Children’s Sermon

Romans 13:8-14

The Sum

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Romans 13:8-14
The Sum

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Objects suggested: Chalk board, dry erase board, or large pad of paper. Hymnals.
List of the Ten Commandments.

Let’s do some counting today. Let’s start by counting these stacks of hymnals.
How many hymnals are in the first stack? (Write the numbers on display board, add them, and record the total so it is visible to the children.) How many in the second stack? And, how many hymnals are in the third stack? Now let’s add the numbers to get a total. This number at the bottom, beneath the line, is the sum of the hymnals we have gathered here.

Now let’s count people. How many children do we have in our group today? How many pastors are here? How many people are in the choir? How many ushers? How many people are seated in the pews? (Again, write the numbers on the display board, add them, and record the total.) When we add these numbers together what do we have? Yes, the total number of people in this room – the sum.

God has given us Ten Commandments that teach us how we should treat other people. Here is a list of the Ten Commandments. Let’s count them. The Bible tells us that all of these commandments “…are allsummed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (13:9). (Draw a line and write this commandment under the other ten.)

If you keep this commandment in mind – “love your neighbor as yourself” you will always know how to treat others, you will make good choices, and do the right thing. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the sum of the Ten Commandments.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2008, Richard Niell Donovan