Best suited for grades 3-6

 

Theme

The effects of sin on our testimonys

Text

Mathew 5:14-16, Proverbs 20:11

Supplies Needed

A flashlight with batteries, trash.

Lesson

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would not take the garbage out! She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans, Candy the yams and spice the hams, And though her daddy would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out. And so it piled up to the ceilings: Coffee grounds, potato peelings, Brown bananas, rotten peas, Chunks of sour cottage cheese. It filled the can, it covered the floor, It cracked the window and blocked the door With bacon rinds and chicken bones, Drippy ends of ice cream cones, Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel, Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal, Pizza crusts and withered greens, Soggy beans and tangerines, Crusts of black burned buttered toast, Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . . The garbage rolled on down the hall, It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . . Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs, Globs of gooey bubble gum, Cellophane from green baloney, Rubbery blubbery macaroni, Peanut butter, caked and dry, Curdled milk and crusts of pie, Moldy melons, dried-up mustard, Eggshells mixed with lemon custard, Cold french fried and rancid meat, Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat. At last the garbage reached so high That it finally touched the sky. And all the neighbors moved away, And none of her friends would come to play. And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said, “OK, I’ll take the garbage out!” But then, of course, it was too late. . . The garbage reached across the state, From New York to the Golden Gate. And there, in the garbage she did hate, Poor Sarah met an awful fate, That I cannot now relate Because the hour is much too late. But children, remember Sarah Stout And always take the garbage out! Shel Silverstein, 1974

 

How many of you like to take the garbage out? Why not? What do you think would happen to us if we didn’t take the garbage out? Well in our lives we have some garbage, does anyone know what we call it? It’s called sin.

Just like with the girl in our story the sin starts out as something little maybe a candy wraper or a old toy in the trashcan but eventually it gets bigger   and bigger. The garbage in our lives affects our testimony or our reputation. Does anyone know what a testimony is? It is what comes into peoples minds when they think about us.

If I asked you to describe the pator for me what would you say ( give a couple of kids a chance to answer.) that is his testimony. there a lot of different things you can be know for some of them good and some bad. Turn to Mathew 5:14-16. as christians we are supposed to let our lights Shine . What do you think this means?  It means that we are supposed to do the things that God would want us to do so we can have a good reputation or testimony that would lead people to Christ. (take out your flashlight) This flashlight represents us and the batteries represent God. W hen we are filled with Christ what does our light do (turn on the flashlight and off the overhead lights) when we allow Christ to take over our life we are able to  Shine  through the dark (turn on the light and begin removing the batteries) but often we will let a little sin in ( replace a battery with trash) it will start as something small, maybe when mom told you to clean your room you shoved everything under the bed (keep adding trash). Instead of taking out the trash we act like sarah did and we just keep letting our lives fill up with the garbage (turn out the lights) and our light cannot Shine anymore.

Just like with Sarah our daddy is begging us to take out the garbage from our lives. Who is our daddy? God is and he knows that the more the garbage piles up the more it is going to hurt us. And before we know it it is to late. No matter how bad we sin God will always forgive us so what is it to late for? Our testimonies, what people see in us. Once someone makes a decision about how you are it is almost impossible to change their minds for example if you are known as a liar and you tell the truth do you think someone will trust you? NO! because you are known for lying.

Turn to Proverbs 20:11. Is it only adults that people judge? This verse says even a child is known by his doings. It is just as important for you to have a good testimony as for me. When you tell someone you are a christian they start watching you to see if what you say matches with what you do and if they don’t see you being a light but instead see someone that has a garbage can that is  overflowing  why would they want anything to do with God? Once you become an adult it is heard to fix the bad testimony from not taking out the garbage but you guys are still young and it is not  to late. I am going to read our story one more time and I want you to think about what we talked about as you listen to it.