This message uses a plant-based object lesson to communicate to students the importance of having a firm foundation in the love of Jesus. Being “rooted” in Christ means dwelling in Him and gathering strength and nourishment from Him, just as plants set forth roots and are nourished by soil. It can be challenging for youngsters to fully grasp the metaphor of dwelling in Christ, but a practical visual helps to explain how we can be filled with and “attached to” Him.
Law/Gospel Theme: This epistle encourages us as followers of Jesus, calling us to be grounded in His love and reminding us to stay connected to Him. The passage also tells us that through that solid grounding we might understand how high and how deep God’s love is. That love is something almost beyond human comprehension but looking at Jesus grants us the ability to understand and value it more.
Optional Materials: Plants with roots still attached, or pictures of plants and roots
Bible Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21
More Teaching Ideas:
- Watch the video demonstration of this children’s sermon and related Bible craft ideas
- Compare our another Ephesians 3 Sunday School lesson
- Compare the children’s sermon on Ephesians 3:14-21 from Sermons 4 Kids
Message Note: As with most messages, the details of how you choose to communicate this are adaptable and should cater to timing as well as to your audience and student needs. Ideally, have some sort of plant with roots to demonstrate, or pictures of them.
Children’s Sermon Lesson (Ephesians 3:14-21) Rooted in Christ’s Love
Greet the children, holding a potted plant, some sort of plant with roots, or a picture of a plant or tree.
Hello, children of God! Have you ever worked in a garden before, or been around plants? What kinds of plants do you like the best? Flowers, trees, fruits, vegetables? All of those things are plants, and all plants have a few things in common. For one thing, all plants have these (hold up a plant or picture to show roots along the bottom). Do you know what these are? These are called roots. Now, when seeds are planted, roots go down into the ground, burrowing into soil. After the roots go down and plant themselves, the stems and leaves and things can grow up out of the ground. No matter how high the plant gets, it will always have those roots that allow it to receive nourishment and grow. The roots connect the plant to its source of life.
That’s great for plants…but what do you think it means to be rooted in Christ? Does that even make sense? How can we be rooted in our faith or connected that firmly to Jesus? The Bible tells us that we are to be rooted in Christ’s love. In the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he encouraged them to dwell on that. This means that we get our spiritual ability to grow and live from knowing how much Jesus loves us. We have a firm foundation in that. We can be absolutely confident that Christ gives us all we need, because He gave Himself for us!
We know He loves us enough to die for us. In fact, His love for us is bigger than we can understand. Think about some really big plants, like oak or pine trees. They can get massive. They can be so high you have to tilt your head back just to look at the top. Well, the love God has for us is much bigger than that. And it’s much deeper than the deepest roots we can imagine. We are covered in and supported by that love, even though we don’t fully know what it means. But Jesus can help us there, too! He promises to be with us and to guide our hearts.
So how do we put these “roots” down? What do you think? What might encourage and nourish our faith? We can pray. We read the Bible. We listen to other Christians and go to church. There are many wonderful ways that we stay rooted in Jesus. Many times people talk about roots in terms of a family or heritage connection. We know that we are in God’s family, and our connection to Him is worth more than anything else.
Prayer:
(Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for Jesus
Help us to be rooted in His love
Help us to stay firmly connected to you
So we can grow in our faith
Help us understand how important that is
Thank you for your love
We love you, God!
In Jesus name, Amen!
Bible Verses/story to Reference: Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.