Rules, rules, rules
Children's sermon
Object:
the Ten Commandments on a bookmark and a large heavy law book
Good morning, boys and girls. Today I'd like to talk about rules. I know
you have some rules at home. Can you tell me some of them? (Let them tell
you some of their rules.) Some of you have the rule of no food in the living
room. Put your dirty clothes in the laundry basket or hamper. Bedtime is at
9 p.m. Empty the garbage right after supper. There are lots of different
rules. Some of you have a whole different set of rules than the person
sitting next to you. What is acceptable in their house is not acceptable in
your house. Everyone's rules are different. Do you all have to stick to every
rule all the time? (Let them respond.) If you have the rule of no food in the
living room, have you ever tried to get the rule changed because you have a
friend over and you want to eat your snack while you watch television? So
you ask if you put a blanket down could you eat in the living room. That's
called stretching or bending the rules. I think we all do it sometimes. We
change a rule "just this once."
Our lesson today is about rules. I brought two sets of rules with me today. (Show the two sets.) One set is in this very large heavy book. How many rules do you think are in here? (Let them guess.) There's probably thousands of rules. Could you remember that many? (Let them respond.) Me neither! That's why they're written in this huge book. No one can remember them, there are so many. Here's another set of rules. There are only 10 and they fit on a bookmark. Does anyone know what these 10 rules are called? (Let them respond.) They're the Ten Commandments. They're pretty easy to remember because they're all about loving God and being kind to other people. In our lesson today we have a story about a man who didn't exactly follow all the rules. He didn't break the rules, he just bent them and stretched them until he got what he wanted. He used a big book of rules like this to make things as complicated as possible. If he used this little bookmark with just the 10 rules, it would have been a little easier for him. The people in Jesus' time were always thinking up tons of rules. They had a whole book of the Bible with nothing but rules in it. All they needed was Jesus' rule of love -- love God and be kind to your neighbor. That's a lot less to remember!
Our lesson today is about rules. I brought two sets of rules with me today. (Show the two sets.) One set is in this very large heavy book. How many rules do you think are in here? (Let them guess.) There's probably thousands of rules. Could you remember that many? (Let them respond.) Me neither! That's why they're written in this huge book. No one can remember them, there are so many. Here's another set of rules. There are only 10 and they fit on a bookmark. Does anyone know what these 10 rules are called? (Let them respond.) They're the Ten Commandments. They're pretty easy to remember because they're all about loving God and being kind to other people. In our lesson today we have a story about a man who didn't exactly follow all the rules. He didn't break the rules, he just bent them and stretched them until he got what he wanted. He used a big book of rules like this to make things as complicated as possible. If he used this little bookmark with just the 10 rules, it would have been a little easier for him. The people in Jesus' time were always thinking up tons of rules. They had a whole book of the Bible with nothing but rules in it. All they needed was Jesus' rule of love -- love God and be kind to your neighbor. That's a lot less to remember!
