Children’s Sermon February 7
Title: It’s That Away
Theme: We need to know the truth—and the absolute truth!
Objects: a picture of the Scarecrow from The Wizard of OZ
Scripture: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”
Matthew 11:7b
Good morning!
Sometimes, we don’t like rules. We want to stay up as late as want. We don’t want to do homework or study. We would rather run around and play games than do chores. Right? But we need to do the right thing even when we don’t want to. How do we know the right thing to do? We need to know Truth.
How many of you have watched The Wizard of Oz? That’s a great movie, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. It’s all about Dorothy’s travels to a wonderful place called Oz, but she’s far from home, and she’s trying to get back to home. To do that, she needs the help of the Wizard. Going to meet the Wizard, she meets some special friends who help her along the way.
One of those special friends was the Scarecrow. He wasn’t too smart because he didn’t have a brain, which also meant he didn’t know Truth. Dorothy asked him to show her the way to Oz, and he pointed one way. When she went to go that way, she noticed he was pointing the other way. And THEN, he ended up pointing both ways.
He didn’t know the truth about which way to go, and he ended up confusing poor Dorothy. The same is true for our lives. Without Truth, we get off the good path and the right path. We end up living in confusion and sin.
Jesus asked people about John the Baptist—did you go out to see a reed moving in the wind? In other words, did you go see someone like the Scarecrow who pointed this way and then that way? No, Jesus said. He was telling people they went to hear the Truth even if it meant taken a harder path. After all and in the end, the Truth leads to a great place—Heaven. We should pursue it first and foremost in our lives.
So don’t be like the Scarecrow pointing here and then pointing there. Be like John the Baptist and point people to Jesus and to Him alone.
Let’s pray: Lord, teach us every day to listen to Your voice and to know Your Word, so we will know Truth and help others to follow the true way always. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
© Randall J. Forester
