It's That Simple!
Children's sermon
Object: A job description. I have attached a sample you can use if you wish. I have highlighted a few of the items that might be good to use as examples during the message, but feel free to pick the ones you want to use.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started! And to get started, I want to ask you a question. One of these days when you get older, I’ll bet you are going to want to find a job somewhere, don’t you? (Let them respond.) Have you ever thought about what kind of a job you might want to have when you get older? (Let them respond.) If you aren’t sure yet, don’t worry about it. You have plenty of time to decide. But let’s pretend for a minute that we really like to build things, okay? (Let them respond.) So, let’s pretend we want to find a job that will let you build lots and lots of different things. If that is the kind of job we want, how can we find out if a job will let us do that? (Let them respond.) This is one thing that will help us find out. (Show the paper.) This is called a job description. Can anyone guess what it does? (Let them respond.) It is something that describes or tells me things about a job. (Hold up the paper to read.) It tells me what the job is about and what kinds of things I would have to do if I had that job. So, if I want to build things, I’ll want to make sure the job description says this job will let me build things, won’t I? (Let them respond.)
(Hold up the paper.) For example, this is a part of a real job description for a job to be a school teacher. It tells us some of the things we will need to do if we take this job to be a teacher. It says things like, if we take this job, we will have to prepare lessons and things to teach our students. It says we will have to prepare tests and then grade them. And it says we will have to be at work on time every day, and that we will have to keep our classroom clean and wipe up any messes so we keep it safe.
It sounds like a job description can be a pretty important thing, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, our story today is about the day that Jesus told his friends that God had a new job for them and he gave them the job description. (Let them respond.) Well, he didn’t really give them a piece of paper like this one, but he talked to them and told them what the job was going to be. He told them, “God wants you all to follow me and obey all of my commandments.” That was kind of a short job description, wasn’t it? (Hold up the paper.) It doesn’t tell us a lot about the job, like this one did, does it? Let’s see if we can work together to figure out what the new job is really about.
Jesus’ job description says that we must obey his commandments. So just what is a commandment? (Let them respond.) A command is like something that someone tells us we are supposed to do, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) So, I guess Jesus’ job description says that, if we take this new job God wants us to take, we have to do the things that Jesus tells us to do, right? (Let them respond.) Okay, so let’s see if we can figure out just what that means. We have heard stories about Jesus before, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) So, we have seen the kinds of things that Jesus did, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) What kinds of things do you think Jesus might want us to do if we are following him today? (Let them respond.) Maybe he would command us to do things like be nice, or don’t steal, or don’t fight, or go to church every Sunday, or not say bad words. There are a lot of things Jesus might tell us to do, aren’t there? (Let them respond.) And some people tell us we are supposed to do things that we aren’t sure Jesus really wants us to do, don’t they? (Let them respond.) It can be really confusing sometimes. What is the real job description? (Hold up the paper and let them respond.) How do we know what Jesus really wants us to do in our new job?
Somebody asked him that question one day. They said, “Jesus, we really want to follow you and do what you want us to do. But wow! There are so many different commands people are telling us to follow. Please tell us what you really want us to do. What is the real job description? Jesus smiled and said, “There are only two things I want you to do. I want you to love God, and I want you to love each other.” Let’s see if that helps us figure out what our job is.
If we love each other, would we ever do anything to be a bully to someone? (Let them respond.) No, we wouldn’t. And if we love each other, will we fight with someone? (Let them respond.) Would we steal from someone? (Let them respond.) Would we treat someone badly just because they didn’t look like us? (Let them respond.) Would we ever refuse to help someone we saw who needed help? (Let them respond.) Would we ever threaten to hurt someone to make them do something we wanted them to do? (Let them respond.) Would we ever not care about someone just because they didn’t have very much money? (Let them respond.) If we really cared about each other, we wouldn’t do any of those things, would we? (Let them respond.)
(Hold up the paper.) This job description has almost three whole pages of things that we will need to do if we take this job as a teacher. That’s a lot to remember, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But we don’t have to remember a lot of rules if we take the job to follow Jesus. That job only has two things we need to remember, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) If something shows that we love God and love each other, we do it. If something shows that we don’t love God or don’t love each other, we don’t do it.
That is our job.
It’s that simple.
I hope our story will help us remember the job God wants us to do. (Let them respond.) Jesus said that more than anything else, God wants us to take care of each other, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please 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.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started! And to get started, I want to ask you a question. One of these days when you get older, I’ll bet you are going to want to find a job somewhere, don’t you? (Let them respond.) Have you ever thought about what kind of a job you might want to have when you get older? (Let them respond.) If you aren’t sure yet, don’t worry about it. You have plenty of time to decide. But let’s pretend for a minute that we really like to build things, okay? (Let them respond.) So, let’s pretend we want to find a job that will let you build lots and lots of different things. If that is the kind of job we want, how can we find out if a job will let us do that? (Let them respond.) This is one thing that will help us find out. (Show the paper.) This is called a job description. Can anyone guess what it does? (Let them respond.) It is something that describes or tells me things about a job. (Hold up the paper to read.) It tells me what the job is about and what kinds of things I would have to do if I had that job. So, if I want to build things, I’ll want to make sure the job description says this job will let me build things, won’t I? (Let them respond.)
(Hold up the paper.) For example, this is a part of a real job description for a job to be a school teacher. It tells us some of the things we will need to do if we take this job to be a teacher. It says things like, if we take this job, we will have to prepare lessons and things to teach our students. It says we will have to prepare tests and then grade them. And it says we will have to be at work on time every day, and that we will have to keep our classroom clean and wipe up any messes so we keep it safe.
It sounds like a job description can be a pretty important thing, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, our story today is about the day that Jesus told his friends that God had a new job for them and he gave them the job description. (Let them respond.) Well, he didn’t really give them a piece of paper like this one, but he talked to them and told them what the job was going to be. He told them, “God wants you all to follow me and obey all of my commandments.” That was kind of a short job description, wasn’t it? (Hold up the paper.) It doesn’t tell us a lot about the job, like this one did, does it? Let’s see if we can work together to figure out what the new job is really about.
Jesus’ job description says that we must obey his commandments. So just what is a commandment? (Let them respond.) A command is like something that someone tells us we are supposed to do, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) So, I guess Jesus’ job description says that, if we take this new job God wants us to take, we have to do the things that Jesus tells us to do, right? (Let them respond.) Okay, so let’s see if we can figure out just what that means. We have heard stories about Jesus before, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) So, we have seen the kinds of things that Jesus did, haven’t we? (Let them respond.) What kinds of things do you think Jesus might want us to do if we are following him today? (Let them respond.) Maybe he would command us to do things like be nice, or don’t steal, or don’t fight, or go to church every Sunday, or not say bad words. There are a lot of things Jesus might tell us to do, aren’t there? (Let them respond.) And some people tell us we are supposed to do things that we aren’t sure Jesus really wants us to do, don’t they? (Let them respond.) It can be really confusing sometimes. What is the real job description? (Hold up the paper and let them respond.) How do we know what Jesus really wants us to do in our new job?
Somebody asked him that question one day. They said, “Jesus, we really want to follow you and do what you want us to do. But wow! There are so many different commands people are telling us to follow. Please tell us what you really want us to do. What is the real job description? Jesus smiled and said, “There are only two things I want you to do. I want you to love God, and I want you to love each other.” Let’s see if that helps us figure out what our job is.
If we love each other, would we ever do anything to be a bully to someone? (Let them respond.) No, we wouldn’t. And if we love each other, will we fight with someone? (Let them respond.) Would we steal from someone? (Let them respond.) Would we treat someone badly just because they didn’t look like us? (Let them respond.) Would we ever refuse to help someone we saw who needed help? (Let them respond.) Would we ever threaten to hurt someone to make them do something we wanted them to do? (Let them respond.) Would we ever not care about someone just because they didn’t have very much money? (Let them respond.) If we really cared about each other, we wouldn’t do any of those things, would we? (Let them respond.)
(Hold up the paper.) This job description has almost three whole pages of things that we will need to do if we take this job as a teacher. That’s a lot to remember, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But we don’t have to remember a lot of rules if we take the job to follow Jesus. That job only has two things we need to remember, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) If something shows that we love God and love each other, we do it. If something shows that we don’t love God or don’t love each other, we don’t do it.
That is our job.
It’s that simple.
I hope our story will help us remember the job God wants us to do. (Let them respond.) Jesus said that more than anything else, God wants us to take care of each other, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please 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.
