Life Grenades

Hook

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Some professions, like police officers, fire firefighters, and military personnel, lend themselves to heroism. Some civilians just happen to be in the right place at the right time. When action is needed, real heroes (whether civilian or professional) spring into action without a second thought, in order to meet the need at hand.

You may have heard stories or watched movies where a heroic soldier steps into danger to save other members of his platoon. A common narrative illustrating this type of heroism is that of a grenade being tossed into a platoon of soldiers. One of the soldiers, in an effort to save the others, throws his body on top of the grenade as a shield to absorb the force of the blast.

One example is former Marine Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter of Lexington, South Carolina. In November of 2010, Lance Corporal Carpenter threw himself in front of a grenade to protect a fellow soldier. His sacrifice earned him the highest military award given by the United States Military, the Medal of Honor. While he has no memory of his heroic act, he said it was what any Marine would do for another. Take a look at his story in this news report.

Teacher’s Note: Play the news report video of Lance Corporal Carpenter.

The thought of giving your life to save the life of someone else is noble, but when it comes right down to it, it is probably not something most of us would consider. At some point, we all may want to help a friend out, but giving up your life for someone else, is the ultimate level of commitment.

As seen by the permanent effects to Kyle Carpenter’s body, a grenade causes catastrophic damage. Just so we are all on the same page, a “grenade” is “a small bomb thrown by hand or launched mechanically.” When the grenade explodes, it throws shrapnel in all directions. “Shrapnel” is “fragments of a bomb, shell, or other object thrown out by an explosion.” Much like the explosion of a grenade, when we sin, it can affect everything and everyone around us. “Sin” is “the lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God” and it is no small matter. The transgression of the law of God can throw “shrapnel” on those around us and impacting them much like a grenade.

When you think of some of the struggles that you have faced in your life, maybe a family split, a strained relationship with a friend, or a relationship breakup, it can feel like someone just lobbed a grenade into your life. You see it. You know the explosion is coming. You know there is going to be a lot of damage but you are not able to do anything about it. We would all love for someone to dive on our “grenades” and take the force of the “blast” so we wouldn’t have to. In this lesson, we are going to discover that Jesus took the full force of the blast so we won’t have to.

Lesson Content

Tonight’s lesson is part of a four-part series called “Basic Training: Preparation for Spiritual Life.” The lessons in this series deal with topics that are core essentials for every follower of Jesus. This first lesson of the series will explain God’s master plan in taking the full force of the blast of sin in order for us to have a relationship with Him. To understand why God would take the full force of the impact of sin, we have to understand why life has these types of “grenades” in the first place.

Teacher’s Note: Much of the content of the outline of this lesson has been adapted from the GOSPEL acrostic developed by Dare2Share and has been used with permission.

I. Recognize why life has grenades. (Genesis 1:31; Psalm 100:3; Romans 3:23; 5:12)

Have you ever wondered why life has to be difficult? Why do you have to deal with so many issues? Why does your life have so many “grenades” and where do they come from? Those are great questions. To answer them, we need to go back to the very beginning. We can find the answer to those questions in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

If you read the account of Creation, you will notice something very different than a life full of “grenades.” You won’t notice issues, or difficulties, or problems. You will simply see God creating the world in six days then resting long enough to reflect on what He created. In His reflection, He called all of creation “good!” Read Genesis 1:31

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Did you notice what He said? He looked at all He created and said it was what? Someone tell us. [Allow a student to respond.] “It was very good!” Wow, very good! Doesn’t that sound a lot different than “grenades” going off? Doesn’t that sound a lot different than what you experience in your life? God created a perfect, sin-free world and in that creation, He created us to be with Him.

a. God created us to be with Him. (Psalm 100:3)

English Standard Version Psalm 100

Know that sthe LORD, he is God!

It is he who tmade us, and uwe are his;1

we are his vpeople, and wthe sheep of his pasture.

[Read Psalm 100:3.] It’s awesome to know that when God created the first man and woman, He wanted to be with them, to walk with them and to be close to them. God created us to be His companions. Plus, He gifted man and commissioned him to manage His good creation (Genesis 1:26). Perhaps, you always thought God was angry with you, or maybe just not interested in you. That’s not the truth! Psalm 100:3 reminded us that “we are His people.” He is eager and passionate about having a personal relationship with you. You were created to be with Him.

So, if God is eager to have a relationship with you, why is your life so full of hard things? If God created a perfect world, why are there so many “grenades”? Well, after God created His perfect world, something very bad happened. The first “grenade” was tossed into the world by the actions of the first man, Adam. That first sin did what every grenade is designed to do; it caused death! It caused mankind to be separated from God because sin always separates.

b. Our sins separate us from God. (Romans 3:23; 5:12)

English Standard Version Chapter 3

23 for fall have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

[Read Romans 3:23.] Though God’s original intent for the world was for good, Adam and Eve (the first man and woman) decided to violate the one rule God had given them. They openly rebelled against God. They were not content with the incredibly good creation God had placed them over. They wanted more. Their sin ruined the wonderful relationship they had with God because God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. They had to be separated from God when they sinned.

The “explosion” from that first sin projected “shrapnel” that has impacted the entire human race. [Read Romans 5:12.]

English Standard Version Chapter 5

12 Therefore, just as tsin came into the world through one man, and udeath through sin, and vso death spread to all men5 because wall sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but xsin is not counted where there is no law

Sin caused death. Death, in the Bible, refers to separation. To die physically, our body separates from our soul. To die spiritually is to be separated from God. The “shrapnel” of Adam’s sin brought death to all men. Our sin separates us from God.

So, why do we have all these struggles in our lives? It is a direct result of sin. Sin is the root cause of the issues in your world. The sin nature of Adam and Eve has been passed on to every one of us, making all of us sinful. All of us are born sinners. No one has to teach us how to sin, we do it instinctively. We choose to be self-centered and live independent of God. Sin is like a live grenade. It will destroy your life. It will lead you into one compromise after another. Sin is destructive and deadly. After Adam and Eve sinned, God announced the curse of sin; it would bring forth separation from God, hard times, sickness, and death.

So, instead of God’s original plan (a plan that included a personal relationship with Him), we are separated from God and live in conflict with Him because of sin. With this type of “explosion,” it is pretty clear that we desperately need help.

II. Realize that you need help. (Isaiah 64:6; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

We need help in the biggest way, but unfortunately, our best attempts at helping ourselves fall short. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We have a sin problem and sins cannot be removed by good works.

a. Sins cannot be removed by good works. (Isaiah 64:6)

[Read Isaiah 64:6.]

English Standard Version Chapter 64

We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

wWe all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Teacher’s Note: Show the dirty rag and the cleaning agents to the students.

To illustrate this verse for us, here is a dirty rag. Like the verse said, our lives are like this dirty rag. Filth has exploded all over this rag much like sin has dirtied our lives. Many times, we attempt to make ourselves clean by the good things we do. It is easy to reason that if we do good deeds, they will make up for or even clean up the dirty things that we do.

Teacher’s Note: Use several of the cleaning agents to attempt to make the rag clean again.

You might think to yourself, “No problem, I will just fix this sin problem myself and restore this relationship with God. I will just start to do more “good.” I’ll go to church. [Use a cleaning agent to attempt to clean the rag.] I’ll go to confession. [Use a different cleaning agent to attempt to clean the rag.] I’ll get religion. [Use a different cleaning agent to attempt to clean the rag.] Then God will see I have changed, and it will be all good.”

It is easy to think that going to church, saying a bunch of prayers, giving money to charities, volunteering our time, etc., can take away the dirt from our lives, but using those good deeds as a way to “clean up our lives” is as useless as trying to make this rag clean again. We only make a bigger mess of things by trying to clean stains that cannot be removed. When we try to remove our own sin by covering it up with good deeds, we just make a bigger mess because we never deal with the real issue: our sin. We must remember that our sins cannot be removed by good works (Isaiah 64:6).

People often assume that if we just do enough good deeds to outweigh our bad deeds, we can get into God’s perfect Heaven. Yet, how much good is needed? When is enough, enough? Even if we could do more good than bad, what do we do with the bad that we have done? We have still done it. It is still “our bad.” Jesus knew we couldn’t resolve our own sin issue, so He came to do it for us!

b. Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

Listen to how it is described in Scripture. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.]

English Standard Version Chapter 15

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel gI preached to you, which you received, hin which you stand, 2 and by which iyou are being saved, if you jhold fast to the word I preached to you—kunless you believed in vain.

3 For lI delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died mfor our sins nin accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised oon the third day pin accordance with the Scriptures

This is the “Gospel,” the good news! Jesus died and rose again. God chose to send Jesus Christ, the One who never sinned, to take the full punishment for our sin, so that we could be made right with God. Jesus willingly did this (John 15:13). Jesus laid down His life to take your place. He threw himself on the “sin grenade” in your life and took the full force of the blast of the wrath of God. Listen to this amazing truth from Scripture.

[Read 2 Corinthians 5:21.]

English Standard Version Chapter 5

21 qFor our sake he made him to be sin rwho knew no sin, so that in him we might become sthe righteousness of God.

Jesus willingly took the “full blast of sin” by becoming sin for us. Instead of you and I having to die for our own sin, Jesus, the One who had never sinned, willingly laid down His life for us! Not only did Jesus lay down His own life for you and me, but He also took it back again. You see, three days after His dead body was laid in the grave, He rose to life again. His resurrection proved His victory over death and sin and is now hope to all who need it.

There is only one way to have a relationship with Jesus. It’s not through you, not through your good works, but through your faith in Jesus alone.

When you trust Jesus by faith, He makes you right with Him! Jesus came to earth as a human but He was still God. Jesus put Himself in your place, took the punishment for your sin, died, and rose again. The only way to be saved from the “blast” of sin is to believe in Jesus, the One who gave Himself and died for sin.

III. Rely on the One Who can help. (John 3:16)

Unlike our futile attempts to fix ourselves, Jesus never fails and everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life.

a. Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life. (John 3:16; John 17:3; John 14:6)

Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter threw himself in front of the grenade so his fellow soldier Lance Corporal Nicholas Eufrazio could live. Jesus took the full blast of sin so that we could all have eternal life. Jesus took the full force of the blast so we won’t have to. Despite our sin, God loved us so much that He (Jesus) willingly laid down His own life for us so that we could be with Him. He fixed the problem we had created. Not only that, but He gives eternal life to all who trust in Him alone. [Read John 3:16.]

English Standard Version Chapter 3

“For hGod so loved ithe world,9 jthat he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not kperish but have eternal life

What is eternal life? [Read John 17:3.]

English Standard Version Chapter 17

And this is eternal life, uthat they know you, vthe only wtrue God, and xJesus Christ whom you have sent.

It means that rather than paying for your own sins in Hell and being separated from God (eternal death or separation from God), you will instead be credited with Jesus Christ’s payment for your sin and join Him in Heaven (eternal life).

There is only one way to God’s Heaven, only one way to have eternal life – through Jesus. Listen to the truth found in John 14:6. [Read John 14:6.]

English Standard Version Chapter 14

6 Jesus said to him, “I am lthe way, and mthe truth, and nthe life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The full wrath of God was poured out upon Jesus as He took all the sin of the world upon Himself. Through His death and resurrection, He completely paid the debt for all sin; He absorbed the blast of sin. Yes, Jesus took the full force of the blast so we won’t have to. Because of His sacrifice, you can have life.

b. Life begins when you trust in Him. (John 3:16)

Lance Corporal Nicholas Eufrazio received a second chance at life as a result of the actions of Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter. The grenade was thrown. The blast was coming and Kyle Carpenter stepped in and became the hero. Without the actions of Kyle Carpenter, who knows if Nicholas Eufrazio would be alive today.

The “grenade” of sin has been thrown. The shrapnel of that grenade has impacted the world, but Jesus stepped in to save us from our sin and the penalty of it. He is offering you a new life today and that can start right now and last forever. He has already taken the blast of sin. All we have to do is believe. [Re-read John 3:16.]

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life

Jesus took the full force of the blast so we won’t have to. Do you believe? Will you trust in Him so that eternal life can begin today?

Connection

God loves you, cares about you, and wants to have a relationship with you. He has provided a Savior to take the full force of the blast of sin. Everyone has sin in their lives. If you are honest with yourself, you will admit that the sin in your life is extremely serious. You may have even thought, “Who can help me? Who would ever help someone like me?” You need a Savior, someone to “jump on the grenade” to shield you from the blast.

Jesus Christ is the Savior you need. Right now, you have the opportunity to call on Jesus Christ as your Savior. He was willing to jump on that grenade of sin. He did that so you wouldn’t have to die.

So, here is what we know. We are sinners; I am a sinner and you are a sinner. Our sin has separated us from God for all eternity. God loves and cares for us so much that He did not want us to be separated from Him. His great love for us compelled Him to send Jesus to take the full force of the blast caused by our sin. Jesus died on the cross, He was buried, and on the third day He rose from the dead. Anyone who will confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Choice

Believing in Jesus Christ is the only way you will have the Savior you need to save you from your sin. Do you believe?

If you have never trusted Christ as Savior, you can make that choice right now. Jesus took the full force of the blast so we won’t have to. That’s right, He can save you from your sin. He has already done His part by dying on the cross and rising again to life. His work is finished. Now it is up to you to choose to believe.

Right now, I am going to ask everyone to take a moment to quietly bow your head and close your eyes so each person can focus privately. Don’t worry, nothing weird is going to happen. We close our eyes out of respect for one another and bow our heads out of reverence for God.

Do you believe that you are a sinner in need of a Savior? Do you believe that Jesus died to make the payment for your sin and then rose from the dead on the third day? If so, will you tell God that right now? Just tell God that you believe that Jesus died for you and rose again so you can have eternal life. Tell Him that you believe that Jesus is your only way for salvation and ask Him to forgive you of your sin. Ask Him to save you.

If you trusted Christ as Savior just now, when we dismiss for small groups in just a minute, let the small group leader know about your decision to follow Christ.

Teacher’s Note: If you would like to, ask the students to raise their hands to indicate that they have trusted Christ. You could simply say something like this:

“If you chose to follow Christ tonight, I would like to pray for you and thank God for your decision” or “If you put your faith in Jesus Christ tonight, will you please raise your hand so I can thank God for your decision?”

Be sure to pray, out loud, thanking God for those who trusted Christ.

NEXT STEPS

If you trusted Christ as Savior tonight, would you dare to be bold and tell someone that you trusted Christ?

Teacher’s Note: Dismiss the students to small groups