Getting JOY through Service: Jesus First, Others Second, You Last

For the last few years, Good Shepherd Wesleyan Church Awana Club has had a theme for the year. This year's theme is Service. In Sparks, we're focusing on how to get JOY through service. In this post, I will share an outline for the Large Group Time message I used to kick off the theme. This was actually a message I remember from when I was a clubber.

Scripture: Matthew 22:36-40

Materials:
3 large squares of construction paper

• Square 1: "J" on one side, "Jesus" on the other
• Square 2: "O" one one side, "Others" on the other
• Square 3: "Y" on one side, "You" or "Yourself" on the other

Have three clubbers come hold the three letters, showing the audience “J O Y.”

Ask Clubbers:
What is JOY?
– Allow Responses. Examples: Happiness, excitement, delight, etc.

How do we get JOY?
– Allow Responses.

Tell Clubbers:
In the book of Matthew, there were some people who had a similar question. Let’s see what Jesus had to say.

Matthew 22:36-38
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the first and great commandment."

Tell Clubbers:

In these verses, we are given the first step to having JOY: Love Jesus First, before anything else. 

Have the clubber with the letter “J” turn his letter around, showing the audience “Jesus.”

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment."

Tell Clubbers:
Jesus is the first step to having JOY.

Ask Clubbers:
How can we love Jesus first?
– Allow Responses. Examples: Pray, spend time with God each day, work on handbooks, memorize verses, obey God, etc.

Tell Clubbers:

Those are all great ways to love Jesus first. Now what about the second step in JOY? Let’s look back and see.

Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Tell Clubbers:

In this verse, we learn that the second step in getting JOY is Loving Others Second, after loving Jesus.

Have the clubber with the letter “O” turn his paper around, showing the audience “Others.”




Ask Clubbers:
How can we love others second?
–Allow resopnses. Examples:Be kind, share, say please and thank you, keep God’s commandments, serve (our theme this year), etc.

Tell clubbers:

Those are all great ideas for how to love others. So our second step to JOY is serving others. Now we have Jesus first and others second in our steps to getting JOY. What about the last step?

Matthew 22:40
“On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Tell clubbers:

Hmm. Well, here we see that all the other laws rest on Jesus first and others second. So, by placing Jesus and others before yourself, that means the last step in JOY would be You Last. So our third step to JOY is serving You last.

Have the clubber with “Y” turn her paper around, showing the audience “You.”


Ask Clubbers:
Now that we’ve seen what the Bible says, how do we get JOY?
– Correct Response: Jesus first, Others second, and You last.

Let’s pray that God help us to find JOY this next week.

For more information about Awana Clubs International, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.