High School Study Week 3

4/6/2020

Watch this week's video then answer some or all the questions below:

Psalm 23:3
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

In John 10 we see how Jesus leads us to righteousness. He provides us with a perfect right standing before God, and gives us the fuel to pursue righteous behavior.

John 10:11-18
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

God isn’t after our white-knuckled discipline. He wants to set us free. Our righteousness comes about not by our own efforts, but by the obedience of Jesus Christ. And by faith, his righteousness is counted as our own. That’s what sets us free and fuels our obedience—the free gift of God’s grace.

In what ways have you found yourself resorting to white-knuckled discipline when it comes to living for God?

How should the truth that Christ purchased your righteousness on the cross change the way you think about obedience? Many think that grace encourages the idea “I can live however I want, God will forgive me”. How does a true understanding of God’s grace fuel obedience?

How does difficult times like the one we are in, take our mind off Christ and lead to temptation? How should the gospel affect the way we live in this quarantine?

13 Comments

Bekah Felten

4/6/2020 11:05:17 am

I think it's really easy for me to have a "checklist" mentality when it comes to living for Christ. Even if prayer, reading the word, and loving others are things I can genuinely enjoy, they can still feel like tasks I have to do in order to please God.

I'm continuing to grow in understanding and awe in the fact that Christ willingly laid down His life for me simply because He wanted to and because He loves me. He doesn't require anything of me, but rather I GET to follow Him because of what He's done for me. I often find it really difficult to find the balance between diligence and rest without becoming legalistic or lazy. I think it's important to remember God's grace as the basis for our salvation and because of His love, we can have a genuine joy, gratitude, and desire to obey Him. It becomes a privilege to follow someone who has so much love that He died for my sins.

It's very tempting for me to take control of my life and situations. As we're all isolated and and unsure of how things will turn out, we can take comfort in the fact that God is in complete control. It's also tempting for me to just sit back and isolate myself further (which is my comfort zone) when I can use this opportunity to reach out to others (which is very outside of my comfort zone and I'm very bad at). I think in the midst of all this suffering, the Lord is using all of this for our good.

Eric Rossman

4/8/2020 02:15:15 pm

"As we're all isolated and and unsure of how things will turn out, we can take comfort in the fact that God is in complete control. It's also tempting for me to just sit back and isolate myself further (which is my comfort zone) when I can use this opportunity to reach out to others (which is very outside of my comfort zone and I'm very bad at). I think in the midst of all this suffering, the Lord is using all of this for our good."

I think that recognizing that God is in control and works out things for our good, is key to living for him, loving others, and living rightly in the midst of difficulty.

In youth group we have talked about how sin comes out of a dissatisfied heart. When we aren't satisfied by God we seek it elsewhere. When we aren't seeing the goodness of God, everything that is wrong and difficult in the world feels overwhelming. We complain, and worry, and become bored. This leads to many sins were we try and feel in control, try and find pleasure, and try an numb out the worries and downness.

My guess is that many people's struggles are amplified during this time as they seek to cope with the lack of feeling of control, the fear of the pandemic, or the boredom. These things increase the lack of satisfaction we have when we aren't looking to God. Alcohol, online struggles, escapism in video games or movies, all these things are probably larger in people right now because those things thrive in hearts not satisfied by God.

I was encouraged by you pointing out the goodness of God in this situation. This leads us to an overflow of love that flows out of thankfulness. Dissatisfaction leads to selfish actions to try and fill that void, satisfaction in Christ leads to us wanting to use our time well to love him and love others.

Jacob Felten

4/7/2020 10:28:07 am

Usually I’m led by just doing what I feel like doing. When what I feel like doing isn’t following God then I think I have to “white-knuckle” it to be an obedient Christian.

But the fact is that Christ died for my sins completely out of a love for me that I don’t deserve. The imagery that comes to mind when I imagine white-knuckles is someone bracing for a fight or hanging on to a cliff. Our obedience to God shouldn’t be a fight to survive because we’ve already been saved by him. We should be obedient because we love Jesus and want to be more like Him.

Right now in quarantine it’s easy for me to forget there’s a world going on outside. I’m tempted to feel self sufficient because I’ve been comfortable enough in my home and have still been able to keep up with school and friends. I need to remember the truth that Jesus didn’t die because I was uncomfortable, He died because I’m a sinner. When I realize what Jesus did for me on the cross, then the love and obedience will follow.

4/8/2020 02:35:38 pm

"Usually I’m led by just doing what I feel like doing. When what I feel like doing isn’t following God then I think I have to “white-knuckle” it to be an obedient Christian."

I think a lot of us fall into this often. Christianity becomes avoiding things by our own power to appear a certain way. Rather than the truth of Christ transforming us from the inside out.

Sarah Felten

4/7/2020 12:00:50 pm

I have found that when I haven’t been actively pursuing the Lord and making Him the center of my life, I begin to feel very guilty and fall into a white-knuckled discipline mindset. I tell myself that I need to read my Bible everyday, pray to God constantly, love others perfectly, etc. in order to become a “good christian” again.

The Lord has reminded me time and time again that I can come to Him no matter how messy my act is. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice my dirty rags look pure white to God. I don’t need to be perfect for God because Jesus was perfect for me. Obedience is how I can thank Him for His love and generosity. Instead of viewing obedience as a chore or my ticket to heaven, I can find delight in it knowing that it ultimately glorifies the Lord.

Last week I was very down and didn’t see the point in doing anything, so I just slept and watched tv and began to close myself off from God. This week the Holy Spirit has been breaking down that mindset for me and shown me the hope in this situation. The Gospel shows how broken and helpless we are, but also how mighty and powerful God is. It reminds us that He is in control and He uses every situation, good or bad, for His perfect plan.

4/8/2020 02:52:43 pm

I think a lot of us get that thought or feeling that we need to get back to being a "good christian". It reveals what we think the goal of Christianity is, being "good christians" rather than enjoying being sons or daughters of God.

Isabel Renich

4/7/2020 04:01:24 pm

I really relate to what Bekah was saying about viewing our time with God as a checklist. I can tend to go through my prayer and Bible reading as a "quick and easy" part of my nighttime routine. (If I do them at all.)
I want God to change my heart, and give me motivation, but I also know that I need to make the time and effort. It's an interesting balance to strike.

God's grace has been of great comfort to me lately, and when I turn to him, I know that I never have to be afraid, and that he will empower the changes that need to happen in my heart.

Lily Sadler

4/8/2020 08:31:47 am

Sometimes when I am guilty I something I don't allow God's grace come over me. Then I feel like I have to do something in order to please God and myself.

I really enjoy verses John 10: 11-18, because Jesus is speaking how is a good shepherd willing to lay down his life for all the sheep. We are the sheep in this situation, and Jesus is willing to protect us no matter what the cost is. That is very comforting and caring what someone had down for me, personally. I think obedience is an act we show Jesus and God how much we love them and how much we appreciate them.

I think during the first part of this pandemic I fell into many temptations. I only looked at the negatives for awhile because everything was being canceled. So i thought might as well cancel year of 2020 and start all over again. I didn't have a good optimistic mind towards the beginning. Gospel shows me the life of Jesus where he went through many temptations and died a horrible death. Through the Gospel I can see that Jesus's life was hard at times (fasting 40 days & nights, betrayal, and dying on the cross), but Jesus still always prayed and spoke to God. With God he was able to accomplish defeating death. I know that when I am with God, I can get through this interesting time.

4/8/2020 03:06:00 pm

There is a phrase John Piper uses about difficult times that always stuck with me: "Don't waste your suffering". Suffering is never fun. It is really difficult for a senior year to end like this. But suffering is a good teacher. It helps us see areas where we are trusting things other than God. It helps us to learn not to put our trust in those things that can let us down, and put our hope in God who never can.

I love something Matt Chandler said years ago when he found out he had cancer and they thought he may not make it. When he asked his doctor about how much time he gave him, he said he could recover, he might only have a few years, or he could get hit by a car and die today. The suffering of cancer helped Matt see where to not put his hope.

Suffering right now for a lot of people is showing them how weak the things are that we look for life and satisfaction. We hope in things expecting they will happen or just be there. If it wasn't the caronavirus, a million other things could take these things from us.

I like how you share how God is helping you to see where some of those hopes led you at first to downness and negativity in this time. I believe recognizing that and see how we can hope in God is how we don't waste our suffering. I think that is a struggle for tons of believers right now.

We waste our suffering when we just stay in that frustration of what we lost and don't learn from it or pursue God because of it.

I have been really thankful for a lot of the things God seems to be doing in the midst of this. But often they can be hard to see. It seems like God is really showing people how much we need him.

Johannah Snider

4/9/2020 04:44:32 pm

I relate a lot to what Bekah said as well! I want to be a "good christian", and praying and being in the word becomes something I need to do and check off.

I still am working on remembering that it's not about meeting a certain standard, but instead, focusing on the grace and love of Jesus! Following Him should not be a chore, but a privilege.

Since I'm pretty much stuck inside all the time, I find myself getting vv bored. Instead of turning to Him, and being in the word, I often go to entertainment to drown out all of the news.
Instead of doing this, I should prolly use this time to be closer to Him, and reach out to people that I didn't have time to reach out to before!

4/13/2020 02:00:52 pm

Thanks for sharing Jo. I think that often our struggle between chore and privilege has a wrong view of God attached to it. Often I feel like God is watching me and looking for me to prove to him how good of a Christian I am. This makes it feel like a chore.

It makes me think of when I first had kids. My thought when they were born was not "they better prove their love for me" but rather "I want them to know how much I love them" I think often when Christianity is feeling like a chore we are viewing God in light of that first response. When really he desires us to know Him and walk in his love out of a desire for our good and our joy.

Peter Snider

4/12/2020 09:55:04 pm

LE AMO A JESUCRISTO

Eric

4/13/2020 02:03:01 pm

Thanks Peter... Or whoever wrote this under Peter's name. Well said.

High School Study Week 3

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