Christmas Cookies Sermon #3

This morning I was visiting with a daughter elsewhere in NYS, so I left my Christmas Cookie Sermon for a friend to do.

I made sugar cookie cutouts shaped like stars and suggested the verses Philippians 3:14-15 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe..."

I asked her to share the importance of each of us letting our lights shine to point others to Christ. I also left a CD of Larnelle Harris...I Want to Be a Star. The lyrics include...I want to be a star, hung somewhere in the silent sky, like the one over Bethlehem, that brought the humble and the wise.."

Being a "star" in a world of darkness seems like a formidable task. One might ask, "Just who do you think you are anyway?" The lyrics of the song also include..."I have no glory of my own for anyone to see...it's simply a reflection of Your light that shines in me."

I am flawed...in fact, I am a sinner. But, I am saved by the grace of God, and I feel an obligation to say so.

Children's Sermon-Getting dirty

Need: a pair of new work gloves and a pair of dirty work gloves.

(Here is what I said....you would need to adapt.)
I just bought this pair of work gloves for my husband. The label is still on, and they are perfectly clean. You can see no work has been done in them. (At this point, someone in the congregation called out a smart remark about my husband not doing any work and me trying to coerce him. I hadn't seen that coming.)
But, I have another pair of work gloves. When my son was a little boy...probably about 5 or 6...he was hanging around while his dad was working. I think they were stacking wood. He came in the house and said to me, "Mom, I need a pair of dirty little work gloves."
I replied, "I can get you a pair of work gloves, but you will need to put the dirt on them yourself."
This reminds me of the Bible verse in Phillipians that tells us "work out your own salvation."
When we accept Christ as our personal Savior, we receive eternal life, and we are set on a course for heaven. We do not get salvation by works...it is by faith in Christ. However, from that point on, we are supposed to be doing God's work in the world. We are responsible for putting the dirt on our own gloves.
The brand new work gloves are just like all the others on the rack at the store. The "dirty little work gloves" are special and one of a kind. Someone has lived life in them, done work in them. They have personality.
Each day of our lives, we should be asking God how He wants us to get our hands dirty that day. What work does He want us to do. That is how we "work out our own salvation." God didn't save us and put Jesus in our hearts, so that we could sit back and cruise into heaven. He has a job for each of us, and we need to discover for ourselves what that job is.
So go out and get your work gloves dirty!

Rhubarb Leaves

Prepare ahead: obtain a stalk of rhubarb with the leaf still attached.

One of my favorite things about this time of year is that I have rhubarb growing in my back yard. Some people don't like rhubarb, but I think it is wonderful. Rhubarb is also known as "pie plant. You can cut off the leaf and throw it away, then cut the stalk into small sections. It makes wonderful pies when mixed with sugar, spices and thickening, and baked in a pie crust.
The leaf is always cut off, because it is poisonous. How do you think that people first figured out long ago that the stalk could be eaten, but the leaf was poison?
(One of the children will probably answer that someone ate a leaf and either got sick or died.)
Right...that's probably how it happened. Now we could send a leaf to a lab and have it analyzed to figure out exactly what is in it, but long ago, there were no labs to figure things like that out. Someone did probably get sick or die from eating rhubarb leaves.
Suppose you were there when it happened, but you never told anyone, and didn't say a word, when someone else tried to eat a leaf? That would be wrong, wouldn't it. If there are "dos and don'ts" that are helpful and protect others from harm, we should tell them and spare them the injury.
In the Old Testament, God gave lots of laws to His people. Along with the other instructions, He made it clear that these rules were to be shared. In Deuteronomy 4:1, it says, "Hear now...the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live." Later in verse 9, this is added, "Teach them to your children and to their children after them."
When Jesus died on the cross for us, He freed us from keeping all the strict laws of the Old Testament. But the idea still holds, that when we know something that is true and helpful, we should share it with other people.
We know that Jesus died for us to pay the price for our sins. We know that if we ask Him to forgive us and come into our lives, we can find real peace and joy. That's wonderful news that is helpful to people who are sad and in need of someone to love and comfort them. We should be sharing it. Don't keep it to yourself!

Children's Sermon-The Torn Curtain

Prepare ahead: find a piece of woven fabric that will tear easily. It should be a big enough piece that ripping it is somewhat dramatic. Put a tiny cut in the middle of one edge, so that you won’t have any trouble tearing it.
One of the interesting stories that should be told at Easter is often overlooked…probably because it is only one sentence long. Let’s look at Mark 15 which tells the story of how Jesus died on the cross. Verse 33 tells us that darkness came over the whole land from the 6th to the 9th hour…this would be from noon until 3 o’clock in the afternoon….not a time it is usually dark! Then reading in verses 37-38, “with a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
(Rip the fabric in two from top to bottom, as you repeat , “the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”)
What curtain is being talked about here? (See if the children know about the curtain in the temple which divided the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. Draw out of them, or explain, that there was an area in the temple called the Holy of Holies. This is where the presence of God actually lived. It was not visible from the rest of the temple, and separated from it with a heavy curtain. No one could enter this area, except for once a year when a priest entered with a sacrifice for the sins of the people. If a person were to enter without a sacrifice for sin, he would be struck dead. In fact, the priest would have bells around the bottom hem of his robe, so that people standing outside could hear the bells ring as he moved around, and be assured that the priest was still alive.)
Because we are sinful and God is perfect and holy, we can’t go into His presence without a sacrifice for sins. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price for our sins. To show that Jesus’ blood covered out sins, and we could now enter His presence, God Himself ripped the curtain, opening the Holy of Holies.
We might be tempted to think that some human being ripped the curtain, but you have to understand that this curtain was extremely large….some experts say it was 60 feet high and 4 inches thick. It wasn’t as though someone could have climbed up and had the strength to rip it from top to bottom.
God loved us so much that He wanted us to be able to come into his presence. He wants us to come to Him by praying and sharing the deep feelings in our hearts with Him. He knew we could never pay for our own sins, so He provided His own Son to die in our place. Then He ripped the curtain so that anyone could enter His presence.

Children's Sermon-Good news...it's empty!

Preparation: gather some items which would be disappointing if empty....e.g. an empty jewelry box, a candy wrapper minus the candy bar, etc. Keep some actual candy in wrappers out of sight. Alter the dialogue to fit your items.

Have you ever been riding in a car when it started to sputter and then stopped? Maybe the driver looked at the dashboard and saw the gas gauge pointing to "E" and said, "Oh, no! We're on empty!" That's bad news, isn't it?
What do you think would happen if your Dad gave your Mom a small pretty box that looked like it would have a piece of nice jewelry in it, but when she opened it, it was empty! (show box) Big trouble, bad news!
What about this....here, Kyle, have some candy. (Hand him the empty wrapper and use his response to indicate that it is empty.) Uh, oh....once again empty is bad news.
I want to tell you today, that being empty is also the best news in the world.
As Christians we often talk about how Jesus died for us on the cross. We say that He took all our sin and guilt in order to save us. We have crosses in our churches and wear them on necklaces. But the truth is, that if the story had ended at the cross, it would be a very sad story. If Jesus had remained dead and in the tomb, we would have no hope. If Jesus wasn't strong enough to win out over sin and death, what chance do we have?
But here's the thing...the tomb was empty!
Jesus was powerful enough to come back to life. Sin and death could not hold Him. Because he won that battle, we have hope that we can win our battles with sin, and that after our bodies are dead and buried, the part of us that makes us who we really are will live on with Jesus in heaven.
So...the very best news in the world is that IT'S EMPTY. The grave where Jesus was buried is empty. HE IS ALIVE, and that is what we celebrate today.
Oh...and here is something else that isn't empty. (pass out candy in a wrapper)

Children's Sermon-The Real Egg

Which is the real egg?
Prepare ahead:
Blow the white and yolk out of an egg. Do this by making a small hole in each end, putting your mouth over one end and blowing the contents out.
Open a plastic egg and put the contents of a real egg inside. Only fill the bottom half so you don't have a mess.
The sermon:
Hold up the empty egg in one hand and the plastic egg in the other. Position your thumb and forefinger at the bottom and top of each egg, so that the holes in the empty egg can't be seen.
Ask the children which is the real egg. They will, of course, point to the one which is actually an empty shell. Ask them what makes an egg a real egg. Guide responses as necessary to get at the idea of having a shell, having a white and yolk, etc.
Now turn the "real egg' so that they can see the hole. Then wrap your hand around the egg and crush it. (They will be surprised that you haven't made a gooey mess.)
Tell them that you have tricked them and open up the plastic egg revealing the white and yolk contents.
Talk to them about the fact that we can be fooled by how something appears on the outside.
Ask them what makes a Christian a real Christian.
Guide responses:
Does coming to church make a person a real Christian?
Does being able to quote a Bible verse make a person a real Christian?
Does saying a prayer make a person a real Christian?
NO....it is what is on the inside.
A real Christian is a person who has asked Jesus into his heart, who knows he is a sinner and that he needs Jesus help. (Expand depending on age of your audience, etc.)
Don't be fooled by what is on the outside. (You can add comments to encourage children not to be judgmental or judge based on external appearances.)