Useful or useless?
Children's sermon
Object:
a rake
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought a tool with me today because I
want to talk about work. What kind of tool is this? (Let them respond.)
That's right, it's a rake. There are many kinds of tools and each one is
important because each one has a special job to do. Can you shovel snow
with a rake? (Let them respond.) No, it would be very hard. Can you pound
nails with a rake? (Let them respond.) You probably could use the handle,
but it wouldn't work very well as a hammer. Where do you keep a rake at
your house? (Let them take turns sharing where they keep a rake at their
houses.) A rake is for raking leaves. Pretty soon in some parts of the
country, people will be getting out their rakes to rake up the leaves that
fall from the trees. Raking leaves is what rakes are made for. But rakes
are useless! When rakes are sitting in a corner or hanging on the wall in
the garage, they are not useful at all. What do we have to do to a rake to
change it from useless to useful? (Let them respond.) We have to get it
down from the wall, or up from the basement or out of the tool shed and
use it.
Our lesson today is about a man who lived a very long time ago. His name wasn't _________ or _________ or _________. (Name some of the children.) It was Onesimus. Can you say it? (Say it with them.) The name Onesimus means useful. Onesimus was a slave and he had run away from his owner. We think it is wrong to own slaves, but many years ago, people didn't think it was wrong. After Onesimus ran away, he heard about Jesus. He also met Paul. Paul told people about Jesus. Paul knew that Onesimus was very worried about going back home after he had run away. So Paul wrote a letter to Philemon, the man who owned Onesimus. Paul told him that Onesimus was useful just like his name meant. He was useful because he had heard about Jesus and wanted to work for Jesus. Paul asked Philemon to treat Onesimus like a brother instead of a slave. We don't know if Onesimus went home. But we do know that hearing the stories about Jesus changes people from being useless like a rake hanging on a wall into useful like a rake doing its job. Our job is to tell others about Jesus, too. Then we are useful like Onesimus.
Our lesson today is about a man who lived a very long time ago. His name wasn't _________ or _________ or _________. (Name some of the children.) It was Onesimus. Can you say it? (Say it with them.) The name Onesimus means useful. Onesimus was a slave and he had run away from his owner. We think it is wrong to own slaves, but many years ago, people didn't think it was wrong. After Onesimus ran away, he heard about Jesus. He also met Paul. Paul told people about Jesus. Paul knew that Onesimus was very worried about going back home after he had run away. So Paul wrote a letter to Philemon, the man who owned Onesimus. Paul told him that Onesimus was useful just like his name meant. He was useful because he had heard about Jesus and wanted to work for Jesus. Paul asked Philemon to treat Onesimus like a brother instead of a slave. We don't know if Onesimus went home. But we do know that hearing the stories about Jesus changes people from being useless like a rake hanging on a wall into useful like a rake doing its job. Our job is to tell others about Jesus, too. Then we are useful like Onesimus.
