Learn to be humble
Children's sermon
Object:
a high chair booster chair
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you still sit on a high chair?
(Wait for show of hands.) How about a booster chair or a youth chair?
(Wait for show of hands.) It's no fun to have to sit on a lower chair where
the table comes up to your face and you can't reach the food. If you're
really young and tiny you might not even be tall enough to see the plates.
You might also fall off a regular chair if you were too little. So it's a
really good thing we have high chairs, youth chairs and booster seats.
How many of you have "graduated" to a regular size chair? (Wait for show of hands.) It feels good because it's another sign of growing up when you can sit on a regular chair and be able to reach your plate and the food. It makes you proud when you don't have to have a "baby" chair.
When your family gets together with friends or relatives, do you all sit at one giant table or do they put the kids at one table and the adults at another? (Let them respond.) Some of you all sit together and some of you are split into kids and adults. Those of you who are split into kids at one table and adults at another, do you ever wish you were older and could sit at the "big people" table? (Let them respond.) Some of you wish you could all sit at one table together instead of kids and adults separately. Think about how an adult would feel if they sat down at the adult table and someone came and said, "Sorry, you'll have to eat with the kids today. We have a special guest and there's not room for you at the big people table." Would they be pretty embarrassed? (Let them respond.) I think the adult would feel sad to be embarrassed like that.
Jesus once told a story about guests and tables and where people sit. In those days when people had fancy dinners, there were always special places saved for special honored guests. Some people thought that they were really special. Jesus tried to teach them that they should be humble. That's a new word for some of you. Humble means that you don't try and act better than everyone around you. It would mean at a fancy dinner, you wouldn't take the place of honor, you would sit farther down the table. If the person that invited you wanted you to move to the place of honor at the head of the table then you could feel proud and move. We don't have many fancy dinners in our time like Jesus did. So this story isn't about where to sit. It's more about how to act. We need to act humble, not bragging or acting like we're better than we really are. That's what Jesus was trying to teach with his story about dinners and where to sit and how to act.
How many of you have "graduated" to a regular size chair? (Wait for show of hands.) It feels good because it's another sign of growing up when you can sit on a regular chair and be able to reach your plate and the food. It makes you proud when you don't have to have a "baby" chair.
When your family gets together with friends or relatives, do you all sit at one giant table or do they put the kids at one table and the adults at another? (Let them respond.) Some of you all sit together and some of you are split into kids and adults. Those of you who are split into kids at one table and adults at another, do you ever wish you were older and could sit at the "big people" table? (Let them respond.) Some of you wish you could all sit at one table together instead of kids and adults separately. Think about how an adult would feel if they sat down at the adult table and someone came and said, "Sorry, you'll have to eat with the kids today. We have a special guest and there's not room for you at the big people table." Would they be pretty embarrassed? (Let them respond.) I think the adult would feel sad to be embarrassed like that.
Jesus once told a story about guests and tables and where people sit. In those days when people had fancy dinners, there were always special places saved for special honored guests. Some people thought that they were really special. Jesus tried to teach them that they should be humble. That's a new word for some of you. Humble means that you don't try and act better than everyone around you. It would mean at a fancy dinner, you wouldn't take the place of honor, you would sit farther down the table. If the person that invited you wanted you to move to the place of honor at the head of the table then you could feel proud and move. We don't have many fancy dinners in our time like Jesus did. So this story isn't about where to sit. It's more about how to act. We need to act humble, not bragging or acting like we're better than we really are. That's what Jesus was trying to teach with his story about dinners and where to sit and how to act.
