Catechisms Week 1

What is our only hope in life?

What is something you love?

Why do you love it?

What is something you love about God?

This morning you woke up, rushed to church, had a million thoughts about your week.

Maybe you ate something, maybe not.

Maybe you scrolled on your phone.

Maybe you watched something.

Maybe you’ve done none of those things.

In 2025, we all have a lot going on in our brains all the time.

Something that creeps in there probably once a week at least is “What am I doing here...?”

What is my purpose in life?

Is my purpose to be successful?

Is my purpose to earn money?

Is my purpose to be happy and have fun?

Is my purpose to make an impact on the world?

All of these things are good questions and good things to consider.

There’s nothing wrong with money, happiness, and having fun.

However, good things can become bad things when they become god things.

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For the next year+ we are going to be discussing Catechisms.

A Catechism is simply a way to learn more about what the Bible says on many different things.

Primarily this happens through questions and answers.

Each week we will present one question and give you a clear answer to that question and a verse you can memorize to go along with it.

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I love good movies.

The original star wars movies, though dated, are great.

The very first one (Episode 4, a New Hope) has a scene where princess Leia has given a message to a robot to give to a power man called a Jedi.

If you don’t know what I’m referring to at all, it’s too much to explain.

The basis of her message to Obi-Wan is this, “Help us… you’re our only hope.”

What is hope?

Hope often involves trusting somebody or something.

Our main question today is:

WHAT IS OUR ONLY HOPE IN LIFE AND DEATH?

Like we said at the beginning, it’s great to enjoy good things in life.

It’s good to pursue good things (money, happiness, success) but we must remember these things aren’t our hope.

Scripture teaches that there is only one hope in life and death.

The answer to the question is this:

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN BUT BELONG, BODY, SOUL, and SPIRIT, BOTH IN LIFE AND DEATH, TO GOD AND TO OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

Make two columns on the whiteboard

Only write “My Family” first on the left side.

Ask: “What is great about your particular family?” (parents, home, vacations, etc...)

what would happen if another child were adopted into your family?

Would he benefit from all these great things as well because he would now belong to your family?

Write on the second column “God’s Family”

What is great about being part of God’s Family?

cross? hope after death? Hope in life? etc…

All of us in one way or another have a human family.

Your human family though isn’t perfect. There’s things you probably love. There’s things you probably don’t love so much about your human family.

Your friends also have various experiences of a human family.

Some people have a horrible home life, a not-good human family.

God is our perfect father. Our perfect family leader.

The invitation to join God’s family is open to anyone.

God will adopt anyone who desires to be part of His family.

We must simply acknowledge we are sinful, we have sin, and we want to ask forgiveness for our sin by trusting what Jesus did on the cross paid the debt of my sin that I owe God.

In the book of Romans, Paul wrote a letter to the church in Rome.

There often disagreements in the early churches about how we should live as believers.

What parts of Judaism should we keep and which parts should we not keep was a big argument…

The book of Romans is one of the greatest theological works ever written.

It lays out how we should live as belivers.

Romans 14:7–8 “7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

What do you think verse 8 means?

What does it mean to belong to the Lord?

Does it bring you comfort or discomfort to think about “Belonging to someone”?

Every person desires to live freely, free of bondage, unbound, not held back from our dreams, aspirations, and goals.

So the idea that we belong to someone can sometimes be a scary thought.

However,

we also have a desire to belong… We want to have friends, relationships, and depth in our human experience.

When we have been adopted into Christ’s family… we have been rescued from God’s justice. His wrath, anger, and punishment against sin.

In OT times there were Servants, Bondservants, and Slaves.

Servants - worked for wages for someone.

Bondservants - worked for a set time to pay back a debt owed.

Slaves - Worked without pay for a determined amount of time or indefinite amount of time.

In either situation, servants and slaves assumed the identity of their master in the public square.

But the only way to truly have freedom was the satisfy the debt owed.

Jesus has paid the ultimate price by giving his life and paying the price of sin.

I heard someone recently say “Why does God allow suffering?”

We may never have a complete answer to that question, but here’s what I do know…

When Jesus could have alleviated his own suffering, he went as deep into suffering as a human can go, to the point of dying, for you...

In other words, Jesus didn’t avoid suffering. He faced it head on.

We can follow our heavenly father and trust Him knowing He has experienced everything we have experienced or could experience.

God created us. Died for us. Offered us redemption.

We are not our own.

Everything we are and have belongs to Him.

What is our only hope in life and death?

That we are not our own, but we were bought with a heavy price.

It may be free to us, but it cost Jesus everything.

The tension today then is: many times, we want to be the Lord of our lives.

We struggle to submit to God as Lord.

When are you tempted to pur yourself first?

Romans 14:12 “12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”

What does that mean?

I think that means, when you stand before God one day, are you going to bring your list of works?

Or

Are you going to point back to Jesus and say “I gave it all for Him?”

When we are part of God’s family, we are fully accepted, fully adopted, we can carry the name of Jesus with pride.

We get all the benefits of belonging to God’s family.

We can trust God in life and death knowing that He is with us and that He alone is where our hope is found.

What is our only hope in life and death?

We are not our own, but belong to God.

Are we living in this forgiveness?

APPLICATION:

So let’s look at a few pictures real quick and discuss how this affects us.

Id like us to divide into small groups of 3-4 for a moment and ask these questions and discuss them.

Throw these on the screen...

School - How does belonging to God affect how we approach school?

Music - How does belonging to God affect how we approach music?

Friends - How does belonging to God affect how we build relationships?

Internet/Social Media - How does belonging to God affect how we spend our time online and on social media?

Print Cards and hand out to students.