No Tickets Please!
Children's sermon
Object: Tickets to give the children. You may use the ones I have included, print your own, or just use simple tickets you might buy on a roll.
Note: Be sure to have enough tickets to be able to give one to each child during the message. Also, if you have very young children in the group, I find it best to include them in the first group receiving tickets, as they sometimes don’t really understand why they are left out of the group in the beginning.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started!
This story is about something that Jesus said that we forget about sometimes. And when we forget it, we sometimes make the same mistake that Jesus’ friends made.
It’s a story about the day Jesus was talking with his friends and was telling them that he was going to leave them to be with God. They were sad to hear that, but Jesus told them not to worry because he was going to send them something really special that God wanted to give them. Then Jesus’ friends got all excited. They said things like, “Great! Then we can get even with those people who hurt you!” And they said things like, “Yeah! We’ll make them go away from us, or maybe we’ll just throw them all in some old dungeon somewhere and throw away the key!” And they said things like, “And since those people hurt Jesus, God doesn’t care about them either and will help us get even with them, too!”
And that’s when Jesus’ friends made the big mistake, that we sometimes make, too. (Show the tickets.) It’s like they believed that some people are given tickets to be a part of God’s group and that other people don’t get tickets. Let’s see what that looks like. I will give some of you one of these tickets that makes you a part of the group. (Give tickets to about half of your group and have them sit on one side of you.) But I’m not going to give tickets to the rest of you, so you aren’t going to be a part of the group. (Have the no-ticket group sit on the other side of you.)
This is kind of how Jesus’ friends thought things were supposed to be, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) They thought that God cared about some people, but not others, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) So, they believed that some people were in their group, and others weren’t. Other people have made that same mistake before, too.
Sometimes, people believed that God did not care about people who were really tall, or really short. And, sometimes, people believed that God did not care about people who had green-colored eyes because were bad people. Does anyone here have green eyes? (Let them respond.) And sometimes people believed that God did not care about people whose skin was too dark or too light. And some people believed that God did not care as much about women as God cared about men. And some people believed that God did not care about people who were too smart, or not smart enough. And some people believed that God did not care about people who believed different things than they believed. And some people believed that God did not care about people who were from someplace else. And some people believed that God did not care about people who limped when they walked, or talked differently, or who were sick or hurt.
Sometimes, people believed that these different people weren’t as good as they were, so they didn’t want them to be a part of their group. They believed that God cared about some people, but did not care about other people. Then Jesus said a prayer to God. He said that he was praying for all of those people who believed in him and were in his group. When he said that, how do you think his friends felt? (Let them respond.) They were probably happy, weren’t they? If Jesus was praying for them, they must be more special than the people who weren’t in their group, right? (Let them respond.)
But then Jesus said something else. He said, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one.” Jesus said that he was praying for those in the group, but he was also praying for everyone else that his friends would help join the group. And he said that he wanted his friends to make sure that everyone in the world got in the group. Jesus told them that their job was not to make those other people go away, but it was to make sure they all got tickets to join their group. (Start handing out tickets to the rest of the children and having them move to the group.) Instead of getting even with those people, God wanted them to care about those people just like Jesus had cared about them.
Sometimes we make a mistake and think that God cares more about us than about some other people, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We see people we don’t like, and we want them to go away and won’t let them be a part of our group. (Show the tickets.) But our job is not to only care about people who are just like us, is it? (Let them respond.) Jesus said that our job is to keep caring for everyone in the entire world until we are all a part of the same, big group.
I hope our story will help us remember to never make that mistake Jesus’ friends made ever again and treat anyone like we think God does not care about them as much as God cares about us.
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, 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.
Note: Be sure to have enough tickets to be able to give one to each child during the message. Also, if you have very young children in the group, I find it best to include them in the first group receiving tickets, as they sometimes don’t really understand why they are left out of the group in the beginning.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started!
This story is about something that Jesus said that we forget about sometimes. And when we forget it, we sometimes make the same mistake that Jesus’ friends made.
It’s a story about the day Jesus was talking with his friends and was telling them that he was going to leave them to be with God. They were sad to hear that, but Jesus told them not to worry because he was going to send them something really special that God wanted to give them. Then Jesus’ friends got all excited. They said things like, “Great! Then we can get even with those people who hurt you!” And they said things like, “Yeah! We’ll make them go away from us, or maybe we’ll just throw them all in some old dungeon somewhere and throw away the key!” And they said things like, “And since those people hurt Jesus, God doesn’t care about them either and will help us get even with them, too!”
And that’s when Jesus’ friends made the big mistake, that we sometimes make, too. (Show the tickets.) It’s like they believed that some people are given tickets to be a part of God’s group and that other people don’t get tickets. Let’s see what that looks like. I will give some of you one of these tickets that makes you a part of the group. (Give tickets to about half of your group and have them sit on one side of you.) But I’m not going to give tickets to the rest of you, so you aren’t going to be a part of the group. (Have the no-ticket group sit on the other side of you.)
This is kind of how Jesus’ friends thought things were supposed to be, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) They thought that God cared about some people, but not others, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) So, they believed that some people were in their group, and others weren’t. Other people have made that same mistake before, too.
Sometimes, people believed that God did not care about people who were really tall, or really short. And, sometimes, people believed that God did not care about people who had green-colored eyes because were bad people. Does anyone here have green eyes? (Let them respond.) And sometimes people believed that God did not care about people whose skin was too dark or too light. And some people believed that God did not care as much about women as God cared about men. And some people believed that God did not care about people who were too smart, or not smart enough. And some people believed that God did not care about people who believed different things than they believed. And some people believed that God did not care about people who were from someplace else. And some people believed that God did not care about people who limped when they walked, or talked differently, or who were sick or hurt.
Sometimes, people believed that these different people weren’t as good as they were, so they didn’t want them to be a part of their group. They believed that God cared about some people, but did not care about other people. Then Jesus said a prayer to God. He said that he was praying for all of those people who believed in him and were in his group. When he said that, how do you think his friends felt? (Let them respond.) They were probably happy, weren’t they? If Jesus was praying for them, they must be more special than the people who weren’t in their group, right? (Let them respond.)
But then Jesus said something else. He said, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one.” Jesus said that he was praying for those in the group, but he was also praying for everyone else that his friends would help join the group. And he said that he wanted his friends to make sure that everyone in the world got in the group. Jesus told them that their job was not to make those other people go away, but it was to make sure they all got tickets to join their group. (Start handing out tickets to the rest of the children and having them move to the group.) Instead of getting even with those people, God wanted them to care about those people just like Jesus had cared about them.
Sometimes we make a mistake and think that God cares more about us than about some other people, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We see people we don’t like, and we want them to go away and won’t let them be a part of our group. (Show the tickets.) But our job is not to only care about people who are just like us, is it? (Let them respond.) Jesus said that our job is to keep caring for everyone in the entire world until we are all a part of the same, big group.
I hope our story will help us remember to never make that mistake Jesus’ friends made ever again and treat anyone like we think God does not care about them as much as God cares about us.
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, 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.
