Childrens Sermon Service

Object: You will need two things for this message. First, a printed job description that someone might have for a job. Second, a notecard or piece of paper with these lines printed on it: “Love God. Love each other.” I have included a sample of each you may use or you can create your own.

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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! It’s just a short one today, so let’s hear it.

Last week was Easter Sunday, and who can tell us what happened on Easter Sunday? (Let them respond.) That was the morning Jesus’ friends went to the tomb and found out that Jesus had come back to life, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, only a few of his friends went there and the others didn’t know whether to believe them or not. So last Sunday night, a bunch of them got together to talk about it. They met in a place they could hide because they were afraid the religious leaders who had hurt Jesus might try to hurt them, too. They had all heard that Jesus was alive again, but they didn’t know if it was true, or if it was a trick the religious leaders were playing to try and get them to come out so they could catch them, too.

They were afraid, and they were trying to figure out what they were supposed to do now that Jesus was gone. They didn’t know what to do. Some of them thought they should just give up and go back home where they came from. While they were talking, do you know what happened? (Let them respond.) Jesus came to be with them. I’ll bet that really surprised them, don’t you? (Let them respond.) Jesus looked at them and said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

That was pretty neat, wasn’t it? Jesus’ friends had been trying to figure out what they were supposed to do, and then Jesus came and told them. He said that he was sending them out to do the same thing his Father had sent him to do. That was their new job description.

Do you know what a job description is? (Let them respond as you hold up the job description.) It might look like this. When you get a job, there is usually a job description that tells you all of the things you are supposed to do in that job. This is a job description for being a school teacher. It says things like they were supposed to create lesson plans. (Read any other parts you want to read and have time for.) The job description says that if you are in this job, these are the things you are supposed to do. Jesus told his friends that he was going to give them the same job description that his Father gave to him. If they were supposed to do the same job that Jesus did, let me ask you some questions and see if we can figure out what that job description was. Let’s see what Jesus’ job was.

Did Jesus go around being a bully? (Let them respond.) No, that wasn’t on his job description was it? (Let them respond.)

Did Jesus go around fighting with people? (Let them respond.) No, that wasn’t what Jesus did, was it? (Let them respond.)

Did Jesus go around calling people names? (Let them respond.) No, that wasn’t on the job description either, was it? (Let them respond.)

Did Jesus go around lying to people? (Let them respond.) No, Jesus told people the truth, didn’t he?  (Let them respond.)

Okay. We know some things that weren’t on Jesus’ job description, so why don’t we see if we can find some things that were on it?

Did Jesus help people who were hurting? (Let them respond.) Yes, Jesus helped a lot of people who were hurting, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)

Did Jesus help people who were being bullied? (Let them respond.) Yes, Jesus helped a lot of people who were being picked on and bullied, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)

Did Jesus talk to people no one else would talk to? (Let them respond.) Yes, Jesus talked to people and ate with people that no one else would talk to or eat with, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)

Did Jesus always tell the truth? (Let them respond.) Yes, Jesus told the truth to everyone, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)

When Jesus told his friends he wanted them to go and do the same job he did, those were some of the things he wanted them to do. But one day, someone asked him if he had a job description he could give them to help them remember all of those things. Jesus said that the job description was really easy to remember. (Show the new job description.) The job Jesus gave them was to love God and love each other.

Sometimes things happen and we aren’t sure what we should do, don’t they? (Let them respond.) When that happens, just remember the job description that Jesus gave us. (Give each child a copy of the job description.) What is our job? (Let them respond.) Our job is to love God and love each other. That’s the job Jesus gave to his friends that night and that’s the job Jesus wants us to do now.  

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.