OBJECT LESSON GOAL:
This demonstrates troubles come, if we are centered in our beliefs, we are not easily shaken or knocked down spiritually.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE:
Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.”
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Lazy Susan or other round turntable and salt shaker.
MESSAGE:
In the Bible it says in Matthew5 verse 13, “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” Did you know it is pretty easy for us to “lose our flavor” if we don’t attend worship and spend time studying the Bible.
I brought something today that is called a Lazy Susan. Now I don’t know how it got its name, but I suspect it was originally made for someone named Susan who was too lazy to reach into the back of the cupboard and find the right spices to cook with. So they made this spinning-platform which allows one to find what they need a whole lot easier.
I am going to place this salt shaker on the edge and give it a spin. (Do this and spin Lazy Susan fast enough to have the object will fall over or fly off) Wow, that wasn’t very stable. Let’s try here. (Move it about mid way to center and spin it again fast enough to have it fall over again) Well, that was a little better but still it fell. How about in the center? (Move salt shaker to very center and spin Lazy Susan) Now there it didn’t seem affected much at all.
Now you may be wondering why I brought this and what it has to do with us? Well, if you stay centered on the teachings of the Bible, and one way we do that is to come to worship as well as studying your Bible at home. If we do that, then when troubles come and we are (Spin Lazy Susan having left the salt shaker in the center) spun around by them, we will not be knocked over by them. But when we don’t come to worship (Move the salt shaker about midway from center to the edge) or don’t study our Bibles during the week (Move the salt shaker out closer to the edge) and when life brings problems our way (Spin Lazy Susan letting the shaker fall) we won’t be able to stand up against them.
(Pick up salt shaker and show it) You know we read earlier that Jesus called his followers “Salt of the Earth.” And if you are a Christian you are the salt of the earth too. Now what does that mean? Well, we add salt to things to make them taste better and salt also gets added to things to make them last longer. So that means when we Christians do the things God wants us to do, the world is a better place.
But when we fall down on the job, when things happen that spin us around, if we aren’t centered on the teachings of the Bible, if we aren’t centered by faithfully spending time in worship, then we just won’t stand tall when things come our way to knock us over.
So be sure to (Place salt shaker in the center of the Lazy Susan and give it a spin) do your part to be prepared so you can stand tall against the problems of this earth.