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Tempting!

Children's sermon
Matthew 4:1-11
First Sunday in Lent - A
John Jamison
Object:  A cookie, a trophy or award of some kind, and a pair of socks.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a question for you. Can anyone tell me what the word temptation means? (Let them respond.) Let’s pretend you saw a big plate of cookies on the table, and they looked DELICIOUS! (Show the cookie.) But, you know that you aren’t supposed to eat anything right now so you don’t ruin your dinner. But those cookies really look good. And they smell good too. And the plate is piled full of cookies, so you could take one and no one would be able to tell one was missing. Or let’s pretend that you are in a contest with someone to win a really big award. (Show the trophy.) And you know something you could do that would help you win the contest, but if you did it you would be breaking the rules. But you think that if you are careful, no one would ever know that you cheated to win the award. (Show the socks.) Or pretend you were told you had to go pick up all your clothes and straighten up your room before you got to play, but you knew that if you just stuffed a bunch of things way under your bed you could make your room look clean and start playing a lot quicker.

That is what temptation means. We know what we are supposed to do, but we are tempted to do something else, even though we know we aren’t supposed to do it. Now, I don’t want to embarrass you, so I am going to ask a question to everyone here. (Look at the congregation.) Have any of you ever been tempted? (Let them respond.) I think we have all had some temptations, haven’t we? Did you know that Jesus was even tempted to do things he wasn’t supposed to do? (Let them respond.) He was.

There were people who didn’t like him and he knew he could do things to show them just who he was. Today’s story said that he could have just picked up a rock and turned it into a loaf of bread. That would have shown everyone, wouldn’t it? (Let them respond.) And the story says he could have jumped off of a tall building and landed on the street without being hurt. Now that would have impressed everyone, wouldn’t it? (Let them respond.) The story says that if Jesus would have done these things, he would be the most powerful person in the world, and everyone would all bow down and worship him. That would be pretty tempting, wouldn’t it?

But Jesus remembered that God had sent him here to help us, and if he did the things he was tempted to do, he would be breaking the rules. The story says that even though Jesus was tempted, he didn’t do those things. He did what God asked him to do.

Today is the first Sunday of the season we call Lent. Lent is a time that we think about all the things that Jesus told us and did for us, so we can really celebrate what happened on Easter morning.

Today’s story was about how Jesus was tempted. (Show the cookie, trophy, and socks.) Since we are all tempted sometimes, too, during Lent we are going to look at some of the other stories about how people were tempted to not do what God asked them to do, and see if we can learn anything that will help us when we are tempted to not do what God asks us to do.

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. 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.
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