1 Peter 1:17-23, New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

¹⁷You call on a Father who judges each person’s work without favoring one over another. So live as outsiders during your time here. Live with the highest respect for God. ¹⁸You were set free from an empty way of life. This way of life was handed down to you by your own people of long ago. You know that you were not bought with things that can pass away, like silver or gold. ¹⁹Instead, you were bought with the priceless blood of Christ. He is a perfect lamb. He doesn’t have any flaws at all. ²⁰He was chosen before God created the world. But he came into the world for your sake in these last days. ²¹Because of what Christ has done, you believe in God. It was God who raised him from the dead. And it was God who gave him glory. So, your faith and hope are in God.

²²You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. So you have an honest and true love for each other. So love one another deeply, from your hearts. ²³You have been born again by means of the living word of God. His word lasts forever. You were not born again from a seed that will die. You were born from a seed that can’t die.

Materials:

A bar of Ivory soap placed in a brown sack.

Message:

I want to read you today’s scripture passage. This is from 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 21–22.

Because of what Christ has done, you believe in God. It was God who raised him from the dead. And it was God who gave him glory. So your faith and hope are in God. You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. So you have an honest and true love for each other. So love one another deeply, from your hearts.

Weeks after Easter Sunday, we are still talking about Jesus. We should still be talking about those events. It’s that important to our faith. This passage tells us that our faith and hope are in God. We have made ourselves pure by obeying the truth. I wonder what the meaning of the word “pure” might be. Can someone provide me with a definition of pure? What does the word pure mean to you? (Allow a few children to respond.).

According to the Merriam-Webster Student Dictionary online, there are a couple of ways to define pure. Pure: “not mixed with anything else; free from everything that might make dirty, change, or lower the quality.”

free from sin (wrongs) or guilt.

According to the Bible, we have made ourselves pure by obeying God’s truth. And being pure, we always can clean ourselves up because of God’s grace. God’s love and grace is one hundred percent pure! The soap, then, allows us to put ourselves in a spot where God’s grace can help us wash away the “wrongs” or sins from our lives.

Let’s see what I have in my bag today. (Open the bag and take out the bar of Ivory soap. Make sure it has packaging that says 99.44/100 percent pure. Explain this soap’s advertisement.)

Look, it’s a bar of soap; Ivory soap, to be exact. Why do we use soap? (Allow children to respond.) That’s right, to get clean. This brand of soap says its pure clean. Do you think this soap can make our hearts pure just like the passage says God does? (Allow children to respond.) If I scrub and scrub my entire body with this soap that says it’s pure, shouldn’t it make me pure?

Wait! Look at what else the packaging says. It says that Ivory soap is 99. 44/100 percent pure. 99.44/100 is not the same as one hundred percent, is it? It is a little less than one hundred percent. Remember our definition of pure, not mixed with anything else. The Ivory soap figure of 99.44/100 percent means the soap is mixed with a tiny bit of something else. It is not one hundred percent pure. What else is one hundred percent pure? (Allow children to answer.) That’s right; God’s love is one hundred percent pure. Listen to the rest of the Bible verse: “So you have an honest and true love for each other. So love one another deeply, from your hearts.” When we have one hundred percent pure heart toward God and when we obey God’s truth, then we can truly love one another deeply from our hearts. Our love toward others shows the world that we are one hundred percent pure through God’s love. Ivory soap will help us keep clean, almost perfectly clean, but only God’s love is one hundred percent perfect.

This week, each time you use soap, give God thanks and honor for loving us one hundred percent purely. Ask God to have opportunities this week to show God’s love to others we encounter.

Let’s pray.

Prayer:

God of one hundred percent pure love: All honor and glory we give to you. Continue to make ourselves one hundred percent pure, as we obey your truth and show others your love that comes from our faith and hope in you. Amen.