Children’s Sermon

Matthew 5:14-16

We Are Lights

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Matthew 5:14-16
We Are Lights

By Dell Smith Klein

(Adapted from sermon on John 1:1-18)

KEY VERSE: ” You are the light of the world…. Let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14, 16, World English Bible)

Object: A Light Bulb

Once there was a long, dark hallway. No one could see the rug in front of the bedroom door. No one could see that Tommy had left his toy dump truck just outside his door. And, no one could see Twinkle, the little puppy, is sleeping at the end of the hall. What might happen if someone walks down that hallway in the dark? (Allow children to respond. They might trip over the rug. Someone might step on Twinkle’s foot and she would cry. Someone might step on the truck and it would roll and the person could get hurt.)

There is a light switch on the wall right at the entrance to the hallway. If you were going to walk in that hall what could you do? (Let children respond. Turn the light on.)

Good idea. Does the light shout at you, “Look out for that rug!” “Be careful, there is a dump truck in the middle of the hallway!” “Watch out for Twinkle!” Is that what the light does? (Allow children to respond. They might say the light shines.) The light doesn’t shout at us, does it? Instead the light shines. So when that light is shining, we can see the rug, Twinkle and the dump truck. And it is easier to find our way in the hallway.

Jesus said that we are the light of the world. What he meant was that, when we believe in him and obey him, we make the world a lighter, brighter, better place to be.

Let’s do believe in Jesus. Let’s do what he wants us to do. Let’s let our little lights shine for Jesus.

Prayer. Jesus thank you for being the light and showing us how to live in this world. You show us the bad things in the world so we can avoid them, and the good things so we can do good things to help others. Amen.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2013, Richard Niell Donovan