Welcome to the online version of this week’s youth group lesson. Due to a variety of circumstances, this is the first online lesson in quite a while. Catch up on previous lessons by clicking here.
We’ll kick off this week’s lesson with the following song (and video … please watch it for the extra message it adds to the song) from Micah Tyler:
Growing up on a small farm, I (John Z) would listen to the radio while milking our small herd of Jersey cows each night after school. Along with the music, which I liked to think calmed the cows and helped them let down their milk, I enjoyed a nightly program by radio personality Paul Harvey called “The Rest of the Story.”
In the show, Paul Harvey would use his incredible story-telling skills to share a fairly unknown background story about a celebrity, not revealing who that celebrity was until the end of the episode, just before signing off with the phrase, “And that’s the rest of the story.”
It was fun to listen to the program and guess which celebrity he was talking about and to learn more about these individuals. The show’s title and concluding phrase continues to resonate in my mind as I prepare this week’s lesson … I have felt God’s push toward covering an important truth that we don’t always get to discuss.
Many of the young people within our youth group have, at one point or another, accepted Christ into their lives. It may have been via our church’s children’s ministry or at kids or youth camp. It may have been a more private experience while praying at home. Regardless of how it happened, the promise that comes with accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior is incredible. Consider the description shared by apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV):
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The overall concept seems, on the surface, like some Disney princess transformation moment … and unfortunately that can be pretty misleading. People can be tricked into thinking that simply accepting Christ leads to this transformation to them … but it requires a transformation within them.
In other words, there is more to the story when it comes to becoming a Christian. Not only do we need to accept Christ, to have that breakthrough moment of connection in route to a relationship with Him. Like any relationship, we need to work at it by working on ourselves.
A few weeks ago, we discussed the miraculous healing moment in Jesus’ on-earth ministry where a sick, paralyzed man at the side of the pool of Bethesda is healed by Jesus. The story can be found in John 5:1-15. It is a cool story where Jesus at one point asks the man laying on the mat, if he “wants to be made well.” This suggests a certain aspect of personal decision and action. Later in the story, after the man is healed, Jesus and the man have one more encounter, as outlined in John 5:14 (NKJV):
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
Take a moment to re-read the three words marked in bold in that verse … Sin no more. Hold onto that phrase as we look at one more story from the book of John, as Jesus is teaching via John 8:2-11 (NKJV):
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He [g]raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Two cases where people are mired in a sinful situation, Jesus brings them out of it and then tells them to “sin no more.” Disclaimer on this command … God/Jesus knows we are sinful people, addicted to sinning and knowing that we are incapable (without Jesus) to live a perfect sin-free life. Telling these people to “sin no more” isn’t telling them they have to be perfect, but that they have to make a mindful decision to avoid sin and the numerous variations of temptation into sin.
So … back to us, to the scenario that started this conversation. As Christians, especially young ones who are new in faith, there is more to the story on how we become and continue on the path to living a Christian lifestyle. Simply accepting Christ isn’t going to create an immediate transformation into a new creation without some effort on our part. It does provide us with tools … specifically the Holy Spirit, to guide us at moments when we are on the verge of a decision that could go multiple ways.
Ultimately, though, we personally have to mindfully, every day, make decisions to avoid falling into sin, to clean our lives up and fight the temptations to drag us back into the messy situations of the past.
There is perhaps no better litmus test (for better or worse) on where we stand in the spectrum of our faith than on social media. Too many times, with a few past members of our youth group, there is a hypocritical divide in postings. The same person who shares an urgent prayer request one day will put up a meme with an inappropriate message/joke/image the next. People who come Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights will totally change character on weekdays or via social media threads where they idolize ungodly people or themes, share inappropriate material or act as though it is OK to live a double life.
So, accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior is critical, but it is only the first step. You then need to embrace the new lifestyle by mindfully purging out the sinful parts of your past.
And that’s the rest of the story.
- As a believer in Christ, what parts of your life do you still struggle with sin or the temptation to do or promote sinful things?
- How can you make the necessary commitments to move closer to the command given by Jesus to “sin no more?”
- Take some time going over your social media feeds. Pray about the posts you’ve posted and delete any that include material that may be sinful, that may cause another Christian to stumble or doesn’t glorify God.
Some verses to consider as you answer these questions/do your homework:
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. — Mark 9:42 (NKJV)
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. — 1 Corinthians 8:13 (NKJV)
In that last verse, replace the food/meat/eat with any action in your life that may cause another to stumble away from his/her faith.
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. — Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. — 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
