S E S S I O N 5SALVATION

Q U I C K S T A R T

Note: For more detailed information, please see the How to Use This Leader’s Guide document.

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W A T C HMake sure everyone can see the screen and the audio is at a comfortable level.

R E A DTake some time in advance to read and consider the Bible study questions and come up with personal examples to encourage discussion.

P R I N TBefore class, make enough copies of this session’s handout for your entire group. (The handouts came with your download.)

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O P E N

Leader: You’ll need a large space to move around in, if possible. You’ll also need a bunch of blank index cards (or scrap paper), one for each student. On ONE of the cards, write “Zombie.” On ANOTHER card, write, “Death-Smasher.” Leave all other cards blank.

Who loves zombies? We’re going to play a little game based on zombie lore. Each of you will get a card. Most of them are blank, but two of them have secret messages about your role in the game. Keep these secret for now.

Leader: Hand each student one card.

You can figure out how it works: We start with one Zombie, who meets other people and makes them zombies. In this game, everyone will walk through this room—walk, but don’t run, although you may walk quickly. When you pass someone, stop and shake their hand. If someone offers a handshake, you must accept.

One of you has a card that identifies you as Zombie. We won’t be eating brains or anything—a handshake is enough. When you shake someone’s hand, say, “I am a zombie, and now you are too.” Both of you are now zombies. And in future handshakes, both need to say, “I am a zombie and now you are too.” In this way, zombie-ness will spread through the group.

But one of you has a card that says, “Death-Smasher.” This is important: You should keep quiet in handshakes, unless the other person says, “I am a zombie.” In that case, you can respond, “I am the Death-Smasher, and you are alive again.”

Once you’ve met the Smasher, you can’t become a zombie again. When you meet a zombie, just say, “Sorry, Bud, I’ve been Smashed.”

To review: If you meet a zombie, you become a zombie—until you meet the Smasher. Then you’re free from zombies.

Leader: Get them started. You might want to play some music, to mask some of the talking (so people don’t know who the zombies and Smasher are). At a certain point, the zombies should be all smashed, or nearly so. Then stop and talk about it.

How was that? Fun, or just stupid?

Was it more fun to be a zombie or not to be?

How did it feel when you met the smasher?

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Okay, somebody explain the theological meaning of this game. It’s not really about zombies, is it?

The power of sin and death has spread through the human race. Jesus is the Death-Smasher. He sets us free.

I know it’s hard to top the excitement of a zombie game, but let’s watch a video to learn more.

V I E W

Watch Session 5: Salvation (25 Minutes)

R E - V I E W

Leader: Distribute the Voices handout (example handout on page 50).

We heard a lot of great things in the video. Let’s go back through some of that. We’ll start with the first one, Andrew. He described himself as coming from a good family, going to church and everything.

I tried really hard searching for my self-worth in other people and that left me feeling empty all year and hopeless and semi-depressed. In the midst of all that I started trying to read the Bible. I felt kind of more drawn towards God than I had been before. God really started, I think, tugging in my life and moving things around and pulling me closer to him through out my whole junior year. I really just understood how I needed Jesus just as much as every other person.

-Andrew

Then what happened? What brought him to Jesus?

There wasn’t really any major crisis. As he says in the quote on this sheet, he felt “drawn towards God.”

He talks about searching for self-worth in other people? What does he mean by that?

Have you ever done that?

Why would that make you feel “empty and hopeless”?

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We want people to like us. If they do, we feel good about ourselves. But sometimes we want more affirmation than people give us, and then we can start to feel unimportant. Any little snub or criticism can make us feel worthless. When we focus on God, on what he thinks of us, we can feel restored.

Look at the last sentence of Andrew’s quote. This is a good, church-going kid. Why would he need Jesus “just as much as every other person”? The other two examples in the video—Macaulie and Eric—sure, they needed conversion. But why Andrew?

Church doesn’t save you. Family doesn’t save you. Being a good kid doesn’t save you. Jesus saves you. Andrew needed to realize this, and maybe you do too. Lots of church people assume they know Jesus through osmosis. Go to enough worship services and it’s bound to sink in, right? Not necessarily. You still need to say yes to Jesus, to ask him to be your Savior. You may already know all the Bible verses. You still need to open your heart to him.

I believe the two scariest lies on the earth right now that are so prevalent are (1) you are a good person, and (2) because God is a loving God he will not punish. I believe those are lies that are told every day all around our country.

-Francis Chan

What do you think of the second quote, where Francis talks about the “two scariest lies”? Do you think he’s right?

Do people really think these things?

Are they wrong to think these things?

What makes these lies especially scary?

Francis would say that these lies are scary because they keep people from realizing their need for salvation. If everyone is basically good, and God won’t punish sin anyway, then Jesus didn’t need to die for our sins. But the Bible clearly teaches that all have sinned, that the penalty for sin is eternal death, and that Jesus suffered in our place. God shows his love not by shrugging off our sin, but by suffering for it.

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I like pulled out my Bible and I started trying to read it. I got to this verse and it’s James 4:7-10. It was literally like God was saying to me, “Live out this verse and I will redeem you and I will renew you, I will completely turn your life around and I will get you back on your feet.” Once I began this new life, I just laid every burden down on God. Everything I had been struggling with. The reputation and the struggles I had at school and the depression, cutting, and burning myself with cigarettes and the temptation to drink. When I just gave all these to him it was like it was no longer a part of me.

-Macaulie

Before we move on, let’s read the passage that Macaulie was talking about. Turn to James 4:7. Would someone read verses 7–10?

In these verses, what are we called to do, and what is God promising to do?

We should submit to God, resist the devil, come near to God, “clean up our act,” get serious, and humble ourselves. God will draw near to us and lift us up. We might also say that he gives us the power to do all of the above.

What’s all that “grieve, mourn, and wail” stuff? Does God want us to have bad attitudes?

He wants us to be serious about our faith, not to take our sin lightly. Lots of other passages talk about the joy of following Jesus, but here we’re called to repent, to humble ourselves.

Why do you think this Bible passage would register with Macaulie?

Who knows how God chooses to touch people’s lives? Maybe these verses met Macaulie where she was, already grieving, mourning, and wailing, in a way. Submit is a key word there. She says she “laid every burden down on God.” And maybe she drew hope from the promise that God would lift her up.

Leader: We’re not sure how you, your church, or your students’ parents feel about tattoos, so you can skip the next question if that seems best—but Macaulie’s tattoo story is still pretty awesome.

Do you remember from the video the tattoo Macaulie got and where she got it? What was that about? What do you think that meant to her?

She covered up the scars on her arms from cutting and burning—the reminder of her self-destructive past—with a tat of a Bible verse, a reminder of how God feels about her. “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you” (Song of Songs 4:7).

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We changed our status before God. We used to be enemies and now he’s brought reconciliation, he brought the two of us together. . . . This needs to take place because all of us have sinned, we all fall short, we all were enemies of God, but thanks be to Jesus: Because of what he did on the cross, we can be one with him now.

-Francis Chan

In the fourth quote, Francis uses the word reconciliation. What does that mean? How are we “reconciled” to God?

It means two enemies are brought together in peace. In this case, our sins have separated us from God, made us enemies, but Jesus brings us back together.

I started trying to get my way back. I started coming back to church. I rededicated my life to Christ. I remember just crying for 30 minutes, just praying to God being like, “I give you my everything, I give you my life, I’ll give you everything in it because nothing is worth anything if you’re not there.”

-Eric

The fifth quote comes from the end of Eric’s story—and it’s an interesting story. He came to Jesus in dramatic fashion, and then he kind of slid away. He went back to his sinful ways and stopped going to church. This quote comes from his second “come to Jesus” moment.

Do you think it will “take” this time? Or will he drift away again?

Does Eric drifting away the first time mean that he wasn’t truly saved? Why or why not?

What’s the difference between initial saving faith (justification) and a faith that leads to daily obedience (sanctification)? Why does it take a while for some people to figure out what following Jesus really means?

Notice the last sentence in Eric’s quote. Does this give you hope that he’s finally surrendered to God?

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When we stop and consider everything that Jesus saved us from, everything he endured for us on the cross, what it should do is create this desire to say, “You know, I don’t want to offend him, I don’t want to sin against him,” so at the end of the day it’s about this love relationship with Jesus and focusing on him and dwelling on him. That’s what’s going to keep us from this sin that so easily can trap us.

-Francis Chan

According to Francis Chan in Quote #6, what’s to keep us from falling back into sin?

Francis emphasizes the love-relationship with Jesus. After all he’s done for us, why would we ever want to hurt him like that?

B I B L E J O U R N E Y

Imagine that one of your friends is up here in front of us, asking, “What’s with this whole Jesus thing? How can I become a Christian?” What would you say? Don’t answer just yet, because I want to take you through some Bible verses. You might already know some of these verses, but others might be new to you. You might want to jot down some references on the back of your handout.

Turn to John 3:16. Ever heard of this verse? Well, it’s a good place to start. Would someone read verses 16 and 17?

How does God feel about the world? (He loves it.)

When we say world, do we mean the planet earth, or the people of the world, or something else? (Probably all of the above. World certainly refers to the people of the world. Some Bible passages would indicate that God also cares for the planet and has plans to redeem that too.)

How do we get eternal life? (By believing in Jesus.)

What does believe mean? Just believing that he existed? (When the Bible uses the word believe, it generally means “trust.” We put our trust in what he said, what he did. We commit ourselves to him.)

As we Christians talk about our faith with others, how helpful is verse 17? Why? (Often we can come across as judgers. But this makes it clear that Jesus was on a rescue mission, not a condemning mission. Sin has already made this world a mess. Jesus has come to save us from it.)

Turn to Romans 5:6. Would someone read verses 6–8?

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This passage explains how we should pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and live good enough lives to deserve the sacrifice of Christ, right? (Wrong! It says just the opposite.)

What does it actually say about our condition when Christ dies for us? (We are powerless. We are still sinners.)

The message is clear: We have no power to save ourselves. We also find this spelled out in Ephesians 2:8–9. You don’t need to turn to it, but it clearly says we are saved by God’s grace, not our own works,

Turn to Romans 10:9. Would someone read that?

According to this verse, what do we have to do to become Christians? (Declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in the resurrection.)

John 3:16 told us to “believe” in Jesus, to trust in him. Now we’re being asked to declare our faith and believe in the resurrection. In other passages, we’re asked to follow Jesus, to love him, to obey him, to repent of our sin.

Look ahead at Romans 10:13. What does that tell us to do? (Call on his name.)

Putting all of this together, how would you answer this friend who’s asking the question. What do I have to do to become a Christian?

There’s no precise formula to follow, because it’s not based on our actions anyway. It’s God’s grace, not our works—not even the “work” of praying the right prayer. It’s a matter of opening up our hearts to him. It’s wanting him in our lives. It’s calling out to him in prayer. It’s believing that he rose from the dead and that he can give you new life to. It’s turning away from your old sins and saying you’re sorry. It is, very basically, saying “yes” to Jesus.

Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:17. This uses yet another term—“in Christ.” When we place our hope, our trust, our lives, in Christ, all sorts of good things happen. Would someone read this verse?

What happens to those who are “in Christ”? (Newness. The past is gone.)

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L A S T W O R D

I hope that this journey through Scripture might help you talk to others about becoming Christians. But I also wonder if some of you might be on the edge of becoming Christians yourselves. If you look at the bottom of your handout, you’ll see a number of phrases that describe different people in their relationship with Christ.

Where do you see yourself in this list?

You don’t need to raise your hand or write anything down, just think about it.

There are a lot of Rebels, who learn about God and reject him. Some of them grow up in Christian homes and they want no part of it. Most of them wouldn’t be caught dead in a meeting like this, but if this describes you, let me suggest some things.

Ask yourself: What am I rebelling against? Your parents? The church? The hypocritical Christians you see on TV? Okay. But remember that Jesus was a rebel too. He hated hypocrisy worse than you do. Maybe you could talk to him about your rebellion. He might agree.

But maybe you’re just Playing the Game. Your folks bring you to church, and you don’t want to upset them too much, so you act like a good Christian—until you don’t. Different time, different crowd, you’re a different person. Let me just say that you can fool your parents, and you can fool me, but you can’t fool God. He knows exactly who you are, and he wants to know you better, if you just stop playing around.

Some of you might be something like Andrew in the video, on the Family Plan, assuming that you’re a Christian through osmosis. But have you ever had a heart-to-heart talk with Jesus, where you say yes to him, where you give him your heart? If not, this would be a great time to do so.

I know some of you are Struggling with Doubts, and maybe you feel guilty about that. You worry that you’re not a very good Christian. You don’t want to be a hypocrite, but there are all these questions. Relax! It’s natural to have doubts. Some of the great heroes of the Bible had doubts at various times. It doesn’t disqualify you. Just keep talking with God about them.

Maybe some of you are Brand New in the faith, and you have an amazing spiritual energy right now. That’s great. Remember, it’s not all about how you feel, but it’s a relationship with God that makes you both happy. Enjoy it.

And some of you have been Christians for a while and you’re Growing Strong. Good for you. There are some temptations that are especially dangerous at this point, so watch out for pride, for complacency, for legalism. Keep connecting with God each day.

If any of you would like to talk about where you are in your relationship with God, please let me know. I’d love to chat with you further.

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V O I C E SHANDOUT

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1. AndrewI tried really hard searching for my self-worth in other people and that left me feeling empty all year and hopeless and semi-depressed. In the midst of all that I started trying to read the Bible. I felt kind of more drawn towards God than I had been before. God really started, I think, tugging in my life and moving things around and pulling me closer to him through out my whole junior year. I really just understood how I needed Jesus just as much as every other person.

2. Francis ChanI believe the two scariest lies on the earth right now that are so prevalent are (1) you are a good person, and (2) because God is a loving God he will not punish. I believe those are lies that are told every day all around our country.

3. MacaulieI like pulled out my Bible and I started trying to read it. I got to this verse and it’s James 4:7-10. It was literally like God was saying to me, “Live out this verse and I will redeem you and I will renew you, I will completely turn your life around and I will get you back on your feet.” Once I began this new life, I just laid every burden down on God. Everything I had been struggling with. The reputation and the struggles I had at school and the depression, cutting, and burning myself with cigarettes and the temptation to drink. When I just gave all these to him it was like it was no longer a part of me.

4. Francis ChanWe changed our status before God. We used to be enemies and now he’s brought reconciliation, he brought the two of us together. . . . This needs to take place because all of us have sinned, we all fall short, we all were enemies of God, but thanks be to Jesus: Because of what he did on the cross, we can be one with him now.

5. EricI started trying to get my way back. I started coming back to church. I rededicated my life to Christ. I remember just crying for 30 minutes, just praying to God being like, “I give you my everything, I give you my life, I’ll give you everything in it because nothing is worth anything if you’re not there.”

6. Francis ChanWhen we stop and consider everything that Jesus saved us from, everything he endured for us on the cross, what it should do is create this desire to say, “You know, I don’t want to offend him, I don’t want to sin against him,” so at the end of the day it’s about this love relationship with Jesus and focusing on him and dwelling on him. That’s what’s going to keep us from this sin that so easily can trap us.

REBEL PLAYING THE GAME FAMILY PLAN STRUGGLING with DOUBTS BRAND NEW GROWING STRONG