Who is first?
Children's sermon
Object:
a lot of political literature
He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be
first must be last of all and servant of all." (v. 35)
Good morning, boys and girls. Does anyone know anything about the election we are going to have in a little over a month? (let them answer) Not many of you know about the election, but your parents do. Last week I stopped in some places and picked up campaign papers. Let me show you. (bring out as many brochures as you were able to find) Look at all of these. They look a lot alike. Most of them are red, white, and blue because that is the color of our flag. Almost all of them have a picture of the person they want you to elect. (show them some of the pictures) All of them make promises of what they are going to do for you. They want to lower taxes, help you with your insurance, they promise you better schools, and safer places to live. They all have a plan on how they are going to find better jobs for your mom and dad. All of them want your vote, so they make promises. All of them want to be first but if they are going to be first they must show you how they are going to help us have a better country, a safer city, and better schools. They promise you that they will work very hard for you if you make them first.
One day, Jesus and his disciples were taking a walk to a city called Capernaum where Peter, Andrew, James, and John used to live when they were fishermen. I am not sure, but they may have all gathered in Peter's home where his family lived. After they had settled down, Jesus asked them what they were arguing about while they were walking. Did you know that Jesus' disciples argued? (let them answer) I guess they did because the Bible tells us about it. It must have been a loud argument. They were too embarrassed to tell Jesus about their argument and so they all kept quiet.
Jesus knew what they were arguing about and he told them that the person who wants to be the greatest must be the person who gives the most, helps the most, and works for all of the others before he works for himself.
They thought that was a strange answer. The reason they wanted to be the greatest was so everyone else would do good things for them. They wanted people to listen to them speak and then do what they said. They thought that the greatest should have first choice of where they stayed and what they ate and whom they invited to a gathering. They wanted to be number one. They were surprised that Jesus talked about how the first person was the person who had to serve others first. It is still true today. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus you must help other people first before the other people will want you to be in charge.
We all like to make promises, but the leader is really the one who keeps them. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls. Does anyone know anything about the election we are going to have in a little over a month? (let them answer) Not many of you know about the election, but your parents do. Last week I stopped in some places and picked up campaign papers. Let me show you. (bring out as many brochures as you were able to find) Look at all of these. They look a lot alike. Most of them are red, white, and blue because that is the color of our flag. Almost all of them have a picture of the person they want you to elect. (show them some of the pictures) All of them make promises of what they are going to do for you. They want to lower taxes, help you with your insurance, they promise you better schools, and safer places to live. They all have a plan on how they are going to find better jobs for your mom and dad. All of them want your vote, so they make promises. All of them want to be first but if they are going to be first they must show you how they are going to help us have a better country, a safer city, and better schools. They promise you that they will work very hard for you if you make them first.
One day, Jesus and his disciples were taking a walk to a city called Capernaum where Peter, Andrew, James, and John used to live when they were fishermen. I am not sure, but they may have all gathered in Peter's home where his family lived. After they had settled down, Jesus asked them what they were arguing about while they were walking. Did you know that Jesus' disciples argued? (let them answer) I guess they did because the Bible tells us about it. It must have been a loud argument. They were too embarrassed to tell Jesus about their argument and so they all kept quiet.
Jesus knew what they were arguing about and he told them that the person who wants to be the greatest must be the person who gives the most, helps the most, and works for all of the others before he works for himself.
They thought that was a strange answer. The reason they wanted to be the greatest was so everyone else would do good things for them. They wanted people to listen to them speak and then do what they said. They thought that the greatest should have first choice of where they stayed and what they ate and whom they invited to a gathering. They wanted to be number one. They were surprised that Jesus talked about how the first person was the person who had to serve others first. It is still true today. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus you must help other people first before the other people will want you to be in charge.
We all like to make promises, but the leader is really the one who keeps them. Amen.
