Freedom!
Children's sermon
Object:
The children’s shoes. Or, a staff and sandals…?
Calling the twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (vv. 7-13)
* * *
Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) You brought the object we are going to talk about today…do you know what it is? (Let them respond.) It is your shoes!
Today is the 4th of July. Who can tell me what is special about the 4th of July? (Let them respond.) It is Independence Day in the United States, yes. It is the day we celebrate the freedom of our country. Well, the story today is going to talk about another kind of “freedom” we celebrate that God has given us. Let me begin by asking you a question.
Have you ever tried to be friends with someone who just didn’t want to be friends with you? (Let them respond.) No matter what we do, it seems like that person just doesn’t want to be friends. We might be really nice to them, but they aren’t so nice back to us. Or maybe we try to help them with something but they don’t want our help, and maybe they even say things that seem kind of mean to us. We know that God wants us to care for everyone and get along with everyone, but no matter what we try to do, we just can’t get that person to be friends. Has that ever happened to you? (Let them respond.) Yes, it has happened to me, too. And sometimes I felt kind of bad about it, and I worried about it wondering if I was doing something wrong, or if there was something more I could do to get them to be friends with me. Sometimes I think so much about someone I am worried about it so much it almost feels like I am carrying them around with me all the time. It feels really heavy, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Well, one day Jesus was talking with his disciples about going out to visit other towns and tell people about God and ask them to be friends of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples to go and visit the towns, but not to take food or extra clothes with them because the new friends would give them everything they needed.
But the disciples were kind of nervous about that. They wondered what they should do if some of the people did not want to listen to them or be friends with them. What if the people they met did not want to visit with them, and would not give them any food, or anything else, but just wanted them to go away? What should they do if they tried to be friends with those people but the people didn’t want to be friends?
They were worried just like we get worried sometimes, weren’t they? (Let them respond.)
But Jesus told them not to worry. Jesus said that all they needed to do was to do their best to try and be friends. He said they just needed to do their best to treat them the way God wants them to treat other people.
And then Jesus told them something kind of neat. Jesus told them that if they did come to a town where the people did not accept them and want to be friends, they shouldn’t worry about it. He said they should just walk to the edge of town and reach down and brush that town’s dust off of their shoes. Kind of like this: (Brush the dust off of your shoe to show them.) Does anyone know why Jesus told them to do that? (Let them respond.) I think Jesus was saying that he wants us to do our best to be friends with everyone and help everyone, but if someone decides they don’t want to be friends with us that is their decision to make and it is not our fault. If we know we did our best, we don’t need to carry those people around in our mind and worry, but we should just brush our shoes off (have everyone brush the dust off of their shoes) and save all of our energy to go to the next town and try again.
We are free from having to carry those worries around all the time. Jesus asks us to do our best to take care of all of his people and do our best to show that we love them just like God loves them. He just wants us to be nice to people, to do the things we can do to help them when they need help, and to care about them no matter where they are from or what they look like. He wants us to just do our best, and not worry about what happens next. Our job is to just let people know how much God loves them.
I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to show everyone around us how much we love them, too.
Let’s have our prayer and ask God to help us remember to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (vv. 7-13)
* * *
Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) You brought the object we are going to talk about today…do you know what it is? (Let them respond.) It is your shoes!
Today is the 4th of July. Who can tell me what is special about the 4th of July? (Let them respond.) It is Independence Day in the United States, yes. It is the day we celebrate the freedom of our country. Well, the story today is going to talk about another kind of “freedom” we celebrate that God has given us. Let me begin by asking you a question.
Have you ever tried to be friends with someone who just didn’t want to be friends with you? (Let them respond.) No matter what we do, it seems like that person just doesn’t want to be friends. We might be really nice to them, but they aren’t so nice back to us. Or maybe we try to help them with something but they don’t want our help, and maybe they even say things that seem kind of mean to us. We know that God wants us to care for everyone and get along with everyone, but no matter what we try to do, we just can’t get that person to be friends. Has that ever happened to you? (Let them respond.) Yes, it has happened to me, too. And sometimes I felt kind of bad about it, and I worried about it wondering if I was doing something wrong, or if there was something more I could do to get them to be friends with me. Sometimes I think so much about someone I am worried about it so much it almost feels like I am carrying them around with me all the time. It feels really heavy, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Well, one day Jesus was talking with his disciples about going out to visit other towns and tell people about God and ask them to be friends of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples to go and visit the towns, but not to take food or extra clothes with them because the new friends would give them everything they needed.
But the disciples were kind of nervous about that. They wondered what they should do if some of the people did not want to listen to them or be friends with them. What if the people they met did not want to visit with them, and would not give them any food, or anything else, but just wanted them to go away? What should they do if they tried to be friends with those people but the people didn’t want to be friends?
They were worried just like we get worried sometimes, weren’t they? (Let them respond.)
But Jesus told them not to worry. Jesus said that all they needed to do was to do their best to try and be friends. He said they just needed to do their best to treat them the way God wants them to treat other people.
And then Jesus told them something kind of neat. Jesus told them that if they did come to a town where the people did not accept them and want to be friends, they shouldn’t worry about it. He said they should just walk to the edge of town and reach down and brush that town’s dust off of their shoes. Kind of like this: (Brush the dust off of your shoe to show them.) Does anyone know why Jesus told them to do that? (Let them respond.) I think Jesus was saying that he wants us to do our best to be friends with everyone and help everyone, but if someone decides they don’t want to be friends with us that is their decision to make and it is not our fault. If we know we did our best, we don’t need to carry those people around in our mind and worry, but we should just brush our shoes off (have everyone brush the dust off of their shoes) and save all of our energy to go to the next town and try again.
We are free from having to carry those worries around all the time. Jesus asks us to do our best to take care of all of his people and do our best to show that we love them just like God loves them. He just wants us to be nice to people, to do the things we can do to help them when they need help, and to care about them no matter where they are from or what they look like. He wants us to just do our best, and not worry about what happens next. Our job is to just let people know how much God loves them.
I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to show everyone around us how much we love them, too.
Let’s have our prayer and ask God to help us remember to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
