Account-able
Children's sermon
Object:
a calculator
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. (v. 7)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have ever seen your parents or other adults in your life use one of these? (show calculator) Who can tell me what this is? (allow answers) What does a calculator do? (allow answers) That's right: it does math. You type your math problem into the calculator and it comes up with your answer.
So when have you seen adults use a calculator? (allow answers) Adults use calculators when they are balancing their checkbooks, preparing taxes, or planning a budget. Do you know what checkbooks, taxes, and budgets have in common? (allow answers) All of these things have to do with money.
All of these things are also part of "accounting." Accounting is the process of keeping track of money. Accountants are people who keep track of the money. They are trained to keep track of lots of numbers. They organize numbers into two groups. One group is called "credit" numbers. These numbers represent money that someone earns. The other group of numbers is called "debit" numbers. These numbers represent money that someone pays out -- or spends.
An accountant's goal -- or your parents' goal, when they have their calculators out -- is to end up with more money coming in than money going out. People want to make more money than they spend.
That sounds simple enough, right? But imagine that the numbers were reversed. What if somebody switched the "debit" and "credit" numbers? All of a sudden, the work that you had done to was all backward! What would you feel? (allow answers)
Our Bible verse today talks about something like that. Saint Paul says, "Whatever gains I had, these I come to regard as loss." What do you think he means by that? (allow answers) Before Saint Paul became a follower of Jesus, he thought about the world differently. He did his best to hurt Christians. He thought they were the bad guys! But when he had a change of heart and began to follow Jesus, he realized that all of the things he had worked for -- all his "credits" -- were actually bad. His accounting had suddenly been reversed and he was now stuck with more losses than gains. He spent the rest of his life trying to fix that balance.
Many of us are like Paul sometimes. When we think about the world in one way, we are certain that we are doing the right thing. Sometimes the way we think about the world changes and suddenly, we see our actions differently. Even if that happens, though, we can't give up! It is hard work to fix bad balances but a good accountant will work through the problems to find a solution. Just as the accountant has a calculator to help with the hard parts, we have a special tool too. What do you think our tool is? (allow answers) Our tool is the Bible. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have ever seen your parents or other adults in your life use one of these? (show calculator) Who can tell me what this is? (allow answers) What does a calculator do? (allow answers) That's right: it does math. You type your math problem into the calculator and it comes up with your answer.
So when have you seen adults use a calculator? (allow answers) Adults use calculators when they are balancing their checkbooks, preparing taxes, or planning a budget. Do you know what checkbooks, taxes, and budgets have in common? (allow answers) All of these things have to do with money.
All of these things are also part of "accounting." Accounting is the process of keeping track of money. Accountants are people who keep track of the money. They are trained to keep track of lots of numbers. They organize numbers into two groups. One group is called "credit" numbers. These numbers represent money that someone earns. The other group of numbers is called "debit" numbers. These numbers represent money that someone pays out -- or spends.
An accountant's goal -- or your parents' goal, when they have their calculators out -- is to end up with more money coming in than money going out. People want to make more money than they spend.
That sounds simple enough, right? But imagine that the numbers were reversed. What if somebody switched the "debit" and "credit" numbers? All of a sudden, the work that you had done to was all backward! What would you feel? (allow answers)
Our Bible verse today talks about something like that. Saint Paul says, "Whatever gains I had, these I come to regard as loss." What do you think he means by that? (allow answers) Before Saint Paul became a follower of Jesus, he thought about the world differently. He did his best to hurt Christians. He thought they were the bad guys! But when he had a change of heart and began to follow Jesus, he realized that all of the things he had worked for -- all his "credits" -- were actually bad. His accounting had suddenly been reversed and he was now stuck with more losses than gains. He spent the rest of his life trying to fix that balance.
Many of us are like Paul sometimes. When we think about the world in one way, we are certain that we are doing the right thing. Sometimes the way we think about the world changes and suddenly, we see our actions differently. Even if that happens, though, we can't give up! It is hard work to fix bad balances but a good accountant will work through the problems to find a solution. Just as the accountant has a calculator to help with the hard parts, we have a special tool too. What do you think our tool is? (allow answers) Our tool is the Bible. Amen.
