Adventures in Student Ministry

It was a great night in THP Students tonight. We kicked things off with an interesting game called Blind Spot. We started with one student blindfolded, standing across the room from a cup on the floor. Their only job was to walk forward and try to step on it, using nothing but instinct. Next, we raised the stakes by adding a second blindfolded player, and together they had to figure out how to get the first player to the cup. Watching two students who couldn’t see try to lead each other across the room was easily the funniest part of the day.

For the final round, one student remained blindfolded while the rest of the group called out directions such as “left,” “forward,” and “stop” to guide them in. It was a lot of fun, but it also had a purpose.

In Matthew 15, Jesus is confronted by a group of Pharisees who accuse Jesus and His disciples of breaking traditions. Jesus counters these accusations by pointing out how they have actually twisted the commandments of God for their own purposes! He points them back to Isaiah and says this in Matthew 15:7-9:

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” 

What they were doing was elevating their personal traditions (some of which started out with good intentions) over the actual words and heart of the scriptures. They made walking with God all about certain actions… missing the fact that these actions were about the transformation in our hearts and minds. He goes on to say this in 15:10-11

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Later in verses 17-20 He explains:

Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” 

So Jesus lays it out very clearly: actions that are meant to be Holy, while good, aren’t the end result. It’s the transformation that is supposed to take place that matters. You can act nice and do the right things, but if they don’t change your heart and mind, then they don’t mean a lot. What should the fruit of us walking with God be?

Let’s see what the Bible says in Galatians 5:22-26

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. 

So this is what is supposed to come out of the lives of us as followers of Jesus. But what was wrong with the Pharisees? Jesus describes them in Matthew 15:14 as this:

Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 

The problem with the Pharisees is that they were blind to their own faults and were prone to judging others, completely missing the transformational portion of the scriptures.  They knew the goal, but focused only on the parts they preferred and on what they could manipulate to control people, blind to the ultimate goal.

In our game we played, we were blindfolded. You knew, mostly, where the cup was that you needed to step on. But blinded, you had to rely on other things to get you to that goal. So what do we need to do to make sure we don’t miss the goal?

1. We need to be in the Bible correctly. If we aren’t reading our Bibles and applying them correctly, then we are missing the mark just like the Pharisees. We have to be willing to be corrected by the Scriptures and make the changes it calls for us to make.  Even if those changes mean giving up our own pride.
   
2. We need to be in prayer. If we aren’t talking with God, then it’s hard to have a real relationship with Him. Prayer is essential in our relationship with Him. And when we pray, we need to be mindful not to make it just about us and what we want, but pray for things like transformation in ourselves.
   
3. We need to be in community. We can’t isolate ourselves from others.  We need other brothers and sisters who are mature and willing not just to encourage us but to tell us the hard things. Hearing the hard things is how we grow. Pharisees separated themselves, even from other Jews. They assumed the moral high ground and refused to engage with anyone who didn’t affirm what they believed.