DID JESUS REALLY SAY THAT? Week 4: Jesus Warns About the World s Hatred 1. LEADER PREPARATION

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1 This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide DID JESUS REALLY SAY THAT? Week 4: Jesus Warns About the World s Hatred 1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW Following Jesus means going against the world s way of doing things. This will get noticed, and some people will respond with criticism, rejection, or persecution. Jesus faced all of this, and so did many of the disciples after him. Our focus ought to be on Jesus and following his example. If we march along to the world s tune, we ll miss out on God s best for our lives. LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: Following Jesus may lead to rejection or persecution, but Jesus knew this would happen and promised that the Holy Spirit would give us strength. 2. WHY: Many teenagers are reluctant to boldly explain, defend, or live out their faith because of fears or concerns about how other people will react. 3. HOW: Students will be encouraged to live boldly for Jesus this week, regardless of how others might respond, and they ll have the chance to think about responses to real-life situations where they might share their faith. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE John 15:18 16:4 SECONDARY SCRIPTURE Philippians 3:12-14 TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead your small group lesson. Read John 15:18-16:4. This text in the Gospel of John delivers a tough message: Follow Jesus, and you ll probably face rejection or persecution maybe to the point of death. Chances are, you live in a relatively comfortable context. Your students may be teased for going to church or ridiculed for not engaging in culturally acceptable sin, but most of us have little understanding of serious persecution. That s OK; there s no reason to feel guilty. No matter where we live, there is always the temptation to live for the crowd, or to love for God. This is the challenge from today s Scripture. Jesus address to his disciples comes right before he was arrested, tried, and crucified. They have finished their Passover meal, Judas has already left the scene, and the group has exited the site of their meal (see the end of John 14). Jesus reiterates his statement that a servant is not greater than the master, but then he warns his disciples that the world will reject, hate, persecute, and even kill them because they are his followers. After all, the world rejected, hated, persecuted, and killed him.

2 We ought not be hated by the world because of judging others. Jesus did not come to condemn (we ve talked about this already in our series), so neither should we. Some believers are not persecuted because of their love, but because of their self-love and selfrighteousness. Not a good thing! THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional] Text Message Questions We ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry. Are you focused on what God s called you to do? Let s talk about it at small group tonight. Have you taken a risk for Jesus and been bold for your faith? Check out Philippians 3:12-14 and then come to small group tonight. Parent We ve provided you with an below that you can send to your parents following the lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and customize the to fit your ministry needs. Dear parents, We ve wrapped up our four-week series in our small groups on the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of John. We ve learned a lot! Here in our final week, we read from John 15 and 16, when Jesus warned his disciples that they could face persecution because of their faith in him. The same is true for us as Christians today. People in some countries face the threat of death because of their faith. Most of us won t face that kind of persecution, but we may have friends who reject us when we follow Jesus. This week, I d encourage you to find time to talk with your child about the cost of following Jesus. Has your teenager faced persecution or rejection from friends? How would persecution or rejection affect your student s commitment to following Jesus? Here are some other questions that you could incorporate into your conversation: How might it have felt being a disciple and hearing Jesus say that you would face persecution, rejection, and maybe death? How might that have affected your willingness to continue believing in Jesus? Based on what you read and discussed in your small group, when you face persecution or rejection, what helps you to endure it? This passage includes some of the final words Jesus spoke to his disciples before his crucifixion. How might that fact affect the way you view, understand, or apply what he said? You might consider taking a step of faith as a family by inviting some neighbors to church or praying about people who you d like to tell about Jesus. My prayer is that your whole family has a deeper and more personal understanding of Jesus incredible love and mercy!

3 DID JESUS REALLY SAY THAT? Week 4: Jesus Warns About the World s Hatred 2. LESSON GUIDE GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] The Scripture for this week s lesson comes immediately after the Last Supper for Jesus and his disciples. Here are two creative ways to get your young people in the right mindset for the discussion: 1. or text your students and ask what food they would want to eat if they had only one more meal in this life. Then create a feast for your small group meeting, featuring all of the food your students chose. You might start your lesson a little earlier, to provide extra time for the meal. 2. or text your students and ask them to imagine they were about to die and could only send one final text message with wisdom and insight for friends and family members. What would they write in those 160 characters? Have them text you their final messages, or have the students bring those messages to this week s small group to share. As you begin your small group, welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, then What would you want your friends to remember about you during a farewell dinner? If you had time for a long conversation, what kind of advice would you give your friends about life in general? If you knew you were facing certain death, what would you want to communicate to your friends and family? If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and you d like to share it with other youth workers, please us at ideas@simplyyouthministry.com. TEACHING POINTS The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) Handling the hatred, (2) Sharing the message, and (3) Awaiting the advocate. Remember: All throughout these lessons, it s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main points keep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your audience. Read John 15:18-16:4 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: This week s lesson presents some of the final words Jesus shared with his disciples before he was crucified. Nestled in the middle of this monologue is a warning that those who decide to follow Jesus will suffer persecution, just like he did. Let s take a closer look at what Jesus was trying to communicate to his followers.

4 1. Handling the hatred How have friends or classmates responded when you ve talked about Jesus or your faith? When you face persecution or rejection, what helps you to endure it? In some countries, Christians face the threat of persecution, family disownment, or death because of their faith. How do you think those risks affect Christians faith in those nations? How might their perspective on following God differ from your perspective, and why? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: You have opportunities every day to stand up for Jesus, but your decisions might affect how your friends see you. Some of you may have already faced this. It can come in all forms a friend mocking you for not drinking or a coach punishing you for skipping a practice to go on a mission trip. Remember: A deeper relationship with Jesus is well worth the cost of persecution. The tough times won t outlast the love of the Creator! 2. Sharing the message In verse 27, Jesus tells his disciples they must testify about him because they have walked alongside him for over three years. How does this command apply to us today, if we haven t physically walked with Jesus? How is your testimony different from the testimony the disciples could provide? This passage includes some of the final words Jesus spoke to his disciples before his crucifixion. How might the timing of these words affect how you view, understand, or apply what he said? When have you taken a risk for Jesus and been bold for your faith? Tell us about that experience and how it affected you. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: We don t have the privilege of walking next to Jesus as he heals the sick and ministers to people, but we have seen him work in our lives. We have opportunities to testify through our words, actions, and attitudes. Most people share important words and messages as they near the end of life, and Jesus is no exception. He knew these words would linger in the disciples minds. 3. Awaiting the advocate In John 15:26, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to be a counselor to his followers. How does the Holy Spirit actually counsel us? [NOTE: Check out Acts 1:8 and Acts 2 for more about the arrival of the Holy Spirit.] Have you ever ignored the Spirit when you felt like he was prompting you to do something? If so, describe what happened. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The Holy Spirit provides the boldness to share God s message with others. In Acts 1:8, Jesus says the Holy Spirit gives you the power and boldness to be his witnesses in our community and around the world.

5 ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] SAY SOMETHING LIKE: We have the luxury of reading this story 2,000 years after it happened. We can read the entire Bible, and while we know that Jesus was crucified, we also know that he conquered death and lives again. But the guys with Jesus at that Passover meal had no idea. They hadn t even really grasped the idea that Jesus was going to die, even though he had talked about it several times. How might it have felt being a disciple and hearing Jesus say those words that you would face persecution, rejection, and maybe death? How might that have affected your willingness to continue believing in Jesus? During their Passover meal, back in chapter 13, Jesus washed the disciples feet, taking on the role of a servant. How does that experience relate to some of the words we find in this week s passage? Jesus tells the disciples that a servant is no greater than his master. If Jesus was the master-turned-servant in the foot-washing experience, what does this mean about those who desire to follow Jesus? How might it affect your willingness to live for him, regardless of how others treat you? APPLICATION Activity [optional] Divide your students into groups of two or three. Ask each group to create real-life scenarios of how teenagers might stand up for their faith and some of the responses they might face. The scenario could take place at school, on a sports team, at a part-time job, or just in the mall hanging out with friends. Give them 5-10 minutes to create the situations, and then ask the groups to present their scenarios. If your students are willing, have the teams actually enact the situations. After the groups have shared, pray with your students and ask God to protect them. Ask them what they can do to encourage each other. Toward the end of this, read Philippians 3: How can these verses remind and encourage you to stay focused and obedient when you re taking a risk for Jesus? How do you turn these verses into practical steps of faith in your life? SUMMARY End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or takehome challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time.

6 FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE] Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below. I don t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me (Philippians 3:12).