By God's grace we are ...
Children's sermon
Object:
a picture of Popeye, the cartoon character
How many of you know who Popeye is? (Let them answer.)
Popeye is a famous cartoon character who was perhaps more popular
with your parents and grandparents than today. He is known for
eating spinach to make him stronger, and he is also known for
saying, "I yam what I yam." What Popeye meant when he said that
is that he made himself the strong hero because of eating
spinach.
Let me tell you about a person who said something similar but with a much different meaning. The man's name was Saul and he was not a good person. He did everything he could to hurt Christians. He wanted everybody who believed in Jesus and Easter to stop believing in Jesus and the Easter story. He wanted people to believe that when Jesus was crucified, that was it. He wanted people to believe that Jesus died and there was no more to tell. Saul went all over the land looking for Christians he could arrest. He wanted to cause problems for them so that maybe they would stop believing.
But something happened to Saul one day. He was traveling along a road when suddenly a bright light appeared, and Jesus spoke to Saul and asked him why he would persecute Jesus.
Saul fell to the ground because he was overcome with emotion. Now he had seen with his own eyes that the story about Jesus dying and rising again was true. Now he no longer wanted to stop Christians and Christianity; he wanted to promote this belief. And he did. He worked harder than anyone else to spread the good news about Jesus and his resurrection from the dead. He even changed his name. No longer was he called "Saul," but ... what? (Let them answer.) He changed his name to "Paul" and became one of the apostles.
He said something similar to Popeye's "I yam what I yam." He said, "By the grace of God I am what I am." In other words, Saul wouldn't be Paul; he wouldn't be an apostle; he wouldn't be a Christian; he wouldn't be the person he was, except for God's action in his life -- that good news we call "grace."
Dearest Jesus: By your grace we are what we are, and we thank you. Amen.
Let me tell you about a person who said something similar but with a much different meaning. The man's name was Saul and he was not a good person. He did everything he could to hurt Christians. He wanted everybody who believed in Jesus and Easter to stop believing in Jesus and the Easter story. He wanted people to believe that when Jesus was crucified, that was it. He wanted people to believe that Jesus died and there was no more to tell. Saul went all over the land looking for Christians he could arrest. He wanted to cause problems for them so that maybe they would stop believing.
But something happened to Saul one day. He was traveling along a road when suddenly a bright light appeared, and Jesus spoke to Saul and asked him why he would persecute Jesus.
Saul fell to the ground because he was overcome with emotion. Now he had seen with his own eyes that the story about Jesus dying and rising again was true. Now he no longer wanted to stop Christians and Christianity; he wanted to promote this belief. And he did. He worked harder than anyone else to spread the good news about Jesus and his resurrection from the dead. He even changed his name. No longer was he called "Saul," but ... what? (Let them answer.) He changed his name to "Paul" and became one of the apostles.
He said something similar to Popeye's "I yam what I yam." He said, "By the grace of God I am what I am." In other words, Saul wouldn't be Paul; he wouldn't be an apostle; he wouldn't be a Christian; he wouldn't be the person he was, except for God's action in his life -- that good news we call "grace."
Dearest Jesus: By your grace we are what we are, and we thank you. Amen.
