Become Like Jesus (2)

Countdown

Something fun (eg. Game, video, etc.). It is not necessary for this to have a tie in to the lesson, but it can.

Introductions

This is culture

Basic Opening Statement: We are glad that you are here with us at bcsm. Now remember that stands for bridgetown church student movement now. That changed a couple of weeks ago. This is a movement that seeks to turn the world upside down, by turning our lives upside down for other people. What hasn’t changed though is.

You have community. You have purpose. You have a mission. You have truth.

I am _______________ and before we start, let me pray.”

*Pray for God to use what you have to say to move someone further along in their journey towards Jesus.*

Story Time

Tell a quick story that introduces the message

Connecting Question

Catch Up

Where we have been in the series. Where we are going.

Where have we been?

Scripture

Read or summarize main Scripture with a little surrounding context. Ask a couple of questions to about the text.

Scripture

Connecting Questions

Tension/ Main Point

What is the rub? Create some questions and feeling in the minds of your students around the main point of the lesson.

So when we become a disciple, or an apprentice, to Jesus the Bible tells us that we will need to spend time with Jesus, eventually we will need to do the things Jesus does… but we also need to become like Jesus. But this becoming like Jesus is a complete transformation of who we are.

The thing that fascinates me the most about that butterfly video is the part where the caterpillar digests himself. Where, inside the chrysalis there is nothing but goo. I am just astounded by that. What that means is that bug, that butterfly, literally goes through a complete transformation. The old is gone/ The new has come.

And as Christians, as disciples of Jesus, that is the expectation. Complete transformation. A new creation.

Is that possible?

So we want to turn the world upside down. Is that possible?

I would say the answer to both of these questions is yes. But it won’t happen on accident. And it won’t happen just because you read the Bible everyday, or go to church every Sunday, or serve in Bridgetown Kids, or because you really, really want it to, or because you try to follow all the rules. This has nothing to do with stuff on the outside. The butterfly looks different when he is done transforming, but it takes a complete transformation on the inside. This is all about turning your inside to goo so you can rebuild it into a butterfly, a new creation.

So how do you do that?

Well, it is like we talked about the first week. The environment or the current you are swimming in, it is forming you whether you like it or not. John Mark Comer a preacher in Portland Or says, Your environment is composed of the stories you believe, the habits that you have formed and the relationships that you have with other people. Over time and through your own experience you will be formed into something whether you want to be formed into that thing or not.

So the question is how do you intentionally allow yourself to be formed into someone who is like Jesus? Well you have to counteract the current you are in. So instead of letting our environment shape our lives, we have to submit our formation to the Holy Spirit.

So instead of just believing whatever stories we are being told by the world around us, we invest time and energy into allowing our mind to be renewed by Biblical teaching. So this means listening to what I say, reading the Bible for yourself, reading other books people have written on the Bible… just allowing your thinking, your worldview to be set by God’s word not by the news or your friends or social media.

Instead of just doing the things we do by habit, falling into the same old patterns that we have established through repetition, we invest time and energy into establishing practices in our lives that intentionally point us towards becoming like Jesus. This could be things like daily Bible reading and prayer. This could be things like going to church. Or it could be things like turning your phone off for one entire day every week.

Instead of just having the friends that we naturally gravitate towards, we invest time and energy into this community of Jesus apprentices or disciples. We love each other. We build one another up. We accept the community’s voice in our lives. WE welcome people into the community. We work through our conflicts. We live out our purpose within this community and we go on mission with the full support and backing of the community.

It takes work to change the current outside of us. To turn the world upside down. But before we can do that we have to turn our lives upside down and that takes work too. It takes work to change the current inside of us. And over time, if we work this process, through trial and error, one day we will find ourselves transformed. Maybe not completely, but at least in some areas of our lives. And the more we are transformed, the more we can transform.

Response

We respond every week with an invitation to baptism and communion.

So there is way more to explore on this front. But, like I have said, we are working through what it means to be a community of apprentices to Jesus all year. So we will get there. Today I just wanted to kind of introduce some of the big components that we will build our movement on.

We want to be formed by Holy Spirit empowered Teaching, Practice and Community lived out in our daily lives. When that happens our worlds will be turned upside down and we will be able to turn the world around us upside down too.

How do I know? Because I am transforming. I am not who I was 15 years ago. I am not who I was a month ago. I am slowly changing into someone who is more like Jesus today than I was yesterday. I am less defensive. I have a clearer idea of how loved I am and how accepted I am because of Who Jesus is. And it is slow. But the more I allow the Holy Spirit to transform me, the more I am able to help other people find out what it means to be transformed.

And the apostle Paul, when he talks about this kind of thing, he always brings it back to the cross, what he calls the Apocalypse or Revelation of Jesus. In light of what jesus did, when he died and came back to life, When Jesus turned the world upside down, by turning something as powerfl as death on it’s head, all so that we could spend eternity with Him, in His presence, all so that we could be made new creations who do not have to experience death as the world experiences it, all so that we could work alongside of Him, once more, to bring about the goodness of the Kingdom of Heaven, if we really believe all of that we have to find a way to do it, to turn the world upside down by turning our lives upside down for other people. When we are given such an amazing gift, how could we keep it to ourselves? We need to share it. It is the hope of the world.

To remind ourselves of the centrality of the cross, we take communion every week. This is one of those practices we were talking about. The juice represents his blood, the bread his body.

As this song plays You can grab communion. But also as this song plays I want you to think about how you can, this week, either allow your mind to be renewed through God’s word or allow your actions to be redeemed through a spiritual practice or how you can invest in the community that you can find here in bcsm. That could mean reading the Bible every day or maybe turning off all electronics, fasting from electronics for one whole day this week. Maybe that day is today or next Saturday. Use the extra time you have, when you would be scrolling to think about what it means to trust God in the absence of electronics, or to pray, or to just invest in face to face relationships. That could mean, just calling someone from this group this week and asking them how they are doing in their walk with Jesus. These things are not easy, but they will help form you into someone who is like Jesus on the inside, not just the outside.

Now If you need prayer this week, or if you want to declare your intention to be a true disciple of Jesus by being baptized, come see one of the adults. We would love to talk with you. But, if you don’t want to move and just want to listen to the lyrics of the song, or pray, or read the Bible you can do that as well. This is a time to just spend with Jesus.

Song

Pick a song that centers around the main theme of the lesson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx-hbwQwOAA

My Testimony- Elevation

Discussion

How was the first week of school? Any major mishaps or victories?

Play Everyone, No One. Everyone, No one is a simple game. Each player takes a turn naming one action they believe everyone in the group has done, and one possible behavior they suspect no one else in the group has done.

For example: Everyone ate breakfast this morning. No one bumped into Bill Murray at an ATM. Or Everyone answered emails today. No one went scuba diving off the coast of Australia.

What surprised you the most in that game?

This is your community. Part of being a community is caring for one another and one way we can do that is by praying for each other. Does anyone have something we can celebrate with you this week? What is heavy for you this week?

Pray together

What stories, habits, or relationships are forming you right now? Are they forming you in positive ways or negative ways?

What role has Teaching, Spiritual Practice or Spiritual Disciplines, and the Church Community played in your life with Jesus over the years?

What gets in the way of you being formed by these things?

Family Worship

Hey, welcome to Family Worship.

This week we explored the idea that in order to become like Jesus, we need to allow ourselves to be formed by Holy Spirit empowered teaching, practices and community. Talk about that for a few seconds.

What are some Holy Spirit empowered practices that you try to nurture in your life?

I think for many of us, we get the head knowledge thing. Oh I need to believe in Jesus and I can grow in my knowledge of him by reading my Bible and listening to the message on Sunday mornings or going to a Bible Study, etc. And those things are good. We need to submit to Spirit empowered teaching from the Bible. But I think when it comes to carving time out of our day to practice the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives or to cultivate community within the church or in bcsm, that is when things get a little harder. Maybe we are not sure what that looks like or how to do that.

Read

Read Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)

Romans 12:1–2 The Message

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Understand

How can you place your life before God as an offering?

How should a Christian be different from people who don’t believe in Jesus?

Apply

What habits do you need to eliminate?

Who is someone at church that would help you start a spiritual practice to replace that habit?

We at bcsm believe that with the Holy Spirit’s help we can turn our schools, workplaces and families upside down by turning our lives upside down for other people. But that turn the world upside down movement, rests on the shoulders of a community of apprentices to Jesus who are committed to becoming like the teacher through Holy Spirit empowered teaching, practices and community.

Now here are your challenges for the week. Commit, as a family to doing at least one of these challenges this week.

Challenges

Fun: Have everyone take a sheet of paper and put a few squiggly lines or scribbles on it. Don’t go too crazy. Then switch your papers with one another and have each person try to make that scribble into a piece of art.

Practice: Have each person in your family spend 15 minutes every day praying and reading their Bible. If you need a good place to start check out the daily devotions at students.thebcsm.com.

Do: Commit to staying after church for fifteen minutes every week for the next four weeks with the express purpose of building relationships with people in the church.

Daily Devotions

m

Read

Read Luke 6:39–40

Understand

How do a student and his or her teacher relate?

How is a well-trained student like his teacher?

Apply

In what ways can you be a more diligent student of your heavenly Teacher this week?

Pray

t

Read

Read Romans 12:1-2

Understand

How can you place your life before God as an offering?

How should a Christian be different from people who don’t believe in Jesus?

Apply

What habits do you need to eliminate from your life this week?

Pray

w

Watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wrc8DCk520

Understand

How does that story help you in your quest to become more like jesus?

Apply

Reflect on how completely you need to transform inside to be like Jesus.

Pray

h

Read

Read Acts 2:42-47

Understand

What life-style did the early believers adopt?

How do you think bcsm should be more like the early church?

Apply

What can you do to help your church be more like the early church?

Pray

f

Read

Read James 5:13- 20

Understand

Why is prayer important?

What hinders Christians from confessing sins and praying for each other?

Apply

Whom do you know who has been drifting away from the Lord and who needs an encouraging word from you this week?

Pray

s

Practice

Put away your phone for 10 minutes and settle in a nice quiet place.

For most people, sitting with your back straight, shoulders relaxed, legs on the floor is a good start. Others do better lying on their back in a relaxed position. 

Close your eyes. Take long, deep, slow breaths (if you want, count 4 seconds in, 4 seconds wait, 4 seconds out, repeat). Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Start to pay attention to your breathing. Just “watch” your breath go in and out. Release the constant chatter in your mind. Let each thought go as quickly as it comes, and just focus on your breathing. Your mind will seize this opportunity to run wild with thoughts, feelings, memories, to do’s, and distractions. That’s okay. Don’t judge yourself, feel bad, give up, or worry. When you notice your mind start to wander, just recenter with a quick prayer, like, “Father…” and come back to your breathing. Do this for about 1 minute.

Spend a few minutes “abiding in the vine”

Transition from your breathing prayer to “the practice of the presence of God.” Notice God’s presence all around you, in you. For some people it’s helpful to imagine the Father is sitting in the chair across from you or on a throne. Welcome his love, joy, and peace from the Holy Spirit. If you want, open your mind and imagination to listen for God’s voice, or get something off your chest in prayer. But the main goal here is simply to “be with Jesus.” Don’t feel like you have to “do” anything. Just relax and enjoy his presence.

Close in a prayer of gratitude and commit the rest of your day to the Father

A few things to note:

You can’t “succeed” or “fail” at this practice. All you can do is show up. Be patient. This takes some people years to master. Resist the urge to say, “I’m bad at this” or “This isn’t for me.” Don’t judge yourself, especially if you’re an overachiever type. 

If sitting still is just death for you, you might want to try this while doing a stretching exercise or going on a walk somewhere quiet and distraction free (like a park or short hike). Apply the same idea to a walking prayer, and just focus on your walking instead of your breathing.

Adapted from practicingtheway.org