Childrens Sermon Service

Object: Bring a collection of things your children can use to create disguises for themselves. Take your time to make a big deal out of creating their disguises, and helping those who need help. Have fun with the process.

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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Well, I need your help to tell our story today. I brought some things for us to use. (Show the disguise pieces.) I brought things for us to make disguises for ourselves so we look different than we really do. Let’s all pick out some things to put on and see what kind of disguises we can create. (Have everyone create and wear their disguise.)

Now, is anyone wondering what creating our disguises has to do with our story about Jesus today? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you the story and see if you can figure it out.

One day, Jesus was walking around looking for the people who would be his disciples. He had already picked Andrew and Peter, and today he found a man called Philip and asked him to follow him, too. Philip was excited about following Jesus and told his friend Nathaniel about it. Nathaniel was sitting under a fig tree, and when Philip told him about Jesus, he was surprised that Jesus was from Nazareth. Nazareth was just a little bitty place and Nathaniel didn’t think anyone very important would come from there. But Philip asked him to meet Jesus anyway, so Nathaniel said he would stay there under the fig tree and meet him when he came by.

When Jesus got there, he looked at Nathaniel and said, “You are really a good guy, and you always do the right thing, don’t you?”

Nathaniel was surprised because he had never met Jesus before, so he said, “How do you know me?”

Jesus smiled, and said, “I saw you sitting here under the fig tree before Philip even told you about me.”

Nathaniel got up and said, “Teacher, you really are the Son of God, aren’t you?” And he became one of Jesus’ disciples and followed him.

Jesus just looked at Nathaniel and knew all about him. Somehow, Jesus just knew who he was, didn’t he? Have you ever seen someone and thought you knew what they were like just by looking at them? (Let them respond.) I know I have. Maybe it was the way they looked, or maybe it was something they said, but when you saw them, you thought you knew who they were. Have you ever had that happen? (Let them respond.) And sometimes, have you ever found out that your first thought about them was wrong? (Let them respond.) I know that’s happened to me. I’ve met people and thought they looked like a really nice person. And the things they said were really nice, too, so I thought they would be great to hang around with.

But then they surprised me. When I got to know them I found out they weren’t very nice at all. It was almost like they were wearing a disguise, like ours. (Point out their disguises.) They looked and sounded nice on the outside, but inside, they were different. Inside, they were kind of mean and did things I didn’t think we ought to do. I just saw what they wanted me to see, didn’t I? (Let them respond.) I didn’t really see who they were. They fooled me with their disguise, didn’t they? (Let them respond.)

But you know what? We can’t fool God with a disguise. God doesn’t know us because of how we look, or what we say, so we can’t fool God by trying to look different, or by saying things we think we ought to say. We can’t fool God because God watches everything we do, and knows who we are on the inside. So if we treat someone badly or don’t help someone who needs our help, it doesn’t matter how we look or what we say, does it? (Let them respond.) God knows what we think and feel inside, and that's how God knows who we really are.

When Jesus saw Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree, God told Jesus all about him so Jesus knew who he was on the inside. Jesus saw the real Nathaniel sitting under that fig tree.

So, let’s take off our disguises because when Jesus looks at us he knows who we really are. (Have everyone take off their disguises.) Jesus knows who we really are on the inside, so we don’t need to pretend to be something that we are not. God wants us to take care of each other and we can’t just pretend to care about them, can we? (Let them respond.) We can’t fool God.

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, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And 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.