James 2:14-17, New International Reader's Version [1]

¹⁴Suppose a person claims to have faith but doesn’t act on their faith. My brothers and sisters, can this kind of faith save them? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or a sister has no clothes or food. ¹⁶Suppose one of you says to them, “Go. I hope everything turns out fine for you. Keep warm. Eat well.” And suppose you do nothing about what they really need. Then what good have you done? ¹⁷It is the same with faith. If it doesn’t cause us to do something, it’s dead.

Operation game pieces: Board game, specifically the wrist and ankle game pieces (hands and feet).

Message

The Christian faith is full of words. Can you tell me one way we use words in church? (Allow children to respond.) Those are all good ways we use words. We use the words of scripture, the words of the hymns and songs we sing, the words to the creeds we recite, the words to our prayers, and even the words we hear delivered in the sermon. James says it is not enough to hear and say the words of faith. We must DO them. We must show others that when we follow Jesus, we must put those words into actions.

Have you ever heard someone in church say that we should be the hands and feet of Jesus? (Allow children to respond.) James is saying the same thing. Our faith must grow hands and feet! How do you grow hands and feet? (Allow children to respond.) One way we can grow the hands and feet of Jesus is with love. When we love God above all and love our neighbors as ourselves, we are showing others that we are followers of Jesus. If we say we are followers of Christ with words, then we must also act like it by the way we treat people.

What game pieces on the Operation board can remind us of being the hands and feet of Jesus? (Allow children to point out the wrist and ankle as reminders of the hands and feet of Christ.) That’s right, seeing the writer’s cramp pencil and the wrenched ankle game pieces reminds us to be a doer of the faith and to be the hands and feet of Jesus.