Children’s sermon idea: Show the children some “treasured” items that are broken, moth eaten or rusted. Include a picture or drawing of something that was stolen. Remind the children how most of our earthly “treasures” don’t last. Explain how Jesus said we could live life His way and actually have treasure in heaven that would last for ever.

 

Object lesson items: Worn out, moth eaten or rusted items; some representation of a stolen item;

For dramatic effect: Consider have a garbage can that you can throw discarded items into.

 

Children’s sermon: Good morning children. This morning I want to show you some of my favourite treasures. Look at this nice watch. This watch cost me a lot of money and it used to be one of my favourite little treasures. But a while ago I discovered it wasn’t working. It is completely broken and it can’t be fixed. I might as well throw it into the garbage. Look at this nice sweater. It was one of my favourite sweaters that I’ve been keeping safe in a storage closet. I was sure it was safe and sound, but look at this hole! Do you know what made this hole? Yes. It was a moth. Moths seem nice and gentle but they actually love to eat the material that this sweater is made of. Now my nice sweater is worthless. I might as well throw it out. Look at this wrench. I bought this a while ago but I left it outside in the rain and now it is so rusted up and it doesn’t work at all. I’ll throw that out too. Now I have one last item to show you. (Hold up a picture of an item that was stolen) Can you tell what this is a picture of? That’s right. It’s a picture of my favourite baseball mitt. I only can show you a picture because the real baseball mitt was stolen from me. I left it on a park bench for a few minutes and when I came back it was gone! Someone had stolen my nice baseball mitt.

In our bible lesson today in Luke chapter 12, Jesus warns us that our earthly treasures don’t last forever. They can break down, rust out, get eaten by moths or can even be stolen. Because they don’t last, we certainly don’t want to spend all our time and energy worrying about those sorts of things. However, Jesus said that we could actually make treasures in heaven that will last forever. He said that when we live life Jesus’ way (Showing love to others, feeding the poor, telling others about Jesus and his love, etc.) we actually are storing up real treasure in heaven. I don’t know exactly what that treasure looks like but Jesus made it clear that these would be wonderful treasures that would last forever.

 

Children’s prayer: Heavenly Father, Help us not to spend too much of our lives worrying about fancy treasures here on earth. Help us to live life Jesus’ way and have true treasure in heaven. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

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