Week 15 - Knowing Christ and a Teachable Spirit

MONDAY — Read the passage with your team.

     11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him?  In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.   14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.  15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment.  16"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"  But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:11b-16

What does this passage have to say about a teachable spirit?

Why is that important?

TUESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

1) If “no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (v. 11b), how could the writers of Scripture have known what God wanted them to write and what God wanted others to learn (v. 12)?

2) Can you gain a teachable spirit by “trying really hard” to have one?  If you try to learn, grow, and develop through your own efforts (“human wisdom” - v. 13), what will be the result (v. 14)?

WEDNESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

3) In order for any of these studies or any Biblical instruction you receive to make sense to you, you need to have asked Christ to be the Lord of your life.  If you are struggling to understand and grow in the discipline of a teachable spirit, and if you are grappling with what “asking Christ to be the Lord of your life” means, who can you talk with about this?

4) To what areas of your life should His “lordship” apply?  Is it acceptable to have a teachable spirit in some areas of your life, but to compete in athletics selfishly or stubbornly?  What athletic habits and motivations do need to submit to God, in order to more fully learn, grow, and develop?

THURSDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

5) As you’ve studied the discipline of a teachable spirit this season, what have you learned about why it is important?  Is a teachable spirit important so that you can be a better person?  Is a teachable spirit important so that you can be a better teammate?  Should a teachable spirit make you a better athlete?  Yes, all of these are true...but what other (more important) reason is there for developing a teachable spirit?  (Hint: What is the purpose of our lives?)  What is your motivation for developing a teachable spirit?  Why do you want to learn, grow, and develop?  For whose benefit and glory? 

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

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

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

· Add the results to your team’s list of descriptions of the “teachable 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 a teachable spirit — 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 teachability or anything else), and pray together.