Appearances!
Children's sermon
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (vv. 4-8)
NOTE: If you are presenting your children’s messages virtually, or in some other way that makes a normal activity difficult, you can still have fun with today’s story. For example, if you are with just one child, you can have them do all of the ‘dress-up’ parts. If you are doing this virtually, you can show them the pictures, or either you or someone with you on-screen could do the dress-up part. However you might do it, the overall goal of the message is to talk about how appearances do not always tell us who someone truly is when God is involved.
Objects: Two sets of different types of clothing, or photos of two people dressed very differently. The goal is to have at least one set of clothing look very “normal” and “successful”, and another set of clothing look “unusual” like John the Baptist might have looked. An example of the unusual clothes might just be some kind of a cloth to wrap around or a burlap bag with a piece of rope for a belt or something similar.
* * *
Hi everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a little game I’d like for us to try today, okay? (Let them respond.) It’s a simple game. Are you ready to play? (Let them respond.) Great!
[READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU ARE USING PICTURES]
I am going to show you two pictures of people who are wearing different kinds of clothing. (Hold up the two pictures.) See? They are different, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) What do you see that is different about them? (Let them respond.) Okay, now I have a question for you. Let’s imagine that God is wanting to do something special for everyone in the world. Something very special. But God needs someone to help do it. Which of these two people do you think God would pick to help? (Let them respond.)
[READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU ARE DRESSING UP]
I have some pieces of clothing here for us to look at. (Either ask two children to help you by putting on the clothing, or show the clothing however you planned to do it) They are different, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) What do you see that is different about them? (Let them respond.) Okay, now I have a question for you. Let’s imagine that God is wanting to do something really special for everyone in the world. Something very special. But God needs someone to help do it. Which of these two people do you think God would pick to help? (Let them respond.)
Do you know what is interesting? A lot of the time when people play this game they pick this one (Point to the “normal” clothing) as the person they think God will choose. Why do you think they do that? (Let them respond.) Because they think this one looks better somehow? Right? (Let them respond.) This one (point to the not-so-normal one) does look very different, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Some people think they look so different that God would never pick them to do anything.
But you know what? Sometimes God surprises us. Like the time God needed someone to tell everyone that Jesus was coming to help them. God needed someone who would show them just how special Jesus was since he was God’s own Son.
So, God looked around at all of the people who could help. God saw the people who dressed really nice, like the Priests, and Pharisees, and all of other people who looked really good. And then he saw a man named John. And you know what? Honestly, compared to those other people, John was kind of a mess. He didn’t have a nice suit or even a clean pair of jeans and a shirt. He was wearing something like an old bathrobe, and instead of a belt, he had an old piece of rope tied around his waist. And his hair? He hadn’t had a haircut in ages and it was a mess too. So, God looked at all of the fancy-dressed people and God looked at Messy John, and do you know who God picked to tell everyone about Jesus? (Let them respond.) Yep, he picked Messy John.
You know, sometimes I feel that I’m just not special enough for God to pick me to do something important. Sometimes I look around and see other people and just think that they are more special than I am. I wonder if you have ever felt like that? (Let them respond.) Yeah, I think we all do sometimes.
And, sometimes, I see someone who looks very different than we do and I start to think that maybe we’re more special than they are. I wonder if you have ever felt like that? (Let them respond.) Yeah, I think we all do sometimes.
But you know what? How we look isn’t what makes any of us special. Where we are from or where we live isn’t what makes us special. Just like Messy John, we are special to God simply because God created us to be special.
Let’s say a prayer to ask God to help us remember just how special God has created each of us to be and ask God to help us remember to remind everyone around us just how special God created them to be too.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for creating each of us to be special to you. Please help us remember how much you love all of the people around us, and how special you have created them to be too. Amen.
NOTE: If you are presenting your children’s messages virtually, or in some other way that makes a normal activity difficult, you can still have fun with today’s story. For example, if you are with just one child, you can have them do all of the ‘dress-up’ parts. If you are doing this virtually, you can show them the pictures, or either you or someone with you on-screen could do the dress-up part. However you might do it, the overall goal of the message is to talk about how appearances do not always tell us who someone truly is when God is involved.
Objects: Two sets of different types of clothing, or photos of two people dressed very differently. The goal is to have at least one set of clothing look very “normal” and “successful”, and another set of clothing look “unusual” like John the Baptist might have looked. An example of the unusual clothes might just be some kind of a cloth to wrap around or a burlap bag with a piece of rope for a belt or something similar.
* * *
Hi everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a little game I’d like for us to try today, okay? (Let them respond.) It’s a simple game. Are you ready to play? (Let them respond.) Great!
[READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU ARE USING PICTURES]
I am going to show you two pictures of people who are wearing different kinds of clothing. (Hold up the two pictures.) See? They are different, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) What do you see that is different about them? (Let them respond.) Okay, now I have a question for you. Let’s imagine that God is wanting to do something special for everyone in the world. Something very special. But God needs someone to help do it. Which of these two people do you think God would pick to help? (Let them respond.)
[READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU ARE DRESSING UP]
I have some pieces of clothing here for us to look at. (Either ask two children to help you by putting on the clothing, or show the clothing however you planned to do it) They are different, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) What do you see that is different about them? (Let them respond.) Okay, now I have a question for you. Let’s imagine that God is wanting to do something really special for everyone in the world. Something very special. But God needs someone to help do it. Which of these two people do you think God would pick to help? (Let them respond.)
Do you know what is interesting? A lot of the time when people play this game they pick this one (Point to the “normal” clothing) as the person they think God will choose. Why do you think they do that? (Let them respond.) Because they think this one looks better somehow? Right? (Let them respond.) This one (point to the not-so-normal one) does look very different, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Some people think they look so different that God would never pick them to do anything.
But you know what? Sometimes God surprises us. Like the time God needed someone to tell everyone that Jesus was coming to help them. God needed someone who would show them just how special Jesus was since he was God’s own Son.
So, God looked around at all of the people who could help. God saw the people who dressed really nice, like the Priests, and Pharisees, and all of other people who looked really good. And then he saw a man named John. And you know what? Honestly, compared to those other people, John was kind of a mess. He didn’t have a nice suit or even a clean pair of jeans and a shirt. He was wearing something like an old bathrobe, and instead of a belt, he had an old piece of rope tied around his waist. And his hair? He hadn’t had a haircut in ages and it was a mess too. So, God looked at all of the fancy-dressed people and God looked at Messy John, and do you know who God picked to tell everyone about Jesus? (Let them respond.) Yep, he picked Messy John.
You know, sometimes I feel that I’m just not special enough for God to pick me to do something important. Sometimes I look around and see other people and just think that they are more special than I am. I wonder if you have ever felt like that? (Let them respond.) Yeah, I think we all do sometimes.
And, sometimes, I see someone who looks very different than we do and I start to think that maybe we’re more special than they are. I wonder if you have ever felt like that? (Let them respond.) Yeah, I think we all do sometimes.
But you know what? How we look isn’t what makes any of us special. Where we are from or where we live isn’t what makes us special. Just like Messy John, we are special to God simply because God created us to be special.
Let’s say a prayer to ask God to help us remember just how special God has created each of us to be and ask God to help us remember to remind everyone around us just how special God created them to be too.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for creating each of us to be special to you. Please help us remember how much you love all of the people around us, and how special you have created them to be too. Amen.
