Choose Life! Children’s Message on Embracing the Grace of God
Main Objective: Some decisions should seem pretty obvious…and yet we don’t always opt for the glorious blessings that God offers us. Life or death? Good or evil? This message encourages students to make wise choices about life and loving the Lord. Our choices have important consequences! Consider the words of Deuteronomy 30 as they relate to everyday decisions and the importance of accepting God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Law/Gospel Theme: When discussing decisions, we can sometimes be tempted to focus a little too much on our own power and place. We might act like we have one something great when it comes to accepting the gift of God’s grace, but it’s Jesus who did the heavy lifting! This message emphasizes the beauty of how God is in control. He loves us and has chosen us no matter what. We can still turn away from that love and choose not to serve and follow Him, but why would we reject such amazing grace?
Optional Materials: Items representing choices; sports-related elements (if using the sports theme).
You can download the complete 18-page Sunday School Lesson on Deuteronomy 30:15-20, compare the Bible craft activities, and related Bible lesson for kids.
Bible Passage: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Message: Note: As with most messages, the details of how you choose to communicate this are adaptable and should cater to timing as well as to your audience and student needs. This message coincides with the Superbowl and sports elements, but can be adapted to discuss other types of choices.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Children’s Sermon Object Lesson
Greet children, and consider incorporating some sports gear…
Hello, children of God!
Do you like watching sports? There are a lot of interesting things that happen out there in the world of athletics. This weekend (insert applicable sporting event; this message uses the Superbowl), there’s this big football game we have called the Superbowl. It’s kind of a big deal if you live in the United States, although I happen to think it’s best for snacks, parties, and commercials…but anyway, there are two teams who play in this game, trying to determine who is the best. Which team do you think is going to win? Who would you choose? Why? Discuss teams and picks. Now, is that team going to win because you think they’re the best? Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work like that…the team that will win is, of course, whichever group of players scores more points! Rooting for them doesn’t exactly change the outcome.
There are a lot of choices we have to make in life on a daily basis. We choose what to wear, what to eat, what to do…Some of these things aren’t really a big deal, but there are other choices we make that have quite an impact on our lives. And some decisions are pretty obvious… What if you had the choice of chocolate or brussels sprouts? Or what if you had the choice of life or death? God told His people in the Old Testament to choose between good and evil, between life and death. He promised blessing and long life for following Him. That seems like a “no-brainer”, right?
It seems too easy, but we can still make poor decisions sometimes. God wants us to choose to accept His grace and follow Him. It seems easy enough. We know that God gives us freedom from sin and new life, and you would think everyone would want to take that. But we make poor choices. We have choices to honor and serve God, and obey Him, but we mess that up sometimes. We make a lot of mistakes. Even if we know the right choice, we don’t always follow through on it.
But that’s where the great news comes in…even though we do things we shouldn’t, God loves us and covers all of our sins and mistakes! He sent Jesus to live a perfect life for us and die in our place. Even when we do things that are wrong, we know we are covered by His blood. We might not always choose to follow the Lord like we ought to. But God chooses us! He chose us first. He chose to give His Son for us, and when we mess up, we can always come back to God and receive His grace. No matter what we do, no matter what kinds of decisions we make, He is always there ready to welcome us back into His loving arms. Just like our picks for the football game aren’t really what determines it, we don’t pick the death and Resurrection of Jesus. That already happened! God already planned to rescue us, and it’s not our work that saves us, it’s His! All we do is open our hands and hearts to accept that beautiful and abundant free gift of grace. We can choose to obey the Lord and follow His Word, but we don’t always do it perfectly. God loves us perfectly, though, so we can run to Him every time and know that He chooses us to be His children.
Why don’t we thank God for that love right now?
Prayer:
(Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for giving us your Son
And granting eternal life through Him.
Help us to always make wise decisions
And most importantly, to choose to follow you
Thank you for your promises and blessings
Thank you for your love
We love you, God!
In Jesus name, Amen!
Bible Verses/story to Reference:
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” -Deuteronomy 30:15-20