Road Trip : Hitch Hikers

Hook

How many of you have played the game “Hot Potato” ?

Well, tonight, we are going to begin by playing a quick game called “Consequence Hot Potato.” This is our “potato.” [Hold up the item that will be used as the “potato.”]

It’s this simple: when the music starts, you must begin to pass around the “potato” from person to person. [Communicate the path that the “potato” should take through the crowd.]

Once the music stops, the “potato” stops. If you were the last one to touch the “potato” when the music stopped, instead of being out of the game, you will be given a consequence. You will need to keep your consequence on throughout the entire lesson time. Let’s repeat that: You will need to keep your consequence on throughout the entire lesson time. Are you ready? Well, ready or not, here we go!

Alright! Thanks for playing! For those with consequences, thanks for being a good sport about it. Be sure to keep those consequences on until the lesson is finished! Let’s talk about what just happened. [Direct the following two questions to everyone who played the game.]

How determined were you to get rid of the “potato”? [Allow for several responses.]

How did it feel when the music stopped, and you did not have the “potato”? [Allow for several responses and then direct the next three questions to those who received the consequences.]

How did you feel when the music stopped, and you were holding the “potato”? [Allow for a response from each person.]

How do you feel now while you still have your consequence? [Allow for a response from each person.]

Don’t you wish you could just get rid of it? [Allow for responses] Well, you can’t. Not yet anyway. You need to keep your consequence on while the lesson is being taught.

[Direct the next question to the entire audience.] As you look at the students with the consequences that they would like to get rid of, think about this question. What is something in life that you wished you could get rid of but just can’t?

Maybe it is something as simple as those green peas left on your plate that your mom says you have to finish eating. When she leaves the room, you feverishly look for the dog to eat them for you.

Maybe you earned a failing grade because you forgot to turn in your essay. So, you stay after class to plead with the teacher to allow you to turn in the late assignment by the end of the day so you can get rid of that grade.

Don’t answer out loud, but do you have things in your life that you wish you could get rid of?

There are some things that happen in our lives that we just can’t avoid, but then there are other things that we invite into our lives despite the warnings we receive about the danger.

We may take money out of Dad’s wallet to buy a pair of Converse Shoes just because we want them.

We may cheat on a math test because we don’t want to disappoint our parents by bringing home another bad grade.

If we are not careful, we discover that we have picked up a few unwanted hitchhikers on the road of life.

Tonight’s lesson is the third lesson of a four-part series called, Road Trip. Through the lessons in this series, we have been on a road trip of sorts. If you were able to be here for either of the first two lessons of this series, do you remember what our destination is on this road trip? [Allow for several responses.]

Since holiness is our destination, this road trip will be a life-long journey, and this series is designed to get us moving in the right direction.

Specifically, we are studying the doctrine of sanctification. But like we have said during each lesson, don’t let that word scare you. [Show the PowerPoint slide with the definition of the word “sanctification.”] “Sanctification” is simply “the work of the Holy Spirit to make believers more like the Lord Jesus Christ.”

When it comes to making us more like Jesus, the main difference between us and Jesus is that Jesus never sinned, and we do. Jesus lived a perfect life; He never sinned once. We can’t say that about anyone in this room, including [Point to yourself.] yours truly.

On this road trip that we are on, we have already seen (in the first lesson) that we should be paying attention to the warnings that God gives us in Scripture and (in the second lesson) that if we begin to run in the wrong direction, then we need to make a U-turn (repent). Tonight, we are going to talk about the hitchhikers that we can pick up along the way, whether intentionally or not. [Show the PowerPoint slide with the lesson title: Hitchhikers.]

How many of you have ever sat at a stoplight and seen a person on the side of the road with a sign that read something along the lines of “Need help getting to the next town!” or “Heading west”? Have you ever wondered about their story?

Have you or your parents ever picked up a hitchhiker before? [Allow for a show of hands.] (Side note: we don’t recommend that you pick up hitchhikers.)

Whether or not you have picked up a hitchhiker before, all of us at one time or another have picked up a habit, a mannerism, a pastime, or a sin, and allowed our flesh to direct our decisions. That never turns out well, does it? If we are not careful, we will discover that our flesh is hanging out as an unwanted passenger in our journey with God.

So, if the Holy Spirit is going to make us more like Jesus, then we have to get rid of sin, right? In Scripture, this is called mortification. Does anyone want to take a stab at what it means to mortify something? [Allow for a response and then show the PowerPoint slide with the definition of the word “mortify.”] To “mortify” is “to put to death or to make dead.” God calls us to put our fleshly desires to death; we must mortify sin.

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul tells us that we are to put to death the sin that has climbed into the passenger’s side of our life. Tonight, just for fun, we will refer to them as sin-hikers. We will see that if we do not get rid of sin, then sin will affect our lives dramatically. You need to kill sin or sin will kill you.

Lesson Content

We must not allow any sinful desires to ride in the passenger seat of our life. God’s Word, the Bible, gives us specific instructions to mortify (to put to death) our fleshly or earthly desires. With that in mind, turn to Colossians chapter 3. Let’s start reading in verse 5.

Paul calls us to mortify our sin. (Colossians 3:5; Romans 8:8-13)

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” - Colossians 3:5 (NIV)

Paul told the followers of Jesus in the town of Colossae to put to death whatever belongs to their earthly nature. He is talking about the things we do that are against God; he is talking about sin. To put it bluntly, Paul told the people at the church of Colossae to kill their sin. We should take heed to those directions as well. We should mortify our sinful desires too.

Paul then went on to list a few of the desires of the flesh. Look at the next part of verse 5. [Read Colossians 3:5b.] That’s a rough list! Now skip down to verse 8. [Read Colossians 3:8.] That is another rough list! Now, to be clear, this is not an all-inclusive list. Paul is not saying that these are the only sins we need to kill. All sin is worth getting rid of.

Let’s pause at this point in the lesson long enough to make sure that we all are defining the word “sin” the same way. [Show the PowerPoint slide with the definition of the word “sin.”] “Sin” is “the lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God.” A simple way to think about sin: it is anything that we think, see, say, or do that goes against God or His Word.

If we were to look at just those two lists from the Book of Colossians again, we could pretty much all agree that each of those things is rightly defined as sin. They all are things that go against God and His Word. They are all things that should not be riding shotgun with us on our journey through life.

But, why? If these things make me happy, why should I put them to death?

The Apostle Paul tells us why in his letter to the church in Rome. We call that letter the Book of Romans. Let's turn to the Book of Romans and find chapter 8.

Reason #1 for mortifying the flesh: “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The deeds of the flesh do not honor God; that is a good reason to kill them. Listen to verse 9. [Read Romans 8:9.]

Reason #2 for mortifying the flesh: The Holy Spirit lives in us. The moment we place our faith in Christ alone for salvation is the moment the Holy Spirit begins dwelling in us. That is a good reason to put our sin to death. Listen to verse 10. [Read Romans 8:10.]

Reason #3 for mortifying the flesh: Our flesh (our sin nature) is dead anyway. When you received spiritual life from the Spirit of God, you are no longer bound by the works of the flesh. Since the flesh is dead, we should live like it. We should mortify the flesh.

Those are all good reasons to mortify the flesh. But the Apostle Paul continued in verse 11 by connecting the Holy Spirit and the resurrection of Christ from the dead. [Read Romans 8:11.]

What he was saying is that when you become a follower of Jesus, you get to experience the life that comes as a result of Christ’s death and resurrection. Yes! Because Jesus died on the cross for you and came back to life, you get to experience that same life through the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. Your sin, my sin was nailed to the cross when Jesus died. Don’t live like you are still controlled by sin. Jesus died to kill all sin; so kill your sin and live through Him!

This is not to say that we will not struggle with sin ever again, but too often we give sin too much power over us.We pull over to the side of the road, open the door, and allow the sin-hiker to sit in the passenger’s seat of our life. We allow it to tell us where we are going next or what we should do. When sin is in control, our destination is no longer holiness; we are actually headed further and further away from God. This is why you should kill sin or sin will kill you.

Fortunately for us, the Apostle Paul gives us the secret to killing the sin in our lives. Let’s re-read Romans 8:13 and see how the Apostle Paul contrasted two ways that we can live. [Re-read Romans 8:13.]

2. Paul contrasts 2 ways to live. (Romans 8:13)

a. Live by the flesh (Romans 8:13a)

We can live in the flesh or we can live in the Spirit. Let’s look at what it means to live by the flesh.

What does it mean to live by the flesh? Paul said that if you live in the flesh, then you will die, or you are at the point of dying. This is why we keep saying, kill sin or sin will kill you.

But what it does mean is that when a believer is not willing to get rid of their sin, it will affect their spiritual journey. When a believer lives by the flesh, holiness is not possible!

When we live by the flesh, we like an unbeliever. They will not display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). They will not be able to experience the joy that the Holy Spirit brings us.

To live according to the flesh means certain death. So, kill sin or sin will kill you.

“But, I just can’t!” you scream. “I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but I always give in to my flesh! I want to get rid of my sin, even more than [Insert the name of one of the students with a consequence from the Hot Potato game.] wants to get rid of the [Insert the consequence that he/she is wearing.]! It’s just impossible. I can’t do it!”

If that is what you are thinking, you are right. You can’t! When you try in your own strength to put to death the works of the flesh, you will fail because you are still living by the flesh. You are trying to do the right thing in your own fleshly strength. It doesn’t work; that is no way to live! So, the Apostle Paul gives us a better way to live.

b. Live by the Spirit ( Romans 8:13b)

Paul said that when you let the Spirit of God choke the life out of your sins, then you will have life. This is only possible as you yield to Him daily. Living by the Spirit is the best way to live.

Jesus came so that we could have life. Listen to John 10:10. [Have a student read John 10:10.] Jesus Himself said He came so we could have life! Did you catch what the thief wants to do? He wants to kill you! That is why you must yield to the Spirit so you can kill sin. If not, sin will kill you.

Connection

Now, let’s revisit the game that we played earlier. Anyone with a consequence, please come to the front. [Allow time for them to come forward.] It’s time to get rid of your consequences. You can take them off now. How does it make you feel getting rid of that consequence? [Allow for responses from each person and have them return to their seats.]

In a silly sort of way, these consequences are a picture of what sin can do in our life. But, while these consequences are silly, sin is no laughing matter. Sin becomes a part of our life so quickly and then it just hangs around like it’s supposed to be there. The next thing you know, sin has made things uncomfortable and weird, caused embarrassment and shame, has damaged your relationship with God and others, and destroys your life by taking you down a road that ends in death. This happens long before you realize that it is happening. That is why you must kill sin or sin will kill you.

Choice

According to Scripture, sin is something we should put to death by the power of the Spirit in us. But the choice is yours.

What will you do with the sin that is in your life? Maybe you have come into this room already carrying a sin-hiker with you. When are you going to get rid of it? Maybe you have seen a sin-hiker that you are thinking about picking up. How will you keep yourself from allowing sin-hikers to continue to take rides with you?

Let’s spend a moment or two talking with God about the choice you need to make right now.

Next Steps

What we want to do is give everyone the opportunity to symbolically put to death sin in their life right now. Everyone should have a slip of paper and a writing utensil under their chair. Now is the time to pick those up. [Make sure that everyone has a slip of paper and a writing utensil.]

On the paper, write the name of one sin-hiker that you have picked up on life’s journey. After doing so, fold it up, pray, and ask God to help you put that sin to death. Tell Him that you want to kill this sin in your life by the Spirit of God. After spending time with God about your sin, bring your slip of paper up to the front and nail it to this cross.