Children’s Sermon

Matthew 21:33-46

Fruits of the Kingdom

By Lois Parker Edstrom

OBJECTS SUGGESTED: Various types of fruit – fruit salad. Share with the children if appropriate.

Let’s make a fruit salad. What kind of fruit do you like? Bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, cherries, pineapple, kiwi, pears. What about melons? Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew. Berries are good too. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries. What a beautiful fruit salad. Yum! Tastes good too.

In the Bible Jesus talks about “fruit” and he is speaking about those things we do to help others and honor God (21:43).

He tells a story about a landowner who has a vineyard that produces grapes. He allows renters to use the land and when it is time to share the grapes with the landowner, the renters refuse. He sent people, three times, to collect the grapes and each time the renters kept the grapes for themselves. The landowner’s land produced fruit, but none of the fruit was given back to the landowner.

Let’s think about this story and try to figure out what the lesson is. Imagine the landowner as God. God gives us the ability to grow and produce fruit. Our fruits are the loving things we do to honor God. Just as there are many different kinds of fruit in a fruit salad, there are also many ways we can serve others and honor God. Pray for someone who is sick. Be kind and friendly to a new kid at school. Help your parents with chores around your home. Visit the elderly in nursing homes. Share your special talents, such as singing, playing an instrument, or painting lovely pictures. Can you think of others? Each time you do a loving thing for another person, you are producing “fruit” that honors God (21:43).

The lesson, then, is that we receive God’s love, share it with others, and when we do that we are giving that love back to God – producing beautiful fruit for the kingdom of God.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2007, Richard Niell Donovan.