This past week in our Student Ministry:
THIRD PLACE: "Jesus as Human"We started by pointing out that while Jesus was powerful and full of authority, he laid his divine prerogatives aside when He came to earth. Instead of using His authority and power, He "played by our rules" and suffered temptation just like we do.
We then focused on the infamous temptation of Christ found in Matthew 4.
This tempation had 3 parts:
- The Temptation of Desire
Satan played on Jesus' strong desire for food, and although Jesus certainly could have turned the stones to bread, it would have been a sin because it was not His Father's will. In fact, Jesus responds to Satan that food is not His biggest need. Instead, being obedient to His Father and living on His every Word is His biggest need.
- The Temptation of Pride
Jesus relates His situation to the children of Israel who tested God in the wilderness. Each of Jesus' quotes come from that wilderness era, and for Him to ask God to prove Himself by saving Him as He jumped off the temple would have been tantamount to the rebellious Israelites asking God to prove His existence and love by giving them food, water and protection. God doesn't exist for our benefit. Rather, we are here to worshipfully serve Him, and we must have faith that God will always provide for us. It's not about us!
- The Temptation of Power
Jesus' incarnation was not about being our powerful ruler. No, not the first time around. Instead He came as an obedient, meek Lamb who was on a mission to give Himself for His own.
Now, don't be mistaken - He will one day come as our victorious King, and purge this earth of sin once and for all. But until that day He sits as our King in heaven, and we try to follow His example - taking up our crosses each day and dying to self. It's not about becoming powerful and great in the world's eyes - it's about serving. In doing this we will earn rewards and reign with Christ one day in His earthly kingdom.
LUCID: "God, Your Provider"
As we drank water we read Psalm 111 and talked about how God provides for our basic human needs - which includes the physical needs of food and water, but so much more as well. Even more than physical needs, we have the need for redemption, and for God's Word. He has provided these things as well!
Then, we ate cookies (still warm out of the oven thanks to Jen!), and talked about how God lavishes on us extra blessings that He doesn't have to (and has every right to remove from our lives if He decides).
Then, we talked about 2 opposing approaches to life (Psalm 20:7, Psalm 127; Matthew 6:25-34):
1) Building our lives by our own strength and abilities2) Recognizing that God is the one who builds anything good out of our lives We all agreed that we often forget to remember God's provision because we become so obsessed with our own life that we neglect to remember all that God has done for us and His people through the ages. We also struggle at times to have faith in God because our needs are very tangible and God is not.
However, it only makes sense that God who is our loving Creator would also be the one who still sustains us each and every day. In fact, He is the reason we are still breathing as we read this paragraph. Colossians 1:16-17 says this - "in Him all things hold together".
We finished by getting into groups, and then writing on a brick one word that describes a blessing God has lavished on us, remembering that He is our Good Provider.
I challenged each student to always recognize that God is the One building their life, and to trust in His provision, rather than rely on their own strength like most of the world.
