For a free pdf download of this resource click here
THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE MATTHEW 20:1-16
PREPARATION
You will need: several sweets (all the same, and worth doing 50 press-ups for!), Bibles, art materials and prayer cards with the prayer written on them.
PRESS-UP CHALLENGE
10 mins
Explain that you will be doing a press-up challenge. Pick someone to do 50 press-ups for a sweet. As the young person is doing these, pick someone else to do 20 for the same sweet. As both are doing their press-ups, pick someone else to do five for the same sweet. Make sure each participant has an adjudicator to ensure they do their full quota. You could alter this game so that everyone in the group takes part. When everyone has finished, give out the sweets; from those who started last to those who started first. Ask those who took part in the challenge:
• How did it feel doing a lot of press-ups for the same as those who did fewer?
• How did it feel doing fewer press-ups for the same as those who did the most?
• Do you think the challenge was fair?
THE PARABLE
5 mins
Use the video at this point in the session as a way of introducing the parable and creating an opportunity for discussion and conversation around it. The video is available at premieryouthwork.com/parablevideos
STUDY
10 mins
Split the young people into small groups with Matthew 20:1-16 in sight. Ask:
• Who are the labourers and who is the landowner?
• Why do you think the landowner paid all the workers the same wage?
• What does this say about the landowner?
• What do you think is meant by ‘The last will be first, and the first will be last?’
• How might this parable apply to our lives?
KEY POINT
The kingdom of heaven can seem incredibly unfair at times, with those who are last coming first, and those who are first coming last. We may have experienced this in our own lives. Perhaps we have seen those who have recently become Christians experiencing God in a way that we have prayed about for years, or those whom we have discounted because of lifestyle choices are being used by God when we have been doing all the right things but feel utterly useless.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS LIKE...
10 mins
In the same groups, get the young people to make a collage of what they think the kingdom of heaven is like on what they have learnt. Then get them to feed back to the whole group.
KEY POINT
God never turns away anyone who is willing to live for him. Living for God can be hard work sometimes, but God sufficiently sustains us, as he did the labourers in the vineyard. This is because our God is one who is generous, gracious and who calls us ‘friend’. God is so generous that he wants everyone to experience his love, however long they have known about him, or however long they have waited. God keeps offering us opportunities to respond to him.
AN AWARENESS OF GOD’S GRACE
10 mins
Ask the young people to get comfortable and close their eyes. Use the following script to help facilitate an encounter with God’s grace:
‘As you sit, become aware of God’s presence and care for you. Concentrate on your breathing (pause). Slow it down, and again become aware of God’s presence, sustaining and holding you.
When you are ready, ask the Holy Spirit to go with you and inspire you to remember any moment in your journey with God (pause).
As you look over your experience, let the following question arise: Where did I experience God’s grace in this moment? Allow little things to emerge: a smile, a greeting, a kind word, the sunlight in the room, an emerging conversation. Then stay with whatever moment God seems to give you. Don’t force anything, just be open and let the moment arise that seems to hold the most grace.
Let all else fall away as you spend a few moment just holding that experience. What does this feel like? (Pause) What are you like? (Pause) What are the other people like in this experience? (Pause) Thank God for this, and slowly open your eyes .’
KEY POINT
Although the kingdom of heaven can be viewed as unfair, we have to remember that everyone is favoured equally and loved. It is through this kingdom that we get to witness God’s grace being played out. Grace can be seen as receiving an abundance of something we don’t deserve.
PRAY
5 mins
Hand out your prayer cards with the following written on them: Father almighty, maker of heaven and Earth: set up your kingdom in our midst.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God: have mercy on me, when I grumble about your grace and generosity towards others.
Holy Spirit, breath of the living God: help me love those around me equally, and renew the world order according to your will.
(Adapted from the Trinity prayer by Tom Wright )
Read the prayer out all together, and finish by encouraging the young people to take the cards home and pray this throughout the week.
