Our Job Description
Children's sermon
Object: A printed copy of the job description that is included with this week’s message. (Download here.)
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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have another story for you today. Are you ready? (Let them respond.) Great!
One day, Jesus was traveling between two places called Samaria and Galilee. They were right next to each other, but the people in those places did not get along. Some of the people in Samaria thought they were more special than everyone else, and that God thought they were more important than people from Galilee. So when Jesus walked down the road, some Samaritans came out and started shouting at them and calling them names, saying that God loved them more and was going to give them more rewards than people from Galilee because they are special.
Jesus stopped and looked at them, and told them a story…
He said that a man wanted to hire some servants to work for him, so he made a job description for them. Do you know what a job description is? (Let them respond.) A job description is an agreement that explains what we are supposed to do if we have a job, and what we will get if we do those things. It is like a contract that says, if we do these things, you will give us this. I have one here to show you. (Show the job description.) Let’s see what we can find out about this job.
This is the job description from a man called Jacob who has a farm. It says the title of the job is to be the man’s servant. It says the duties are to plow the fields and prepare the man’s meals. And it says that if the servant does those things he will pay them 15 silver pieces, 5 baskets of wheat, and will give them a house to live in. So, let’s think about this. If we agreed to take that job, what would we have to do for the man? (Let them respond and go through the list.) And if we did those things for him, what would he give us for doing our job? (Let them respond and go through the list.) It is pretty clear, isn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Well, let’s pretend we took the job, and we plowed the fields and prepared the man’s meals, just like our job description said. But when the man gave us our 15 pieces of silver, our 5 baskets of wheat, our house, and he didn’t make us work on Sundays and holidays, we said, “Hey, wait a minute! This isn’t fair. Why don’t you ever invite us to come in and sit at your table and eat dinner with you or invite us in to watch TV with you at night? We did our work for you just like you asked, and we think you ought to treat us like we are more special.”
Would that be a fair thing for us to do? (Let them respond.) Why not? (Let them respond.) Because we knew the job description when we started the job, didn’t we? And even though we think we are doing a really good job we are just doing the job we agreed to do, aren’t we?
Jesus looked at the people who thought they were so special and said, “Our job description is to follow God and try to love and take care of each other the way God wants us to. And if we do our job, we will be able to be with God forever. It doesn’t matter if you are from Samaria or Galilee, we have the same job and get the same reward. That was the job description, wasn’t it?” (Let them respond.)
No one is more special than anyone else and no one is going to get more rewards or be treated as better than anyone else, because we all have the same job; to love each other the way God loves us. And if we do that, we have done the job God asks us to do.
So, if we want to follow Jesus, let’s see if we remember our job description. What does God ask us to do in our job? (Let them respond.) Right! To love each other. And if we do our job, what do we get? (Let them respond.) We get to be with God forever.
Excellent! You are HIRED!
Let’s all pray together and ask God to help us remember how much God loves every one of us no matter who we are and ask God to help us remember to never treat other people like we think we are better than they are.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us understand what you are trying to teach us in your stories. And help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have another story for you today. Are you ready? (Let them respond.) Great!
One day, Jesus was traveling between two places called Samaria and Galilee. They were right next to each other, but the people in those places did not get along. Some of the people in Samaria thought they were more special than everyone else, and that God thought they were more important than people from Galilee. So when Jesus walked down the road, some Samaritans came out and started shouting at them and calling them names, saying that God loved them more and was going to give them more rewards than people from Galilee because they are special.
Jesus stopped and looked at them, and told them a story…
He said that a man wanted to hire some servants to work for him, so he made a job description for them. Do you know what a job description is? (Let them respond.) A job description is an agreement that explains what we are supposed to do if we have a job, and what we will get if we do those things. It is like a contract that says, if we do these things, you will give us this. I have one here to show you. (Show the job description.) Let’s see what we can find out about this job.
This is the job description from a man called Jacob who has a farm. It says the title of the job is to be the man’s servant. It says the duties are to plow the fields and prepare the man’s meals. And it says that if the servant does those things he will pay them 15 silver pieces, 5 baskets of wheat, and will give them a house to live in. So, let’s think about this. If we agreed to take that job, what would we have to do for the man? (Let them respond and go through the list.) And if we did those things for him, what would he give us for doing our job? (Let them respond and go through the list.) It is pretty clear, isn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Well, let’s pretend we took the job, and we plowed the fields and prepared the man’s meals, just like our job description said. But when the man gave us our 15 pieces of silver, our 5 baskets of wheat, our house, and he didn’t make us work on Sundays and holidays, we said, “Hey, wait a minute! This isn’t fair. Why don’t you ever invite us to come in and sit at your table and eat dinner with you or invite us in to watch TV with you at night? We did our work for you just like you asked, and we think you ought to treat us like we are more special.”
Would that be a fair thing for us to do? (Let them respond.) Why not? (Let them respond.) Because we knew the job description when we started the job, didn’t we? And even though we think we are doing a really good job we are just doing the job we agreed to do, aren’t we?
Jesus looked at the people who thought they were so special and said, “Our job description is to follow God and try to love and take care of each other the way God wants us to. And if we do our job, we will be able to be with God forever. It doesn’t matter if you are from Samaria or Galilee, we have the same job and get the same reward. That was the job description, wasn’t it?” (Let them respond.)
No one is more special than anyone else and no one is going to get more rewards or be treated as better than anyone else, because we all have the same job; to love each other the way God loves us. And if we do that, we have done the job God asks us to do.
So, if we want to follow Jesus, let’s see if we remember our job description. What does God ask us to do in our job? (Let them respond.) Right! To love each other. And if we do our job, what do we get? (Let them respond.) We get to be with God forever.
Excellent! You are HIRED!
Let’s all pray together and ask God to help us remember how much God loves every one of us no matter who we are and ask God to help us remember to never treat other people like we think we are better than they are.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us understand what you are trying to teach us in your stories. And help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
