Fulfilling the law
Children's sermon
Object:
A glass container (could be a large glass) with some stones of varying sizes and a pitcher of water that is out of sight
Good morning! This morning I'm going to ask you to fill this
glass full. (Let the children put the stones in the glass
container. When they appear to have the glass full ask:) Is the
glass full? (Let them answer.)
I brought this glass to show you something about how God's kingdom works. God asks us to do good and treat people kindly, with respect, and with politeness. God wants us to be good to people. God wants us to be good people. We call this "the law" because God's law is that we do good to others.
So, like filling this glass, we try to fill our lives with good deeds. We do our very best and yet, sometimes, it seems that's just not enough. And it isn't. God wants us to be perfect and none of us is perfect!
Even when we think that our lives are full of good deeds, there are gaps -- just like there are gaps in this glass. If you look carefully, you can see that there are gaps inside this glass. You were not able to get every stone in the glass. We could try to stuff the stones down harder, but that's not enough either -- besides that, we might break the glass if we did that.
(Bring out the pitcher of water and begin pouring into the stone-filled glass.) See, this glass looked full of stones, but it really wasn't full because I can get this water in the glass. The water makes the glass truly full.
In the same way, our love makes our lives full of the goodness God desires. Love fills in the gaps in our lives so that we might live lives that are full of good deeds plus love. As the apostle Paul said, "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Dearest Jesus: Teach us to love others as you have loved us. We do good because we love people. So teach us to love even more. Amen.
I brought this glass to show you something about how God's kingdom works. God asks us to do good and treat people kindly, with respect, and with politeness. God wants us to be good to people. God wants us to be good people. We call this "the law" because God's law is that we do good to others.
So, like filling this glass, we try to fill our lives with good deeds. We do our very best and yet, sometimes, it seems that's just not enough. And it isn't. God wants us to be perfect and none of us is perfect!
Even when we think that our lives are full of good deeds, there are gaps -- just like there are gaps in this glass. If you look carefully, you can see that there are gaps inside this glass. You were not able to get every stone in the glass. We could try to stuff the stones down harder, but that's not enough either -- besides that, we might break the glass if we did that.
(Bring out the pitcher of water and begin pouring into the stone-filled glass.) See, this glass looked full of stones, but it really wasn't full because I can get this water in the glass. The water makes the glass truly full.
In the same way, our love makes our lives full of the goodness God desires. Love fills in the gaps in our lives so that we might live lives that are full of good deeds plus love. As the apostle Paul said, "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Dearest Jesus: Teach us to love others as you have loved us. We do good because we love people. So teach us to love even more. Amen.
