Giving with Nothing Gained
Children's sermon
Object:
a "Favor Chart" on cardboard (The chart is optional. If you decide not to use it, just vary the lesson accordingly.)
First Thoughts: As we revisit this story about Jesus welcoming children, we can spend some time reflecting on the very nature of childhood. Children are major consumers of our time and energy (and resources!). We invest in them not because we're getting something out of it, at least not immediately, but because we see in them an intrinsic value, an intrinsic worthiness. Perhaps that is what Jesus is teaching us about the nature of our relationship with God. We are received by God not because we have some spectacular gift or talent that makes us "worthwhile"; we are received by God simply because we are lovable. God gives to us without an expectation of getting something out of us. God gives out of God's own generous and loving nature. Children accept this gift naturally, as their birthright. Do we? Are we comfortable receiving a love we do not earn? Spend a moment reflecting on how much God loves you, and how God has created this world primarily to nurture and support you. Consider your response to this abundant love. Do you feel grateful and warmed by it? Anxious or guilty? Whatever your response, sit with it in God's loving care. Bring your thoughts with you in your time with the children.
Teaching As A Team:
Leader 1: Hey, (name). So what's going on with you?
Leader 2: Just going over my chart here.
Leader 1: Oh, what are you keeping track of?
Leader 2: It's a chart for me and my friend Josh. See, a month or so ago I had chocolate chip cookies in my lunch box, and I remembered how much Josh liked them. So I saved them for him. He was so happy that the next day Josh brought me a great DS game he knew I would like. It was so awesome! So then I went to his house and cleaned out his room for him, then he walked my dog, and I let him borrow my favorite T-shirt....
Leader 1: That's a lot of nice things you did for each other.
Leader 2: Yeah, but we started to lose track of who did what, and whose turn it was to do the next favor. So we decided to keep this "Favor Chart." (looks at the chart and sighs a bit) It's not as much fun now as when we started.
Leader 1: I think I know why.
Leader 2: You do?
Leader 1: Yeah. Part of the fun of doing things for other people is the joy of knowing that you're doing it for them not because you're getting anything in return, but because you want to make them happy. It reminds me of Jesus' lesson to his disciples today. They were arguing about who was the most important person in Jesus' life. One was probably saying that he was the best cook, another the best fisherman, and another the best with counting money. Anyway, they were all thinking that Jesus would only value them because of what they could do, and the one who could do the best stuff would be most important. But Jesus brought a small child to them, held the child in his arms, and told them that they had to become like a child in order to see what was really important.
Leader 2: But a child can't do any of those things you talked about.
Leader 1: Exactly. A small child is someone who can't do a lot, but someone who needs others to take care of them. Jesus was explaining that they were loved not because they were great at doing stuff, but because of who they are. If they could accept that God loved each of them like a parent loves a child, they would realize they were all important to God.
Leader 2: But I don't understand what that has to do with my "Favor Chart."
Leader 1: When we do something kind for someone and don't want anything in return, we love the same way God loves. We love someone not for what they can do for us, but because they're important to us. And when we do that, our hearts grow bigger and stronger and it makes us feel some of God's joy.
Leader 2: That's why it was more fun to do things for Josh when we weren't keeping track.
Leader 1: Exactly.
Leader 2: I'm getting rid of this "Favor Chart" then. I want Josh to know he's important to me no matter what he does for me in return.
Leader 1: You're looking more like Christ every day!
Teaching On Your Own: Hey everybody. See what I have here? It's a chart. What do you use a chart for? For keeping track of things. And you know what I'm keeping track of here? Favors! This is a chart for me and my friend Josh. A month or so ago I had chocolate chip cookies in my lunch box, and I remembered how much Josh liked them. So I saved them for him. He was so happy that the next day Josh brought me a great DS game he knew I would like. It was so awesome! So then I went to his house and cleaned out his room for him, then he walked my dog, and I let him borrow my favorite T-shirt. We were doing so many nice things for each other, we started to lose track of who did what, and whose turn it was to do the next favor. So we decided to keep this "Favor Chart." (looks at the chart and sighs a bit) But you know what? It's not as much fun now as when we started. Does anyone have any ideas of why it's not much fun anymore? Maybe it's because part of the fun of doing things for other people is the joy of knowing that you're doing it for them not because you're getting anything in return, but because you want to make them happy. It reminds me of Jesus' lesson to his disciples today. They were arguing about who was the most important person in Jesus' life. One was probably saying that he was the best cook, another the best fisherman, and another the best with counting money. Anyway, they were all thinking that Jesus would only value them because of what they could do, and the one who could do the best stuff would be most important. But Jesus brought a small child to them, held the child in his arms, and told them that they had to become like a child in order to see what was really important. Can a small child fish, cook, or keep track of money well? Probably not. A small child is someone who can't do a lot, but someone who needs others to take care of them. Jesus was explaining that they were loved not because they were great at doing stuff, but because of who they are. If they could accept that God loved each of them like a parent loves a child, they would realize they were all important to God. Hey, that is what's wrong with my "Favor Chart"! We love someone not for what they can do for us, but because they're important to us. And when we do that, our hearts grow bigger and stronger and it makes us feel some of God's joy. I want to be as much like Christ as I can. So you know what I'm going to do? Get rid of this "Favor Chart." I want Josh to know he's important to me no matter what he does in return. I want to love the way God loves. How about you?
Closing Prayer: God of abundant love, we accept your care for us knowing that we do not earn it, nor can we pay it back but allow it to fill us and heal us. Help us to grow our own hearts in your love, serving others as your children, knowing it is not important whether they can pay us back. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a home or classroom environment, spend some time talking about the different people in our lives whom we might serve. Help the children to think about who they might want to serve because we might get something out of it (teachers, parents, wealthy people), and how they might serve those people. What are some things we might hope to get out of serving these folks? How might we feel if we expect to get something back but don't get anything -- or not what we want? (Our hearts feel sad, disappointed, grumpy.) Now help the children to brainstorm about people they might serve who can't pay them back (small children, poor people, stray animals), and what kind of service we can offer there. Since these people are not able to pay us back, what happens to our hearts when we serve them? As a craft idea, give each child a piece of paper with an arrow pointing to the right, and a series of people they might help. (See some sample templates on my resource page.) Tell them you're going to sort out these folks depending on how much they help us grow a heart of Christ (i.e. those we help without expecting anything in return). As a group, tell a story about each person. In my examples, there's a parent, a rich person, a lost dog, and a beggar on the street. Then try to decide where each picture goes on the continuum and glue it on the right spot. Emphasize the fact that it's always good to care for anybody, and it's also okay if that person wants to thank us by giving us something back. But we should really celebrate those people who give us the opportunity to give without hope of return, who make our Christ-heart stronger. Close with prayer.
Teaching As A Team:
Leader 1: Hey, (name). So what's going on with you?
Leader 2: Just going over my chart here.
Leader 1: Oh, what are you keeping track of?
Leader 2: It's a chart for me and my friend Josh. See, a month or so ago I had chocolate chip cookies in my lunch box, and I remembered how much Josh liked them. So I saved them for him. He was so happy that the next day Josh brought me a great DS game he knew I would like. It was so awesome! So then I went to his house and cleaned out his room for him, then he walked my dog, and I let him borrow my favorite T-shirt....
Leader 1: That's a lot of nice things you did for each other.
Leader 2: Yeah, but we started to lose track of who did what, and whose turn it was to do the next favor. So we decided to keep this "Favor Chart." (looks at the chart and sighs a bit) It's not as much fun now as when we started.
Leader 1: I think I know why.
Leader 2: You do?
Leader 1: Yeah. Part of the fun of doing things for other people is the joy of knowing that you're doing it for them not because you're getting anything in return, but because you want to make them happy. It reminds me of Jesus' lesson to his disciples today. They were arguing about who was the most important person in Jesus' life. One was probably saying that he was the best cook, another the best fisherman, and another the best with counting money. Anyway, they were all thinking that Jesus would only value them because of what they could do, and the one who could do the best stuff would be most important. But Jesus brought a small child to them, held the child in his arms, and told them that they had to become like a child in order to see what was really important.
Leader 2: But a child can't do any of those things you talked about.
Leader 1: Exactly. A small child is someone who can't do a lot, but someone who needs others to take care of them. Jesus was explaining that they were loved not because they were great at doing stuff, but because of who they are. If they could accept that God loved each of them like a parent loves a child, they would realize they were all important to God.
Leader 2: But I don't understand what that has to do with my "Favor Chart."
Leader 1: When we do something kind for someone and don't want anything in return, we love the same way God loves. We love someone not for what they can do for us, but because they're important to us. And when we do that, our hearts grow bigger and stronger and it makes us feel some of God's joy.
Leader 2: That's why it was more fun to do things for Josh when we weren't keeping track.
Leader 1: Exactly.
Leader 2: I'm getting rid of this "Favor Chart" then. I want Josh to know he's important to me no matter what he does for me in return.
Leader 1: You're looking more like Christ every day!
Teaching On Your Own: Hey everybody. See what I have here? It's a chart. What do you use a chart for? For keeping track of things. And you know what I'm keeping track of here? Favors! This is a chart for me and my friend Josh. A month or so ago I had chocolate chip cookies in my lunch box, and I remembered how much Josh liked them. So I saved them for him. He was so happy that the next day Josh brought me a great DS game he knew I would like. It was so awesome! So then I went to his house and cleaned out his room for him, then he walked my dog, and I let him borrow my favorite T-shirt. We were doing so many nice things for each other, we started to lose track of who did what, and whose turn it was to do the next favor. So we decided to keep this "Favor Chart." (looks at the chart and sighs a bit) But you know what? It's not as much fun now as when we started. Does anyone have any ideas of why it's not much fun anymore? Maybe it's because part of the fun of doing things for other people is the joy of knowing that you're doing it for them not because you're getting anything in return, but because you want to make them happy. It reminds me of Jesus' lesson to his disciples today. They were arguing about who was the most important person in Jesus' life. One was probably saying that he was the best cook, another the best fisherman, and another the best with counting money. Anyway, they were all thinking that Jesus would only value them because of what they could do, and the one who could do the best stuff would be most important. But Jesus brought a small child to them, held the child in his arms, and told them that they had to become like a child in order to see what was really important. Can a small child fish, cook, or keep track of money well? Probably not. A small child is someone who can't do a lot, but someone who needs others to take care of them. Jesus was explaining that they were loved not because they were great at doing stuff, but because of who they are. If they could accept that God loved each of them like a parent loves a child, they would realize they were all important to God. Hey, that is what's wrong with my "Favor Chart"! We love someone not for what they can do for us, but because they're important to us. And when we do that, our hearts grow bigger and stronger and it makes us feel some of God's joy. I want to be as much like Christ as I can. So you know what I'm going to do? Get rid of this "Favor Chart." I want Josh to know he's important to me no matter what he does in return. I want to love the way God loves. How about you?
Closing Prayer: God of abundant love, we accept your care for us knowing that we do not earn it, nor can we pay it back but allow it to fill us and heal us. Help us to grow our own hearts in your love, serving others as your children, knowing it is not important whether they can pay us back. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a home or classroom environment, spend some time talking about the different people in our lives whom we might serve. Help the children to think about who they might want to serve because we might get something out of it (teachers, parents, wealthy people), and how they might serve those people. What are some things we might hope to get out of serving these folks? How might we feel if we expect to get something back but don't get anything -- or not what we want? (Our hearts feel sad, disappointed, grumpy.) Now help the children to brainstorm about people they might serve who can't pay them back (small children, poor people, stray animals), and what kind of service we can offer there. Since these people are not able to pay us back, what happens to our hearts when we serve them? As a craft idea, give each child a piece of paper with an arrow pointing to the right, and a series of people they might help. (See some sample templates on my resource page.) Tell them you're going to sort out these folks depending on how much they help us grow a heart of Christ (i.e. those we help without expecting anything in return). As a group, tell a story about each person. In my examples, there's a parent, a rich person, a lost dog, and a beggar on the street. Then try to decide where each picture goes on the continuum and glue it on the right spot. Emphasize the fact that it's always good to care for anybody, and it's also okay if that person wants to thank us by giving us something back. But we should really celebrate those people who give us the opportunity to give without hope of return, who make our Christ-heart stronger. Close with prayer.
