Sermon
Using Your Gifts for God
Theme
Using our gifts to strengthen the body of Christ.
Object
Opaque cup filled with yarn
Scripture
“And Christ gave gifts to men—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God’s people. Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving. He gave those gifts to make the body of Christ stronger. This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge about the Son of God. We must become like a mature person—we must grow until we become like Christ and have all his perfection. Then we will no longer be babies. We will not be tossed about like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from men who are trying to fool us. Those men make plans and try any kind of trick to fool people into following the wrong path. No! We will speak the truth with love. We will grow up in every way to be like Christ, who is the head. The whole body depends on Christ. And all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part of the body does its own work. And this makes the whole body grow and be strong with love.” Ephesians 4:11-16 (International Children’s Bible)
Activities + Resources
What if I was thirsty and had this cup filled with deliciously refreshing water in my hand, but I didn’t have an elbow? It might be tough to drink the water. (With your arm held stiffly try to drink from the cup. Reach your arm to the right and stretch your neck. Repeat to the left.) Maybe I could put my cup high over my head and pour the water into my mouth? Do you think it will work? Let me try it! (Do this and the yarn spills onto you. Laugh with the kids.) It didn’t work! Luckily for me, my cup had yarn and not water in it.
In the Bible it tells us that we are all a part of the body of Christ. Just like having our own body parts (like our elbows) make our body stronger and abler to do great things, you make our church stronger and abler to do great things. Not all of our body parts do the same job, right? That’s the same with people. Each of us have different gifts that we can share.
Maybe you like to talk to people; if so you can invite people to come to church with you. Maybe you have a good memory, then you can remember bible stories and tell them to people. Maybe you are kind, then you can be a friend to someone who may be lonely. Maybe you are a good helper or you are patient or you are dependable or any number of things, all of these are gifts that God can use in his church to make us grow and be strong.
So think about what you are good at and give those gifts to God so that our church can teach more people about how much He loves us all.
Dear God, Thank you for giving me gifts. Help me to do the things that I am good at to help the church grow stronger so that more people can learn about you. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
