Being ungodly is not easy! Being godly is not easy! There is no lifestyle that completely by-passes the reality of struggle! No matter what life a person chooses to live, the element of struggle will be involved! Any level of rejection of God will not make life easy! Any level of following God will not make life easy!
Stress the fact that there is no easy lifestyle. Any commitment to any lifestyle has struggles involved in the commitment to that lifestyle. There are always prices to be paid to maintain any lifestyle. Usually people decide by choosing the prices they personally find least demanding on their desires or expectations.
Following the ungodly principle and value of pleasure will not produce a lifetime of "fun and games". There surely is pleasure in some forms of evil (see Hebrews 11:25). The Bible does not deny that fact. What the Bible declares and illustrates is the fact that such pleasures are temporary. What God offers is a pleasure that occurs without end. The choice is not between pleasure and no pleasure. The choice is between a form of pleasure that is temporary and ends in destructive consequences, and a form of pleasure that is permanent and ends in eternal blessings. It is a choice between immediate, temporary gratification that results in destructive consequences, and delayed gratification that results in eternal blessings.
The primary question: is the objective of physical life physical pleasure? A sense of duty [prominent in the past; the concept of commitment to reasons that are bigger than your physical fulfillment or existence], a sense of mission, or a sense of sacrifice for a cause that will produce desirable changes in society and its focus are just a few forms of answers to the question concerning life's objective. Commonly the choice is not between "pleasure and no pleasure" but between forms of pleasure and the time table of when the chosen pleasure occurs.
As an illustration, consider the area of recreational addictions. From the testimony of many, it is intensely pleasurable to "get high." The adrenaline/chemically induced rush in addictive highs are, at first, incredibly fun. However, often that pleasure disappears rather quickly. That which goes up must come down. The going up and reaching the high is a pleasurable experience. The coming down is horrible, and "hitting bottom" is a grotesque experience. Have you ever heard anyone talk about how wonderful their hangover experience was?
This is only one illustration. It was chosen because most people are familiar with recreational addiction within the context of their own family experiences. Surely feel free to use your own illustration.
While the "highs" are temporarily fun and often involve an accompanying "thrill" atmosphere, there is a horrible down side. Anyone who actually watched a person "hit bottom" and witnessed that despair [saw the problem from the inside] knows the down side is so bad it defies a word description. What began as "innocent fun" commonly ends as an unthinkably bad experience.
That which began as a "fun experience" often ends in despair. Do not overextend the illustration. Remember some people experiment without becoming addicted. These people recognize undesirable consequences coming before the consequences occur, and they stop the potentially consequential behavior. For example, not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic. Some, when they realize their drinking is heading in the alcoholic direction, give up drinking long before they are controlled and dominated by the drive to drink. When we exaggerate a problem and its consequences, we destroy our creditability.
The realities of the down side need sober consideration. (1) If you have something to contribute, you are welcome to be part of the party. However, when you have nothing to contribute [youth, money, an attractive body, valued connections, etc.] you are not welcome to be part of the party. (2) What began as fun, enslaves. No one likes a slave! Who needs a walking, talking reminder of what can [and likely will] happen? (3) There are the problems of deception, loss of money, loss of health, or loss of the company of friends. Is there any comparison between the desirability of a party scene and the loneliness of a "flop house" experience? Many addictions that began in the deceptive thrills of the party scene end in a "flop house." (4) It is common for there to be thefts, pretenses, and the sale of one's body. (5) There often is the self-loathing and self-contempt. (6) There often is the chase of the impossible "high" that is only a memory. Often more and more does less and less. (7) What began as the pursuit of fun often ends in a desperate attempt to escape from the induced reality. (8) That does not even begin to deal with sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and the lost personal hope for a future that includes a secure marriage and home. (9) Nor does it deal with the prices to be paid in recovery if the recovery experience is even an option.
These are just some common undesirable consequences of addictive behavior occurring in a recreational context. The more the class can share specific consequence incidents, the more real the problem will be.
Are there prices to be paid in living a godly life? Yes! Do those prices sometimes include significant physical losses? Yes! Can a commitment to be godly become depressing? Yes! Can godly people decide godliness "is not worth the cost?" Yes!
Do not deny that there are consequences to godly living. Jesus, many of the apostles, and several in the early church lost their lives for having faith in God. The concept that everything will be physically okay if we commit to God through Jesus Christ is an American concept, not a Christian concept. Physical blessings may or may not occur in a faith commitment to God through Christ. Christians in third world countries understand that reality much better than do American Christians.
Consider today's text. This lesson accepts the following to be the background of the text: The statement [as well as the book] is directed to Jewish people who decided early as Christianity developed to become Christians. Their faith that Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham initially produced incredible commitment. However, the cost was not paid all at once. The price of no longer being a part of one's people was "too much" to pay.
The context in the book of Hebrews focused on Christians who were struggling to keep faith in Jesus Christ. They were close to deciding that the cost of being faithful to Jesus Christ was too expensive.
First you are asked to note the actions of those troubled Christians in their "former days" as converts to Christ. The fact that they were "enlightened" is taken to mean that they were genuinely converted to Jesus Christ. They understood that he came from God and was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. As an evidence of the genuineness of their conversion to Jesus Christ, they "endured a great conflict of suffering."
Those people had been genuinely, seriously converted to the resurrected Jesus Christ. Stress the fact that they were quite serious in their conversion.
What kind of suffering did they endure because they placed their faith in Jesus Christ? (1) They endured the ridicule of being a public spectacle through public humiliation and abuse. (2) They were unashamed of their ties with the abused. (3) They showed sympathy to those imprisoned for faith in Jesus Christ. (4) They endured the confiscation of their property with joy. These people had been seasoned, committed, sacrificial Christians!
Make these past forms of suffering those Christians endured real to your students. Help your students place themselves in those circumstances.
Second, note they were not yet abandoned by God! In fact, they are encouraged to realize (1) their confidence in Jesus had great reward; (2) they needed to endure; and (3) God's promises were still theirs. These were Christians who were no longer assembling with Christians (10:25)! They were not "run off"! They were encouraged to come back!
Stress the fact that though they were struggling, God had not abandoned them. Discuss why that understanding is deeply important to a struggling Christian.
Third, note the confidence expressed in them. "You are not the kind of people who quit and give up! You are the kind of people whose faith will not quit!" The objective was to redeem them, bring them back, encourage them, renew them. Christians do not destroy Christians who disappoint them! Instead, Christians challenge struggling Christians to renew faith in Christ. Christians seek to make struggling Christians want to be a part of the Christian community! If God will forgive and save, who are we to discourage?
Stress the confidence the writer expressed in those struggling Christians. His encouragement was even bigger than his previous chastisements! What lessons should the church [that exists to be a Christian community] learn from that fact?
Do not fail to note the motives of the faithful or the renewal of motives in those who had been faithful but were struggling. God's commitment is to salvation, not to destroying! (Remember 1 Timothy 1:15; 2 Peter 3:9.) In the same way, God's people seek to encourage the struggling rather than to alienate the struggling. God supplies our motive. It is the motivation to save, not to destroy.
Our motives to belong to God will change when we realize God's serious commitment to save us. When we note God's hesitance to give up on us, we become more hesitant to give up on ourselves. If God is committed to us, we can be committed to God.
For Thought and Discussion:
Neither the godly nor ungodly lifestyle is easy. Struggle is part of any lifestyle.
Following the ungodly principles and values of pleasure will not produce a lifetime of "fun and games."
Consult the nine things to consider in paragraph five of the lesson. Make those suggestions [and others you might wish to add] real by using illustrations. Be careful not to "target" a person or current situation with your illustrations.
They were "enlightened." They responded to Jesus Christ on the basis of understanding.
They were encouraged to remember their past Christian behavior had a good reward. The reward had not yet been forfeited. God's promises still belonged to them.
The writer expressed confidence in them. They were not the kind of people who quit. [Note his commitment to redeem them rather than drive them away.]
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 10