Fakers
Items needed: fake (play) food
Serve fake food (borrow from children’s play set) for a meal. Put it in a bowl or on their plates. (Of course, keeping real food hidden somewhere.)
Why don’t you want to eat this food?
Serve the real food.
What’s the difference between the fake and real food? (Fake food is not real; you can’t even eat the fake food; the real food is good; etc.)
What was Jesus teaching when He told the parable about the wheat and weeds (tares)? Jesus’ parable, a story that teaches a deeper meaning, was about a man who planted a field of wheat, but while he slept, his enemy secretly sowed weeds in his field. The owner said to let them both grow, and he would sort them out at the harvest. Jesus told the deeper meaning and said there will be a “harvest” (the judgment) when He will sort out the true believers and “fakes.”
How could one be a “fake”? (He could say or do things so others would think he believes in Jesus, but he would not really believe; he could pretend to be a Christian to please others; etc.)
God sees our hearts and knows if we are true believers. We will all be judged by Him.
Now or Later
Items needed: Now or Later candy
Share the candy and talk about judgment.
Do you know what the word judgment means? (A process that determines if punishment for a choice is needed) Does judgment always come right away? (Not always, sometimes we do wrong things, and it looks like there is no punishment)
What might we think if we don’t see consequences (bad results) when we do wrong? (It’s not so bad to do wrong; we can do wrong and get away with it; etc.)
God is a just judge. Sin must be punished, but we can be thankful Jesus has paid for our sins and they can be wiped away. Let’s try to make good decisions and be a true believer of God and His Word.
Is It Real?
Show your children pictures of real and fake fruit, money, animals, flowers, etc. Discuss how they could tell the real from the fake.
Jesus’ parable, a story that teaches a deeper meaning, about the wheat and the weeds (tares) was about a man who planted a field of wheat. Do you know what happened while he slept? His enemy came in the night and secretly sowed weeds in his field. Do you think the owner told his workers to let them both the wheat and the weeds grow? That’s exactly what he said, because he decided to separate them at the harvest. There will be a time when Jesus will sort out the true believers from the fakes.
How could one be a “fake”? (He could say or do things so others would think he believes in Jesus, but he would not really believe; he could pretend to be a Christian to please others; etc.)
God sees our hearts and knows if we are true believers. We will all be judged by Him.