Sermon For Kids - A Fly in the Ointment

Sermon For Kids - A
Fly in the Ointment
One small sin, a mere fly in an
ointment, can be a cause of great
destruction, but as Jesus showed us
on the cross, God can use one life,
clean and pure, yielded before Him, to
undo that same destruction.
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Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 10:1-3
"(NIV) As dead flies give perfume a bad
smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom
and honor. The heart of the wise inclines to
the right, but the heart of the fool to the
left. Even as he walks along the road, the
fool lacks sense and shows everyone how
stupid he is."

Introduction: Computer Bug
Mars has been a subject of fascination
for centuries. Scientists are intrigued
about the possibility of life and the
possibility of water beneath the surface.
One recent spacecraft to visit the red
planet was the Mars Climate Orbiter. Its
incredible to me that scientists can
calculate the gravity of the moon, the
effects of the sun and planets, the orbit
of the planets, and plot a course that
will take a comparatively small
spacecraft with very limited fuel and
send it on a trajectory to intercept
Mars. Two years and a billion miles later
the spacecraft reaches it's target.

Unfortunately, for the Mars Climate
Orbiter, something went wrong. It
made the journey all the way to
Mars but then in its final moments
disaster struck. Initially, scientists
were not sure what happened, but
contact with the spacecraft was lost.
Later, as scientists tried to pinpoint
what went wrong, they discovered
that it was not a mechanical error,
but a human one that doomed the
spacecraft. Among the thousands of
lines of computer programming code
someone made a mistake.

A small mistake, but a mistake with a very
big consequences -- one programming
team used English units (e.g., inches, feet,
miles. . .) while the other used metric
units. When the spacecraft fired its
engines to take it into orbit, its
calculations were off and its journey and a
large portion of NASA's resources were
wasted.
A similar rocket failure took place on a
Venus probe a few years back. In that case
it was a simple hyphen in the computer
program that resulted in the rocket's
failure.

A mistake in a computer program is
called a "bug."... In comparison to the
whole, the "bug" may seem small -- but
a "fly in the ointment". But that small
"bug" can lead to disastrous
consequences. Assumptions and the
decisions based on those assumptions
may be miscalculated. Our resources
may be wasted and our destination
may be forever changed - all on as a
result of a fly in the ointment.

Let me read Ecclesiastes 10:1-3
again... This time from the New King
James Version.
(NKJV) Ecclesiastes 10:1 Dead flies
putrefy the perfumer's ointment, And
cause it to give off a foul odor; [So
does] a little folly to one respected for
wisdom [and] honor.

THE OINTMENT
Valuable
In Old Testament times, ointments were
highly prized and extremely valuable.
• Treasure - Hezekiah displayed
them in his treasure house to the
representatives of the King of
Babylon. (2 Kings 20:13)
• Tribute - They were used for
payment of tribute (Hosea 12:1)

• Jesus Feet - In the New Testament
Judas complained that the
ointment poured on Jesus' feet
might have been sold for a large
sum of money (Matthew 26:9)
• Anointing and consecration -
Ointments and oiled were used to
anoint and consecrate priests, the
tabernacles and furnishings.
(Exodus 30:22-33)
• Birth of Christ - Two of the three
gifts mentioned that the kings
brought to baby Jesus were
ointments - frankincense and
myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)

Practical
Not only was ointment valuable, but it was
also practical.
• Hygene - The anointing of the hair, face,
and exposed skin was an important act of
hygiene and grooming in the arid regions
of the Holy Land. Water for baths was
scarce. Oils also provided protection
against the scorching desert sun.
• King David - In II Sam. 12:20 we can read
of King David, washing, putting on his
lotions, and changing his clothes.
• Ancient Egyptian - Historical documents
reveal an incident of workers going on
strike because of a lack of food and
"ointment" for their skin ("Ointment" -
Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia).

Medicinal
Ointment was used for medicinal
purposes.
• Ointments & crèmes - Even today,
many of our medicines are applied in
ointments & crèmes.
• The "Balm of Gilead" referred to an
ointment with medicinal value -
(Jeremiah 8:22)
• Wounds - Isaiah 1:6 and Luke 10:34
indicate oil was used on wounds.
• Burial - Ointments were also used in
embalming and wrapping a body, in
preparation for burial.
Ointments were valuable, practical, and
medicinal.

FLIES IN THE OINTMENT
Ointment was made by an apothecary
(chemist/perfumer). He usually created
the ointment by skillfully mixing
precious spices, scents, herbs, or
medicinal extracts into an olive oil
base. The fragrance from these
additions to the oil naturally attracted
pesky flies. These unwitting flies then
became entrapped in the miry, oily
substance.

Decay/ stench:
Not only did the flies corrupt the
ointment by their simple presence, but
their decaying bodies caused the
ointment to spoil and stink. Flies are
quite commonly used as a symbol of
decay, of corruption, of ruin. We've all
seen flies drawn to dead animals and
spoiled fruit.

Wherever there are flies, ruin is sure to
follow.
• In Egypt: God used a swarms of flies
as one of the 10 plagues that
devastated Egypt. Of that event,
Exodus 8:24 reads "And the LORD
did this. Dense swarms of flies
poured into Pharaoh's palace and
into the houses of his officials, and
throughout Egypt the land was
RUINED by the flies."
• In Malaysia: A couple months ago,
while I was on a short vacation in
Malaysia I was working on this
sermon. I ordered mixed vegetables
and as I began to scoop them onto
my spoon a fly fluttered his wings
and said "hello.

" I guarantee that from that point,
he may have been smaller but he
now had a much bigger appetite
than I did. It ruined the mixed
vegetables for me. I couldn't eat
them. I didn't even go back to that
restaurant again.
• It may be a small fly, but it has great
potential
• to ruin something very
valuable,
• to render something essential
as useless
• to corrupt something used for
healing into something that is
purifying.

FLIES IN THE OINTMENT
Word Usage: This situation in which
dead flies purified the perfume was such
a common occurrence that the term
"Flies in the ointment." came to be
mean anything that spoiled pleasure of
the whole. Interestingly though, this
verse is actually being misused today.
This is true of many Biblical verses that
have found their way into common
usage. Either someone misinterpreted
the phrase or meaning has changed over
the last 3000 years. The issue being
discussed is not some isolated blemish
(or blemishes) that detract from the
pleasure of the whole.

The issue is that the dead flies have
caused the ointment itself to stink.
The fly is merely a precursor to a more
serious problem... The ointment is
now purified. The result may be just as
nauseating, but the distinction is
extremely important. Dead flies can be
fished out, but when the ointment has
been ruined simply removing the fly
does not remove decay and stench.

Yet we often say to ourselves - It's Just
one fly? - Its just a little sin.
Sin brings a noisy clatter where once
was a symphony
Sin replaces the Bread of life with
moldy breadcrumbs
Sin replaces springs of living water
with stagnant pools of decay
Sin replaces delectable fruits of the
spirit with worm riddled fruits of the
flesh.
Each of these starts small, but the
consequences are great.

One un-tuned trumpet in the orchestra,
One spore of mold on the bread,
One polluted water source,
One rotten apple in the fruit basket,
One fly in the ointment.
Small but not insignificant.
One hyphen in thousands of lines of
computer programming
One unit in feet among hundreds in
metric.
One fly in the ointment and the ointment
begins to give off a foul smell.

One hyphen, one bug, in a thousand
lines of computer programming is a
mistake. The programmer didn't intend
to do something wrong. Yet even with
something so small, that wasn't even a
moral decision, the potential for disaster
was enormous. How greater is the
potential danger of intentional sin - one
little sin can lead to potentially
disastrous consequences. And the loss of
a soul is so much more painful than the
loss of a spacecraft, a piece of
equipment.

Biblical Examples
It was one bite of the forbidden fruit in
the garden of Eden. (Genesis 3)
It was one golden calf that doomed the
Israelites to a 40 year holy Land tour.
(Exodus 32)
It was one man's sin that led to Joshua's
defeat in the battle of Ai. (Joshua 7)
It was one little lamb, a woman named
Bathsheba, that tempted King David into
adultery. (II Samuel 11)

It was one moment of Anger that
prevented Moses from Entering the
promised land.
It was one kiss that betrayed our
Savior. (Mark 14:44)
If only it had been but one sin that
nailed our Savior to the cross. Yet for
us, we could be lucky if we only had
one sin since we woke up this
morning... no for us, one is too small a
number...
Yet it was the one Son of God died on
the cross and took away ALL OF our
sins.

Small but not insignificant.
A virus is the tiniest of living things.
But when we have one, we do not
consider it a small thing.
One small virus and our nose becomes
a stream,
our stomach begins to churn,
all our muscles begin to ache,
and our head begins to throb.
For one virus grows and infects the
whole body. The trouble with little sins
is that they don't stay little.

Principle: It has been said,
sow one thought, reap an action
sow one action, reap a habit
sow one habit, reap a character
sow one character, reap a destiny

Watch Out for Those Tadpoles
I read about an incident that took place
at a college campus, located in a valley
between two mountains. The water
tower for that college was located up
on one of the mountains. One morning
while the guys were taking their
showers, the water went off. They
thought the girls were playing a trick
on them so they quickly got dressed
and ran to the girls' dorm, only to find
that the same thing had happened to
them.

When they realized that it wasn't a
trick, they called the maintenance crew.
When the maintenance crew arrived,
they were perplexed. They could find no
pipes that were burst or valves that
were turned off, so they began the
tedious task of following the pipe all the
way back up the mountain. Piece by
piece they took it apart to see if there
was any blockage. Finally, they came to
the last piece of pipe that went into the
water tower. They opened it, and found
an enormous bullfrog stuck in the pipe.

They could not understand how a bullfrog
could have gotten into the water tower.
There was just no way. Then they realized
that it hadn't come in as a big bullfrog but
as a tiny tadpole. It had worked its way in
and lived off the algae in the water until
one day it was swimming too close and
was sucked into the pipe, cutting off the
water supply to the whole campus.
So many times, something may seem to
us only
a small "indiscretion.",
a little mistake,
a minor infraction,
a short lapse of judgment,
a momentary loss of control.

But in time, if not removed, that little sin
will grow, and before we know it the flow
of the Living Water into our lives has
been choked off. Our relationship with
God becomes stale and stagnant.
Like in the movie "Gremlins", sin starts
out small and cute like the Mogwai
(spelling?). But if we feed it, it becomes a
demon, and we don't control it, it
controls us, and the result is destruction
and ruin.

A fly in the ointment is a picture, an
image of sin in the life of a believer.
I imagine the apothecary represents
God.
The ointment and spices represent our
lives, our actions, how we live.
And, the sweet smelling aroma or
fragrance is the testimony produced
by our lives.

In 2 Corinthians 2:15 our life and
testimony are similarly described as an
aroma. But that aroma can be spoiled
by the flies, by the sin in our lives..
New Testament Comparison: Salt
Losing its Saltiness.
In The New Testament Jesus speaks of
a similar metaphor when he speaks of
Salt losing its saltiness.

• In Matthew 5:13 we read, "You are
the salt of the earth. But if salt loses
it's saltiness, how can it be made
salty again? It is no longer good for
anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled by men."
• Similarly, In Luke 14:34 we read, "
Salt is good, but if it loses it's
saltiness, how can it be made salty
again? It is neither fit for the soil nor
for the manure pile."
• Furthermore, in Colossians 4:6 we
are told "Let your conversation be
always full of grace, seasoned with
salt, so that you may know how to
answer everyone."

The common principle - Salt, like
ointment, was used for healing. We can't
be a source of comfort and healing to a
hurting world when our lives have been
contaminated and our witness has been
corrupted.
• What is the fly in the ointment for
you?
• What is the sin in your life that is
now destroying or has the potential
to destroy your witness?
• Maybe you are thinking.. its just a
little sin.. But one little sin can have
great consequences.
• What is it that brings about
purification and stench in your life
instead of a fragrant aroma of
Christ?

Sin
It seems the world today doesn't like to
talk about sin.
"Sin" is one of those words that isn't
"politically correct."
Now when discussing various
questionable activities, we replace any
references to "sin" with terms like "moral
failure," and "momentary lapse."
Lilian Holcomb, a grandmother in Pueblo
Colorado, tells her grandchildren a
bedtime story from the Bible story every
night. One night she said, "Tonight we're
going to talk about sin. Do you know what
the word sin means?"

Seven-year-old Keith spoke up. "It's
when you do something bad."
Four-year-old Aaron's eyes widened.
"I know a big sin Keith did today."
Annoyed, Keith turned to Aaron. "You
take care of your sins, and I'll take
care of mine."
[Christian Reader, "Kids of the
Kingdom."]

Some of you may be thinking the
same thing now, "You take care of
your sins and I'll take care of
mine." But we often have no
intention of taking care of our sins
- we are merely upset that
someone else has discovered
them.

Fly Collector?
Cockroaches as pets?
If you read the Singapore Straits
Times (August 19, 2000), You might
have noticed the story about some
special pets of students in southern
China. They are the latest rage and
are even seen as status symbols. The
wholesale price of these pets are
about S$13 per 250mg. The most
prized specimens are said to be from
the United States and Australia. What
are these treasured pets?

If you read the story you would know
that they are cockroaches. Apparently
there was a popular Hong Kong
television series in which a couple
raised a cockroach (named Xiao Qiang)
as a pet. Since then pet shops have
been cashing in on the demand as
students buy the creatures. Personally,
I have a hard time seeing a cockroach
as a pet. As matter of fact, my natural
tendency when I see one is a heavy
foot and a satisfying crunch.

When I was a youth I did have a few
insects I collected, almost as pets. I
raised Monarch butterflies, and I
collected beetles. I think that if I had
ever brought a cockroach home as a
pet mom would have sent me to the
nearest psychiatrist and given me
roach killer for aftershave.
Even with my relatively benign insects,
Mom was always quick to inform me
when any of my live specimens
escaped, usually with a loud scream
that "something was loose and
crawling across her foot."

Entomologists
They have a special name for people
who study insects. They are known
as entomologists. Unfortunately
many of us as Christians have
become entomologists ourselves.
Not only do we have a fly in the
ointment, but we have chosen to
become collectors.
But I wonder, what it is you have
chosen to collect?

You don't need to raise your hands on
these:
If I were to peer into your collection,
what would I find?
Is it anger, bitterness, jealousy, gossip,
worry, gluttony, harmful habits or
addictions, sexual lust, envy,
materialism, little white lies, big black
lies, a divisive spirit, an unforgiving
heart, a critical spirit, selfish ambition,
fear, real or imagined guilt,
discontentment, pornography,
depression, quarreling, impatience,
complaining, deceit, arrogance, self-
righteousness, unholy thoughts.

Survey
A recent survey of Discipleship Journal
Christian readers ranked areas of
greatest spiritual challenge to them:
1. Materialism
2. Pride
3. Self-centeredness
4. Laziness
5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness
6. (Tie) Sexual lust.
7. Envy
8. Gluttony
9. Lying

C.S. Lewis - Surprised by Joy (Chap. 14)
"For the first time I examined myself
with a seriously practical purpose. And
what I found appalled me;
a zoo of lusts,
a bedlam of ambitions,
a nursery of fears,
a harem of fondled hatreds."

Saving some for later?
A primary 2 student went to his first
confessional in his catholic church. He
confessed one or two small items and
the priest, knowing he was a very
mischievous boy, asked, "Do you have
any more to confess?"
"Sure" the youngster replied, "but I
am saving some for next time."
[Joseph Young, Saint Cloud
(Minnesota) Visitor.]

Pet Sins?
I must confess, as I was preparing
this sermon, I had to come to terms
with the fact that I have more than
one fly in my life. I guess we all do. I
also must confess that there are a
few I am not really keen about giving
up. I have a few I want to save until
later. Some of them have become
pets. I wonder if you also have a few
pets?

Growing Up, I lived in the Texas
countryside, surrounded by ranches
and farms. The nearest city was 7
miles away. My best friend lived about
14 miles away. While we didn't live on
a farm, we did have a large house on a
large piece of land. We had lots of
pets.
We had cats and dogs. We also raised
ducks, geese, turkeys, chickens and
rabbits. Mom also took great joy in
feeding the birds and the squirrels.
There was even an albino squirrel, one
that was all white, that mom
considered her pet, even though it
was wild.

Because we were so far from the city
we had our own well from which we
received our water. Water was pumped
out of the ground into a large storage
tank and then it went through several
filters and arrived in the house. We not
only used it for the animals and
watering plants, but we used it for
drinking, cooking, washing clothes and
taking showers.

On one afternoon I remember mom,
who had the most sensitive nose,
commenting that the water had a
unusual smell to it. In time the smell
worsened. Dad was convinced to check
the water system and filters and see if
something was amiss. He checked the
pipes and filters all the way back to the
large storage tank. When he climbed the
ladder to the top of the tank and
removed a cover to look inside, the
stench just about knocked him off the
ladder. It seemed that one of mom's pet
squirrels had somehow climbed inside to
get a drink and took an unexpected
swim.

Unfortunately, he failed his swimming
lesson and drowned. Dad reached in to
scoop him out and when he picked it up
by its tail, it was so rotten that the fur
and skin came right off. And this was
water we had been drinking. Obviously
we drained the tank, and added a good
dose of bleach to purify it before we
refilled it with water. We also put wire
over the openings to prevent a similar
occurrence. A few years later, however,
the wire rusted through and another
squirrel went for a final swim. It was just
one squirrel, but the results were quite
disgusting.

While the water filters helped remove
some of the smell, in a sense they
only made things worse because it
took longer to identify the problem.
The problem wasn't solved until the
squirrel was removed and a good
cleansing took place.
The same is true in our lives. We can
try to clean up, what comes out of
our lives, our actions, but the actions
will only become clean when the
source of the contamination, when
the heart is cleaned up.

There is always an emptying before
the new life can replace the old. A
good cleansing or confession must
take place.
Then a little extra protection in
those weak spots would be
prudent, as well, in order to
prevent a return of the pesky little
problem. In time, our "pets" get us
into trouble.

ADVICE ON FLY CONTROL
Avoid flies
FLEE - "Flee the evil desires of youth..."
FOCUS - "pursue faith love
righteousness and peace"
FELLOWSHIP "With those who call
upon God from a PURE heart." (2
Timothy 2:22).
Remove the flies- if you sin, then
repent and confess it immediately.
"If you confess your sins, he is faithful
and just and will forgive us our sins and
CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness."
(I John 1:9)

Use Insect repellent- saturate
yourself with the Word,
"Thy Word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee."
(Psalm 119:11)
Remember that Survey?
Survey respondents noted
temptations were more potent when
they had:
* neglected their time with God (81
percent) = (LACK OF FOCUS)
* when they were physically tired (57
percent).

Resisting temptation was accomplished
by
* prayer (84 percent),
* avoiding compromising situations (76
percent), (FLEE)
* Bible study (66 percent), and
* being accountable to someone (52
percent). (FELLOWSHIP)
-- Discipleship Journal, 11-12/92. "To
Verify," Leadership.
If you do these things, then your life will
be "a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savior"- well pleasing to the
Lord. (Eph. 5:2)

NASA REVISITED
Remember the Mars Climate Orbiter that
was lost as a result of using feet instead
of metric units. There was something I
didn't tell you about it. When NASA
officials were asked about the error, they
responded that the error wasn't the
biggest problem. People sometimes make
mistakes... that's common. The biggest
mistake, according to NASA officials, was
the failure of the system of checks and
balances to detect the error and correct
it.
I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
cleanse (or PURIFY) us from all
unrighteousness."

A FLY IN AMBER. (object Lesson)
I have here a piece of amber. I am an
avid rock and mineral collector.
Growing up, my mother, remarking on
the vast number of stones and minerals
that filled my closets, my drawers, my
cabinets and overflowed onto the floor
of my room, once told me if I brought
one more rock in the house I was going
to have to move out to make room for
my collection. Of course now she is quite
fond of my rock collection as long as it
includes rubies, opals, jade, and other
stones she can wear.

This piece of amber is one of the prized
stones in my rock collection. If you have
seen the movie "Jurassic Park" or "The
Lost World" you might remember the
walking cane with the amber pommel.
Amber is actually a prehistoric resin,
secreted from a tree. Many of our
ointments and medicinal crèmes are
made from such resins. In the case of
amber, the resin has fossilized and
hardened. Anything caught in the resin is
preserved. The resin becomes a miniature
time capsule displaying its contents for all
to see.

The most prized amber are the
specimens like this one that contains a
fruit fly - a very long time ago, it was
merely A FLY IN THE OINTMENT, a fly
that became trapped in the resin of a
tree. Now it is fossilized and encased in
stone.
Too often our lives are like this piece of
amber. Instead of removing the fly in
the ointment, we allow it to harden and
become fossilized.

For some of us the fly has become a
prized treasure.
Some of us have become entomologists -
insect collectors.
The closets, drawers, and cabinets of our
lives are overflowing not with stones but
flies. Flies that over time are becoming
hardened and fossilized.
What's the fly in your life?
What is the sin that prevents you from
being the fragrant aroma of Christ the
Perfumer, your Creator, intended?
What is it that has entered your life and is
slowly putrefying your relationship with
God?
Let's take a moment of silent meditation?
Let God speak to you...

Where is the stench coming from?
• For some of you, this may be the
first time you realized the danger
of sin in your life... You've seen
the decay first hand, you've
experienced the stench, and
you're aware of the destruction
one little sin can cause. You've
looked at your life and you've
become aware of more than just
one fly. But the ONE SON of God
came to cleanse you, to save you.
I John 1:9

• Other's of you, have experienced
the cleansing, but over time, the
screen rusted out, the little pet sins
have crawled back in, and you are
starting to smell the stench again.
Your testimony isn't what is should
be. Your relationship with God has
become stagnant and corrupted.
Will you let the fly become
fossilized, hardened or will you
remove it by confessing before God
today. I John 1:9 is for you too.

Let's confess and Let God purify us
today, so that we might experience his
presence, his fragrance in our lives.
Don't wait. God can restore you, so that
you can be an ointment of healing to a
hurting world. I know that truth
personally as one small fly completely
sidelined me from ministry for a time
and cause a lot of pain for others. But
God CAN restore! One small sin can be
a cause of great destruction, but as
Jesus showed us on the cross, God can
use one life, clean and pure, yielded
before Him, to undo that same
destruction.

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