The Pumpkin Gospel

13 Oct The Pumpkin Gospel

This Fall in Superkids we did a series of lessons on worry, doubt, loneliness, and fear called Glow in the Dark. We finished it out with an entire session dedicated to the Pumpkin Gospel, a lesson that brings home the truths of the gospel in a simple story told while carving a happy face onto a pumpkin. It’s a fun family tradition in the Nettles’ household that goes back two decades, and will continue with each new generation and in Superkids as well!

Here’s the short version if you’re interested:

One day, the Gardener went out into his field and picked a special pumpkin. It was a bit dirty from laying in the garden, so he brought it inside and gently wiped it off. Now the pumpkin looked clean on the outside, but what about the inside?

The Gardener took a knife and cut open the top of the pumpkin. And what did He find?  A bunch of slimy, yucky goo! The Gardener wanted His special pumpkin to be beautiful, so He carefully scraped out all of the goo inside until the pumpkin was as clean inside as it was on the outside!

But the Gardener still wasn’t finished with the pumpkin. He decided it needed a face! So, He carefully cut out two eyes, a nose, and a big smiling mouth. Now the Gardener’s special pumpkin looked clean AND happy.

Next, the Gardener put a light inside of it. The pumpkin glowed so beautifully! The Gardener’s special project was complete.

When friends and neighbors saw the Gardener’s special pumpkin, they marveled at how He took something ordinary from His garden, cleaned it inside and out, put his light inside, and made it something extraordinary!

You see, we are like pumpkins and God is the Gardener. God creates us and cares for us. He chooses each of us from all of the other pumpkins. He has a plan and a design for our lives.

When we allow our hearts to open up and let God inside, it’s like the pumpkin trusting the Gardener to take his top off. Inside us, it’s dark and messy, but we shouldn’t hide that from God.  We should give it to Him and let Him clean us out. Sin is yucky and only God can take it away. We can’t clean ourselves up. Only God can.

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23  

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23

God sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins and to take the punishment we deserved. Jesus took the nasty sin out of our hearts.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

Just as the Gardener gave the pumpkin a new face, God makes us a new creation!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

As the Gardener put His light into the pumpkin to make it shine, so God gives us His light to shine through us!

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made the light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Jesus Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

When we let God clean out our sin, by believing that Jesus died to pay for the punishment that we deserve, He turns us into new creations that can shine for Him in a dark world!  And when others see our light, then they will want to learn how to have a relationship with the Gardener, and a light of their own, too!