Listen up, little ones
Listen for the word church.
Reading
Ephesians 5:22-33—Jesus’s Beautiful Bride
Optional Reading
Ezra 1:5-11
Keys for kids
- Husbands and wives are like Jesus and his church.
- Jesus is making his church beautiful.
- We can’t make our church (or ourselves) beautiful to Jesus.
Questions
- How did Ezra prepare for the rebuilt temple’s beauty?
- How does Jesus make his church beautiful?
- Who is Jesus’s bride?
Notes
In Ezra, Cyrus and his officials returned to the Jewish exiles over 5,000 beautiful items of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple before destroying it (and all of Jerusalem). In this way, Cyrus was providing for the beauty of the rebuilt temple.
In our reading today, we learn about husbands and wives. But we learn more about Jesus and his church. We find out that Jesus, a greater anointed one than Cyrus, cares about making his temple, his body, his church beautiful. But Jesus doesn’t use gold and silver items to make his church beautiful.
Instead, he washes her clean with His word. Remember that if you are a Christian, you are part of the her who is Jesus’s beautiful bride. He removes spots and wrinkles. He makes her holy. Hendriksen notes that it is the bridegroom himself, even Christ, who here in 5:27 is described as preparing the one who one day will be manifested as his bride, so that she will be “brilliant in purity.” … It is the bridegroom himself, even Christ, who here in 5:27 is described as preparing the one who one day will be manifested as his bride, so that she will be “brilliant in purity.”
Jesus is making his bride, his church, beautiful. For all of us who are Christians, Jesus is making us (individually and together) beautiful!
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 45c, 84a
Prayer
- Ask Jesus to make us at SRC beautiful in his sight.
- Pray for change in you from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.