Hope: Knowing it gets better than this

Scripture:

John 3:16

Quick Summary:

Jesus explains to Nicodemus that God loves us so much, that he sent Jesus to die for our sin. When we believe in Jesus and follow him, we are promised Eternal Life with God. (Most of our time will be on memorizing John 3:16)

The Point:

No matter what we struggle with here and now, we have hope in eternal life when we follow God. Hope is our virtue for this lesson.

Questions for Family Time:

                  1.      Can you tell me John 3:16?

a.      For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.  

                  2.      What does this tell us about future?

a.      When we believe in Jesus, we get to spend forever with God.

                  3.      What does this tell us about hope?

 a. Hope is believing something better is coming, and living forever with God is as good as it gets!

Deeper:

 Our scripture today is one of the shortest texts we will study. It also is arguably the most famous. It is plastered on signs, billboards, and even on sport enthusiasts’ chests. The reason for its popularity is that of all the passages in the Bible, it sums up the whole Bible the best. Check it out:

1.     It talks about how much God loves us and how far God is willing to go to make sure we know that.

2.      It shares the whole point of Christmas: that God gave the world his son in Jesus Christ.

3.     It talks about how Jesus is God’s son in a different way than us. He is begotten, 100% of God. We are only created, made by God, not one person of the divine Trinity.

4.     It talks about our choice of either rejecting Jesus and turning away from God, or following Jesus and being adopted into God’s family as a true child. Not only does it point to our choice, but says that God gives us all a chance, every human on the face of the planet…whoever believes.

5.     It talks about eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection of the dead was just the first. We are promised to live on after we are done with this world. Even death cannot separate us from the love of God. 

That’s what makes this small verse so powerful.
For me, having this verse memorized comes in handy when I am losing my way. When I can’t feel God’s love, it points to the proof of his love, Jesus. When I feel surrounded by death and destruction, it point to the promise of everlasting life. In those moments when I feel defeated and forgotten, this is what I repeat to myself, over and over again.

My prayer is that it will stay with your child to see them through the moments when they feel defeated and forgotten. It will remind them that God is bigger than the moment’s circumstances. It will remind them how deep God’s love is for them, and that he would do anything to share his love with them. I pray that it will be a beacon of hope for them when they are surrounded by darkness.

I also pray that for you. I encourage you to put this passage somewhere to remind you that there is always hope. In Jesus lowest moment, he was literally dead and buried. And yet, God loved him and us so much that Jesus rose from the dead. That is the kind of love that God has for you. And we get to share that love forever. It doesn’t get better than that.

Personal Reflection:

What part of this verse strikes you the most? Have you made the choice to accept God’s love and follow Jesus? How is that choice apparent in your life?

Love: The most important virtue

Scripture:

Mark 12:28-34

Quick Summary:

The teachers of the law were trying to stump Jesus, so they asked him what commandment was the most important one. Jesus answered “Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Point:

The Greatest Commandments: Love God and Love others

Questions for Family Time:

                  1.      What are the two most important commandments?

a.      Love God, Love others.

                  2.      Why are they the most important ones?

a.      Because they are all the other ones simplified.

                  3.      How do you love God?

a.      (by spending time with him, by following his rules, by putting him first)

4. How do you love others?

            a. (Say nice things, help, give a gift, spend time/play with them, hug them.)

Deeper:

 Jesus said love summed up the 613 commandments in the Old Testament. When you look at the 10 Commandments, they seem to follow in these two categories of love as well. The first half are about how we love God and the second half are about how we love each other. The one thing over and over and over that God tells us to do is to love. 

           Love is the most important of all virtues. There are four words for love in the original language of the Bible. Jesus almost always used the same word. It was a word the always provoked a person to action. Jesus love is not something we merely feel or proclaim. It is something that we do. Jesus love is a love that goes first. It is not conditioned on some right behavior.

Jesus outlined four ways to love God: 1. Love him with all your heart. 2. With all your soul. 3. With all your mind. 4. With all your strength. We are to love him with our emotions, with our spiritual lives, with our thinking, and with our doing. There should be no part of our life that is separate from our relationship with God. In fact the Apostle Paul said it was pointless to do anything without it being in and through love.

           
             But Jesus doesn’t stop with this commandment. He could. He was only asked the most important commandment. But he goes on to say the second most important commandment is to love others.  In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells us that how we treat others is how we treat Jesus. When we love others, we love Jesus. That is how important it is to God that we treat others with love.

Personal Reflection:

How do you love God with your heart? With your soul? With your mind? With your strength? How do you love others as you love yourself?

Temperance: Saying No to Temptation

Scripture:

Luke 4:1-13

Quick Summary:

After Jesus was baptized, he went out to the desert and didn’t eat for 40 days. He was tempted to turn rocks to food, but he didn’t. He was tempted to worship Satan for power over the world, but he didn’t. He was tempted to test God by acting dangerously, but he didn’t. The same Holy Spirit that helped Jesus resist temptation can help us say no to temptation too. 

The Point:

Jesus says no to temptations. Saying no to temptations is the virtue temperance.

Questions for Family Time:

                  1.      What does Temperance mean?

a.      Saying no to temptations.

                  2.      Who was tempted in today’s story?

a.      Jesus

                  3.      What temptations are the hardest for you to say no to?

a.      (taking things that aren’t mine, lying, being mean to people who are mean)

Deeper:

It is not a sin to be tempted, but it is a sin to say yes to that temptation. Temptation is a very personal thing, too. Jesus’ temptations were around using his power for self gratification from physical needs to political power, to taking unnecessary risks just because he could. How could he resist them?

The answer comes in the story that comes before this one. During Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit came down and took up residence in Jesus. That same Spirit (the third person of our Triune God) takes up residence in us when we decide to follow Jesus. When we say “I let Jesus into my heart” that Spirit is the resident. Throughout the Bible, we find the Holy Spirit give us power to overcome sins that we just can’t resist by ourselves. Sin can hold us hostage, and make us feel like prisoners forced to give into temptation. The Holy Spirit breaks those chains and gives us the power to say, “No!”

Perhaps there is a temptation in your life, that no matter how hard you try, it just keeps leading you into sin. God calls us to stop relying on our own will power alone to resist those temptations, and to rely on his Holy Spirit to see us through. This is why the first steps in 12 Step programs like AA and NA include asking a higher power for help. Even if your temptation isn’t drugs or alcohol, if you really want to conquer it, I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to reside within you and help you to say no. Only through the Spirit’s power can any of us find lasting temperance, and with that temperance freedom and peace. 

Personal Reflection:

What temptation am I struggling to say no to? Have I asked the Holy Spirit to help me overcome it?