October 19, 2017
Well, we started our new ‘series’ at youth group last night, and to be honest, it was tough. I don’t mean that in a bad sense, but I mean it in a “I feel like I just got smacked with hard theology” sort of way. As you know, for the next couple of months, I’ll be addressing student’s questions at youth group. We addressed the first one last night: If God has already decided my fate, why am I held responsible for my actions?
To summarize, we started with the caveat that I won’t be able to fully answer all of these questions, and that my goal is not to make every student hold the same theological convictions as me. Instead, we turned to the Word and looked at examples of where God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility are both clearly seen. In short, we looked at God’s use of Assyria against Jerusalem in Isaiah 10:5, and subsequently, His punishment of the King of Assyria for doing the works that He decreed for them to do. In Acts 2, Paul preaches that God sovereignly delivered up Jesus to be crucified, and that Jesus was delivered up by the hands of the Jews in the same sentence. In John 3, Jesus tell’s Nicodemus that he must be born again by the act of the Spirit (God’s work), and then later says that he must believe in Jesus to be saved. Lastly, we looked at Romans 9, where Paul asks the same question that we’re asking, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” (v.19) and he responds by saying “Who are [we] to answer back to God?.” This was where we ended. God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are both parallel truths that we see in scripture, and on this side of heaven, we will never understand where the two lines intersect. As 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been known fully.” As Bible believing Christians, we must let God be God, for He is the potter and we are the clay.
I really encourage you to ask your students about last night’s study. In every small group there was great discussion happening, and awesome questions being asked. I really think that with the response of last night, if you were to probe and study this subject with your students in the coming days, both you and your students would benefit greatly.
I am praying that you and your students would see and know the heights and depths of His love for you this week.
Categories: Youth Night Updates, Youth Tough Questions