Obedience Shows Love for Jesus

Short Talk (SHT152) Love for Jesus is shown by our obedience © Jane Hulme 2019 SHORT TALK: “Love for Jesus is shown by our obedience” Aim of Short talk: Use of Short talk: Main themes: Biblical references: Lectionary: Props: Before the Service: To teach that we show Jesus that we love Him by obeying what He says. This is a short All Age talk picking out one issue from the Lectionary Gospel reading of the Sunday main service. The talk stands alone and assumes that the Gospel Bible reading may not yet have been read to the congregation. It could be used for example, for the whole congregation before the children go out to their age specific groups, leaving the adults with a full sermon later. Love, Jesus, Obedience John 14:23-29 Year C – The 6th Sunday of Easter You will need 3 cards with the following words on them: 1) Pleasegoandtidyupyourroomnowbeforewehaveteain 15 minutes. 2) OK–willdo. 3) I’m not doing that. I want to finish the game on my play station. You need three volunteers: • A parent • Two children Tell the children the two questions that you are going to ask them during the talk ie: 1) Can you tell us some of the ways that your mum/dad shows you that they love you each day? 2) How did you show your mum/dad that you loved them on their birthday? Give card 1 to the parent. Give cards 2 and 3 to the two children and explain what you want them to do. .................................................................................................................. Would my three volunteers like to come forward now? (Receive volunteers and stand them facing the congregation) • This is N (name of parent) and these are N’s children. (Introduce the names of the 2 children – C1 and C2) (Turn to the 2 children and ask the following:) Can you tell us some of the ways that your mum/dad shows you that they love you each day? (Children share) • Thank you for sharing those things with us. © Jane Hulme 2019 2 Good parents will show their children that they are loved in many different ways; • from making us meals to eat, • to listening to our problems and giving us good advice, • from helping us with our homework, • to taking us out to nice places, • from washing our dirty clothes • to buying us gifts for our birthday, Christmas and so on. Having received all that love, I want to ask you a question: • “How do we show our parents that we love them?” (Turn to the 2 children and say:) • Birthdays can be a good time to show people that we love them, • So how did you show your mum/dad that you loved them on their birthday? (Children share) • Thank you for sharing those things with us. Now I want you all to imagine that N was in the kitchen with his/her two children a few days after their birthday and said to them: (N says the words from card 1 ie “Please go and tidy up your room now before we have tea in 15 minutes.”) Imagine if this was C1’s response: (C1 says the words from card 2 ie: “OK – will do,” then they walk off stage.) Imagine if this was C2’s response: (C2 says the words from card 3 ie: “I’m not doing that. I want to finish the game on my play station,” then they walk off stage) (Address the congregation) Which child showed their love for their mum/dad? • Was it C1 or was it C2? (Receive responses) • How did C1 show their love? (Receive responses) That’s right, C1 showed their love by obeying their mum/dad. • Giving gifts, saying, “I love you,” doing things to help are all good ways of showing our parents our love but they don’t mean very much if we aren’t willing to obey them. It is very hard for parents to feel loved by their children if their children take no notice of what they say and are constantly disobedient. So if we show our parents that we truly love them by obeying them, • I wonder then how we show our love for God. • Listen to what Jesus said to His disciples: “If anyone loves me, they will obey me.” (John 14:23 CEV) • “If anyone loves me, they will obey me.” Jesus taught His disciples and He teaches us that we show our love for Him by obeying Him. © Jane Hulme 2019 3 Obeying Jesus means doing the things that He has taught us to do.....things like: • forgiving other people when they hurt us, • visiting a friend when they are sick, • praying before we go to work or school, • spending time in worship with other Christians, • trusting Father God to give us what we need each day and so on. We show our love for Jesus by doing these things in our ordinary everyday lives, • whether we are at school, college, work or at home. Jesus has shown us His love by inviting us into His kingdom, • and giving up His life to make that possible. • We show Him that we love Him by obeying Him; doing the things that He told us to do. • Are you willing to do that? © Jane Hulme 2019 4