Training Camp - Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor loathes Superman. Before Superman came, everyone loved Lex Luthor. He was an inventor and businessman who helped the city of Metropolis so much! But once Superman came, everyone loved him instead. So Lex Luthor became a villain and tried to destroy Superman!
Have you ever felt that way? Maybe the teacher liked someone more than you. Maybe your brother or sister got all the attention. Maybe no one ever realizes all the good things you do. Do you ever feel like Lex Luthor?

Wait a second! Does that make you a villain and the other person Superman? That’s kind of scary, thinking you might be like a villain, isn’t it?

We have this supervillain inside us called the sinful nature. It always wants more. “My stuff!” And it hates it when someone gets what it thinks belongs to it. “The teacher should be giving me that praise! My parents should be giving me that money! My friends should be liking me more!”

Lex Luthor never had to hate Superman. They could have teamed up and done so much to help the planet! Instead he hated Superman and became a villain. That’s what hate does.

When I hate someone… I become a supervillain.

In the story, I’m the supervillain. Jesus is the hero. What did he do?

He should have punished me. He is so good and I am so bad! But instead, Jesus… loves. He loved me so much that he took the punishment for my sins.

Can you imagine Superman going to jail so Lex Luthor could go free? That’s crazy! But that’s why Jesus is better than Superman: Jesus was punished for us so we could go free!

This is the antidote to hate: Love. But not our love! The antidote is Jesus’s love.

1 John 4:9-11: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

And when we really know how much this superhero saved us… we can set aside our hate of one another and love!

Discussion Questions:
1.       When have you allowed your sinful nature to turn you into a supervillain? Is there one particular person that you want to crush?
2.       How is Jesus like the superhero in your life?
3.       Now that Jesus has made you his “sidekick,” how can you help save other people?


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