Childrens Sermon Service

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. (v. 16)

Note: You might want to practice the activity to decide how long to set the alarm for; 3 to 4 minutes is probably enough. The instructions will explain who you are to be speaking too. Most of all, have fun with this!

Hello everyone. I want to tell you the story about a man who owned a vineyard. Do you know what a vineyard is? (Let them answer) Yes, it is like a farm for grapes, with lots of grapevines growing in the fields. Grapevines take a lot of work to keep them healthy, and the vineyard owner went out to find some people to help him take care of his vines.

About eight o’clock in the morning the vineyard owner saw someone standing by the road and told them that if they helped him work all day, he would pay them twenty dollars for their work. That person agreed and started working.

Let’s pretend we are in the story. I need a volunteer. (Pick one child and have them stand) Let’s pretend you are the person working for me. But instead of taking care of my grapevines, I just need you to hold this book in the air for me for five minutes. And for your work, I will pay you with a nice sticker, okay? (Let them respond and agree) I’ll set a timer to tell us when the work is done. (Hand the first child a book) Okay, let’s get to work. Hold the book up in the air for me until the timer goes off. (Start the timer and have the child hold up the book)

Well, when they stopped for lunch around noon, the vineyard owner saw another person standing by the road and told them that if they helped him work the rest of the day, he would pay them twenty dollars for their work. That person agreed to help too and started working.

I need another volunteer. (Pick another child and have them stand) Let’s pretend you are the second person working for me. (Hand the second child a book) Okay, you hold this book up until the alarm sounds and I will pay you with a nice sticker, okay? (Let them respond) Great! Let’s get to work. (Have them hold the book up)

Then, around three o’clock that afternoon, the vineyard owner saw another person standing by the road and told them that if they helped him work the rest of the day, he would pay them twenty dollars for their work. That person agreed to help too and started working.

I need one more volunteer. (Pick another child and have them stand) Let’s pretend you are the third person working for me. (Hand the third child a book) Here is your book. You hold it up until the alarm sounds and I will pay you with a nice sticker, okay? (Let them respond) Great! Let’s go to work. (Have the third child hold up their book)

At five o’clock the vineyard owner said it was time to stop working and the people came over to receive their payment for the work they had done. The person who had worked all day walked up and the vineyard owner gave them twenty dollars. (Hand the first child their sticker) The person who had started working at noon walked up and the vineyard owner gave them twenty dollars. (Hand the second child their sticker) Then the person who had started working at three o’clock walked up and the vineyard owner gave them twenty dollars. (Hand the third child their sticker)

NOTE: If you notice a reaction from the children or one of them says something about being fair, say, “You know what, the people in the story wondered about that too!”

The person who had worked all day started to grumble. He said, “Hey! How come those people got paid as much as I got paid? I worked all day for you, but that one only worked half of the day and that other one only worked for two hours. That’s not fair. I should get paid more money because I did more work!”

The vineyard owner smiled and said, “I am not being unfair to you, my friend. I paid you exactly what we agreed that I would pay you. I offered the same amount to the others because I wanted to be generous and thank them for helping me. Take your money and go on home.”

(Collect the books as you continue) What do you think about that story that Jesus told? Do you think the vineyard owner being generous like that was a fair thing to do? And do you think it was fair for me to give you all the same sticker for your work? (Let them answer)

Let me tell you what I think Jesus meant when he told that story. He knew that sometimes we get really worried about things being fair and who gets to be first and who has to be last. The people with Jesus were upset because some of the new people who had started following Jesus around used to be pretty nasty people and did some pretty nasty things. And some of the new people used to act like really good people, but they still did bad things and hurt others.

The people with Jesus said, “How come you let those new people come along with us after all the bad stuff they did? We never did those things. We were good a lot longer than they have been good, so how come they get to walk with us and eat the same foods and are treated just like we are treated. It’s not fair.”

Jesus told the story about the vineyard to remind them that it didn’t matter who those people used to be. What mattered was that now they had decided to follow Jesus, and when they did that, they would all be treated as equals because God loved them all and as far as God was concerned they were all his children.

Sometimes it is hard to treat others like we are all equal. But in God’s eyes, none of us are first and none of us are last. We are all equal, and all God’s children.

Prayer: Dear God, help us remember that you love each and every one of us.