Series Overview
As your children
probably realize, choosing God’s plan for sexuality and sex isn’t easy in this
culture. It isn’t just a one-time decision; it’s more like one big decision to
first choose his plan, followed up by thousands of little decision to actually
live it out. For the next two weeks, students will be encouraged to discuss and
explore the implications of choosing to follow God’s plan in this area. Through
the journey, students will be reminded to keep their relationship with God the
highest priority and realize that he wants to help and guide them, if they are
to live out his plan for their lives.
Week 1: Run
Away! (5-30-12)
In our first
lesson, we examined the Apostle Paul’s wise words in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.
This passage
contains one of the most direct, powerful statements about why God wants us to
pursue his plan for sex. Clearly, any sin separates us from God—yet the Apostle
Paul tells us in these verses that sexual sin has a particularly significant
impact because it affects our bodies, and the Holy Spirit inhabits our bodies
if we’re followers of Jesus.
Paul’s
solution to sexual temptation is simple: Run. Don’t argue or negotiate or
justify or consider or examine or discuss or ponder. Just run. Sometimes this
means a literal fleeing—leaving a place or a person that creates temptations.
Other times it means refocusing our thoughts away from temptation and toward
Christ-like things.
We encouraged
our teenagers to run away from sexual sin and temptation, and to recognize that
following God’s plan requires regular, daily choices—it isn’t just a one-time
decision.
Sex can be a
challenging topic for a conversation with middle schoolers, but I’d encourage
you to talk with your teenager about this week’s lesson. Here are some
questions that might help your conversation:
- What words best define our culture’s attitude toward sex and sexual activity?
- Why do you think God views the topic differently?
- Why does the Apostle Paul say we ought to run away from sexual sin or the temptation to sin in that area?
- If you’ve made a decision to follow God’s plan for sex—to hold off until you’re married—do you think it will be easy to stick to that decision? Why or why not?
Week 2: Boy Meets Girl! (6-6-12)
This week’s
lesson examines the importance of making wise choices in dating.
Boy/girl
relationships are an exciting new part of adolescence, and because of the
excitement and social pressure, many students never put a lot of thought into
dating—they just do it. Furthermore, many Christian students start dating
without ever thinking about how their relationship with Jesus ought to affect
their dating relationships.
We examined 2
Corinthians 6:14-18 and discussed the Apostle Paul’s words about not being
linked too intimately with people who aren’t followers of Jesus. Paul doesn’t
say Christians must avoid all contact with non-Christians, but he does instruct
against being surrounded or bound in such a way that we’re drawn away from our
faith in Christ.
I’d encourage
you to take time this week to talk with your teenager about our lesson. Here
are some questions you could use to generate dialogue: (Note: We emphasize the
importance of respecting parent’s rules for timing on dating, and encourage
students that this is a good thing.)
- What do you see as some positives and negatives of dating someone while in middle school?
- What are some possible risks or consequences of dating someone who is not a follower of Jesus?
- If you’re a follower of Jesus, how can you grow closer to God by dating another person who’s following Christ?