7, Jesus said, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.”
As followers of Christ, we too are His disciples. And our mindset should be that persistent prayers are not the grown-up equivalent of a child asking repeatedly for a juice box on a hot day. They are our requests for kingdom fruit to be present in our lives, our petitions for God’s glory to be shown, and the overflow of His words alive and active within us. On His final night, Jesus said to His disciples—and us—”ask, ask, ask.”
“In the context of a relationship with Jesus in which His words fill us and His personality has mixed and melded with ours, we are given perhaps the world’s most extravagant promise outside of the promise of our salvation. We can ask anything in His name, for bearing fruit and glory, and expect Him to answer it.” - Chris Tiegreen, The One Year Worship the King Devotional
Say: The Parable of the Persistent Friend is found in verses 5-13. But we’re going to look at what happened right before Jesus told the parable, because it will help us to understand why he told it. Let’s read together in Luke 11:1-4.
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples spoke to him. “Lord,” he said, “teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus said to them, “When you pray, this is what you should say.
“‘Father,
may Your name be honored.
May Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.’ “- Luke 11:1-4
Teacher Note: The Parable of the Persistent Friend is presented against the backdrop of this pattern of prayer. Jesus teaches us to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth, and then for basic physical and spiritual needs. We can see that the structure of the parable also follows this pattern. First, the persistent friend seeks what he needs to do the work of the kingdom by serving someone in need. Then, Jesus confirms that when our loving Father hears petitions for good, basic things—be they physical or spiritual—He will not play a dirty trick on us and give bad things instead.
Say: Jesus knew the importance of prayer. It is how we talk to God and tell Him we love Him and want more of Him in our lives. It is also the way we tell God what we need. Even though He already knows our needs before we ever speak them in prayer, God loves to hear us ask Him to be involved in our lives. God is our heavenly Father. In fact, when Jesus taught the disciples to pray in Luke 11, He told them to call God “Abba,” which is like our word “Daddy.” So just like we should always feel comfortable coming to an earthly Mommy or Daddy with our needs, we can come to God in the same way when we pray.
In this prayer, Jesus said that the first and most important thing we should pray to God is for His kingdom to come. From the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” And many of his parables started with the words, “The kingdom of God is like...” So it is not surprising that He wants us to pray for God’s kingdom to grow and grow on earth.
Then Jesus said to pray for our basic physical needs, or “our daily bread.” What are some basic needs we might ask God to provide when we pray to Him? Food. A warm house. Good health.
And finally, Jesus told us to come to God with our spiritual needs. He said to ask forgiveness for our sins, and to ask God to help us be forgiving toward others. He told us to ask God to strengthen us so that we won’t sin when we’re tempted.
So that is how Jesus taught us to pray. It’s pretty simple, isn’t it? Jesus didn’t say we had to pray long, complicated, fancy prayers. He didn’t say we need to say every single thing that pops into our heads. He just said to think of God as our loving Father and to ask Him to increase His kingdom on earth and to meet our basic physical and spiritual needs. Now that we’ve reviewed how Jesus wants us to pray, we can look at the Parable of the Persistent Friend in Luke 11:5-13.
Say: Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose someone has a friend. He goes to him at midnight. He says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. A friend of mine on a journey has come to stay with me. I have nothing for him to eat.’
“Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked. My children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
“I tell you, that person will not get up. And he won’t give the man bread just because he is his friend. But because the man keeps on asking, he will get up. He will give him as much as he needs.
“So here is what I say to you. Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks will receive. He who searches will find. And the door will be opened to the one who knocks. - Luke 11:5-10
Say: This is a pretty funny situation when you think about it. It’s midnight. Everyone in the neighborhood is asleep and dreaming. Suddenly, someone is knocking on the door at the little brown house on the corner. Knock two times with the door knocker. A sleepy man comes to the door in his pajamas carrying an oil lamp. We’ll call him Fred. Fred calls out, “Who is it?” And the person knocking on the door calls back, “It’s Moisha, your friend from Hebrew school. Remember me? I’m on a long trip and need somewhere to spend the night. Please can I stay with you?”
Fred opens the door wide and gives Moisha a great big hug. Then Moisha says, “Got anything to eat? Some nice bread, maybe?” Fred goes to his pantry and finds nothing but crumbs. Oh no! How is he going to feed Moisha? Then Fred remembers that his next door neighbor in the big grey house has the most amazing bread in his pantry ALL THE TIME! He tells Moisha to sit down and the table and runs next door.
Knock three times with the door knocker. Say: “Hershel, wake up! It’s Fred from next door. My friend Moisha is on a trip and needs something to eat, but my bread is all gone. Please can I have three of your loaves?”
But Hershel is snug in his bed. In fact, his whole family is tucked into his bed and if he gets up, they’ll all wake up and the baby will start crying and his wife will be grumpy in the morning. So Hershel says, “No. Go away.”
Did Fred give up? No! Knock four times with the door knocker. Say: “Hershel, please give me some bread.” Wait a short time, then knock five times with the door knocker. Say: “Hershel, please be my friend and give me three loaves. Wait a short time, then knock six times with the door knocker. Say: “Hershel, I really, really need that bread. My friend is tired and hungry and I need to help him because he doesn’t have anywhere else to stay or anyone else to feed him. I REALLY NEED THAT BREAD. PLEEEEASE?”
What do you think happened next? Hershel got up and gave him the bread. That’s right, Hershel eventually realized that Fred was not going to stop asking for the bread until he got it! So he got out of bed, grabbed his three best loaves of bread, unlocked the door and gave them to Fred with a smile. Even in the middle of the night, Hershel could see that Fred had an important need. He respected Fred’s boldness in asking for the bread. And eventually he gave Fred exactly what he needed.
Application: Sometimes we might feel like Fred when we pray. We have a really important need, so we pray to God and tell Him all about it. Maybe someone you love is really sick and you ask God to heal them. Maybe a friend’s family is having a hard time because their dad lost his job, so you pray that God will help him find a new job soon. Maybe you are arguing with your little brother too much and you want God to help you be nicer. You pray really, really hard.
Now let me ask you a big question. What do you do when it seems like there is no answer to your prayer? When this happens you might be tempted to give up and stop praying. But what did we learn from the Parable of the Persistent Friend? Never give up. Don’t stop praying. That’s right. Jesus says, even if it seems to be taking a while, don’t give up. Keep asking God for what you need. God ALWAYS answers our prayers at the perfect time. Sometimes we are not quite ready for the answer; sometimes God is waiting for all the circumstances to be just right to answer our prayer. But while we wait, Jesus wants us to keep our focus on God.
Jesus wants us to be BOLD when we pray. He wants us to SHAMELESSLY keep praying. To pray shamelessly means to pray without being embarrassed about how often we ask God to answer our prayer. It means to pray without worrying whether God is annoyed by our persistent prayers, because God is NEVER annoyed by our prayers. He loves for us to rely on Him.
Think about Fred knocking on Hershel’s door in the middle of the night. He was bold wasn’t he? And he knocked shamelessly. He wasn’t worried about making Hershel angry, and he wasn’t embarrassed to be pounding on the door over and over and over in the middle of the night.
Say: Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks will receive. He who searches will find. And the door will be opened to the one who knocks.”
Say: If we read Luke 11:11-13, we see something else really interesting that Jesus said about prayer. He said,
“Fathers, suppose your son asks for a fish. Which of you will give him a snake instead? Or suppose he asks for an egg. Which of you will give him a scorpion? Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Who remembers the name Jesus told us to use when we pray to God? Father. Abba. That’s right. Jesus told us to ask God for what we need in the same way we would ask a kind and loving earthly Father. From the story about the man who kept knocking on his neighbor’s door, we learned that God will answer persistent prayers. Now Jesus is telling us that he will always answer those prayers in the way that is best for us.
Hold up the large rock. Say: When Hershel finally opened the door that Fred had been pounding on, did he hand him a rock? No! Fred asked for bread and that’s what Hershel gave him. Hold up the loaf of bread. Fred wanted the kingdom of God to be present in his kitchen. He wanted to feed his tired, hungry friend Moisha. A rock wouldn’t have helped Fred show love, would it? But bread would. So that’s what he received.
Hold up the fish and the snake. Say: Jesus asked what would happen if a hungry little child tugged on his daddy’s sleeve and asked if he could have fish for lunch. Would he play a trick on his son and put a snake in his lunch box? No way! His boy would be sad and might even get bitten by the snake. Plus, he would still be hungry!
Hold up the egg and the scorpion. Say: Then Jesus asked what would happen if a son asked his daddy to make scrambled eggs for breakfast. Would the daddy put a live scorpion on a plate and serve it to his son instead? No! Scorpions are not breakfast food! They probably taste really, awful and might hurt you with their stinger, too. A loving daddy would make scrambled eggs for his little boy.
Then Jesus said something really interesting in verse 13. He said,
“Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Say: Jesus said that even sinners like us know how to show kindness to people we love. How much more kindness will our perfect and holy heavenly Father show to us? If a sinner can give good gifts to his children, God will give even more to those who ask him to meet their needs in prayer.
Application: Jesus wants us to keep praying for what we need, even if it seems to be taking a long time for that prayer to be answered. He wants us to view God as a loving Father, “Abba,” who will always do what is best for his children.
God will always answer our prayers in the way that is best for us, at just the perfect time. So if the answer we get is different from what we have asked, or not as soon as we hoped, we can be sure that God has given us his kindest, wisest, most loving answer.
Hold up the egg and the scorpion again. Say: So what do you think would happen if you prayed to God and asked him for a scorpion to eat? I think that in His wisdom and kindness, He is going to give you an egg instead. He will answer your prayer for something to eat by giving you something even better than what you asked for. I know the example I just gave is silly. Of course you would never pray for a scorpion to eat, but sometimes you might pray for the wrong things, and God may not give you those wrong things because He knows what is best for you.
Teacher Note: In 1 Kings 18, we see a beautiful illustration of persistent prayer answered. For many years, famine had ravaged the land. Cattle were dying, crops were destroyed, wells were dry. Elijah, who had just defeated the prophets of Baal, began to pray for rain. On top of Mt. Carmel, Elijah got on his face to petition God for rain. After the first prayer, he sent his servant to look toward to sea to see if rain was coming. It wasn’t. Elijah kept praying. Seven times he told his servant to go back and look again. The seventh time, his servant brought the news of answered prayer. A cloud no bigger than a man’s fist was rising from the sea. Elijah was not disappointed in the size of the cloud. He knew God’s plan was better than anything he might have imagined as he prayed. In the end, God sent a massive storm. His answer to Elijah’s persistent prayers was perfect in substance and in timing.
Key Verse:
The prayer of a godly person is powerful. It makes things happen. - James 5:16b
Main Point: Keep on praying to God!
PPT CUE
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT CUE
Main Point: You must recognize your need and depend on the mercy of God to enter God’s kingdom.
Key Verse:
“Everyone who lifts himself up will be brought down. And anyone who is brought down will be lifted up.” - Luke 18:14b
Props: A clear, empty jar. A measuring cup full of sand (enough to fill the jar half way). A handful of small rocks. Two balloons of different colors, one with the word PRIDE written on it in marker, the other with the word MERCY written on it.
Say: Jesus told many, many parables. Some were told to His disciples. Others were told to the crowds that followed Him wherever He went. Still others were told to Pharisees. The ones directed toward rule makers like the Pharisees usually contained deeper messages on their wrong thoughts about God and sin and the kingdom.
The Pharisees didn’t really like hearing these parables. They wanted to continue believing that the way they did things was the right way. They wanted to believe that they were better than other people because they made and enforced so many rules. They wanted to believe that they were part of an exclusive club, a club that sinners could never be a part of.
But when Jesus told parables to the Pharisees, He wanted them to understand two very important things. First, He wanted them to see that their sins and ways of thinking took them far away from God. And second, He wanted them to know that it was possible to repent of their sins and be part of God’s kingdom.
In the parable we are going to look at today, Jesus tells a story about prayer. The Parable of the Pharisee And the Tax Collector doesn’t focus on what people say when they pray, but on what they think. Jesus wanted the Pharisees (and us) to understand that the things we say when we pray are not as important as the condition of our hearts. Let’s read together in Luke 18:9-14.
Teacher Note: Right before this parable, in Luke 18:1-8, Jesus told a parable to His disciples about persistence in prayer. Much like the Parable of the Persistent Friend in Luke 11:5-13, this lesson urged the disciples to keep praying and never give up. It contrasts an unjust judge in a certain town with God, saying that if an unjust judge (who neither fears God nor cares about men) will give a persistent widow her way, how much more can we expect our merciful God to answer prayer?
There is an interesting transition between this parable and the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector that comes after it. Jesus says, in Luke 18:8, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” This seems to indicate that the second parable, the one addressed to “some who were confident of the own righteousness and looked down on everybody else,” is more about faith than it is about prayer. Beautifully worded prayers mean nothing if the heart behind them contains self-righteousness but no real faith or humility. God will draw near to us during times of humble prayer, but if our inner self is haughty as we pray, He will regard our petitions from a distance. Though the Lord is on high, He looks upon the lowly, but the proud He knows from afar. — Psalm 138:6
Say:
Jesus told a story to some people who were sure they were right with God. They looked down on everybody else. He said to them, “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. The other was a tax collector.
“The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself. ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people,’ he said. ‘I am not like robbers or those who do other evil things. I am not like those who commit adultery. I am not even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. And I give a tenth of all I get.’ - Luke 18:9-12
Teacher Note: There is nothing wrong with rules. Every family has them. Every church has them. Every organization has them. The key is to keep the rules in perspective, something the Pharisees did not seem able to do. When our adherence to rules makes us confident in our own righteousness or causes us to trust in rule keeping to justify us before God, we are committing a fatal error. The Pharisee in this parable had descended into haughtiness and self-righteousness.
Say: Can anyone tell me who Jesus told this parable to? People who were sure they were right with God. People who thought they were better than others. Pharisees. That’s right. Jesus was speaking directly to some people who trusted in the law and thought that keeping rules and acting very religious made them acceptable to God.
The Pharisees thought that the way to enter God’s kingdom was by keeping a lot of rules. Not only the rules that God gave Moses in the Old Testament, but also a bunch of rules that the Pharisees and religious leaders had added to the law over the course of many, many, many years. Can you imagine how many rules there were by the time Jesus arrived to show us the truth about the kingdom? The Pharisees and other very religious Jews were really the only ones who kept all the rules that had been added to the law. They thought that all the people who didn’t keep their rules were much to bad and sinful to ever be acceptable to God.
Now, rules are a necessary thing aren’t they? Your family probably has some rules. Does anyone want to share one of your family’s rules? Call on a couple of children and comment briefly on why that particular rule is important for keeping order in their family. What about school rules? Who wants to share a rule that your teacher has made? Briefly discuss a couple kids’ answers.
So you can see that there isn’t anything wrong with rules. Even churches have them. But there is something wrong with thinking that you are better than other people because you keep certain rules. For example, what if a church made a rule that you couldn’t drink anything that contains caffeine—like coffee or tea or soda? Drinking these things is NOT a sin—it is not in God’s Word—so this rule would be a MAN-MADE rule like the Pharisees made. If you kept that man-made rule carefully, you might be tempted to think that people in your church who drank soda were not as good as you. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:27 that this way of thinking is wrong: So who can brag? No one! Are people saved by obeying the law? Not at all! They are saved because of their faith.
Say: The only way to enter God’s kingdom and live with Him forever is to have faith in Jesus. If we believe that He is God’s Son and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, we are not separated from God any more. Keeping certain rules might be something that we do to honor God after we put our faith in Jesus, but we cannot be saved simply by obeying a bunch of rules. And once we know that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, there is really no reason to ever think we’re better than other people just because we do or say the right things.
You’ve probably heard God described as being merciful. Mercy basically means that we don’t get the punishment we deserve. God sent Jesus—who never sinned—to pay the price for OUR sins. Even though we deserve to be punished for the sins we commit, God was merciful and allowed Jesus to take the punishment for us. That should make us feel very humble, shouldn’t it?
Unfortunately, the Pharisee in this parable didn’t seem to recognize his own need for mercy. He thought he could enter God’s kingdom by being good and keeping rules.
Application: Let’s do a little demonstration of why good works and rules can never save us. Hold up the jar and the measuring cup full of sand. Let’s say this jar represents the Pharisee in the parable. I’m going to pour some sand into the jar. The sand represents sin. Pour the sand from the measuring cup into the jar until it is half full. How many grains of sand do you think are in this jar? A million. A billion. There’s really no way for us to count how many grains of sand are in here! The Pharisee wrongly thought that as long as he did enough good things and kept enough rules, that he could deal with his own sin and enter God’s kingdom.
Now I’m going to start adding rocks to the jar. The rocks represent good deeds that the Pharisee did, or rules that he kept. Start adding small rocks one by one to the jar. He thought that good deeds and obedience to the rules would take care of his sin problem. But do these good deeds remove even one grain of sin from this jar? No! Only God’s mercy can deal with sin. Only Jesus can take our sin away forever and allow us to enter the kingdom of God. Pour the sand and pebbles from the jar back into the measuring cup. Jesus came to take our sin upon Himself. When we believe that Jesus died for our sins, God no longer sees our sin. He sees us pure and clean like this empty jar is pure and clean, with no sin in it at all.
Now let’s read some more of the parable to see what happened next.
Say:
“But the tax collector stood not very far away. He would not even look up to heaven. He beat his chest and said, ‘God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner.’ - Luke 18:13
Do you remember what the Pharisee prayed in the temple? He said, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people.’
He also said, ‘I am not like robbers or those who do other evil things. I am not like those who commit adultery. I am not even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. And I give a tenth of all I get.’
The Pharisee was full of love and respect for himself. But he didn’t seem to have any love and respect for God and others. But the tax collector was quite different. He knew he was a sinner, and he was sincere in his desire to repent. Who remembers what it means to repent? To change your mind. To turn away from your sin.
The tax collector was honest about himself as he prayed. He was sad about the fact that he was a sinner, and he was humble in his need for God’s mercy. Do you think God liked what He heard in the tax collector’s prayer? Do you think God answered his prayer for mercy?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are hungry now. You will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are sad now. You will laugh.” - Luke 6:21
That sounds like a promise to the tax collector, doesn’t it? He is hungry for forgiveness, and he is sad that he has sinned against God. The tax collector knows that no one is more sinful than he is. And he knows that the only thing he can offer God is his faith and his willingness to repent and turn from his sin.
The Pharisees thought that the kingdom of God would never be home to the tax collector or anyone else who didn’t appear good or clean on the outside. The tax collector agreed that his sin was a problem. But unlike the Pharisee, he believed that the only way to overcome that sin problem was through God’s mercy, not through human effort.
Now let’s read what Jesus had to say about the two men praying in the temple. Look at Luke 18:14.
Say:
“I tell you, the tax collector went home accepted by God. But not the Pharisee. Everyone who lifts himself up will be brought down. And anyone who is brought down will be lifted up.” - Luke 18:14
The two men behaved very differently in the temple that day, didn’t they? The Pharisee was proud and thought he was better than other people, including the tax collector who prayed nearby. The tax collector was humble and sad about his sin. He knew that only God could give the forgiveness and mercy he needed.
Jesus said that a person who lifts himself up will be brought down. It’s like this balloon. Hold up the balloon, which you will blow up a little bit at a time as you say each self-righteous statement. Every time I think I am better than someone else or remind God how good I am, I am going to inflate the balloon a little bit. Say: Thank You God that I don’t say bad words like my neighbor. Thank You God that I am so good about putting quarters in the offering. God, I keep the rules at school so much better than the other kids. Thank You God, that my mom and dad love me more than my naughty little brother.
Say: Wow. Our balloon is really full isn’t it? Now that we’ve blown it up, we can see what the balloon says. It says “pride.” Remember what Jesus said about a prideful person who lifts himself up? He said they will be brought down. Let go of the balloon. The Pharisee entered the temple with a lot of pride. His balloon was full. But Jesus said that he would eventually be humbled.
The tax collector, on the other hand, entered the temple completely broken by his sin. He know that he had nothing to offer God except his repentance. Hold up the second empty balloon. Jesus said that anyone with this attitude will be lifted up, not by human efforts but by God’s mercy. Blow up the balloon and tie it shut. Do you see what this balloon says? It says “mercy.” When we are humble and see our need for forgiveness, He will fill our lives with mercy and bring us into His kingdom.
So do you think there is hope for the Pharisee in the parable? Of course there is. Just a few verses later, in Luke 18:26-27, one of the disciples asked Jesus if it was possible for anyone to be saved, and Jesus replied, “Things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”
In fact, one of the most self-righteous, rule-crazy Pharisees of all was saved by God’s mercy and went on to become the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the new testament and traveled the world sharing the good news of Jesus, who saves us from our sins. Here’s something that Paul said after God’s mercy allowed him to enter the kingdom of God: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the worst sinner of all.” — 1Timothy 1:15b
Application: Like Paul, we can say that Jesus came into the world to save us. We are all sinners. There is nothing we can do to make up for that. All we can do is be like the tax collector in the temple and recognize our own need for mercy; because without mercy, we cannot enter God’s kingdom. And like the tax collector, we should understand that everyone sins and needs forgiveness. We are not better than others, even if we keep rules or do lots of good works. God promises that if we recognize our need for His forgiveness, we will be lifted up. And that is the best place to be.
Key Verse:
“Everyone who lifts himself up will be brought down. And anyone who is brought down will be lifted up.” - Luke 18:14b
Main Point: You must recognize your need and depend on the mercy of God to enter God’s kingdom.
PPT CUE
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT CUE
Main Point: We show our love for Jesus by loving and serving other people.
Key Verse:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. - John 15:12
Props: Small plastic goat and sheep (or a picture of each). A piece of paper and marker or crayon.
Say: During the three years that Jesus traveled and taught, He used parables to help people understand important truths about God. Who remembers what a parable is? A short story. A story that has more than one meaning. A story that seems simple, but isn’t. Toward the end of Jesus’ three-year ministry, as it got closer and closer to the time when He would be crucified, He started telling stories that talked about a man who went away for a while and then came back.
For example, in the parable of the Ten Talents, we learned that a man returned from a long trip to see what his servants had done with gifts they had been given before he left. Two servants were faithful with their gifts and were rewarded by their master, but the third servant didn’t even try to use his gift. Because of this, it was taken away from him completely. In today’s parable—The Parable of The Sheep & The Goats—we will learn about a shepherd who returns to divide his flock into two groups, sheep on one side and goats on the other. As we will see, one of these groups is rewarded by the shepherd, and the other group is sent away from the shepherd and punished. Let’s read about the sheep and the goats together in Matthew 25:31-46.
Teacher Note: There is a great potential for misunderstanding with this parable if it is not viewed in conjunction with the entirety of Jesus’ teaching and the whole truth of scripture. Many people have used The Sheep & The Goats to argue that “getting into heaven” is merely a matter of doing good works or being a good person. But the gospel clearly teaches that there is only one way to be made right with God: the blood of Jesus, shed to make atonement for sin once and for all (Romans 5:8-10) and our belief in Him (John 3:16). Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (NIV)
Jesus told this parable not to imply that works bring salvation, but to show that there are many who merely pretend to know and love God, saying the right things, observing the right rituals, but never truly living a changed life that loves others like He has loved us. Jesus’ teaching in this parable is echoed elsewhere in scripture, especially Leviticus 19:18, James 2:26, and 1 John 4:19.
Say:
“The Son of Man will come in all His glory. All the angels will come with Him. Then He will sit on His throne in the glory of heaven. All the nations will be gathered in front of Him. He will separate the people into two groups. He will be like a shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep to His right and the goats to His left.” - Matthew 25:14-15
Teacher Note: Those hearing this parable would have been familiar with the process of sorting the flocks. During the day, sheep and goats would mingle, grazing together and roaming where they pleased. But at night, their needs were different, and they would be separated.
Hold up the plastic sheep in one hand and the plastic goat in the other. Say: Before we go any further it might be interesting to see how sheep and goats are different. They might look similar and make noises that are almost the same, but their personalities and behaviors are very, very different!
Say: This little goat looks cute and innocent doesn’t he? But anyone who has ever spent time with goats knows that they are trouble. Goats are very independent animals. If the shepherd decided to go on vacation for a week and left the goats to survive on their own, they could probably do it.
Goats also have huge appetites and will eat anything and everything to satisfy their hunger. A shepherd has to be careful, because a mama goat will often eat every bit of the food put out for her babies, leaving them to go hungry. She just uses her head to bump them out of the way so she can have their dinner!
Another thing about goats is that they’re motivated by their own desires. For example, let’s say a goat likes the way his shepherd’s hair tastes. He is always sneaking up behind the shepherd and trying to take a bite. The shepherd doesn’t like this of course, and punishes the goat when he does it. But the goat can’t stop thinking about how good that hair tastes! So as soon as the shepherd lies down to take a nap, that goat is right there, chewing on the sleeping shepherd’s hair and hopefully avoiding any punishment. Goats love doing what they want more than they love pleasing the shepherd.
Say: Now let’s look at sheep. From a distance, sheep might look like they’ve got it all together, hanging out in their pasture, grazing on yummy grass all day, playing with other sheep in the sunshine. But the truth is, sheep require so much help to stay alive! Did you know that if a sheep falls on its back, it can’t figure out how to get up without help and will eventually die if the shepherd doesn’t show it how to roll over and stand up again? Also, sheep have a strong tendency to panic and run around wildly when they are stressed out about something. If a car drives by and honks its horn, the whole flock of sheep might spend the next two hours running in circles and bumping into the walls and fences surrounding their pasture.
But sheep also feel very calm when their shepherd is around. They will follow him anywhere, because they have learned to trust him. They know that when it rains, the shepherd is the one who gently moves them to shelter. When they are hungry, the shepherd will take them to a pasture with tall, tasty grass or give them other food to fill their rumbling tummies. They know that the shepherd is the one who cares for all their needs.
Application: Here’s something interesting. Did you know that all throughout the Bible, God says that we are His sheep? Psalm 95:7 says, “He is our God. We are the sheep belonging to His flock. We are the people He takes good care of. Listen to His voice today.”
And Mark 6:34 says, “When Jesus came ashore, he saw a large crowd. He felt deep concern for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”
Think about what we just learned about sheep. They are totally helpless without their shepherd to guide them and take care of them. We’re like those sheep, and God is our good shepherd. We belong completely to the Good Shepherd. He cares for us and would never leave us completely alone. Because of that, we can trust Him to give us everything we need.
Say: Now let’s get back to our parable and see what happens next. Remember, the shepherd has divided the sheep and goats, with sheep on the right and goats on the left. You’ll notice that from this point on in the parable, Jesus doesn’t talk about the shepherd any more. He talks about a King. Jesus is our Good Shepherd, but He is also the King above all kings, and He is coming back someday to rule over all the earth. And in this parable Jesus tells us that the first thing He’s going to do when He returns is decide who’s a sheep and who’s a goat.
“Then the King will speak to those on his right. He will say, ‘My Father has blessed you. Come and take what is yours. It is the kingdom prepared for you since the world was created. I was hungry. And you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty. And you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger. And you invited me in. I needed clothes. And you gave them to me. I was sick. And you took care of me. I was in prison. And you came to visit me.’” - Matthew 25:34-36
Say: It sounds like the sheep did a good job, doesn’t it? But what Jesus said might seem a little confusing. Jesus said they fed HIM when He was hungry. And they gave HIM a drink when He was thirsty. They made friends with HIM when He was lonely. And they came to see HIM when He was in the hospital or in prison.
What does this mean? How can I possibly be one of the sheep when I’ve never even met Jesus in person, let alone made Him a turkey sandwich for lunch! The people who were in the sheep category were confused too. Here’s what they said:
“Then the people who have done what is right will answer Him. ‘Lord,’ they will ask, ‘when did we see You hungry and feed You? When did we see You thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You as a stranger and invite You in? When did we see You needing clothes and give them to You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’” - Matthew 25:37-39
Say: We know from some of the other parables we’ve studied that Jesus always had a good answer when people were confused. He knew that His parables were often kind of mysterious and hard to understand. That’s exactly what He wanted them to be! He wanted people to think hard about what He was saying. But Jesus never, ever left people with any doubt about what He meant. That’s why the King in the story of The Sheep & The Goats gives a very clear answer to the sheep’s question. He says,
“The King will reply, ‘What I’m about to tell you is true. Anything you did for one of the least important of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’” — Matthew 25:40
The King—Jesus—told the sheep that because they have loved and cared for the people around them, they have loved and cared for Him. The sheep get invited into the kingdom of God.
But here’s something really important to remember. The sheep have not earned their place in the kingdom through the good things they did. There are not enough good deeds in the world to change the fact that we have been separated from God and His kingdom by our sin. Romans 3:23 says, “Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory.”
If we keep reading in Romans 3, we see what DOES make us part of the kingdom of God. Verses 24 and 25 say, “The free gift of God’s grace makes all of us right with Him. Christ Jesus paid the price to set us free. God gave Him as a sacrifice to pay for sins. So He forgives the sins of those who have faith in His blood.”
That’s pretty exciting stuff! Because God loves us so much and doesn’t want our sin to keep us from having a relationship with Him forever. So He sent Jesus to pay the price for our disobedience. Because He died on the cross, we can be part of the kingdom of God forever if we simply believe in what Jesus and what He did for us.
Application: When we trust in Jesus and believe that He died so that our sins could be forgiven, something happens. We change. We’re not the same as we were before we decided to love and trust Jesus. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 5:15-17.
“Christ died for everyone. He died so that those who live should not live for themselves anymore. They should live for Christ. He died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we don’t look at anyone the way the world does. At one time we looked at Christ in that way. But we don’t anymore.
Anyone who believes in Christ is a new creation. The old is gone! The new has come!”
Write the word “sin” on the piece of paper repeatedly using a dark colored marker or crayon. Say: What if someone wrote each of your sins on a piece of paper as soon as you committed them. Everything you’ve ever done to disobey God is on this paper. After a few years, the paper would be really full! But then one day, you decide to trust Jesus and believe that He died to pay the penalty for all these sins. Right then and there, it’s like the paper record of all your sins has been torn up and thrown away.
Tear up the paper and throw the pieces in a trash can. When we decide to follow Jesus, we get a brand new start. We get to live the life He wants us to live. And He wants us to love the people around us because He loves them (and us!) so much. When He was on earth, Jesus said there were just two things we needed to remember: First, He told us to love God. And then He told us to love others like He loves us.
Application: That’s why in this parable, the sheep were able to do lots of things to show love to other people. It’s like He’s pouring all this love into their hearts, and they can’t help but pour love out into other people’s lives. You might say that the good things the sheep did were evidence that Jesus was working in their lives.
None of the good deeds that Jesus mentions are hard to do. He doesn’t say that the sheep gave millions of dollars to their church. He doesn’t say that they wrote a thousand page book about God. It doesn’t say that they moved into a cardboard box and ate only cockroaches so that others could live in their home and eat all their food.
It’s easy to show the kind of love Jesus talked about. Do you know of someone who doesn’t have enough to eat? Let them share your sandwich. If someone is thirsty, offer them a cup of water. Is someone at school lonely and friendless? Sit by them at lunch or invite them to your house on the weekend. And if your grandma is sick, make her a card or call her up on the phone or go to her house to give her a hug. That’s all He asks. And when we do those simple things, it’s like we’re doing them for Jesus. He must be so happy when we love other people that way, don’t you think?
Say: Now, back to parable. What do you think Jesus is going to tell the goats? Let’s read Matthew 25:41-46.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘You are cursed! Go away from me into the fire that burns forever. It has been prepared for the devil and his angels. I was hungry. But you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty. But you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger. But you did not invite me in. I needed clothes. But you did not give me any. I was sick and in prison. But you did not take care of me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty and not help you? When did we see you as a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘What I’m about to tell you is true. Anything you didn’t do for one of the least important of these, you didn’t do for me.’
“Then they will go away to be punished forever. But those who have done what is right will receive eternal life.”
Say: The goats were living a selfish life. They saw lots of people in need, but did nothing for them. They were not like the sheep, who had been given a brand new way of seeing other people when they trusted Jesus. The goats had not accepted the love of Christ, so they didn’t have His love to give to other people. Sadly, when the King comes back to sort the sheep and the goats, the goats will not get to be with Him forever.
Teacher Note: “The attitude of those who had failed was: ‘If we had known it was you, we would gladly have helped. But we thought it was only some common man who wasn’t worth helping.’ It is still true that there are those who will help if they are given praise and thanks and publicity. But to help like that is not to help, it is to pander to self-esteem. Such help is not generosity; it is disguised selfishness. The help which wins the approval of God is that which is given for nothing but the sake of helping.” — William Barclay (1907-1978), Biblical scholar and theologian
Application: When you know how much Jesus loves you and how much He did for you on the cross, you are literally overflowing with His love. You can’t help but love other people like He loves you. And when you serve them, you are also serving Jesus. But if you ignore and reject the love that Jesus offers, you will never see other people the way He sees them. You will never be able to serve them unselfishly and completely. And in the parable of The Sheep & The Goats, Jesus tells us that the kingdom belongs only to those who love Him and love others.
Key Verse:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. - John 15:12
Main Point: We show our love for Jesus by loving and serving other people.
PPT CUE
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