Use this children’s Sunday School lesson to teach kids that God wants us to tell everyone about Him.
Needed: Bibles, drawing paper, crayons or colored pencils
Intro Game: Receiving the Invitation
Choose one student to be It. Then, have It turn around and choose one of the other students to be the Hostile.
It then tries to tag all the other students, but if they tag the Hostile, they’re out. It wins when they tag everyone except the Hostile.
Bible Lesson
Ask students, How many of you have ever been to a wedding?
Who usually gets invited to a wedding?
Usually, it’s the people who know the bride or the groom that get invited to the wedding. But what if everyone in the whole city got invited? What if everyone in the whole world got invited? That would be a pretty big wedding, wouldn’t it?
(Read Matthew 22:1-3.)
“Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.”
So, the king is having a wedding for his son, but no one wants to come to the wedding. Why do you think people wouldn’t want to come to the wedding?
(Read Matthew 22:4-6.)
“’Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”
“’But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.’”
What were the people doing instead of coming to the wedding? (They were working in their fields or their business.)
And some of them even killed the king’s servants! All the king wanted to was invite them to come to the wedding, and they killed the king’s servants. So, what do you think the king should do to them?
(Read Matthew 22:7-10.)
“’The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
“’Then he said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.’”
Now, who did the king invite to the wedding? (He invited everyone in the city, good people and bad people.)
That’s how it is with God. The wedding is a great, fun event, just like going to Heaven is going to be greater than anything we could ever think of. God, the King, wants us to invite everyone to go to Heaven, good people and bad people, but some people won’t want to go.
Maybe they don’t want to think about God because they want to think about other things instead, just like the people in the story wanted to go to work instead of going to the wedding. Some people will even be mean to us when we tell them about God and invite them to go to Heaven.
But God still wants us to invite everyone to go to Heaven because He wants everyone to come to be in Heaven with Him.
Now, does that mean that everyone will get to go to Heaven?
(Read Matthew 22:11-14.)
“’But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, “How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?” The man was speechless.
“’Then the king told the attendants, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“’For many are invited, but few are chosen.’”
What happened to the man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes? (The king threw him outside and didn’t let him come to the wedding.)
That’s how it is with God too. When you go to a wedding, you usually wear nice clothes, right? That’s what you do when you go to a wedding. Well, there are some things you have to do to go to Heaven.
Can anyone tell me what you have to do to go to Heaven? (Believe in God and do the right things that God wants you to do.)
And if you don’t believe in God, and if you don’t do the right things that God wants you to do, then God won’t let you go to Heaven when you die. You’ll have to go to Hell instead.
So, remember, God wants us to invite everyone to go to Heaven, just like the king invited everyone to go to the wedding, but if we want to go to Heaven, we have to believe in God and do the right things that He wants us to do.
Read more Bible verses about marriage and weddings.
Craft: What Will It Be Like?
Give students drawing supplies and have them draw a picture of themselves going to Heaven. When they’re finished, have them share their pictures and ask them what they think Heaven will be like.
Game: Receiving the Invitation
Play the intro game again, but call It the Servant. Then, remind students that the servants in the story went out to invite people to the wedding, but some of the people attacked and killed them. We have to invite other people to go to Heaven, too, but some people will be mean to us when we try to invite them.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You for inviting everyone to go to Heaven to be with You. Help us to believe in You and to do what You want us to so that we can be with You. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
You can also find this lesson for Kindle or in print in my book, The Parables and Teachings of Jesus Vol. 2.