8 Arenas Tool
Making Jesus Lord.
What would be different in your life if you no longer had to manage multiple influences? How would your life be different if you only had to listen, follow, and remain loyal to ONE VOICE? Each of us encounter these 8 “Arenas” in our life. With that, is important to know who is leading in each of these areas of our life
Purpose: The 8 Arenas Tool is created to help us discover that Jesus is to be our primary influence in all areas of our life. Making Jesus Lord in these areas means that we are allowing Him to lead and direct us through His Word.
Scriptures:
Matthew 6:33 - Seek first the Kingdom of God
John 14:15 - Keeping His Commands
Matthew 28:20 - Teaching them to Observe all that I have Commanded You
Psalm 23:3 - He leads me Along Right Paths
The 8 Arenas
Politics: Views and Values
Faith: What do you believe & why?
Money: Spending, Saving, & Giving
Work: Work Ethic, Career Choice, & Rest
Education: Continued Learning & Teaching
Relationship: Friends, Family, Dating, & Marriage
Identity: Who are you? Why did you answer that way?
Entertainment: Hobbies, Activities, Listen, Watch & Read
Teach:
Who we believe ourselves to be makes all the difference.
Say: “We are going to look at 8 areas of our life that we will all encounter.” As we begin this exercise, I would like you to think of your greatest influence in these areas.”
You as the leader will need to prepare either pieces of paper or large post-it notes with the 8 topics written at the top of each one. You will then have each person in your group write who their greatest influence is on the paper.
Group Action Steps:
After reading Ephesians 2:4-10 and Matthew 3:16-17 ask your group what our identity in Christ looks like. What are some of the characteristics that we see?
Walk them through the tool to show the value and sealed identity they have in Christ. Identity and favor are not earned but are gifts that are given to us as followers and believers of Jesus.
Questions to ask:
What are you currently putting your identity in?
Why do our efforts to gain identity on our own never return fruit or growth?
The Truth Lie Comparison Sheet can help us to find Scriptural Truths that go against the lies we might be believing about our Identity.
Walking through this tool:
As followers of Jesus the promise that we see in Scripture is that our identity is now sealed in Christ. As a Child of God you are called a saint, blessed, appreciated, saved, forgiven, adopted, rewarded, victorious, an ambassador, and more. These truths can never be taken from you. This is a Covenant - or promise - that God has given us through His scriptures, and this covenant can not be broken.
Definition of Covenant: an agreement or contract between two people
When God the Father looks down upon you and your life (the right side of the triangle), he first sees Jesus and you as a coheir with Him. Thus, creating your spiritual identity. Your identity as a child of God now encourages you to be obedient to Him and what He asks of you (The bottom of the triangle). Through our obedience we then make connection and relationship with the Father and His will for our lives (the left side of the triangle).
Going backwards on the triangle (starting down the left side first) shows an illustration of how we attempt to be obedient to “earn” our identity in Christ. This is a common mistake among believers of Jesus to gain favor through our own efforts. This can lead to legalism and “works” based faith & identity. In addition, as we see in the illustration the need for Jesus becomes irrelevant to how God the Father see us. However, as brothers and sisters of Christ, God the Father is well pleased with us and will be no matter our best efforts to earn it.