Session 4: Student Workbook
Session 4: What does it mean to take up my cross?
Key Point: I grow in my relationship with Jesus by giving Him complete ownership of my life.
- subpoint: Life transformation begins when I allow the Holy Spirit to reformat my mind
- subpoint: Life transformation is a gradual process called sanctification
Write out Scripture Memory Verses(Try to write them without referencing your notes)
John 14:21
How could you use John 14:21 to describe a relationship with Jesus?
John 15:7
How would you explain John 15:7 to a 8 year old?
Luke 9:23-24
How would you explain Luke 9:23-24 to a 8 year old?
Last week recap:
Last week we started in Luke 9:23 and set out to explore why we would want to make Jesus the Lord of our lives. We talked about how our desires and the way we go about getting what we want cause conflict and discontent in our lives. We also talked about how the pursuit of our own desires leads to sin and ultimately death. Then we talked about how the plans we make for ourselves always come up short but that God’s plans for us are for our benefit and are meant to give us a hope and a future. We also set out to answer some basic questions about what it means to deny ourselves but another question we have to ask is how to deny ourselves. At the end of this session we will address how we deny ourselves and move on to the second part of the command in Luke 9:23 which is to take up your cross daily.
Last week we looked at Jeremiah 29:11-14, however there were some fundamental questions we left unaddressed in the passage. Take a look at the passage again and see if you can identify some of the unresolved questions that come up from this passage.
Intro questions
1. What were we exiled from? (Jer 29:11-14)
2. What does it mean to be exiled?
3. What does God mean when He says He will restore us?
Our Separation from God
Read Genesis 2:8-3:24
Genesis 2:8-9
The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Key Themes
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Reflective Discussion Questions
1. Why would God plant a garden and cause things good to sight and for eating to grow in it? Why would God put man in this garden?
2. What did God provide man with?
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Genesis 2:15-17
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not [n]eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Key Themes:
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Reflective Discussion Questions:
1. Why did God put man in the garden? What were man’s responsibilities?
2. What plants could man eat from?
3. Why did God tell man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
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Genesis 2:18
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [o]suitable for him.”
Key Themes:
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Key Themes:
1. Why did God create a helper for man?
2. What is the basis for the community God intended man to have in his relationships?
3. Why did God have to create a helper for man?
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Genesis 2:23
And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Key Themes:
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Reflective Discussion Questions:
1. Why weren’t man and woman ashamed to be naked?
2. In what ways were man and woman naked before each other? How were man and woman naked before God?
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Three questions I ask myself to understand what God is communicating:
What does it say?
What does it mean?
How does this apply to me?
Genesis 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from[a]any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves [b]loin coverings.
Key Themes:
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Reflective Discussion Questions:
1. What effect did the serpents words have on Eve’s relationship with God?
2. What things do people say that cause you to doubt God?(His existence, faithfulness, etc)
3. Where was man while woman was talking to the serpent? Why didn’t he speak up and correct what the Serpent and woman said?
-Adam was the only one who was given the direct commands from God and was in a position to correct because he’s the one that directly received.
4. Why did woman choose to eat the fruit? Why did man choose to eat the fruit?
5. Why do you choose to make wrong/sinful decisions even though you know the consequences will be bad?
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What are the three questions you ask yourself to understand what God is communicating?
1.
2.
3.
Genesis 3:8-11
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the [c]cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Key Themes:
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Reflective Discussion Questions:
1. What do man and woman do when the hear the sound of God approaching? Why do they hide from God?
2. What is different about man’s relationship with God in this chapter from chapter 2?
3. How does the sin of man and woman affect their relationship with God? How does the sin affect man and woman’s relationship with each other?
4. How does your relationship with God affect your relationship with other people? Why?
5. How does the pursuit of sinful desires affect your relationship with other people?
-Go back to what you learned in James 4
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Why do we communicate?
We’ve talked a lot about the process of communication and how we can improve our ability to hear what someone says, understand what they’ve said, and then respond to what has been revealed. But we have not answered the question of why we communicate at all. When we talk to someone we are exchanging information. The purpose of communication is to exchange or gather information. When we communicate with someone we learn new things. These new pieces of information may simply be things we didn’t know about. The information can range from finding out that Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain and that Mt. Everest is a mountain that has the highest altitude to discovering that Kim Kardashian had a baby with Kanye West. These pieces of information are things we hadn’t previously known. When we transfer this principle to our communication with God we need to ask ourselves ,”What is something new I’ve learned from this passage?” We must remember that the Bible is God’s written communication to us and He tells us things that we don’t know (Jer 33:3, Jas 1:5).
When we communicate sometimes the thing we get information about is the person we are communicating with. If I have a conversation with Bob Marley he might tell me things that let me know that he smokes weed. This is a new piece of information about Bob I previously hadn’t known and this information now affects what I think of Bob and how I interact with him. Now that I know that Bob Marley smokes weed I might buy him a bag of weed for his birthday. When we take this principle and apply it to our relationship with God, we know sometimes God reveals things to us about who He is. God’s revelations about His character affect what we think about Him and how we interact with God.
Something thing else that occurs through communication can be new revelation about self. People we communicate with have different perspectives than ours. Sometimes people shed new light and perspective on who we are by telling us what they think of us or how they view us.
*Three questions to filter the information we get from the bible
1. What is something new I’ve learned from this passage?
2. What have I learned about God?
3. What have I learned about myself?
Genesis 3:22-24
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Key Themes:
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Reflective Discussion questions:
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Wrapping up Genesis:
We looked into Genesis chapter three because it provides us with an example of what learned about in James 1 and 4. Sin is the result of not trusting God and separates us from Him. This happens when we try to get what we think God can’t or won’t give us. Our distrust calls into question the very character of God. Both Eve and Adam fell into traps of distrust. Eve doubted that God really wanted the best for her and felt God might be holding back something good for her. She ate the fruit so that she could gain the knowledge that she thought God might be keeping from her. Adam ate the fruit for fear of the loss of the relationship he might have with Eve. Not only did he fear he might lose fellowship with Eve, but he doubted that God would be able to provide him with a suitable companion like Eve even though God was the one who created and provided Eve to begin with!
The real kick in this story is that prior to Adam and Eve acting on their distrust toward God, God hadn’t given Adam and Eve any reasons to distrust him. Up until the moment of temptation God hadn’t done anything except provide food, shelter, and purpose. He’d also given both Adam and Eve a relationship with Him and each other. We fall into the same traps that Adam and Eve fell into because God has provided us with the same things He gave to Adam and Eve. Despite God’s demonstrated love through provision we still make the same mistake of distrusting God and acting out on our doubt.
The result of our distrusting God is death. In Genesis 3 we found that Adam and Eve sinned but didn’t experience an immediate physical death as a result of their disobedience. What they did experience was the immediate expulsion from the presence of God. Up until this point Adam and Eve had never been out of fellowship with God. Loss of fellowship with God is so much more than loss of a social association, God is their source and provider. For Adam and Eve, loss of fellowship with God meant losing everything. Without God Adam and Eve were as good as dead, yet God still chose to show them grace. Even though God showed them grace it didn’t allow them to escape the consequences of their sin. Ever since that fateful day death entered the world and the process of decay began. All of us are just as dependent on God as Adam and Eve were and all of us suffer the same consequence of disobedience. As soon as we are born sin infects us and we begin the process of dying. But by the blood of Jesus Christ we are brought out of exile. Because of the sacrifice God made on our behalf we are reconciled and restored to fellowship with God.
Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
Trusting God:
Just like Adam and Eve each of us is faced with a choice to trust or not trust God. We’ve already gone down the road of what happens when we don’t choose to trust God. So now the question remains, “Can you trust God?” We all have desires and plans to obtain what we want, but can we give up the control of those plans? Are we willing to take get out of the drivers seat hand God the keys and allow Him to guide and direct us? Can we trust that the plans God has for us really are good and in our best interest? Can we really trust that God’s plans never fail?
How to be Reconciled and receive God’s Gift of Grace
Return to Luke 9:23
1. What does it mean to take up your cross daily?
2. What is the cross a symbol of in the ancient world?
- The Cross is a symbol of death
- Hanging from a tree is a curse
*Supplemental reading: Deut 21:23, Gal 3:13
Read Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,[a]acceptable to God, which is your [b]spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this [c]world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may [d]prove what the will of God is, that which is good and [e]acceptable and perfect.
Questions:
1. What is a sacrifice?
2. Will an animal be alive after it’s been sacrificed?
- A sacrifice will die when it is given
- A total sacrifice means everything not just part
3. If you cut off a limb of the animal and put that on the altar to be sacrificed is that a total sacrifice?
- To be a living sacrifice means to sacrifice all of yourself in every decision and thought
- Take up your cross daily, something lived out moment to moment
- Every aspect of our life should be sacrificed to God and when we do we give glory to God
* Supplemental: 1 Cor 10:31
4. How do we have have transformed lives?
- We change the way we live by changing the way we think
- Our mind controls everything we say and do
5. How do we renew our minds? Who is the one that renews our mind?
- The Holy Spirit renews our minds when we fill our minds with the Word of God and submit to what the Word says
Why we practice asking questions:
1 Peter 3:15 tells us to always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have. One of the ways that we can do this is by learning to ask questions other people might have about the text we read. If we learn to ask good questions it prepares to develop a good answer. The great theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote in this way. Aquinas would ask a question then provide the opposing view points to his own and make these arguments as strong as he could. Then Aquinas would present his own viewpoint to answer the previously stated arguments.
We can learn from Aquinas’ example by learning to ask good questions about the text that get us to consider the three questions:
What does it say?
What does it mean?
How does this apply to me?
If we learn to ask questions that help a person understand what the text says, means and how it applies then we grow in our own understanding of the text. In addition to being able to provide reasons for the hope we have, 1 Peter 3:15 also says that we should do so with gentleness and respect. The better prepared we are the less likely we will be to get defensive or argumentative when we do have conversations with people that don’t know Jesus. Our aim in talking to lost people about Jesus is to always speak the truth in love.
Future instructions
In the reflective discussion section for the following scriptures try to write your own questions that help clarify the text. If you have trouble getting started the bullet points under the Key Themes can be a good place to start thinking about questions you might ask people to help them understand the text.
Read 2 Corinthians 5
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
For Christ’s love compels[e] us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. 15 And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.
Key Themes:
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Reflective Discussion Questions:
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2 Corinthians 5:17-18
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things[k] have come. 18 Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
Key Themes:
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Reflective Discussion Questions:
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The Process of Transformation
God tells us in 2 Corinthians 5 that those in Christ are new creations, the old things are passing away and behold the new is becoming. Life transformation is a process that begins when we make Jesus the boss of our lives. Imagine if you will that you work for Mcdonalds. While you work for Mcdonalds you wear the Mcdonalds uniform and make Mcdonalds food. There’s a certain Mcdonalds way of doing things and you do things the Mcdonalds way because Mcdonald’s is your employer. You are owned by Mcdonalds and you represent Mcdonalds. Now picture some guy coming in and buying your Mcdonalds to turn it into a Chick-fil-a. Now you no longer wear the Mcdonalds uniform. You wear the Chick-fil-a uniform. You’re now employed by Chick-fil-a and you represent them. This means you’re supposed to be serving Chick-fil-a food and providing service the Chik-fil-a way. But you’ve worked for Mcdonalds 8 years! You have Mcdonalds habits ingrained in you. It takes you time to adjust and stop doing things the Mcdonalds way. It takes time for you to fully accept your identity as a Chick-fil-a employee and do things the Chick-fil-a way all the time.
In the same way, before Christ we are all working for sin. We wear the uniform of sinner and do sinful things. However, when Jesus comes onto the scene and purchases us, we no longer wear the uniform of sinner. We are no longer enemies of God but now we are citizens of the kingdom of God. Our new identity is found in Christ and we are called the Children of God. But we have to remember that many of us have worn the uniform of sinner for a long time. Learning to stop doing sinful things can take time. As soon as we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, we start to walk in our new identity, but we will always continue to struggle against our old habits. We will always have to fight to live as a citizen of the kingdom of light and this won’t end till the day we die. This process is called sanctification.
Session Summary
The second step to understanding what it means to be a follower of Jesus comes from grasping what it means to take up your cross daily. Taking up our cross isn’t a one time action but a decision we face in each and every moment of lives. Taking up our cross is choosing to crucify ourselves and allowing Jesus to live. Taking up our cross and having an attitude prepared for death allows us to deny ourselves so that we can trust God and accept His plans and purposes for our lives.
Before the next Session
Check when completed
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Activity
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Read Matthew 22:37-40, 28:18-20, Mark 12:28-34
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Ask and Answer (What does it say, What does it mean, How does this apply to me)
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Ask 3 filtering questions
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Summarize/Bulletize the passage(s)
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Prepare to share 1 of your spiritual markers next week
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Review all of the previous weeks memory verses
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Continue assembling SERVE Profile(Personality Inventory)
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Pray for Clan Group
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What types of things does a person learn when he communicates with another person?
How does the story of Adam and Eve illustrate the principles we talked about in the previous session?
How would you describe the process of sanctification, mortification, and vivification in layman’s terms?
How would you describe the process of taking up one’s cross? What is the “cross”?
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