Under construction
Children's sermon
Object:
Building blocks
How many of you like to play with building blocks? (Let them
answer.) I always enjoy building things and it looks like many of
you like to build as well. All through life people like to build
things. That is why so many buildings get built. Some people
build careers. Others build the community where they live.
Churches are built by people. Today, however, I want to talk
about building something that most of us might not think about. I
want to talk about building people.
Now God makes people, and God makes us grow and learn. But we all help add to each other or take away from each other. We can help build people or we can tear people down.
How can we tear people down? (Let them answer.) We can be critical and mean with others and that tears them down. It makes people think less of themselves. We might not see any difference in a person who has been criticized, but there is a difference. When we tear people down, the tearing down begins on the inside of that person. That is why sometimes we are mean to people and think nothing of it. We usually can't see any difference. It's not like building a tower from these blocks and then knocking them down -- we can see that. But with people, the difference is on the inside.
Now, let me ask: Do you think God wants us to tear anybody down? (Let them answer.) No, God wants us to build each other up. How do we do that? (Explore various ways of building each other up.) Compliments help. When we see that a person is acting in a very pleasing way, we can say so. When someone does something exceptionally well, we can tell that person what a good job she or he did. There are many ways we have of building people.
We're all people builders. We're all in the construction business! Imagine that!
Dear God: Teach us how to build each other up and then help us do it often. Amen.
Alternative: Object -- a construction worker's hard hat. People who build buildings wear these for protection. We are not in the building construction business, but we are in the people-building business.
Now God makes people, and God makes us grow and learn. But we all help add to each other or take away from each other. We can help build people or we can tear people down.
How can we tear people down? (Let them answer.) We can be critical and mean with others and that tears them down. It makes people think less of themselves. We might not see any difference in a person who has been criticized, but there is a difference. When we tear people down, the tearing down begins on the inside of that person. That is why sometimes we are mean to people and think nothing of it. We usually can't see any difference. It's not like building a tower from these blocks and then knocking them down -- we can see that. But with people, the difference is on the inside.
Now, let me ask: Do you think God wants us to tear anybody down? (Let them answer.) No, God wants us to build each other up. How do we do that? (Explore various ways of building each other up.) Compliments help. When we see that a person is acting in a very pleasing way, we can say so. When someone does something exceptionally well, we can tell that person what a good job she or he did. There are many ways we have of building people.
We're all people builders. We're all in the construction business! Imagine that!
Dear God: Teach us how to build each other up and then help us do it often. Amen.
Alternative: Object -- a construction worker's hard hat. People who build buildings wear these for protection. We are not in the building construction business, but we are in the people-building business.
