Listen. Listen to the pre-recorded Children’s Message together. 

You can find it at pacificunionchurch.org/churchsmall

Review

What two groups of people did not like each other in Pastor Nate’s talk?

What divided them? 

[Hint to Parents: There was both a physical wall in the temple and God’s Law that kept these two groups separated.]

What two things did Jesus do to make peace between the two groups?

[Hint to Parents: 1. Jesus broke down the wall between them. 2. Jesus took them and brought them into his family. The two groups became one family and now there is peace.]

So we have two questions: 1. How did Jesus bring peace? 2. Why did Jesus do this?

Let’s find out …

Lesson

What was Pastor Nate holding in his hands when he knocked down the blocks? 

[Hint to parents: a cross] Let’s find out if this is a clue.

Read Ephesians 2:14-16 together. The “he” in these verses is Jesus.

How did Jesus break down the wall that separated God’s people from those who were not God’s people? 

[Hint to parents: The wall that separated the people from each other is also the wall that separates us from God. God’s law kept Jews and Gentiles separate, but God’s law separated us all from God. We can’t keep God’s rules and so we can’t live with God. We deserve God’s punishment. But Jesus died for our sins on the cross. Now we trust that Jesus kept the rules for us and we follow him because we are grateful. This is true for Israel. This is true for us. If we belong to Jesus we are now part of God’s family. Jesus broke down the wall with the cross.]

Peace is when people who were separated from each other start loving each other like family. Jesus brought peace by dying on the cross. Let’s find out why Jesus did it. We are going to use an activity to explain why Jesus did this.

[Activity: Based on Ephesians 2:19-22]

You will need blocks for this activity or something to build with. 

You will need one large block to represent Jesus. He is the cornerstone.

You will need other blocks that with Jesus will be the foundation of the building. These blocks represent the prophets and apostles. The prophets spoke messages from God in the Old Testament. The apostles spoke messages from God in the New Testament. 

Now take smaller blocks. They represent us. These are the two groups of people that Jesus made peace between through the cross. 

Use the smaller blocks to build a building with your kids on top of the foundation. 

You can tell your kids that this building is special because it is God’s house, which is called a temple. The Holy Spirit lives in this house. In Jesus’ day, the temple was a building made out of stone. This was the place where people came to worship God.

What is God’s temple today made out of?

[Hint to parents: People that Jesus has brought together in peace.]

Today, people from every country in the world believe in Jesus. Together, we are part of God’s family and God is building us together to be his house. 

Respond. How does Jesus want us to treat other believers in Jesus who don’t look like us or talk like us? If followers of Jesus in other countries are our family, how can we love them like family? 

How can we show God’s peace to the world?

Share. What is one simple thing that you learned today that you can share with someone else? Who will you share it with? Make a plan to share what you learned with this person.