I have in my hands a glass of water. I got this water from a bottle of sparkling spring water. It’s clean, free of impurities, just plain pure water. On a hot day, a nice, cold glass of water like this looks pretty good, doesn’t it? But what happens if I do this?  (Using an eyedropper, drop a few drops of food color, dye, or ink into the water.)  What’s happened to the water? It’s not pure any more, is it? You can still see through it, but it’s become polluted. If I drop more in here, it’ll become even cloudier. It’s not so appealing any more, is it? You’d have to be pretty desperate to drink this water.  You know, we can add more water to the glass and reduce the pollution. But no matter how much more water we add, it’s still going to be polluted.  A clean glass of water is like a good reputation. If people know you to be honest, polite, a person who obeys their parents and follows rules, they see you like the clean glass of water. But it only takes one lie, one act of sin, to pollute the water. Suddenly, people don’t see you the same way, do they? And you can work and work all you want to im­prove your reputation, but that sin is still going to be there. The only way to truly restore this glass of water is to dump it out, rinse it, and fill it up again. The only person who can do that for us is Jesus.  Proverbs 22: I says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” It’s hard to maintain that good reputation, and none of us stays perfectly spotless. But it’s a lot harder to clean up a bad reputation once it’s gone bad. That’s why we must always be careful to tell the truth, to be obedient, and live a life like Christ so that our reputations don’t become polluted by sin.  

I have something this morning that I’m sure all of you have had at one time or another. Do you guys recognize this? It’s a ticket stub. I got this ticket the last time I went to see a movie. (Tell what movie, and when.) You guys can see the movie name, date, and time are all still on the ticket.  Any time you go to the movies you have to have a ticket. And there are lots of other places that require tickets? If you’ve ever been to a play, you need a ticket to get admission, don’t you? Or how about an airplane? Have any of you ever flown on a plane? They won’t even let you through security without a ticket.  Has anyone ever been to Disney World? Or Six Flags? Just like the movies and airplanes, they won’t let you into the parks unless you have a ticket. Why is that?  The reason we have tickets is because movies, amusement parks, plays, and airplane flights all cost money. But rather than having you pay right when you walk in, you can buy a ticket that gives you ad­mission when the time comes for the movie, the flight, or your vacation. What happens if you don’t pay for a ticket? You can’t get in, can you?  You know one day, we’re going to have a chance to go to Heaven. We’ll have a chance to walk on streets of gold, to see all of the great heroes of the Bible, and best of all … to see Jesus. But guess what? You can’t just walk into Heaven. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24). What does that mean to you?  It means there’s a steep price to get into heaven. Because we are sinners, we deserve to die. But Jesus, who was without sin, died in our place. He paid the price for our sin, and in doing so, he bought our ticket to Heaven!  But there’s one thing that remains: you have to accept the ticket. If your Mom or Dad offers you a movie ticket, you have to take it in order to see the movie. Jesus has offered you the gift of salvation, but in order to get into Heaven, you have to accept that gift. 

Do you like sports? (Hold up the ball in your hands). What’s your favorite sport? (Pause.) Are you pretty good? (Pause.) Not everyone is, you know. Today I have a story to tell you about a boy named Thomas who was pretty bad at sports. (Open the book, and pretend you’re telling the story from it.) Thomas looked up from his book as his teacher announced to his class, “It’s time for recess–we’re going to play softball. Jacob, you and Mary will be the team captains today.” “Oh no!” Thomas thought to himself, “If Jacob and Mary are choosing their teams, I’ll probably be one of the last ones chosen, as usual.” As he stood with the other children on the playground, Thomas tried to pretend it didn’t bother him when the other children were chosen, one by one, and he was left behind. But the truth was, it really hurt his feelings. “I wish, just once I could be the first one chosen,” Thomas whispered to himself. (Close the book and put it down.) I hope this hasn’t ever happened to you, but the truth is that it’s happened to most of us at one point or another. Surely there must be a better way to choose teams. Does anyone have any ideas about how to make the process better? (Pause.) I have an idea! What if we just have everyone number off 1-2-1-2-1-2? All of the ones could be on one team and all of the twos on the other. (Number the kids off and have them separate into the two groups). This way, no one is the last one chosen. Our Bible lesson today is about being chosen to be in God’s family. Would you like to be in God’s family? (Pause.) The good news is the way Thomas’ classmates chose teammates is not how God chooses His family. God chooses everyone who accepts Jesus as their savior. The Bible tells us that before He even made the world, God loved us and chose us–He already knew who would choose to accept Jesus. Anyone and everyone can be in God’s family by placing their faith in Jesus. God welcomes and wants everyone! When we confess our sin and put our trust in Jesus, we become God’s adopted children, and He makes everything work out according to His plan for us. I am so glad that God chose me to be a part of His family.  How does it make you feel that God wants you to be part of His family? Dear God, thank You for choosing us and for sending Your Son so that we can choose to be a part of Your family. In Jesus’ name, amen.