Temptation
Children's sermon
Object: Two pairs of headphones. One should be a larger, more traditional pair, and the other a smaller, ‘ear bud’ pair.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! But before I tell you our story, I have two questions I want to ask you, okay? (Let them respond.) Great. The first question is, can anyone tell us the two things that Jesus said are the two most important things we are supposed to do? (Let them respond.) Maybe you remember the story of the man who came to Jesus and said, “There are so many rules people say that we are supposed to follow, would you please tell us what God really wants us to do?” Jesus looked at him and told him there were only two things God wants us to do. We need to love God, and to love and take care of each other. And those are the two things that Jesus wants us to do, too.
My second question is, can anyone tell us what the word ‘temptation’ means? (Let them respond.) What does it mean if we are tempted? (Let them respond.) Well, have you ever thought about doing something that you kind of knew wasn’t good to do, or maybe someone asked you to do something you knew you really shouldn’t do, but you thought about doing it anyway? (Let them respond.) That’s temptation. We know what we should do, but we think about doing something completely different instead. So, I think we have all been tempted like that sometimes, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) Maybe we were upset at someone and knew we should not call them a name or hit them, but boy, we really thought about doing it anyway. Has that ever happened to you? (Let them respond.) Yes, it’s happened to me, too. I think it happens to all of us, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Well, today is the first Sunday of the season called Lent. Easter is coming, and Lent is a time that we think about what Jesus did and what happened to him on Easter morning. We think about the things he did, things that he said, and today our story tells us about how Jesus was tempted to stop listening to God and listen to somebody else, instead. So, now I will tell you our story.
Back when Jesus was just getting ready to go out and start talking to people about God, he went someplace all by himself for a while to think about what he was going to do. While he was there, someone came to him and said, “Hey there, Jesus, I think you are really awesome. Why don’t you take that rock over there and turn it into a nice loaf of bread and show us just how awesome you really are?” They wanted Jesus to show-off, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) Does anyone know what Jesus did? (Let them respond.) Jesus looked at them and said, “Nope. Bread isn’t all that important.”
Then they said to him, “But if you do it for me, I will do things to make you really rich and successful. Why don’t you just turn one little donut into a pretzel?” I made up that part about the donut and pretzel, but they really did promise to make Jesus rich and famous if he would do what they wanted him to do. And what do you think Jesus did? (Let them respond.) He looked at them and said, “I am going to be what God wants me to be, not what you want me to be.”
They stood there a minute, and then they said, “Okay, then why don’t you show me that God will really help you. Let’s go over to that really tall building over there so you can jump off of it and see if God catches you? Prove to me that God is going to help you.” Jesus looked at them and said, “I don’t need to prove anything to you. I trust God, not you. Now just go away.”
And the person gave up and left, but they didn’t stop trying to tempt Jesus. A couple of times, Jesus even sat down and cried because he was tempted to do things he knew God did not want him to do. But each time, he said, “Stop trying to tempt me and just go away! I am going to do what God wants me to do, not what you want me to do!”
Let me tell you something about temptation. It’s kind of like this. (Show the large headphones.) Who can tell us what these are? (Let them respond.) They are headphones, aren’t they? And what do we use these for? (Let them respond as you put them on your head.) We wear these so we can listen to things, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We listen to music. We listen to books. We listen to all kinds of things, don’t we? (Let them respond.) In fact, when we see someone wearing these we don’t really know what they are listening to, do we? (Let them respond as you take off the headphones) And sometimes, we wear these, don’t we? (Show the ear buds.) And if we wear these (put on the ear buds) people usually don’t even know that we are listening to something else, do they? (Let them respond.) They could be listening to anything or anyone, and we don’t even know it, do we? (Let them respond.)
Temptation is just like these headphones and ear buds. When someone tries to tempt us to do something, we don’t know who is telling them to tempt us, do we? (Let them respond.) They might sound really friendly and really smart, but we don’t know if they are listening to God, or if they are listening to someone else, do we? (Let them respond.)
But, Jesus knew what God wanted him to do, and knew that the people who were tempting him were not listening to God (show the headphones and ear buds) but were listening to something very different. So, Jesus decided that he was not going to listen to them, didn’t he? (Take off the headphones and ear buds and put them away someplace.) Jesus told them that he was going to listen to someone else. And who was Jesus listening to? Jesus was listening to God say that the only things he needed to do were to love God, and to love and take care of each other, wasn’t he?
As we celebrate Lent each week, we are going to hear some more stories about how some people try to tempt us to stop listening to God and start listening to them instead. And I hope our stories will help us remember what Jesus wants us to do today. Who can remember the two things that Jesus said God wants us to do? (Let them respond.) Jesus said that the two things God wants us to do are to love God, and to love each other, yes!
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.) Excellent! But before I tell you our story, I have two questions I want to ask you, okay? (Let them respond.) Great. The first question is, can anyone tell us the two things that Jesus said are the two most important things we are supposed to do? (Let them respond.) Maybe you remember the story of the man who came to Jesus and said, “There are so many rules people say that we are supposed to follow, would you please tell us what God really wants us to do?” Jesus looked at him and told him there were only two things God wants us to do. We need to love God, and to love and take care of each other. And those are the two things that Jesus wants us to do, too.
My second question is, can anyone tell us what the word ‘temptation’ means? (Let them respond.) What does it mean if we are tempted? (Let them respond.) Well, have you ever thought about doing something that you kind of knew wasn’t good to do, or maybe someone asked you to do something you knew you really shouldn’t do, but you thought about doing it anyway? (Let them respond.) That’s temptation. We know what we should do, but we think about doing something completely different instead. So, I think we have all been tempted like that sometimes, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) Maybe we were upset at someone and knew we should not call them a name or hit them, but boy, we really thought about doing it anyway. Has that ever happened to you? (Let them respond.) Yes, it’s happened to me, too. I think it happens to all of us, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Well, today is the first Sunday of the season called Lent. Easter is coming, and Lent is a time that we think about what Jesus did and what happened to him on Easter morning. We think about the things he did, things that he said, and today our story tells us about how Jesus was tempted to stop listening to God and listen to somebody else, instead. So, now I will tell you our story.
Back when Jesus was just getting ready to go out and start talking to people about God, he went someplace all by himself for a while to think about what he was going to do. While he was there, someone came to him and said, “Hey there, Jesus, I think you are really awesome. Why don’t you take that rock over there and turn it into a nice loaf of bread and show us just how awesome you really are?” They wanted Jesus to show-off, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) Does anyone know what Jesus did? (Let them respond.) Jesus looked at them and said, “Nope. Bread isn’t all that important.”
Then they said to him, “But if you do it for me, I will do things to make you really rich and successful. Why don’t you just turn one little donut into a pretzel?” I made up that part about the donut and pretzel, but they really did promise to make Jesus rich and famous if he would do what they wanted him to do. And what do you think Jesus did? (Let them respond.) He looked at them and said, “I am going to be what God wants me to be, not what you want me to be.”
They stood there a minute, and then they said, “Okay, then why don’t you show me that God will really help you. Let’s go over to that really tall building over there so you can jump off of it and see if God catches you? Prove to me that God is going to help you.” Jesus looked at them and said, “I don’t need to prove anything to you. I trust God, not you. Now just go away.”
And the person gave up and left, but they didn’t stop trying to tempt Jesus. A couple of times, Jesus even sat down and cried because he was tempted to do things he knew God did not want him to do. But each time, he said, “Stop trying to tempt me and just go away! I am going to do what God wants me to do, not what you want me to do!”
Let me tell you something about temptation. It’s kind of like this. (Show the large headphones.) Who can tell us what these are? (Let them respond.) They are headphones, aren’t they? And what do we use these for? (Let them respond as you put them on your head.) We wear these so we can listen to things, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We listen to music. We listen to books. We listen to all kinds of things, don’t we? (Let them respond.) In fact, when we see someone wearing these we don’t really know what they are listening to, do we? (Let them respond as you take off the headphones) And sometimes, we wear these, don’t we? (Show the ear buds.) And if we wear these (put on the ear buds) people usually don’t even know that we are listening to something else, do they? (Let them respond.) They could be listening to anything or anyone, and we don’t even know it, do we? (Let them respond.)
Temptation is just like these headphones and ear buds. When someone tries to tempt us to do something, we don’t know who is telling them to tempt us, do we? (Let them respond.) They might sound really friendly and really smart, but we don’t know if they are listening to God, or if they are listening to someone else, do we? (Let them respond.)
But, Jesus knew what God wanted him to do, and knew that the people who were tempting him were not listening to God (show the headphones and ear buds) but were listening to something very different. So, Jesus decided that he was not going to listen to them, didn’t he? (Take off the headphones and ear buds and put them away someplace.) Jesus told them that he was going to listen to someone else. And who was Jesus listening to? Jesus was listening to God say that the only things he needed to do were to love God, and to love and take care of each other, wasn’t he?
As we celebrate Lent each week, we are going to hear some more stories about how some people try to tempt us to stop listening to God and start listening to them instead. And I hope our stories will help us remember what Jesus wants us to do today. Who can remember the two things that Jesus said God wants us to do? (Let them respond.) Jesus said that the two things God wants us to do are to love God, and to love each other, yes!
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.
