Gainz Part 3

Gainz Part 3

Worship

Matthew 4:8-11

Story 1

Tonight we're in our 3rd and last session of our series, GAINZ. This series is all about developing spiritual muscle. We understand how to build physical muscle, but it's easy to get confused about how to develop our spiritual lives.

Before we dig in tonight, I thought it’d be fun to have a little strong man competition of our own!

Have students compete in a chair holding competition. Have each student grab a chair and hold it out straight in front of them, locking their arms. The person who lasts the longest wins

This series is intended to help clarify in your minds a few ways that you can build spiritual muscle.

We read in the first session that:

Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:8 NLT).

It's great to be in physical shape, and there are there are a lot of good things that come with that. However, it's even better to train for godliness because that not only has benefits now but also for eternity.

The goal of this series is to help you make spiritual gains.

Application 1

The problem that you’ve probably noticed throughout this series is this: getting strong takes a lot of time and effort. And it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about physical strength or spiritual strength; there are no shortcuts.

I don't know about you, but I love shortcuts! Our world is obsessed with them. Whether it's get-rich-quick schemes, fast food, doing as little as possible to finish an assignment, or prefilled communion cups, we all want to get somewhere, someone, or something, in the fastest way with the least amount of work.

The problem is that when it comes to developing spiritual muscle, there are no shortcuts. The reality is that spiritual health takes time.

Let me put it this way: have you ever noticed that after a retreat weekend or camp experience you feel really close to God, but after time, those feelings start to fade and the closeness with God seems to slip away?

That happens because those experiences aren't designed for and can't sustain long-term spiritual health.

What if for only once or twice a year I went hard at working out for a full weekend? Imagine I spent the entire weekend at the gym lifting, running, and sweating, but then for the rest of the year, I neglected to go to the gym, and I ate Big Macs every day. How fit would I be? The answer: not very.

What creates physical health is dozens of little decisions every day that promote fitness:

Choosing salad over a Big Mac

Choosing to go for a run instead of watching “just one more” episode of your latest favorite show

Likewise, when it comes to your spiritual health, bingeing on God for a weekend at a retreat or camp can't produce or sustain long-term spiritual health. Instead, spiritual health comes from dozens of little decisions every day that draw you closer to God. Small decisions to:

Open your Bible and instead of watching hours of YouTube

Forgive an offense instead of holding onto a grudge

Sit by the kid who has no friends even if it means your other friends laugh at you

To save a little bit of money to give to someone in need instead of buying something for yourself

There are no shortcuts. Spiritual health, just like physical health, is made up of dozens of small decisions every day that draw us closer to God.

Scripture

In fact, the devil tempts Jesus with a shortcut in the last of his three temptations that we’ve been reading in Matthew 4. Let’s take a look at what it says:

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:8-11 NIV).

Application 2

What's happening here is that the Devil was tempting Jesus to take the easy way, to cut a few corners, to ultimately take a shortcut. When you read the New Testament, you realize that Jesus' goal was to defeat Satan, to restore and fix the relationship between God and people, and to establish His Kingdom on Earth. In this temptation, the devil challenged Jesus to short-circuit that process. He's said, “Hey, Jesus. If you will worship me, if you will just do this one thing, I’ll give you what you came for; I’ll give you all these earthly kingdoms.”

Satan is trying to get Jesus to pursue the right thing in the wrong way. The right thing for Jesus is to pursue is His purpose in establishing His Kingdom on Earth; that's a good thing. But Jesus isn't willing to do it at any cost. Jesus is not going to abandon His devotion to His Father in order to get what He wants now. Jesus isn't going to compromise what's most important Him (relationship with His father) for what's most immediate (hitting the goal early).

The temptation to trade what is most important for what is immediate is something that you and I face every day. It’s the shortcut temptation:

You want that girl or guy's attention, so you pretend to be someone you are not

You want to get into that school, so you cheat on that test

You want that job, so you lie on your resume

You want to fulfill a sexual desire, so you pull out your phone and look at things that aren't good for your soul

You want to be liked, so you tear others down to build yourself up

The shortcut temptation is real, and you can't hide from it. You rub against the trap of compromise almost every day of your life. It is one of the most fierce and crushing of all temptations because it's the easiest to fall into and make excuses for. You could say:

"Well, I might not have gotten that person's attention in the right way, but we're together now, and that's a good thing."

"I probably shouldn't have cheated on that test, but look where it got me, so it kinda all worked out."

"I shouldn't have lied on my resume, but now I have money to pay for my missions trip."

“I shouldn’t look at those images and videos on my phone, but God is a forgiving God, and I wouldn’t experience that forgiveness if I didn’t look at those things ... so it kinda worked out.”

If you have to abbodon God to get something it’s not worth having.

If you have to put your faith to the side, even if just for a moment, to gain something, it’s not worth it. If you have to press pause on your devotion to God in order to move ahead, don’t do it!

Supporting Scripture

A little later in the book of Matthew Jesus says this:

What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? (Matthew 16:26 NLT)

Application 3

So Jesus replies to the devil’s invitation to a shortcut by, yet again, quoting Scripture. Jesus says: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ (Matthew 4:10 NIV).

When Jesus says this, we get a peek into what spiritual muscle Jesus uses to fight and win against temptation: worship.

When I say “worship,” some of you conjure up an image of singing songs to God and lifting our hands. Or maybe you think of worship as putting money in the offering plate as it passes by. Or maybe you think of worship as serving somewhere within the church. And while all those are expressions of worship, they aren't definitions of worship. Or maybe you're new to faith or just dropped into youth group tonight and the word "worship" isn't even in your vocabulary, and you have no real clue what it means. So here's what worship is: when we completely love, submit, and serve something or someone.

And Jesus makes this crystal clear to Satan when He says, "Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." Jesus is saying, “Satan you are not worth my love, and I won’t for a second submit to you because you are inferior to my Father; I will serve Him only.”

For Jesus, He wanted His relationship with God more than He to reach His goal. He was willing to pass on the kingdoms of the Earth if it meant breaking His devotion to the Father.

So what does this have to do with you? What are you supposed to do with this information?

I want to ask you a question: what or who do you worship? You might not use that word or even like that word, but everyone worships something. In other words, everyone has something or someone that is the ultimate thing in his or her life, the thing that they center their life around, the thing that they completely love and serve above all else.

For some it’s possessions: you can’t wait to get your hands on that next thing. It could be a phone, it could be clothes, it could be a car, but you just think that if I could just get that thing, then you’ll be satisfied.

For others it’s fun: you are just looking for the next thrill, the next good time.

For others, it's sex: you crave it, look for it. It’s the thing you believe brings the most pleasure in life.

Maybe it’s none of those for you. Maybe it’s your reputation, your grades, beauty, popularity, or even a person.

Maybe it’s something else; I don’t know what, but it’s something that you’re willing to abandon God to get, even if it’s just for a moment. And here’s the thing: whatever that person or thing is, it is what you truly worship because you are willing to put God aside for a moment and put something else above Him.

And the reality is that it's almost impossible not to let that temptation crush you because in the end it's what you want most anyway. Maybe you're in a place where you can honestly say, "I love God, but I don't worship Him.” You love God, but He's not your ultimate love. There are things that you love more than Him.

How do you get to a place, like Jesus, where you can stand up under this “shortcut temptation” because your ultimate love is the relationship you have with God? Could you imagine a life where, like Jesus, there could be absolutely nothing worth abandoning God over?

Some of you aren’t there yet. But some of you are. Some of you desperately want to choose God over all else. You want to prioritize your worship life and replace whatever is currently reigning as the ultimate thing with your relationship with God.

If that's you, I want to help you get there. There's a story I want to share quickly. It's not in the Bible, but it contains a truth that applies to what we're talking about.

STORY 2

An old Cherokee was teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

What you feed grows, and what you starve dies. This works with plants, animals, skills, talents, and even people. But this also works with your spiritual life. What you feed grows, and what you starve dies.

Supporting Scripture

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12-13)

Those verses might not entirely make sense, so let me clarify. Paul (the author) is saying that you don’t have to give into temptation. You might think you do, you but you don’t! You don’t have to give in to “the flesh” (which is the Bible’s way of talking about sin and temptation). You don’t have to give into temptation. But the only way to starve it out is if you feed your Spirit.

Application 4

So how do you feed your Spirit so that your love for God grows to a point where He is what you ultimately worship? To a point where you choose God over sin and where you choose God over shortcuts? To a point where you, even for a second, don't want to break your connection with Him because it's the thing that you truly center your life around? How do you grow your spiritual muscle of worship?

The reality is that there are a lot of ways! But here are just two that I think will help:

Spend time with God. This might seem obvious, but you only grow in love with the things or people that you spend time with. You might love your dog or cat or uncle or third cousin, and I bet they are great, but I don't love them like you do because I haven't spent the time with them that you have. If I did, I bet I would love them like you, too! In this story we see that Jesus spent forty straight days alone with God, and out of that, He furthered His connection with God, giving Him some serious spiritual gains. I'm not suggesting that you run out to the desert and fast for 40 days to focus on God, but maybe spend 15 minutes today when you get home. Tomorrow, spend 20 minutes. The next day spend 22 minutes. I don't know! But learn to devote time in your life to time spent between just you and God. Read the Bible, pray, and talk to Him; sit and listen to music that honors God while painting a picture to Him; write a song to Him. You feed your spirit when you spend time with God.

Spend time with the right people. The Bible says, "Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble” (Proverbs 13:20 NLT). In other words, you become like the people you spend the most time with. I'm sure you've noticed that before, haven't you? A certain group of friends begin to talk like one another, like the same things, wear the same clothes, and even go to the bathroom at the same time together! If you spend time with people who, like you, want to worship God fully and center their lives on Him, it's going to make doing that yourself a lot easier. You feed your spirit with the right people.

Conclusion

We are at the end of our GAINZ series. We've been talking about ways to build spiritual muscle so that we can fight and win against temptation. You don't always know when, where, or how you'll be tempted, but you can be ready for it. We talked about three spiritual muscles that we need to develop to stand up under attack from the Enemy:

Committing God’s Word to your heart and memory

Surrender

Worship

To make spiritual gains, these are three big muscles that you and I need to continue developing. But, as we talked about, there are no shortcuts, no quick fixes, and no hacks. Developing spiritual muscle requires you to make dozens of little decisions every day that draw you closer to God.

PRAY