Opening: Sacrificing for something or someone can be one of the hardest things we ever have to do in life; but many times, the satisfaction found in sacrifice far outweighs the difficulty found in sacrifice. This may be the main reason so many people, young and old, still choose to sacrifice to make good grades or the team, for their children and for their country. Let’s take a look at a sacrifice that saves the lives of Spider-Man and many others.

Watch The Amazing Spider-Man* Scene 15 (Start time-1:52:11-End Time-1:59:30) (7:19 min.)
*(Clip not available online. Watch The Amazing Spider-Man to take advantage of this lesson.)

Discussion Questions
1. Who was willing to sacrifice in this clip? (Gwen’s father, Police Capt. George Stacy.) What was he willing to sacrifice? (His life.) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “The more you have to lose, the harder it is to sacrifice”? (Answers will vary.) Explain your answer. (Answers will vary.)

2. Read Luke 18:18-29. What does the rich young ruler want from Jesus in these verses? (He wants the answer to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”) How does Jesus respond to the rich young ruler’s question? (In verse 22, Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give it to the poor, explaining that he would then have treasure in heaven.) What was the first priority in the rich young ruler’s life? (His wealth.) Was the rich young ruler willing to sacrifice his great wealth for eternal life? (No.) If you had been the rich young ruler, how would you have responded to Jesus’ call to sell all you had and follow Him? (Answers will vary.)

3. Read Luke 9:57-62. Were the men in these verses willing to follow Jesus? (Yes but with conditions.) The rich young ruler was asked to sacrifice his possessions and wealth to follow Jesus. What were these two men going to have to sacrifice to follow Jesus? (Both men wanted to take care of family business before following Jesus. In verse 59, the first man asks to first bury his father, and in verse 60 the second man says he would follow after saying goodbye to his family. They would have had to sacrifice family relationships to follow Jesus.) Did their hesitation show they really were ready to sacrifice everything, including family relationships, to follow Jesus? (No. The hesitation showed they weren’t to the point in their lives where they would sacrifice the things of this world to follow Jesus.) If you had been either of these two men, how would you have responded to Jesus’ call to leave family relationships behind and immediately follow Him? (Answers will vary.)

4. Read Matthew 4:18-22. Were Peter, Andrew, James and John willing to sacrifice things of this world to be disciples of Jesus? (Yes.) How did the way Peter, Andrew, James and John responded to the call of Jesus differ from the two men we read about in Luke? (They immediately left their occupations and family…things of this world…to follow Jesus.) If you had been Peter, Andrew, James or John, would you have been willing to sacrifice, without hesitation, your occupation and way of life to follow Jesus? (Answers will vary.)

5. Is sacrifice about making choices? (Yes. Making a sacrifice is about choosing to give up something for the sake of someone or something else.) Did the men from Luke choose to sacrifice things of this world for their relationship with God? (No.) When given the choice, do you normally choose to sacrifice things of the world for your relationship with God? (Answers will vary.) Why or why not? (Answers will vary.)

6. If you are sacrificing for something or someone, is that thing or person priority one in your life? (Yes. Normally if you are willing to sacrifice for someone or something, that person or thing is what’s most important in your life.) Can sacrificing to accomplish something or sacrificing to help others help you get your priorities in order? (Yes. Sacrifice can help us realize what is most important to us.) How? (Answers will vary.)

7. Read 1 John 4:10. Who has made the ultimate sacrifice for you? (Jesus Christ.) At what cost? (His life!) Why do you think Jesus chose to sacrifice His life to bring salvation and eternal life to you? (Answers will vary but should include the fact He did it out of His great love for us!)

8. How will you let the sacrifice Jesus made for you make a difference in your life and the lives of others this week? (Answers will vary.) When Jesus calls you to serve others, tell His story and follow Him, will you immediately sacrifice the people and things of this world for your relationship with Him? (Answers will vary.)

Closing Thought
The ultimate verse of sacrifice found in the Bible is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God gave His Son, and Jesus sacrificed His life so you could enjoy forgiveness and eternal life. Will you, like the disciples, choose to make sacrifices of certain relationships and things of this world that take your focus off God to grow and strengthen your relationship with Him? Jesus sacrificed for you; will you sacrifce for Him? The choice is yours.

Closing Verses
“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10).

“A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call Me good?” Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’ ‘All these I have kept since I was a boy,’ he said. When Jesus heard this, He said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ Those who heard this asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’ Peter said to Him, ‘We have left all we had to follow You! ‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life'” (Luke 18:18-30).

“As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him, ‘I will follow You wherever You go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ He said to another man, ‘Follow Me.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow You, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 9:57-62, The Cost of Following Jesus).

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father, Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him” (Matt. 4:18-22, Jesus Calls His First Disciples).

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).