Neat and tidy
Children's sermon
Object:
a broom
You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. (v. 10)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we're going to talk about work. How many of you have chores that you have to do around the house? (allow answers) What kind of chores do you do? (allow answers) There are a lot of things that need cleaned, washed, or maintained to keep a house running.
Imagine if you were suddenly put in charge of a big house that needed a lot of work. You might feel kind of overwhelmed! Then imagine that the house is also full of other people. You are in charge but you have all of these people that could help -- if you can get them to do their part. How would you go about asking these people to help? (allow answers)
We would start by asking people to help. Then we would give them specific jobs to do -- maybe we would ask one person to dust shelves, and another person to sweep floors, and another person to clear off the table after meals. We could assign people a whole bunch of different jobs so that everyone could pitch in to keep this big house neat and tidy.
Then if we are the managers of this house, what would we do? (allow answers) We have two choices. Our first choice is to give away all of our jobs to other people and to ask them to do everything. Then we could sit back and relax! Our work would be over.
That sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? (allow answers) While everyone else is working, we could be relaxing with a book or a game. But that might not be the best choice. How do you think the other workers would feel if they saw us doing nothing? (allow answers) I think they might be angry! They would feel like they should get a day off too. They might stop working all together!
So that choice isn't a good choice. Maybe our second choice is better. Can anyone guess what the second choice might be? (allow answers) Our second choice is to not take time off. Instead, our choice is to help all of our workers with their chores -- especially chores that are difficult or take a long time. As a good manager, we should help whenever people need it. We should help solve problems that our workers have, we should help our workers do their chores, and we should help make everything run smoothly. In this second choice, we don't get any rest. But what we do get is respect. Workers appreciate a boss who can work hard with them.
This imaginary house that we're talking about is like spreading the word about God's love. It's not enough to tell people about God and then sit back and relax. We have to work hard to show that we are doing our best to follow God's word and be the best person we can be. When other people see our good example, they will be more interested in being like us. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we're going to talk about work. How many of you have chores that you have to do around the house? (allow answers) What kind of chores do you do? (allow answers) There are a lot of things that need cleaned, washed, or maintained to keep a house running.
Imagine if you were suddenly put in charge of a big house that needed a lot of work. You might feel kind of overwhelmed! Then imagine that the house is also full of other people. You are in charge but you have all of these people that could help -- if you can get them to do their part. How would you go about asking these people to help? (allow answers)
We would start by asking people to help. Then we would give them specific jobs to do -- maybe we would ask one person to dust shelves, and another person to sweep floors, and another person to clear off the table after meals. We could assign people a whole bunch of different jobs so that everyone could pitch in to keep this big house neat and tidy.
Then if we are the managers of this house, what would we do? (allow answers) We have two choices. Our first choice is to give away all of our jobs to other people and to ask them to do everything. Then we could sit back and relax! Our work would be over.
That sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? (allow answers) While everyone else is working, we could be relaxing with a book or a game. But that might not be the best choice. How do you think the other workers would feel if they saw us doing nothing? (allow answers) I think they might be angry! They would feel like they should get a day off too. They might stop working all together!
So that choice isn't a good choice. Maybe our second choice is better. Can anyone guess what the second choice might be? (allow answers) Our second choice is to not take time off. Instead, our choice is to help all of our workers with their chores -- especially chores that are difficult or take a long time. As a good manager, we should help whenever people need it. We should help solve problems that our workers have, we should help our workers do their chores, and we should help make everything run smoothly. In this second choice, we don't get any rest. But what we do get is respect. Workers appreciate a boss who can work hard with them.
This imaginary house that we're talking about is like spreading the word about God's love. It's not enough to tell people about God and then sit back and relax. We have to work hard to show that we are doing our best to follow God's word and be the best person we can be. When other people see our good example, they will be more interested in being like us. Amen.
