YouTube Discussions

Falling Plates

September 8, 2015

Main Point: When sin smashes us into a million pieces, Jesus is the only One who can restore our lives and put the pieces back together again.

The Discussion Starter: Falling Plates
Falling Plates is a the work of two friends, Howard Crutsinger and John Strong, who wanted to “show” the world what the Gospel looks like instead of just “telling” them. Taking an artistic approach, the video uses far more images than it does words.

Essentially, the video covers the span of creation, the fall, and our redemption. Narrated by Jesus, the video covers all that He’s done for us because of His love for us.

This video is awesome. Not only does it work well at venues like summer camp, but it can also be used to jumpstart awesome conversations in your regularly-scheduled youth ministry setting.

The Video Clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08peJK0m510

Transitional Statement:
I like it when artists keep it simple for me. And that video was simple. Entitled Falling Plates, this short clip showed us what the Gospel looks like by giving us pictures of brokenness followed by images of redemption and hope and restoration. Regardless of what you believe, this video – and the message behind it – are true for each and every single one of us. All of us have been damaged by sin, our wicked choices, and have suffered the consequences of it. When sin smashes us into a million pieces, Jesus is the only One who can restore our lives and put the pieces back together again. Let’s spend a few minutes talking about that reality because it’s the most important aspect of our lives.

Divide into Small Groups:
Let’s go ahead and split up into our discussion groups, and then afterward we’ll come back together for a final word.

CLICK HERE for a quick training article on how to maximize your small groups using our small group format—a great resource to equip your small group leaders.

Discussion Questions:

AROUND THE CIRCLE: As we get started, let’s all take a second to share our names and our absolutely favorite thing to do.

ASK A FEW: The name of the video we just watched was entitled “Falling Plates.” Can someone explain the meaning of that title to us?

ASK A FEW: What were some of the other images of “brokenness” that the video used to describe our choices?

ASK A FEW: Can one of you explain to the rest of us the concept of sin and its consequences?

ASK A FEW: How do you think it made God feel when His creation – you and me – turned our backs on Him in favor of other things?

ASK A FEW: In the video, one of the images that was referenced and repeated several times was that of a battery slowly dying. If you had to guess what percentage your battery was on right now, what would it be? Why?

ASK A FEW: One of the questions we were asked in the video was, “What are you searching for?” Is there anyone who’s brave enough to answer that question out loud?

ASK A FEW: Do you have a plan for dealing with the brokenness and sin in your life? If so, what is it? If not, why not?

Read the following passage:

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. 10 For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God– all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.

ASK A FEW: In what ways does this passage sound like the video we just watched?

ASK A FEW: The video rightly said that when our lives fall apart, we start searching for other things to fill us or fix us. The video said it just brings about more brokenness and death and separation from God. What does Jesus offer us that NOTHING or NO ONE ELSE can offer us?

ASK A FEW: How does the Bible describe us at the moment Jesus died for us? What does that tell you about the way God feels about us?

ASK A FEW: In the video, Jesus said, “Somebody has to die: you or me.” Can anyone explain why “somebody has to die” because of sin? (Leaders – This involves other passages of Scripture, but you can simply point back to several other passages in Scripture such as Romans 6:23 to show that the penalty for our sin is always death. You can also look at Genesis 3 or James 1:15.)

ASK A FEW: What does it mean to be “made right in God’s sight”? Why is that important?

ASK A FEW: Sometimes, the people in the world around us make Jesus out to be some tyrannical crazy-sounding Guy who makes demand after demand of us. But in the video, Jesus was narrating it and said, “I’m not here to condemn you. I came to bring you back to life.” Which “persona” of Jesus does the Bible seem to agree with? How can you tell?

AROUND THE CIRCLE: You’ve just heard the best news of your life: Jesus died for you when you were at your worst. When you were broken, He gave His life on a cross to give you your life back. But He wants a response from you. What is your response to Jesus’ radical gift of love?

Wrap Up:
Shattered plates. Tainted water. Dead flowers. Burnt trees. Tear-stained eyes. All of those images show us the state of our relationship with God when we choose sin over Him. The video, Falling Plates, showed us what our lives look like after sin, and all that Jesus did to right our wrongs.

Sin is nothing to play around with. Sin is a simple little word with cosmic consequences. Sin is anything we do that displeases God. When we sin, we essentially tell God that we know better than Him. The result is always, always, always the same: death.

But that’s where Jesus comes rushing in. He came to Earth, from Heaven, to die in our place. To die so that we don’t have to. The Bible’s apex moment is without a doubt the moment that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave showing us that He has power over our sin, over the grave, and over our death. He died so we don’t have to be separated from God anymore.

There is no one on this planet who loves you like that!

So, what are you going to do with Jesus? According to the video – and you know this – you can keep turning to other things like alcohol, sex, popularity, money, and more to try and fill the void in your life. None of that will do the trick, though. Only Jesus can pick up the pieces and bring life out of death. Jesus wants you to choose Him and He wants you to follow Him to new life. Everything you’ve done to this point has brought you lower and lower, more lifeless than ever. The only way to have life again is to follow Jesus and put your trust and hope in Him.

I invite you to do that right now. Take a moment and in the quietness of your own heart, speak to Jesus and tell Him that you’re terribly sorry for the sins you committed against Him, yourself, and others. Ask Him to forgive you of those sins and promise Him that you’ll walk in obedience to Him from this moment forward.

If you have more questions about who Jesus is and what He’s done for you, I invite you to hang around after I close in prayer. We’d love to talk with you about that. If you just spoke to Jesus for the first time and made a promise to Him, we’d love to hear that, too!

Close in Prayer

Written by David R Smith