Meet your responsibilities to both
Children's sermon
Object:
a coin with a president's picture on it
Good morning! In the Gospel reading today, we heard about
some people who were trying to get Jesus into trouble. They asked
him to tell them if it was okay to pay taxes to the Roman
government. If Jesus said they should pay taxes to the Roman
government, they would accuse him of supporting an evil empire,
and if he said they shouldn't pay, they would accuse him of being
a rebel who was encouraging people to fight the lawful
government. They thought they had Jesus in a tough situation that
he couldn't get out of. What do you think Jesus did? (Let them
answer.)
Jesus took a coin like this one (show the coin) and he asked
them to tell him whose picture was on the coin. The emperor's
picture was on that coin, and they told him so. Then Jesus said,
"Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's,
and to God the things that are God's." What do you think he meant
by that? (Let them answer.) What Jesus was saying was that we
have certain responsibilities to the government and we have other
responsibilities to God, and we need to meet both of those
responsibilities.
On this coin (show the coin) we have a picture of
_____________. Now this man was the president of the United
States and that made him the head of our government. We all have
a duty to pay taxes to our government and obey its laws, but we
also have our duty to obey God and do what He tells us to do. We
can and we should meet both responsibilities, but what if our
government asked us to do something that was against the will of
God? What should we do then? (Let them answer.) Yes, that's
right. Our duty to God is more important than our duty to our
government. God comes first! Let's pray to God that that will
never happen to any of us.
Dear Father God: Help us, Lord, to meet our responsibilities to
You and to our government, and if ever our government asks us to
do something that is against Your will, give us the courage to
say no. Amen.
some people who were trying to get Jesus into trouble. They asked
him to tell them if it was okay to pay taxes to the Roman
government. If Jesus said they should pay taxes to the Roman
government, they would accuse him of supporting an evil empire,
and if he said they shouldn't pay, they would accuse him of being
a rebel who was encouraging people to fight the lawful
government. They thought they had Jesus in a tough situation that
he couldn't get out of. What do you think Jesus did? (Let them
answer.)
Jesus took a coin like this one (show the coin) and he asked
them to tell him whose picture was on the coin. The emperor's
picture was on that coin, and they told him so. Then Jesus said,
"Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's,
and to God the things that are God's." What do you think he meant
by that? (Let them answer.) What Jesus was saying was that we
have certain responsibilities to the government and we have other
responsibilities to God, and we need to meet both of those
responsibilities.
On this coin (show the coin) we have a picture of
_____________. Now this man was the president of the United
States and that made him the head of our government. We all have
a duty to pay taxes to our government and obey its laws, but we
also have our duty to obey God and do what He tells us to do. We
can and we should meet both responsibilities, but what if our
government asked us to do something that was against the will of
God? What should we do then? (Let them answer.) Yes, that's
right. Our duty to God is more important than our duty to our
government. God comes first! Let's pray to God that that will
never happen to any of us.
Dear Father God: Help us, Lord, to meet our responsibilities to
You and to our government, and if ever our government asks us to
do something that is against Your will, give us the courage to
say no. Amen.
