Denying yourself
Children's sermon
Object:
some signs reading, "No TV until homework is done," "Take the dog for a walk then feed him/her," "Brush your teeth," "Remember the 'magic word' when asking for something," "Practice your instrument right after dinner," and similar signs
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you deny yourself? (let them answer) Tell me about some of the things you do to deny yourself? (let them answer) I brought along some signs this morning that we could hang around your house that would be good examples of denying yourself. (read the signs)
If you did all of these things, you would do a lot of denying, right? (let them answer) When you deny yourself, you put someone else first. When you do your homework, you make your parents and your teacher happy. When you take your dog for a walk and feed him/her, your dog is happy. When you brush your teeth, your parents and the dentist are happy. If you say, "Please," when you ask for something, everyone is happy. If you practice the piano or trumpet, your music teacher is happy.
Jesus taught us that people have to deny themselves to follow him. This was hard to understand because they only wanted what they thought was best for Jesus and for them. They told Jesus that they would defend him so that no one would harm him, but Jesus knew if they tried to protect him too much they would interfere with God's great plan. This is why Jesus told the people to stop trying to get in the way of what God had planned and instead to follow him by picking up their own cross.
The people did not want to pick up a cross and they didn't want to die. They didn't want Jesus to die, either. They wanted things to stay just the way they were -- no changes. But, unless changes happen we would always live in sin and we would never live in God's kingdom.
Sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do. We must deny ourselves so that we can enjoy better things later on.
Jesus knew that some day he was going to die and because he died all of his followers would join in him in heaven. It was worth dying, because this was God's great plan.
The next time you deny yourself remember how Jesus denied others' wishes and became a servant of God the Father. Amen.
If you did all of these things, you would do a lot of denying, right? (let them answer) When you deny yourself, you put someone else first. When you do your homework, you make your parents and your teacher happy. When you take your dog for a walk and feed him/her, your dog is happy. When you brush your teeth, your parents and the dentist are happy. If you say, "Please," when you ask for something, everyone is happy. If you practice the piano or trumpet, your music teacher is happy.
Jesus taught us that people have to deny themselves to follow him. This was hard to understand because they only wanted what they thought was best for Jesus and for them. They told Jesus that they would defend him so that no one would harm him, but Jesus knew if they tried to protect him too much they would interfere with God's great plan. This is why Jesus told the people to stop trying to get in the way of what God had planned and instead to follow him by picking up their own cross.
The people did not want to pick up a cross and they didn't want to die. They didn't want Jesus to die, either. They wanted things to stay just the way they were -- no changes. But, unless changes happen we would always live in sin and we would never live in God's kingdom.
Sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do. We must deny ourselves so that we can enjoy better things later on.
Jesus knew that some day he was going to die and because he died all of his followers would join in him in heaven. It was worth dying, because this was God's great plan.
The next time you deny yourself remember how Jesus denied others' wishes and became a servant of God the Father. Amen.
