turn and go home

These are my speaker notes for a message I gave to sixth graders at Midway. It was a pretty interactive one — props, drawings, a guided prayer activity — so you'll find asterisked stage directions throughout.

Series: “Access Granted” on the Lord’s Prayer.

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Hey everybody! I’ve got a question for you to start out: has anyone here ever broken something and then tried to hide it?

It usually only makes things worse, but it’s a natural instinct - to hide something when you’ve messed up. We sin, we cover up - it’s the human way.

Now I want us to hold this in our minds as we go back to the Lord’s prayer again. That’s what we talked about last week and this week we’ll continue talking about Jesus’s example of how his followers should pray. Remember, Jesus was trying to correct the posture and heart of people as they prayed.

I find that kind of encouraging - even back then they were having a hard time with prayer! It’s something we have to learn, guys. It’s ok to feel like a beginner.

So here’s the prayer again in the New Living Translation. It’s a poem, it’s intentionally short. And it’s meant to be a guide for us.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

Now the highlighted portion is what we’re going to focus on this week. Jesus is directing us to ask forgiveness for what we’ve done wrong. And in the Luke version of this prayer he starts by saying, “when you pray, say…” Who was Jesus talking to? His disciples! That’s right, and his disciples were men and women in this ancient Hebrew culture who would’ve been praying three times a day as part of their religious practices. This was an established rhythm already.

So when Jesus was telling his disciples to ask forgiveness for their sin, it was going to be three times a day! Why? Is he saying we need to get saved as often as we can? What if we forget to confess something, what does that mean? Are we still saved?

Here we’ve got to pause and clarify: Romans 8 says those who are in Christ Jesus cannot be condemned even by our sins. Because of this verse and tons of others like it, we know that dealing with our sin as Christians is no longer about what happens after we die (because of Christ, this is secure!). But is IS about our hearts. How we receive and give love in the world.

Ok so now that we’ve got that settled, let’s talk about our feelings for a second. When we we mess up — when we lie or hurt someone or do something we know is wrong — what do we feel? {answers from the room: guilty, sad, frustrated, nervous}

There are actually two very different feelings that can happen. And I want to split them apart because one of them is from God, and one of them is a weapon of the enemy.

Guilt says: I did something bad. That's actually useful. It's uncomfortable, but it can push you toward making it right. The religious word we use here is [“conviction”].

Shame says: I am bad. Not "I did a thing" — "I AM the thing." And shame doesn't push you toward anything good— it is completely unproductive. It’s actually an identity attack that just makes you want to disappear. Does this sound familiar to you guys?

Shame needs two things to survive: secrecy and silence. It grows in the dark. It whispers — don’t tell anyone. They’ll think differently of you. God is probably mad at you, disappointed in you. Raise your hand if those thoughts sound familiar to you.

Now, those are all lies, of course, but they’re pretty convincing lies!

Alright, drawing a waterfall now I’ve talked about this before — what is God’s love like? It’s like a waterfall. Constant. Powerful. It doesn’t slow down when you mess up. It never stops. It just keeps on pouring, like it always has.

Now this sponge holding up a car-wash sponge is like your heart. When your heart is soft — open like this sponge — what’s gonna happen to it when you hold it up under the waterfall? It soaks up that water - it gets so full of water that it starts dripping everywhere. That is what is looks like to be full of God’s love — it overflows onto the people around you.

But here’s what sin does turns over sponge and shows an embedded rock. It’s not always dramatic. Maybe it’s something you did that you’ve never told anyone. Maybe it’s a habit you’re ashamed of. Each one - slowly - turns a part of that soft heart to stone.

Now, the waterfall hasn’t slowed down! God’s love for you is exactly the same. But in your heart, there’s now a hardened place that can’t absorb what’s being poured out.