Week 15- Those Whose Walk Is Blameless

MONDAY — Read the passage with your team.

   18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

John 7:18

   5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on  pilgrimage.  6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

   11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.  12 O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Psalm 84:5-7, 11-12

What does this passage have to say about honor?

Why is that important?

TUESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

1) If a person “speaks on his own … to gain honor for himself” (John 7:18), will he succeed in gaining honor?  Why not?

2) If a person’s purpose is to honor God, how does that pursuit make him a “man of truth”?  Though certainly every person sins, why does God say that a person who seeks Him has “nothing false about him”?  What makes an honorable man true?

WEDNESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

3) Psalm 84 describes some of the rewards that are given to a man who sets his heart on honoring God — not himself, nor the arrogant kind of people that the world might idolize.  What will your life be like, if you “go from strength to strength” (v. 7)?  Why is that a great day-to-day and lifetime promise?

4) Who bestows the “favor and honor” that we deeply need (v. 11)?  His honor is also a promise that “no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”  What makes an honorable man blameless?

5) You are probably very aware of your faults and shortcomings, as an athlete?  Why is it so critical for you to have God’s favor, in your athletic pursuits?  (Without it, you are the man of John 7:18, engaged in fruitless efforts to “gain honor for himself.”  With it, you are the one of “those whose walk is blameless” and from whom nothing good will be withheld.)  Can you find true success as an athlete, if you do not know honor God?

THURSDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

6) Verse 12 reaffirms that you can’t honor God unless you first do what?.  What promise is given to you, if you trust God?  What might that blessing mean for an athlete?  If God blesses your athletic pursuits, will the results necessarily fulfill your own desires?  Whose standard of success will be the goal of the blessing?  What is God’s ultimate goal for your participation in athletics? (“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” - Philippians 3:8  “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” - Philippians 3:12b)

7) Consider now making John 7:18 a verse you commit to memory.  In your commitment to honor God, you will need to “hide His word in your heart” and seek His guidance for the desire and discipline to make real change in your life.

FRIDAY — Discuss sport applications of honor, and pray together.

· Ask your athletes to briefly reflect on what they’ve learned about honor this week, and to repeat some of those things.  (Remind them of some of the Biblical truths about honor you’ve discussed, if necessary.)

· Ask your team, “Based on what we learned about honor this week...What does an honorable athlete do?”  Do not settle for vague answers; challenge your athletes to go beyond general qualities of an honorable athlete, and to determine what those qualities look like in action.

· Add the results to your team’s list of descriptions of the “honorable athlete”, and be sure the list is displayed somewhere that is constantly visible, as a reminder to the team.

· Pray together as a team.  Encourage your athletes to pray for your team’s growth in regard to the discipline of honor — especially in relation to some of the issues and challenges that you discussed together this week.  Challenge them to also ask for forgiveness, when applicable.  Give time for athletes to request prayer (regarding honor or anything else), and pray together.