Children’s Sermon about Jonah

Ask: What do you use a whisk for? [Allow for answers.]

You crack eggs into a bowl, and then you mix them all up with the whisk. (Use your hand and the whisk to show the motion of stirring the eggs.)

Have you ever felt that life seems a little mixed up at times?  Like somebody took a big, whisk to your life and moved it all around?

That makes me think of the story of Jonah. Talk about being a man who was mixed up! He was an Israelite, but he knew the Assyrians were not far away.

The Assyrians, at that time, were the conquering enemy of the Israelites. And the Assyrians were bad news.

They were cruel people. They killed men, women, and children. Awful. And, if you remember the story, God comes to Jonah and says, “I want you to go to Nineveh.”

Jonah knew that Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrians, and God wanted Jonah to tell them that they need to repent.

Jonah, being a good Israelite, reacted strongly. “What? Surely God, you don’t mean that.” Jonah thought God was a little mixed up. Jonah himself was confused. He was a little mixed up. God did not make sense.

Jonah decided to go in the opposite direction. He got on the ship. They were in the water. The storm came.

Jonah knew the storm was happening because of his choice to not do what God asked him to do. He had the sailors throw him overboard. And then he was swallowed by the great fish. That sure sounds mixed up, doesn’t it? That doesn’t make sense.

He was in the stomach of a great fish for three days. That’s gross and mixed up. After three days, the great fish spits him up. He threw out Jonah. We’re talking fish vomit. Gross.

Jonah knows he has to go to Nineveh. He cannot get out of it.

Ask: What kind of attitude do you think Jonah had? [Allow for answers]

I think he had a pretty stinky attitude because the scripture tells us what Jonah did. I picture him half-heartily walking around saying, “Repent, repent.”

I don’t think he really took it seriously, but the people sure did! Jonah did his job for God.

Then he traveled outside the city walls and sat down waiting for fire to come down from heaven because, in his mind, it wasn’t mixed up that God would destroy these people. These people were awful sinners and deserved to be punished.

A plant rose up and gave Jonah shade in the hot sun, He watched the city and it was not being destroyed. And Jonah was mixed up.

Jonah knew God. He knew that God was just and merciful when people truly come to repentance. Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and wanted God to destroy them. He knew that if they repented then God would not destroy them. Jonah was mixed up on the inside. His motivations were selfish and wrong.  The people of Nineveh repented, therefore God did not destroy them. Jonah thought that was mixed up.

Maybe things in life are  mixed up and seem confusing for you. We read in the Bible to love people who hurt us. We are told that we are to pray for our enemies. That sounds mixed up. But God is going to do what it takes to give people the opportunity to repent.

Are you like the people of Nineveh and you need to repent of sin? Or are you like Jonah, and you need to repent of selfish, mean desires? Either way you look at it, everyone has a need for repentance. It’s never too late to repent! Go to God and remember that He loves you.