Staying Clean: Springing the Traps of Temptation

(Week 6 – Quiet Time Passages: James 1:1–3:10)

Lesson Title: Staying Clean: Springing the Traps of Temptation

Focus Passage: James 1:12-15

Key Objective: Challenge your students to face temptations head on without getting trapped. Students will learn simple steps to finding victory over temptation in their lives.

Teaching for Excellence: This week we take a look at the most common and often most ignored pitfall in the life of the child of God—temptation. There’s no doubt that you can relate to this struggle that we all face on a daily basis. As you prepare to teach the lesson, make sure you understand the steps and can see how they will help you win against temptation. Reflect back on your teen years and remember a situation when temptation got the best of you. Now take these steps and think about how they may have helped you overcome temptation. Try to recall the small decisions that left you defeated. Those small decisions are the same things teens today are making—teens in your small group. Before you step up—look up and ask God to show you where you need forgiveness and then confess it. You can’t effectively communicate the truth of God’s Word if you’re filled with the deceitfulness of sin.

What God is looking to get from you is your obedience and devotion. Be the person He has called you to be before you compel your students to listen to what you teach. Be real with your students and share areas in your life where you have grown in the area of fighting temptation. Your students will connect with your authenticity before your intelligence.

Preparation for Today’s Lesson1. Get some duct tape (you know this is good ), cheese flavored popcorn and some

mixing bowls.2. Get an old fashioned mouse trap. You can find them at most hardware stores. Get

the biggest one you can find.3. Bring in some different sizes of nails or screws, and some magnets (different

sizes). 4. Make sure you print up enough worksheets for all students to have one.5. Provide pencils and pens as needed, and have extra Bibles on hand. 6. Have a couple of extra quiet times available for those students who may not yet

have them.

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7. Make sure you have a whiteboard and erasable markers.

Getting Your Students’ InterestHow many of you really like cheese popcorn? Do you think it is a good idea to put cheese popcorn on someone’s face when they are dieting? Is this anything like the temptations we face?

What do you think of this saying: “Whatever doesn’t kill you will make you stronger or smarter”?

Do any of you remember the old game – “Mouse Trap” – from the Ideal Toy Company? It came out in 1963, so I’m sure you don’t unless your parents have told you about it. You should check it out on Google sometime. Anyway, the game was played by each person setting up part of an elaborate mouse trap and the winner got to set off the trap at the end of the game.

What kind of bait do mice like? Can mice be tempted to walk into the trap? What does it mean to be tempted? Is it wrong or a sin to be tempted?

Think about a mousetrap. What makes a mouse approach a trap? Does the mouse know it’s dangerous? Does the mouse enjoy pain?

What about YOU? What keeps you from walking into the traps of temptation? What are some cheesy ways that you’ve been lured into temptation? What are things that are hard for you to resist?

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Teacher’s Note – Ice Breakers: In Your Face Have students break into teams of 3-4 and choose one person to “get it in their face.” Have each team wrap their teammate’s head in duct tape with the sticky side out. Beginning under the nose and wrapping down to just under the chin (leave the mouth clear.)

After each team finishes the wrap job, you can pass out the bowls of cheesy popcorn to each team. When you say “Go!” each team will start sticking cheese popcorn on their teammates face to see who can add the most on in the shortest period of time.

After 2-3 minutes call “Time!” then judge the contents left in the bowl and on the face and declare a winner.

Mouse TrapShow the class the mouse trap you brought with you and show them how it works (but don’t really set the trap or you could lose a finger.) Help them understand that the trap isn’t any good unless there is bait on it that the mouse would want.

Introducing the LessonThis week we are diving into the book of James. The book of James is written by the half-brother of Jesus who was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. He did not follow Jesus until after the resurrection. Seeing the resurrected Jesus convinced James that He was truly the Son of God and the Messiah. He wrote this letter to the Jews who had been scattered all over the known world because of persecution. He spent the five chapters of this book communicating with passion how they should live in the church and how that should help them be a witness for Jesus outside the church.

Teaching the Word[Read James 1:12-15 together.]Temptation is a reality for every person who will ever live. Being tempted is not a sin. James does not say, “don’t be tempted.” He says that there is a crown of life for those who endure temptation. So as students we should never feel that our walk with God is weak when we face temptation. James shows us three critical aspects of temptation:

I. Three Critical Aspects of TemptationA. Temptation does not come from God. James 1:13 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’ for

God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

B. We face more temptation when we focus on our desires.James 1:14 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”

C. We fail with temptation because we give in to our desires.James 1:15 – “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

If we are guaranteed to face temptation, then the real question we need to answer is “How can we endure temptation?”

Let’s take a look at five ways that we can spring the trap of temptation.

II. Five Ways to Spring the Traps of Temptation

“Get out of Dodge!”

No doubt teenagers (and many teachers) will not know or remember the origin of the quote. Dodge City, KS was a popular location for westerns. In short, it was popularized by a western television show from the 50’s called Gunsmoke. The sheriff used the line to tell villains to leave his town. He saw it as the best way for them to stay out of trouble or stop making trouble in his town.

A. Avoid temptation altogether by removing ourselves from the situation.Do you remember a time when you got in trouble and you thought, “If I just would have been in another place—I wouldn’t have gotten in so much trouble?”

What are some situations where you face temptation just by being there? [At parties, at lunch table talking about people, alone with boyfriend or girlfriend]

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What’s one of the simplest ways that you can overcome a moment of temptation in those situations? [Leave or get out of the room.]

[Ask a student to look up and read aloud Romans 13:14.]How does this verse speak to this situational or locational kind of temptation?

[Have another student read the following verse.]2 Timothy 2: 22 – “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”

B. Rely on Christ’s strength.Let’s be honest. There are some things that tempt us that are harder to resist than others. Just think about food. Chocolate, peanut butter, M & M’s, Twizzlers, or ice cream [add your favorite food that you can’t resist]. When it comes to food, everyone has cravings that push us to our temptation limits.

We have desires built into our skin that make it extremely hard to resist certain temptations. Some may easily turn away from fried chicken (they hate to eat meat off the bone). But it is hard to walk past a bowl of moose tracks ice cream. Our personal cravings are creative and sneaky. What we crave is always at war against what we know we should do.

Galatians 5:16-17 tells us: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

Only when we rely on Christ and His power at work in us, can we crave the things that we know we should.

So secondly, we need to spring the traps by relying on Christ’s strength.Listen to what 1 Corinthians 10:13 has to say: [Designate a student to read.]“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

C. Recruit a new set of friends. In the ninth grade a student broke his ankle in P.E. That afternoon five of his buddies who were on his soccer team went behind K-mart and smoked without him. Later the next week, He was called to the athletic director’s office with them and questioned about what they had done. He was included in the questioning because he normally hung around those guys. He was guilty by association.

Have you ever gotten in trouble because you were hanging around people who perpetually get into trouble?

As Christians, we are commanded by God’s Word to spend time together so that we can help each other do good things.

Hebrews 10:24-25 instructs us to do the following:[Designate a student to read.]

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“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

One goal for us spending time together at church or in small groups is so that we can cheer each other on to do what God teaches us in His Word and hold each other accountable.

If you spend most of your time hanging around with, Face booking, or texting teenagers who don’t care about what God cares about, then you will get caught by the traps of temptation. It will be called “cool” by those so-called “friends.”

So remember, spring the traps by recruiting a new set of friends.1 Corinthians 15:33 warns us, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”

D. Reinforce our minds.We get into trouble when we spend more time looking at or doing what we want rather than what God wants us to look at or do. Just imagine you were shopping for a car and you had $5,000 to spend. What kind of car would you want to buy? [Give students time to respond but don’t let it go for more than 60 seconds.]

Now imagine that all the cars you looked at were $10,000 or more. If you never looked at cars that were $5,000, you would probably buy a car that you had to get a loan to buy. So it would cost you more than you could pay.

That’s exactly what happens with temptation. Someone has wisely said, “Sin will take you further than you’d like to go, keep you longer than you’d like to stay, and cost you more than you’d like to pay.” We are given opportunities to have more fun than we can afford. Or we are tempted to do things that are the opposite of what God’s Word tells us to do. Either way we go past the boundaries when we try to determine what is right according to ourselves. That’s why we have to look at God’s truth. Ultimately if we put good things like the Bible inside our minds, good things will come out.

[Designate a student to read.]Proverbs 4:23 – “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

After hearing this verse, where do you think temptation really comes from? [Allow students to respond briefly.]

[Designate a student to read.]James 1:14 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”

What comes out of us is more important than what goes in us. But don’t ever be fooled into thinking that what you put in won’t ever come out, especially if it’s the wrong things. The business world calls it GIGO – Garbage In… Garbage Out. That’s how we end up yielding to temptation.

[Designate a student to read.]

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John 8:31-32 – “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

If we will do what Jesus said, then we will stand strong against temptation as it will reinforce our minds.

E. Reposition Ourselves.This last point is very simple. It has to do with where you hide when trouble comes. When we were kids, we might have said, “my dad could beat up your dad.” Although that may not be true, it helped us feel safer because we believed that our dads would protect us in dangerous situations. Most dads would run to protect their kids in a heartbeat! [Be alert to the fact that some in your class might not have such a father/child relationship.]

When we face a storm of temptation, the safest place to be is as close to our Heavenly Father as possible. But we can also stand on what He says. Both ways give us courage and protect us in the shelter of His hands.

This means that we must start every day by repositioning ourselves behind God: by reading His Word, and praying to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us: “Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers–none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.”

Applying God’s Truths[Application points have been included throughout the lesson, but in closing you should summarize the points of the lesson and challenge students to consider at least one practical way they can conform their lives to the truths they have learned. Ask for a student to volunteer to close the group in prayer.]

Bottom Line: Do I have any warning systems to let me know when I’m being lured into a

trap? What am I doing to make sure I don’t get smacked by temptation?

Let’s take two minutes and list three ways that we can spring the traps of temptation this week using the five steps that we just talked about.

This week, as you read through James 3 and 4, ask God to show you ways that you can live out your faith actively through what you do. The Christian life should be a testimony to how we live it out in real life since “Faith without works is dead.”

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Staying Clean: Springing the Traps of TemptationJames 1:12-15

I. Three Critical Aspects of TemptationA. Temptation does come from .

James 1:13 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

B. We face temptation when we focus on our ___ .James 1:14 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”

C. We with temptation because we our desires.James 1:15 – “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

II. Five Ways to Spring the Trap of TemptationA. temptation altogether by ___ ourselves from the _______ .

2 Timothy 2:22 instructs us to “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those whocall on the Lord with pure hearts.”

B. on strength.1 Corinthians 10:13 assures us that “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

C. a new set of .1 Corinthians 15:33 warns us, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”

D. our _______________ .John 8:31-32 encourages us that “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

E. ______________ ourselves.1 Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us: “Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers–none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.”

LIFE IMPRINT: Do I have any warning systems to let me know when I’m being lured into a trap? What am I doing to make sure I don’t get smacked by temptation?

This week, as you read through James 3 and 4, ask God to show you ways you can live out your faith actively through what you do. The Christian life should be a testimony to how we live it out in real life since “Faith without works is dead.”

Life Step – Lesson 6 (Student Worksheet)

Life Step – Lesson 6