Why Was I Born?
Children's sermon
Object: A crown and a cross. If you have enough small crosses, you could give one to each child at the end of the message.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! But first I would like to ask you a question. Why did God create you? (Let them respond.) Have you ever wondered about that? Have you ever wondered why you were born? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you our story and I think we’ll see why that is a really important thing for us to think about.
This is a story about something that happened to Jesus after he was arrested by the people who wanted to stop him from doing all the things he was doing for God. Today, when someone is arrested, they are usually taken to see a judge. The judge decides if the person should stay arrested, or if they should be let go. But back then, when someone like Jesus was arrested, they were taken to a man named Pilate, who was the governor. Pilate’s job was to make sure no one did things that caused a lot of trouble, so when someone did something wrong, Pilate would be the judge and decide what should be done with them.
When they took Jesus to see Pilate, Pilate asked him, “Why are you doing the things you are doing for people? Are you trying to cause trouble so you can take over and be the king of the Jewish people?”
Before I tell you more of the story, who can remember some of the things Jesus had been doing for people? (Let them respond and draw them out a bit.) He had been doing a lot of things to help people, hadn’t he? And he had been telling them how much God loved all of them, hadn’t he? (Let them respond.) That’s what made the people who arrested him so mad, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.) Those people believed that God only loved the people who followed their rules and acted like them, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) So they wanted to make Jesus stop telling people that God loved them all, and that’s why they arrested him and brought him to get Pilate. The people told Pilate that Jesus was doing all those things he was doing because he wanted the people to like him so he could become the king and take over the land. They knew that Pilate would never let Jesus do that and would do something to stop him for sure.
So Pilate just asked Jesus, “Are you trying to cause trouble so you can take over and be the king of the Jewish people?” Jesus looked at him and said, “Is that what those people told you?”
“What have you done to make them so angry?”
Jesus said, “If I wanted to be a king here, my servants would fight to get me free so I could be a king.”
Pilate said, “You have servants? So, you are a king, then?”
“That’s what you all keep saying, not me. I was not born to be a king. I was born to tell the truth.”
Jesus knew why he was born didn’t he? (Let them respond.) He knew God hadn’t created him to become another king with lots of money, power, and things, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) He knew that God had created him to tell everyone the truth about how much God loved them all, didn’t he? (Let them respond as you hold up the little crown.) Jesus could have become a king and had a crown if he wanted to, couldn’t he? (Let them respond as you hold up the little cross.) But Jesus knew that God had sent him to tell the truth about God and do what he needed to do to help other people instead of just helping himself, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) I’ll bet it was a hard decision. He probably could have done some kind of miracle and shown everyone who he really was so Pilate would let him go, couldn’t he? (Let them respond.) But he knew that was not why God had created him. Jesus knew he wasn’t born for this. (Show the crown.) He knew he was born for this. (Show the cross.)
Sometimes we have big decisions to make, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And sometimes it can be hard. Sometimes we have to decide if we are going to do or say something that would be nice for us but might not be nice for someone else. Maybe we want to say something to make fun of someone else. If we say it, everyone will laugh and think we are funny. But we know that if we say it, it will hurt the person we are all making fun of. So, we have to decide what we are going to do, don’t we?
The next time we have to make a decision like that, I hope our little story will remind us to think about why God created us. Did God create me to do things to make myself safe and happy, (show the crown) or to do things to help all of God’s children be safe and happy? (Show the cross.)
I hope our story will help us remember that God created us to take care of each other. 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.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! But first I would like to ask you a question. Why did God create you? (Let them respond.) Have you ever wondered about that? Have you ever wondered why you were born? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you our story and I think we’ll see why that is a really important thing for us to think about.
This is a story about something that happened to Jesus after he was arrested by the people who wanted to stop him from doing all the things he was doing for God. Today, when someone is arrested, they are usually taken to see a judge. The judge decides if the person should stay arrested, or if they should be let go. But back then, when someone like Jesus was arrested, they were taken to a man named Pilate, who was the governor. Pilate’s job was to make sure no one did things that caused a lot of trouble, so when someone did something wrong, Pilate would be the judge and decide what should be done with them.
When they took Jesus to see Pilate, Pilate asked him, “Why are you doing the things you are doing for people? Are you trying to cause trouble so you can take over and be the king of the Jewish people?”
Before I tell you more of the story, who can remember some of the things Jesus had been doing for people? (Let them respond and draw them out a bit.) He had been doing a lot of things to help people, hadn’t he? And he had been telling them how much God loved all of them, hadn’t he? (Let them respond.) That’s what made the people who arrested him so mad, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.) Those people believed that God only loved the people who followed their rules and acted like them, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) So they wanted to make Jesus stop telling people that God loved them all, and that’s why they arrested him and brought him to get Pilate. The people told Pilate that Jesus was doing all those things he was doing because he wanted the people to like him so he could become the king and take over the land. They knew that Pilate would never let Jesus do that and would do something to stop him for sure.
So Pilate just asked Jesus, “Are you trying to cause trouble so you can take over and be the king of the Jewish people?” Jesus looked at him and said, “Is that what those people told you?”
“What have you done to make them so angry?”
Jesus said, “If I wanted to be a king here, my servants would fight to get me free so I could be a king.”
Pilate said, “You have servants? So, you are a king, then?”
“That’s what you all keep saying, not me. I was not born to be a king. I was born to tell the truth.”
Jesus knew why he was born didn’t he? (Let them respond.) He knew God hadn’t created him to become another king with lots of money, power, and things, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) He knew that God had created him to tell everyone the truth about how much God loved them all, didn’t he? (Let them respond as you hold up the little crown.) Jesus could have become a king and had a crown if he wanted to, couldn’t he? (Let them respond as you hold up the little cross.) But Jesus knew that God had sent him to tell the truth about God and do what he needed to do to help other people instead of just helping himself, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) I’ll bet it was a hard decision. He probably could have done some kind of miracle and shown everyone who he really was so Pilate would let him go, couldn’t he? (Let them respond.) But he knew that was not why God had created him. Jesus knew he wasn’t born for this. (Show the crown.) He knew he was born for this. (Show the cross.)
Sometimes we have big decisions to make, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And sometimes it can be hard. Sometimes we have to decide if we are going to do or say something that would be nice for us but might not be nice for someone else. Maybe we want to say something to make fun of someone else. If we say it, everyone will laugh and think we are funny. But we know that if we say it, it will hurt the person we are all making fun of. So, we have to decide what we are going to do, don’t we?
The next time we have to make a decision like that, I hope our little story will remind us to think about why God created us. Did God create me to do things to make myself safe and happy, (show the crown) or to do things to help all of God’s children be safe and happy? (Show the cross.)
I hope our story will help us remember that God created us to take care of each other. 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.
