Football Versus Love
Children's sermon
Ping-Pong Words
And 30 More Children's Sermons
Object:
(for a Sunday between the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day)
Scripture Reference
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
-- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Materials Needed
Football
Heart-shaped candy box or piece of construction paper
Card stock printed with scripture reference and verses
Heart-shaped candy (optional)
Telling The Story
What's this? (Show the football and let the children answer.) It's a football, and it's used to play a game called football.
What's this? (Show the heart.) It's a heart. The heart beating inside your body isn't really shaped like this, but we call this a heart shape, and it's often used to remind us of love.
Every winter, usually late in January or very early in February there's a very famous football game played on television. This year it was on (date). Does anyone know what it's called? (Let the children answer.) It's called the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl is all about football. Coming up is a holiday that's all about love. It's on February 14. Can anyone tell me what that day is? (Let the children answer.) That's right! It's Valentine's Day, and Valentine's Day is all about love.
The Super Bowl is about football, and Valentine's Day is about love. Football ... and love. Can football teach us anything about how God wants us to love each other? What if we talk about how football and love are different?
When you play football, there are two teams. If you look at the scoreboard, the team names might be listed, or maybe the scoreboard says, "Home" and "Visitor." Either way, there are two teams and each team is divided into two squads: The offense and the defense. The offense tries to score points and the defense tries to stop the offense of the other team.
In love, we work together. Whether we're talking about the love you feel for a friend, the love you feel for someone in your family, or a boyfriend and girlfriend kind of love, there is only one team. When you love someone you work for each other, not against each other. God wants us to work together.
When people play football, they're always trying to knock other people down. Two players run into each other, and knock or pull each other to the ground. It's called tackling, and it is part of the game. But when you love someone, you try to build that person up. How do you build other people up? You help them. You do nice things for them and encourage them. So football and love are opposites in that sense. In football, you knock people down. In love, you build them up. God wants us to build each other up.
There's something else different about football and love. In football, there are a lot of rules! There are rules about how long you can hold the ball, who you can throw it to, when you can move and when you can't, who you can tackle and who you can't, what you can do if you do have the ball, and what you can do if you don't. It's very complicated. The rulebook is thick, too!
Love, on the other hand, doesn't have big set of rules. God asks us to love him first and then to love the people around us the way we love ourselves. That's a lot easier to remember, and we don't need a referee to help us because we've got God. There are many complicated rules in football, but only two, simple things God want us to remember about love: Love God first and love our neighbors as ourselves.
There's something else. Football is played with a timer, and you know what? The referee is always stopping the timer. In fact, it seems like a football game is only played for five or ten seconds at a time, and then someone breaks one of those complicated rules we just talked about, and the referee stops the game and the timer.
Love isn't like that. There's no time limit, and you don't stop and start love again and again. When you love someone, you love that person all the time, the way God loves us. Even if the person makes a mistake, you love that person anyway, because God wants us to love all the time.
The differences between love and football aren't just sentiments made up by greeting card companies. They're found in the Bible! Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, wrote about love in a very famous set of verses that you've probably heard read at a wedding. (Show the card stock with the printed scripture reference and verses.)
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, Paul wrote: "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
Do you know what these verses mean? They're talking about the biggest difference between football and love. In football, the object of the game is to get the most points. To win the game, your team needs the biggest score.
But in love, no one is trying to win. According to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, love doesn't keep score. God doesn't want us to keep score with the people that we love, and most importantly, God doesn't keep score with us. If you love God and you are trying to do what he wants you to do, he'll forgive and forget your sins and love you with all his heart. That's what God wants us to do with the people we love, too.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this beautiful day, and thank you for loving us so much and for giving us the Bible to help us learn what you want us to do. Please help us to be patient and kind with the people around us, and help us to remember not to "keep score."
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Optional: Give children heart-shaped pieces of candy.
Scripture Reference
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
-- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Materials Needed
Football
Heart-shaped candy box or piece of construction paper
Card stock printed with scripture reference and verses
Heart-shaped candy (optional)
Telling The Story
What's this? (Show the football and let the children answer.) It's a football, and it's used to play a game called football.
What's this? (Show the heart.) It's a heart. The heart beating inside your body isn't really shaped like this, but we call this a heart shape, and it's often used to remind us of love.
Every winter, usually late in January or very early in February there's a very famous football game played on television. This year it was on (date). Does anyone know what it's called? (Let the children answer.) It's called the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl is all about football. Coming up is a holiday that's all about love. It's on February 14. Can anyone tell me what that day is? (Let the children answer.) That's right! It's Valentine's Day, and Valentine's Day is all about love.
The Super Bowl is about football, and Valentine's Day is about love. Football ... and love. Can football teach us anything about how God wants us to love each other? What if we talk about how football and love are different?
When you play football, there are two teams. If you look at the scoreboard, the team names might be listed, or maybe the scoreboard says, "Home" and "Visitor." Either way, there are two teams and each team is divided into two squads: The offense and the defense. The offense tries to score points and the defense tries to stop the offense of the other team.
In love, we work together. Whether we're talking about the love you feel for a friend, the love you feel for someone in your family, or a boyfriend and girlfriend kind of love, there is only one team. When you love someone you work for each other, not against each other. God wants us to work together.
When people play football, they're always trying to knock other people down. Two players run into each other, and knock or pull each other to the ground. It's called tackling, and it is part of the game. But when you love someone, you try to build that person up. How do you build other people up? You help them. You do nice things for them and encourage them. So football and love are opposites in that sense. In football, you knock people down. In love, you build them up. God wants us to build each other up.
There's something else different about football and love. In football, there are a lot of rules! There are rules about how long you can hold the ball, who you can throw it to, when you can move and when you can't, who you can tackle and who you can't, what you can do if you do have the ball, and what you can do if you don't. It's very complicated. The rulebook is thick, too!
Love, on the other hand, doesn't have big set of rules. God asks us to love him first and then to love the people around us the way we love ourselves. That's a lot easier to remember, and we don't need a referee to help us because we've got God. There are many complicated rules in football, but only two, simple things God want us to remember about love: Love God first and love our neighbors as ourselves.
There's something else. Football is played with a timer, and you know what? The referee is always stopping the timer. In fact, it seems like a football game is only played for five or ten seconds at a time, and then someone breaks one of those complicated rules we just talked about, and the referee stops the game and the timer.
Love isn't like that. There's no time limit, and you don't stop and start love again and again. When you love someone, you love that person all the time, the way God loves us. Even if the person makes a mistake, you love that person anyway, because God wants us to love all the time.
The differences between love and football aren't just sentiments made up by greeting card companies. They're found in the Bible! Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, wrote about love in a very famous set of verses that you've probably heard read at a wedding. (Show the card stock with the printed scripture reference and verses.)
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, Paul wrote: "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
Do you know what these verses mean? They're talking about the biggest difference between football and love. In football, the object of the game is to get the most points. To win the game, your team needs the biggest score.
But in love, no one is trying to win. According to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, love doesn't keep score. God doesn't want us to keep score with the people that we love, and most importantly, God doesn't keep score with us. If you love God and you are trying to do what he wants you to do, he'll forgive and forget your sins and love you with all his heart. That's what God wants us to do with the people we love, too.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this beautiful day, and thank you for loving us so much and for giving us the Bible to help us learn what you want us to do. Please help us to be patient and kind with the people around us, and help us to remember not to "keep score."
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Optional: Give children heart-shaped pieces of candy.
