Children's Story: Rules vs. Principles

This was one of the less successful stories/sermons that I've done. It didn't help that the only kids present were ours. And Amy drew a blank when I asked her the questions in the outline below. I suppose it's a positive thing that they don't consider as rules the guidelines and requirements we've asked them to follow. If they feel generally free and without restrictions in their daily lives, then I suppose we, as parents, are dong something right. On the other hand, it failed miserably in meeting my children participation expectations today.

Anyway, here's the outline that I used. Maybe someone else seeing this will be able to change and adapt the ideas and have better results in their use.

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• How many of you live with rules?
  • What are some of them?
    • Are rules good or bad?
• What about a rule for most preschoolers, "Don't touch the stove?"
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
  • Is it a good rule for adults?
    • What is the principle behind the rule?
• What about, "Don't run into the street?"
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
    • Is there any time when you might need to run into the street?
  • What is the principle?
• What about a sign that reads, "Don't go beyond the barriers?"
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
    • What if a small child starts to run past the barriers?
  • What is the principle?
• What about a speed limit sign? (E.g., 50 mph)
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
    • What if it's the middle of winter and the road is covered with ice?
  • What is the principle? (Basic speed rule)
• What are some purposes of rules?
  • (To help explain the meaning of principles.)
  • (To apply principles in a specific setting.)
  • (To give us knowledge to help keep ourselves safe.)
• Do rules themselves protect us?
  • (Actually, no. They often point us to where there is danger.)
  • (Only obeying the rules can protect us.)
• As we've learned, rules can be good, but they have limits.
  • When rules are applied outside of the settings where they were made, they often don't make sense.
    • E.g., speed limit sign when conditions are bad.
    • Some people use rules to excuse actions that they know is bad.
  • Sometimes, you might be told to obey two or more rules that go against one another.
    • E.g., saving a child's life vs. staying within the boundaries.
    • Some people use rules to excuse themselves from obeying a more important principle.
  • Some rules go away once you've learned the bigger principles behind the rules.
• Back in Jesus' time, there were people who believed that the most important thing was to obey God's rules.
  • They thought that God's rules would make the world a great place for them.
  • Because they wanted to make sure that they obeyed God's rules perfectly, for every one of God's rules, they might create ten new rules to help explain the one.
  • And then for each of the ten, they might create ten more rules to help explain all the situations that hadn't been properly covered by the earlier rule.
  • The rules, instead of making the world a better place, made it miserable for most people.
  • The teachers of the rules knew they were right and everyone else was wrong.
  • They were out to catch anyone caught breaking a rule.
  • Most people thought that if God was all about a bunch of rules, and if God was like the teachers waiting to catch them break rules, they didn't want to have anything to do with that kind of God.
• It's not that much different today.
  • There are people who think that if everyone were made to obey all of God's rules, the world would be a much better place.
  • The Bible tells us what happened when people made rules the most important thing. (We call that an idol.)
  • Even when the rules are God's, when made the most important thing, the world turns into a miserable place.
  • The world ends up being a place where one group of people says they're right and everyone else is wrong.
  • The world ends up being a place where everyone is looking at each other to see if someone might slip up and break a rule.
• Jesus taught the people, and us, something different.
  • Jesus taught that what God wants isn't blind obedience to rules.
  • What God wants is for people to love one another, to help people who need help, and to be of service to others.
  • In Matthew 25, Jesus told a story of what is going to happen when he comes back to earth.
  • Read vv. 31-40.
  • The principle behind all of God's rules comes down to just one word: love.
  • By doing the loving thing for other people, we are really loving God and really obeying all of his rules.