Seven pairs of eyes looked at me intently. It was the last day of Vacation Bible School (VBS) and we’d been learning about Jonah. Of course, these fifth graders—most of whom had been raised in the church by godly parents—knew all about Jonah. They knew most Bible stories.
No one flinched when I explained how Jonah was tossed overboard to pacify God’s wrath, swallowed by a great fish, and spit up on land three days later to go at last to the wicked city of Nineveh and declare God’s judgment. The kids weren’t surprised that the Ninevites repented or that Jonah was angry. They even knew about the vine God sent to give Jonah shade and about the worm and wind that took it away the next day. None of this was new or particularly interesting to them.
But they tuned in when we got to Jonah 4 and I explained how it displays God’s immense patience with a rebellious man who disobeyed the Almighty repeatedly. They didn’t know this part—how Jonah’s story displays the gospel. Many lessons geared toward children tell the stories of biblical characters without anchoring them to the work of Christ and the Bible’s larger story of redemption. Unfortunately, it’s entirely possible for children to spend a week at VBS hearing Bible stories but not hearing the gospel story.
Emphasis Matters in Our Teaching
My VBS experiences in the 1990s were marked by WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) bracelets. My church friends and neighbors thronged into our little sanctuary to sing praise songs, watch silly skits, and make crafts. During the Bible lesson, we learned about Adam’s first sin, David’s bravery against Goliath, or Paul’s missionary journeys. We were told we needed to be obedient and brave like these Bible heroes. We were given the “What Would Jesus Do?” mantra to remind us to live like Jesus at all times.
Many lessons geared toward children tell the stories of biblical characters without connecting them to the Bible’s larger story of redemption.
Of course, it’s good for children to learn Bible stories, and we should seek to be like Jesus and follow the example of godly people in Scripture. But if we’re not careful, we may unintentionally emphasize the wrong thing as we teach these stories. These sorts of lessons tend to highlight our response and our obedience to the good news without concretely establishing what that good news is. Children need to hear that Christ’s work is once-for-all, and that—like Jonah—they may stumble before God again and again, but that will not change their adoption as his sons and daughters.
Christ’s Work Matters for Our Obedience
Many of my childhood friends have walked away from the faith. They’ve had Jonah moments when confronted with the challenges of obedience to God’s law, when confused and frustrated by the mysteries of his providence, or when beaten down by their own sin and misery—but they don’t know the patience and mercy of God. Asking “What Would Jesus Do?” can’t save someone who’s drowning in a storm-swept sea or swallowed by a great fish. Only God can do that.
The message of salvation should be the message of every VBS program. Hopefully, it’s the message you hear every Sunday from the pulpit. Only God can save you, and if you’re in Christ, he has. Before we tell children to do what Jesus would do, we need to be sure they know what Jesus has already done. We can’t live holy and blameless lives apart from Christ (Rom. 3:23), nor can we atone for our own sins (Eph. 2:1, 4–5; Heb. 10:4).
The Gospel Matters for Our Children
This is where those verses in Jonah 4—the ones demonstrating the mercy of God—become so important for our children. Although few think of themselves as great sinners in fifth grade, they might think so by high school, or by college, or deep into their 30s. At some point, all sinners ends up on a boat to Tarshish fleeing God, or caught in the storm of sin’s consequences, or maybe even in the depths of the sea—all hope seemingly lost. And when that time comes, we want them to know the gospel.
Before we tell children to do what Jesus would do, we need to be sure they know what Jesus has already done.
We need to teach our kids the good news of a God whose love is steadfast, whose patience never runs out for his children, whose salvation is sure because it was an undeserved gift to us from the beginning. Training our children in righteousness is both good and biblical, but if that work isn’t laid on the immovable foundation of what Christ has accomplished on their behalf, it’ll be in vain.
Despite Jonah’s failings as a prophet and a son of Israel, he still belonged to the Lord, and his hope is the same as ours: the obedience of Jesus Christ, by whose life and death we’ve been kept safe for eternity. Let’s make that the message of VBS. As we teach our children the Bible’s stories, let’s make sure they hear the story of the gospel.
The Gospel Coalition