People wear a cross on necklaces, sport one on bumper stickers and even slap one across a t-shirt. But, what does the cross really stand for? What does it mean? Recently, on Wednesday nights, we have been trying to look at the cross in a different way…in a way that moves beyond gratitude and nostalgia to a way of life. The cross teaches us that we live so we can die, and we die so we can live.

The following is a summary of the Bible study sessions:

Session 1: Most of us think of the cross as the place where Jesus died for us. That is true. But it’s also about more than that. The cross isn’t just the place where Jesus died. The cross is the place where we die too. It’s not just an event that happened thousands of years ago. It’s an ongoing part of being a follower of Jesus. I am challenging our students to discover the ongoing, sacrificial life Jesus called His disciples to lead—a life characterized by the cross…dying to our own desires to live for His.

Session 2: If the cross is where we come to die, then how do we live? Because the cross is not the end of the story. There is also an empty tomb. The cross isn’t just about death, it’s about life. We die to something, but we also live as well. After all, Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV). I am challenging our students to not settle for a half-life, but a life that is full.

Dying to something you want…that’s what I am talking to your kids about during  this series, but if you are a parent, it’s something you know very well. Parenthood is all about dying to yourself.

It’s dying to your plans when a child gets sick the day of your dinner plans.

It’s dying to your wants when that son who seems to never stop growing needs yet another new pair of shoes—and you make do with the old pair you’ve had for a few years.

It’s dying to your need for love when you say or do the hard thing for your child, knowing that a valuable lesson will be learned but that he or she will hate you in the process.

Parenthood is a constant process of putting someone’s needs before your own.

And because of that, I just want to say, “Thank you.” Thank you for making the hard decisions. Thank you for sacrificing your time. Thank you for working hard to provide for your family. Thank you for all the things you do, the decisions you make daily to die to your own list of wants and desires in order to help someone else. Thank you for being an example to your child of what it means to die to yourself—even if he or she is clueless about all the ways you do it.

(Some day, your child will realize it. Trust me.)

:: This Wednesday night, we will finish up in a memorable way. But, in order for it to have the most impact possible, you student needs to do some work ahead of time. They need to complete the instructions on the blog entry, “*the cross :: home xp.”

Last Wednesday, we ended with the question, “What in your life needs to die so you can live?” I want to encourage you to continue thinking about that question between now and the next time we meet. Do some real soul-searching so that your answer to that question will be more authentic and God-directed.

To do that, prayerfully think through these questions:

• What consumes your thought life?
• Do you try to control everyone and everything around you?
• Do you get angry quickly?
• How do you treat others (parents, siblings, friends, etc.)?
• Do you struggle with insecure feelings? Do you struggle with feeling not appreciated? (Both can reveal a problem with pride.)
• Is there an area of your life that you say “hands off” to God?
• What area (or areas) of your life is ruled by something or someone other than God?

Ask God to reveal one thing in your life that you need to die to. I will be praying that the Holy Spirit will reveal those things to you.

The code word is the title of track #10 on the Limited Fan Club Edition of “Awake” by Skillet. I will use the code word sometimes during Rhythm Midweek on Nov. 4. When I say it, the first person to repeat it will win the CD.

BTW, James and I are going to the Skillet concert on 11/12/09. Wanna go? Let me know. Gonna buy tickets on Thursday. (They cost $28.)

The Heart of the Matter

by Sarah Anderson

(Read Luke 18:18-23. Yeah, we really want you to read it!)

Sometimes when I read through the Gospels and listen in on the conversations Jesus had with people, He doesn’t seem like the best conversationalist. He had a tendency to avoid the question being asked and instead brings up something that seems . . . different. He had the ability to catch people off guard, to see, really see the heart of what was going on and start addressing that, and not necessarily the words that a person managed to vocalize.

In one story, a wealthy ruler searches Jesus out to ask him a question—a pretty important question too. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18 NIV). I can imagine that the ruler, the disciples and everyone gathered close enough to listen in on the conversation leaned in a little closer in hope of catching what Jesus had to say.

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone (Luke 18:19 NIV). Jesus said this because He wanted to help people start connecting the dots between Him and God. Then Jesus says: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother’’” (Luke 18:20 NIV).

The ruler responded: “All these I have kept since I was a boy” (Luke 18:21 NIV).

Jesus knew what this guy was really getting at—after all, He was the Son of God. Jesus knew that this pointed question was one the rich ruler thought he already knew the answer to. He thought this whole eternal life deal had a lot to do with keeping the commandments, something he wasn’t ashamed to admit he was pretty good at—really good at. So good that he had the courage to tell the Son of God he had kept every single commandment since he was young. It was almost like he was expecting a gold star, a pat on the backside, a high five for all his effort—maybe even an extra special spot in heaven because of his obedience.

But Jesus doesn’t give him a star. He basically says, “You’ve kept all of the commandments? Then there is only one thing left for you to do to ensure eternal life. Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” (See Luke 18:22.) You can probably imagine how the rich ruler reacted to that. Maybe he mentally started going through the law seeing if he missed something about selling all your possessions. Or maybe he started to think of an excuse, a quick way out of the conversation. All the Bible says is when the man heard what Jesus was asking of him in order to get the eternal life he longed for, he became very sad (Luke 18:23).

We don’t ever hear about what happens with the rich ruler after this. Maybe he walked away angry. Maybe he was embarrassed. Maybe he was convicted. But whatever happens, Jesus doesn’t talk him into anything—He doesn’t guilt him into making a life-altering decision. He doesn’t condemn him in front of everyone hanging around. He doesn’t even plead with him to reconsider the life he was leading. Jesus lets the rich man go. He leaves the ball in his court, and allows him to be the one to ultimately make the decision about what will define his life.

It was a sobering reality check. Here was a man, who had done things right, followed the right rules, attended the right services, observed the important holidays and observances but somehow still fell short of the one thing he was looking for. Life. He wanted eternal life. And he thought all he had managed to accomplish and acquire was enough to get exactly what he wanted. But it wasn’t. And he didn’t even know it until Jesus Himself spelled it out.

I don’t think the moral of this encounter is that selling all you have is the key to eternal life. I don’t think tucked in the book of Luke is the real key to a relationship with Jesus—poverty. Not that holding loosely to our stuff is a bad thing. But I think the point being made here has more to do with holding loosely to ourselves. I think the point is that even when we are doing all the right things, we can still miss Jesus—because we are so bent on us, so focused on what we have to offer, what we have accomplished, that we miss the point of it all. And Jesus is the point. Nothing we own, nothing we have done, nothing we will do outweighs the importance of Jesus.

A lot of us would look at what the rich ruler was about on the outside and think that he had it together, that his example was worth following. But at the end of the day, the rich ruler was really about nothing more than himself and that was enough to stand in the way between him and the life he needed—the life Jesus wanted to give him.

All of us, at some point or another, are going to have the kind of encounter with Jesus that the rich ruler had. Sooner or later we are going to have to decide whether we are going to “sell our stuff”—whether we’ll let go of ourselves for the sake of life, for the sake of seeing Jesus. It might not look the same for everyone. It may not have anything to do with your possessions. But eventually you have to make a call. Is what I am living for, is what I am living about, me? Or is it about Jesus? Have I built my life to glorify myself, or to point towards the One who got me where I am? Life is on the line. Not just eternal life, and not just physical life—but significance in life, purpose in life, direction in life. Where are we headed? Are we walking away from an encounter with Jesus, sad, because we can’t get over ourselves, or are we looking Him straight in the face and saying, “Whatever it takes, I’ll do it. It isn’t about me. It’s about You. Make me about You.”

© 2009 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sometime during the meeting, I will say the words “Deja Vu.” Be the first person to say the code word and you win music from one of my favorite bands, Thousand Foot Krutch.

See ya Wednesday! (Unless you’re attending Fields of Faith at Central High School…then I’ll see ya Sunday!)

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

by Sarah Anderson

Many of you have probably heard the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Each of the four Gospels tells this story, or versions of this story, when Jesus, on the side of a mountain about ready to teach, decides to feed the mass of hungry people who came to hear Him. It was a big task, one that the disciples weren’t sure they could handle, but with one boy’s lunch sack of fish and bread, Jesus miraculously multiplied the food and fed each empty belly. He even made enough for leftovers. Most of what we know about this story stops here, but following the miracle, the story goes on. Not long afterwards, Jesus and the disciples cross a lake only to find more people waiting for Him on the other side. The crowd had heard what Jesus did with the bread and were thinking this was the kind of guy they could really get on board with. But their motivations and their intentions weren’t fooling Jesus—He knew what was going through their minds. He knew their flaky devotion had more to do with what He could do for them and He called them out on it. So, while still holding their attention, Jesus launches into some pretty heavy teaching—teaching that caught the crowd off guard.

The people who had been waiting on the other side of the lake listened for awhile, but it didn’t take long before they started grumbling and then arguing sharply with each other. The problem was that what Jesus was saying didn’t make a lot of sense. The people were confused, offended, and frankly, probably disappointed in what Jesus was asking of them—so much so that the Bible says many abandoned Him. They turned their backs on Him. In other words, Jesus didn’t live up to the expectations the masses had in mind, so they decided maybe He wasn’t for them after all. And, they left.

Maybe you know the feeling. Maybe you can relate to the masses. Maybe you have heard some cool stuff about this Jesus guy, and experienced some really amazing things through relationship with Him, but then all of the sudden, He asks something of you, or He confuses you, or suddenly starts to seem distant. Maybe your expectations go unmet and before you know it, you are left with a choice to make. Do you stay or do you go?

The crowds left. And I can imagine the scene was a little uncomfortable. Maybe they all left at once, or maybe one by one—as Jesus continued to baffle and bewilder. Regardless of how it happened, by the end of His teaching only twelve remained—the twelve disciples. And after the crowd disbanded, Jesus turned and asked those who lingered, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (John 6:67 NIV). And in the substantial pause after the weighted question Peter looks at Jesus and answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68 NIV).

Peter and the rest of the disciples heard the same message the crowd did. They probably had the same questions and dealt with the same confusion as those who walked away. But Peter vocalizes what the twelve knew and the crowd didn’t. “No one else can do what You do. No one else talks like You talk. No one else offers what You offer—not just bread to eat, but words that satisfy. We may not get You all the time. We may not understand what You want so badly for us to understand, but where else would we go, if not here? Who else would we turn to, if not to You?”

There is going to come a time when we find ourselves in the same place as the disciples did. When this happens and we get before God and confess our confusion and admit our disinterest, He asks us, “You don’t want to leave too, do you?” And this is the point where we need to make a choice—when we need to make a call. Do we really believe that Jesus holds the words of eternal life? Do we really believe it is worth sticking it out—despite our uncertainty, our confusion, our expectations? Do we really believe that this relationship—as difficult as it may be at times—is worth fighting for? And if we do, then we have the chance to say, like Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? I haven’t got this all figured out, but I know this. You have the words of eternal life.”

And that is a great place to start. The best place to start. Not with answers, not with clarity, not with complete and total understanding. Just a simple statement that says exactly where you are—with no place else to go, and the confidence and the faith that being with the Jesus is the best place to be.

© 2009 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The prize is the same: Hawk Nelson’s new CD, “Live Life Loud.”

The Code Word is the title of the 5th song of the CD, “Alive.” Be the first student to say the word “Alive.” You have to say it during the game on question number 5 or it doesn’t count.

See ya Wednesday!

The server time is wrong! This is posted at 11:48 on Monday night.