Childrens Sermon Service

Object: I use a battery-powered megaphone for this message, and the script is written for that. However, you could use a flashlight to “spotlight” the actor during the message. The bigger and brighter the flashlight, the better.

Note: It will be more fun if you talk with two children before the message to prepare them to play the roles. Encourage the “Great” actor to really play it up and encourage the “Sneaky” actor to be as sneaky as possible. The more fun the message is, the more it will be remembered.

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have another story for you today, and I have asked a couple of you to help me tell it. Are you ready for our story? (Let them respond.) Great!

Before we start, I have a question for you. Have you ever seen someone who acted like they thought they were better than someone else? (Let them respond.)  Maybe they were kind of bossy, or just treated the other people like they weren’t as important as they were? One day, Jesus was visiting with some people, and he saw a few of them acting like that. They were acting like they were more important than the other people, so Jesus said he wanted to tell them a story.

He told them that one day, two people went to the temple to say their prayers. One of them walked up to the front of the line and raised their hands in the air. (Have your “Great” actor stand and raise their arms.) They took a deep breath and said, “Lord, thank you for making me better than all of these other people!” (Have your actor repeat that with the megaphone, loudly and proudly. If you are using the flashlight, shine it on them like a spotlight.) Then they kept praying really loudly so everyone could hear what they were saying, so they all knew how great they thought they were. (Have the actor announce: “I am SUPER GREAT!”.) People all around the temple were stopping to watch them, and I’ll bet they loved that, don’t you? (Let them respond.) It made them feel even more important, didn’t it? (Let them respond.)

While that person was shouting at everyone, the other person stood in the back of the crowd, bowed their head, and whispered: “God, please forgive me because I know I make a lot of mistakes.” (Have your other actor stand, bow their head, and whisper that so no one else can hear them.) No one even heard them say their prayer.

Then Jesus looked at the people who were acting bossy and said, which one of those two people do you think acted the way God wants us to act? (Let them respond.) Why do you think the first person prayed the way they did? (Let them respond.) Probably so everyone would see them, and it would make them look better than everyone else, right? (Let them respond.) They weren’t really praying, were they? (Let them respond.) They were just showing off, weren’t they? (Let them respond.)

But what did the other person do? (Let them respond.) They just prayed, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) They were kind of sneaky, weren’t they? (Let them respond.) No one even noticed they were praying.
Then Jesus said, “If you try to make yourself look better than other people, you will end up looking really bad. But if you are humble and treat other people like they are just as important as you are, you are doing exactly what God wants you to do.

I remember one day someone came to Jesus and asked him what the most important thing was that God wanted them to do. Jesus didn’t say, “God wants you to look really, really, special, did he? (Let them respond.) No, he didn’t. Jesus said, “It is easy. God wants you to take care of each other.”
Let’s all pray together and ask God to help us remember how much God loves every one of us no matter who we are and ask God to help us remember to never treat other people like we think we are better than they are.

Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us understand what you are trying to teach us in your stories. And help us to 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.