Point of view
Children's sermon
Object:
a toothbrush
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way." (v. 16)
Good morning, boys and girls! Have you ever fought with your mom or dad about brushing your teeth? (allow answers) Maybe they want you to brush your teeth, but you just don't want to do it! Or maybe there is something else you can think of that your parents want you to do when you don't want to? (allow answers) Maybe they want you to eat certain things, or go to bed early.
How do you feel when your parents want you to do things you don't want to do? (allow answers) You might feel angry at them -- why are they making you do this? From your point of view, your parents are just tormenting you!
Do any of you know what "point of view" means? (allow answers) It means we see things differently depending on how we are looking at it. Fighting with your parents is a good example of point of view. From your point of view, your parents are being unfair to make you brush your teeth! From your parents' point of view, they aren't being unfair -- they are trying to keep you healthy, safe, and clean.
Many times when we get in an argument or have a problem with someone else, it is because we have different points of view. Maybe your friend doesn't invite you to their birthday party. From your point of view, they are just being mean. From their point of view, they could only invite a few people, and even though they wanted to invite you, they couldn't; or they had a party with their family and none of their friends were allowed to come.
Our New Testament reading talks about point of view. It says that we used to see Jesus from a human point of view -- that is, we thought he was just an average guy like you or me. Now we know that Jesus is not just a human. Jesus is God's only Son! He is both human and divine. Do you know what divine means? (allow answers) Divine means that he is holy.
The disciples didn't understand many of the things Jesus did -- like eating dinner with people who sin, telling strange parables -- because they could only from their human point of view. Sometimes they had arguments among themselves because they did not understand the things Jesus was teaching. Just like when we don't understand our parents, so Jesus' disciples didn't understand him. As Jesus' Easter story unfolded, things started to make sense to the disciples. Just so, the older we get, the more we will understand why our parents do the things they do to help us. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! Have you ever fought with your mom or dad about brushing your teeth? (allow answers) Maybe they want you to brush your teeth, but you just don't want to do it! Or maybe there is something else you can think of that your parents want you to do when you don't want to? (allow answers) Maybe they want you to eat certain things, or go to bed early.
How do you feel when your parents want you to do things you don't want to do? (allow answers) You might feel angry at them -- why are they making you do this? From your point of view, your parents are just tormenting you!
Do any of you know what "point of view" means? (allow answers) It means we see things differently depending on how we are looking at it. Fighting with your parents is a good example of point of view. From your point of view, your parents are being unfair to make you brush your teeth! From your parents' point of view, they aren't being unfair -- they are trying to keep you healthy, safe, and clean.
Many times when we get in an argument or have a problem with someone else, it is because we have different points of view. Maybe your friend doesn't invite you to their birthday party. From your point of view, they are just being mean. From their point of view, they could only invite a few people, and even though they wanted to invite you, they couldn't; or they had a party with their family and none of their friends were allowed to come.
Our New Testament reading talks about point of view. It says that we used to see Jesus from a human point of view -- that is, we thought he was just an average guy like you or me. Now we know that Jesus is not just a human. Jesus is God's only Son! He is both human and divine. Do you know what divine means? (allow answers) Divine means that he is holy.
The disciples didn't understand many of the things Jesus did -- like eating dinner with people who sin, telling strange parables -- because they could only from their human point of view. Sometimes they had arguments among themselves because they did not understand the things Jesus was teaching. Just like when we don't understand our parents, so Jesus' disciples didn't understand him. As Jesus' Easter story unfolded, things started to make sense to the disciples. Just so, the older we get, the more we will understand why our parents do the things they do to help us. Amen.
