Get smart
Children's sermon
Object:
a textbook
"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ." (v. 8)
Good morning, boys and girls! Today I brought a special book with me. How many of you have used a textbook? (allow answers) You use them in school to learn. Textbooks can be very big! Textbooks are usually filled with facts.
Who do you think writes textbooks? (allow answers) Very smart people write textbooks! People who have studied something a lot work together to write textbooks -- maybe a math or a science textbook. Maybe it is about solar systems or history. Textbooks can be about anything!
Would you believe everything you read in a textbook? (allow answers) You probably would. After all, the people who write textbooks are experts! They are doing their best to tell the truth about their topic.
You might come across something that doesn't seem right. Maybe the textbook says something is right, but you know it is wrong. Maybe an expert on philosophy writes that God does not exist; or maybe an expert on history says that God is made up.
These are tough things to think about! We want to believe the experts, but we also have to trust our faith. Who is right in the end? What do we do when people tell us something we know isn't right?
Our Bible verse talks about this very problem. The verse says we should not be "taken captive" through philosophy or science. We can try to understand studies that go against what we believe, but we have to make our own choices about whether to believe the experts or to believe in God. Experts have been proven wrong. God never has.
As your pastor, I can't make you believe or disbelieve something. When you believe, you have to know it in your heart. No one else can put that knowledge in your heart except you. I could write a thousand textbooks, but if someone does not believe what I'm writing, I cannot convince them otherwise. That's how we need to be when something that tells us not to trust our faith. When we have faith, experts can never shake the knowledge we have in our hearts. We can listen to and talk to them, we can try to understand their point of view and appreciate their purpose, but if we have solid faith, we will not be "taken captive" by those who try to tell us something that we know is not true. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! Today I brought a special book with me. How many of you have used a textbook? (allow answers) You use them in school to learn. Textbooks can be very big! Textbooks are usually filled with facts.
Who do you think writes textbooks? (allow answers) Very smart people write textbooks! People who have studied something a lot work together to write textbooks -- maybe a math or a science textbook. Maybe it is about solar systems or history. Textbooks can be about anything!
Would you believe everything you read in a textbook? (allow answers) You probably would. After all, the people who write textbooks are experts! They are doing their best to tell the truth about their topic.
You might come across something that doesn't seem right. Maybe the textbook says something is right, but you know it is wrong. Maybe an expert on philosophy writes that God does not exist; or maybe an expert on history says that God is made up.
These are tough things to think about! We want to believe the experts, but we also have to trust our faith. Who is right in the end? What do we do when people tell us something we know isn't right?
Our Bible verse talks about this very problem. The verse says we should not be "taken captive" through philosophy or science. We can try to understand studies that go against what we believe, but we have to make our own choices about whether to believe the experts or to believe in God. Experts have been proven wrong. God never has.
As your pastor, I can't make you believe or disbelieve something. When you believe, you have to know it in your heart. No one else can put that knowledge in your heart except you. I could write a thousand textbooks, but if someone does not believe what I'm writing, I cannot convince them otherwise. That's how we need to be when something that tells us not to trust our faith. When we have faith, experts can never shake the knowledge we have in our hearts. We can listen to and talk to them, we can try to understand their point of view and appreciate their purpose, but if we have solid faith, we will not be "taken captive" by those who try to tell us something that we know is not true. Amen.
