By grace
Children's sermon
Object:
a "wanted" poster (make your own if you need to)
Sometimes when people do bad things to others and the police
cannot catch them, posters with the person's picture are made
like this. (Show them the poster.) We also have television
shows that help us find people who have done bad things. These
posters and television shows help people recognize who the people
are so that they can be reported to the police.
Usually, when "wanted" posters are hung in public places or broadcast over television, these are not the kinds of people you would want to run the church! We want good people to run the church, don't we? (Let them answer.) If a person has done bad things, we often expect that they will do more bad things in the future. That is why the police want to catch them. It protects the rest of us if the police can put them in jail. If these "bad" people are in jail, then they can't harm us.
So, when Jesus chose twelve people to be his closest friends and students, do you think he would want to choose a "bad" person? (Let them answer.) I wouldn't think he would want such a person as a close follower.
In the Bible a man named Matthew was considered a "bad" person because he collected taxes for the Romans. It was not against the law to collect taxes, it was just that the people did not like having one of their own citizens collect taxes for a foreign government like Rome.
If a gallery of "bad" people could be established, I am sure Matthew would have been one of them. Yet Jesus chose Matthew as one of his own closest students! Jesus chose him to be a leader in the church! Matthew didn't deserve to be chosen, but Jesus chose him anyway!
Jesus also has chosen you and me to be students and friends of his. We are Jesus' close friends and students because Jesus loves us and not because we have done something good enough to be loved by Jesus. We call this "grace" when Jesus calls us even though we do not earn the right to be so close to Jesus.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for choosing us like you chose Matthew. Amen.
Usually, when "wanted" posters are hung in public places or broadcast over television, these are not the kinds of people you would want to run the church! We want good people to run the church, don't we? (Let them answer.) If a person has done bad things, we often expect that they will do more bad things in the future. That is why the police want to catch them. It protects the rest of us if the police can put them in jail. If these "bad" people are in jail, then they can't harm us.
So, when Jesus chose twelve people to be his closest friends and students, do you think he would want to choose a "bad" person? (Let them answer.) I wouldn't think he would want such a person as a close follower.
In the Bible a man named Matthew was considered a "bad" person because he collected taxes for the Romans. It was not against the law to collect taxes, it was just that the people did not like having one of their own citizens collect taxes for a foreign government like Rome.
If a gallery of "bad" people could be established, I am sure Matthew would have been one of them. Yet Jesus chose Matthew as one of his own closest students! Jesus chose him to be a leader in the church! Matthew didn't deserve to be chosen, but Jesus chose him anyway!
Jesus also has chosen you and me to be students and friends of his. We are Jesus' close friends and students because Jesus loves us and not because we have done something good enough to be loved by Jesus. We call this "grace" when Jesus calls us even though we do not earn the right to be so close to Jesus.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for choosing us like you chose Matthew. Amen.
