Childrens Sermon Service

Object: A whiteboard, or large piece of paper you can write on.

Note: In the first part of this message, you want to help the children create a list of things people have done for them to help them in some way. The “script” will get you started, but take more time to talk together until you get at least four or five things on the list describing specific things people have done to help them when they needed help. Have fun with the conversation.

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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! But I need your help to tell the story. I brought this so you could help me. (Show the whiteboard.) I need you to help me think of things to write on our board here. We want to write down things that people have done to help you when you needed help. Can anyone think of a time like that? (Let them respond.) Maybe one time when you weren’t feeling well, did someone do something to help you feel better? (Let them respond.) Or maybe you were worried about something and someone helped you not worry as much? (Keep asking them, and giving examples as needed until you get at least four or five things written on your board.) Thank you! That’s a great list!

Now, I have a question for you. Does anyone know what a debate is? (Let them respond.) A debate is kind of like an argument, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) It is like an argument to try and get people to agree with you about something. You have probably heard people talking about a debate, haven’t you? (Let them respond.) Well, our story today is about a debate that happened a long time ago. One day, Jesus and his friends had just gotten home after taking a big trip. When they got there, Jesus said to them, “I heard you guys all arguing about something while we were walking home. Just what were you arguing about?”

They wouldn’t tell him, but he knew anyway. They had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest. One of them said he was the greatest because he was the strongest. Another one said he was the greatest because he carried a sword. Another one said he was the greatest because he was the smartest. Another one said he was the greatest because he had been Jesus’ friend longer than the rest of them. Jesus knew what was going on because he had heard them arguing about that during the whole trip home. He had heard them debating to try and convince the others that they were the greatest of them all.

I have another question for you. Can anyone tell us someone who is really important or great? (Let them respond.) Maybe they are a famous singer, or they play a sport? (Let them respond.) Maybe they are someone like a president or they run an important business? (Let them respond.) Maybe they have a lot of money or make important decisions somewhere? (Let them respond.) Maybe we see their pictures everywhere and they always have a bunch of people talking about them? (Let them respond.) And when we see someone who is really important or great, they usually have people following them and everyone is trying to get close to them, aren’t they? (Let them respond.)

Sometimes, when you see people you think are really great like that, have you ever kind of wished you could be great like that, too? (Let them respond.) Yeah, I think we all do sometimes. We think, “And, if I want to be great, I need to be just like those other people who are so great!”, don’t we? (Let them respond.) That’s what Jesus’ friends thought. They all wanted to be the greatest and walk right up there next to Jesus and have everyone else walk behind them. You know, I’ll bet that while they were walking home, Jesus’ friends were even kind of pushing and shoving each other a little bit to see who could walk the closest to Jesus, don’t you? (Let them respond.) And I’ll bet that when they got to the house, they probably pushed and shoved a bit to see which one of them got to sit the closest to Jesus, too. Don’t you? (Let them respond.)

When Jesus saw what they were doing, he walked over to some little children who were in the room. His friends had been so busy pushing and shoving each other and they hadn’t even seen the children there. They had been so busy trying to make themselves look great, they had just ignored the children. Jesus looked at his friends and said, “If you want to be the greatest and most important, then take care of the least important, like these children. Whoever cares about these little children, is the person who cares about me.”

Now I have one last question for you. When Jesus’ friends wanted to be the greatest, he didn’t tell them they needed to become really rich and famous, did he? (Let them respond.) And he didn’t tell them they needed to debate with people and argue with them about who is greater, did he? (Let them respond.) What did he tell them to do if they wanted to be great? (Let them respond as you show the whiteboard again.) He told them they should do things like this, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) He said that if they wanted to be great, they should not ignore other people, but they should care for other people and help those people who need help. So if we want to be great, here is a list we should follow. (Read the children’s list from the whiteboard.)

Those are some of the things that make someone great!

I hope we can remember that God created us to take care of each other. Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.

Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And 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.