Today is the start of a new chapter in this churches’ history. And it all begins right now.
For the past year, I have been the youth pastor. But for the most part, we have not had a youth group. We have had about 10 teenagers who are friends. But we have never had a group.
Today that is going to change. Today we are going to become a group.
The first thing we must do is define the difference between a group and a bunch of individuals. So, what is the difference?
A group is multiple people working together for one common goal. It is 2 or more people who are all on the same page and all want the same thing.
A bunch of individuals are people all headed different directions. They are all living their own lives and doing their own thing. They don’t have any real commitment to a group.
Now, I am not saying that we are either one of those things. I think that we are somewhere in the middle.
And to be completely honest, this is about 90% my fault. As our leader, I have done a poor job of making us into a group.
Let me give you an example, what is our purpose? What is our youth group trying to do?
Let me read for you our purpose statement that I made a couple months after I got here. The purpose of the Bible Baptist Church Student Ministries is to DO the Great Commission by LIVE-ing the Great Commandment, while being a vital part of Bible Baptist Church.
I refer to this more as (GC)2. And that means? Great Commission and Great Commandment. Love God/Love People/Make Disciples.
You have heard this? I hope…
So, today we are going to start 3 weeks discussing how we can change from being a bunch of individuals to a youth group.
And there are 3 key ingredients to growing a ministry. ME! God! And My Friends!
Today we are going to be looking at Me/Myself/and I. Next week we will have a guest speaker talking about how God is our only hope. And then, I will be back to finish by talking about how your friends are essential to keeping us alive.
I brought a special friend today. This person is the person I spend the most time thinking about. He is probably the most important person in the world to me.
It’s ME!!! I love me. I can’t get enough of me. I am always thinking about myself. I spend more time with myself than with anyone else. I am the most important person in my life.
I sound pretty self-obsessed, huh? Well, I really try not to be obsessed with myself, but if we are all honest, we only think about ourselves at least 95% of the time.
Driving down the road… whose car am I worried about? Mine. Sitting at the movies… who am I concerned is enjoying the movie? Me. Watching TV… who am I concerned if this show is good for? Me.
If we are all honest, we NATURALLY think about ourselves almost all of the time. There are times when we are thinking about other people, but our natural reaction is to think, how does this make ME feel?
So, my friend in the mirror… today we are going to be talking about you. And for each of you, I will be talking about your best friend in the mirror.
I called today’s lesson, The Person in the Mirror is Staring at You. The person in the mirror is not looking at the person next to you. The person in the mirror is not looking at your parents. The person in the mirror is not looking at Brent (except for my mirror). The person in the mirror is staring at you.
Today we are talking about you. Your contribution to this youth group. And we are going to be looking at probably the most common response.
We see it in the Bible all of the time, but I think the best example is in John 21.
Jesus has just died on the cross and has been resurrected. Now, He is going to be on earth for 40 days. And today’s story probably happens within the first couple days after his resurrection.
We are going to be looking at Peter. What do you know about Peter’s life? He denied Jesus three times before He died.
So, I want you to picture what is happening in this conversation. Peter hasn’t talked to Jesus since he rose again. Or maybe he has, but there is just this elephant in the room that Peter denied Jesus.
Have you ever been in a situation where you said or did something that hurt a friend and then there is that awkward time between doing it and working it out with them? That is exactly what is going on here. Peter and Jesus have the awkward relationship, because Peter hurt Jesus deeply and it has been dealt with yet.
This is the conversation where it gets dealt with. Verse 15. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
So, Jesus asks Peter a weird question. Hey Peter… do you love me? And remember that there is this awkward thing happening. Peter’s response is of course.
Then they do it again. Verse 16. Again Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love?” He answered, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said “Take care of my sheep.” The third time He said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
So, they have the conversation 3 times. Ironically, or maybe not so ironically, Peter had denied Jesus 3 times.
This is an interesting way to solve their problem, but that isn’t the point of what I am trying to make. The point comes from verses 18 through 22. I want to read them and then we are going to have a discussion. “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said to him, “Follow me!” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to the betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
Do you see what just happened here? Jesus tells Peter… you are going to die a bad death. Then, Peter looks at another disciple and says what about him? What is Jesus’ response? Don’t worry about him… you follow me.
And so this brings me to the mirror. The person in the mirror is the only person I can affect. I cannot force anyone else to do anything.
Jesus is saying to you… Jesus is saying to me. Don’t worry about anyone else, you follow me.
One thing that I have noticed in our meetings is that certain people only come when other certain people are here. Let me give you a hypothetical example, Lewis only comes if Brittany is here. But if Brittany is not going to be able to make it, then Lewis decides not to come either.
Now, if we look at Peter, is this not exactly what he is asking Jesus? Is he not saying, I will die this way as long as John dies the same way?
Let’s say that you are a die-hard Eagles fan. You have season tickets. You go to watch practices. You get text alerts to your cell phone to know who is going to play and who is injured. You travel to road games. You pay bookoo bucks to watch them in the playoffs. You are committed to the Eagles.
And then there is me. I don’t really care about the Eagles. I am a conditional fan. I watched them play about 3 games last year on TV. I was cheering for them to go to the Super Bowl, but it was no big deal. The only way that you could possibly get me to go to a game is if the weather is nice, the team they are playing interests me, the tickets are free, and the seats are good. I’m not going on my own.
If you worked for the Eagles organization, which kind of fan do you think is more committed? Which fan would you prefer to follow the Eagles? Obviously, the first fan is more committed and is preferred more.
With church is almost exactly the same way, there are people that are here whenever the church is open. They are looking for ways to serve. They come early and leave late. They are working with the kids or in the nursery. They are stopping in the office during the week. They just love church and God and can’t get enough and are super committed.
Then, there are the second kind of fan. They will come to church if it is sunny outside. They will come to church as long as Brent keeps his message short and makes it interesting. They will be here if the music is going to be to their liking. They will come to youth group if the game is something they will enjoy. You get the picture.
Now, if you were in my position, which of the teenagers do you want in your youth group? Obviously, I would prefer the first teen. If you were God, which of the teenagers does God want following Him? He wants the committed one.
This isn’t rocket science. This is very easy stuff. If we are going to have a youth group that grows, it begins with you. You are the one that will make it grow. You are the foundation.
Let’s imagine we have this party and I go out and personally invite 5 teens to show up at the party. But none of you show up. So, it is just the 5 teens that I invited. What would they think about this youth pastor who claimed his youth group is having a party? They would say “What youth group?”
So, the person in the mirror is the most important person to growing the youth group. You being here is essential to growing the group. Three weeks ago, we had 20 teens here. You got a glimpse of what are regular youth group looks like.
I was talking to a guy a couple weeks ago and he said that he goes to a church with about 20 teens in their group. Do you guys want that? 20 teens gets me excited. 20 teens is the reason I get up and come into church in the morning.
I grew up in a youth group of about 75 committed teens. It was always fun. Nobody ever worried about being the only teen there. The thing was that we were a group. We had a common goal. We worked together to reach that goal.
I don’t know about you, but I want to see us become a functional youth group. I am tired of being a bunch of individuals.
So today I am going to ask you to do something. I am going to ask you to make a commitment. I am asking you to make a commitment to this youth group. Jesus said to Peter, don’t worry about him. You need to follow me. That is what He is saying to you.
He is saying to the person staring at you in the mirror, will you follow me? Don’t worry about what any else is doing? You follow me.
And I am going to ask you to do something that might be hard. I am going to ask you to stand up and make that commitment.
But do not stand if you will not commit. And commitment doesn’t mean that I will be here as long as I have nothing happening. A commitment means that I will put God first and schedule my life around Him.
You all make commitments to school. You are there everyday. I am asking you to make that same commitment to God. I am asking you to do your homework before Sunday night. I am asking you to wake up at 8:30 on Sunday morning to be at Sunday school. I am asking you to be at the parties that we have.
All I am asking is that you make a commitment to God and to this youth group. The only person that can make this commitment is the person staring at you in the mirror.
