Scripture: for teacher background: Luke 18:9-14
Making contact:
Stand against a wall and explain to the children that you
are measuring by marking on the wall how good people are.
Ask them where they
would make a mark (like measuring how tall people are) to show how good someone
like Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela etc. is or was.
Then ask where they would
rate themselves and you the teacher. Use examples they know. Ask them where the
mark would be for a thief or a murderer.
Now imagine that the mark for God is at the ceiling.
He is
perfect and never ever sins. So neither Mother Theresa nor the murderer is
anywhere near as good as God.
Mother Theresa might be better than a murderer, but she
falls very far short of God and she needs God’s forgiveness and cleansing just
as much as the murderer does.
In today’s parable, Jesus teaches us these things.
Another way you could introduce this is to tell the children
that a swimming pool is empty and need to be filled.
Which person is better the
one using a teaspoon or the one using a cup?
Both are hugely inadequate.
That’s
how we are with God. The one using a cup should not laugh at the one using a
teaspoon. They both need a hosepipe!
At some stage you might need to explain what tax is and what
kind of people tax collectors were in Jesus day. Remind the children of
Zachaeus.
Exploration:
Jesus told a parable of how 2 very different people prayed
at the temple one day.
He said that a very religious, holy looking Pharisee
swaggered up the temple steps and proudly told God how holy and wonderful he
was.
He listed all the good things he did and then he turned around and
scornfully looked down his nose at a man crouching at the back, beating himself
and crying.
He said loudly and arrogantly: “AND I THANK YOU OH GOD, THAT I AM
NOT LIKE THAT MAN OVER THERE!”
He probably even wished that people like him
weren’t allowed at the temple – after all, it was a place for clean and
special, holy men like he.
I bet he was the kind of person that told children
to get lost.
The other man was the opposite. He stood far away, not even
daring to go anywhere near.
He was a rotter and he knew it.
He didn’t even look up to
pray. All he could pray was “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Listen to this little rhyme someone wrote about this
parable:
Two men went to pray
O rather say
One went to brag
The other went to pray.
Which man REALLY prayed?
Jesus said that the sinner,- the tax collector went home with
his relationship right with God. He had made peace with God.
He had humbled
himself and confessed his sin.
The Pharisee who was bragging was not right with
God and his prayer achieved NOTHING!
It certainly didn’t please God. He wasn’t even really
praying. He was showing off. God does not listen to prayers like that.
Application
Loving God and being a Christian can lead us to thinking
that we are better than others – a kind of “I am so much holier than you.”
We mustn’t be so sure of our own goodness
that we think other people are terrible and we are so special and wonderful.
We
need to be careful that our faith and our religion don’t make us like the
Pharisee. Jesus often spoke against this kind of attitude. He called them HYPOCRITES.
Jesus warned that people who make themselves great would be
humbled.
If you are too sure of your own goodness – watch out!
We must be
careful of being super religious and unloving people. We are sinners who need
God to forgive us and help us through each day.
Saying to ourselves before a contest or something: “I am
okay! I am great! Nothing is too hard for me to conquer if I believe in myself.
Everyone will see how good I am! “…Is not the right way!
We need to be HONEST and say: “God
is great and He is with me and will help me. May He be glorified in my life.”
Another thing is that we think God only loves us if we are
good.
That’s why the Pharisee thought he was so wonderful and the tax collector
thought he was so terrible.
But they were both wrong in how they thought God
viewed them.
The Pharisee thought God adored him and the tax collector thought
God hated him. God loves us unconditionally. He doesn’t love or like our sin.
He hates it, but He loves US.
For the smaller children, you need to press this point –
that God loves them even when they are naughty, although He doesn’t like what
they do.
Even tiny children have the idea that their parents love them only
when they are good. It’s a point we need to repeat week after week.
God loves
us all the time, even when we are bad like that tax collector. But He doesn’t
like what we do and we need to say sorry like the tax collector did.
Challenge to Mission
If we know anyone who is feeling a failure and feeling
terrible, we should tell them this parable and tell them that God prefers
honesty and hates hypocrisy.
Let’s encourage people and tell them that God
really loves them and they can come to Him as they are and find forgiveness and
help. Let’s be humble and honest people.
Suggest the older teens watch the movie: “Emperor’s Club”
which is a thought-provoking movie on this theme.
Consolidation
A worksheet – The children must write correct sentences
underneath the wrong ones. The pictures need to be coloured in. Use arrogant
colours for the Pharisee and humble colours for the tax collector.
“For all who make themselves great will be humbled, but all
who humble themselves will be made great.” Luke 18:14
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