Essential Connection to Christ’s Passion

Week Four

Day 1 - Strength from Commitment:  2 Chronicles 16:7-9

Day 2 - Talk Is Cheap:  John 13:31-38

Day 3 - Living in Denial:  John 18:15-27

Day 4 - Going Nowhere Fast:  Proverbs 16:16-22

Day 5 - Good for Nothin’:  Titus 1:10-16

Day 6 - Watch Your Step:  Galatians 6:1-5

Day 7 - Deny Yourself:  Luke 9:23-27

 

Day 1 - Strength from Commitment:  2 Chronicles 16:7-9

A one-day blitz! We can do it! Be there at 7:30 Saturday morning!

So you drag yourself out of bed on a SATURDAY morning, when you could be still dreaming, and you get yourself out to the Habitat site, still yawning. It’s not too hot yet, but you can tell it’s gonna be a scorcher. There’s a foundation of cement blocks sitting in the middle of a big pile of dirt, but nothing else is done—and the goal is to get the walls up, put the roof together, and put black paper on it.

For a while, the whole youth group swarms like ants over the site, carrying boards, cutting boards, nailing boards, and soon there’s a floor. Now to the walls—lay out the boards, mark them, nail them, stand them up—it’s starting to look like a house!

Then sun gets high, your hammer gets heavy, and the breaks that some kids take get longer and longer. “Hey, why don’t you get you tail over here and do some work?” “Why don’t you make me?” Things start to get ugly, and you begin to think you might not make it. You take your eyes off the prize, and you start looking for ways out.

But then somebody—maybe some old codger—reminds you of what you’re doing: you’re serving the Lord. You’re not just building a house, you’re helping somebody build a better life. So, for the rest of the afternoon, you hit it hard; and just about suppertime you roll out the black paper on the roof. Then you sit and rest, knowing that God gives strength to those who stay focused on His goals.

·          Real Choices - Make a list of three things you believe God wants you to work on for the next week.

·          Pray - Ask God to help you stay committed to His goals.

 

Day 2 - Talk Is Cheap:  John 13:31-38

“I will lay down my life for you,” blurted Peter on the night before Jesus was crucified. Jesus knew better. He knew that in a few hours Peter would be telling everybody within earshot that he had never heard of Jesus.

He knew that when the heat was turned up, Peter was going to fold. And Jesus wasn’t shy about letting Peter know it as well.

Jesus had just finished telling the twelve that they should love each other as He loved them, and that their love for each other would show the world that they were His students. Jesus meant more than just saying “I love ya, man!” and giving a big hug at the end of prayer. Jesus loved these jokers enough to die for them, even though He knew Peter—or any of the others—weren’t anywhere near ready to do the same for Him.

Talk is cheap unless you can back it up with your life. When somebody asks you what that WWJD bracelet on your wrist means, do you have an answer? Do you have the gumption to live like a Christian when the crowd at school makes it tough for you? Or do you live your life in such a way that they already know the answer before they ever ask the question?

Talk is cheap. Don’t let it be the only thing that identifies you with Jesus.

·          Real Choices - At home. At church. At school. In the world. Identify ways you can stand up for Christ with more than words in each of those places.

·          Pray - God, please give me courage to live and to talk like Jesus wants.

 

Day 3 - Living in Denial:  John 18:15-27

One night when I was 16, I stayed out way past the time I had told my parents I’d be home. I came in the house as quietly as I could, locked the door, turned off the lights, and started upstairs. But I didn’t make it very far.

I had gotten about halfway up the stairs when my dad—who was sitting in a chair at the top waiting for me—turned on the light and nearly scared me to death.

Busted! Big time!

Can you imagine how Peter’s heart sank when he heard the rooster crow and remembered all the stuff Jesus had said to him—not to mention all the stuff he had promised Jesus. When that bird let loose, Peter knew he had failed Jesus, just as his Master had predicted? It was more than just a “you caught me.” It was an “I’ve let you down.”

To make matters worse, a little later, Jesus was taken off to be crucified, and Peter had to live with what he had done.

Fortunately, we don’t have to suffer like that for the rest of our lives. God offers a way to escape our denials. When we fail to stand up for Jesus—and we all melt under pressure sometimes, just like Peter—we can confess it to God, and He will forgive us.

·          Real Choices - Recall a time when you failed the Lord? How did you find forgiveness and restoration? Take any current failures to Him now and let Him restore you by His love.

·          Pray - Lord, forgive me for the times I fail You and help me to stand firmer next time.

 

Day 4 - Going Nowhere Fast:  Proverbs 16:16-22

When Keyshawn Johnson, the top wide receiver for the New York Jets, was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the 2000 season, a reporter asked him how the Jets would do now that their top pass-catcher was Wayne Chrebet. Johnson said that comparing him to Chrebet was like putting a star next to a flashlight—there was no comparison! Well, when the Jets played Tampa Bay, they beat the Bucs; and none other than Wayne Chrebet caught the game-winning pass.

Guess they needed a flashlight more than a star, huh?

That’s the problem with the whole trash-talking, finger-wagging, fist-pumping sort of attitude—it makes one guy’s prideful, puffed-up opinion of himself the focus of things instead of the game. I know you see it a lot on TV, and I know you hear it a lot on every court and field and playground. Maybe I’m just a dinosaur, but I think it’s a shame. When somebody spouts off like that, everybody wants to see them fall. When somebody puffs himself or herself up, everybody wants to stick a pin in them.

Today’s passage reminds us that pride and arrogance have no place in the Christian life—even if it’s subtle. For example, you might be tempted to think you’re the star among the flashlights in your youth group and never say it aloud; but it will come out in the way you treat others. That kind of attitude only sets you up for a fall.

The only remedy is to watch for it all the time. Puncture the pride balloon before it gets in the way of following Christ.

·          Real Choices - Remember the list of goals from Friday? Today, think about what might keep you from doing them. Will pride be one of your obstacles?

·          Pray - Lord, help me avoid the kind of pride that gets between me and You.

 

Day 5 - Good for Nothin’:  Titus 1:10-16

Does your refrigerator have one of those vegetable drawers in the bottom of it? If it does, and unless yours is a very unusual household, I’ll bet there have been times when something was left in there just a bit too long.

Some things, like lettuce, get brown and mushy and slimy when they get too old; and that’s disgusting enough. But other things, like oranges, grow the sort of mold that can spread to other things. Imagine opening up that bottom drawer, seeing mold on an orange, saying “eeww, gross!” and just shutting it all back up. In a couple of weeks, when you went back, that corruption would have spread to everything else—the entire contents of the drawer would have been ruined.

Today’s key passage states that some people are so corrupted by evil that, to them, nothing seems out of bounds. They are “unfit for doing anything good,” and everywhere they go, they spread their bad habits and bad attitudes. What are you going to do? Well, first, you’ll have to silence them; but, since you can’t really stop somebody else from talking, you’ll have to avoid listening to them. Second, you have to try to show them what the Bible says is right whenever you can. If somebody spreads lies about God or about the Christian faith, you can tell them what has happened to you and how God has worked in your life.

What you can’t do is pretend that staying around corrupted people won’t have an impact on you. Don’t close yourself up in the vegetable drawer with rotten fruit—you won’t like what you find.

·          Real Choices - Remember that list of goals and obstacles from yesterday? Take the list and think about people who might keep you from doing what God wants you to do this week.

·          Pray - Ask God to help you stay pure. Ask Him to help you respond to those who deny Him.

 

Day 6 - Watch Your Step:  Galatians 6:1-5

Picture yourself hiking with some friends in a wilderness area. You come down out of the woods to a river several hundred feet wide, and the path you’re on continues on the other side. There are some rocks in the river, but they aren’t spaced close enough to step across—you’re gonna have to get your feet wet. But that’s OK—it’s a warm day and wading across will be nice.

If you’ve ever done this solo, you know it can be a tricky business. If the water is fast, if there are deep holes between the rocks, or if the bottom of the river is slick with grass or moss, you can lose your balance pretty easily. If you get cocky and try to go too fast, you can fall really hard and hurt yourself. You can try to hold each other up, but that’s hard, too. Sometimes when one person falls, everybody goes down.

The best way is for everybody to go slowly, to find their own balance, but to stay close in case somebody needs help.

Paul said you have to be careful where you step in life. Everybody slips and falls sometimes; and if you follow somebody else too closely, you may fall just where they fell. There has to be a balance between looking out for each other (“carry each other’s burdens”) and making sure of where you put your own feet (“each one should carry his own load”).

When somebody falls into sin, try to help them up; but don’t let them pull you in after them. Somebody has to keep dry!

·          Real Choices - Take the list of goals from previous days and think of three ways you’ve seen others fail to reach their goals. Ask God to help you avoid those.

·          Pray - Lord, help me know how to help my brothers and sisters when they fall, and help me to avoid their mistakes.

 

Day 7 - Deny Yourself:  Luke 9:23-27

Robert, did you eat the last donut?. . . . No way, Mom; it wasn’t me!”

That’s denying something. You simply say it didn’t happen.

Robert, please eat this last donut before it goes bad. . . . No way, Mom, I’d rather have Sugar Frosted Chocolate Bombs!”

That’s denying a request. You reject one option in favor of another option.

Robert, do you want the last donut? . . . No, Mom, you eat it. . . . Are you sure? I know you love this kind with the filling and the sprinkles on top. . . . No, you eat it.

That comes closer to denying yourself. You’re denying yourself of something you really like. But it’s still not quite what Jesus had in mind in today’s passage.

A student at my college was learning to be a pilot. He was majoring in aviation and looking forward to getting a job with one of the airlines. But his dad had been waiting for a liver transplant for several years and his condition was getting worse. The doctors knew if they waited much longer, the man would be too weak to have an operation. So my student, delaying graduation and putting his dreams on the line, gave half his liver to his dad.

Denying yourself means setting yourself aside—your dreams, your time, your accomplishments—for the sake of someone else. That’s what it takes to follow Jesus. We lay our lives down for Him, and He gives us His life. As Luke said, it’s something we do every day, one day at a time.

·          Real Choices - Once again, examine the list of goals you’ve been working with this week. What will you have to set aside in order to reach them?

·          Pray - Lord, help me to set myself aside for the chance to follow You.