A worthy manner
Children's sermon
Object:
A model train engine
Good morning. I'd like to tell you a story this morning
about a little boy who was too young to know that you shouldn't
play on railroad tracks. He thought it was fun, and his parents
didn't know he'd gone to play at such a dangerous place. It so
happened that while he was thoroughly enjoying himself, a very
fast train was moving toward him. It was just around a big curve
so that the boy could not see it. (You can use the toy train and
pretend it is the train you are telling about.)
The boy was making so much noise pretending that he was a train that he couldn't hear the real one. Now a man working nearby saw the train and the boy, and he started running as fast as he could to the boy to get him off the tracks so the train would not harm him. The man ran fast and the train moved fast and the boy still didn't hear anything! Then it happened -- the boy saw the train. But he was too scared to move. He just stood there, and the train moved swiftly toward him. Meanwhile, the man was running as fast as he could and didn't think he could get to the boy soon enough. Then -- just before the train came to that spot -- the man leaped into the air, grabbed the boy, and saved him from being run over by the train. What a hero!
Now, imagine that you were the man who saved the boy. You would hope that this boy would be a good person and live a good life, wouldn't you? (Let them answer.) You risked your life for him and now you hope he lives a life worthy of the heroic deed you did for him.
In the same way, Jesus died for us. He didn't just try to rescue us, he died! When Paul wrote to the congregation at Philippi, he reminded them that since Jesus did such a great thing for them, they should live a life worthy of that great deed. In other words, they should try to live the best life they could.
We are so glad for what Jesus did for us, that we want to do right and live good lives. It's our way of saying "thank you" to Jesus since we can't actually see Jesus to tell him this. The best thank you we can give Jesus is the way we live our lives.
Dearest, loving Jesus: Help us live good lives because of what you have done for us. Amen.
The boy was making so much noise pretending that he was a train that he couldn't hear the real one. Now a man working nearby saw the train and the boy, and he started running as fast as he could to the boy to get him off the tracks so the train would not harm him. The man ran fast and the train moved fast and the boy still didn't hear anything! Then it happened -- the boy saw the train. But he was too scared to move. He just stood there, and the train moved swiftly toward him. Meanwhile, the man was running as fast as he could and didn't think he could get to the boy soon enough. Then -- just before the train came to that spot -- the man leaped into the air, grabbed the boy, and saved him from being run over by the train. What a hero!
Now, imagine that you were the man who saved the boy. You would hope that this boy would be a good person and live a good life, wouldn't you? (Let them answer.) You risked your life for him and now you hope he lives a life worthy of the heroic deed you did for him.
In the same way, Jesus died for us. He didn't just try to rescue us, he died! When Paul wrote to the congregation at Philippi, he reminded them that since Jesus did such a great thing for them, they should live a life worthy of that great deed. In other words, they should try to live the best life they could.
We are so glad for what Jesus did for us, that we want to do right and live good lives. It's our way of saying "thank you" to Jesus since we can't actually see Jesus to tell him this. The best thank you we can give Jesus is the way we live our lives.
Dearest, loving Jesus: Help us live good lives because of what you have done for us. Amen.
