COMPETITVE EDGE A SPECIAL LESSON FOR TURKEY BOWL SUNDAY 2016 ICEBREAKER: Competition Challenge two students in your class to compete in a series of three challenges: push-ups, sit-ups, and burpees. Round 1 As many pushups as you can do in a minute. Round 2 As many situps as you can do in a minute. Round 3 As many burpees as you can do in a minute. Have someone keep time and someone else watch the competitors to make sure their form is correct. Make sure that those who are competing are dressed in attire that will allow them to compete modestly. Boys must compete with boys. Girls must compete with girls. If you have time, you can do this twice and have guys compete once and girls compete once. At the end of it, crown the champion. You might consider bringing a small prize (like a candy bar) for the winner. After the challenge is complete, tell students that today s lesson is all about competition. Specifically about having a Competitive Edge. Introduction: We are all familiar with competition. Athletes have games. Musicians have band competitions. There are even academic contests for writing and math skills. Competition is all around us. This week marks one of the biggest competitions in college football: Alabama vs. Auburn. In this clash, some of the top athletes in the country will face off in intense competition. Every yard will be fought for. Every down will be a battle. The winner will be the team that has the greater competitive edge. What is competitive edge? It is having just a little bit more than the competition that you face. It can mean being stronger, having more endurance, or designing a better game plan than your opponent. Often this starts long before a competitor enters their competition. Q & A: What are some of the things that we do to get ourselves ready for competition? (Practice, workout, study, etc.) Competitive edge is developed when: an athlete works out hard in the off-season to gain strength a student studies hard before a test to gain knowledge a musician practices their skills to gain ability
This year, freshmen Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts has performed as one of the top QB s in the nation. His strength as a competitor started long before the season began. He worked hard to get into peak physical condition. Click on the following link to show a video of Jalen Hurts ability in the weight room during the summer before this season: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/07/watch_alabama_freshman_qb_jale.html Hurts did not show up to play without first preparing for the competition. Likewise, we must be prepared to compete in life. The greatest competition you will face in this world will most likely not be on a field, but in the events of everyday life. This morning is all about preparing yourself for the competiton you will face in life. Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3 Background of the Passage: The author of Hebrews is unknown. The original audience of this book suggests that the people hearing it would have been well aware of Old Testament scriptures, practices, and traditions. The ancient title of this book is to the Hebrews. All of this suggests that the original audience was Jewish Christians. 1 Several passages in Hebrews suggest the people it was written to were facing intense persecution or trials in life. This makes Hebrews a great book to understand how Christians are to cope in the many battles of life. In other words, if you are facing a huge battle in life against fierce competitors, Hebrews has some good insight on how to compete. Hebrews 12 follows a well-known passage of scripture in Hebrews 11 commonly referred to as, the Hall of Faith. This will be alluded to in the lesson. In Hebrews 11, several people from the Old Testament serve as real life examples of extraordinary faith. The passages surrounding Hebrews 12:1-3 are all about perseverance, endurance, and the competitions we face in life. Lesson: I. Be Encouraged By the Crowd Hebrews 12:1a Leader s Note: Ask a student to find and read Hebrews 12:1 The image that the writer of Hebrews gives to us is that of a runner competing in a race. He talks specifically about a great cloud of witnesses. The image jumps to our minds of a giant crowd filling the stands in an arena. 2 They are cheering on the athletes as they begin to compete. Q & A: Without googling it, who knows the seating capacity of Auburn s Jordan Hare Stadium? 87,451. How about Alabama s Bryant-Denny Stadium? 101,821. 1 ESV Study Bible. 2 ESV Study Bible.
Incidentally, Alabama has the is the fourth largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference (behind Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Louisiana State), the seventh largest stadium in the United States and the eighth largest stadium in the world. 3 Imagine having to compete before a packed arena of 87,000 or 101,000. But the writer of Hebrews isn t just talking about fans This is a specific kind of crowd. Hebrew 12:1 is a reference to Hebrews 11, a chapter of scripture known commonly as the Hall of Faith. These are people that had extraordinary faith. The writer of Hebrews is saying, imagine competing in front of an arena filled with the greatest heroes of the faith. The list includes Jacob, Moses, David, and many more. As if it wasn t intimidating enough to compete in front of a crowd, imagine if the crowd was only made up of former champions who trust you to carry on their legacy of greatness. Many people might choke or panic under this kind of pressure from the crowd, but the writer of Hebrews seems to talk about the crowd like it is a good thing. Why? The people in this Hall of Faith are normal people who had an uncommon faith in God. What made these heroes special was not their talents and abilities, but their faithfulness to God that moved them to action. Think about the people listed in the Hall of Faith for a moment. Jacob was a liar. (His name actually means he deceives. 4 ) Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer and a murderer. These were far from perfect people, but they had extraordinary faith despite their flaws You can have that kind of faith too. Just as God transformed their lives through faith, He can do the same for you. The crowd described in Hebrews 11 is supposed to be an encouragement for us as we face our opponents in life and continue competing. We are to be like those heroes that have gone before us. We need to understand and be encouraged by their faith. Their stories inspire our own story of following God. Those who have come before us faced incredible opponents in life: persecution, wrongful imprisonment, famine you name it, they faced it. These heroes endured struggles and came out victorious, whether on earth or with God in heaven. Their stories encourage us to have a faith that gives us the competitive edge in life. Q & A: Which biblical character do you relate to? How can you draw inspiration or encouragement from their story? II: Refuse to Be Weighed Down Hebrews 12:1b If you want to win in life by having the competitive edge, the writer of Hebrews gives three clear action steps: 1. lay aside every weight Some have referred to these weights as separate from specific sins. These could be considered good things that can hinder us from running full strength toward God. Sometimes our schedules, our relationships, and other things can actually pull us away from pursuing God with a whole heart. 3 Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_stadiums_by_capacity 4 NIV Study Bible.
For example, is it wrong to stay up past midnight? Not necessarily. But what if staying up late keeps you sleeping in and not keeping a commitment to get up early and spend time with God? If that is the case, staying up late could be a weight that slows you down in your pursuit of God. High performance athletes will stop at nothing to take off anything that could possibly slow them down. This is why men who are Olympic swimmers go to the extreme of shaving their legs, wearing sleek swim caps, and sporting speedos weird, but true. They don t want anything weighing them down and they are serious about it. They want to maintain their competitive edge. Likewise, we are to search our lives for things that are weighing us down and slowing our pace in pursuing God. When we find these things, we have to take action and lay these weights aside. 2. sin which clings so closely Sin is disobeying God in any way. This kind of disobedience destroys our relationship with God. It renders us powerless to experience the presence of God. In sin, we are spiritually dead and forever separated from God. The good news is that Jesus Christ came and paid the penalty for our sin by dying in our place on the cross. If we have trusted Jesus death and resurrection to save us, we now have a renewed relationship with God. But, here is the problem. Even after we begin a relationship with Jesus, sin has a way of creeping back into our lives. This happens to even the strongest of Christians. Consider the words of Paul who wrote much of the New Testament and is considered one of the greatest missionaries of all time: Leaders Note: Have a student look up and read Romans 7:18-19. Even Paul struggled with sin after meeting God. So what do we do? Give up? No! (see Romans 6:1-2) We have to take action. We must identify sin when it happens in our lives and confess it to God. (see 1 John 1:9) Then, we have to consistently pray for God s strength, guidance, and power to overcome that sin. Finally, we need strong accountability in our lives to pray for us, speak truth to us, and help us grow beyond our sin struggle. Leader Testimony: This might be a good opportunity for you to be transparent about a sin struggle you have faced at some point in your Christian life. Talk about how God helped you gain victory over your sin. Your students need living examples of men and women who have overcome sin struggles through the power of Christ so that they know it is possible in their own lives. Use wisdom in what you share, but be real with your students. 3. let us run with endurance the race that is set before us The key word is endurance. This is the ability to keep stride when the competition is the hardest and the road roughest. 5 During this week s Iron Bowl, it doesn t matter which team has more points in the first half. It doesn t matter which team plays the best in the third quarter. Football is a four-quarter game. The team that wins will be the one that endures to the end. (Think Iron Bowl 2010.) Likewise, life is an endurance competition. It is about going from the start all the way to the finish. We will talk more about how we endure in the next point, but there is an interesting point that we cannot miss in Hebrews 12:1. Notice that it says. let US run with endurance the race that is set before US. Life was never meant to be a solo competition. Life is a team sport. We 5 Broadman Bible Commentary.
need to be competing alongside others so that when we get worn down, someone else can help encourage us, lift us up, and keep us going! Hebrews 12:1 gives us three actions that we must take in order to create and cultivate our competitive edge. However, the most important component to having a competitive edge is found in verses 2-3, which lead us to the next point. Focus on the Goal Hebrews 12:2-3 Leader s Note: Ask a student to find and read Hebrews 12:2-3 Those individuals who have the competitive edge compete with the goal in mind. They set their minds toward the prize. They are focused. Q & A: What are some of the goals that you have focused on and achieved? How did having a goal to focus on help you keep going? We all know the value of having a goal. The question is not if you have a goal, but do you have the right goal? With this in mind, the author of Hebrews says that we must keep looking to Jesus. The NIV version of the Bible says, let us fix our eyes on Jesus. As we run the race that is set before us, the author suggests that we keep our eyes on the prize: Jesus. Does this mean that we have to earn a relationship with Jesus? Do we have to run our lives with endurance so that Jesus will accept us? This is not what the writer of Hebrews is suggesting. If we keep reading Hebrews 12:2-3, we see that Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith who died on the cross to give us life. We don t have to earn a relationship with God. He gives it to us freely! As Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. So how is Jesus our goal our prize? Jesus is our goal, because of what He has done for us! His incredible sacrifice for us motivates us to keep going in life and to keep pursuing an ever-growing relationship with Him! Q & A: What are some of the things listed in Hebrews 12:2 that show us what Jesus has done for us? Here are some of the many things Jesus has done for us, based on Hebrews 12:2: Jesus is the founder of our faith. He provides a way for us to have saving faith with God. Jesus is the perfector of our faith. His sacrifice makes us perfect in the sight of God, despite our sin. Jesus endured the cross for us. The penalty for sin is death. Jesus died in our place on the cross. He endured the cross for the joy of bringing us into a relationship with God. Jesus endured ultimate shame to save us. Crucifixion, performed naked and in public, and inflicting prolonged pain on the victim, was intended to cause shame as well as death. 6 Jesus endured this shame to save us! 6 ESV Study Bible.
In light of all of all Jesus has done for us, the writer of Hebrews says, Consider him who endured from sinner such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (12:3) In other words, if you want to maintain a competitive edge in life if you want to keep going without growing weary or fainthearted despite the opponents you face keep your focus on Jesus. So what does this mean for you today? If you are a Christian, ask yourself today: where is my focus? Often times Christians get discouraged in life. Christians can let life, circumstances, and hardships beat them. This often comes from placing our focus on the wrong things. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, it can be easy for our enemy to discourage us. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we find spiritual strength to keep going. Where is your focus? It may be that there are some here today that do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. A relationship with Jesus is not a matter of religion or good behavior. It is about meeting the God of the universe and receiving His free gift of forgiveness from sin. You can know God today. You can meet Jesus who promises to give you spiritual power to keep competing in the midst of life s great challenges. Leader s Note: Take a few moments to present the Gospel once more and then lead your students in a time of prayer. Ask them to pray with you the following prayer genuinely from their heart if they want to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. God, I confess that I have disobeyed you and I am a sinner. I believe that you died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. I believe that you rose from the grave and conquered sin and death so that I can live forever. I ask for your forgiveness for all my sin. I surrender control of my life to you. Lead me in a relationship with you! If you have any students that indicate receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, please let a Student Ministry Staff Member know in order that we may begin the follow up process. Also, make sure their small group leader knows so they can follow up with them for initial discipleship. You can have the competitive edge in life, no matter what you are facing today Be Encouraged By The Crowd Refuse To Be Weighed Down Focus On The Goal Small Group Questions: Who are some of the modern day heroes of the faith that inspire you? How does their example motivate you to keep going in your own faith? What are some of the weights that pull you away from pursuing Jesus? Are there any sins that we can help you overcome as a small group? Do you have a relationship with Jesus so that you can focus on Him? If so, when did this relationship begin? If not, what is holding you back? Where is your focus? What steps do you need to take to refocus on Jesus?