lesson loop 11.13.14

Middle School - "Relationship before Religion"

We began a brand new series on "Relationship" this past Tuesday, entitled "Love God. Love Others"
This first lesson we focused on the relationship we can have with God.

Big Idea:  Being a Christian is about a relationship with God, not about following a religion.

The students first looked at the beginning of relationships in the book of Genesis. The girls looked at Genesis 2 and the boys looked at Genesis 3. After reading the passage they determined which relationships existed and what the rules were for these relationships.

Genesis 2

Relationships: God and man, husband and wife

Rules (God and man): man is to work the garden, enjoy everything except the tree of knowledge of good and evil

Rules (husband and wife): they are to leave their family and form a new family, they are to have intimacy, and the wife is to be a helper to her husband

Genesis 3

Relationships: God and man, husband and wife

Rules (God and man): man is to work the garden, enjoy everything except the tree of knowledge of good and evil; after the Fall banned from the Garden.

Rules (husband and wife): the husband is to lead his wife

All relationships must have rules in order to be healthy.

We then considered a few things about relationships...

1.     God is a God of relationship

Before the universe was created, God existed in relationship - Father, Son, Spirit
Man is created in the image of God, and part of being made in
God’s image is having relationships.

2.    Relationships are part of what it means to be human

 God created people male and female, and this makes reproduction and relationships possible!!
The family is the center of this plan to fill the earth and subdue it.
We are designed to be with other people

3.    Sin has broken our relationships

Adam and eve hide from God
Adam and eve turn on each other

4.    Jesus made a relationship between Perfect God and sinful man possible.

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High School - Proverbs 6:20-35

Big idea: Skillful, Christ-like living involves using Scripture to expose the lies of sin.

The Scripture is a lamp that shines on the darkness of adultery and reveals its true nature.

Jesus reveals what is at the core of adultery in Mt. 5:27-29

Whenever you lust after someone who is not your spouse, you and I are guilty of committing adultery in our heart.

4 Lies about Adultery that Scripture exposes:

1. Adultery is beautiful (v. 24-25) Their is a legitimate beauty that attracts us to sin. But it is very, very deceptive. It is not a sin that someone else is beautiful. It is not even a sin that we notice their beauty. It becomes sin when we "desire their beauty". We need to make a conscious commitment to God that we are not going to lust after others in our heart (like Job did). This is where adultery begins.
2. Adultery is cheap (v. 26) Dishonoring the covenant of marriage which pictures Christ and the church is not taken lightly by God. It will cost us.
3. Adultery is painless (v. 27-29) The Scripture uses the illustration of "playing with fire". There is no way we can do this and not get burned. Even if we get good at "playing with fire". Eventually, it will scorch us. There is no such thing as "casual sex", or sex "with no strings attached".
4. Adultery is sensible (v. 30-35) All those who commit adultery are doing what makes sense at the time. Maybe they feel they are in love or that it will make them happy. But the Word of God says that it will destroy us, and we lack sense. It doesn't matter how much the world normalizes this sin, God's Word is the light that shines on it and exposes it for what it is.

Quote to remember...

“Sin will always take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you far more than you ever want to pay.”