WPFBC YOUTH Sunday School Lesson for January 12, 2014 Unit 2 Session 6 - Does Life Have Meaning...

8/13/2019 WPFBC YOUTH Sunday School Lesson for January 12, 2014 Unit 2 Session 6 - Does Life Have Meaning Without Go

1/12

WINTER 2013-14: Personal Study GuideEd StetzerGeneral EditorTrevin WaxManaging Editor

TM


2/12

2 TGP Personal Study Guide

THE GOSPEL PROJECT FOR STUDENTS

PERSONAL STUDY GUIDE, WINTER 2013-14

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2

PRODUCTION AND MINISTRY TEAM

VICE PRESIDENT, CHURCH RESOURCES: Eric Geiger

GENERAL EDITOR: Ed Stetzer

MANAGING EDITOR: Trevin Wax

CONTENT EDITOR: Andy McLean

DIRECTOR, STUDENT MINISTRY PUBLISHING: Jeff Pratt

DIRECTOR, STUDENT MINISTRY: Ben Trueblood

Send questions/comments to: Content Editor, The Gospel Project f or Students Personal Study Guide,

One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234-0174, Or make comments on the Web at www.lifeway.com

Printed in the United States of America

The Gospel Project for Students(ISSN 1939-0742; Item 005508013) is published quar terly by LifeWay Chris tian Resources,

One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN 37 234, Thom S. Rainer, President. 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources.

For ordering or inquiries, visit www.lifeway.com or write LifeWay Church Resources Customer Ser vice,

One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234-0113. For subscriptions or subscription address changes,

e-mailsubscrib [email protected], fax (615) 251-5818, or write to the above address. For bulk shipments mai led quarterly to one

address, e-mail [email protected],fax (615) 251-5933, or write to the above address.

We believe that the Bible has God for its author; salvation for its end; and truth, without any mix ture of error, for its matter

and that all Scripture is totally true and tru stworthy. To review LifeWays doctrinal guideline,

please visit www.lifeway.com/doctrinalguideline .

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999,

2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers . Used by per mission. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are f rom the

Holy Bible, New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Societ y.

Scripture q uotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Photos: iStockphoto and Getty Images


3/12



4/12

5WINTER 2013-14

UNIT 2

The Big Questions

EVERYONE EVERYWHERE WANS HEIR LIVES to be filled with meaning. Te gravethought that life entails absolute purposelessness would lead most to bitter despair. Yet how do weestablish that our lives actually have meaning? Where do we get the grounding to establish meaningand/or purpose?

A house needs a solid foundation in order for it to stand firm. When a person attempts to sell ahouse, they usually have trouble if the foundation is cracked or unstable. It is equally importantto establish a foundation for the structural soundness of the belief that our individual lives have

meaning and purpose.Jesus taught that a firm foundation is built on belief in God. He didnt teach this as one

alternative to many others. He taught it as the only structurally sound option. ake a moment toread the parable of the two builders in Matthew 7:24-27.

How great a collapse we will experience when we try to live our lives on structurally unsoundbeliefs! Tink of all the fruitless efforts of chasing after things we believe will give us meaning andpurpose in life that will fail us due to faulty foundations. Tink of the times that this chasing hascaused us to hurt someone else during our pursuit.

God is the grounding for meaning and purpose because He purposefully created us! God isthe only trustworthy foundation because He is perfectly good. Remember the problem with the

house foundation? It cannot be trusted if it is not perfectly good. Te same thing is true for findingmeaning and purpose somewhere outside of a perfectly good foundationit cannot be trusted.

JESUS DESCRIBED A HOUSE BUILT ON THE ROCK VERSUS A HOUSEBUILT ON THE SAND. WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE? HOW DOES A FIRMFOUNDATION STABILIZE A STRUCTURE? HOW DOES A FIRM FOUNDATIONIN GOD STABILIZE OUR BELIEF THAT OUR LIVES ARE INFUSED WITHMEANING AND PURPOSE?


5/12


SESSION 6

DOES LIFE HAVE MEANINGWITHOUT GOD?

The atheistic worldview puts forth a view of reality where

things like meaning to life, salvation, and any notions of

good and evil do not exist. It is a view of reality that has

humans being cosmic accidents in a universe of pitiless

indifference. It is the inevitable view of a universe that is

void of the Creator, or life apart from God. If God is not present, then

life is meaningless, void of any real source of meaning. Of course, that

is not to say that atheists and others live as though there is no meaning

to lifecertainly they do. However, their living is inconsistent with their

worldview on this point.

Solomon wrote about this in Ecclesiastes. And as Solomon looked for

purpose and meaning in a world void of God, he concluded that life is

meaninglessthat is, if there is no God. Solomon then goes on to show

how the biblical worldview, life under heaven, sheds light on the fact

that it is only through Gods existence that life can have true meaning

and purpose.

This week we will answer the skeptic who believes that life can have

ultimate meaning apart from God. We will also show why the death

and resurrection of Jesus is necessary for redemption, forgiveness, and

meaning in this life. This study is for those who have struggled with or

know others struggling with the question of Gods existence and ourpurpose in this world.


6/12

READY YOUR HEART

5WINTER 2013-14

Ecclesiastes 3:16-20 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, eventhere was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I

said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every

matter and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is

testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to

the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the

other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is

vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED how depressing the news can be? It seems as thoughalmost every time we turn on the TV, read a newspaper, or log onto social media we

are confronted with some form of devastating news. And most of the time the news isrelated to how we, as human beings, have treated, or rather mistreated, one another.There are stories of mass destruction and bombings from terrorists. Genocide and

gendercide have been used by those in power to accomplish their evil purposes with noregard for the value of people made in the image of God. Or what about the countless

babies around the world who are aborted every day? Those persons have no voice withwhich to cry out for help. It can be very painful to live in a world where so much hurt

takes place. And it most certainly would seem meaningless if the victims of such evilreceived no justice.

Unfortunately, our world is broken because of sin and too often we see thatjustice does not always prevail. The culprit is not caught or the act goes unpunished. It

would seem as though sometimes there are no consequences for wicked actions andtherefore it does not matter if you choose good or evil. If that were the case, our worldwould be a very sad place to live if God did not exist. Thankfully, Gods existence gives

us the assurance that our lives do have a purpose and that our actions do matter. Wedesire that justice be administered because we serve a God who always does what is

good and right. Therefore, we should be encouraged to live in such a way that honorsGod. And let us rest in the truth that one day He will set all things right.

JUSTICE BELONGS TO THE LORD

PAUSE AND REFLECT Explain how God will ultimately bring justice to all the evil

committed. (Hint: see Matthew 25: 31-46) Why should we live in such a way that our actions

do matter? How can God use the evil actions of others for good? (See

Genesis 50:20)


7/12


READY YOUR HEART

Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. Andbehold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of

their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought

the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But

better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done

under the sun.

A FEW YEARS AGO my husband and I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.If you have ever been then you know of the intense imagery that surrounds you as you

tour the museum. Piles of shoes, glasses, clothes, and other personal items give you aglimpse into the immense tragedy of this horrid event. Pictures and stories of those in

concentration camps can be quite overwhelming as you begin to grasp the intense evilof the holocaust.

Now, imagine you have traveled back in time to Nazi Germany. The year is 1941 and

you are living in one of the worst concentration camps during that timeAuschwitz.All around you is the smell, sight, and fear of death. Here you are in the heart of the

Holocaust where the presence of evil is so prevalent you are stricken with terror. Duringyour time there you witness over one million people being killed because they werehated for their race, religious beliefs, or even their physical appearance. Witnessing the

extent of such evil may bring some to question the existence of God.Even though we are not first hand witnesses of the holocaust, evil is still present

today. And the presence of evil does not disprove Gods existence. On the contrary, it

strengthens the truth that God is real. If evil exists then good must also exist becauseevil is the absence of goodness. And if goodness exists, it must be grounded in theabsolute goodness and character of God

Sadly, evil is here on earth because through sin we have rejected the goodness of God.Yet, we can rejoice that we serve a God who is good and who, through His mercy, provideda way for evil to be destroyed once and for all. Though evil may prevail for a time, take

refuge in Jesus, who promises that one day he will wipe away every tear (Rev. 21:4).

PAUSE AND REFLECT Why do you think people may use evil to disprove God?

Why does this not work? How does Jesus bring hope to the evil we face today? Explain how you could encourage someone to trust in

Jesus even in the midst of a tragedy.

EVIL DEEDS AND A GOOD GOD


8/12

READY YOUR HEART

5WINTER 2013-14

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can someof you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead,

then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is

in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we

testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are

not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not

been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen

asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people

most to be pitied.

WHEN I WAS A FIRST YEAR COLLEGE STUDENT, I really began to question my purpose

on this earth. Here I was thrown into this world of academia where I was pressured toimmediately declare a major that would direct the next 4 years of my life and perhapseven the years to come. Ive always wanted to live a life of purpose and meaning, but I

often struggled with what exactly that would look like. And isnt college where you are toannounce who you are and what your purpose on this earth will be? Eventually, I chose a

major. However, I continued to wrestle with the question, What am I going to do with my lifethat will bring worth and purpose to my existence?

It wasnt until my junior year that I began to understand the truth that my worth andpurpose are not found in my major or occupation. Instead, I came to realize that my value

and reason for existence is directly connected to who I am in Jesus. Unfortunately, for somepeople, they do not feel as though their lives really matter. They see life as just a series of

events that take place which eventually lead to death. Thankfully though, our lives holdvalue and meaning because we have been created for a specific purpose.

You see, our value and purpose are not found in our occupations, looks, income,

popularity, etc. Rather, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is what brings value andpurpose to our lives. God gave us value and worth when He chose to redeem us from death

and sin. He counted us to be incredibly precious when He sacrificed His one and only Sonfor our sakes. And because of Jesus, our lives have also been given a worthy purpose. Nowwe understand that our mission is to make much of Jesus as we proclaim Him to be our

greatest treasure.

OUR MEANING AND MISSION

THROUGH JESUS

PAUSE AND REFLECT

When was a time you have struggled to find your purpose? Explain how the death and resurrection of Jesus holds the

ultimate hope for our value and purpose. How might you offer encouragement to someone who

feels their life has no worth or meaning?


9/12

Apart from God...If you give it some thought, you will come to realize that lifecan have no ultimate meaning apart from God. Also, Godsexistence is necessary for things like justice and good and evil toexist as well. Well explore some of these issues here, while alsoshow why the death and resurrection of Jesus is necessary for

redemption, forgiveness, and meaning in this life.

Without justicefrom God,mankindsactions couldntbe considered asbetter or worsethan those of thebeasts.

There is No Goodor Evil.Removing God as Creator notonly removes ultimate meaningand purpose from which mankindderives values, but it also entailsremoval of the grounding for whatwe call evil.

What is true ofthe universe andof the human raceis also true of usas individuals. IfGod does notexist, then you arejust a miscarriageof nature, thrustinto a purposelessuniverse to live apurposeless life. William Lane Craig

Have you ever considered theimplications of a universe thatis void of God? What wouldthat look like?

If God ultimately judges humanbeings, it means that humans arethe sort of thing that is worthy ofbeing judged. The idea of judgmentassumes that people are responsibleand important, that their actionshave real consequences. We reflectthis idea through our court systems.People are brought to trial becauseit is assumed they are capable andresponsible for their actions.

If life ends at thegrave, then it makesno difference whetherone has lived as a

Stalin or as a saint.Since ones destiny isultimately unrelatedto ones behavior, you

may as well just live asyou please.William Lane Craig

There isNo Justice.

If there is no God, then thegreat evils that we findobjectionable are just theway the world is under thesun. In what ways doesbelieving in God provide uswith the tools to distinguishright from wrong?

How do you think Christianityprovides help and purpose tothose who are suffering underthe hands of unjust people?


10/12

As Solomon rightly notes, in auniverse void of God, there isno authority for establishingwhat is good and evil. Thosewith power do as they please.C. S. Lewis, who was once an

atheist because he believedthe universe to be cruel andunjust, came to realize thisover time. He realized thatthe existence of good and evilwas pointing toward God, notaway from Him.

There is NoMeaning to Life.One of the most important ways God hascommunicated that human life has meaning, value, andpurpose was through the work of Jesus in His death andresurrection. If we lived in a universe void of a savior, theresult would be no possibility of redemption. Withoutthe resurrection of Jesus as an actual event of history,we have no Redeemer of our sins. There is no place toground real redemption.

Conclusion Ideas have consequenAccording to an atheistic worldview, there is no ultimmeaning or value to life and that people are merely seas collections of atoms in a vast universe that displaypitiless indifference to what happens to them. Howevfor the Christian worldview, creation is intentional, noaccidental. Life displays meaning and purpose becaulife was intentionally designed by God, who created min His image.

Why is it impossible to pursue meaning in life apartfrom God?

When we hurtpeople, destroylives, inflict pain, wecarry these sinswith us the rest ofour lives. Then wedie. In a hopelessuniverse like this,our situation wouldbe total despair.

How could youdescribe theimportance of theexistence of God a

a basis for meaninand purpose tosomeone whothinks life hasmeaning withoutGod?

Being the creation of God means thatyou and I were intentionally made; weeach have purpose. The worth of a humanis shown beautifully through Jesusteaching. He described the Creator of theUniversethe kind of being who can makestars powerful like our sunas knowingthe number of hairs on your head.

How does the caring nature of Godimpact the way we think about ourmission as Christians? In what waysdoes our view of human value reinforceour efforts to share the gospel?


11/12


ENCORE

1. THERE IS NO JUSTICE (ECCL. 3:16-20).

King Solomon was considered to be one of the wisest of all men in history. Because of his greatwisdom, Solomon knew that apart from God, all human wisdom and effort is meaningless.

As Solomon looked for meaning in the world, he considered how people treated one another.He imagined a world without Gods justice in the afterlife. Without justice from God, mankindsactions couldnt be considered as better or worse than those of the beasts. Solomons reasoning forthis conclusion was because in the end we would all go to the same end: death, and the end of ourexistence (v. 20). As Christian philosopher William Lane Craig notes, If life ends at the grave, thenit makes no difference whether one has lived as a Stalin or as a saint. Since ones destiny is ultimately

unrelated to ones behavior, you may as well just live as you please.However, if God ultimately judges human beings, it means that humans are the sort of thing

that is worthy of being judged. Te idea of judgment assumes that people are responsible andimportant, that their actions have real consequences. We reflect this idea through our court systems.People are brought to trial because it is assumed they are capable and responsible for their actions.Terefore, they are judged accordingly. Conversely, the absence of Gods judgment upon mankind

would suggest that we are not responsible beings, no more responsible than animals. We couldinjure and murder or nurture and love, but in the end nothing would be of any consequence.Solomon described that situation as vanities of vanities. Tis is because if there is no judgment forhumanity, then his life is of no consequence and further of no meaning.

2. THERE IS NO GOOD OR EVIL (ECCL. 4:1-3).

Removing God as Creator not only removes ultimate meaning and purpose from which mankindderives values, but it also entails removal of the grounding for what we call evil. Evil becomes justa part of everything under the sun. In a universe void of God, there is no authority for establishing

what is good and evil. Tose with power do as they please. Solomons conclusion was that it wouldbe better to never exist in a world without God due to the amount of evil and suffering under thesun! For him, there is so much oppression in this world that a person would question whether or notit was better to exist if this is all there is.

C. S. Lewis was once an atheist because he believed the universe to be cruel and unjust. But over

time, he realized that the existence of good and evil was pointing toward God, not away from Him.Lewis wrote: How had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unlesshe has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed tobe part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he fallsinto water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course I could have givenup my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, thenmy argument against God collapsed toofor the argument depended on saying that the world wasreally unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Tus in the very act of trying to

DOES LIFE HAVE MEANING WITHOUT GOD?

Apart from God...

by Mary Jo Sharp


12/12

5WINTER 2013-14

ENCORE

prove that God did not existin other words, that the whole of reality was senselessI found I wasforced to assume that one part of realitynamely my idea of justicewas full of sense. Consequentlyatheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have foundout that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures

with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.

3. THERE IS NO MEANING TO LIFE (1 COR. 15:12-19).

One of the most important ways God has communicated that human life has meaning, value,and purpose was through the work of Jesus in His death and resurrection. Paul emphasized theconnection between an actual resurrection, faith in God, and forgiveness of sin. He began by sayingthat if there is no actual resurrection of the dead, then the faith weve placed in Jesus is useless. Sometranslations say that your faith is in vain. Remember Solomons findings on the meaning of life ifthere is no God? He found all to be in vain, vanity of vanities. In a similar thought, if there is noresurrection of the dead, then our hope in Jesus is just vanity of vanitiesmeaningless.

Notice the importance the apostle Paul placed on the absolute reality of the resurrection. Jesusmust have actually risen from the dead for our faith to be worth anything. Why? Te object of ourfaith must be worthy of that faith. For example, it wouldnt make much sense for me to place myfaith in a chair with broken legs, no matter how much I wished it to be worthy of my faith. Tereality is that if the chair is not worthy, I cannot trust it to hold me up. So if Jesus didnt actually risefrom the dead, then He is not worthy of our trust.

Interestingly enough, Paul not only emphasized the reality of Jesus historical resurrection, buthe also focused on what the resurrection means for humankind. Paul explained that if Christ hasntbeen raised from the dead, we are still in our sins. Tis is the reality we must face in a universe voidof a savior: no possibility of redemption. Without the resurrection of Jesus as an actual event of

history, we have no Redeemer of our sins. Te source of the redemption is found in the historicalresurrection of Jesus.Instead of leaving us to our fate of death and destruction, instead of declaring us a cosmic

orphan, God redeems His good creation because it has value. Tis is not value that can obtain byaccidently arising out of a purposeless universe. Being the creation of God means that you and I wereintentionally made; we each have purpose.

CONCLUSION

If all is meaninglessness, nothing has meaningneither our sin, nor our own lives. Its a doublestandard to want your life to be infused with meaning and purpose but want your sin to be

meaningless and insignificant. If it is true that we have meaning and purpose, then so do ourthoughts and actions.Tese are vastly different worldviews that have far reaching implications for how we understand

and live our lives. If there is no God, I am an accident of the universe and my creation has no reason.But because God does exist and created me in His image, then I am no accident and my creationdoes have reason. I have to accept these basic tenets in order to properly consider both views and

what they mean for life. Yet it should be noted that only the personal Creator worldview fits with theunderstanding that humans have value, meaning, and purpose and should be treated as such.

WPFBC YOUTH Sunday School Lesson for January 12, 2014 Unit 2 Session 6 - Does Life Have Meaning...

Documents

Transcript of WPFBC YOUTH Sunday School Lesson for January 12, 2014 Unit 2 Session 6 - Does Life Have Meaning...