A Not So Mighty Fortress 9/6/09
Review: Isaiah 50:10-11 and ask someone to explain.
Key Verses: Proverbs 4:20-27, Psalm 24, Matthew 19:16-24
Activity: Matching defense mechanisms with a certain animal. Break up into 4 teams. Give each team a description of the defense mechanism and they match it with the creature hung on the wall. Winning team gets some prize.
Skunk: Spray stinky musk that can cause temporary blindness.
Opossum: They can play dead by placing themselves in a semi-comatose state which removes all excitement of a kill for the predator. They can also foam at the mouth and emit a green stinky fluid.
Potato Beetle: They cover themselves with their own poop to avoid being eaten.
Malaysian Ant: Flexes abdomen and explodes releasing poison from a special gland.
Sea Cucumber: Can turn into a liquid or a solid: A liquid to squeeze into tight spots for protection. Once there they turn into a solid to avoid being extracted.
Hagfish: Excretes a suffocating slime that engulfs predator. Unfortunately they often engulf themselves as well.
Hairy Frog: Breaks its own legs to turn out a wicked set of catlike claws with which to defend itself.
Bombardier Beetle: Sprays boiling hot and chemically toxic bodily fluids at its predator.
Horned Lizard: Pressures its own sinus cavity until blood vessels burst and then spays attacker with blood from its own eyes.
Activity Discussion:
What is a defense mechanism?
Which one of the defense mechanisms above were the craziest? Grossest? Coolest? Most effective? Least effective?
Do the defense mechanisms these creatures use protect them completely? Or are they still injured themselves?
What do you think about the fact that their defense mechanisms hurt sometimes kill themselves?
-I thought the coolest and most effective was the sea cucumber. The ability of the sea cucumber to survive depended upon the structure it hid within. It was transformed and became like the rock it hid within. All the others relied upon themselves for survival but most of them can only temporarily fend the enemy off. And almost all of them seriously injure themselves in the process. But I see no possible way that the sea cucumber can be killed as long as it remains a part of the rock.
-We have a similar opportunity. Humans use all kinds of defense mechanisms…but the most effective is to run to Jesus, be transformed and remain in him. There is no way that the enemy can defeat us as long as we remain a part of the rock.
-I’m a psychology guy so I looked up some human defense mechanisms also. Some of them hit really close to home…and the damage I’ve done to myself as a result was disturbing as well.
-Defense Mechanism- are psychological strategies brought into play by various entities to cope with reality and to maintain self-image.
-is to protect the self from anxiety, social sanctions or to provide a refuge from a situation with which one cannot currently cope.
Examples:
Denial: Refusal to accept external reality because it is too threatening; arguing against an anxiety-provoking stimulus by stating it doesn't exist; resolution of emotional conflict and reduction of anxiety by refusing to perceive or consciously acknowledge the more unpleasant aspects of external reality.
Fantasy: Tendency to retreat into fantasy in order to resolve inner and outer conflicts.
Projection: attributing one's own unacknowledged unacceptable/unwanted thoughts and emotions to another; prejudice, jealousy.
Somatization: The transformation of negative feelings towards others into negative feelings toward self, pain, illness, and anxiety.
Acting out: Direct expression of an unconscious wish or impulse in action, without conscious awareness of the emotion that drives that expressive behavior.
Idealization: Unconsciously choosing to perceive another individual as having more positive qualities than he or she may actually have.
Displacement: redirecting emotion to a safer outlet; in order to avoid dealing with what is frightening or threatening.
Reaction Formation: behavior that is completely the opposite of what one really wants or feels; taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety.
Suppression: The conscious process of pushing thoughts into the preconscious; the conscious decision to delay paying attention to an emotion or need in order to cope with the present reality; making it possible to later access uncomfortable or distressing emotions while accepting them.
Altruism: Constructive service to others that brings pleasure and personal satisfaction
-Like I said, some of these really hit close to home (Altruism/Denial). I always wondered why I didn’t have any close friends. I didn’t even realize that I surrounded myself with people that I could help rather than those who could speak into the aspects of my life that needed to change. In order to fix the problem that I was denying existed, I helped people.
-Projection is another that I use. I just recently understood the phrase, Judge not lest ye be judged. Yeah its God talking about those who withhold mercy, they will be judged harshly. But also I noticed that I’m quick to notice a fault in someone else that I myself have! I know what it looks like in me so I can quickly see it in someone else.
-Fantasy: I used to play video games a lot…I could be the champ…recent struggle with wanting television to cure my loneliness.
-Countless examples: Suppression, displacement, Idealization, acting out.
All of these may have helped me short term, but I didn’t realize that I was really hurting myself.
Each defense mechanism became a brick in the wall I was building to keep people out. As it turned out I was keeping God out too.
Biblical Example: Matthew 19:16-24: The Rich Young Ruler.
V20: Righteous according to the standards of the law: Noticed there was still something missing..He didn’t fell safe for some reason…defense mechanism of wealth wasn’t strong enough. He asked, “What do I still lack?”
V21-22: Couldn’t give all his wealth away and follow Jesus. His mind was with Jesus, he knew that’s what he needed…but he was unwilling to allow his wall of safety to be dismantled. He was unwilling to give Jesus his heart and rely on him.
-I don’t think this is necessarily about money, I think its about an inability to give trust in Jesus with all we are. I’m this man. Its too risky to trust Jesus with all I am. I’d rather trust in myself and do the right things.
-Talking to a friend a couple nights ago. He was telling me about a conversation with his brother. His brother was struggling with Christianity. He had a problem with a God who would send good people to hell, like Buddhists who are doing good. The problem is that they are not good…they have bricks, they have built walls to keep God and others out…Heaven is not about riches and earthly satisfaction its about connection to God…radical removal of all walls that stand between us and God. A Buddhist who “does good” doesn’t understand what Heaven is even about…just like this rich young ruler.
-Jesus actually answers this question.
V16-17: The man addresses Jesus as “good teacher”. Jesus say, “why do you ask me about what is good.” There is only one who is good.
-It doesn’t matter how “good” a person is…Jesus is the answer. Giving him your heart is the answer.
-Its hard when you come to this realization…I found myself sitting in my car and all I could see was this huge wall that I’d built over the course of 23 years…I had absolutely no idea how to get rid of it, how to have a relationship with Jesus or anyone else.
SONG: Then this song hit me hard…I want you to listen to it. Many of you have heard it in worship services. Its called He Loves Us:
“He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane. I am a tree bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. When all of the sudden, I’m unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, and I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me.
oh how he loves us so, oh how he loves us, how he loves us so.
He is our portion and we are his prize. Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes and if grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking. So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest. I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way…
He Loves us, oh how he loves us, oh how he loves us, oh how he loves…”
Explanation: I realized that my fear was a result of not knowing God’s love. I had a human perspective of love…I conditional perspective. God’s love is pure and powerful.
Small Group:
1st Verse:
-What are the characteristics of a hurricane? Get a couple good descriptions. Maybe ask everyone in the group to give one or two characteristics.
-Can you imagine being a palm tree in the middle of a hurricane? What would that feel like?
-How is God’s love like a hurricane? (Feel free to read the lyrics to them again)
-What does this lyric line mean? “All of the sudden, I’m unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me.”
(My interpretation: God’s goodness and beauty is great enough to overcome any fear or struggle. If we see just how much he loves us…why would we fear?)
2nd Verse:
-What would you consider a great prize?
-Have you thought about being Jesus’ prize? How does it make you feel that he values you in that way? He longs for you?
-What does this lyric mean? “I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way he loves us.”
(My Interpretation: God’s love is SOOOO Good, that having regret is a waste of time. Instead we should just run to him! and let him relieve our fear. be our defense.)
-Make sure you affirm the answers and willingness to answer and draw all students back together for closing.
Conclusion:
I finally realized that yeah, I had constructed a huge wall, but that my wall was no match for the love of God. All I had to do was turn it over to him.
-The song helped me realize that the love of God would destroy every brick that I had built as a defense against God and against people.
-And I wouldn’t have to be “afflicted” anymore because if I just looked at Jesus, his glory and beauty would totally overcome all the fear and the mess that I’d made of my life. And if I understood how great his affection is for me…then I would realize that this jealous God just wants my heart.
-The second verse was just as powerful. It is incredible to think that I’m God’s prize. Not only that but Jesus is my portion…the gift God has given me. Then I thought about how Jesus looks at me. I’m drawn to be different (drawn to redemption) by the grace in his eyes…just by the way he looks at me, I can see his love and know that turning it over to him is what I want.
-I’m fighter. The picture of an ocean being God’s grace is interesting. And I think I found myself fighting to stay above the surface rather than just letting myself sink in God’s grace. There’s something peaceful about just sinking in an ocean of God’s grace. Allowing it to pour over every last ounce of me and cleanse every impurity.
-I’d built up such a huge wall that I couldn’t feel God at all…feelings are not the most important thing but I do think that God wants to be felt. This was the first time I ever felt my heart turn violently inside of my chest…I’d kept it so tightly protected.
-But what I now understood was that God’s love is the real love, its pure, its unconditional. Its not based on whether or not a deserve it. Its based on the fact that his love is like a hurricane. Powerful to concur anything. I’m his prize. My heart is what he wants. Just like the rich young ruler…that’s what Jesus asked for.
-To be the defense mechanism we cling to. The sea cucumber has it together. It knows that hurting itself is not the way to save its own life…the only way to save its own life is to clime into a rock and cling to it…allow transformation to happen. We too need to let transformation happen, allow yourself to be impacted by the crazy crazy powerful love of Jesus.
Looking Ahead: This is the end of our first section. Next week we are going to RIOT and celebrate what God has started here. We’re also going to celebrate a testimony. Then the following week, we will dive into the nature of God which is love.
Personal Processing: Give everyone a chance to draw or write something that God is teaching or challenging them with.
Prayer and Dismissal:
