Login / Signup

Free Access

The Real Law!

Children's sermon
Object: A dollar bill, or any bill with a president’s image on it.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! This is a story about bullies. Who can tell us what a bully is? (Let them respond.) A bully is someone who tries to make you do things you don’t want to do. Bullies are usually bigger, or more powerful than you are, aren’t they? And they threaten you and say that if you don’t do what they want you to do, they will do something to you, don’t they? (Let them respond.) Well, our story today is about two bullies who were threatening Jesus and his friends.

One of the bullies was a group of people called the Pharisees. We’ve heard about the Pharisees, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) They were in charge of making sure everyone obeyed all of their religious laws. If you didn’t follow their laws, they could do things to punish you. The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus, because he was going around telling people they didn’t have to follow all of the Pharisee’s laws. They were always trying to trick Jesus, and threatening to do something to him if he didn’t stop telling people that.

One day when Jesus was with his friends at the temple, some Pharisees came to talk to him and try to trick him with a really sneaky question. They said, “Jesus, we know that you are a really good man and do what God wants us to do.” They didn’t really believe he was a good man, but sometimes bullies try to treat you nice like that to trick you? Then they asked Jesus, “You know the law that says we should all pay taxes to Caesar. Do you think we should pay those taxes or not?”

Does anyone know who Caesar was? (Let them respond.) Caesar Augustus was the leader of the Roman Empire, which was the great big country that ruled over Israel. And Rome had their own laws they said everyone had to follow. Rome had big armies they could send to punish you if you did not obey their laws. The people in Israel didn’t like Caesar, and they didn’t like anyone who supported him.

One of the Roman laws was that everyone had to pay taxes to Caesar every year to support the Roman government. So, when the Pharisees asked Jesus the question about paying those taxes, they thought they finally had him trapped. If he said that people should pay the taxes, the people who followed him would hate him because he was helping Caesar. But if he said they should not pay the taxes, he would be breaking the Roman law, and the soldiers would come and take him away. I think the Pharisees had a little grin on their face when they asked the question, don’t you? (Let them respond.) Do you know that little smirky grin a bully has when they think they really have you trapped? Can you show what a bully’s smirk looks like? (Have everyone show their smirky grin.) The Pharisees knew that no matter what Jesus answered, he was going to be in trouble.

But let me show you what Jesus did. He asked the Pharisees if they had any money with them. Jesus looked at them and said, “You are trying to trap me, aren’t you? Do you have any money with you?” One of the Pharisees got a coin out of their pocket. (Show your dollar bill.) Jesus said, “Who’s picture is on the coin?” Let’s look at our money. Whose picture is on it? (Show the bill and let them respond.) It’s one of our presidents, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) The Pharisees looked at the coin and said, “Caesar’s.” Then Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

The smirk on the Pharisees’ faces went away. It changed from a smirk to a look that said, “Huh?” They were really confused. Can you make your bully smirk turn into something like this? (Show your bully-smirk turn into silly confusion and have everyone try it.)

The Pharisees just stood there and didn’t know what to say. The bullies wanted Jesus to argue with them, so they had an excuse to do more to hurt him. But Jesus told the Pharisees that he wasn’t going to argue about laws because that wasn’t what was important. The Pharisees believed that the laws were the most important thing, but Jesus believed the most important thing was to take care of people the way God wanted them to. To take care of people and teach them to take care of each other.

The story says, “They were amazed and walked away.” The Pharisees knew how to argue about laws, but they didn’t know how to take care of people.

Sometimes we see religious people arguing about laws, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We see them protest, threaten people, and argue about changing the laws to make them be the way they think they ought to be. They are kind of like the Pharisees who believed that the most important thing in the world is to make everyone follow their laws, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) Our story reminds us there is something more important than a bunch of religious laws. To God, the most important thing is for us to care about each other. Are we all safe? Do we all have a place to stay? Do we all have enough food to eat? Do we all have clothes to wear?

God does not want us to be bullies. God wants us to take care of each other.

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.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 10 | OT 15 | Pentecost 5
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 11 | OT 16 | Pentecost 6
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 12 | OT 17 | Pentecost 7
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity.

Note: You will need to select six children to play roles in this activity. If you have a smaller group, you might ask some older youth or even adults to play the parts of the two attackers and the man being attacked. I will give suggestions for how they can play their roles, but feel free to help your children make the story as fun and memorable as you can. I have used boys and girls in the various roles, but you can change those however you want to change them.

* * *

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
For July 13, 2025:
  • Samaritans Among Us by Dean Feldmeyer based on Acts 2:1-21. Samaritans were despised and dismissed by the original audience who first heard Jesus tell this parable. Who are the Samaritans in our lives and how does this parable apply today?
  • Second Thoughts: The Helpers by Katy Stenta based on Amos 7:7-17.

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
I say, “You are gods,
    children of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
    and fall like any prince….”
(vv. 6-7)

There have been any number of brother-sister acts that achieved a measure of fame. Take the Carpenters, famed for their singing, musicianship, and songwriting skills. Also worthy of mention are John and Joan Cusack who have acted together in over sixteen films.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
An ancient legend tells of a remote mountain village where people used to send their senior citizens out into the woods to die. The villagers had an eye to the future; they felt that those beyond a certain age would only slow down progress or use up valuable resources to no economically profitable end. Those who reached a certain age weren’t “put out to pasture” or “put out of their misery”; they were simply put out of other people’s way.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Mabel hummed a familiar hymn tune as she made her way to church. She always enjoyed her Sunday morning walk. It was one of the few times she felt safe to walk alone through the inner city, for she knew nobody would be up at 7.45 in the morning. Today was a particularly beautiful morning, with blue sky, warm sunshine, and the song of a few intrepid blackbirds who still inhabited the city.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Often, a distinction is made between the pastoral or priestly work of the church and the prophetic work. Pastoral care has to do with the care of souls, the offering of comfort in times of loss. The priestly character of pastoral work seeks to mediate the presence of God to those who are hurting.

Schuyler Rhodes
Trusting is never easy. Even in the best of relationships, people step into trust slowly. There is wariness -- questioning -- worry. What happens if trust is betrayed? What if this doesn't work? Sometimes it's like a dance. We step in and out of trust, moving to the rhythms of fear. For many, the routine is achingly familiar. Indeed, it's not easy to trust.
John Jamison
It was back in the days when the railroad was the most common mode of transportation. There were automobiles, and some airplanes, but the steam locomotive was the way most folks traveled and the way that most of the goods were distributed around the country. After dinner, people sat in the drawing room and listened to the radio programs, fading in and out from some faraway location, over the magical broadcasting signal.
Robert Leslie Holmes
Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It's the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline for your car and purchased it at a certain price per gallon.
David O. Bales
I have the two best jobs in the world. I teach social studies at Leon Griffith Junior High School (a fairly small junior high) and I am Sunday School Superintendent at Calvary Presbyterian Church (an enormous church school). Each job is my vocation. I tell people that at school they'll find my room where the halls cross. At church they can look but probably won't find me. I'll be in someone's classroom. At each job I practice what I most deeply believe: it's how you see the world that determines how you respond to it. I'll give you an example, actually, two examples.
Erskine White
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine)

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL