Becoming Like Our King - Kids Christmas Sermons

1 Kings

(everyone gets a craft crown to glue together and put on their heads)

If you were King or Queen and God told you to ask for anything what would you ask for?

Solomon knows that he is young, unexperienced and unknowledgable, so he asks for wisdom. 

Ultimately, Solomon doesn’t think about himself first (as the riches, long life or safety would have done), instead he thinks about the people and Kingdom he will rule over. He wants God to help him in his actual role as leader and guide of his people. 

Lets think about what we would ask for from God again. Is there something that would really help you lead and help God’s people? What would you ask for in light of this?

It’s an important question, because did you know that all of us, all of humanity was made by God to be Kings and Queens. When God created us in Genesis 1, he said that we were given dominion over the sky, water and earth. Dominion - leadership - reign. 

(they can put on the jewels and phrases on their crowns)

It might not always feel like we are king or queens but the truth is that we all have leadership and responsibility over people. Even though you are young, you probably don’t know the affect you have on the people and situations around you. How you listen, act with care or rebel can dramatically change a moment, a person’s thoughts, emotions and actions. 

Your parents know this. You might be at a testing phase where you try to see how people will react. The hope of all parents and I think God is that we might use our relationships in a wise, humble and loving way that resembles that first moment of Jesus being born as our king. 

We were created by God to be certain kinds of Kings and Queens. We show that we are true kings and queens by the ways that we mirror Jesus’ character.

Luke 2:1-7

Why was God, the Eternal King of the Universe, born as a human baby in a dirty and cold manger? In all of his power, the power to create everything, he could have decided to come in any way. So, why did he come in such a humble way? It is obvious that Jesus, that God is a different kind of king than we are used to

Let’s play Simon says. If an one begins with Simon says, then we try to do what they say. Everytime I point at someone they will tell us to do something - either with the Simon says opening or without. I point at you in a circle

Now this was just a game, but there are people in our lives that tell us what to do. Your parents, teachers, family and more. Adults have people that tell them what to do too. Now, we can imagine what it would be like if the person that was ordering us around didn’t actually care for us. We can imagine what a king would be like who did everything for himself.

That is not God. That is not Jesus. Jesus who is the fullness of God was born a little baby to show us how much he cares and how willing he is to stoop down to lift us up. God’s Kingship, as we have already talked about is used to lift us up, to make us Kings and Queens like him. His birth was not primarily about him, it was about us. Bringing us back to our godly purpose - it was to bring us back to him and make us like him.

Luke 2 (2nd part)

(Pull out a mirror and show it to them)

What is this?

What do you see?

What does a mirror do?

What would you think if I told you that we are mirrors?

We were created to be mirrors of God, reflecting his glory, love and kingly humility

The Shepherds were people often looked down in Jesus’ day, but they were suddenly lifted up to become so much more. They would not just be the first witnesses of our God-king born in a manger, but they would become his witnesses in the world. They had a kingly duty to image Jesus, by telling his story to everyone they met. They were good mirrors. 

Sadly, we can often be mirrors pointing at, reflecting the wrong things. 

If I change the direction of this mirror, what do you see? A mirror changes what it reflects depend on its angle. If our lives are pointed at something - maybe media, maybe something we want, or maybe even someone else, the best it can do is reflect that earthly limited thing - but reflections aren’t perfect realities, so we will always find ourselves a little less. If we reflect God we will always be more than just human, because even if we are a little less than God - that is still grand. 

If we are pointing our mirror to somewhere other than God, it also changes what we reflect out to others too. We will never be the kind of leader to others God wants us to be. We will never be able to lift them up to who they can become. We will never build the kind of loving humble relationship that only comes from God. 

We all are meant to be Kings and Queens because we are created to reflect God and be the image of God in this world. What we see in Jesus birth, is not that he was born in our likeness, but ultimately, that we were made in God’s image. Jesus came so that our true humanity, our true humble kingship would be restored.