What Not To Wear

Chuck: (comes in doing karate moves) BOO YA!! Hello, everybody!

Leader: Alright, Chuck Foo! What’s up, Chuck? (laughs to themselves)

Chuck: What’s so funny?

Leader: Oh, nothing.

Chuck: Then why are you laughing? It’s gas isn’t it? You’ve got gas.

Leader: What? NO Chuck, I do NOT have gas!

Chuck: (pinches his nose shut) Could’ve fooled me.

Leader: Hey!

Chuck: I’m just kiddin’! Actually (looks over his shoulders as if someone is watching) Are we being watched?

Leader: (turns and looks at the audience, motions to the kids) Um..yeah, I think so.

Chuck: Oh! C’mere…(takes the Leader and turns so their backs are facing towards the kids and begins to whisper loudly) I’m on a special mission! I’m trying to be quiet so my target won’t hear me! They have VERY good hearing!

Leader: (whispers back loudly) Who are you looking for?

Chuck: (looks around) Rabbits.

Leader: (turns back to face the audience and talks loudly again) RABBITS???

Chuck: (spins around in frustration) WHAT did I just say?? Don’t talk too loud! They have giant ears! They can hear you!!

Leader: Why are you after rabbits??

Chuck: My mom told me yesterday “Chuck, you need to be a better Christian! Get rid of all of these BAD RABBITS!!” She says there are rabbits with a bad ATTITUDE, rabbits that talk BACK to her, rabbits that leave their smelly socks on the floor, so if getting rid of a bunch of bad rabbits is going to help me be a better Christian, I’m goin’ on a bunny hunt!

Leader: Chuck, I think what your mom meant wasn’t bad rabbits, but BAD HABITS.

Chuck: That makes zero sense.

Leader: Okay, we’re in this new series called Dress Up, which means we are trying to clothe ourselves in Jesus Christ.

Chuck: Right!

Leader: Well, in order to put on our “new clothes” we have to get rid of our old sinful ones! We have to get rid of our old sinful ways if we’re going to start living fresh and clean like Jesus! I think your mom wants you to get rid of your old ways so you can clothe yourself in Jesus, too!

Chuck: Wowww…that makes WAAAY more sense! I have NEVER seen a rabbit talk back to its momma, and I watch Animal Planet all the time! Thanks for setting me straight! I’m gonna work on getting rid of my old sinful HABITS so I can put on new clothes and live like Jesus did! Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go.

Leader: Where are you going?

Chuck: I’ve got about twenty tons of carrots backstage I was gonna use as bait…now I have to eat all of it. (gasps) I’LL HAVE THE BEST EYESIGHT IN THE WORLD!! I’M Chuck FOO! KICK IT!!!

We have been talking about what it means to “clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” We learned that the spiritual “clothing” we put on must help other people see Jesus in our lives. It’s a decision we have to make every day—to “put on Jesus.”

The Apostle Paul wrote a very important letter to the church in Colosse. We call this letter the Book of Colossians in the Bible. Paul teaches them some very important things about clothing themselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in verse 4 of Colossians 3, “So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you.” That means, “Get rid of all that sinful stuff that’s in your life.” He says, “You USED TO do them when your life was still part of this world. But, now it is time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, FOR YOU HAVE STRIPPED OFF YOUR OLD EVIL NATURE AND ALL ITS WICKED DEEDS.”

What is Paul saying? He’s saying…

We all had sinful habits that we used to do before we became a Christian. Lying, disobeying, cheating, stealing, whatever. Those things are the “clothes of sin.” Those are the things that Paul is saying we must “strip off.” We can’t leave those things in our lives and expect to put our “Jesus Clothes” on top of it, right?

(bring your volunteer to the stage) If this person were to be wearing these nasty dirty clothes (place a dirty shirt on the volunteer), it wouldn’t make any sense for this person to put this nice clean shirt on OVER the nasty shirt, would it? Of course not. Nobody put clean clothes on top of old nasty clothes, do they? Of course not. That would be ridiculous.

It’s the same way in our spiritual lives. We have to take off the old clothes of sin FIRST, and then we can fill our lives with the new, clean clothes of Jesus Christ. That makes sense, right? Paul teaches us this because he knew all about this first-hand.

You see, Paul was a very mean man.

Paul’s name once was Saul. Saul was the enemy to a lot of Christians. He would travel from city to city, arresting Christians and putting them into prison. He even had some Christians put to death. He was full of sin. He was definitely wearing the “clothes of sin” that are listed in Colossians 3...hatred, anger, etc.

One day Saul was traveling down the road towards a city called Damascus, when suddenly a bright light shone in front of him.

It startled him so much, it knocked him to the ground. A voice began to speak to him from inside the bright light. It said, “Saul, I am Jesus. I am the one you are persecuting. Get up and go to Jerusalem, and I will tell you what to do.”

Saul got up, but he realized he was blind.

He had some men help him to Jerusalem, where he met a man named Ananias. God had told Ananias to go find Saul and heal him. God told Ananias that Saul was going to become one of the biggest preachers in the world. Ananias went to Saul, laid his hands on him, and healed him. Saul could now see.

Saul changed his name to Paul. He stopped sinning and persecuting Christians.

Instead, he began to preach and teach about Jesus ALL OVER THE WORLD. Paul did the same thing you and I must do. We have to take off the old “clothes of sin,” and ...

That’s what Paul did. He didn’t keep killing Christians WHILE he was preaching, did he? That would be crazy! Instead, he got rid of his old ways—his old “clothing” - and put on his new clothing to become more like Jesus. He teaches us about this in Colossians 3:9,10 ”...for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds. In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ…”

1. What was today’s Big Idea? Answer: “I Gotta Take off the Bad, and Put On the Good!”

2. What did Chuck Foo think his mom told him to get rid of? Answer: bad rabbits

3. What was the name of the man who was killing Christians in the Bible? Answer: Saul

4. Who was speaking to Saul from the middle of the bright light? Answer: Jesus

5. Did Saul continue killing Christians after he started preaching? Answer: no

6. In our lesson today, we learned “I Must Take Off The Clothes Of __________.” Answer: Sin

7. In our lesson today, we also learned “Nobody Wears New Clothes Over _________ ____________.” Answer: Old Clothes

8. In our lesson today, we also learned, “I Must Put On The Brand New Clothing of __________ __________. Answer: Jesus Christ

9. True or False: Once we become a Christian, we can continue to practice our old sinful habits. Answer: False

10. Where was our Power Verse found? Answer: Colossians 3:9