Welcome to Part 2 of the How Teens Can Avoid Temptation Bible Study Lesson. If you missed Part 1, be sure to check it out here.
We left off with the question: “Why do kids party recklessly and get into unhealthy romances?” Now you’ll go into the various reasons.
Teen Lesson Activity (Continued)
Letʼs look at a few reasons.
CHALLENGE #1: THE DIFFERENTIATION PASSAGE
(Hold up your sign and pass it to a student who can keep it displayed for everyone.)
Weʼre all in phases of development. I am; so is my mom. Yours starts with differentiation from parents. It means that, sometimes around the age of twelve, you came into the knowledge that you are truly separate from other family members, and you want to step out as an individual rather than as someoneʼs child. But differentiation is weird in that, while giving up trust with parents, kids build up twice as much reliance upon each other. You are in the passage where it is most difficult to resist temptations presented from you peers.
CHALLENGE #2: A NEED TO FIT IN
(Hold up your sign and pass it to a student who can keep it displayed for everyone.)
Have you ever noticed in school how groups of kids look very much alike? Their hair color might be different and they may be shaped differently from each other. But sometimes in the mall, you see kids going past, and from their makeup to their jeans, they almost look like clones. You will come into a passage around the age of nineteen where you say, “Iʼm me, and others are others.” Generally, you have to learn how to be alike before you can learn how to be different. But “being alike” puts a lot of pressure on people, often involving not just appearances but choices, including drinking, drugs, sexual behavior, etc.
CHALLENGE #3 A NEED TO BLOW OFF STEAM
(Hold up your sign and pass it to a student who can keep it displayed for everyone.)
A famous author for teens noted recently that “kids can blow their chance in a social crowd in high school with a wrong word or a wrong look. One word. Or at least, they are convinced of such.” Thatʼs a lot of pressure. Teenagers are phenomenal at reading energy. If someone feels weird or embarrassed or tense, you guys can sense that far better than adults. In school, many of you may feel that you have to keep yourselves very “hemmed in.” Drinking and some drugs become “licenses” to act stupid, to mess up, or make mistakes that no one will hold against you. A teenager could always say, even with the worst of behavior, “Well, I was drunk.” Or “I was stoned.” So, with all of this”¦
(Go and get the plate of M&Ms and put it back on the table. If someone tries to eat one, tell them they will “have their reward in full” and wonʼt get one reward later.)
There is not an adult in the world who envies you this situation. Adults are much more sane.Where does God come in to all of this? How does He help you to look back and say that these were your best years, and not your worst – that they were not wasted?
First of all, He doesnʼt want to add to all that pressure. He wants to take away the pressure. He wants to give you back your sense of royalty when youʼve been feeling like a number. When others give you the message that youʼre not measuring up, He takes the yard stick and throws it away. Youʼre His, and thatʼs all that matters to Him. He can change hearts, if people put Him on the throne of their lives – if they give their life to Him.
ANSWER #1 JESUS CHANGES HEARTS
(Hand your sign JESUS CHANGES HEARTS to someone to hold up.)
Thousands of kids who give their lives to Christ every year attest to these changes of heart. They see the parties, the smoke-filled rooms, the falling down drunks, the loadies, and suddenly”¦they just donʼt want to be there. Instead of thinking falling-down-drunk girls are funny, they feel sorry for them. They donʼt like the smell of puke or cigarette smoke, and they certainly donʼt like being flirted with by people who are acting out of their minds.
Jesus talks in Matthew 13 about people who are in the state of being without Him. Itʼs a spiritual condition that He describes in this way:
“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand”¦. For this peopleʼs heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.”
You canʼt change your own heart. But Jesus can. Go to sleep asking Him to, and you may feel a difference already when you wake up.
ANSWER #2: JESUS CAN PROTECT YOU
(Hold up your sign JESUS CAN PROTECT YOU.)
Teenagers who are Christian attest to asking for Godʼs protection, and strange things start happening. People who were pressuring them to party like mad suddenly just didnʼt seem to be around so much. They were suddenly focused on other people. God put new friends in their paths who are funnier, smarter, better listeners, more loyal. Cars got flat tires when taking a Christian kid to a hazardous hangout”¦etc.
ANSWER #3: JESUS CAN DISTRACT YOU
(Hold up your sign JESUS CAN DISTRACT YOU.)
Actually, attempts at a social life are distracting kids from Him, but again, teenage Christians attest to suddenly being struck by the important questions: Whatʼs my purpose on planet earth? Why do we go through death, and whatʼs on the other side? What are my talents? How can I use them to make the world a better place? What can I become really good at?
In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “I know the plans I have for you”¦plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God isnʼt looking to ruin our fun. Weʼre good enough at doing that on our own. But itʼs like this plate of candy. It looks tempting. (Take the M&Ms and throw them in a trash
can.) Itʼs insignificant in comparison to what awaits if we donʼt give into temptations now. (Bring out the big bag of candy. Give the first choice to the kid who had to sit with his face at eye level with the M&Ms.) Help yourselves, good and faithful servants. In small groups, letʼs look at ways to “stay gold” or be in the world of high school but not of it.
The next part of this teen lesson will focus on a small group discussion that you can lead with your students to wrap up this activity.
What do you think? Will this Bible study lesson strike a chord with some of your teen ministry students? Is this a teen lesson that you’ll be adding to your lesson plan?