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Overview
The New York Times bestseller shows students that discovering who Jesus is will change who they are!
In Jesus Is _______. Student Edition, popular speaker, author, and former youth pastor Judah Smith reveals the character of Jesus and the importance of Christ’s message. Adapted for a student’s age and life experience, this compelling book will get younger readers thinking about what Jesus means to them.
Judah Smith, pastor of the City Church in Seattle, Washington, is a former youth minister. He understands kids and writes to as if to a friend. With enthusiasm and humor, Smith shows that Jesus is life, Jesus is grace, and Jesus is your friend. The student edition includes new content for younger readers ages 10–14—humorous lists, callouts of key text, sidebars with additional information, and discussion questions. This is a book for kids who have grown up in the church, are new to faith in Jesus, or are seeking to know more. This book will allow students to grow with Jesus from a young age and to know that the point of life is having a real, honest relationship with Jesus.
Trim Size: 5.5 x 8.375
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780718022488 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Nelson, Tommy |
| Publication date: | 10/07/2014 |
| Sold by: | HarperCollins Publishing |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| File size: | 573 KB |
| Age Range: | 11 - 14 Years |
About the Author
Judah Smith is the lead pastor of Churchome, formerly named the City Church. Churchome is a thriving multisite church noted for its cultural relevance, commitment to biblical integrity and faith, and love for Jesus. Judah is known around the United States and the world for his preaching ministry. His fresh, practical, humorous messages demystify the Bible and make Christianity real. Judah is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book Jesus Is _____ and coauthor of I Will Follow Jesus Bible Storybook.
Read an Excerpt
Jesus Is _____.
Discovering Who He Is Changes Who You Are
By JUDAH SMITH
Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2014 Judah SmithAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7180-2248-8
CHAPTER 1
Superbad or Sortabad
"If God can help so-and-so, he can help anyone!"
I've heard myself say it a few times. "So-and-sos" are always real troublemakers, famous for being good at doing bad. They are awesome at sin, they sin a lot, and they enjoy their sin.
"Did you hear? Tyler got detention. That's, like, the third time this year! If God could get him straightened out, he could help anybody!"
"That girl calls herself a Christian, but can you believe what she did? She should be ashamed of herself. If God can help her, he can help anybody!"
Let's be honest. Mostly good people like to look down on mostly bad people. We enjoy feeling sorry for them, or even angry at them, acting like we are so much better. We love to hold them up as examples of just how bad people can get. Then we pat ourselves on the back and head off to make our grandmas proud.
Notice how I just included myself in the "mostly good" category. I didn't think about it. I just did it.
That's what bothers me the most.
The Badness Scale
The problem with saying "if God can save so-and-so then he can save anybody" is that it means we are rating sins and sinners on some badness scale that we made up.
Sin, by the way, is anything that goes against what God wants for us. God gives us certain instructions and rules for our own good, and if we step outside of those rules, we are sinning. We'll talk more about this later, but let me just say this right from the beginning: God is not nearly as mad about your sins and my sins as we think he is. Sure, he is concerned about them because he wants what's best for us, but he is not mad at us. He is madly in love with us. We'll talk about this in more detail later on.
On our made-up badness scale, we label small sins, medium sins, large sins, extra-large sins, and supersized sins. If we see someone with small to medium sins, we think, He's a pretty good person. He's nice and friendly to everyone. He's obviously close to Jesus. It won't be hard for God to forgive his sins.
Then we see someone with medium to large sins, and we get more nervous. We really have to pray for her. She is going downhill fast. God is going to have to get her attention the hard way. She really needs to work on fixing herself so she can get closer to God.
When we come across a supersize sinner, someone who commits the big sins, we just shake our heads in pity.
Nowhere in the Bible, though, do we find God labeling different levels of sin. God doesn't share our rating system. To him, all sin is equal, and all sinners are lovable—even the worst of us. Sure, sins have different consequences: some will get you thrown in jail or your face punched in, while others won't even be noticed. But God just calls sin, sin.
Zacchaeus the Gangster
Jesus didn't have a rating system for sin either. He was willing to accept anyone, to love anyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector.
I should mention up front that when I read Bible stories, all the main characters have accents. That's just how my mind works. I've never been very good at concentration, so I suspect the accents are my brain trying to keep me focused.
Zacchaeus, in my mind, was a bit of a rapper. If you can't read his dialogue with some swagger, you and I are not going to connect very well for the next few pages.
In case you aren't familiar with the story, Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Actually, he was a chief tax collector. He was also really short. That's important.
Here's the story, straight from the Bible:
Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. "Zacchaeus!" he said. "Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today."
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled.
Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!"
Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost." (Luke 19:1–10)
Interesting backstory: Israelites of Jesus' day looked at tax collectors as thieves. Tax collectors were Jews who worked for the Roman government, which ruled Israel at the time. Their job was to collect taxes from their own people and hand the money over to the hated Romans. Their own income came from whatever they could get out of people after they collected the tax for Rome. So Zacchaeus and his fellow tax-collecting traitors would make up whatever amounts they wanted. Zacchaeus was a professional cheat. He took money from little old ladies. He was a thief.
I think Zacchaeus was probably up on pop culture, by the way. I think he liked making appearances; he liked being in on the action. When they rolled out the red carpet and the cameras showed up, Zacchaeus was going to be there, a lady on each arm, looking over his sunglasses at the TV crew. "Hey, y'all." He was tough. He was important. He was cool.
Zacchaeus was a short guy, but don't be deceived by his height. He had a lot of money. At some point, years before, he had been recruited by the Romans. He was probably a very smart guy. He would have started out as an assistant to a tax collector. After proving he was good enough, he would have been promoted to tax collector. Ultimately, when we find him in this story, he has become a chief tax collector. He probably oversees an entire tax district and a gang of mini tax collectors who give him a cut of their take.
This makes Zacchaeus a major reject. He is infamous, legendary, notorious. How long has he been doing this? Five years? Longer than that—he's a chief tax collector. Ten years? Twenty?
I don't think he minds being hated. In fact, I think he's loving life. He's up in his big house overlooking the city, lounging in his pool, with servants fanning him and dropping grapes in his mouth.
Everybody fears him now. Sure, they hate him—but at least they respect him. Back in elementary school, nobody picked the short guy. But now they're afraid of the little man. Zacchaeus is the big guy on the block.
Rumor was, Jesus might be the promised Messiah. Zacchaeus had grown up in the Jewish culture, and he would have been familiar with the prophecies. No doubt he had heard that one day there would come a Messiah. Now Jesus is coming through town, and Zacchaeus says, "I'm gonna check this guy out. He's getting a lot of followers; a lot of guys are talking about him. I'm curious."
I doubt Zacchaeus was thinking, Man, I sure hope Jesus saves me. Saves him from what? His big house? All the ladies who love him?
No, he just wanted to check out the popular guy. Zacchaeus was all about popularity and power. You don't become a tax collector and then a chief tax collector and not like money and fame. He was famous in a negative sense, but famous nonetheless.
Jesus starts strolling through. People are lining the streets, trying to catch a glimpse of him, and Zacchaeus realizes he can't see over the crowd. This is messed up, he says to himself. I'm not gonna be able to see this dude.
Zacchaeus is a guy who is used to getting his way. So he hitches up his robe, runs ahead, and climbs a little tree next to the road.
Sure enough, he can see the dust cloud and all the people clumped around Jesus. You'd think he was Justin Bieber or something. He's rolling down the street, and suddenly—Zacchaeus can't believe his luck—Jesus stops right next to the little man's tree.
This is sweet, he's thinking. I can check this guy out from up here, maybe listen in on what he's got to say.
Then, to Zacchaeus's surprise, Jesus looks up at him. He calls him by name. "Zacchaeus."
"Whaaaa? How do you know me? I don't know you. Who told you about me?"
They say the sweetest sound to a human being's ears is the sound of his or her own name. God calls this rejected, hardened, selfish man by his name: "Zacchaeus, hurry down! I'm heading over to your house—right now."
"You are? Uh, okay. Yeah."
Zacchaeus is loving life right about now. Everyone else, all the "good" people, want a minute with Jesus, a nod, a handshake. Yet now the chief tax collector—the biggest bad guy around—gets a personal invitation. I think he's looking at everyone saying, "Whassup now, y'all?" He sends word to all his cronies and tax collector minions to come over and meet this Jesus. This is his moment in the limelight.
"I'm Changing Everything"
But that afternoon, something unexpected and unexplainable began to happen in Zacchaeus's heart. How long did he spend time with Jesus, the living God? Two hours? Four hours? We don't know. What did they talk about? We can only guess.
We can assume that they ate a meal together and Jesus probably listened a lot. Zacchaeus must have thought, Nobody listens to me, except for a few guys who work for me. But this guy cares. He listens. He gets it.
I can imagine Zacchaeus looking into the kindest eyes he's ever seen and thinking, Does Jesus know who I am? Does he know who is around my dinner table? Does he know what we do for a living? Does he know what paid for his fish? Does he know how I paid for this house? He must ... but he doesn't reject me.
After a few hours with Jesus, Zacchaeus can't contain himself any longer. Suddenly he stands up, overwhelmed with who this Jesus is. In front of family, friends, and employees, he blurts out, "I'm changing everything!"
What?
"I'm changing everything, Jesus. I'm gonna start giving my money away. In fact, anyone I've ever cheated, I'm gonna give them back four times what I stole."
The tough, money-hungry mob boss is about to go broke, and he doesn't even care. A moment with Jesus changed everything.
I wonder what Jesus said in one short afternoon that changed a lifelong taker into a generous giver. But that's not the point of this passage. I think the Bible skips over what they talked about because we'd try to turn it into a recipe or a program. It wasn't what Zacchaeus talked about—it was the person he talked about it with. It was about being with Jesus.
What changed Zacchaeus? Rules? Threats? Trying harder to be good? No—just a few moments with God in the flesh. We don't even have a record of anyone telling Zacchaeus he needed to repent or give the money back. But something came over this man when he encountered Jesus.
Hurry Down
The truth is, I am Zacchaeus. I'm not talking about how tall or short I am physically—I mean I'm "short" spiritually, in my own ability and my own potential. I don't measure up. I'm not good enough. Even if I want to get to Jesus, even if I want to see Jesus, I can't see past myself. I can't see past my sin, past my distractions, past my own pride.
You know how we usually try to reach Jesus? We run faster and we climb our little trees, like doing good things and praying and acting religious. We think, I'll get to Jesus. I'll impress Jesus with who I am.
I think a lot of people believe deep inside that they are not good enough, that they are too weak. No matter how hard they try or what they accomplish, they know they are not enough. There's nothing wrong with being short in a physical sense, but they are short in a spiritual sense. They have sinned and come short of God's standard. So they think, I'll run faster, I'll run ahead, I'll find a tree and climb it, and I'll get God's attention.
As if your running and your climbing are what gets God's attention!
That's not what saved Zacchaeus. It was God's mercy. It was God's grace. It was God taking action.
We think God stops and takes notice of us because he sees us up in our cute sycamore trees. We think it is because we are so good. "See, I got God to notice. You see me? It's because I pray so loud, because I pray so much, because I go to church."
But that's not why Jesus stopped that day. He stopped of his own choosing. He stopped because he's gracious and he's good. He stopped because he knew Zacchaeus by name, just as he knows you and knows me.
Jesus told Zacchaeus to hurry, and he tells us the same thing. "Hurry down from acting like you're perfect. Hurry down from traditions. Quit trying to pick yourself up. Only my grace can save you. Come down, and come now. Don't spend another moment or another day trusting yourself. I need to be with you today."
While Zacchaeus spoke, Jesus must have been smiling to himself. Now he makes an announcement of his own. "Today, salvation has come to this house. Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham, a true Jew."
Zacchaeus is stunned. He is the definition of a traitor, the bad guy, the opposite of a good Jew. For as long as he can remember, he's been on the outside looking in. Now he's on the inside? Now he's a good guy?
I wish I could have seen the look on his friends' faces. If there's hope for Zacchaeus, there must be hope for me too!
Then Jesus sums up his life mission: "I'm here to find and help lost people. That's why I've come."
The Pharisees, or religious leaders of the day, were expecting a Savior, a Messiah, sent from God to help their nation.
They thought the Messiah was only coming for the chosen few, for the holy few, for the religious few. But Jesus said over and over that he came for the broken, the bad, the disappointing, the stuck, the deceived, the lost, the hurting.
Sometimes we are a lot like Zacchaeus. We've been at this sin thing ever since we were born. We have problems and weaknesses. We do wrong things. We've tried as hard as we can to change, but we still make so many mistakes. We wonder, Why would Jesus even love me?
Have you ever felt that way? Maybe it's a secret sin: something you're ashamed of that not even your best friend knows about. Maybe it's something that controls your life, like lying or being mean or some other thing you can't stop doing. By now you may be starting to believe that you'll never change.
But Jesus is not mad at you. He's not out to get you. He's your friend and your rescuer. Like Zacchaeus, just spend time with Jesus. Don't hide from him in embarrassment or reject him in pride. Don't allow the opinions of other people to shape your idea of him. Get to know him for yourself, and let the goodness of God change you from the inside out.
Talk About It
1. Have you ever used a "badness scale" when thinking about yourself or someone you know? Why doesn't Jesus have a badness scale?
2. What are some ways people try to get ahead by "running and climbing" in life and impressing others, like Zacchaeus did? How do you think they would act differently if they knew Jesus was already impressed with them?
3. When I say "spending time with Jesus," what does that mean to you? Since we can't have dinner with him like Zacchaeus did, what else can we do?
CHAPTER 2Dark Side
Zacchaeus wasn't the only tax collector to have his world rocked by Jesus. There was also Matthew. Matthew was one of Jesus' disciples, and the book he wrote, now part of the Bible, describes many key events in the three-plus years of Jesus' ministry.
Matthew's first encounter with Jesus shows that when it comes to sinners, God has two categories. Just two. Matthew 9:9–13 says,
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. "Follow me and be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?"
When Jesus heard this, he said, "Healthy people don't need a doctor—sick people do." Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."
Two Kinds of Sinners
Like Zacchaeus, Matthew was a tax collector. Everywhere he went, he was hated, feared, and rejected. Until he met Jesus. Matthew never forgot how this man looked past his job and saw him as a person.
In Jesus' conversation with Matthew, he lumps all of humanity into two groups: people who think they are righteous and people who know they are sinners.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Jesus Is _____. by JUDAH SMITH. Copyright © 2014 Judah Smith. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword, xi,Introduction, xiii,
JESUS IS YOUR FRIEND.,
1. Superbad or Sortabad, 3,
2. Dark Side, 15,
3. Real Life, 25,
4. Friend of Sinners, 37,
JESUS IS GRACE.,
5. Embrace Grace, 51,
6. Grace Is a Person, 69,
7. Worthy World, 81,
JESUS IS THE POINT.,
8. Come to Me, 99,
9. The Meaning of Life, 115,
JESUS IS HAPPY.,
10. Real Happiness, 129,
11. You Belong Here, 139,
JESUS IS HERE.,
12. The One You Love, 149,
13. With Us and for Us, 159,
JESUS IS ALIVE.,
14. Zombie Jesus, 171,
15. New Way to Be Human, 181,
Conclusion: Jesus Is, 191,
Acknowledgments, 193,
About the Author, 195,