Download Staying Clean: Springing the Traps of Temptation

Staying Clean: Springing the Traps
of Temptation
(Week 6 – Quiet Time Passages: James 1:1–3:10)
Lesson Title: Staying Clean: Springing the Traps of Temptation
Focus Passage: James 1:12-15
Key Objective: Challenge your students to face temptations head on without getting
trapped. Students will learn simple steps to finding victory over temptation in their
lives.
Teaching for Excellence: This week we take a look at the most common and
often most ignored pitfall in the life of the child of God—temptation. There’s no doubt
that you can relate to this struggle that we all face on a daily basis. As you prepare to
teach the lesson, make sure you understand the steps and can see how they will help
you win against temptation. Reflect back on your teen years and remember a situation
when temptation got the best of you. Now take these steps and think about how they
may have helped you overcome temptation. Try to recall the small decisions that left
you defeated. Those small decisions are the same things teens today are making—teens
in your small group. Before you step up—look up and ask God to show you where you
need forgiveness and then confess it. You can’t effectively communicate the truth of
God’s Word if you’re filled with the deceitfulness of sin.
What God is looking to get from you is your obedience and devotion. Be the person He
has called you to be before you compel your students to listen to what you teach. Be
real with your students and share areas in your life where you have grown in the area
of fighting temptation. Your students will connect with your authenticity before your
intelligence.
Preparation for Today’s Lesson
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Life Step – Lesson 6
Get some duct tape (you know this is good ), cheese flavored popcorn and some
mixing bowls.
Get an old fashioned mouse trap. You can find them at most hardware stores. Get
the biggest one you can find.
Bring in some different sizes of nails or screws, and some magnets (different
sizes).
Make sure you print up enough worksheets for all students to have one.
Provide pencils and pens as needed, and have extra Bibles on hand.
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6.
7.
Have a couple of extra quiet times available for those students who may not yet
have them.
Make sure you have a whiteboard and erasable markers.
Getting Your Students’ Interest
How many of you really like cheese popcorn? Do you think it is a good idea to put
cheese popcorn on someone’s face when they are dieting? Is this anything like the
temptations we face?
Teacher’s Note – Ice Breakers:
In Your Face
Have students break into teams of 3-4 and choose one person to “get it in their
face.” Have each team wrap their teammate’s head in duct tape with the sticky side
out. Beginning under the nose and wrapping down to just under the chin (leave the
mouth clear.)
After each team finishes the wrap job, you can pass out the bowls of cheesy
popcorn to each team. When you say “Go!” each team will start sticking cheese
popcorn on their teammates face to see who can add the most on in the shortest
period of time.
After 2-3 minutes call “Time!” then judge the contents left in the bowl and on the
face and declare a winner.
What do you think of this saying: “Whatever doesn’t kill you will make you stronger
or smarter”?
Do any of you remember the old game – “Mouse Trap” – from the Ideal Toy
Company? It came out in 1963, so I’m sure you don’t unless your parents have told
you about it. You should check it out on Google sometime. Anyway, the game was
played by each person setting up part of an elaborate mouse trap and the winner got to
set off the trap at the end of the game.
Mouse Trap
Show the class the mouse trap you brought with you and show them how it works
(but don’t really set the trap or you could lose a finger.) Help them understand that
the trap isn’t any good unless there is bait on it that the mouse would want.
What kind of bait do mice like? Can mice be tempted to walk into the trap? What does
it mean to be tempted? Is it wrong or a sin to be tempted?
Think about a mousetrap.
 What makes a mouse approach a trap?
 Does the mouse know it’s dangerous?
 Does the mouse enjoy pain?
What about YOU?
 What keeps you from walking into the traps of temptation?
 What are some cheesy ways that you’ve been lured into temptation?
 What are things that are hard for you to resist?
Life Step – Lesson 6
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Introducing the Lesson
This week we are diving into the book of James. The book of James is written by the
half-brother of Jesus who was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. He did not follow
Jesus until after the resurrection. Seeing the resurrected Jesus convinced James that He
was truly the Son of God and the Messiah. He wrote this letter to the Jews who had
been scattered all over the known world because of persecution. He spent the five
chapters of this book communicating with passion how they should live in the church
and how that should help them be a witness for Jesus outside the church.
Teaching the Word
[Read James 1:12-15 together.]
Temptation is a reality for every person who will ever live. Being tempted is not a sin.
James does not say, “don’t be tempted.” He says that there is a crown of life for those
who endure temptation. So as students we should never feel that our walk with God is
weak when we face temptation. James shows us three critical aspects of temptation:
I.
Three Critical Aspects of Temptation
A. Temptation does not come from God.
James 1:13 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’ for
God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
B. We face more temptation when we focus on our desires.
James 1:14 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own
desires and enticed.”
C. We fail with temptation because we give in to our desires.
James 1:15 – “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,
when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
If we are guaranteed to face temptation, then the real question we need to
answer is “How can we endure temptation?”
Let’s take a look at five ways that we can spring the trap of temptation.
II. Five Ways to Spring the Traps of Temptation
“Get out of Dodge!”
No doubt teenagers (and many teachers) will not know or remember the origin of
the quote. Dodge City, KS was a popular location for westerns. In short, it was
popularized by a western television show from the 50’s called Gunsmoke. The
sheriff used the line to tell villains to leave his town. He saw it as the best way for
them to stay out of trouble or stop making trouble in his town.
A. Avoid temptation altogether by removing ourselves from the situation.
Do you remember a time when you got in trouble and you thought, “If I just
would have been in another place—I wouldn’t have gotten in so much
trouble?”
What are some situations where you face temptation just by being there? [At
parties, at lunch table talking about people, alone with boyfriend or girlfriend]
Life Step – Lesson 6
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What’s one of the simplest ways that you can overcome a moment of
temptation in those situations? [Leave or get out of the room.]
[Ask a student to look up and read aloud Romans 13:14.]
How does this verse speak to this situational or locational kind of temptation?
[Have another student read the following verse.]
2 Timothy 2: 22 – “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow
anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and
enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”
B. Rely on Christ’s strength.
Let’s be honest. There are some things that tempt us that are harder to resist
than others. Just think about food. Chocolate, peanut butter, M & M’s,
Twizzlers, or ice cream [add your favorite food that you can’t resist]. When it
comes to food, everyone has cravings that push us to our temptation limits.
We have desires built into our skin that make it extremely hard to resist certain
temptations. Some may easily turn away from fried chicken (they hate to eat
meat off the bone). But it is hard to walk past a bowl of moose tracks ice
cream. Our personal cravings are creative and sneaky. What we crave is
always at war against what we know we should do.
Galatians 5:16-17 tells us: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do
the things that you wish.”
Only when we rely on Christ and His power at work in us, can we crave the
things that we know we should.
So secondly, we need to spring the traps by relying on Christ’s strength.
Listen to what 1 Corinthians 10:13 has to say: [Designate a student to read.]
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God
is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but
with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to
bear it.”
C. Recruit a new set of friends.
In the ninth grade a student broke his ankle in P.E. That afternoon five of his
buddies who were on his soccer team went behind K-mart and smoked without
him. Later the next week, He was called to the athletic director’s office with
them and questioned about what they had done. He was included in the
questioning because he normally hung around those guys. He was guilty by
association.
Have you ever gotten in trouble because you were hanging around people who
perpetually get into trouble?
As Christians, we are commanded by God’s Word to spend time together so
that we can help each other do good things.
Hebrews 10:24-25 instructs us to do the following:
Life Step – Lesson 6
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[Designate a student to read.]
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but
exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
One goal for us spending time together at church or in small groups is so that
we can cheer each other on to do what God teaches us in His Word and hold
each other accountable.
If you spend most of your time hanging around with, Face booking, or texting
teenagers who don’t care about what God cares about, then you will get caught
by the traps of temptation. It will be called “cool” by those so-called “friends.”
So remember, spring the traps by recruiting a new set of friends.
1 Corinthians 15:33 warns us, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts
good habits.’”
D. Reinforce our minds.
We get into trouble when we spend more time looking at or doing what we
want rather than what God wants us to look at or do. Just imagine you were
shopping for a car and you had $5,000 to spend. What kind of car would you
want to buy? [Give students time to respond but don’t let it go for more than
60 seconds.]
Now imagine that all the cars you looked at were $10,000 or more. If you
never looked at cars that were $5,000, you would probably buy a car that you
had to get a loan to buy. So it would cost you more than you could pay.
That’s exactly what happens with temptation. Someone has wisely said, “Sin
will take you further than you’d like to go, keep you longer than you’d like to
stay, and cost you more than you’d like to pay.” We are given opportunities to
have more fun than we can afford. Or we are tempted to do things that are the
opposite of what God’s Word tells us to do. Either way we go past the
boundaries when we try to determine what is right according to ourselves.
That’s why we have to look at God’s truth. Ultimately if we put good things
like the Bible inside our minds, good things will come out.
[Designate a student to read.]
Proverbs 4:23 – “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the
issues of life.”
After hearing this verse, where do you think temptation really comes from?
[Allow students to respond briefly.]
[Designate a student to read.]
James 1:14 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own
desires and enticed.”
What comes out of us is more important than what goes in us. But don’t ever
be fooled into thinking that what you put in won’t ever come out, especially if
it’s the wrong things. The business world calls it GIGO – Garbage In…
Garbage Out. That’s how we end up yielding to temptation.
[Designate a student to read.]
Life Step – Lesson 6
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John 8:31-32 – “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly
my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.’”
If we will do what Jesus said, then we will stand strong against temptation as it
will reinforce our minds.
E. Reposition Ourselves.
This last point is very simple. It has to do with where you hide when trouble
comes. When we were kids, we might have said, “my dad could beat up your
dad.” Although that may not be true, it helped us feel safer because we
believed that our dads would protect us in dangerous situations. Most dads
would run to protect their kids in a heartbeat! [Be alert to the fact that some in
your class might not have such a father/child relationship.]
When we face a storm of temptation, the safest place to be is as close to our
Heavenly Father as possible. But we can also stand on what He says. Both
ways give us courage and protect us in the shelter of His hands.
This means that we must start every day by repositioning ourselves behind
God: by reading His Word, and praying to Him.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us: “Don’t you know that those who do wrong will
have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who
indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes,
homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers–none
of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. There was a time when
some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away,
and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God
because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for
you.”
Applying God’s Truths
[Application points have been included throughout the lesson, but in closing you
should summarize the points of the lesson and challenge students to consider at least
one practical way they can conform their lives to the truths they have learned. Ask for
a student to volunteer to close the group in prayer.]
Bottom Line:
 Do I have any warning systems to let me know when I’m being lured into a
trap?
 What am I doing to make sure I don’t get smacked by temptation?
Let’s take two minutes and list three ways that we can spring the traps of temptation
this week using the five steps that we just talked about.
This week, as you read through James 3 and 4, ask God to show you ways that you can
live out your faith actively through what you do. The Christian life should be a
testimony to how we live it out in real life since “Faith without works is dead.”
Life Step – Lesson 6
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Staying Clean: Springing the Traps of Temptation
James 1:12-15
I.
Three Critical Aspects of Temptation
A. Temptation does
come from
.
James 1:13 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by
evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
B. We face
temptation when we focus on our
___.
James 1:14 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”
C. We
with temptation because we
our desires.
James 1:15 – “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings
forth death.”
II. Five Ways to Spring the Trap of Temptation
A.
temptation altogether by
___ ourselves from the
_______.
2 Timothy 2:22 instructs us to “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that
makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who
call on the Lord with pure hearts.”
B.
on
strength.
1 Corinthians 10:13 assures us that “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man;
but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
C.
a new set of
.
1 Corinthians 15:33 warns us, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”
D.
our
_______________.
John 8:31-32 encourages us that “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my
disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
E.
______________ ourselves.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us: “Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the
Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers,
adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers–none
of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. There was a time when some of you were just like that,
but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God. You have been made
right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.”
LIFE IMPRINT:
 Do I have any warning systems to let me know when I’m being lured into a trap?
 What am I doing to make sure I don’t get smacked by temptation?
This week, as you read through James 3 and 4, ask God to show you ways you can live
out your faith actively through what you do. The Christian life should be a testimony to
how we live it out in real life since “Faith without works is dead.”
Life Step – Lesson 6 (Student Worksheet)
Life Step – Lesson 6