Session 1
Purpose Questioned
The Point
Apart from God, life is meaningless.
The Passage
Ecclesiastes 1:1-14
Life Connection
The world claims a lot of things will give us security, happiness, and a sense of well-being. Chase any one of these, though, and we discover they fail to deliver. We’re still left with a feeling of futility. Solomon made that discovery centuries ago, but it’s not the end of the story. When God is in the picture, we see life from an infinitely better perspective.
Background
Ecclesiastes falls into the category of the Bible’s wisdom literature (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) and is a reflection on the meaning of life, specifically that a life without God, no matter how much one attains or acquires in this world, is ultimately without meaning. The English title is derived from the Septuagint’s (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) title Ekklesiastes, which is a translation of the Hebrew qoheleth. Both terms refer to one who presides over an assembly.
Getting started
Discuss: Give your group an opportunity to discuss Question #1 on page 15 of
the Daily Discipleship Guide (DDG): What’s something you get tired of doing over and over again?
Recap (DDG, page 16): Invite a volunteer to read The Bible Meets Life to introduce the session:
The first U.S. patent for a treadmill “training machine” was issued in 1913, but that wasn’t the first treadmill. Before then, the machines were used not for exercise but for punishment in prisons. Some today would argue that not much has changed. Whether for exercise or punishment, a treadmill is a machine that requires the expense of energy to go nowhere. Sometimes life feels like that; we put effort into relationships, work, family, and more, and it feels like we’re going nowhere. The first several verses of Ecclesiastes capture this reality well and sum it up in one word: futility.
Transition: As you introduce this unit of study, consider showing the study introduction video (see the QR code on the Introduction page) to your group.
LEADER PACK: Display Pack Item 1, the Thrive: Living on Purpose poster, and give a brief overview of the session titles in this study.
GUIDE: Direct attention to The Point on page 16 of the DDG. Invite the group to fill in the blank: Apart from God, life is MEANINGLESS.
PRAY: Transition into the study by thanking God that through Him our lives can have true meaning. Ask God to teach us how to stop searching for purpose in things that fail to deliver but instead to focus on Him and the life He intends for us.
STUDY the BIBLE
Ecclesiastes 1:1-7
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” 3 What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? 4 A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets; panting, it hurries back to the place where it rises. 6 Gusting to the south, turning to the north, turning, turning, goes the wind, and the wind returns in its cycles. 7 All the streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
Give Biblical Context (DDG, Page 16): Solomon is regarded as the wisest person to have ever lived. He was wealthy beyond imagination. He was powerful and influential throughout the known world. He had the means to pursue any desire to the fullest extent. And yet despite it all, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, a text which we might find to be difficult if not depressing. Solomon, despite all his resources, reflected on the meaningless nature of virtually all of life.
READ: Ask someone to read aloud Ecclesiastes 1:1-7 on page 16 of the DDG.
Guide: Direct your group’s attention to statement 1 on page 16 of the DDG. Invite the group to fill in the blank: Without God, what we do in life can feel POINTLESS.
RECAP (DDG, page 16): “Futility” (v. 2). That’s the word Solomon used to describe all of life. Like the proverbial treadmill, the impression we get from the “Teacher” (v. 1) is that life is an endless series of efforts, labors, and tasks that have no meaningful result. To underscore his point, Solomon described the cyclical nature of days and nights, the seasons of the year, and even the weather patterns. For him, life is like all those things—it comes and goes, then comes and goes again.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): See the optional activity (on page 27 in this Leader Guide) to give your group an opportunity to identify things that have left them feeling unsatisfied, discouraged, or like life is “futile.”
Discuss Question #2: Which of the images in these verses captures your attention?
GUIDE: Use the commentary on the next page of this Leader Guide to generate more conversation based on the answers to the discussion question.
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that without God, what we do in life doesn’t satisfy.
Ecclesiastes 1:1-7 Commentary
Connection to The Point: The Teacher saw everything in life as meaningless.
The Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem (v. 1). This book has traditionally been attributed to David’s son, Solomon. These identifiers, along with “king over Israel in Jerusalem” (v. 12), imply Solomonic authorship. Solomon was the only descendant of David who reigned over a united Israel, as the nation split in two after David’s death (1 Kings 12:1-17). Solomon wrote not as a king handing down decrees, but as a teacher seeking and providing understanding regarding the meaning of life.
“Absolute futility” (v. 2). This is a translation of the double use of the Hebrew word hebel for emphasis, hence the use of the term “absolute.” Hebel means “breath” or “vapor.” It is used as a synonym for the wind (Isaiah 57:13; see Ecclesiastes 1:14). The word is also used to contrast the Lord, who is the believer’s strength and refuge in trouble, with the emptiness of idols that cannot deliver those who worship them. In the context of Ecclesiastes, hebel refers to the insubstantial and transitory nature of life.
Gain (v. 3). A commercial term which refers to “profit” or “advantage.” It has the sense of searching for real advantage or what is truly excellent in life. It comes from a verb that means “to be left over” or “to remain.” No one finishes life having a net gain for all their striving, hard toil, and suffering.
Efforts (v. 3). Refers to hard physical labor, usually in relation to the unpleasant factors associated with work. At the fall, God cursed the ground so that it would only yield its produce by hard toil (Genesis 3:17-19). From a worldly perspective, the labors of this life are vain and futile. They require exhausting work and yield drudgery, anguish, and misery; even that which is achieved by such efforts ultimately does not last.
Under the sun (v. 3). Refers to what existence looks like from an earthly perspective without God, an afterlife, or a final judgment. Solomon’s presupposition was that he had restricted the scope of his inquiry to only those things that were under the sun. Although he acknowledged the existence of God (Ecclesiastes 1:13) and the wisdom in fearing Him (5:7; 7:18; 8:12), only in chapters 11–12 did Solomon’s focus shift to an understanding that a meaningful life is one in which a person has a relationship of reverence and obedience to the Lord (12:13).
Generation (v. 4). Can refer to a period of time or to those living in a specific time period. The Hebrew term can also refer to the cycles of nature. While commentators differ on its meaning in Ecclesiastes, the context allows for the term to refer to generations related to both humanity and nature.
The earth remains forever (v. 4). The size and expanse of the world remain constant throughout all generations.
Panting (v. 5). The word can have positive or negative connotations. It can be used of a woman in labor (Isaiah 42:14). It describes the longing of the psalmist for God’s Word (Psalm 119:131). It also means to trample (Psalm 56:2). Here it could mean either the sun joyously rushes from sunrise to sunset or the sun toils from sunrise to sunset with no rest.
Earth . . . sun . . . wind . . . streams . . . (vv. 4-7). Dependent on the land, water, and weather for their food, the ancient Israelites understood the yearly growing cycles related to planting, tending, and harvesting their various crops. However, they did not have our modern, scientific understanding of the “earth” (v. 4), “sun” (v. 5), “wind” (v. 6), and “streams” (v. 7). Nature was monotonously predictable but at the same time incomprehensible. The sun rose, set, and rose again. The yearly seasons came one after another. The wind moved in cycles, but the cycles seemed random and without purpose. Streams ceaselessly flow into the sea, but the streams are never emptied, and the seas are never full. Wind and water are ever moving, but seemingly never accomplish anything.
Ecclesiastes 1:8-10
8 All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say. The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Can one say about anything, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
READ: Ask someone to read aloud Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 on pages 16-17 of the DDG.
Guide: Direct your group’s attention to statement 2 on page 17 of the DDG. Invite the group to fill in the blank: Without God, what we do in life does not SATISFY.
Discuss Question #3: Where do you see evidence that people are experiencing weariness in our culture?
RECAP (DDG, page 17): Not only is life pointless, but it also doesn’t satisfy, and Solomon should know. Given his great resources, he was able to chase any of his pursuits to their end. Whether education, food and drink, or sexual gratification, Solomon found that his thirst couldn’t be quenched; his hunger wouldn’t go away.
The result is a constant sense of disappointment. What promises to be new and exciting is really just a warmed-over version of something else. What promises to be fulfilling inevitably falls short.
GUIDE: Use the commentary on the next page of this Leader Guide to discuss further what Solomon meant by life not satisfying.
LEADER PACK: Display Pack Item 2, the Finding Meaning and Purpose poster, and discuss the pie chart. Emphasize that the Bible tells us what we need to know to find meaning and purpose in life.
Discuss Question #4: What are some ways people try to fill the void in their lives?
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that without God, what we do in life is a miserable task.
Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 Commentary
Connection to the Point. This meaningless life made the Teacher weary and unsatisfied.
Things (v. 8). Literally means “words,” and has the meaning of “to speak.” It is used in reference to such things as commands, promises, and pronouncements. Solomon used the term in this verse to refer back to the forces of nature (Ecclesiastes 1:4-7). The cyclical, never-ending movement of the sun, wind, and water are examples of the seemingly absolute futility of life.
Wearisome (v. 8). The primary use of this Hebrew word means to work until one is tired or exhausted. It comes from a verb that describes the farmer’s labor in producing a harvest (Joshua 24:13), as well as the foolish pursuit of wealth that wears a person out (Proverbs 23:4), and the person who wearies himself from spells and sorceries (Isaiah 47:12,15). It can also describe those who grow tired in their pursuit of God (Lamentations 5:5). In the context of Ecclesiastes 1:3-8, the term summarizes the meaninglessness of both human life and the world itself—all is vain repetition.
More than anyone can say (v. 8). This phrase is interpreted in two ways. First, the wearisome pursuit of life under the sun left Solomon wanting more of an explanation. Second, it could also be translated, “No one is able to speak.” Faced with the monotonous drudgery and seeming meaninglessness of life, Solomon had no words to say.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing (v. 8). Solomon turned to the senses of sight and sound to see if he could find the meaning of life. The examination of human life and nature left him unfulfilled. His eyes could see, but this was not satisfying. Seeing is only part of the process. Perceiving someone or something does not automatically lead to understanding who that person is or what that thing is. Seeing the nature of life and the world did not provide Solomon with the answers he was seeking.
The ear . . . hearing (v. 8). All that Solomon heard neither satisfied him nor gave him the answers he sought. The Hebrew term generally means “to hear.” It can also be used of listening to someone in the sense of paying attention (Job 33:1; Psalm 81:11), of obeying God’s commandments (Ecclesiastes 5:1), of God hearing and answering someone’s prayers (Genesis 16:11; Judges 13:9; Psalm 10:17), of hearing with understanding (Genesis 11:7), and of listening critically. The words Solomon had heard, even from those considered to be wise (Ecclesiastes 8:1), failed to provide a meaningful explanation of the nature of the world and life. They left Solomon wanting more.
What has been is what will be (v. 9). While the actors may come and go on the world stage and nations rise and fall, at the most basic level life and nature are cyclical, repetitive, closed systems. The sun rises, the sun sets, and the sun rises again. People are born, live, die, and others are born and repeat the same process. In this basic sense, nothing changes.
Nothing new under the sun. . . . It has already existed (vv. 9-10). Solomon was not stating that technology could not advance and improve how we live life. But new inventions cannot break the cycle of sin, suffering, and death. Furthermore, people of every generation pursue the same things—fame, power, wealth, happiness, and so forth—and these things remain for the most part elusive. Even those who achieve such goals at the end of their lives find having those things changes nothing. Death still comes and all of one’s accolades, accomplishments, and possessions are left behind.
Even with all the advances and improvements by humanity in how we live, the central issue in life remains the same—sinful people need the love and forgiveness of God found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Apart from God, human experience and history for the most part consist of repetitive lives
of toil, anguish, drudgery, and futility.
Ecclesiastes 1:11-14
11 There is no remembrance of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance by those who follow them. 12 I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied. 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
READ: Ask someone to read aloud Ecclesiastes 1:11-14 on page 17 of the DDG.
Guide: Direct your group’s attention to statement 3 on page 17 of the DDG. Invite the group to fill in the blank: Without God, what we do in life is a MISERABLE task.
RECAP (DDG, page 17): It wasn’t that Solomon wasn’t looking for meaning; he certainly was, and yet he found all of life devoid of it. It’s no wonder he came to the conclusion that life isn’t satisfying. At best, we find ourselves at a pace of busyness, so we don’t have to think about those desires inside of us. We’re certainly not purpose-filled people; we’re only occupied by our tasks.
We all feel the disappointment. But the disappointment isn’t the end. In fact, it’s necessary for us to deeply feel the disappointment of life so that we might look beyond these pursuits to the source of real life and satisfaction.
DO: Direct the group to the Engage activity on page 17 of the DDG (page 27 of this Leader Guide) to give them an opportunity to identify something that causes them to ask, “What’s the purpose?”
GUIDE: Use the commentary for verse 14 on the next page of this Leader Guide to contrast those things which are futile with what really matters.
Discuss Question #5: In your experience, what are some key ingredients of a meaningful life?
Ecclesiastes 1:11-14 Commentary
Connection to the Point. The Teacher looked for purpose but only found futility.
No remembrance (v. 11). Can refer to a memorial in the sense of a memorial day, a memorial action, a memorial object, or a memorial record. In this verse, it may refer to the mental act of remembering. Ancestry was important in Hebrew culture. It provided for one’s identity as a child of Abraham and a member of God’s covenant community. One of the constant themes God emphasized to the Israelites was to remember Him and what He had done for them, so that they would not forget and go after the false gods and goddesses of the nations around them (Deuteronomy 8:1-20).
But Solomon noted that ultimately most people, their deeds, and the memories of them are forgotten with time. Few are those who make such a mark under the sun that they are remembered and memorialized. But even such “remembrance” is in the end forgotten; the physical memorials may remain (for a time), but the significance of the people and events behind such memorials mean little or nothing to those who will come after.
I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem (v. 12). Solomon, king of the united monarchy of Judah and Israel, had the advantages of great wisdom, education, power, and wealth.
I applied my mind (v. 13). The term for “mind” means “heart.” The Hebrew word literally refers to the internal organ which pumps blood but is also used in reference to the totality of a person’s inner being, as well as one’s emotions, mind, and will. This clause describes the focused and intentional manner with which Solomon searched for the meaning of life—he had set his heart (his whole being) on this search.
Examine and explore (v. 13). “Examine” means “to seek.” “Explore” means “to search out with care” or “investigate.” Solomon was making an intentional, detailed study in his quest for the meaning of life.
Miserable task (v. 13). The writings of ancient wisdom and philosophic literature considered the search for wisdom to be the highest calling in life, by which a person gained lasting fulfillment and significance.1 However, Solomon labeled such a search a “miserable task.” The word “miserable” can be translated as “bad” or “disagreeable”; in the ethical sense, it means “evil.” The search for the meaning of life in wisdom was a hopeless task because the answer was not to be found there. Wisdom and philosophy that leave God out of the equation can and do mislead; they also redirect the focus of one’s life away from a relationship with Him.
Keep them occupied (v. 13). Encompasses all the pursuits of humans, including moral, ethical, and religious activities—“all the things that are done under the sun” (v. 14). It also includes Solomon’s pursuit for wisdom and understanding. Solomon did not despise education and human pursuits. He merely recognized that they had their limitations in a life that does not include God.
Futile, a pursuit of the wind (v. 14). Solomon again acknowledged that all human pursuits apart from God are ultimately without lasting meaning and significance. Throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon noted the futility of searching for meaning and purpose in the pursuit of such things as wisdom and knowledge, wealth and possessions, pleasure, work, and politics. These pursuits easily can and do become idols themselves.
Like chasing after the wind, all things done under the sun are a never-ending pursuit that leaves the pursuer unsatisfied and empty-handed. Only one who has a saving relationship with God (12:13-14) through Jesus Christ will find true meaning in life.
Live it out
Ask: What actions will you take in response to today’s study?
Guide: Direct your group to review the three bulleted statements under Live It Out on page 18 of the DDG. Call on volunteers to share (1) which of these statements is something they want to pursue further, or (2) ways this study will transform how they determine what is truly meaningful and deserving of their focus this week.
- Give thanks. Memorize Ephesians 2:10 and thank God that He made you for a purpose.
- Evaluate. Consider the areas of your life where you’re frustrated and lacking purpose. Ask God to help you look at these situations through a new lens—His lens.
- Reflect. Take twenty minutes and write an answer to the following question: “Where do I find meaning in life?”
Wrap It Up
GUIDE: Invite each person to gather with two or three Christ-followers of the same gender this week for a deeper discussion, using Talk It Out (page 18 of the DDG) to guide their discussion. Encourage your group to spend time each day in God’s Word with the Daily Study section (pages 19-24 of the DDG).
Note: Encourage the group to participate in the survey by scanning the QR code on page 21 of their DDG (or clicking on the link if they’re using an eBook).
RECAP: Read or restate from page 16 of the DDG.
Sometimes we put effort into relationships, work, family, and more, and it feels like we’re going nowhere. We feel the disappointment. But the disappointment isn’t the end. In fact, it’s necessary so that we might look beyond these pursuits to the source of real life and satisfaction.
Pray: Close your group time with prayer, asking God to help us recognize and avoid pursuits that are futile, instead replacing them with that which brings meaning to our lives—a relationship with Him.
Engage
Life can sometimes be difficult, but God is always there to help us process and learn. What’s one thing that has you asking, “What’s the purpose?” Write your response and spend some time in prayer, asking God to help you see His purpose.
Bonus content
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, gather enough balloons for everyone in the group to have one. Also gather permanent markers to write on the balloons.
Pass out the balloons and have the group blow them up.
Ask: What is something in your work, relationships, home life, or finances that has left you feeling unsatisfied, discouraged, or like life is “futile”? Instruct the group to write their responses on their balloons with the permanent markers.
- Invite volunteers to share their responses, as well as how their situation can become meaningful by bringing God into the picture.
- Then take a moment to pop your balloons of meaninglessness and thank God for bringing meaning into your lives.
The Salvation Expressed
in God’s Name
The Point
Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.
The Passage
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25
The Bible Meets Life
Christmas may not be everybody’s favorite holiday (Thanksgiving is),1 but it’s close! For many of us, the Christmas season is a time for family and special gatherings with friends. There are the gifts, the tree, and all the lights and decorations. And let’s not forget the food! Wrapped up in all this are traditions we observe every Christmas. Some of those traditions are common to most people, and some may be unique to your family.
These are the things we remember as we look fondly back at Christmas seasons past—and these are the same things we look forward to this Christmas! One couple shared a very unique memory of an event we tie to Christmas. This event was a cause for both joy and perhaps a good dose of trepidation as they stepped into the unknown. Yet it is this very event—the birth of Jesus—that gives us our greatest reason to celebrate at Christmas.
GET INTO the STUDY
LEADER PACK: Display Pack Item 1, the “A Name Like No Other” poster, to review the major theme of this study, along with the focus of each session.
Discuss: Question #1 on page 37 of the Personal Study Guide (PSG): “What’s your favorite Christmas memory?”
Guide: Direct the group to “The Bible Meets Life” on page 37 of the PSG. Introduce the importance of the name of Jesus by reading or summarizing the text or by encouraging group members to read it on their own.
RECAP: One couple shared a very unique memory of an event we tie to Christmas. This event was a cause for both joy and perhaps a good dose of trepidation as they stepped into the unknown. Yet it is this very event—the birth of Jesus—that gives us our greatest reason to celebrate at Christmas.
GUIDE: Call attention to “The Point” on page 37 of the PSG: “Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.”
PRAY: Transition into the study by asking God to help the group see the Christmas narrative with fresh eyes. Thank God for stepping out of heaven and coming to dwell among us.
STUDY the BIBLE
Isaiah 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
READ: Ask someone to read aloud Isaiah 7:14 on page 38 of the PSG.
RECAP: “There are no atheists in foxholes.” This saying describes how the threat of death causes soldiers to call on God. It’s also a simple way of saying people tend to grab hold of faith when facing severe difficulties. Trusting God in times of trouble is not a bad thing, nor does it discount faith’s validity. God often brings us into dire situations to help us realize our desperate need for His salvation.
King Ahaz of Judah was in just such a position. The armies of Aram (Syria) and Ephraim (the northern tribes of Israel) were preparing to invade Judah. These massive forces might overwhelm Jerusalem. If so, Ahaz probably would be killed. Into this frightening setting, God sent the prophet Isaiah with a message for the king and his people.
GUIDE: Use the commentary for the verses on the next page of the Leader Guide to give further background on Isaiah’s prophecy and how it relates to the gospel.
Recap: God was using His promise of Immanuel to assure Ahaz (and us) that He is with us. More than a general sense of God’s presence, Immanuel would be an actual person who was human and divine at the same time. The apostle John described how the eternal Christ took on flesh and was seen, touched, and experienced (John 1:14; 1 John 1:1-3).
We face many frightening challenges in our lives. Sometimes, the enemy is not an invading army, but the incursion of a deadly virus. Our foe may be economic disaster, physical affliction, emotional distress, or intellectual doubt. Like Ahaz, we can’t imagine how we can survive the onslaught of overwhelming odds. We, too, are tempted to question God’s love and trustworthiness. Our hope must be in Immanuel. God initiated Judah’s salvation and ours. Jesus is God with us.
Discuss: Question #2 on page 39 of the PSG: “Immanuel means ‘God with us.’ What does it mean to you for God to be with you?”
TRANSITION: With the name Immanuel, God promised to be with us. In the next verses, we see that Jesus is the One who saves us.
Isaiah 7:14 Commentary
Connection to The Point: God promised a Child who would be with us.
The Setting for Isaiah 7:14. The prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 was given during what is known as the Syro-Ephraimite War (about 734-732 BC). At the time, Assyria was resurgent under the leadership of Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 744-727 BC) and had begun to move westward from Assyria toward the region of Israel and Judah. King Pekah of Israel (ruled 752-732 BC) formed an alliance with Aram (Syria), Askelon, and Gaza against the encroaching Assyrians. They invited King Ahaz of Judah (ruled 735-715 BC) to join the alliance, but he refused. So, King Pekah of Israel and King Resin of Aram joined forces and besieged Judah (2 Kings 16:5; Isa. 7:1). Their goal was to remove Ahaz from power and install a puppet king who would bow to their wishes. The Lord sent Isaiah to Ahaz with a word of prophecy that the coalition of kings would not be successful against Judah (Isa. 7:3-9). Through His prophet, God encouraged Ahaz to ask for a sign, but Ahaz refused under the false pretense of not wanting to “tempt the Lord” (vv. 10-13). God saw through Ahaz’s motives (v. 13), and Isaiah foretold the downfall of the king and his house. Because Ahaz feared Assyria more than the Lord, he called for Tiglath-Pileser’s aid against the coalition (2 Kings 16:7-8).
The Purpose of Isaiah 7:14. Old Testament prophecy often has near-fulfillment and far-fulfillment aspects, like viewing two mountains together with the closer mountain being lower than the far mountain. Some refer to this as the shadow (of things to come) and the reality, where the first meaning foreshadows a greater, future meaning. Isaiah’s prophecy is the perfect example of this because it spoke to the time of Ahaz, but it is quoted in Matthew to describe the time of the birth of Jesus, God’s Messiah (Matt. 1:23).
A sign (v. 14). A sign is a “symbol, action, or occurrence that points to something beyond itself.”2 Through Isaiah, the Lord encouraged King Ahaz of Judah to ask for a sign that the Israelite-Syrian alliance besieging Judah would fail, but the faithless king refused to do so (vv. 11-13). The graciousness of the Lord is seen in His allowing the type of sign Ahaz could ask for: “ask it either in the depth, or in the height above” (v. 11).
Behold (v. 14). The word behold (hinneh) is a common interjection used over eight hundred times in the Old Testament. It was a call to pay attention to something important that was to follow.
Virgin (v. 14). The news that Isaiah had for Ahaz was that a virgin (almah) would be pregnant with child. Isaiah’s prophecy does not reveal the identity of this woman. The word almah in Isaiah typically means a young woman of marriageable age. The word does not require in the near-fulfillment of this prophecy that the woman in Isaiah’s time would be a virgin who would have a child. However, in quoting this passage (Matt. 1:22-23), Matthew clearly indicates that the women referred to is a virgin who would through the working of the Holy Spirit conceive and bear a Son who is God’s Messiah (see vv. 18,20-21).
A son (v. 14). Isaiah’s prophecy does not reveal the identity of this son. This son may refer to a future king of the Davidic line and indicate that God was still with the kings of the Davidic dynasty in the midst of threats, like that of the Israel-Syria coalition and the Assyrians. “Such a sign would give hope to a king who trusted God but would be a constant threat to one who followed his own strategy.” 3 Another possibility is that this son refers to Isaiah’s son, Mahershalalhashbaz, whose name means “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.” The name along with the Lord’s words spoken through Isaiah foretold of the impending destruction of Syria and Israel (Isa. 8:1-4). It was a call to faith for Ahaz to trust the Lord. However, Ahaz failed to trust in the Lord, and through Isaiah the Lord predicted the downfall of Ahaz and his house (7:16-25; 8:6-10). The faithless Ahaz appealed to the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III for help (2 Kings 16:7-9). This is not surprising, given the nature of Ahaz’s kingship (vv. 2-4). Assyria defeated Syria in 732 BC and Israel in 722 BC. Judah survived the Assyrian assault and remained until 586 BC when it was decimated by the Babylonians.
Immanuel (v. 14). This name means “God is with us.” In the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy, the child the Lord commanded to be named Emmanuel (Matt. 1:23) would bring salvation to the world as God’s Son and Messiah, Jesus (John 3:16).
Matthew 1:18-21
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
READ: Ask someone to read aloud Matthew 1:18-21 on page 39 of the PSG.
RECAP: Hundreds of years after Isaiah’s encounter with Ahaz, God’s promise of the Messiah came to pass. Most of us would like God to make things happen more quickly, but God is always on time. The apostle Paul wrote, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4). How could someone be the Son of God and also the Son of a woman? Matthew introduced the miracle simply: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise . . ..”
GUIDE: Use the commentary for the verses on the next page of the Leader Guide to give further background on the betrothal process during this time.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): Use the “Agree/Disagree” option on page 55 of this Leader Guide to help the group consider Joseph’s situation.
Summarize: Highlight the main points from page 40 of the PSG: Sometimes, our dreams are vivid, only to become vague remembrances when we wake. Joseph, though, received unforgettable facts about the child:
- God had worked this miraculous conception through the Holy Spirit.
- Mary would give birth to a Son.
- Joseph would name the child “Jesus.”
Discuss: Question #3 on page 40 of the PSG: “Why do people need to be saved from their sins?”
DO: Direct group members to Engage with “Disconnected from God” on page 41 of the PSG (page 55 of this Leader Guide) to help the group pray for people in their lives who need to be saved.
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that Jesus is the One who is with us.
Matthew 1:18-21 Commentary
Connection to The Point: Jesus is the promised Immanuel, who came to be with us in order to save us.
Birth (v. 18). The incarnate Son of God would come into the world in the same way every person does. As Isaiah had predicted, hope would come as this child was born into the world (Isa. 7:14; see Luke 2:10-11).
Espoused (v. 18). The word espoused (mnesteuo) refers to the first-century Jewish practice known as betrothal, which was as binding as the actual marriage. The betrothal would usually last about a year, and during that time the engaged woman would remain with her parents until the marriage was official and ready to be consummated. During the betrothal period, Jewish law required the couple to remain chaste, as evidenced by the phrase “before they came together.” This restriction would challenge their relationship when Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant before the marriage had been consummated (v. 19).
Found with child of the Holy Ghost (v. 18). Though Mary knew that she was pregnant by a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), Joseph did not know that at this time. God had revealed to Mary that she would have a child, even though she had not yet had sexual relations with a man (vv. 31,34). This passage contrasts greatly with the crude pagan tales of deities physically coming down to earth to have sexual relations with human beings (the false Greek god Zeus for instance). Matthew’s Gospel matter-of-factly states that Mary was pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. This was important because Jesus had God as Father and Mary as mother. He was fully human, but at the same time, He was fully divine. The virgin conception explains how Jesus is God incarnate, the Word made flesh (see John 1).
Her husband (v. 19). Even though Mary and Joseph had not yet been officially married, because they were betrothed Jewish law still considered Joseph as Mary’s husband. If Joseph did not want to marry Mary, it required a certificate of divorce to legally end the relationship.
Just man (v. 19). That Joseph was a righteous or just man indicates he was “law-abiding, upright in character, and generally obedient and faithful to God’s commandments.”4 The Jewish law gave him two options when he discovered his wife was pregnant before the couple had consummated their marriage. He could either put Mary to public shame, which could include stoning (Deut. 22:13-27), or he could divorce her privately. Joseph did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; rather, he favored the choice to divorce her privately.
Thought on these things (v. 20). Joseph took the time to deliberately think through the events that had transpired and what his actions should be.
Angel of the Lord (v. 20). Angels are created beings whose purpose is to serve the Lord God by delivering messages and carrying out His will. The Hebrew term is malak, while the Greek term is angelos. Both words mean “messenger.”
Fear not (v. 20). Joseph had many reasons to fear at this point. His betrothed wife being pregnant before their marriage would bring public ridicule and shame. His failure to divorce her would most likely have been viewed as confirmation that Joseph and Mary had acted in a sexually immoral manner before they were officially married. The angel reassured Joseph that Mary’s pregnancy was part of God’s plan. The reason Joseph did not need to fear was that the child had been conceived in her by the power of the Holy Spirit.
She shall bring forth a son (v. 21). This is a direct allusion to Isaiah 7:14.
Jesus (v. 21). The name Jesus is a version of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” which means “Jehovah saves.”
Save his people from their sins (v. 21). The Old Testament description of Messiah includes the idea that the Messiah would save people from their sins (Isa. 53; Jer. 31; Ezek. 36). However, this was not the predominant first-century view of what the Messiah would do. Many Jews held the belief that the Messiah would liberate Israel from Roman occupation and rule. More than once Jesus had to deal with this misinterpretation of who He was as Messiah (John 6:15; Acts 1:6-8).
Matthew 1:22-25
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.
READ: Ask someone to read aloud Matthew 1:22-25 on page 42 of the PSG.
RECAP: Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Regardless of various arguments over its context and terminology, only Jesus fulfills the name Immanuel—God with us. While the context fit the contemporary setting of Isaiah and Ahaz, the Messianic reference directs us toward the One who would be Immanuel—“God is with us.” Human attempts at rationalizing the divine miracle of the virgin birth fall short in the evidence that Jesus’s mother had never had sexual relations until after she gave birth to Jesus. He was conceived through the miraculous intervention of God the Holy Spirit.
Discuss: Question #4 on page 42 of the PSG: “What do you appreciate about these names for God’s Son?”
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): Use the “Brainstorm” option on page 55 of this Leader Guide to help the group consider Jesus being our Savior.
GUIDE: Use the commentary for the verses on the next page of the Leader Guide to give further explanation about Joseph and Mary’s relationship and family.
RECAP: Joseph further obeyed the angel’s instructions to name the child “Jesus.” At first glance, readers may be confused, since Isaiah’s prophecy stated that the Messiah would be called “Emmanuel.” Jesus would be the child’s formal name, identifying Him with God the Father, as well as His purpose in salvation. Immanuel is who and what He is—God with us. As Jesus’s disciples, we have a continuing relationship with Him. We abide in Him, and He abides in us through the Holy Spirit. Effectiveness in the Christian life, power for soul-winning, and success in developing disciples can only result from His being with us and in us.
Discuss: Question #5 on page 42 of the PSG: “What practices or traditions can help us highlight the significance of Jesus’s birth this Christmas?”
GUIDE: Refer back to “The Point” for this session: “Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.”
Matthew 1:22-25 Commentary
Connection to The Point: Because Jesus is God, the One who is with us, we can look to Him for salvation.
The prophet (v. 22). Matthew used Isaiah 7:14 and the dual fulfillment of that prophecy to explain the birth of Jesus. Written about seven hundred years prior to the birth of Christ, Isaiah’s prophecy had spoken to his own time about the birth of a child as a sign of God’s deliverance of the people of Judah, and now the virgin birth was a sign of the coming of the promised Messiah. The quotation in Matthew’s Gospel reflects closely the wording of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament written between the third and first centuries BC.
Virgin (v. 23). Much debate has centered on the use of the word virgin in the text. The Hebrew word (almah) refers to a woman of marriageable age, but not necessarily a virgin. Most times, it did refer to a virgin, but not always (“a maid,” Prov. 30:19). The Septuagint used the Greek word (parthenos) which exclusively indicates no prior sexual relations (Matt. 25:1,7,11; 1 Cor. 7:25,28,34). Isaiah used a word that was broad enough to see its near-fulfillment in a child conceived through normal sexual relations in his own time and a virgin birth in the time of Jesus. The former’s mother was a young woman but not a virgin, but Mary was both a young woman and a virgin. Twice this passage emphasizes that Mary had not yet had sexual relations (Matt. 1:18,25). The virgin birth is a crucial doctrine because it indicates the full deity and full humanity of Jesus. His Father was God and His mother was Mary.
Emmanuel (v. 23). Though Isaiah 7:14 revealed that Immanuel would come during the prophet’s own time, that was not the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy. A greater Emmanuel would literally be “God is with us.” This verse emphasizes the full deity of Christ, something never true of the first Immanuel (Isa. 8:3). Only Jesus fulfilled Isaiah 9:2-7, which emphasizes the deity of the coming Messiah.
Joseph being raised from sleep (v. 24). God had used the dream to communicate His plan to Joseph. This would happen again when Joseph was warned to flee to Egypt with his family (2:13).
Did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him (v. 24). This passage had previously described Joseph as a righteous or just man (v. 19), and Joseph’s actions demonstrate that he was indeed righteous because he submitted to God. The proof of a person’s righteous character is his or her obedience and surrender to the will of God.
Took unto him his wife (v. 24). Joseph completed the legal process of moving from engagement (betrothal) to marriage. Their time of engagement ended and rather than divorcing Mary as he had planned to do (v. 19), he completed the process of marriage with one exception.
Knew her not (v. 25). One of the highlights of the marital process is the consummation of the marriage, but Joseph did not have sexual relations with his wife, Mary, until after the birth of Jesus.
Till she had brought forth her firstborn son (v. 25). Mary did not remain a virgin perpetually. After the birth of Jesus and the time of purification, Joseph finally consummated the marriage. Matthew 12:46 mentions a time when “his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.” Mark 6:3 names Jesus’s brothers—James, Joses, Juda, and Simon. It also mentions the fact that Jesus had sisters. This indicates that Joseph and Mary had other children after Jesus, and they were Jesus’s half-brothers and half-sisters.
Called his name Jesus (v. 25). Joseph obeyed God by naming the child Jesus. He did not choose a family name or even a name that he might have desired. Rather, he obeyed the command of God through the angel (v. 21). The angel had informed Joseph of the reason the baby was to be named Jesus—“for he shall save his people from their sins” (v. 21).
Live it out
Guide: Direct the group to page 43 of the PSG. Encourage them to choose one of the following applications:
- Think. Think about times when you’ve faced difficult challenges and called on the name of the Lord. Consider how He helped you.
- Thank. Thank the Lord for salvation, especially for Jesus’s death and resurrection that provided atonement for your sins. Write a thank you card to God.
- Thirst. Desire a deeper relationship with your Savior by communing with Him throughout the day. Make it a priority to share Him with others. Set specific goals for when and how you will share from the overflow of God’s affection.
Wrap It Up
Transition: Read or restate “The Point” for this session: “Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.”
Pray: Thank God for the gift of Jesus as our Savior. Ask Him to give us boldness to share this truth with others so that they may be saved also.
Engage
Disconnected from God. People need connection with God. That’s a basic part of our spiritual DNA. Use the space below to record the names of three people you know who are disconnected from God. Commit to pray for each of those people by name for the next week. Beside each name, add a specific request.
NAME: REQUEST:
1.
2.
3.
Bonus Content
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): Label one side of the room “Agree,” and the other side “Disagree.” Ask each person to either agree or disagree with the following statement and then stand in the corresponding place.
Statement: It was easy for Joseph to obey because he had a word from the Lord.
Ask someone who agrees with the statement to defend his or her belief and someone who disagrees to defend his or her belief.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): Work together as a group to brainstorm an unlikely hero—something different from the traditional comic-book or movie heroes. (A heroic squirrel, for example.) Use these questions to spur ideas as you talk together:
- What are the hero’s powers?
- Who would the hero save?
- Who is the villain?
Make the point that any hero we could dream up would pale in comparison to the Great Hero we have in Christ.
1. statista.com/statistics/1277607/most-popular-holidays-in-the-united-states
2. David R. Beck, “Sign,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary [HIBD], gen. ed. Chad Brand, rev. (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015), 1470.
3. “Immanuel,” in HIBD, 793.
4. Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), 58.
Bible Studies for Life: Adult Personal Study Guide – CSB – Spring 2023
Bible Studies for Life: Adult Personal Study Guide – CSB – Spring 2023
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Session 6: Jesus Rose Again to Give Me Lifesearchmore_vert
6
Jesus Rose Again to Give Me Life
Question 1:
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve experienced at a funeral?
THE POINT
Jesus’s resurrection offers eternal life for me.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
My wife Candace and I had not been at our current church long when one of our charter members passed away. She was one of the more influential ladies in the church, so her funeral was a pretty big deal. In preparing to attend the service, Candace was helping our oldest son get dressed and ready. As any good mom would do, she was also prepping him as to what to say and do. She told our son about the receiving line and how, when it was their turn to speak to the family, he should say, “I am sorry for your loss.” In a mixture of confusion and frustration, he immediately responded with, “Why should I be sorry? I didn’t kill her.”
We got a good laugh out of his innocent response, but death is no laughing matter. It strikes the young and the old. No one escapes its earthly grip. However, the good news for believers is that it is not the last word. Jesus Christ conquered death, and through faith in Him, we have eternal life.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
John 20:1-2
1 On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”
Over the course of this study, we have looked at encounters with Jesus. Each of them has shown us something powerful and amazing about Jesus. However, the encounter we are studying in this session is perhaps the most amazing. The encounter that Mary Magdalene had with Jesus not only transformed her life, but it can also transform ours.
We are unsure exactly when Mary first encountered Jesus, but both Mark and Luke tell us she was possessed by seven demons, and that Jesus cast them out (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). It was clear this early encounter changed her life, for she became a follower of Jesus, often traveling with Him and the disciples in their ministry. Mary had a lot to be thankful for, so it’s no wonder that she felt the need to get to the tomb early on that Sunday morning. When the Sabbath was over and before the sun had even risen, she made her way to the tomb. Other women accompanied Mary to the tomb (Mark 16:1), but the Gospel writer John focused on Mary’s encounter with Jesus—and that encounter began with a discovery that something was out of place. The stone had been rolled away.
Question 2:
What questions come to mind when you consider the empty tomb?
I had a suite mate in college who was extremely particular about the way he kept his room. He didn’t like anyone to go into his room or touch any of his things. If he left for the weekend, he would vacuum the carpet to the door so he could tell if anyone had walked on it. He placed a Hot Wheels® car on his desk, and if anyone opened the drawer, the car would move, and he would know someone had been in his desk. He always knew when something was out of place.
Mary didn’t need a Hot Wheels car at the tomb to know something was out of place. The stone had been moved! John didn’t give us all the details between this discovery and her report back to the disciples, but it’s clear she wasn’t thinking about resurrection. Even though Jesus had told the disciples several times that He would be killed and then rise from the dead, those words seem to have escaped them. Mary’s first thought was that someone had taken the body of Jesus. For her, this was the most realistic understanding of the situation. No one goes to a graveyard expecting to see someone rise from the grave, but that’s exactly what happened.
John 20:11-16
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?” Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” — which means “Teacher.”
When I read this section of John’s Gospel, Psalm 30:5b always comes to mind. “Weeping may stay overnight, but there is joy in the morning.” Mary was crying over the loss of Jesus’s body, but her weeping was about to turn to joy as she experienced the surprise of her life. Jesus was alive!
In 2016 I was part of a mission trip to a country in Southeast Asia. I had been to both Africa and Europe several times, but I had never had any desire to go to this part of the world. Frankly, I wasn’t too keen on going at all, but I had been asked by a good friend, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. However, when I arrived, no one was there to get me. I managed to get myself to the hotel. Needless to say, the trip didn’t start off well and my attitude was certainly reflective of those challenges. But after training local pastors, my attitude changed. I have been back three times. Everything I thought turned out to be the opposite. This was Mary’s experience. She assumed the worst only to find out the best.
I love the detail John gave about what Mary saw when she looked into the tomb. “She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet” (v. 12). The angels sitting on both ends of where Jesus lay would have looked similar to the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. Moses described it this way: “Make two cherubim of gold; make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. At its two ends, make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat. The cherubim are to have wings spread out above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and are to face one another. The faces of the cherubim should be toward the mercy seat” (Ex. 25:18-20).
Just as God’s people would experience His mercy at the temple, we experience the grace of God as we look to the empty grave and the risen Savior. Mary wasn’t sure what to make of what she was seeing. Even when she saw Jesus, she didn’t recognize Him. It wasn’t until He called her by name that she saw Him for who He is. There’s something powerful about being called by your name. The man Mary had seen killed on Friday was now calling her name on Sunday.
Question 3:
When have you had an encounter with God that you didn’t recognize at first?
John 20:17-18
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord! ” And she told them what he had said to her.
“Don’t cling to me.” When we find something of great value the natural desire is to hold on to it tightly, to cling to it. It seems from the text that Jesus was rebuking Mary and was coming across as untouchable, but we know from the ministry of Jesus that He was very approachable. Jesus was about to ascend into heaven and would no longer be with her physically. He didn’t want her to rely simply on His physical presence. Mary would now rely on Jesus in a different way as He came to live in her through the presence of His Holy Spirit.
It’s also interesting that Jesus’s next words were for her to go and share the good news of His appearance with others. The gospel is not for us to cling to like a secret message meant only for us. It’s to be shared across the entire world. His glory and power are not in limited supply so that when it’s shared it decreases in portion. In fact, the more we share Christ with others, the more we experience His power and presence in our lives.
Question 4:
What are some ways you’ve heard others respond to the resurrection of Jesus?
Another important part of Jesus’s statement to Mary was that He would be “ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (v. 17). The distinction between the use of “my” and “your” is meaningful. Jesus has a unique relationship as the only Son from the Father (John 1:14), and while we are not sons of God in the same way as Jesus, “through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). We have a relationship with the Father through the Son.
Notice the immediate response of Mary. Jesus instructed her to go and tell, and she went and told! When Jesus calls us to go, we must go. When He calls us to tell, we must tell. God calls all His followers to be His witnesses, but we don’t witness alone. Jesus’s ascension set the stage for the coming of the Holy Spirit. It’s this same Spirit who indwells believers today and empowers us to share the same message that Mary was sent to tell the disciples: Jesus is alive!
Question 5:
What steps can our group take to be better witnesses for Christ?
Engage
CAN YOU IMAGINE?
Picture the empty tomb and the way Mary must have felt when she found it. Circle all of the words that describe how you think you would have felt if you were Mary in that moment.
ShockedOverjoyedDoubtfulAfraid
ExcitedAmazedRelievedConfused
Take a few moments to reflect on those feelings, allowing yourself to imagine and feel the full wonder and surprise of witnessing the resurrection. Then write a prayer of praise to God!
My Prayer:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
ACTS 1:8
LIVE IT OUT
Jesus’s resurrection offers eternal life for me. Choose one of the following applications:
Trust Christ. Knowing the truth of the resurrection of Christ is not enough. Commit to Him, trusting Him by faith. Turn to the inside front cover of this book where you can read the greatest message of hope that has ever been shared. Talk to someone about your desire to follow the resurrected Christ.
Pray and share. Write down the names of three people you know who need to hear the gospel. Pray daily for these three people and ask God for the opportunity to share the gospel with them soon.
Go and tell. Pray for our missionaries and consider the possibility of going on a short-term mission trip. Nothing will increase your fervor for seeing people come to know Jesus more than being a part of a short-term mission trip. If your church is not planning any trips in the near future, visit the International Mission Board (imb.org/go) and review the short-term opportunities listed there.
Death is something we must all face. It’s not easy, especially when it involves someone close to us. But praise God if we and our loved ones know Jesus, we will be reunited. Let’s do our best to make sure we help them know Him!
In Amman, Jordan, ruins of a Byzantine church, which was constructed inside what had been the citadel at ancient Ammon. Uriah was killed while storming the citadel. The earliest fortifications here date to 1800 BC.
ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ BOB SCHATZ (8/4/9)
OUR FORGIVING GOD
by Blakeley Winslow
Psalm 32 highlights that the ancient Jews envisioned their God’s forgiving nature in a markedly different manner from their Near-Eastern peers. Its message mirrors one of the distinctive concepts of ancient Judaism: God desires a personal relationship with His children. As part of this relationship, we, like David, must frankly confess our flaws in God’s presence, while trusting in the forgiving power of His boundless mercy.
IN OTHER RELIGIONS
The foundational teaching that “Yahweh is one” clearly demarcated Judaism from the elaborate polytheistic hierarchies of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Philistines, and Canaanites. Yahweh thus related to His people on a unique ethical plane, to which other ancient Near-Eastern belief systems offer no clear parallel. The ancient Israelites had God alone, and with Him alone did they contend when they sinned.1 When these other ancient peoples sought forgiveness, though, they had to contend with a whole host of deities.
Many of ancient Israel’s contemporaries honored their gods for whatever prosperity he or she could bestow in return. Forgiveness often entailed regaining the favor of the gods rather than repenting from wrongdoing. Ancient Egyptians believed their gods showed mercy because the people provided care for the likenesses of the deities. Egyptians believed their gods’ “existence was ultimately dependent upon the existence of mortals.”2
Like their Jewish neighbors, Canaanites at times employed a system of animal sacrifices to atone for sin. But their penitential practices also included the occasional child sacrifice, something Yahweh abhorred and Scripture expressly forbade (Lev. 18:21). The Canaanites made their offerings both in hopes of gaining forgiveness and of obtaining material boons including good harvests and fortune in war.
PSALM 32
Turning to Psalm 32, we find that the soul-cleansing forgiveness God offers requires only a true and heartfelt spirit of repentance. Psalm 32 is one of the 13 Maschil psalms, Maschil being a Hebrew word that implies both meditation for the author and instruction for the readers.3 As we analyze these verses, both the confessional and instructional aims become apparent. In verse 1, David proclaimed, “How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven.”4 The Hebrew verb nasa means “to forgive,” but further connotes “to be lifted up.”5 The vivid image the psalm gives is of a person with his head bowed in sorrow at the recognition of sin, who is then able to lift it up—or have God lift it up—in recognition of the forgiveness He granted. By seeking pardon for our shortcomings, we are fully able to become ourselves again in God’s presence. Verse 2 reminds that the blessed man will be the one “in whose spirit is no deceit.” The key to asking for forgiveness is to admit all the wrong we have done and to refuse to withhold, conceal, or minimize any sin, no matter how grievous.
By seeking pardon for our shortcomings, we are fully able to become ourselves again in God’s presence.
Psalm 32 further emphasizes that deceiving God about one’s sinfulness will only cause further grief. Verses 3 and 4 speak of the negative consequences that ensue from such unacknowledged sin. The vivid Hebrew verb employed in verse 3 is a form of balah, meaning “to become old and worn out.”6 David experienced the reality that delaying one’s repentance hurts a person not only spiritually but also emotionally and physically. If Psalm 32 is connected to Psalm 51, as some believe, then David’s direct acknowledgment of sin in 32:5 could refer not only to his confession to God but also to the personal confession he made before the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12.7
This reminds us that confession of sin, before both God and others whom we might have wronged, is a way of life that must be practiced daily. The psalm then encourages the confession of sins and repentance at the outset, lest our wrongdoings should accumulate like a flood and eventually overtake the unwary. Indeed this Maschil psalm gives us insights into the writer’s deeply personal confession to God and also charges the reader likewise to confess and repent in order to experience the healing grace that ensues when we display complete honesty before the Almighty.
IN REPENTANCE
Psalm 32 ultimately teaches us much about divine forgiveness. The Old Testament Law does not represent a mere list of obligations that persons should meet in order to appease God. Instead, it involves a comprehensive code of ethical teachings, which address all possible dimensions of life.8 Thus the ancient Jews engaged the question of sin and forgiveness in a much more thorough and systematic way than did any of their peers.
While the Old Testament prophets always featured as a central theme fidelity to the Law, they were equally concerned that an inward spirit of repentance accompanied the outward rituals related to seeking forgiveness.9 Thus to say the forgiving God of the Old Testament is unique is to confirm the singular nature of the Jewish Law, which as Christians we can respect as part of our religious heritage. Judaism established a revolutionary concept of a personal accountability to God. The forgiveness the Old Testament Jews sought through diligent and continual adherence to the Law is now offered to all through the once-for-all sacrifice of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ.10
1. Hence, David’s confession: “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (Ps. 51:4, NKJV).
2. Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin, Ancient Egypt (London: Anness Publishing, 2003), 323. The ancient Egyptians practiced a literal form of idolatry, in which temple priests cleaned, dressed, and fed images of the gods daily. Jeremiah 10 mocks such devotion to powerless, man-made statues.
3. Martin S. Rozenberg and Bernard M. Zlotowitz, The Book of Psalms: A New Translation and Commentary (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1999), 181-83. The authors explain that Jews traditionally read Psalm 32 in synagogues as part of the observances for Yom Kippur, the solemn Day of Atonement. Some scholars also see a connection between Psalms 32 and 51.
4. All Scripture quotations are from the CSB Version.
5. “af’n”“ (nasa, lift) in Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds., The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (1906; repr. Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996), 669.
6. “hl’B’” (balah, to become old and worn out) in ibid., 115.
7. Avrohom Chaim Feuer, Tehillim: A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic Sources (Brooklyn: Mesoreh Publications, 1985), 383.
8. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 149.
9. Ibid., 454-55
10. See Hebrews 4:14-16.
Blakeley Winslow, working with the North American Mission Board, is with Christian Challenge, part of the Baptist campus ministry at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Session 5: Jesus Died for Me
Jesus Died for Me
Unit 1 Session 5
Question 1:
When have you had to admit you aren’t as good at something as you’d like to think you are?
THE POINT
Jesus’s death on the cross made forgiveness possible for me.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
The church I grew up in had a choir, and occasionally, one particular lady would sing a solo. The problem was she was not a good vocalist. Even as a kid, I thought someone should tell this lady not to sing because she was embarrassing herself and she didn’t even know it. This was before the days of American Idol, and there was no Simon to tell her the truth about her singing.
We often fool ourselves into thinking we are better at something than we really are. If we enjoy doing something, we assume we are fairly good at it. This doesn’t just apply to hobbies or jobs; we often apply this to the whole of life. We think we are better people than we are. We assume that we are better behaved than most of the people we know. The problem is we aren’t, and the Bible makes that clear: we are sinners. In fact, when we compare ourselves to Jesus, our best is completely inadequate. But through Jesus, we also have hope!
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
John 19:16-19
16 Then he handed him over to be crucified. Then they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called “Golgotha.” 18 There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
The chief priests may have thought they had won when Pilate “handed him over to be crucified.” The Pharisees had wanted to be rid of this man Jesus for some time, and now Pilate had made that possible. They could be rid of Him forever. However, the fact that they took Jesus away doesn’t mean He was unwilling to go or that somehow these leaders had power over Him. Jesus willingly went with them, and they only thought they had won.
For Jesus’s public execution, Pilate added a sign that hung on the cross of Christ that differentiated Him from the two men also being crucified. The sign read “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” This designation dripped with irony. Pilate didn’t believe this statement and the Jewish leaders certainly hadn’t acknowledged Jesus as their King. Pilate wrote it to mock Jesus and spite the Jews, but the irony was that it accurately broadcast the truth: Jesus is the King.
Since Jesus is the King, why did He willingly die? Why did He go to the cross? Jesus was not like the two convicted criminals hanging on either side. They had done wrong, but not Jesus. Jesus was not only innocent of the charges being cast on Him by the religious leaders, but He was also innocent of any sin. Jesus left the throne room of heaven and
Question 2:
Which detail about Jesus’s crucifixion stands out to you as you read this passage?
took on flesh and lived among humanity, yet never sinned—not once. He never disobeyed His Father, broke the law, or lived in any way other than perfection. I can’t make it through a single day without having a dishonoring thought, word, or deed, yet Jesus lived His entire life in perfect submission to the will of the Father. No one else can say this. While it is true that all of us are sinners (Rom. 3:23), there was no sin in Jesus (Heb. 4:15). What makes the cross so important is that it is where our sin was paid for by the One who never sinned. “You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him” (1 John 3:5). Jesus took our guilt, our sin, and our shame upon Himself on that cross, and He could only do so because He was guiltless before the Father.
John 19:28-30
28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
When Jesus left heaven and took on flesh, He came with one end in mind: the cross. He knew the cross was the culmination of His earthly ministry. Jesus declared this in John 17:4: “I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” Even as He endured the suffering of the cross, He “knew that everything was now finished” (v. 28). He understood what was happening. He was about to die, and when He did, His blood would be the covering for our sin.
Even Jesus’s thirst was a part of what the Father intended for His Son to finish. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 69:21, “Instead, they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” By declaring His thirst, Jesus was fulfilling what had been prophesied about the Messiah. Not only are we reminded of Jesus’s humanity during this simple request, but we are assured of His divinity in that He fulfilled the prophecies of Scripture, even in His death.
The phrase “It is finished” is translated from the Greek word tetelestai. It was used in the perfect tense indicating that it was something fully completed. This word would be used by a servant reporting back to his master after his task was completed or when a priest examined an animal that was about to be sacrificed and it was deemed perfect. Jesus said, “It is finished” to indicate the full completion of His work.
Engage
FORGIVEN!
When Jesus died, He took up the burden of all our sins. Use the template below to record a note of thanks to Christ. Then write a prayer of thanks as God leads.
Dear Jesus,
When I think of Your death on the cross, I experience many emotions, including ________________________________________ . I know that I was lost in my sins without You, and I had no hope of rescue. Thank You for the gift of Your forgiveness. And thank You for the blessings You have poured into my life,
including _________________________________________________________ ______________________ .
My Prayer:
“By the cross we know the gravity of sin and the greatness of God’s love toward us.”
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
His task had been completed and His sacrifice had been deemed perfect.1
My teenage daughter recently got into a small fender-bender on her way to church. Being a minor and not having her license for very long meant she would have to appear in traffic court. She was quite nervous as the day approached, but she was prepared to respond to the inquiry of the judge. When we arrived at the courtroom, the judge asked her a series of questions about the incident. After hearing what happened, the judge dismissed the ticket. The judge dismissed the legal demand upon my daughter to pay for her mistake. This is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. We owed a debt, a debt we had compiled for our sin. Jesus paid that debt by going to the cross where He took our debt upon Himself. By paying the penalty for our sin, He canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. “He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14).
Question 3:
How have you been personally impacted by the death of Jesus?
John 19:38-42
38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus — but secretly because of his fear of the Jews — asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. 39 Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. 40 They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it. 42 They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.
In John 19:38 we meet an eyewitness to the death and burial of Jesus: Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was a “member of the Sanhedrin” (Luke 23:50), which was the highest council of Jewish leaders. It was this group of religious leaders that had pushed Pilate to crucify Jesus, yet here we find that one of them was secretly a follower. As a member of this group, it is not hard to image the pressure he was under. He saw Jesus for who He truly is, but the circle of power he was in had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. To stand up to this group would have had tremendous consequences.
Question 4:
Why do some Christians wait so long to go public about their relationship with Christ?
No matter why Joseph was silent during the proceedings that led to the crucifixion, he was determined to give Jesus a proper Jewish burial. If he had missed his chance to honor Jesus in His life, he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to do so in His death. Joseph was not alone in his desire to honor Jesus. Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin and a secret follower of Christ, had similar aspirations. Together these two men wrapped the body of Jesus with spices and linen.
While thousands of people saw Jesus alive, there were many who also saw Him dead. Jesus’s death is vital to the gospel. If Jesus had not died, we are still condemned in our sin, and if Jesus had not been raised, we are still without hope. This is why the apostle John gave us the account of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who saw and knew that Jesus had died.
Question 5:
How have you benefited from someone’s testimony about Jesus?
LIVE IT OUT
Jesus’s death on the cross made forgiveness possible for me. Choose one of the following applications:
Arrow
A word of thanks. Consider all that Jesus has done for you. He left heaven for you, lived the sinless life that you couldn’t live, and died on a cross for your sin. Take a moment to thank Jesus for His sacrifice. If you are not a believer, confess your sin, repent, and ask Jesus to transform your life through faith. [See the inside cover of this book for help.]
Arrow
A word of comfort. Both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus honored Christ at His death. If you know someone in your church or community who has recently lost a loved one, write the person a letter. Encourage them and let them know you are praying for them in their time of grief or loss.
Arrow
A word of forgiveness. Jesus died to forgive you of your sin. Is there anyone that you need to forgive? Ask God to reveal any grudges or unforgiveness in your heart. Ask Him to help you forgive that person.
Few of us look at ourselves introspectively; instead, we are apt to puff ourselves up and diminish our flaws. Certainly if we spend our time comparing ourselves to others, we are barking up the wrong tree. When we compare ourselves to Christ, we see our great need for a savior, and turn to Him for salvation and strength.
1 Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 384.
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My Encounter with Jesussearchmore_vert
My Encounter with Jesus
We are living in an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. A recent study by Harvard revealed that 36 percent of Americans experience a serious level of loneliness. That sense of loneliness and isolation is greater in some groups, like young adults and mothers with small children. Relationships and connection matter. We need those encounters in order to thrive.
Throughout this study we are going to see what happens when people encounter Jesus in their moment of need. He reached out to a woman alone at a well, healed a man born blind, showed compassion to a woman caught in sin, and willingly died on a cross and was raised from the dead to meet our greatest need. Jesus was always meeting and transforming people just when they needed Him most.
If you have ever needed Jesus to meet you, then this study is for you. If you have ever needed your life transformed, then there is a message for you in these texts. However, be prepared. Jesus often asked those He encountered difficult questions. He often caused them to reflect and think about their lives, their sin, and their future. He was even known to ask them to do difficult things, but this is how transformation works.
Transformation happens as we encounter Jesus.
Chad Keck
Chad serves as Pastor of First Baptist Church Kettering in Dayton, Ohio. His wife, Candace, is a teacher and together they have four children. Chad also teaches courses at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Cedarville University.
How “My Encounter with Jesus” supports the Discipleship Plan (see page 129):
Share Christ. We have the responsibility and privilege to tell others about Christ. As we see how others were changed by their encounter with Jesus, we discover how we can tell others about our own life-changing encounter with Him.
My Encounter with Jesus
| Session 1 | Jesus Met My Greatest Need John 4:7-18,25-26 |
| Session 2 | Jesus Restored My Life John 5:2-11,19-21 |
| Session 3 | Jesus Gave Me Grace and Forgiveness John 8:2-11 |
| Session 4 | Jesus Opened My Eyes to the Truth John 9:1-7,32-33,35-38 |
| Session 5 | Jesus Died for Me John 19:16-19,28-30,38-42 |
| Session 6 | Jesus Rose Again to Give Me Life John 20:1-2,11-18 |
1
Jesus Met My Greatest Need
Question 1:
What’s the thirstiest you’ve ever been?
THE POINT
Only Jesus can truly satisfy my thirst.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
It’s not good to be so thirsty your body hurts.
Several years ago, I was training for a marathon. No one ever accidentally finishes a marathon, because running one requires training and discipline. One morning I set out to complete a 16-mile run. As I began, the temperature was about 50 degrees, but it quickly rose into the 80s. It was at that point I realized I had not brought enough water. Being a determined person (my wife would say “stubborn”), I pressed on. It didn’t take long in the heat for me to become thirsty—very thirsty. I became so thirsty that my kidneys hurt. This was a very dangerous situation, and I’m grateful I made it back to my car, rehydrated, and recovered.
Our thirst tells us when we need water, but our lives tell us how much more we need eternal living water. This water isn’t found in a bottle or a fountain. Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman who discovered that it is found only when we meet the One who knows us better than we know ourselves.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
John 4:7-14
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8 because his disciples had gone into town to buy food. 9 “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.” 11 “Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” 13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”
“A woman of Samaria.” That is how this passage invites us in. We don’t know her name, but we do know where she was from—and where she is from tells us a lot about her. Knowing she is a Samaritan woman gives us the context for the conversation we are about to witness.
Jesus was always eager to engage people no matter their history or their circumstances. But the Samaritan woman didn’t know that when she first arrived at the well; she may have been a bit on edge about Jesus’s presence.
We don’t know exactly why this woman came to the well at noon (v. 6), but it’s most likely because she was seen as an outcast, even among her own people. If that was the case, she had likely come at mid-day to be alone and avoid the looks or comments from the women who would come in the morning hours to get water. We’ll see later in the passage that she had some issues in her personal life that were likely the source of this rejection.
Question 2:
What catches your attention from the start of this conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well?
Instead of being able to privately draw water, the woman was greeted with a request from a Jewish man. Nothing about this experience was making much sense to her. “ ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans” (v. 9).
One of the things Jesus was so good at was engaging in everyday conversations that were segues to eternal conversations. This conversation was no different. As they began to discuss something as simple as His human need for water, Jesus shifted the conversation to her eternal need for redemption. She thought they were talking about His need, but they were talking about her need!
The Samaritan woman was confused at first. She didn’t understand how this man was going to give her water that would cause her to never thirst again. If Jesus was able to provide this water to her without anything to draw with, then He must know about another source of water, one that was much easier to access. Her next question revealed her thinking on this: “You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock” (v. 12). To her, Jesus’s statement implied He was claiming to be greater than the patriarch Jacob.
It’s at this point the conversation turned. In just one sentence Jesus shifted from a discussion about the physical to one about the eternal. He is greater than Jacob, not because He knows of another water source, but because He is the Source. He identified for her the solution to a problem she didn’t know she had.
John 4:15-18
15 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.” 16 “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” 17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. 18 “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
Question 3:
What are some cultural bridges you’ve seen someone use effectively to start spiritual conversations?
The woman may have thought she had found a secret source of water that would allow her to avoid the shame of coming to this well alone. She had found an escape from her embarrassment and from having to face the reality of her public sin. Then it hit. Jesus didn’t point out the location of a running stream. He didn’t show her a better way to draw water from the well. Instead, Jesus—this stranger—identified her sin, a sin she would prefer not to talk about. Jesus told her to go get her husband and bring him to the well.
Most of us, when confronted with something shameful, hide, deflect, or shy away from the truth. We come by this behavior honestly because this is the way Adam and Eve handled their confrontation with God in the garden of Eden after they had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:8). The Samaritan woman responded in the same way. She thought she could avoid the issue by admitting she had no husband, but she failed to realize whom she was speaking with. This man just looked into her life and spoke a truth about her that, as a stranger, He shouldn’t have known.
There’s nothing about us that Jesus doesn’t know. He created us and, therefore, He knows us. So often we fool ourselves into thinking that we can hide our sin. We believe that, if we don’t get caught and exposed publicly, then no one really knows. The reality is that God always knows. Nothing catches Him by surprise. When Jesus initiated the conversation with the woman, He already knew her situation, her marital status, and her history. Knowing all this didn’t prevent Him from meeting with her at the well. In fact, it may be the very reason Jesus chose to travel through Samaria. It was certainly no accident that Jesus met this lady, on this day, at this time, and under these circumstances. Jesus does this with each person He encounters; He meets them right where they are.
Question 4:
What are some obstacles to acknowledging our sin?
John 4:25-26
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
The Samaritan woman may not have known much about what it took to make a marriage work, and she may not have known a lot about the nature of worship (John 4:19-24), but she did know the Messiah would be coming. She didn’t know everything, but she knew the Messiah would. What she heard next would change her life, and eternity, forever. “Jesus told her, ‘I, the one speaking to you, am he.’ ” The man that had asked her to get Him a drink was the very one she had been waiting for. He was the one who knew her sin and shame and still took the time to engage with her anyway. He was the One who would love her unconditionally. He was the one who, just a few short years later, would die a criminal’s death on the cross and be raised from the dead. The walk in the middle of the day that led her to the well didn’t turn out at all like she suspected. God is so good at meeting us where we are and surprising us with His grace.
Following a Sunday morning service, an eighty-year-old church member introduced me to a young lady in her twenties. They were neighbors and the senior adult woman had invited her to be her guest that morning. I was thrilled, but a bit surprised. What did this eighty-year-old lady have in common with this twenty-year-old? My curiosity got the better of me, so I asked. The older woman had been bitten by the younger woman’s dog, but instead of getting mad at her and reporting it, the senior adult invited her to church.
Something amazing happened. The young lady heard the gospel, felt convicted of her sin, repented, and trusted Jesus as her Savior. Attending church and having her life completely transformed by Jesus wasn’t on her agenda the day her dog got loose and bit her neighbor, but it was on God’s agenda.
The woman at the well wasn’t going to find rest in another husband nor in water from a stream. She needed something supernatural as we all do. And that’s exactly what she found when Jesus met her at a well in the middle of the day.
Question 5:
How do we know we can trust Jesus?
Engage
FULLY KNOWN
How does it make you feel to be completely known by Jesus? Place a mark on the scale below. Then offer a prayer of thanks to God for knowing and loving you.
Being known by Jesus can be scary because He knows the worst about you. But Jesus already knew that when He loved you to the point of dying on the cross for you. We have nothing to hide, and we are still completely loved. That is truly comforting.
My Prayer:
“God whispers to us in our pleasures,speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C. S. LEWIS
LIVE IT OUT
Only Jesus can truly satisfy my thirst. Choose one of the following applications:
Remember. When did Christ come into your life? Think about that moment. Thank Jesus for saving you. If you cannot identify that moment or you have not yet begun a relationship with Christ, reach out to your pastor or another believer and ask them to help you. The inside cover of this book can tell you more.
Connect. Who around you may feel isolated like the woman at the well? Take a moment this week and write a card, make a call, or send a text. Let that person know you love them and care about them. Jesus saw the woman and her need. Let someone know that you see them.
Fast. If you are medically able, skip a meal or two one day this week. Jesus moved the woman from thinking about a physical need to a spiritual need. Fasting can help us prioritize the need for spiritual food more than physical food.
All of us know what it’s like to be thirsty. Some of us know what it’s like to be really thirsty. That’s true of our spiritual thirst also. Thankfully, Jesus is our Living Water, the One who has come to make sure we never thirst again!
Bible Studies for Life: Senior Adult Personal Study Guide – Winter 2023filter_2Session 6: Does It Lead You to Be More Like Jesus?searchmore_vert
SESSION 6
Does It Lead You to Be More Like Jesus?
Question 1:
When have you seen someone undergo a complete transformation?
THE POINT
God’s desire is to conform us to the image of Christ.
THE PASSAGE
Colossians 3:1-14
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
In Brazil, I met a pastor who was loved, respected, and faithful to Christ in every way. He had not always been such a man. He descended from generations of alcoholics and was himself addicted to alcohol. He spent so much money on alcohol that his family often had no food. His wife and children were invited to attend a local church, and they soon became Christians. Through their witness and influence, this man came to faith in Christ. He began to faithfully attend a Bible study group. As he grew in Christ, he moved from sitting in a group to leading a group. He continued to grow, and his leadership in the church grew until, ultimately, he became the pastor of the entire church.
This man was growing ever more like Jesus. God’s desire is the same for us. We may not need freedom from an addiction like this man, but God’s transforming work in our lives is no less powerful and marvelous. God speaks and calls us to be more and more like Jesus.
Colossians 3:1-4
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Key Words: Hidden with Christ (v. 3)—Since Christians are buried with Christ in baptism (Col. 2:12), their Source of life as new people cannot be seen or detected by the world.
To be raised with Christ is to experience spiritual baptism, or a spiritual new birth. This means that people have died to their old self and have been born again with a new nature that naturally desires the things of God. And this is a sure condition for the one who trusts in Christ. Paul began with “if,” but in the Greek language, that’s not stating something we hope is true. The Greek carries the idea: “Since you have been raised.”
Since we have been raised with Christ, the focus of our lives—the desires of our hearts—ought to be on heavenly matters and not fleshly lusts. “Seek” implies continual behavior. Before we were born again, our sinful passions ruled our lives. Now that we have been born again, we have died to sin and can choose to devote our lives to nobler pursuits than merely fulfilling our lusts.
Christ now sits at God’s right hand, which is a position of power and authority. Because our lives as believers are inextricably linked with Christ, His concerns should now be our priorities. Because Christ sits at God’s right hand, He has immense power and is perfectly capable of accomplishing His purposes in our lives.
Whereas verse 1 speaks to the heart and its desires, verse 2 centers on our thoughts: We are to continually set our minds on things above. This is a challenge in today’s world when we are bombarded by social media, TV shows, billboards, and magazines that urge us to focus on worldly lusts. Paul exhorts us to do whatever is necessary so that we do not immerse our thoughts in fleshly matters but in God’s will. This is a choice we make. If we fill our minds with TV shows and social media, we will undoubtedly be consumed with worldly thoughts. By choosing to immerse ourselves in Scripture and exposing ourselves to uplifting Christian literature and Christian thought, we will elevate our thinking to a level that glorifies God.
We died with Christ (Rom. 6:8), and now our lives are closely linked with Christ. Before we were Christians, we had sinful, fleshly natures that were in bondage to the evil passions of the world. But that nature died the moment we became Christians. This does not mean we never sin, but our fundamental nature is now driven by a desire to please and glorify God rather than to satisfy the lusts of the flesh.
Jesus doesn’t simply give us a new life; He is our life! Christ gives us Himself. When we learn to orient our lives to be centered on Christ, we will see that He meets every need of our lives. He brings us love, joy, and peace. He satisfies our deepest longings. Satan will seek to convince us, as he did with Adam and Eve, that we need God plus something else to be satisfied. But when we focus on Christ, we rest in the truth that He is everything we need.
Question 2
What practices have helped you set your mind on the things of God?
Colossians 3:5-9
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,
7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.
8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
Paul shifted his focus by urging his readers to put to death whatever is a residual holdover from their sinful nature. As Christians, we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), but we must continually bring into submission and put to death whatever remains in our lives that is ungodly (Rom. 8:13). The command to “put to death,” implies a decisive action.
Paul presented two lists of five. First, he called us to put to death “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed.” “Sexual immorality” includes any improper sexual activity, anything outside the confines of a marriage between one man and one woman. “Impurity” results from this sexual immorality. “Lust” and “evil desire” are passions that have turned toward improper objects. They can also be selfish desires in which people are viewed as objects to fulfill our desires. The first four are sexual in nature. The last one is “greed,” which Paul declared is idolatry. This may be because when we greedily desire something, we value it more highly than we value God. The Jews believed that sexual sin and idolatry were the two greatest vices of the Gentiles.
Because of these sins, God’s wrath would be expressed upon those who were disobedient. Both the Old and New Testaments refer to God’s wrath. It is much more than an emotional expression of anger. It is the utter revulsion of God toward sin and anything which is contrary to His holiness. Sin brings death and destruction to all it touches. God hates sin and will express His wrath against it. His wrath is against those who disobey. Some people claim to believe in God but have difficulty obeying what He commands. However, people will not be spared God’s wrath because they profess a belief in God, but because they obey what He commands.
In verse 8, Paul introduced a second list of five. We are to “put away” these things as if we were removing soiled clothes. The first item to be put away is “anger.” There can be occasions when we are angry without falling into sin (Eph. 4:26). We see Jesus express anger when He overturned tables in the temple (John 2:13-17). Righteous indignation is one thing; self-centered anger is to be avoided. Anger can quickly get out of control, but we are not to be slaves to our anger. By God’s power, we can renounce its hold on our lives.
Years ago, I was teaching an adult Bible study. As we discussed this verse, I pointed out that we had the power available to us to put aside our anger. Several people in the class immediately became angry with me! They argued that I did not understand how difficult it was to control one’s anger. One woman said it was not as easy as the apostle Paul made it sound. All week she was angry about the class. One day she tried to pray. Immediately, God affirmed to her this truth. She cried out to God and pleaded with Him to take away her anger. She was set free! God does not tell you to put anything away from your life unless He also grants you the power to do so.
Along with the anger, we are called to put away “wrath, malice, slander, . . . filthy language,” and “do not lie.” None of these are becoming of a Christian—and none are beyond the Spirit’s power to remove from us!
Question 3
How do we sometimes justify holding on to aspects of our earthly nature?
ENGAGE
How are you personally counteracting the negative influences of the world?
Colossians 3:10-14
10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.
11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.
14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Key Words: Renewed in knowledge (v. 10)—Christians are changed people. We progressively learn and grow in our faith.
Barbarian (v. 11)—An uncivilized person who did not understand the Greek language or culture. Civilized people thought the barbarians to only mutter unintelligible sounds, like “bar-bar.” Scythian (v. 11)—A savage people who were notorious in the ancient Near East. They were even worse than other barbarians. God’s chosen ones (v. 12)—People chosen by God for special service or a relationship with Him; believers.
We don’t just put away old, soiled clothes; we put on new clothes. Just as Christians should put away sinful practices, we are to put on godly practices that reflect our new nature. This comes from having our minds renewed so we adopt the same viewpoint as our Creator. As the Holy Spirit renews our minds, we are transformed to act like Christ.
To be in Christ is an incredibly wonderful position to be in! His life becomes your life. When your life is no longer your own, your identity comes not from your nationality, culture, family background, or gender, but from your relationship with Christ. Everything that divides people in society is insignificant compared to Christ in us. Greeks and Jews represented the divide between Jews and Gentiles. Circumcision and uncircumcision reflected God’s people and those opposed to God. Barbarians were Gentiles who were considered uncivilized. Scythians were viewed as some of the cruelest people in the ancient world. A vast number of people in the Roman Empire were slaves. They posed a stark contrast to those who were free. The Roman Empire was filled with people of various social classes and ethnicities, yet for Christians, this did not matter. In Christ, they were all beloved brothers and sisters.
Paul summarized this section with an exhortation. But before calling us to live a certain way, he reminded us of who we are.
▶ Chosen ones. We were chosen before time began and our “chosenness” continues to the present time. God appointed each Christian for a divine purpose. As a result, we must fulfill that calling.
▶ Holy. We have been set apart for a God-ordained purpose. Our lives are not our own. We belong to God.
▶ Dearly loved. God did not choose us or set us apart out of indifference or solely for pragmatic reasons. He chose us because He loves us!
My grandfather, Gerald Blackaby, used to regularly remind my father and his brothers that they carried his name. My grandfather spent a lifetime building quality into his name and reputation. He reminded his three sons that they took his name with them wherever they went. My father never forgot that. In essence, Paul was saying, “If you are a Christian, live like who you are!”
Paul gave another list of five. He told us to put on, “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Just as we would put on a new shirt, so we can choose to put on these qualities. You might object that you are not naturally a gentle, humble, or patient person. That’s OK; we’re not expected to manufacture these traits in our own power. These qualities come from God and are reflected in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). On top of all this, we are to “put on love.” Love is not something we feel; it is something we choose. Love is the perfect bond of unity that can meld slaves and free, Greeks and Jews into one family unified in Christ. There are many false teachings that try to divide the church, but love for Christ and for one another brings unity.
Question 4
How do believers “put on” godly character
?
The good news is that you are not bound to remain the same person all your life. You have the power by the Holy Spirit to put away anything that dishonors Christ and to put on anything that brings Him glory. Devote yourself to putting away and putting on until there is nothing left in you but what looks like Christ.
Question 5
What do you find most challenging about becoming more like Jesus?
LIVE IT OUT
You want to be able to discern the voice of God, but His voice will never call you to something that pulls you into sin or diminishes your growthe list of sins in this pasth in Christ. What will you do to live out this truth?
▶ Put away. Review sage that you are called to remove. Identify any you still need to eliminate, confess those sins to God, and choose to follow Him in obedience.
▶ Put on. Review the list of traits in this passage that you are called to put on. Identify specific ways you can exhibit these qualities to specific individuals. Ask God to empower you to live these traits out for His glory.
▶ Reflect and share. Meditate on the fact that you are chosen, holy, and dearly loved. Write a paragraph describing how these three truths ought to influence how you live. Share it with someone this week.
Bible Studies for Life: Senior Adult Personal Study Guide – Winter 2023
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Session 6: Does It Lead You to Be More Like Jesus?searchmore_vert
SESSION 6
Does It Lead You to Be More Like Jesus?
Question 1:
When have you seen someone undergo a complete transformation?
THE POINT
God’s desire is to conform us to the image of Christ.
THE PASSAGE
Colossians 3:1-14
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
In Brazil, I met a pastor who was loved, respected, and faithful to Christ in every way. He had not always been such a man. He descended from generations of alcoholics and was himself addicted to alcohol. He spent so much money on alcohol that his family often had no food. His wife and children were invited to attend a local church, and they soon became Christians. Through their witness and influence, this man came to faith in Christ. He began to faithfully attend a Bible study group. As he grew in Christ, he moved from sitting in a group to leading a group. He continued to grow, and his leadership in the church grew until, ultimately, he became the pastor of the entire church.
This man was growing ever more like Jesus. God’s desire is the same for us. We may not need freedom from an addiction like this man, but God’s transforming work in our lives is no less powerful and marvelous. God speaks and calls us to be more and more like Jesus.
Colossians 3:1-4
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Key Words: Hidden with Christ (v. 3)—Since Christians are buried with Christ in baptism (Col. 2:12), their Source of life as new people cannot be seen or detected by the world.
To be raised with Christ is to experience spiritual baptism, or a spiritual new birth. This means that people have died to their old self and have been born again with a new nature that naturally desires the things of God. And this is a sure condition for the one who trusts in Christ. Paul began with “if,” but in the Greek language, that’s not stating something we hope is true. The Greek carries the idea: “Since you have been raised.”
Since we have been raised with Christ, the focus of our lives—the desires of our hearts—ought to be on heavenly matters and not fleshly lusts. “Seek” implies continual behavior. Before we were born again, our sinful passions ruled our lives. Now that we have been born again, we have died to sin and can choose to devote our lives to nobler pursuits than merely fulfilling our lusts.
Christ now sits at God’s right hand, which is a position of power and authority. Because our lives as believers are inextricably linked with Christ, His concerns should now be our priorities. Because Christ sits at God’s right hand, He has immense power and is perfectly capable of accomplishing His purposes in our lives.
Whereas verse 1 speaks to the heart and its desires, verse 2 centers on our thoughts: We are to continually set our minds on things above. This is a challenge in today’s world when we are bombarded by social media, TV shows, billboards, and magazines that urge us to focus on worldly lusts. Paul exhorts us to do whatever is necessary so that we do not immerse our thoughts in fleshly matters but in God’s will. This is a choice we make. If we fill our minds with TV shows and social media, we will undoubtedly be consumed with worldly thoughts. By choosing to immerse ourselves in Scripture and exposing ourselves to uplifting Christian literature and Christian thought, we will elevate our thinking to a level that glorifies God.
We died with Christ (Rom. 6:8), and now our lives are closely linked with Christ. Before we were Christians, we had sinful, fleshly natures that were in bondage to the evil passions of the world. But that nature died the moment we became Christians. This does not mean we never sin, but our fundamental nature is now driven by a desire to please and glorify God rather than to satisfy the lusts of the flesh.
Jesus doesn’t simply give us a new life; He is our life! Christ gives us Himself. When we learn to orient our lives to be centered on Christ, we will see that He meets every need of our lives. He brings us love, joy, and peace. He satisfies our deepest longings. Satan will seek to convince us, as he did with Adam and Eve, that we need God plus something else to be satisfied. But when we focus on Christ, we rest in the truth that He is everything we need.
Question 2
What practices have helped you set your mind on the things of God?
Colossians 3:5-9
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,
7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.
8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
Paul shifted his focus by urging his readers to put to death whatever is a residual holdover from their sinful nature. As Christians, we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), but we must continually bring into submission and put to death whatever remains in our lives that is ungodly (Rom. 8:13). The command to “put to death,” implies a decisive action.
Paul presented two lists of five. First, he called us to put to death “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed.” “Sexual immorality” includes any improper sexual activity, anything outside the confines of a marriage between one man and one woman. “Impurity” results from this sexual immorality. “Lust” and “evil desire” are passions that have turned toward improper objects. They can also be selfish desires in which people are viewed as objects to fulfill our desires. The first four are sexual in nature. The last one is “greed,” which Paul declared is idolatry. This may be because when we greedily desire something, we value it more highly than we value God. The Jews believed that sexual sin and idolatry were the two greatest vices of the Gentiles.
Because of these sins, God’s wrath would be expressed upon those who were disobedient. Both the Old and New Testaments refer to God’s wrath. It is much more than an emotional expression of anger. It is the utter revulsion of God toward sin and anything which is contrary to His holiness. Sin brings death and destruction to all it touches. God hates sin and will express His wrath against it. His wrath is against those who disobey. Some people claim to believe in God but have difficulty obeying what He commands. However, people will not be spared God’s wrath because they profess a belief in God, but because they obey what He commands.
In verse 8, Paul introduced a second list of five. We are to “put away” these things as if we were removing soiled clothes. The first item to be put away is “anger.” There can be occasions when we are angry without falling into sin (Eph. 4:26). We see Jesus express anger when He overturned tables in the temple (John 2:13-17). Righteous indignation is one thing; self-centered anger is to be avoided. Anger can quickly get out of control, but we are not to be slaves to our anger. By God’s power, we can renounce its hold on our lives.
Years ago, I was teaching an adult Bible study. As we discussed this verse, I pointed out that we had the power available to us to put aside our anger. Several people in the class immediately became angry with me! They argued that I did not understand how difficult it was to control one’s anger. One woman said it was not as easy as the apostle Paul made it sound. All week she was angry about the class. One day she tried to pray. Immediately, God affirmed to her this truth. She cried out to God and pleaded with Him to take away her anger. She was set free! God does not tell you to put anything away from your life unless He also grants you the power to do so.
Along with the anger, we are called to put away “wrath, malice, slander, . . . filthy language,” and “do not lie.” None of these are becoming of a Christian—and none are beyond the Spirit’s power to remove from us!
Question 3
How do we sometimes justify holding on to aspects of our earthly nature?
ENGAGE
How are you personally counteracting the negative influences of the world?
Colossians 3:10-14
10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.
11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.
14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Key Words: Renewed in knowledge (v. 10)—Christians are changed people. We progressively learn and grow in our faith.
Barbarian (v. 11)—An uncivilized person who did not understand the Greek language or culture. Civilized people thought the barbarians to only mutter unintelligible sounds, like “bar-bar.” Scythian (v. 11)—A savage people who were notorious in the ancient Near East. They were even worse than other barbarians. God’s chosen ones (v. 12)—People chosen by God for special service or a relationship with Him; believers.
We don’t just put away old, soiled clothes; we put on new clothes. Just as Christians should put away sinful practices, we are to put on godly practices that reflect our new nature. This comes from having our minds renewed so we adopt the same viewpoint as our Creator. As the Holy Spirit renews our minds, we are transformed to act like Christ.
To be in Christ is an incredibly wonderful position to be in! His life becomes your life. When your life is no longer your own, your identity comes not from your nationality, culture, family background, or gender, but from your relationship with Christ. Everything that divides people in society is insignificant compared to Christ in us. Greeks and Jews represented the divide between Jews and Gentiles. Circumcision and uncircumcision reflected God’s people and those opposed to God. Barbarians were Gentiles who were considered uncivilized. Scythians were viewed as some of the cruelest people in the ancient world. A vast number of people in the Roman Empire were slaves. They posed a stark contrast to those who were free. The Roman Empire was filled with people of various social classes and ethnicities, yet for Christians, this did not matter. In Christ, they were all beloved brothers and sisters.
Paul summarized this section with an exhortation. But before calling us to live a certain way, he reminded us of who we are.
▶ Chosen ones. We were chosen before time began and our “chosenness” continues to the present time. God appointed each Christian for a divine purpose. As a result, we must fulfill that calling.
▶ Holy. We have been set apart for a God-ordained purpose. Our lives are not our own. We belong to God.
▶ Dearly loved. God did not choose us or set us apart out of indifference or solely for pragmatic reasons. He chose us because He loves us!
My grandfather, Gerald Blackaby, used to regularly remind my father and his brothers that they carried his name. My grandfather spent a lifetime building quality into his name and reputation. He reminded his three sons that they took his name with them wherever they went. My father never forgot that. In essence, Paul was saying, “If you are a Christian, live like who you are!”
Paul gave another list of five. He told us to put on, “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Just as we would put on a new shirt, so we can choose to put on these qualities. You might object that you are not naturally a gentle, humble, or patient person. That’s OK; we’re not expected to manufacture these traits in our own power. These qualities come from God and are reflected in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). On top of all this, we are to “put on love.” Love is not something we feel; it is something we choose. Love is the perfect bond of unity that can meld slaves and free, Greeks and Jews into one family unified in Christ. There are many false teachings that try to divide the church, but love for Christ and for one another brings unity.
Question 4
How do believers “put on” godly character
?
The good news is that you are not bound to remain the same person all your life. You have the power by the Holy Spirit to put away anything that dishonors Christ and to put on anything that brings Him glory. Devote yourself to putting away and putting on until there is nothing left in you but what looks like Christ.
Question 5
What do you find most challenging about becoming more like Jesus?
LIVE IT OUT
You want to be able to discern the voice of God, but His voice will never call you to something that pulls you into sin or diminishes your growthe list of sins in this pasth in Christ. What will you do to live out this truth?
▶ Put away. Review sage that you are called to remove. Identify any you still need to eliminate, confess those sins to God, and choose to follow Him in obedience.
▶ Put on. Review the list of traits in this passage that you are called to put on. Identify specific ways you can exhibit these qualities to specific individuals. Ask God to empower you to live these traits out for His glory.
▶ Reflect and share. Meditate on the fact that you are chosen, holy, and dearly loved. Write a paragraph describing how these three truths ought to influence how you live. Share it with someone this week.
Session 5: Does It Honor God?searchmore_vert
SESSION 5
Does It Honor God?
THE POINT
God’s voice always leads us to glorify Him and accomplish His purposes.
LIFE CONNECTION
We are prone to talk about ourselves and make ourselves look good. We are encouraged to “look out for number one” and “toot your own horn.” If we don’t, who will? God does not deem us insignificance or unimportant, but as His creation, we are to point to Him as our Creator. We are in the best place possible when we do that and live for His glory. The things God calls us to will point to His honor and glory.
THE PASSAGE
John 17:1-9
THE SETTING
All four New Testament Gospels devote special attention to the last hours preceding Jesus’s crucifixion. Only John reported Jesus’s washing of the disciples’ feet and His teaching about service to others. Jesus also announced the “new commandment” (John 13:34). Knowing His disciples were worried about the future, Jesus taught about the arrival of the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, to encourage them. He warned them of the coming adversities they would face. He concluded the session with a prayer.
Get into the Study
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, play a video of an important medal or award being given. Then ask Question #1.
NOTE: A video option can be found at BibleStudiesforLife.com/AdultExtra.
DISCUSS: Question #1 on page 142 of the PSG: “What’s the greatest honor you or someone you know has received?”
GUIDE: Direct group members to “The Bible Meets Life” on page 143 of the PSG. Introduce the importance of honoring God by reading or summarizing the text or by encouraging group members to read it on their own.
RECAP: As God’s creation, our lives are to point to the glory of our Creator. God calls us to live for His glory—and it’s in His glory we find out greatest purpose.
GUIDE: Call attention to “The Point” on page 143 of the PSG: “God’s voice always leads us to glorify Him and accomplish His purposes.”
PRAY: Transition into the study by asking God to show us ways of honoring Him. Thank Him for being worthy of honor and praise.
John 17:1-3
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Verse 1. John 17 is a long and significant prayer by Jesus. Bible students have outlined it in several ways. One traditional outline finds three key components: Jesus prayed about His relation to the Father (John 17:1-5), for His disciples (vv. 6-19), and for future disciples (vv. 20-26). Our study will focus on the first two sections.
Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven as He began His prayer. God’s people have prayed with different postures across the centuries. Daniel, for instance, knelt as he prayed (Dan. 6:10). Perhaps Jesus looked up since people think of God as in the heavens, even though they know God is everywhere. Jesus also looked up when He prayed for Lazarus (John 11:41).
Jesus addressed God as “Father.” The Jews thought of God as their Father, but as the eternal Son of God, Jesus had a unique relation to God the Father. He taught His followers to pray “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). Jesus at times used the Aramaic word Abba, referring to God in an intimate and personal way (Mark 14:36).
Jesus asked the Father to “glorify” Him so the Son could glorify the Father. To glorify someone means to praise or honor that person. In current jargon, it suggests giving credit where credit is due. While glorify sounds to us like a theological or spiritual term, the New Testament stresses several expressions of glorification. Paul urged readers to glorify God with their bodies (1 Cor. 6:20).
Jesus mentioned that the hour had arrived. Jesus did not mean a period of sixty minutes. He used this term several times in John’s Gospel to point to a pivotal time including His death and resurrection. Jesus earlier told His mother His hour had not arrived (John 2:4). On this night Jesus knew a significant hour had arrived (13:1). It was time for Jesus to prepare His disciples for the events of the next few days, including His death and resurrection.
Verse 2. God had given “power” to His Son, and Jesus could share “eternal life” with those who would be saved. The phrase “eternal life” is prominent in John’s Gospel, perhaps similar to the kingdom of God concept in the other Gospels. Both terms relate to the salvation we can experience through a positive relationship with Jesus. Greek has several words that might be translated “life.” Some Bible students stress the distinction between the word for ordinary physical life (related to our term biology) and eternal life. Eternal life includes life beyond physical death, but more important is the special quality of life gained through the salvation experienced in Christ. Besides the phrase “eternal life,” Jesus talked about the gift of life several times in John’s Gospel. After the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus referred to Himself as the bread of life (6:35,48). Jesus came to give sinners abundant life (10:10). Jesus is the resurrection and the life (11:25). Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6).
Verse 3. Jesus did not offer a dictionary style definition of eternal life, but He described its essence. Eternal life includes two key elements. First, a person will “know thee the only true God.” The kind of knowledge Jesus intends here is not mere factual information. The word “know” here is a relational term, suggesting a personal, intimate knowledge. The Hebrew word was sometimes used for sexual intercourse (Gen. 4:1). Second, eternal life involves knowing Jesus, “whom thou hast sent.” John was inspired by God to write this Gospel to help people know “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” and “have life through his name” (John 20:31).
People who have experienced this eternal life should actively share it with others who need to receive the gospel. Sharing good news about Jesus can be challenging. We live in a culture that highlights self-centeredness. Although some people might be naturally shy, many more brag, draw attention to themselves, and look out for “number one.” Jesus came to glorify His eternal Father. Today some people are so busy praising themselves, they cannot praise and honor others. Self-centered people will have a hard time sharing good news about Jesus.
Honoring God is a high priority for Christians. This series of Bible studies on the theme of discerning the voice of God has pointed us in several helpful directions for decision-making. If we bring a specific issue or ethical dilemma to God, we may not find a specific answer in the Bible. Sometimes God may speak to us through general themes or ethical principles. If I did ___, would God be honored? Science and technology, for example, have helped us in many ways in recent years, but those fields have also created some challenging ethical dilemmas. If we can do something technologically, is it moral to do it? Will it honor God? Jesus did not address many of our twenty-first century issues in a specific way, but a Christ-centered worldview will help deal with all issues.
Study the Bible
John 17:1-3
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, bring a small gift to your gathering—a sweet treat, for example, or a gift certificate to a local coffee shop. Determine which person in the group has the nearest birthday (or choose some other random criteria). Then, honor that person with your gift as an example of honoring others.
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud John 17:1-3 on page 144 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary on page 143 of the Leader Guide to give further background on what it means to glorify God.
RECAP: This passage comes at the end of Jesus’s upper room discourse that began in John 13. The Passover meal was over, and Judas had departed to betray Him. Jesus “lifted up his eyes to heaven,” which was the traditional way to pray. People typically prayed with their eyes open, while looking heavenward. Jesus prayed to His “Father,” which was His preferred term for God when He prayed. In the model prayer, Jesus taught us to call upon God as a loving Father who is generous and pleased to answer us (Matt. 6:9-13; 7:7-11).
Jesus noted that “the hour is come.” He was keenly aware of divine timing. He didn’t ask God for anything too soon or too late, but exactly in God’s perfect time. Jesus prayed that God would glorify the Son. To some, this might appear to be self-centered. However, it’s an extremely God-centered request. The way the Father was going to glorify the Son was to have Him crucified. It would be on the cross that Jesus would bring the greatest glory to His Father. By praying for His time on the cross to come, Jesus was accepting His Father’s will, even though it meant excruciating torture on a cross.
DISCUSS: Question #2 on page 145 of the PSG: “How does honoring God with our lives help lead others to Christ?”
Alternate: What are some everyday things we can do to glorify God?
RECAP: When we abide in Christ, His joy fills us to overflowing (John 15:11) and His peace guards our hearts and minds (Phil. 4:6). Eternal life means we live each day with a keen awareness of our close relationship with God.
TRANSITION: We honor God when we share about the eternal life Christ offers. In the next verses, we see that we also honor God when we continue the work He has given us.
John 17:4-5
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Verse 4. Jesus continued His prayer by saying He had “glorified” or honored the Father by having “finished the work” the Father gave Him to accomplish. Everything Jesus said and did on “earth” might be included in His “work,” but usually the emphasis is on Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection. Before Jesus died on the cross, He announced, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Jesus’s declaration in this prayer was a confident statement that He would indeed be obedient to the Father’s will and complete His assignment on earth very soon.
What did Jesus come to earth to do? All four Gospels record different ways Jesus depicted His mission or task on earth. Jesus came to bring His followers abundant life (10:10). Jesus used other word pictures in John’s Gospel. For instance, Jesus said, “I am come a light into the world” (12:46). John was inspired to use the light and dark imagery in his introduction to this Gospel (1:4-5). Luke reported Jesus saying He had come to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Mark noted Jesus saying He came to serve others and as “a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus noted how divisive His ministry might be to some people; “I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). Jesus told Nicodemus that God sent Him to save people, not to condemn them (John 3:17-18). Those who receive Jesus are saved, but those who reject Jesus are condemned.
DIGGING DEEPER
John 17:4-5
Verse 4 provides the transition from the purpose statement concerning the coming of Jesus to the incarnational work of Jesus. The link is provided by the extended use of the concept of glory. This verse is both reflective of the past and serves as the basis for the prospect of the future in the petition of the next verse. As Jesus anticipated the cross, He could review His incarnation and speak of bringing glory to God by completing or fulfilling His assigned work.
As Jesus looked back before the incarnation, He voiced His second petition with the standard marker “Father” and prayed that His mission would be fully completed by the sign of His return to the glory He had before creation. The connection between this verse and the Prologue to John has been often noted by commentators. But I should add that just as in 1:1-2, it was said that the Word was in the beginning with God and yet the two were distinguishable, so there is here no attempt made for the Son to pray for the merging of the two or for the Son’s absorption into God or the divine mind/soul as might have been proposed by Plato and the Greek philosophers. The Godhead in John is very personal and identifiable both before the incarnation (1:1), in the incarnation (1:14), and thereafter in the postresurrection return.
While both John here and Paul in Philippians 2:6-11 may have been seeking to assist believers to understand the greatness of the Redeemer in His effective work, the perspective is slightly different. For Paul, Jesus has an enhanced status after the emptying and subsequent exaltation, whereas in John, Jesus regains the glory that was previously His. Yet these ideas seem to make overly fine distinctions, and perhaps it is best not to concentrate on the temporal issues such as the premundane existence of the logos but to focus on His supermundane nature and thus emphasize His transcendence over the world. But I would insist that however one might describe the transitional nature of Jesus, there is no question that the present statements are to be linked with the description in the Prologue of the Word (logos) and God (theos).
Adapted from Gerald L. Borchert, John 12–21, vol. 25B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002), 191–192.
Through these word pictures and pronouncements Jesus pointed to His mission or task assigned by God the Father. On the night He was arrested, He anticipated His death on the cross was imminent. Jesus came to be “the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42). In full obedience to His Father, Jesus announced in His prayer that His mission was accomplished!
Verse 5. Jesus now prayed the Father would “glorify” the Son by welcoming Him back into God’s presence. Several times in John’s Gospel Jesus noted or John reported that Jesus had come from the Father and would eventually return to the Father. For instance, John reported this at the beginning of his account of events in the upper room (13:3). In His public ministry Jesus talked about coming from and returning to the Father. As He explained the significance of the feeding of the five thousand, He noted this eternal truth (6:38,51). When some of His opponents challenged Him, Jesus stressed His divine origin (7:28-29).
John was inspired to give us a fuller statement of the cosmic and eternal context for Jesus’s ministry in John 1:1-18. When Jesus briefly referred to His coming from and returning to God the Father, He was condensing the larger backstory John reported. John described the eternal Son of God as the “Word.” Originally the “Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). Eventually the “Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (v. 14). The incarnate Word was Jesus, who was and is the supreme revelation of God (v. 18). Although during His prayer Jesus did not go into a lot of detail about His pre-incarnate eternal status, during His public ministry Jesus clearly stated He had come from God and would return to God.
In His prayer to the Father, Jesus noted the glory He had experienced with God the Father before the world was. The traditional doctrine of the Trinity affirms that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are eternal. God the Son “became flesh” and had the divine assignment to bring salvation to sinners in the world.
Jesus’s primary mission was completed with His death and resurrection. Today His followers can glorify and honor Him by continuing His work in our world. We need to be clear. Jesus was and is the “only begotten” (vv. 14,18). Only Jesus could live a sinless life, die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, then be raised from the dead. So Jesus’s work was accomplished centuries ago, but our participation in His ministry is based on His work. Several times in His earthly ministry, Jesus told us ways we can honor Him by our actions today. For example, earlier that evening, Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet. Although some Christians today believe we should literally wash feet in public worship, Jesus’s primary interpretation of His washing feet was an example of service to others (13:12-17). Our task today is to find “dirty feet” and wash them. That might include individual acts of kindness, or our service might take the form of social activism for the disadvantaged. Also, Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment: “That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (v. 34). Today loving another person could be expressed in many ways. A culture that stresses self-interest would be surprised and perhaps intrigued by Christians who sincerely reach out to other people in love.
Jesus gave specific instructions to His first-century followers, but He often gave general ethical and spiritual principles for service. The command to serve and love others is one of those principles that extends beyond the first-century world. We can honor God today by continuing the work Jesus gave us to do. In general, whenever we try to decide what to do, we can ask if our decision and action will honor God. Jesus strove to honor God the Father. Our actions should also glorify God.
Study the Bible
John 17:4-5
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud John 17:4-5 on page 146 of the PSG.
RECAP: Jesus declared He had glorified His Father. He did so by “finish[ing] the work which thou gavest me to do.” Jesus’s assignment wasn’t easy. He spoke to large crowds, He healed countless people, He trained His disciples, and He traveled everywhere by foot. He faced constant criticism and opposition. Nevertheless, the climax of His work was when He died on a cross. Had He quit before going to the cross, His previous efforts would have been for nothing. For His work to glorify His Father, He had to complete it.
God is not glorified merely by our starting a work or by working hard for a while. He is glorified when we complete the work He gives us to do. The apostle Paul urged the Galatians, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9). At times, our obedience to God’s will can be costly. We may face opposition. We may endure loss. In such cases, we may be tempted to quit in discouragement. It can be tempting to leave a challenging assignment for one that is less demanding. If we leave before we’ve finished the work God had for us, we’ve only partly obeyed, and partial obedience is disobedience.
GUIDE: Use Commentary on page 147 of the Leader Guide to give further background on Jesus’s relationship with the Father before the world existed.
RECAP: Jesus prayed that, as a result of the completion of the work the Father had given Him, He would be glorified with the same glory He enjoyed before the world began. Jesus didn’t consider His exalted position as something to be grasped. Instead, He emptied Himself and became a man, dying on a cross (Phil. 2:5-11). As Jesus completed His work on earth, He looked forward to returning to the Father and sharing in His glory once more. When we finish the work God gave us, God receives glory, and we enjoy fellowship with our Lord.
DISCUSS: Question #3 on page 148 of the PSG: “What are some examples of work God has called us to complete?”
Alternate: How would you describe the work God has called us to complete?
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that we honor God when we pray and disciple others.
John 17:6-9
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Verse 6. In this verse Jesus shifted from praying about His unique relation to God the Father to praying for His disciples. Jesus had gathered with the apostles in the upper room for some more teaching and to share a meal. Jesus had “manifested” God’s “name” to these followers. In Jewish and early Christian thinking, a name signified a person’s character and inner nature. In other words, Jesus had revealed God the Father to His followers in the most profound way (John 1:18). Jesus acknowledged God had sent the followers to Jesus. In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, we learn how Jesus initially interacted with some of His followers. Jesus knew God had been working behind the scenes to bring them to Jesus.
Jesus added that “they have kept thy word.” This comment has puzzled some readers. We know the apostles were not always faithful and obedient. In the upper room Jesus announced that one of the Twelve would betray Him (13:21-30). Jesus predicted Simon Peter would deny Him three times (vv. 36-38). All the disciples deserted Jesus when He was arrested in the garden later that night. Jesus may have taken into account what would happen to these disciples in the future. Simon Peter, for instance, would be reconciled to Jesus after the resurrection (21:15-19).
Verse 7. Jesus reaffirmed that everything He had shared about God the Father had ultimately come from God the Father. Throughout His ministry Jesus clearly identified His relation to God the Father. For example, Jesus told some critics, “I and my Father are one” (10:30). Over time Jesus’s followers began to understand how Jesus was related to God the Father. Jesus had been faithful in His task of revealing the Father.
Verse 8. God the Father was the ultimate source of the revelation Jesus had shared with His followers. They “believed that thou didst send me.” At times the disciples struggled with understanding who Jesus is. For instance, when Jesus taught after the feeding of the five thousand, some people deserted Him (6:60-69). Jesus asked the Twelve if they were going to leave as well, but Peter quickly replied they would stay. Peter stressed Jesus had “the words of eternal life,” and they knew Jesus is “the Son of the living God” (vv. 68-69). In the upper room Jesus had reaffirmed His relation to God the Father, and the disciples replied they believed Jesus came from God (16:28-30).
Verse 9. Still speaking to God the Father, Jesus noted He was praying for these disciples. His focus at that point was not on the needs of the “world,” but these disciples who had a ministry to that world. God’s love for the world is a key point in Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (3:16). As Jesus continued to pray about His first-century disciples, He noted their relation to the world. The world would often be hostile to them and their message about Jesus (17:14). These disciples would be “in the world” in the sense of a geographical location (v. 11). The disciples, however, would not be “of the world” in the sense of sharing the sinful attitudes and values of an unredeemed world (vv. 14-16).
Christians today often struggle with how to be “in the world” but not “of the world.” We know we should avoid sin and honor God in all our decisions and actions, but we sometimes face issues not directly addressed in the Bible. A general ethical principle for us is to honor and glorify God in all decisions and actions. All the Bible studies in this series on discerning the voice of God support this approach to decision-making. We can study the Bible, pray, consult with mature friends, and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was very aware of the needs of His disciples. Our study has focused on His prayer for them. Jesus also instructed them about the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, who would support and direct them in the days ahead. Today Christians can follow Jesus’s example and instructions. We can honor God when we pray. The Bible notes several motivations for prayer. For example, we might talk to God to confess sins or ask God to do something for us or other people. The very fact we address God reminds us God is the Creator and Lord of the universe. We recognize His power and authority when we pray. The fact He is loving, compassionate, and forgiving are other motivations for our prayer. We can honor God today by discipling others. As other people trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, we might help them grow and mature in their faith. Discipling today can take many shapes. For some of us, discipling is like mentoring another one-on-one, with shared Bible study, prayer, and discussions about the obligations of the Christian life. For other mature Christians discipling might lead to teaching a group Bible study, leading a mission project, or organizing an intercessory prayer program. In the Great Commission, Jesus encouraged us to make disciples through our witnessing and ministry (Matt. 28:19). When Simon Peter wondered what he should do when Jesus was gone, Jesus simply stated “Follow me” (John 21:19). We can honor God today by praying regularly and discipling other Christians.
Study the Bible
John 17:6-9
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud John 17:6-9 on page 149 of the PSG.
RECAP: In verse 6, Jesus began praying for His disciples. He had revealed God’s name to them. That is, He had taught them what God’s character was like. He had done this through both His teaching and example. Jesus had prayed all night before selecting His disciples (Luke 6:12-13), and now He was praying for them again. Because Jesus knew His Father had given Him these men, He had been diligent in teaching them about God’s character and leading them into their own personal relationship with God.
DISCUSS: Question #4 on page 149 of the PSG: “What are the qualities of someone who does a great job of discipling others?”
Alternate: What does this prayer reveal about Jesus’s heart?
GUIDE: Use Commentary on pages 148-149 of the Leader Guide to give further background on Jesus’s prayers.
RECAP: Jesus prayed for those His Father had given to Him. He knew they would be scattered by fear into the night. He foresaw that Peter would deny knowing Him. Satan would do everything he could to destroy the church before it was successfully launched. There is tremendous comfort for believers in knowing that Christ continues to intercede for us even today. We can also honor God as we intercede for others and disciple them as Jesus discipled His followers.
DISCUSS: Question #5 on page 150 of the PSG: “What practical steps can we take to help others hear and discern God’s voice?”
DO: Direct group members to Engage on page 150 of the PSG (page 151 of this Leader Guide) to help group members consider ways in which they glorify God.
GUIDE: Refer back to “The Point” for this session: “God’s voice always leads us to glorify Him and accomplish His purposes.”
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, invite group members to demonstrate various forms of salutes, handshakes, pledges, or other ways people greet or honor others. Afterward, invite members to relate how believers can honor the Lord by our actions and attitudes. Make the point that we not only honor Christ by our witness, but by our manner of physical and verbal interaction with others. Then close with prayer.
LIVE IT OUT
As you try to discern the voice of God, ask yourself if what you are hearing is leading you to glorify Him. Am I being led to make much of Jesus or of myself? God will always speak in ways that bring honor to Himself. How will this truth impact your life?
- List. Make a list of things you know God has told you to do. Mark an F beside each one you have finished. Mark a U beside those yet unfinished. Then pray and ask God for direction in completing those things.
- Intercede. Pray for others. Pray for them by name, asking God to work in their lives in a way that brings glory to God.
- Disciple. You can honor God as you disciple and lead others to a deeper walk with Christ. Ask God to lead you to an individual you can disciple. Let God use you for His glory in the life of another.
Live It Out
5 MINUTES
READ: Direct group members to page 151 of the PSG. Encourage them to choose one of the applications to carry out this week.
Wrap It Up
TRANSITION: Read or restate this idea from page 143 of the PSG: Just like Michelangelo’s David, each of us are masterpieces being worked on by none other than the God of heaven. Let’s make sure we are submitting to God’s good work and bringing glory to Him.
PRAY: Thank God for all the reasons He has given us to glorify Him. Ask Him make Himself known to others through us as we bring honor to Him.
ENGAGE
Mark where you currently are in your willingness to sacrifice for Christ in order to glorify Him.
What assignment has God given you that you need to complete
Bible Studies for Life: Adult Leader Guide – KJV – Winter 2023filter_2Session 4: Does It Align with God’s Character?searchmore_vert
SESSION 4
Does It Align with God’s Character?
THE POINT
God never calls us to do something that is outside His character.
LIFE CONNECTION
We often base our view of God on what we think God should be like, and the human tendency is to make God into our own image, complete with our own ideals and preferences. But God is holy and wholly set apart from us, His finite creation. As holy God, His character is perfect and unchanging, and we can be confident that anything He asks of us falls right in line with His righteous character
GUIDE: Direct group members to “The Bible Meets Life” on page 133 of the PSG. Introduce the importance of understanding God’s character by reading or summarizing the text or by encouraging group members to read it on their own.
RECAP: God is holy and loving. As a result, God will never say or do anything that is unholy or unloving—and He would never call us to do something unholy or unloving. When people say that God told them to do something that is contrary to His nature, we can be confident that they have not heard from God. He always speaks in ways that are consistent with His character. He makes no exceptions. God never speaks out of character!
GUIDE: Call attention to “The Point” on page 133 of the PSG: “God never calls us to do something that is outside His character.”
PRAY: Transition into the study by asking God to help the group understand His character. Thank Him for His consistent character and for empowering us to live consistent with His character.
Exodus 34:1-5
1 And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.
3 And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.
4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
5 And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
Verse 1. In Exodus 33, Moses had been talking to God. Obviously, they had a close relationship (Ex. 33:12). Moses knew God was angry at His people for the sin of idolatry. Moses feared God might not continue His relationship with the people. God reassured Moses He would go with Moses and the people (vv. 14-17). Moses then asked God’s permission to see His glory, but God only allowed Moses to see His back, not His face (vv. 18-23).
The encounter between God and Moses in Exodus 34 is one of their many conversations. God said many things to Moses from the time of their first meeting at the burning bush (Ex. 3) to God’s last comments in Deuteronomy 34:4. Some might wonder if God spoke audibly to Moses or if Moses “heard” God speaking in his mind. Either way, God and Moses communicated with each other many times. Moses later identified himself as a prophet (Deut. 18:15). The later prophets often heard messages from God they reported to God’s people. The prophet might say, “Thus saith the Lord” (Jer. 31:2). When discerning the voice of God, “voice” can include any method God chooses to use to communicate with us. Primarily God now speaks through His written Word, the Bible, but He sometimes speaks to us through mature Christian friends and other means. We should always listen to God and obey Him!
God instructed Moses to prepare “two tables of stone like unto the first.” Earlier God had provided the stone tablets and had written the commandments on them (Ex. 24:12; 31:18). When Moses learned on the mountain with God about the worship of the golden calf, he headed down to confront the people. He carried the original tablets with him (32:15-16). The fact God was ready to present the commands to the people again suggests He was willing to continue the covenant relationship.
Verse 2. God then instructed Moses to return to “mount Sinai” the next morning. This mountain was also known as Mount Horeb, or “the mountain of God” (3:1). Moses had encountered God there when he was working as a shepherd. At that time God charged Moses with returning to Egypt and confronting the Egyptians about the enslavement of God’s people. Scholars still debate the exact location of the mountain. The prophet Elijah fled from persecution and arrived at this mountain where God appeared to him and gave him instructions (1 Kings 19:8).Moses had met with God several times on Mount Sinai. 
Verse 3. God again told Moses to come alone. Moses was to make sure “flocks nor herds” were allowed to graze on the slopes of the mountain that day. These instructions puzzle many, but God chose to reveal Himself to Moses alone on this mountain several times. God is omnipresent, but when He chooses to reveal Himself vividly as in this episode in chapter 34, there should be no distractions.
Verse 4. Moses followed God’s instructions. In Exodus 3 Moses had offered several excuses for not obeying God’s command to return to Egypt. Apparently over time Moses had learned to trust God and obey Him readily. He prepared the two tables of stone and climbed the mountain to meet God again.
Verse 5. God appeared to Moses in the cloud. God is not normally visible to humans. Jesus said, “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). Sometimes He appeared in human form. For example, God was one of the three visitors whom Abraham welcomed (Gen. 18:1-2). Ultimately, God appeared in Jesus, the incarnate Son. Often God appeared in a cloud of glory, suggesting a radiance or brightness that could be perceived by humans (Ex. 13:21-22).
God began this conversation with Moses by proclaiming the name of the Lord. Moses already knew that specific covenant name for God because God had revealed it to him at the burning bush on Mount Sinai. At that encounter Moses had tried to avoid God’s call and commission to liberate God’s people from captivity in Egypt. When Moses asked God what His name was, God replied in a couple of ways. First, God said “I Am That I Am” (3:14) or “I Am” as a shortened form. Second, God said He could be identified as “the Lord God of your fathers” (v. 15). Bible scholars note that both versions of God’s name come from the same root word. The consensus view is that Yahweh comes close to being the word translated “Lord” in most English translations. Yahweh is the special covenant name for God. In later Jewish thought, the four Hebrew letters without vowels were not pronounced, in order to honor God’s name. The usual Hebrew name for God is Elohim.
Although the details of the translation of these Hebrew words into English might confuse some readers, the main point is clear—God has a name! God is personal and establishes personal relationships with His people. Moses acknowledged his intimate, personal relationship with the almighty Creator and Lord of the universe. The Bible often reminds us of the limits of our human language in trying to understand God. On one hand, God is holy, majestic, and transcendent. When Moses wanted to see God’s face, God insisted that was not possible (33:20). On the other hand, God and Moses were friends, and friends love to meet face to face (v. 11).
If God were only transcendent and holy, He might be considered distant and aloof. Some people today might affirm a supreme God who is uninvolved and uninterested in our lives. The Bible consistently depicts the true God as both transcendent and majestic while also being loving and compassionate.
Study the Bible
Exodus 34:1-5
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Exodus 34:1-5 on page 134 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary on page 134 of the Leader Guide to give further background on Mount Sinai.
RECAP: This is one of the most encouraging and inspiring passages in the Old Testament. The Israelites had forsaken God after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving God’s commandments, the people made an idol of a golden calf and worshiped it (Ex. 32:1-6). As a result, Moses became enraged and threw the stone tablets to the ground, breaking them and symbolically breaking the covenant the people had made with God (v. 19). Then Moses unleashed the Levites who killed three thousand Israelites as punishment for their sins (v. 28). God told Moses He would send an angel with them into Canaan, but He Himself would not go (33:2-3). God explained that, should He accompany the sinful people for even a single moment, they would be destroyed (v. 5). Moses understood, however, that if God did not go with them, then the people had no future (v. 15). Their only hope was that holy God would forgive their sins and renew His covenant with them.
DISCUSS: Question #2 on page 135 of the PSG: “How do we navigate the tension between intimacy and reverence in our relationship with God?”
Alternate: How would you describe God’s holiness in your own words?
RECAP: When God met with Moses, He declared His name, “the Lord” or Yahweh. This was God’s sacred, covenant name. God had earlier explained this name to Moses as “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14). It was the holiest, most revered name of God used by His people. It signified God’s eternal existence. To disclose your name was to reveal your character. By sharing His name with Moses, God was inviting Moses to know Him. It was an awesome invitation! The only way for people to know God is for Him to reveal Himself to them.
TRANSITION: God is holy and establishes a covenant relationship with His children. In the next verses, we see that God’s character is perfect and unchanging.
Exodus 34:6-7
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Verse 6. After proclaiming His name, God identified Himself with five major characteristics. First, God is merciful. In general, this term means God identifies with the needs and concerns of His people. In an earlier law code, God encouraged His people to be concerned about the poor (Ex. 22:21-27). Second, God is gracious. Readers might be surprised to see an emphasis on grace in the Old Testament. The same God reveals Himself in both testaments in the Bible. In fact, God’s offer of a covenant relationship with His people is based on His grace. At the beginning of the Ten Commandments, God identified Himself as the one who set them free from Egyptian captivity (20:1-2). The Israelites should have committed to the covenant with God out of gratitude for His liberation of them.
Third, God is longsuffering. God is displeased with His people’s disobedience, but the overall witness of the Bible is that God is patient with people. Peter acknowledged God’s patient dealings with us (2 Pet. 3:9). Fourth, God is characterized by goodness. This translates a Hebrew word that could be rendered as “faithful love” or “loyalty.” God chose His people out of sheer love (Deut. 7:7-8). Here, however, the stress is on steadfast or covenant love. Psalm 136 reaffirms this love of God as a refrain in every verse. Fifth, God abounds in truth. God is not only the source of ultimate truth; He is also trustworthy and honest in His dealings with us.
Verse 7. This verse puzzles some readers. While verse 6 highlighted God’s moral character and goodness, verse 7 seems to suggest God is unfair. The verse begins by reaffirming the fourth divine trait in verse 6, though this time the Hebrew word is rendered mercy. God’s steadfast, loyal love and mercy is extended to thousands. God willingly forgives all kinds of human iniquity and transgression and sin. Throughout the story of the exodus from Egypt, the wanderings in the wilderness, and the eventual conquest of the promised land, we find examples of God’s good character.
What puzzles some people is the last part of verse 7, about God’s continued punishment for multiple generations. On the surface, it seems God is vindictive and unfair, as if He punishes innocent children, and . . . children’s children of guilty people. Solid biblical interpretation needs to consider the full teaching of the
DIGGING DEEPER
God Shows Moses His Glory
Here God graciously responded to Moses’s appeal: that he could see God’s glory (33:18): God “passed by before him” (v. 6); and that he would teach Moses His ways, to which God responded with the proclamation of his name and what it stands for (vv. 6-7), including compassion and justice.
The language “descended … and stood” (v. 5) represents a standard way of describing what otherwise is not easily comprehended by humans, that is, that God manifested Himself specially and personally in Moses’s presence. Thereby Moses could perceive that a real personal being had come to him and not just a concept, or a feeling, or a numinous impression. As before, God employed a cloud (not just any cloud, but the cloud of His glory) as the visible part of the manifestation.
He then “proclaimed the name of the Lord [Yahweh].” It is the (divine) person behind the name that one seeks when invoking a divine name. Moses had sought to know that Yahweh would be with him and Israel as they left Sinai to head toward the promised land, and knowing Yahweh—knowing who He really was and what He would be like in reference to His people—was what Moses craved. Yahweh’s self-proclamation would provide that.
Yahweh fulfilled His promise and in so doing began revealing Himself by stating His name twice. The repeating of the name was certainly for the purpose of emphasis, but also could have had some of the overtones associated with the pattern called repetition, such that Yahweh was in effect saying to Moses, “I am your dear Yahweh” or “to you I am your dearest friend, Yahweh.”
Adapted from Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus, vol. 2, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006), 715.
Bible on a subject. Several passages stress God indeed does not punish children for the sins of the parents. Deuteronomy 24:16 affirms God only punishes the guilty, not the innocent (Jer. 31:29, Ezek. 8:2). Some may have blamed their bad experiences on the sins of their ancestors, but God clearly states through these prophets that only guilty ones are subject to God’s punishment. A better understanding of verse 7 is that as later generations of the sinful generation perpetuate the sins of their ancestors, so God will continue to punish each generation. God is not punishing them for their ancestors’ sins but for their own sins, as both Jeremiah and Ezekiel stressed as well.
God’s self-identification of His major characteristics in verses 6 and 7 is often quoted fully or in part in the Old Testament. This passage was known and appreciated by God’s people as a snapshot of God’s character. Not every significant characteristic of God is included, but these five characteristics are extremely important for developing a sound doctrine of God. Moses actually quoted part of this passage to God! In Numbers 14 Moses appealed to God to forgive His people once again for their rebellion against Him. Moses appealed to God’s self-portrait to convince God to give them another chance (Num. 14:18). Another example of how Exodus 34:6-7 played a key role in the Old Testament is the story of Jonah. Jonah very reluctantly obeyed God and preached in Nineveh. When the people of Nineveh surprisingly repented and escaped divine judgment, Jonah quoted part of the Exodus text. Jonah knew God was too forgiving to treat this pagan nation as it deserved to be treated (Jonah 4:2).
God’s self-identification in verses 6 and 7 may not have been intended to include all His major characteristics. Perhaps this revelation to Moses was specifically tailored by God to fit the situation of Moses and the people at this juncture in their covenant relationship. God’s holiness, for example, is highlighted in many parts of the Bible. Isaiah encountered the holy God and willingly volunteered to serve God (Isa. 6:1-8). Peter reinforced the necessity of Christians being holy and godly in their behavior (2 Pet. 3:11). One of the main points of God’s self-portrait in Exodus is His moral character. God is consistently compassionate, gracious, patient, loving, and truthful. Christians today need to maintain a balanced, comprehensive understanding of God as they seek to be His faithful, obedient servants. Fixating on any one of God’s attributes could lead to a truncated view of discipleship. For instance, many Christians point to “God is love” (1 John 4:8) as the premier attribute of God. Christians, however, need to be sure to define and understand divine love in the way God demonstrated it in the Bible. “Love” is a slippery word, and we could easily misrepresent God’s love by omitting His justice, righteousness, and holiness.
God’s character as revealed in these verses is constant and unchanging. The prophet Malachi reported that God is unchanging (Mal. 3:6). In other words, God is dependable and reliable. Over the centuries God revealed more and more about Himself and His plans for His people (Heb. 1:1-3). We can count on God to always be loving, compassionate, patient, and forgiving.
Study the Bible
Exodus 34:6-7
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Exodus 34:6-7 on page 136 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on page 136 of the Leader Guide to give further background on God’s character traits.
SUMMARIZE: Highlight the main points from pages 136-138 of the PSG. God could have emphasized His power, purity, or wrath. Instead, God disclosed the following characteristics:
Compassionate.
Gracious.
Slow to anger.
Abounding in love.
Abounding in truth.
Forgiving.
Just.
DO: Direct group members to Engage on page 138 of the PSG (page 141 of this Leader Guide) to help group members reflect on God’s character and their own.
DISCUSS: Question #3 on page 138 of the PSG: “Which aspects of God’s character have you learned to appreciate more as you’ve grown as a Christian?”
Alternate: Why is it important for us to understand that God’s character doesn’t change?
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, bring in a small house plant. Ask the group to describe its characteristics. What characteristics will always be true about it? What characteristics will it never possess? Use this object lesson to help group members understand the importance of God’s character. Discuss how someone’s character is predictive of their behavior. Drawing closer to God through prayer and Scripture will change our character for the better, but like so much of the natural world around us, God’s character is final and unchanging.
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that our response to God’s holy character is to repent and worship Him.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, play a worship song that praises God for various aspects of His character such as His holiness. Invite a group member to lead the group in worship or play the song and allow time for reflection and prayer.
NOTE: A video option can be found at BibleStudiesforLife.com/AdultExtra.
Exodus 34:8-9
8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
KEY WORDS: Stiffnecked (v. 9)—The Hebrew people were stubborn and resisted God’s leadership many times. Our word “hard-headed” might fit them.
Verse 8. When God finished presenting His self-portrait, Moses bowed … toward the earth (or knelt) and worshipped God. Kneeling has been a traditional way of showing deference, respect, and reverence. Kneeling is not a common custom in some of today’s churches, but others have maintained the custom. Kneeling is a recognition of the authority and stature of another person. Moses’s kneeling before God was appropriate. The creature honored his Creator and Lord. Kneeling can be a mistake sometimes. For instance, John was so overwhelmed by the appearance of an angel that he fell down at the angel’s feet. The angel scolded John and told him to “worship God” (Rev. 22:9). Isaiah’s response to the holy God in Isaiah 6 was more appropriate. That passage does not mention any change in Isaiah’s posture, but Isaiah quickly confessed his sins (Isa. 6:5). Confession of sins is always a key component in private and corporate worship. Certainly, the ability to kneel is limited by health issues. The main point is that Moses acknowledged his dependence on God.
Our worship should always be God-centered. If we worship God regularly, we will have a deeper understanding of who God is. At times God may call us to do specific actions that will honor Him and contribute to the well-being of other people. A distorted view of God will inevitably lead to actions that do not honor God. Sometimes well-intentioned believers dishonor God by acting in ways that are out of character with God.
Verse 9. Moses responded to God’s revelation of His character and attributes with two requests. His requests were not self-centered or individualistic. Moses believed he had a close relationship with God, experiencing God’s “grace.” First, Moses asked God to “go among” the people as they moved on toward the promised land. So far God had liberated His people from Egyptian bondage, helped them cross the Red Sea, and guided them to Mount Sinai. At some point they would move on toward Canaan, the promised land. Moses did not know yet about the disobedience that would lead to the people wandering for forty years in the wilderness. Still, Moses hoped and trusted God would accompany His people. God responded to Moses’s first request by explaining what He would do for and with the people in the days ahead (Ex. 34:10-11).
Today God’s people still long for a sense of the presence of God. God promised Isaiah that a child named Immanuel, meaning God with us, would be born (Isa. 7:14). The ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy was the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:22-23). Jesus told His followers He would be with them when only a few gathered in His name (18:20). In the Great Commission the risen Jesus promised He would always be with His people (28:20).
Second, Moses asked God to forgive the people for their “iniquity” and “sin.” Although the experience of the Hebrews on the way to Canaan included several periods of sin and rebellion, Moses trusted in God’s character as he made this request. Moses knew the people well. Moses described the people as “stiffnecked.” This term suggests the people were stubborn, hard-headed, rebellious, and prone to disobey God. Moses himself was a sinner, and God did not allow Moses to enter the promised land.
Even though the people had a pattern of rebellious behavior, Moses hoped God would continue to consider the people God’s “inheritance.” Moses’s request possibly meant he hoped Israel would have a special relationship with God, much like that of a first-born son. Later Peter used similar language to describe God’s relationship with the early church (1 Pet. 2:9).
Exodus 34 gives us a clear description of God’s character. The same God who appeared to Moses leads and guides His believers today. We can trust God! God will never ask us to do anything outside His character. Sometimes He gives us specific directions for our lives, but always we are to base our behavior on His character.
Study the Bible
Exodus 34:8-9
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Exodus 34:8-9 on page 139 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on page 139 of the Leader Guide to give further background on Moses’s worship.
RECAP: After Moses experienced his profound encounter with God, his immediate response was to bow low to the ground and worship God. By bowing low, Moses was minimizing himself and maximizing God in his life. Moses’s first response in encountering God was not to make requests, but to worship God for who He is. Moses knew God had been extremely gracious to him and His people. Moses understood that the Israelites were extremely blessed to have a loving and gracious God willing to enter a covenant with them and to provide for all their needs.
DISCUSS: Question #4 on page 139 of the PSG: “How have you experienced God as He describes Himself in these verses?”
Alternate: How does knowing who God is influence what we ask of Him?
LEADER PACK: Display Pack Item 11, the “God Is …” poster. Review attributes of God with group members. Ask them why the names of God matter. Invite group members to identify names of God or character traits of God that have been important to them personally.
DISCUSS: Question #5 on page 140 of the PSG: “How can we maintain an attitude of awe and reverence toward God?”
RECAP: True encounters with God are not self-centered; they are God-centered. When God speaks to people, it leads them to worship. God’s words elevate His nature, and they reveal people’s sin. God’s word will point to anything that harms your relationship with Him so you can repent and be restored to a loving relationship with God, and be able to enjoy His presence in your life once more.
LIVE IT OUT
God never calls you to do something that is outside His character. How will you live out this truth?
- Worship. Reflect on the character of God noted in this passage and respond to God with a prayer of praise. Thank Him for each one of these attributes and for how you have experienced these attributes in your walk with Him.
- Evaluate. Consider some of the messages you’ve heard from religious leaders who claim to speak for God. Evaluate how their messages contrast with the character of God seen in this passage
- Obey. Is there something specific God is wanting you to do in service to Him or in the life of another person? Consider how that task reflects the character of God. Obey Him and let the loving, gracious character of the One you serve be seen in you.
Live It Out
5 MINUTES
READ: Direct group members to page 141 of the PSG. Encourage them to choose one of the applications to carry out this week.
Wrap It Up
GUIDE: Refer back to “The Point” for this session: “God never calls us to do something that is outside His character.”
TRANSITION: Read this conclusion of the session: People are quick to give advice and even imply they speak for God. But if what we hear doesn’t reflect the character of God, it isn’t worth listening to.
PRAY: Thank God for being faithful to His own character. Ask Him to strengthen us so that we can live out His character in our own lives.
ENGAGE
Which attribute of God are you most grateful for today?
Why is this characteristic so meaningful to you?
Get insights on each week’s study.
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Bible Studies for Life: Adult Leader Guide – KJV – Winter 2023filter_1Session 3: Does It Call You to Trust God?searchmore_vert
SESSION 3
Does It Call You to Trust God?
THE POINT
Discerning and obeying God’s voice calls for faith in Him.
LIFE CONNECTION
Faith is often misunderstood as something we simply want to believe or hope to be true. By that definition, acting on faith is considered a “leap of faith,” jumping blindly and hoping God is there to catch us. Biblical faith is grounded in something substantial: confidence in a word from God. God is always true, consistent, and trustworthy, and we can have full confidence in what He tells us. We can take God at His word.
THE PASSAGE
Hebrews 11:1-6,13-16
THE SETTING
Faith is a major theme in the Bible. Familiar verses highlight different aspects of faith. Salvation comes by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). Christians live by faith, not sight (2 Cor. 5:7). James states that “faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:26). Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews is well known as a Hall of Fame for faithful people in the Old Testament, sometimes called a Hall of Faith.
Get into the Study
DISCUSS: Question #1 on page 122 of the PSG: “What leads a thrill-seeker to do things others consider to be risky?”
GUIDE: Direct group members to “The Bible Meets Life” on page 123 of the PSG. Introduce the importance of discerning and obeying God’s voice by reading or summarizing the text or by encouraging group members to read it on their own.
RECAP: Give a summary of the faith exhibited by the leaders of the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary and the valuable lesson they learned: Everything God does in our life is designed to increase our faith in Him.
GUIDE: Call attention to “The Point” on page 123 of the PSG: “Discerning and obeying God’s voice calls for faith in Him.”
PRAY: Transition into the study by asking God to increase our faith in God. Thank Him for being the God we can trust.
Hebrews 11:1-3
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Verse 1. The author of the book of Hebrews tried to encourage readers in the face of first-century challenges. The end of chapter 10 affirms that the author and recipients are “them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). Then the new chapter begins with a description of faith. It is not a strict dictionary definition. By using words translated as substance and evidence, the author tried to demonstrate what biblical faith is. Most of chapter 11 illustrates the nature and character of faith with many Old Testament events and personalities. As we dig deeper into this chapter, we will see that “faith” relates to trust, confidence, assurance, and commitment as key components.
Bible students are typically careful to balance the objective and subjective dimensions of faith and hope. If we stress the subjective side of faith and hope, we would insist they are merely human dreams or wishes about reality. If we overemphasize the objective nature of faith and hope, we would accent the certainty of the future with a false confidence. Today some critics of Christianity claim our faith in God is a blind faith, that we have no evidence or proof of God, the resurrection of Jesus, and other key beliefs. A common word picture is that Christians take a so-called “leap of faith.” Certainly, biblical faith involves courage, but the author of Hebrews and other biblical writers insist on faith as discernment of God’s reality and activity in the world as well as commitment and trust in God.
Sometimes “faith” refers to intellectual beliefs or theological truths. But biblical faith includes trust and commitment that become active in our daily lives. James, for example, stressed the relationship between faith in God and good works. Intellectual assent to doctrines is not true faith, he said, because even “the devils also believe” (Jas. 2:19). 
Verse 2. The author continued to introduce the topic of faith by noting that the elders were approved by God because of the faith they expressed. The book is full of references to Hebrew history, priests, and sacrifices. The “elders” in chapter 11 range from Abel to Rahab (Heb. 11:4,31). The writer then briefly mentioned several other faithful individuals and groups (vv. 32-40). All these people “obtained a good report through faith” (v. 39). This did not mean these ancient people earned their salvation by doing good works. God’s approval of these people resembles the attitude of the master in Jesus’s parable of the talents. To the trustworthy servants the master said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!” (Matt. 25:21,23).
Verse 3. Although the author primarily focused on Old Testament heroes and heroines, he briefly dealt with God’s creation of the world. The author highlighted God’s role in human history, but this verse sets the stage by reminding readers that God is Lord over space and time. The phrase through faith is the same Greek word that will introduce each new figure in this historical review that dominates the chapter.
The author affirmed the worlds were framed by the word of God. The author briefly mentioned the creation of the world in 1:2, where he also noted the role of God’s Son in creation. The author stressed that God created the world by His word. Although he did not use the same Greek word for “word” that John used in John 1:1-3, the emphasis on the divine origin of the universe is the same. The author of Hebrews echoed the emphasis in Genesis 1 on God speaking, sort of like a military leader barking orders to the troops. For example, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). A similar emphasis occurs in Psalm 33:6-9.
Both the authors of Genesis and of Hebrews would have realized other cultures and religions typically affirmed multiple gods. These other religions often had stories of the creation of the world. The biblical worldview, however, affirms the one true God created everything. Faith in God as Creator is fundamental to biblical faith.
Although the author had just begun a long depiction of faith in God, it is clear that genuine faith includes belief and trust in God. Faithful people do more than check a box that they intellectually accept the existence of a supreme being. As we will see again and again in this chapter, faith means staking your life on the promises and overall character of God. These ancestors believed God was good and trustworthy, so they committed their lives to following Him.
Study the Bible
Hebrews 11:1-3
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Hebrews 11:1-3 on page 124 of the PSG.
RECAP: We can’t see God with our physical eyes, but He is a real person who wants to have a close, personal fellowship with us. God is spirit and He resides in a heavenly world that is beyond our comprehension. In addition, God’s ways are entirely different and superior to our thoughts and ways (Isa. 55:8-9). This makes our interaction with God entirely different from any of our other relationships. Because of these factors, we must have faith if we are to relate properly to God.
DISCUSS: Question #2 on page 125 of the PSG: “What are some experiences that have increased your faith in God?”
Alternate: What are some things that have helped your faith grow?
GUIDE: Use Commentary on page 123 of the Leader Guide to give further background on how the Bible defines faith.
RECAP: It is by faith that we recognize and understand God’s work around us. Paul stated that the heavens reveal God’s handiwork (Rom. 1:20). Nevertheless, some people look at the heavens and fail to recognize God’s activity. Similarly, that’s why some people go to church and encounter God and others don’t. It’s our faith that opens our spiritual eyes to see the truth before us. It’s our faith that enables us to understand that the universe was created by the word of God. This refers to God speaking in Genesis chapter 1 (vv. 3-28). It also points to Christ who was active in creation (John 1:1-3).
To understand God’s words, you must have faith. With faith, you can hear God as you look at the stars, as you attend a worship service, or when you read the Bible. Faith opens your understanding to what God is saying.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, play the 1-2 minute video clip of Indiana Jones taking the “Leap of Faith.” Ask: “How is this visualization similar to how it can feel to step out in faith to follow God? How is different? What verses from Hebrews 11 are similar, and different, from the way this video pictures the idea of stepping out in faith in God?” Help group members consider what it means to step out in faith.
TRANSITION: Faith leads us to believe and rely on God. In the next verses, we see that faith responds with obedience that pleases God.
Hebrews 11:4-6
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Verse 4. After his brief comment on faith in God as Creator of the world, the author began a roll call of faithful humans in Hebrew history. Although we may wonder why he started with Abel, all choices of character sketches support the main theme about the life of faith in God. The story of Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve, appears in Genesis 4. In an earlier session we studied the sin of Adam and Eve. Cain was their firstborn son. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain “was a tiller of the ground” (Gen. 4:2). Both sons brought offerings to God, but God favored Abel’s offering of the firstborn of his flock rather than Cain’s offering. The author of Genesis never mentioned the specific reason for God’s displeasure with Cain’s offering. Bible students have suggested several possible reasons for God preferring Abel’s offering, such as the fact Abel brought the firstborn of his flock. Cain was angry about God’s response to his offering, and eventually killed his brother.
The author of Hebrews noted that Abel was righteous, but this still does not satisfy our curiosity. Jesus also referred to Abel as “righteous” (Matt. 23:35). John also compared the spiritual condition of the brothers (1 John 3:11-12). Abel died centuries before the New Testament era, but Abel being dead yet speaketh. Even today we often hear at their funerals or memorial services about the legacy of faith of departed believers. Although we might be puzzled about the details of Abel’s life, he would be a familiar figure to the readers of the book of Hebrews.
Verse 5. The story of Enoch appears in Genesis 5:21-24. Enoch’s faith in God was captured in the word picture of Enoch walking with God (Gen. 5:22,24). Enoch had a long-term, close relationship with God. One unusual aspect of the account of Enoch is that he did not experience physical death. The author quoted Genesis 5 to support the fact Enoch was mysteriously translated. The prophet Elijah had a similar experience because he was taken away in a whirlwind after a chariot of fire appeared (2 Kings 2:11-12). Enoch’s faithfulness and obedience to God was applauded by the author; Enoch had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Verse 6. After the brief reference to Enoch, the biblical author highlighted lessons we should learn from his faithfulness. The main point here, as in the other illustrations in Hebrews 11, is that the only way for believers to please him (God) is to have a strong, vital faith in God. Then the author mentioned two aspects of the life of faith. First, we should believe that he is (that God exists). The author did not mean mere intellectual affirmation of God’s reality. James highlighted that demons believe in God (Jas. 2:19), but they do not have faith in God. Second, God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. The author used a word picture familiar to first-century readers. God was like a paymaster who rewarded faithful servants. The Bible mentions many possible motivations for our loyalty and service to God. Sometimes the rewards might be material and temporal, but a positive, vibrant relation to God is the highest motivation. Paul, for example, noted how the “mercies of God” should inspire us to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).
One way the author depicted the life of faith is the analogy of coming to God. He used similar word pictures elsewhere (such as Heb. 4:16 and 10:22). Although God’s people realize God is omnipresent or everywhere, they long for a strong sense of God’s presence. Enoch’s close relation to God is captured beautifully in the imagery of walking with God.
DIGGING DEEPER
Hebrews 11:6
The life of faith may be said to have at least three components.
(1) It involves a life of coming to God and seeking Him earnestly. This point is in keeping with the author’s challenge to approach or draw near to God (4:16; 10:22). Thus God’s people are called to live lives of radical openness to and in conversation with God.
(2) This life of faith involves believing that God exists. It is absurd to think that a person can sincerely come to God in prayer without a firm confidence in His existence. A foundational belief in God supports further acts of faith in which the believer comes to God for help.
(3) This life of faith involves confidence that God will reward those who exercise such faith. The acts of persons expressing confidence in the living God do not go unnoticed or unrewarded. God, by His nature and in accordance with His promises, rewards those who act in faith toward Him.
Faith is rewarded by God. A point of Hebrews 11 is that God’s pilgrims look beyond the immediate to grasp the significance of the ultimate. Faith involves believing “that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” One primary reward stands out in this chapter—God’s commendation (11:2,39), his “well done” that every true believer longs to hear.
Adapted from George Guthrie, Hebrews, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 376-377.
The emphasis on obedience to God would be problematic to some people in our culture today. Americans often like to stress their independence. Pushed to an extreme, however, the desire for autonomy might mean a failure to acknowledge the lordship of God in all aspects of our lives. The author did not intend to depict God as a despot or dictator controlling people’s lives in an authoritarian fashion. Our relation to God, including our faith in God, is often portrayed in the Bible as similar to a loving Father and companion in the struggles of life. Some people misunderstand the biblical view of God. Their perception of God could improve if they saw more examples of faithful, loving, compassionate followers of God. The author of Hebrews included examples of faithful living such as Enoch to encourage believers. But a non-believer could also benefit from biblical and contemporary examples of genuine faith in God.
Study the Bible
Hebrews 11:4-6
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Hebrews 11:4-6 on page 126 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on pages 125-126 of the Leader Guide to give further background on the biblical figures mentioned in these verses.
RECAP: We read earlier in verse 2 that it was the faith of our spiritual ancestors that received God’s approval, and verse 4 begins a summary of a few of these “heroes of the faith.” This, of course, is not an exhaustive list. Interestingly, this summary does not commence with Adam and Eve, but with their martyred son, Abel. Cain and Abel both gave an offering to God (Gen. 4:3-5). However, God approved of Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. Scripture doesn’t indicate why. Cain’s offering came from the produce of the land, while Abel’s was the firstborn of his flock. Some speculate that Abel’s offering involved the shedding of blood, while Cain’s did not. Even under the Mosaic law, grain offerings were welcomed. Hebrews tells us that it was faith that made Abel’s offering acceptable to God. It was also by his faith that God considered Abel to be righteous. As a result, even though Abel has long been dead, his faith continues to encourage believers today.
DO: Direct group members to Engage on page 125 of the PSG (page 131 of this Leader Guide) to help group members consider why God is trustworthy.
DISCUSS: Question #3 on page 128 of the PSG: “Why is faith such a critical part of our relationship with the Lord?”
Alternate: What are some practices that strengthen your faith?
LEADER PACK: In advance, make copies of Pack Item 10, the “Hebrews Hall of Faith” handout, to provide group members more background on the biblical figures discussed in this passage. Invite group members to highlight one of the individuals whose stories have made a particular impact on their walk with God.
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that faith stays focused on God’s Word and promises.
Hebrews 11:13-16
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
KEY WORDS: Strangers and pilgrims (v. 13)—The Hebrew patriarchs, such as Abraham, were often on the move, having no permanent residence, much like today’s refugees.
Verse 13. Everyone the author included in the roll call of faith had died. Despite strong faith in God, they did not see or experience the complete fulfillment of their hopes and God’s promises in this life. The author used the word picture of seeing one’s destination afar off but not reaching that destination in this life. The first-century readers were experiencing adversity, and they needed encouragement about living a faithful, obedient life.
These Old Testament believers were strangers and pilgrims. The author used two Greek words with similar meanings. Although God had promised land to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 12:1), Abraham was often more like a refugee than a resident in the land of Canaan, the promised land. Abraham had moved from Ur to Canaan, but he later moved on to Egypt and then back to Canaan. When his wife Sarah died, he had to purchase land as a burial site for her. Abraham described himself as “a stranger and a sojourner with you” (23:4).
Other New Testament authors used similar word pictures for the experiences of first-century believers. Even if Christians lived in the same place for a long time, their ultimate loyalty was not to a geographical location. Simon Peter, for example, described believers in Asia Minor as “strangers” (1 Pet. 1:1) and as “strangers and pilgrims” (2:11). Biblical stories about Joseph, Naomi, Esther, and Daniel are further examples of how to maintain a strong relation to God while living in a non-believing culture.
Verse 14. These Old Testament saints were often on the move, living as temporary residents in foreign countries. In a more figurative sense, they longed for a country. Biblical faith and theology affirm that God created a good physical world (Gen. 1:31). The apostle Paul told Timothy to oppose heretics who rejected God’s good creation (1 Tim. 4:3-5). Many bad things can and do happen in this world, but the Bible does not see the material world as intrinsically evil. Other religions and philosophies in the ancient world did reject the material world. The early Christians, like the Old Testament “elders” (Heb. 11:2), realized their ultimate allegiance was to God, not a country. Paul, though a Roman citizen, wrote that “our conversation (or form of life, the administration of our civil affairs, that is, our citizenship) is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).
Verse 15. The author continued to develop and apply his word picture of believers as migrants or refugees. If they had a permanent home, they might eventually have returned to it. Although the author did not draw any illustrations from the period of the Babylonian exile and the return of many Jews to Judah, his main point was still valid. The deepest longing of God’s people is for a relationship with God.
Verse 16. Although the author used geographical vocabulary, words such as country and city in this verse, he dealt more with relationships and priorities. The word better appears at several key places in the book to signify the author’s emphasis on the superiority of Jesus to any older, previous kind of relation with God. For instance, Christians have a “better hope” (Heb. 7:19) for drawing near to God. Jesus provides a “better covenant” with God based on “better promises” (8:6). The author quoted Jeremiah’s prophecy about the new covenant and noted it had been fulfilled through Jesus (v. 13).
Our ultimate destination as Christian pilgrims is a heavenly city prepared for us. While we live in this time and space, we should be loyal and faithful followers of God. The author made the intriguing comment that because of the faith of His people, God is not ashamed to be called their God. Earlier the author noted that God had approved the offering brought by Abel (11:4), and God was pleased with Enoch (v. 5). It might seem odd to some to think of God being ashamed of His people. At times the Bible highlights God’s wrath at sinners, and at other times God’s sorrow over human sin is stressed.
The author listed more examples of Old Testament saints in the rest of chapter 11. But he reaffirmed his emphasis that they “received not the promise” (v. 39). These men and women had strong relationships with God, but God had something “better” in mind (v. 40).
In chapter 12 the author moved on to reaffirm the importance of Jesus as “the author and finisher of our faith” (12:2). Indeed, the entire book of Hebrews is extremely and rightfully Christ-centered. Jesus is the supreme revelation of God in human history. The author introduced the book with a brief comparison of divine revelation in what we call the Old Testament. Although the revelation is foundational and still valuable today, the revelation of God in His Son transcends the earlier revelation (1:1-2). Our culture sometimes neglects the lessons of history. But this biblical author reminds us that believers today are part of a long story involving many others who have tried to follow God faithfully. God revealed Himself to the people in the Old Testament era, and we can learn from their experiences. God’s supreme revelation is in Jesus. Throughout this long and challenging book, the author highlighted Jesus. Although the Old Testament heroes and heroines did not have the full revelation we have in Jesus, these Old Testament figures were faithful and obedient to the same God.
The author of Hebrews presented some of the most challenging and intriguing material in the New Testament. Rather than giving an abstract or academic discourse on the nature of faith in God, he offered several character studies of people in the Old Testament who lived by faith. At the end of the book, he returned once again to the Christ-centered view of the Christian life, reminding those readers that Christ should be their focus (13:8). Following Jesus is crucial to discerning the voice of God for our lives.
Discerning the voice of God reminds us that we need to trust God. God is trustworthy, and we can take Him at His word. Genuine biblical faith is based on the character of God. He has revealed Himself to be trustworthy, so we can trust Him! The apostle Paul insisted all of God’s promises find ultimate fulfillment in Jesus (2 Cor. 1:18-20).
Study the Bible
Hebrews 11:13-16
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Hebrews 11:13-16 on page 128 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on pages 128-129 of the Leader Guide to give further background on the description of these heroes of faith as foreigners and temporary residents seeking a homeland.
RECAP: Faith looks to the future. It trusts that God will do something that has not yet occurred. At times faith believes God for tomorrow. At other times it trusts God to do something years or even decades away. Our faith can be tested by how long we are prepared to wait for God’s answer.
DISCUSS: Question #4 on page 129 of the PSG: “What has helped you remain faithful while waiting for God to fulfill a promise?”
Alternate: How has Scripture strengthened your faith through hard times?
RECAP: We live in an imperfect world, filled with suffering, pain, and evil. It can be extremely difficult, even dangerous, to be a Christian in many places in the world today. Yet, God has promised that He is preparing a far better place for believers to inhabit one day (John 14:2). Though we are not yet experiencing all that God has promised, we look forward to the future God has promised, and we wait confidently for it, knowing it is a certainty because God has said it will be so.
DISCUSS: Question #5 on page 130 of the PSG: “When have you had to rely on God in a season of uncertainty?”
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, to illustrate the promise of God’s heavenly city, find images online of some of the most famous and beautiful cities in the world—Paris, New York, Athens, London, Dubai, and so on. Encourage members to talk about what makes each city unique and what aspects of those cities they might expect to see in heaven. Encourage group members to consider their future life in heaven.
GUIDE: Refer back to “The Point” for this session: “Discerning and obeying God’s voice calls for faith in Him.”
LIVE IT OUT
What will you do in response to the truth that obedience to God calls for faith?
- Pray. Consider the greatest challenge you are currently facing. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your faith? Pray each day, trusting God to help you with the challenging situation.
- List. Make a list of as many promises of God in the Bible as you can think of. Identify any promises you may have difficulty believing for your own life. Pray and ask God to help you trust Him and claim those promises for your life.
- Encourage. If you know others who are struggling with faith or with one of God’s promises, encourage their faith. Pray for them and with them. Remind them that God’s faithfulness in the past means He can be trusted with the future.
Study the Bible
READ: Direct group members to page 131 of the PSG. Encourage them to choose one of the applications to carry out this week.
Wrap It Up
TRANSITION: Read this conclusion to the session: Whether you are waiting for God to come through for a project or for a person, faith will be required. Thankfully, we know that the One we wait upon is the Faithful One.
PRAY: Thank God for the faith that He grants us. Ask Him to increase that faith as we prayerfully follow Him.
ENGAGE
What is my level of confidence in my discernment of God’s voice?
| Red Light | Yellow Light | Green Light |
What would it take to be consistently a green light?
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Bible Studies for Life: Senior Adult Personal Study Guide – Winter 2023filter_1Session 2: Does It Bring Conviction?searchmore_vert
SESSION 2
Does It Bring Conviction?
Question 1:
When has it been difficult for you to admit you’ve made a mistake?
THE POINT
The voice of God seeks to convict us of the truth.
THE PASSAGE
Acts 2:32-41
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
I once spent four hours with a man urging him not to commit adultery with a married woman. He tried to assure me that he and the other woman had prayed about their relationship. They believed God had granted them a love for one another and was releasing them from their marriage vows. He reasoned that God would not give them this love unless He intended for them to be together.
The Holy Spirit assured me this was false and that they were in clear violation of God’s commands in Scripture. The Holy Spirit was obviously convicting the man, for he went to great lengths to justify his sinful behavior. Only later, after the two families and their church had suffered much carnage, did this man acknowledge God’s conviction. God had warned him of what he was doing, but he had refused to listen.
A primary way God speaks is by convicting us of our sin. He loves us too much to allow us to rush headlong into sin without calling us to repent and return to Him.
Acts 2:32-36
32“God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this.
33 Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.
34 For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.’
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Key Words: All the house of Israel (v. 36)—This phrase refers to the descendants of Jacob (Israel). It could mean specifically the old Northern Kingdom, but it probably refers to all Jews. Messiah (v. 36)—This title is based on the Hebrew word for “anointed,” which is similar to “Christ” (derived from the Greek).
Some people get needlessly bogged down with seeking to hear God’s voice and discovering His will for every little mundane decision. God generally speaks to us about His concerns and priorities. He speaks so that we will know what is on His heart, inviting us to join Him in His work. God’s primary concern for people is that they be in a right relationship with Him. If you are not yet a follower of Jesus Christ, then God’s primary focus is not on what company you work for or what neighborhood you live in; His focus is on seeing you acknowledge that you are a sinner, turn from your sin, and place your faith in Christ. (If you have not yet made this most important decision, turn to the inside front cover of this book.)
Acts 2 begins with the Holy Spirit coming upon the 120 followers of Jesus in the upper room. This led to Peter’s sermon, one he preached to the multitude of Jewish people who filled the streets of Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. During such feasts, the population of Jerusalem could swell from 55,000 to 180,000 people.1 God often speaks through the preaching of His word. In this case, Peter preached about the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus.
The gospel hinges on Jesus being raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:17). Peter proclaimed that he and his fellow disciples were witnesses to the resurrection. This authenticated Peter’s message, for he did not speak of what he did not know, but rather he preached out of his personal experience. Peter declared that after Jesus’s resurrection, God sent the Holy Spirit. The evidence of the Spirit’s working was apparent to everyone present, for everyone heard the disciples “‘declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues’” (Acts 2:11). A clear sign that if someone speaks a word that was given to them from God, the Holy Spirit affirms the message.
Peter cited Psalm 110:1 in which David prophesied of the Messiah. It was a favorite passage of the early church (Mark 12:35-37; 1 Cor. 15:25; Heb. 1:13; 10:13). It indicated that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lord and Savior of all who place their trust in Him. Referencing Psalm 110 also offers encouragement because, though the church might suffer at the hands of its enemies for a time, God the Father will defeat every foe and place them in submission to Christ.
Peter reached the climax of his sermon in verse 36: “‘Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.’” Peter spoke these words with certainty. He emphasized that it was they who crucified Jesus. They may not have hammered the nails into Jesus’s hands and feet, but they were complicit by their sin and rebellion against God and their rejection of the Messiah.
A telling sign that a word comes from God is the centrality of Jesus Christ, especially His death and resurrection. Throughout church history, there have been false prophets who proclaimed messages about purification rights, feasts and festivals, or methodology. False messengers tend to focus on secondary or non-essential matters. When God speaks, He uplifts Christ and His work. The Holy Spirit also brings conviction of sin. Peter declared it was his listeners who were enemies of God. When God speaks to you, He will draw attention to the sin in your life and your disobedience to His Word. God will point out anything in your life that is disrupting your fellowship with Him. God knows what matters most in your life and He will speak to those issues. It is the Holy Spirit’s role to reveal and apply God’s truth to your life (John 16:13-14).
Question 2
How can we continue to be witnesses of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection today?
Acts 2:37-38
37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
A distinguishing characteristic of God’s voice is that His words always call for a response. You cannot remain indifferent to it. You can reject it or obey it, but you cannot remain neutral. When Peter preached to the crowd, the Holy Spirit affirmed his words to those who were listening. As a result, they were “pierced to the heart.” This indicates a deep emotional pain as the Jewish people realized, to their horror, that after waiting for centuries for their Messiah, they had crucified Him.
Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit came, He would convict the world of “‘sin, righteousness, and judgment’” (John 16:8). We each have a sinful nature and are inherently evil and rebellious against God. We do not naturally do what is right or good (Rom. 3:10-12). Our consciences are so seared by sin, we would be without hope if it were not for God’s gracious work to convict us of our sin. In this passage in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit took Peter’s words and applied them compellingly to the people’s hearts. When God speaks, the Holy Spirit will affirm the words to your spirit; you will know the message is from Him.
The people responded to Peter’s sermon by exclaiming: “‘Brothers, what should we do?’” The people spontaneously understood that they must act immediately based on God’s words to them. This is often a major difference between Satan’s words and God’s words. Satan will try to make you feel guilty and yet not offer any solutions for you to find freedom. God, on the other hand, will convict you of sin, but will then offer a remedy. Words from Satan lead to guilt and shame; words from God lead to repentance and life.
Peter instructed the crowd to repent. That is, to confess their wrongdoing and turn their lives in a different direction.
Question 3
What does it mean to repent of our sin?
Peter told them to be baptized. Baptism is an outward sign of an inner transformation. It signifies that a person’s sinful nature has died, and they have been born again to become a child of God. Baptism does not save anyone. It is a public testimony that someone has repented of his sin and identified himself with Christ as his Lord and Savior. The New Testament assumed that all who were born again would be baptized. Baptism symbolically identifies a person with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It symbolizes death to sin and being raised to a new life in Christ.
DIGGING DEEPER
BAPTISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH
For more information about baptism, see the article on pp. 118-121.
Those who repented received two things. First, they received forgiveness for their sin.2 This would have been wonderful news for those who listened to Peter. Having been mortified at the cruel way they had treated the Messiah, the Jews might have assumed there was no way to appease an offended, holy God. But to their relief, Peter assured them that forgiveness and restoration were possible through Christ.
Second, those who repented of their sin received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Christians often talk about the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11) but neglect the fact that the Holy Spirit Himself is the ultimate gift. When the Holy Spirit enters your life, you have every resource of God at your disposal to enable you to do God’s will.
Question 4
Why is repentance an important response to the hearing of God’s Word
?
Acts 2:39-41
39 For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”
41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.
As Peter concluded his sermon, he offered hope and encouragement to his listeners. This is a distinguishing mark of a word from God. Satan will seek to discourage you and lead you to a place of hopelessness. God desires to save you from your sin and give you eternal life. God’s word brings hope for better days ahead!
Peter referred to God’s promise. Later in his ministry, Peter again spoke encouraging words about God’s promises (2 Pet. 1:4). He knew that whatever God promised, He would most certainly fulfill. Peter emphasized the scope of God’s promise of salvation: It is for all who believe and trust when God calls. Peter had earlier referenced God’s promise through the prophet Joel that God would “‘pour out my Spirit on all people’” (Acts 2:17). God also foretold that those who were far away from Him would be saved (Isa. 57:19). The Jewish people often were guilty of assuming that God’s salvation was exclusively for them, but God promised that it would be available to all peoples, even those who were far from God.
Peter offered hope that the people could repent of their sin; they and their children could experience salvation. This was good news indeed! We must always be aware that the decisions we make regarding God have profound consequences upon our children and grandchildren. I grew up in the home of godly parents who modeled faith in God for me. Both of my parents grew up in the homes of godly parents. Their grandparents also modeled faith in God. I have no doubt that much of what I enjoy in my walk with God today is the result of decisions my ancestors made many years before.
Peter urged the people to “‘be saved from this corrupt generation.’” Being saved is the fundamental need of every person. Anyone who has ever been saved from drowning, from a dangerous situation, or from a medical emergency, knows the enormous relief that comes when you have been preserved from harm or death. Peter understood the eternal peril that each of his listeners faced, so he preached with urgency. The peril of living in sin is being a part of a corrupt generation headed for destruction.
The result of Peter’s sermon was that three thousand people accepted the message and were baptized. Jesus had foretold that His disciples would do greater things than He had done (John 14:12). In one sermon Peter saw more people find salvation and enter the kingdom of God than occurred during Jesus’s earthly ministry. This reflects the impact found in a word from God that is delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our focus in this study is to discern the voice of God. Last week’s session reminded us to ensure that what we’re hearing is in line with God’s Word, but let’s consider also what the voice is calling us to. Is there conviction of sin or is it leading me to a place of hopelessness. Am I being pointed to Christ and His mercy and grace? When God speaks, He always speaks words of truth and grace, desiring to bring us ever closer to Him.
Question 5
What role do we play in the Holy Spirit bringing conviction to people?
ENGAGE
Are there any distractions in your life preventing you from hearing the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Explain.
Do you have any unrepented sins in your life? Confess them now.
LIVE IT OUT
How will you live out the truth in this passage?
▶ Receive Christ. If you have never repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ, do so now. Make an appointment with a pastor or Christian friend and settle this crucial matter. The inside front cover of this book will help.
▶ Confess sin. The convicting work of the Holy Spirit is not limited to your need for salvation. After salvation, we still sin. What has the Holy Spirit been convicting you of? Consider what sins the Holy Spirit is pinpointing in your life that He wants to cleanse and forgive. Respond to everything God points out to you. Don’t be satisfied until you have been set free from every sin.
▶ Share Christ. Even as the Holy Spirit worked through Peter, He wants to work through you. Pray for opportunities to be used by Him to speak His truth into the lives of others. When that opportunity arises, trust God to work through you to reveal His salvation.
END NOTES
1. J. Jeremias, Jerusalem at the Time of Jesus, trans. F. H. and C. H. Cave (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989), 83.
2. In a similar statement in Acts 3:19-20, Peter mentioned repentance but not baptism. What matters is repentance. Baptism is an outward sign of that inner transformation.
BAPTISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH
By Rex D. Butler
On the day of Pentecost, at the conclusion of his sermon, Peter exhorted his audience: “‘Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38). In the aftermath of this invitation, about three thousand new believers were baptized that day.
When the apostles baptized the converts, however, they infused the Jewish ritual with entirely new meanings. Instead of only purifications, which must be repeated, Christian baptism was a one-time ceremony, performed “in the name of Jesus Christ” and representing forgiveness of sins and reception of the Holy Spirit. Not only did the baptizer invoke the name of Jesus, but the new believer also called upon His name (Acts 22:16) and thus proclaimed the gospel.
Implied in these early baptisms was the idea that the believer is united with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection: “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).
Every baptism recorded in Acts was conducted in the name of Jesus. Within a few decades, the Trinitarian formula began to be invoked, following the pattern of Matthew 28:18-20. The Didache, a church manual composed at the end of the first century, instructed administrators to baptize three times in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Didache 7.1).
The Didache also listed three possible modes of baptism. The use of “living,” or running, water was preferred. The next best option was water, preferably cold, collected in a cistern. And pouring was allowed in arid regions where water would be scarce (Didache 7.1-3). Clearly immersion was the favored mode of baptism wherever possible.
In its early history, the church began teaching catechism to new believers. The Didache prefaced baptismal instructions with the Two Ways Tract. This tract instructed baptismal candidates to live the “Way of Life” and to reject the “Way of Death,” echoing Jesus’ warnings in Matthew 7:13-14. Fasting also was an important preparation for baptism. According to the Didache, the candidate, the administrator, and able members of the congregation fasted for a day or two (Didache 7.4). At the turn of the first century, we find that New Testament baptism remained basically unchanged. In this early church manual, baptism retained its simplicity.
Fast-forward a century or so, and baptism transformed into an elaborate ritual full of symbolism. The Apostolic Tradition, an early third-century church manual attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, included a lengthy description of the baptismal process. Catechism now lasted up to three years, during which candidates learned God’s Word and became “active in well-doing” (Apostolic Tradition 20.1). According to Tertullian of Carthage, Easter or Pentecost added solemnity to the occasion, but any Sunday was acceptable (On Baptism 19.2-3).
On Sunday, the candidates prepared for baptism by removing their clothing. Yes, that’s right—naked baptism! Nudity was not scandalous in a culture where public baths were common. Usually baptistries were separate from the church, and not in the front of a sanctuary. Symbolically, new Christians emerged from the water of new birth in the same naked condition of their first birth. Furthermore, the newly baptized received a white linen robe, a picture of Paul’s admonition to put off the old self and put on the new (Col. 3:9-10). In the early church, baptism was a living illustration of the believer being raised in newness of life.
The church continued to practice triple immersion but added a baptismal creed in the form of three questions. The administrator asked: “Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty? Do you believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?” After each question, the candidate responded, “I believe,” and was immersed (Apostolic Tradition 21:12-18). The questions instructed the new believers in correct orthodoxy and weeded out possible heretics.
At the conclusion of the baptismal service, the entire community prayed together and closed the prayer service with the kiss of peace, signs of filial love and of welcome into God’s family. The new members of the Christian community had their first Lord’s Supper (Apostolic Tradition 21.1–23:3).
Evangelicals may be surprised to read that infant baptism began by early in the third century. Around 200, Tertullian first mentioned the practice, but he discouraged it (On Baptism 18) and preferred to postpone it until the age of accountability, which he identified as fourteen years old (On Baptism 18; On the Soul 38.1). Other third-century early church fathers, such as Origen of Alexandria and Cyprian of Carthage, accepted the practice. Hippolytus instructed: “And first baptize the little ones; if they can speak for themselves, they shall do so; if not, their parents or other relatives shall speak for them” (Apostolic Tradition 21.4). Even as infant baptism made inroads into the church, though, many Christian parents delayed baptism for their offspring, including Basil the Great and his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine—each born in the fourth century. Ironically, Augustine codified the practice and theology of infant baptism by teaching that children were born guilty of Adam’s sin and required baptismal cleansing. In the sixth century, when church and state were united, Emperor Justinian I declared infant baptism mandatory.
During the church’s first six centuries, immersion was the expected mode of baptism. With the exception of the provision in the Didache, all descriptions of baptism clearly indicate the administrator placed his hand on candidate’s head and immersed him or her as a symbol of the new believer’s union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Traveling, I have seen a number of ancient baptisteries that prove the practice of immersion in such widespread regions as the Negev desert and Beth-shan, Israel; the Basilica of Saint Clement, Rome; and Sbeitla, Tunisia.
From its inception, the church has observed Jesus’s command to baptize, but baptism’s rituals and meanings changed through Christianity’s first six centuries. For a century or so, baptism retained the simplicity of the New Testament practice. Eventually the ritual took on layers of symbolism, intended to illustrate new believers’ initiation into the Christian community. And regrettably, unbiblical practices of infant baptism and sprinkling replaced the clear biblical teaching of believer’s baptism by immersion.
Rex D. Butler is professor of church history and patristics at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Bible Studies for Life: Senior Adult Personal Study Guide – Winter 2023filter_3Session 6: Joy in Place of Fear
01/08/2023Study Guide
SESSION 6
Joy in Place of Fear
Question 1:
When have you said, “I’m glad that’s behind me”?
THE POINT
Fear will be a thing of the past in God’s eternal kingdom.
THE PASSAGE
Zephaniah 3:9-20
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
I once ran a half-marathon with a friend. I don’t enjoy running, but I did like the thought of doing something I had never done before. As I reviewed the training schedule, I saw that most of the runs seemed feasible. It was the ten-mile run a few weeks before the race that unnerved me. I was scared that I would not be able to finish, and afraid that I might get hurt.
On the day of the ten-mile run, my body ached all over. I wanted to stop, but my feet kept moving. After I finished, I just sat in my car with the seat leaned back because everything hurt. When I got home, the struggle of running was replaced with rest and the joy of eating with my family.
We have days when we want to give up. But there is an end. We have a reason for hope because one day we will rest and enjoy the table prepared for us by Jesus. The prophet Zephaniah reminds us that fear will be a thing of the past in the eternal kingdom of God.
Zephaniah 3:9-13
9 For I will then restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose.
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush my supplicants, my dispersed people, will bring an offering to me.
11 On that day you will not be put to shame because of everything you have done in rebelling against me. For then I will remove from among you your jubilant, arrogant people, and you will never again be haughty on my holy mountain.
12 I will leave a meek and humble people among you, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.
13 The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or tell lies; a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths. They will pasture and lie down, with nothing to make them afraid.
Key Words: Holy mountain (v. 11)—A reference to Zion’s sacred hill in Jerusalem where the temple stood as the focus of Israel’s worship of God. It was the symbol of God’s presence among His people.
During the seventh century BC, when Josiah was king over Judah, Zephaniah came on the scene as a prophet. King Josiah’s father and grandfather were evil kings. They encouraged the people to chase after idols and false gods, yet when Josiah took the throne, he desired to turn the people’s hearts back to the one true God, Yahweh. It is likely that Zephaniah’s prophecies of warning, punishment, and restoration were spoken before the reforms of King Josiah had taken root.
Throughout the book of Zephaniah, the prophet spoke of God’s anger and judgment against Judah, the other nations, and the city of Jerusalem. The people were guilty of chasing after other gods, and judgment was due. But the tone of Zephaniah’s prophecy makes a major shift beginning with 3:9. The refining fire of righteous anger would lead to the purification of the land and the people. In verses 1-8, Zephaniah spoke about Jerusalem, but these words of restoration included all the world’s people. God’s desire is that “‘all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose.’”
Verses 11-13 give us a glimpse of what the refinement of God will yield. Shame for our past actions will be removed, as well as arrogance and haughtiness. It will produce a humble people and not a proud people. God’s people will be established as a people who understand who is on the throne, and they will act and walk accordingly in this truth. They “‘will no longer do wrong,’” doing what is right as they see the King who is righteous. They will not “‘tell lies’” nor have “‘a deceitful tongue’” for they will live with and serve the God of truth (see Heb. 6:18).
Especially inviting is the image that “‘they will pasture and lie down, with nothing to make them afraid.’” Sheep will not relax if they are afraid, and they will not eat if they feel threatened. Yet here are God’s people—His sheep—who have had their fill and are contentedly resting. They can do this because they are resting in the presence of their Shepherd. This brings to mind the imagery David painted in Psalm 23:2-4: “He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life. . . . Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me.” God’s people will know they have nothing to fear because God is on His throne.
Note who this future kingdom applies to: “‘I will leave a meek and humble people among you, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.’” The Hebrew word for “‘meek’” refers to those who are poor and weak, and “‘humble’” refers to those who are in need and physically afflicted. There is no pride or arrogance among them, because they know there is nothing in them. They are in desperate need, and that recognition draws them to God, who “will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). Jesus also pointed to the restoration that comes to those who are humble and recognize their need. “’Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. . . . Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth’” (Matt. 5:3,5).
In this refining process, God will remove fear from those who humble themselves before Him. When we bow to the right One, we do not need to fear lesser things. God sits on His throne and all fear will ultimately be removed.
Question 2
How does embracing God’s purpose set your mind at ease about the future?
Zephaniah 3:14-17
14 Sing for joy, Daughter Zion; shout loudly, Israel! Be glad and celebrate with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has removed your punishment; he has turned back your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is among you; you need no longer fear harm.
16 On that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; Zion, do not let your hands grow weak.
17 The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing.”
Key Words: Daughter Zion (v. 14)—A reference to the city of Jerusalem, often referred to as feminine. Here, it refers to the reassembled remnant of Israel.
The picture of restoration in God’s kingdom compels us to worship. Zephaniah calls us to worship with several imperatives:
▶ Sing for joy. Throughout history, people have been drawn to songs as a way to express their emotions from love to sadness. And the joy we receive because of what God has done for us certainly calls for a joyful expression in song.
▶ Shout loudly. This needs no explanation to the sports fan. When our team is winning, we get excited and we shout. A game is just a game, but when we “win” in life because Christ has won the victory for us, we certainly have cause to shout—and to shout loudly.
▶ Be glad and celebrate. The Hebrew phrasing reflects extreme happiness that we express in some outward form, and we are to do this “with all your heart.” “Heart” in the Hebrew language can refer to our will, our mind and intellect, or our emotions. It’s safe to say we are to be glad and celebrate with all three: mind, will, and emotions. We are to celebrate God even as we love Him, for we are to “‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’” (Matt. 22:37). Our love and celebration of the One who loves us consumes every part of our being!
In verse 15, Zephaniah reminded us why we should be so joyous.
▶ Our punishment is removed. We see this ultimately played out by what Jesus did on the cross on our behalf. Jesus lived a perfect life, yet He surrendered His life on a cross to pay a debt for us that we were unable to pay because of our sinfulness. We were bankrupt because of our sin, but Jesus paid our debt. Our punishment is removed because Jesus took it for us.
▶ Our enemy is turned back. In the immediate historical context, it is not clear which enemy Israel was facing, but now because of Christ, no enemy will stand. “For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death” (1 Cor. 15:25-26).
▶ The Lord is with us. Sin keeps us from a relationship with God, but since Christ has dealt with our sin problem, we can stand before God free, forgiven, and unashamed.
▶ Our fear is removed. And when the sovereign, all-powerful Lord of the universe is standing at our side, we have absolutely nothing to fear in God’s presence. As we’ve seen through this study, with trust in God, we can stand strong in the face of any fears that surround us. But in that day, in God’s eternal kingdom, those sources of fear are completely absent.
As we see in verse 17, our God is a mighty warrior, but He delights in us! To think that Almighty God would sing over a people who rejected Him is mind-boggling. Yet, that is precisely what He does. I’ve watched my wife sing over our kids and rock them to sleep. What an incredible picture and expression of love. In the process of her singing, each child enters a fully relaxed state. They fall asleep and are indeed at rest. That is what happens when we entirely rest in the strength of our God; He delights over us with singing, and we can rest confidently in His love and provision.
ENGAGE
Review the bulleted list of reasons we should be joyous. Choose one and write your thoughts, memories, and emotions when this happened for you:
My punishment was removed.
My enemy turned back.
The Lord was with me.
My fear was removed.
Question 3
How does God’s presence with you help you not be afraid?
Zephaniah 3:18-20
18 I will gather those who have been driven from the appointed festivals; they will be a tribute from you and a reproach on her.
19 Yes, at that time I will deal with all who oppress you. I will save the lame and gather the outcasts; I will make those who were disgraced throughout the earth receive praise and fame.
20 At that time I will bring you back, yes, at the time I will gather you. I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes. The Lord has spoken.
Key Words: Appointed festivals (v. 18)—Regularly scheduled religious celebrations held to remember all the Lord had done for Israel.
Recently my family moved into a renovated home. When I say renovated, I mean the contractors took it down to just the studs and framing. When we first looked at the home, there was little appeal to it, but we didn’t base our opinion of the house on what we saw in its current state. We based our opinion on what was to come. Each week the house changed, and the more they worked on the house, the more it resembled what was foretold. Then the day came when it was fully restored and we moved in.
Zephaniah spoke of a far greater restoration, one that will come with God’s eternal kingdom. God wanted them to see that in the future all reasons for judgment would be removed and those who experienced the burden of sin and reproach would find relief. We can get frustrated with all the hassles of life we face, and fears and frustrations might frequently rise. During my home’s renovation, I faced such feelings, but I knew not to give up. One day it would be completed, and we could take up residence. We need to have the same mindset as followers of Christ. Regardless of whatever fears and frustrations we face, we can endure, knowing that one day it will all be over and behind us. In the meantime, let’s not lose heart on the journey. We will experience eternal restoration in God’s kingdom to come.
Question 4
What are some specific promises you look forward to God delivering on?
In verse 20, God spoke through Zephaniah (He is speaking in first person.) to remind us that He is faithful to complete what He has begun. Paul affirmed this truth: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). We do not have to fear because God keeps His promises. He always has and He always will. We will be fully restored, and fear will be no more because of the goodness of our King.
Question 5
What do these verses reveal about God’s love and care for His people?
LIVE IT OUT
It is easy to fear what is to come, but fear will be a thing of the past in God’s eternal kingdom. How will you live out this truth and choose joy over fear?
▶ Thank. Reflect on Zephaniah 3 and Revelation 21–22. Thank God for the ways His heavenly kingdom will be unlike our current world.
▶ Memorize. As a reminder of the joy we have in Christ, memorize Psalm 16:11: “You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.”
▶ Witness. Share the gospel with someone. We are surrounded by those who don’t have the assurance of a joy-filled future in Christ. Ask God to reveal to you who that person is and pray for the opportunity to share Christ’s love and what He has done for him or her.
Bible Studies for Life: Adult Leader Guide – KJV – Winter 2023filter_2Session 5: Courage in Place of Fearsearchmore_vert
SESSION 5
Courage in Place of Fear
THE POINT
Courageously follow Jesus, even in fearful circumstances.
LIFE CONNECTION
We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can control how we respond to them. We face many situations that can be unnerving and tempt us to be afraid. The key to responding well in those moments has to do with our focus. Christ is with us in everything we encounter, and we do well to keep our eyes on Him. A Christ-centered focus does not change the situation, but it does dissipate the fear in our hearts.
THE PASSAGE
Matthew 14:22-33
THE SETTING
Matthew (or Levi) had been a tax collector until Jesus called him to His service as a disciple. In the AD 60s he wrote his Gospel to document Jesus’s life and ministry. One remarkable event Matthew recorded occurred soon after John the Baptist was executed and Jesus miraculously fed more than five thousand people (Matt. 14:1-21). Jesus demonstrated His divine power on the Sea of Galilee in a way the disciples never expected but would never forget.
Get into the Study
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, play a video showing some risky activities others do for fun. Then ask Question #1.
NOTE: A video option can be found at BibleStudiesforLife.com/AdultExtra.
DISCUSS: Question #1 on page 60 of the PSG: “What is the scariest leap of faith you’ve ever taken?”
GUIDE: Direct group members to “The Bible Meets Life” on page 61 of the PSG. Introduce the importance of courageously following Jesus by reading or summarizing the text or by encouraging group members to read it on their own.
RECAP: Courage is leaping in the face of fear. Jesus’s disciples in Matthew 14 had an opportunity to exhibit such courage—and we do too. The key is fixing our eyes on Jesus, trusting that He will do what only He can do.
GUIDE: Call attention to “The Point” on page 61 of the PSG: “Courageously follow Jesus, even in fearful circumstances.”
PRAY: Transition into the study by asking God to give us an understanding of what true courage is all about. Thank Him for His Holy Spirit who teaches us and empowers us along the way.
Matthew 14:22-26
22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Verse 22. Following His miracle of feeding the large crowd, Jesus straightway ordered His men to get in a boat at the Sea of Galilee and sail to the other side. Matthew punctuated his narrative several times with the adverb “straightaway,” meaning, “right now, without delay!” The Sea of Galilee is a fresh water lake located in the northern part of Palestine that has gone by many names. It was also called the Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1). In the Old Testament it was called the Sea of Chinnereth (Num. 34:11). The Romans named it the Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1). It was a center for trade and the fishing industry. Remarkably, the Sea of Galilee’s surface lies almost seven hundred feet below that of the Mediterranean Sea and just thirty miles to its east. Some of the mountains surrounding it, however, rise higher than a thousand feet above sea level. It is thirteen miles long from north to south, and just eight miles wide east to west. Due to its peculiar geographic location, it is subject to sudden violent wind storms.
After Jesus sent His men away, He also sent the multitudes away. He had attracted a large audience because of His teaching and miracles. Many hangers-on were also hoping they could force Him to declare His Messiahship and make Him king. At this time, however, Jesus was ready for them to leave. He desired some personal time alone to pray and rest before rejoining His disciples (Mark 6:31-32).
Verse 23. Jesus then went up into a mountain apart to pray. He sometimes needed a solitary retreat where He could find spiritual solace. Jesus often prayed to restore His strength and spiritual vitality (Matt. 26:36-46; Luke 5:16; 9:18,28-29; 11:1). In this instance, Matthew did not know the content of Jesus’s prayer. Perhaps all the Messianic excitement generated by the crowds, or the need to prepare for the miracle He was about to perform, motivated Jesus to seek the Father’s wisdom. In any case, He remained there until the evening.
Verse 24. Meanwhile, the disciples dutifully did as Jesus commanded. After rowing a while, they were now in the midst of the sea. In the original Greek text John’s account says they were twenty-five to thirty stadia from shore (John 6:19). One stadion equals 600 feet, so they had gone about three or four miles. The vessel the men were sailing was probably a standard size fishing rowboat like the ones Peter, Andrew, James, and John worked in when Jesus called them to be His disciples (Matt. 4:18-21).
Suddenly a strong wind blew up causing the waves to rise, perhaps reminiscent of the high winds they had encountered before when Jesus calmed the storm (8:23-27). The boat was tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. Normally they would have made the crossing quickly. But now, very late at night, they were stuck far out from shore and were being “tormented” by the high surf. Nevertheless, soon things were going to get even scarier for the disciples! 
Verse 25. Matthew reported that something very strange happened in the fourth watch of the night. The Romans marked time from sunset to sunrise by four watches, each about three hours long. The fourth watch fell before the dawn between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. So, in this case, it was still very dark and the disciples were probably disoriented and feared for their lives.
That was when Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. Matthew and the other Gospel writers made no attempt to explain how Jesus accomplished this impossible feat (Mark 6:48-49; John 6:19). After all, people do not walk on water. His walking on the water showed that Jesus, as the Messiah, was Lord over creation and that even the wind and sea obeyed Him (Matt. 8:23-27). This was nothing short of an absolute miracle.
Verse 26. Mathew remarked that the men cried out for fear. Given their perilous situation and the hazy gloom, it is no surprise that they were troubled when they saw Him coming across the water. They even thought He was a ghost. Here again we see the natural human reaction when faced with supernatural beings and divine acts (recall Mary and the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:30).
Nonetheless, unlike angels (who were never humans), ghosts were thought to be specters or apparitions of human spirits from the realm of the dead. Note that the seventeenth-century translators of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible used “Holy Ghost” for the Third Person of the Trinity, instead of “Holy Spirit” (Pnuema) as do modern translations (as in Matt. 28:19). Conversely, the KJV uses “spirit” where newer versions use “ghost” (phantasma) for disembodied spirits of the dead (14:26). So these terms may be a bit confusing for study groups using various Bible translations. In any case, the men on the boat thought they were seeing a ghost.
Knowing some historical context is helpful to better understand the disciples’ scary assumption. Inquiring of ghosts, communication with the dead (mediums or spiritism), and other occult practices were widespread in the ancient pagan world. However, they were strictly forbidden for Israel. “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee” (Deut. 18:9-12, italic added).
That being said, King Saul, when he was facing a decisive battle, secretly consulted a medium, the witch of Endor. He asked her to conjure up the spirit of Samuel to give him counsel (1 Sam. 28:7-19). The spirit told Saul that he was soon going to die because of his repeated defiance of God, including doing this abominable act. Amazingly, even in this scientific age, such occult beliefs have had something of a revival in recent decades (though, in many cases today, “ghosts” have been replaced by “aliens”).
Study the Bible
Matthew 14:22-26
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Matthew 14:22-26 on page 62 of the PSG.
RECAP: Matthew 14 records some significant moments in Jesus’s ministry. It begins with the beheading of John the Baptist, the very one who prepared the way for Jesus. Jesus surely knew John from childhood, since their mothers were related (Luke 1:36), so even as He expressed grief at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35), He was also touched by the death of John. “When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart” (Matt. 14:13). After this news, Jesus desired some time alone with His Father.
GUIDE: Use Commentary on pages 61-62 of the Leader Guide to give further background on the Sea of Galilee.
LEADER PACK: Display Pack Item 5, the “The Sea of Galilee” poster to provide context for where this passage takes place. Invite a group member to read the relevant callouts on the poster aloud.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, have some fun with your group members by bringing a spray bottle filled with water to your gathering. As you read about the storm in God’s Word, spritz a couple of your group members with that water. (Choose those you know won’t mind getting a little wet.) Feel free to add other special effects like a strong fan and stormy sounds to help group members relate to the disciples’ plight.
DISCUSS: Question #2 on page 63 of the PSG: “When have you said ‘yes’ to God, not knowing what might come next?”
Alternate: What truths about God can give us the courage to follow Him into unknown circumstances?
RECAP: The disciples reacted in a way common to all of us: We are afraid of that which we don’t understand. When I am faced with something outside of my realm of the norm, I typically bend toward fear, not faith. Despite all the ways Jesus has shown me that He is before all things, I still at times grow faint at the sight of something surprising. Like the disciples, I can jump to the wrong conclusion instead of jumping into the arms of the One from where my help comes.
TRANSITION: We are to act on what God tells us to do. In the next verses, we see that fear sets in when we take our eyes off Jesus.
Matthew 14:27-30
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
Verse 27. Interestingly, Mark’s account says that Jesus intended to walk on past them to go to the other side of the sea (Mark 6:48). But, Jesus must have known what the men were thinking. So He straightway (there is that word again) spake directly to them, calling out across the waves, “Be of good cheer.” He wanted to assure them that He was not a ghost or apparition like they feared. He then identified Himself and reiterated His comforting statement, “it is I; be not afraid.”
“It is I” is literally, “I am.” That is the same self-identification Jesus often used to assert His divine nature. John regularly quoted Jesus using this phrase, as when the Jewish leaders challenged His authority, “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58, italic added; see also 6:35,41; 8:12,23; 10:7-11). Jesus’s use of the “I am” clause is a reflection of God’s self-disclosure to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Ex. 3:14; see also Isa. 51:12). The Jewish leaders clearly understood that Jesus was making a claim to be equal to God. They even tried to kill Him for blasphemy (John 8:58-59; 10:32-34). It was also one of the charges that led to His crucifixion (Matt. 26:62-68; Mark 14:61-65).
Verse 28. Peter was well known for sometimes acting impetuously. When he heard the ghostly figure’s voice through the haze claiming to be Jesus, he instantly reacted, “Lord, if it be thou.” Notice Peter addressed Jesus as “Lord” (Kyrie). Throughout the New Testament Jesus is referred to as Lord, a clear allusion to His identification with YHWH (Yahweh, the Lord), the Old Testament God of Israel (even if Peter did not yet fully realize it). Did Peter know that it was indeed Jesus approaching the boat? So it seems, but Peter wanted to find out for certain. He challenged Jesus, “bid me come unto thee on the water.” Peter must have believed that if the person miraculously walking on the sea was indeed Jesus, then He could transfer the power to do likewise on to him. Together they would walk to the shore, or so he thought.
Verse 29. To Peter’s surprise, or perhaps to his chagrin, the Lord quickly answered. Probably accompanied by an inviting gesture of His hand, Jesus bid him, “Come.” So Peter carefully climbed over the edge of the boat and stepped out onto the waves. How far he went out on the water is not said, but apparently he actually was able to take at least a few strides on top of the water. Upon getting his footing, Peter walked on the water, to go to Jesus. Undoubtedly, not looking down or around, his eyes were fixed on the Lord as he slowly ambled toward Him.
Verse 30. But then things went sideways for Peter. For just a moment he took his eyes off Jesus and started looking around at his circumstances. He again became intensely aware of the strong gale winds and high waves all around him. And so, he was afraid. In that instant, Peter must have realized that what he was doing was impossible by any measure of logic or reason. Immediately he began to sink down into the waves. Panicking, Peter turned back to Jesus and cried out in desperation, “Lord, save me.” To Peter’s credit, he knew his only possible source of rescue from drowning was Jesus Himself!
Peter’s fright was natural. As long as Peter kept his focus on Jesus, he was able to accomplish an incredible feat. But when he let his surroundings take his attention away from the Lord, he sunk like a rock!
We all have our own raging seas of circumstances to sail above. Fear sets in when we take our eyes off Christ and allow life’s circumstances to beleaguer us. But, when we keep our spiritual eyes focused on Jesus, we will not be battered about by the constantly changing currents of life. We also can courageously accomplish great things for God’s kingdom.
Study the Bible
Matthew 14:27-30
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Matthew 14:27-30 on page 64 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on page 64 of the Leader Guide to give further background on the way Jesus identified Himself.
RECAP: Perhaps sensing their fear, Jesus didn’t hesitate to respond to the disciples. “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Jesus was doing more than just telling them He was their teacher. The same two Greek words translated “It is I” were used elsewhere by Jesus when He identified Himself as “I am” (John 8:58), a clear reference to Yahweh, the covenant name for God. Jesus was identifying Himself with God. In this moment with His frightened disciples, Jesus assured them that He was Jesus, the One they knew and followed, and He was God, Lord over nature.
Because of who Jesus is, Peter was compelled to trust Him. But Peter wanted to be sure it truly was Jesus, so he did something audacious. “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water” (v. 28). If it was Jesus walking on water, then Jesus could say the word and transfer that ability to someone else.
DISCUSS: Question #3 on page 65 of the PSG: “What are some winds and waves that can cause us to take our eyes off of Jesus?”
Alternate: Who are some people you admire for their willingness to step out in faith?
RECAP: Before we slight Peter for his lack of faith, let’s note two things. First, Peter faltered only for a moment. What did Peter do when his faith weakened? He turned right back to Jesus. “He cried, saying, Lord, save me.” Second, it’s worth noting that Peter got out of the boat, but eleven men stayed in the boat. Peter’s faith may have faltered, but he had enough faith in Jesus to step out of the boat. We can learn an important lesson from Peter on this occasion: Keep your eyes on Jesus.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, invite a group member or someone else in the church who has a story of courageously stepping out in faith to offer a brief testimony of their experience. Invite them to be transparent about struggles they had even after that decision “to step out of the boat.”
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that Jesus is there when we return to Him.
Matthew 14:31-33
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
Verse 31. The next section of the story begins with the word Immediately. As Peter was thrashing about in the water Jesus stretched forth his hand to him. Peter probably reached back, gripping the hand of the Lord. Jesus then caught him and gently lifted Peter back up above the waves. As they headed to the boat, Jesus chided Peter a bit with a rhetorical question, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” The question conveys the sense of, “If you had enough faith and did not doubt, you would have continued to walk on the water.” Several times in the New Testament Jesus addressed those who had “little faith.” For instance, once when the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out a demon from a possessed boy, Jesus said it was “Because of your unbelief.” He went on to say, “for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matt. 17:20).
Doubt (distazo) essentially means “double-minded.” It is a lack of an intellectual belief in a proposition. It is not the same as “little faith.” Faith (pistis) involves more than just intellectual assent, but active, unreserved trust. It is the willingness to act on one’s belief. It is something like what James expressed in his letter about the relationship of faith and works: “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (Jas. 2:17-18). In Peter’s case, at this point in his faith journey, he lacked both belief and faith.
Nonetheless, Jesus made good use of this event to teach Peter and His other disciples a valuable lesson. The reason Peter failed was that he still lacked adequate faith to trust Jesus to do the impossible. We, like Peter, tend to take bold steps of faith until the going gets tough. Then we, also like Peter, waver in our trust in His ability to accomplish His purposes in our lives. When we find ourselves being pulled down by the strong undercurrents of modern life, we can follow Peter’s example and call out to God. We can turn in faith, and trust Jesus to come to our rescue.
This story is also a picture of how God deals with unbelievers. When the crises of life close in, they can turn from their stressful and sinful lives to Jesus as their Savior. And as Jesus rescued Peter, He will reach out and pull them from the drowning waves of sin and death to safety in His grace and love. As Peter later declared in his Pentecost sermon, “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).
Verses 32-33. When Jesus and Peter got into the boat, another miracle happened, the wind ceased. The disciples were once more made aware of the divine power that Jesus wields. Just as He had done before (Matt. 8:23-27) when they had shown “little faith,” Jesus demonstrated His Lordship over the natural order. In the earlier case they had wondered, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” (v. 27). At this point, they no longer just speculated about who He was, they worshipped him, saying, for their first time, “Of a truth thou art the Son of God.” Jesus’s disciples were finally coming to the realization that Jesus was more than a mere human being.
Peter would fail again and deny Jesus three times before He was crucified (26:33-35,69-75). However, after Jesus’s resurrection, Peter (and Jesus’s other followers) would have the final proof of His divinity. They were restored to Him for fellowship and service as His apostles (John 21:15-19). Even so, it was not until Pentecost that they were endowed with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and were fully equipped to accomplish all He wanted them to do (Acts 2).
The new year is a good time to make an evaluation of our relationships with God. Are there issues that diminish our faith and hinder our spiritual growth? Are there any irrational fears that weigh down our hearts? We should take time to prayerfully commit to changing whatever needs to be changed with the Lord’s help. Is there sin in our lives that we must confess to God? We may need to repent and restore broken relationships within our families or churches. Whatever our situation, we can rest assured that Jesus will be there when we turn to Him. You may want to make those resolutions immediately!
In a broader sense, every person at some point in his or her life must come to grips with the claims of Jesus Christ. The same Man who rescued Peter from the roaring undertow also can rescue the sinful person who is drowning in sin. Are there people among your friends and family who do not know Christ as their Savior and Lord? You should make every effort to tell them about the soul-saving power of Jesus through His death and resurrection. He promises new life to all who surrender their lives and trust Him.
Study the Bible
Matthew 14:31-33
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Matthew 14:31-33 on page 67 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on page 67 of the Leader Guide to give further background on Jesus’s power over His creation.
RECAP: This is the second time in this account we see the word “immediately.” Jesus wasted no time in calming fears and rescuing those in need of help. Jesus didn’t give Peter a harsh talking to before He would help him. Jesus didn’t let Peter know all the ways that he had fallen short before He extended His hand. Jesus just stepped in quickly and caught hold of Peter when he cried out.
This should lead us to be willing to take a leap of faith; even if we begin to sink, Jesus is right there to help and lift us. Peter had faith initially to trust Jesus and get out of the boat, but Jesus described his faith as “little.” It wasn’t that Peter lacked faith; he just had little faith.
DISCUSS: Question #4 on page 68 of the PSG: “When have you gone through a storm that led you to worship the Lord when it was over?”
RECAP: The disciples realized that Jesus was far greater than all their fears, and it led them to worship Him. Peter’s worship surely included his thankfulness for being rescued on the water. The disciples worshiped Jesus because He was in their midst. They worshiped Jesus because He was greater than the obstacle before them, and they recognized that fear doesn’t reign when Jesus is in the mix. It’s no different for us. We can’t help but worship Jesus when we see Him for who He truly is. We can stand without fear because He is with us, and He is greater than all.
DISCUSS: Question #5 on page 68 of the PSG: “What truths about God can give us the courage to follow Him into fearful circumstances?”
Alternate: What do you find encouraging in this passage?
DO: Direct group members to Engage on page 68 of the PSG (page 68 of this Leader Guide) to help group members reflect on their own walk with Christ during challenging circumstances.
GUIDE: Refer back to “The Point” for this session: “Courageously follow Jesus, even in fearful circumstances.”
ENGAGE
Looking at the different scenes in this story, where do you find yourself today?
In the middle of a storm
Feeling like Jesus is a long way off
Afraid
Sensing that Jesus may be near
Listening to Jesus’s voice
Stepping out on faith
Boldly walking towards Jesus
Concerned about your circumstances
Sinking
Feeling Jesus’s hand lifting you up
The storm has passed, and you have survived
Depending on where you find yourself:
Ask Jesus for assistance.
Thank Jesus for rescuing you.
LIVE IT OUT
We can have courage because, in Jesus, we can overcome whatever obstacle may come our way. Consider the obstacles you face as opportunities for Jesus to reveal His glory to you. How will you courageously follow Jesus?
- Pray. Identify those things that you might find intimidating or scary about following Christ in faith. Pray and ask God to strengthen your faith and trust in Him.
- Speak. It takes courage to talk to someone about forgiveness or to exhort someone to repent and come to Christ. Identify someone who you need to talk with, pray for the opportunity, and courageously trust God to lead you in that conversation.
- Go. One of the scariest steps I have ever taken was to step out of my comfort zone and go on a mission trip. Talk to your church leaders about opportunities to go and serve Christ courageously for a week, two weeks, or for a lifetime.
Live It Out
5 MINUTES
READ: Direct group members to page 69 of the PSG. Encourage them to choose one of the applications to carry out this week.
Wrap It Up
TRANSITION: Read or restate this idea from page 69 of the PSG: There are many things that can cause us fear in life, from the mundane to the serious. But we can have courage because, in Jesus, we can overcome whatever obstacle may come our way.
PRAY: Thank God for inviting us to join Him in the exciting journey He has called us to. Ask Him to help us step out with courage when our circumstances might cause us to fear.
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Bible Studies for Life: Senior Adult Personal Study Guide – Winter 2023
filter_2
Session 4: Submission to God in Place of Fearsearchmore_vert
SESSION 4
Submission to God in Place of Fear
Question 1:
When has something unexpected happened to you?
THE POINT
God’s desire to work through us is no cause for fear.
THE PASSAGE
Luke 1:26-38
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Let’s get rid of one mistaken idea about older adults: They don’t like change. The rationale has been that they don’t like change because they’re older and, therefore, set in their ways. But the truth is: None of us like change—and we all get set in our ways! We get used to a routine or doing things a certain way, and we see no reason to change.
Of course, we willingly make some changes on our own: purchasing a different car, moving closer to family. We embrace the changes that come with being a grandparent. But when change is thrust upon us by others, we can resist. What if things aren’t better? What if this is harder? What if . . . ? We can quickly raise a lot of concerns and potential fears.
Even when we know God is behind the change, fear can still be present. In Luke 1, we see a young woman who was about to experience an incredible change in her life and circumstances. We can be encouraged by her example to trust God no matter what.
Luke 1:26-29
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”
29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.
Key Words: The sixth month (v. 26)—A reference to the specific time in Mary’s relative Elizabeth’s pregnancy when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary.
The house of David (v. 27)—The promised Messiah would be a descendant of King David. At least twelve times in the Gospels Jesus is called the “Son of David.”
The angel Gabriel played a prominent role in the events recorded in Luke 1. He had already appeared to Zechariah to inform him that his prayers had been heard. Although they were “well along in years” (a nice way of saying they were old; verse 7), Zechariah and Elizabeth were told that they would have a son, who would prepare the way for the Messiah. Now in verse 26, Gabriel announced the birth of that Messiah.
Mary was a young woman, and scholars believe she was no more than a teenager. She was “engaged to a man named Joseph,” and Luke pointed out twice that she was a virgin. The Greek word for virgin means exactly what it means in English. She had no sexual relations with a man.
Typically, when an angel appeared in Scripture, the response was fear. That seems understandable; I’m sure the appearance of an angel—a holy messenger and heavenly warrior from God—would be intimidating. Mary would have been familiar with the history recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, those times when God’s messengers delivered one of two types of messages. First, some messages were warnings or announcements of impending judgment. Second, some messages were invitations or announcements that the person would play a part in God’s work. This work might be difficult, but it would yield something extraordinary.
Mary was troubled, but not because an angel had appeared to her. She was troubled by the meaning of his words. Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was no word of judgment. Quite the opposite; it was a greeting that spoke of God’s grace and favor. “‘Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.’” What did this message mean to her, a typical young Jewish woman?
Obviously, God had bestowed a special honor on Mary. Why else would He send an angel to tell her God was with her? For many of us, knowing God is present can be a comfort; while for others, the presence of God might justifiably cause them to tremble with fright. Mary, though, was troubled because she did not know why she was favored or blessed with the presence of God.
Question 2
When have you recently felt troubled by the unknown?
Luke 1:30-33
30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”
Key Words: The Son of the Most High (v. 32)—A title that Gabriel said Mary’s son would bear as the Messiah, the Son of God. It means that God is above all created earthly or heavenly beings.
Many action movies include a hero who runs into a stressful, intense, or dangerous scene to rescue a group of people. The movies often include a heroic speech where he encourages them not to be afraid. “I’m here, and everything’s going to be OK.” And of course, they drop their fear, and the hero saves the day. But those are movies, and life does not always offer us a “no fear” ending.
But when Gabriel, a messenger from God, says, “‘Do not be afraid,’” it’s best to remember who is saying it and who he represents. Within the Christmas narrative, the call to not be afraid was heard several times. Zechariah heard it (Luke 1:13); Joseph heard it (Matt. 1:20); and the shepherds heard it (Luke 2:10). Mary need not be afraid because she had “‘found favor with God.’” As much as those involved in the Christmas narrative needed to hear it, we all need to hear it. In all of life’s different circumstances, we don’t have to fear because of Who goes with us.
The reason Mary did not need to be afraid was because she had “‘found favor with God.’” To find favor with God means to be “full of grace.” This phrase clearly portrays Mary as a recipient of God’s grace. And thankfully, it can now be said of all who have accepted God by faith and have become His children that we also are full of grace. Paul used the same Greek word when he wrote that, because we are adopted into God’s family through Christ, we have received “his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One” (Eph. 1:6).
It’s worth stressing again that we may not understand everything God has planned for our lives, but we can trust Him because of His presence and grace. His gracious presence should dispel any fear. As David declared, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you” (Ps. 56:3). Fear wants to cripple us and have the last word in our lives, but God’s presence wins over fear every time.
Gabriel’s next words made it clear how Mary was favored by God. She would give birth to “‘the Son of the Most High.’” Mary could not have missed the powerful significance of hearing those words. This title conveys the power, strength, and authority of God. It means the Father is superior to everyone and everything in every way. It also shows us that Jesus’s divine sonship is linked to His messiahship; therefore, He is equal with God (Phil. 2:6). And this title also reminds us that Jesus has the same nature as God the Father.
Mary’s child would be royalty. “‘The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.’” Jesus’s kingdom is divine and will last for all eternity. The promises may have reminded Mary of God’s promise to David: “‘Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever’” (2 Sam. 7:16).
For most of my life, I had thought favor was synonymous with ease. That is not the case at all. Throughout Scripture we encounter individuals who were given opportunities to step into the unknown and trust God on the journey. Mary was now going to step into the unknown—a situation no woman before or since had experienced—and she would need to trust God. God’s plans for her were great, and they would change the world. There was no need to fear because God would use her obedience to do something that had never been done and would bring grace and salvation to all.
Question 3
What causes us to sometimes fear God’s plans for us
?
Luke 1:34-38
34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”
35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless.
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
38 “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
It’s not that Mary doubted Gabriel’s announcement, but she did have questions. Mary’s confusion came because she thought the angel was describing a normal conception from an act she and Joseph had engaged in. Since she knew she and Joseph had not consummated their marriage, she asked for clarification: “‘How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?’”
Question 4
When is it OK to question God?
The angel’s answer to Mary’s question described the creative work of the Holy Spirit: “‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’” “‘Overshadow’” carries the sense of the holy, powerful presence of God. God’s mighty presence was sufficient to sustain Mary and bring about the virgin birth. Creatively, the Holy Spirit brought the physical conception of Jesus.
Christ is also called “‘the holy one,’” identifying the sinless nature of Jesus. Christ’s sinlessness is clearly taught elsewhere in Scripture. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
Gabriel wrapped it up with one clear and obvious summation: “‘For nothing will be impossible with God.’” Doing the impossible is not hard for God; if it were, He wouldn’t be God. Gabriel informed Mary that God was already doing what seemed impossible to the world. “‘And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless.’” By no means should this have happened outside of a movement of God.
This was not the first time God did the impossible. He made everything out of nothing in the creation account (Gen. 1). He split a sea in two so that His people, the Israelites, could flee the oppression of the ruler of Egypt (Ex. 14:15-30). He split a river in two so that His people could take a step into the promised land (Josh. 14). He protected three men amid a fire that was hotter than the norm; their hair didn’t even smell of smoke (Dan. 3:8-27). The list goes on and on and on of how God is a God of the impossible. Gabriel reminded Mary of this truth, a truth we also need to remember today. God is the God of the impossible.
Mary’s response is one of my favorite responses in all the biblical narrative: “‘See, I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May it happen to me as you have said.’” I love her response because I yearn to trust the Lord in this manner. The statement also convicts me because it reminds me of those times I am not the Lord’s servant. It reveals to me that I often let self or fear sit on the throne of my life, but not Jesus.
With confidence, Mary took a step of faith and didn’t allow fear to sit on the throne of her life. What would our lives look like if we did likewise? How would we navigate this world differently? May we live in such a way that whatever comes our way and whatever invitation the Lord gives us, we respond as Mary did: “‘I am the Lord’s servant.’”
Question 5
How have you discovered that nothing is impossible with God?
ENGAGE
Looking back at your personal history, what is the biggest way God has surprised you?
What has He done that was seemingly impossible?
What has been the long-term impact of that occurrence?
Make a commitment to actively look for God’s working in your life—even in surprising ways.
LIVE IT OUT
You need not fear what God desires to do through you. How will you express your trust and submission to Him?
▶ Read. Read through an Old Testament book like Exodus. Note the times when God came through despite the impossible situation those in the biblical narrative were facing. Let this serve as a reminder of why you can trust God in any situation.
▶ Obey. If you feel you’re facing an impossible situation, maybe there’s a step of obedience that needs to be your first step. Meditate on Luke 1:37: “‘For nothing will be impossible with God.’” Step out in trust as God empowers you to obey Him, regardless of your circumstances.
▶ Serve. There are areas within your church that are seeking others to get involved. Maybe you feel ill-prepared or that your past has disqualified you. Whatever the reason you have not been listening to the invitation, take a step into the unknown. Contact whoever you need to and let him or her know that your “yes” is on the table. Take a step and see how God can use you in extraordinary ways for kingdom purposes. Not only will this ministry be blessed by your obedience, but you will be blessed through the strengthening of your faith.
Bible Studies for Life: Adult Personal Study Guide – KJV – Winter 2023filter_3Session 3: Love in Place of Fearsearchmore_vert
SESSION 3
Love in Place of Fear
Question 1:
What gives you a strong sense of contentment?
THE POINT
There is no room for fear when God’s love is in us.
THE PASSAGE
1 John 3:13-18; 4:14-18
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. Yes, I use the time to reflect on all God’s blessings, but I love Thanksgiving for a second reason: the food! Thanksgiving Day is the day I set aside thoughts of carbs and calories. I start the day off with the most glorious of sausage balls, then I make my way to lunch with all the fixings. Finally, I finish the day off with a slightly smaller dinner plate. The average person consumes over three thousand calories on Thanksgiving Day, and I believe it!
If a well-meaning relative asked me to go to dinner that evening, I’d surely decline. The reason is simple—and obvious: I’m full. I don’t have room for anything else.
This truth is not just true for culinary journeys; it is true when it comes to our relationship with God. When we are full of the truth and love of God, there is no room for fear. We’ll see this in 1 John. When we live full of the love of God, we can rest in who He is and walk confidently—with no fear.
1 John 3:13-18
13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
The apostle John wrote this letter from the city of Ephesus. In it, he focused on our intimacy and closeness to Jesus. Love was a central truth in John’s life and teaching, and in the gospel he wrote, he even referred to himself as “one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). This was no statement of pride, but it reflects where his security was found. Security is found in the one who loves you, and the One that loved John was the King of the universe.
In this passage, John painted a clear picture of what it looks like when we live in the love of Jesus and show it to others. Earlier in verse 12, he reminded us of the command he had heard from Jesus: “Love one another.” (See John 13:34-35.) When we love like Jesus, we will also experience the world’s hatred just as Jesus did. The unconditional love we’re called to display runs in direct opposition to the ways of the world.
Question 2
How have you personally experienced God’s love working through others?
DIGGING DEEPER
1 JOHN 3:17-18
While laying down one’s life for another is the supreme example of Christlike love, John moves to a more practical, everyday scenario to emphasize the type of love he describes. It is a lesser demand to help a brother in need. The apostle knows that not many are required to perform the heroic deed of giving one’s life for another, but the opportunity to help a needy brother is constant. The challenge for John’s hearers is to apply their Christian love to a context that is true to everyday life, one in which they repeatedly find themselves.
John’s thought progresses through the use of three verbs. The first two are in the present tense and express the inescapable responsibility of the child of God: He has the means to meet the need, and he sees the need. The third verb, an aorist, reveals the unwillingness of that one to fulfill his responsibility.
With the first verb the picture is that of one who possesses enough material to maintain life in this present world. He has the means necessary to meet another’s need. Next, he observes the need to be met. The verb “seeth” denotes a continual, contemplative observation in which the beholder pauses “to appreciate and understand the circumstance of the case.”
The response to this need is one of conscious indifference. The one who “shutteth up his bowels of compassion” suggests a deliberate neglect in spite of what he has observed. The verb literally means “to close or lock a door.” Here it is employed figuratively to portray the erection of a barrier that encloses one’s sympathetic feelings and isolates them from the needs of another. In essence, the concept is that of one who sees another Christian’s need, has the means to meet that need, yet deliberately and hardheartedly turns his back on the needy brother (cf. Jas. 2:15-16).
John’s rhetorical question, “How dwelleth the love of God in him?” challenges his readers to evaluate this pitiless response. The one who possesses God’s love demonstrates that love to others. John insists that love is to be demonstrated “in deed and in truth.” Love expresses itself in deeds. The quality of truth is added because even actions can be hypocritical. The objective reality of love is that it expresses itself in one’s actions.
Adapted from Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 159-161.
Some might wonder why people would be opposed to displays of love, especially an unconditional love that loves the individual no matter what. The light of such love exposes the darkness of the world that does not love. Like cockroaches that scatter when the light is turned on, living as “children of light” (Eph. 5:8) exposes the sin of others. John had already told his readers: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10). When we love like Jesus, we will be opposed.
Picture an individual who worked in a toxic work environment with unreasonable demand and harsh supervisors. After years of enduring this, he lands a position with a new company. He is paid well, led by supportive managers, and enjoys the work. But when he meets up with his old co-workers over dinner, the talk turns to how much they hate their work and their boss. Our individual counters with how much he likes his new supervisor and working conditions. Envy and resentment can rise in the rest of the group. Contempt surfaces because this individual’s new job exposes everything the others don’t have.
The world’s negative reaction to our love and life in Christ should not deter us in showing love. If this love resides in our hearts, not only will we not hesitate in expressing love “in deed and in truth,” but we will even “lay down our lives for the brethren.” The love of Christ and the example He set for us leads us to go and do likewise. Such selfless and sacrificial love will cause some tension and friction with the world, but we are still called to love.
Question 3
How does knowing you are loved give you a sense of security?
1 John 4:14-16
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
John could personally attest to the truth that “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” But it’s not just the eyewitnesses who can say that. As Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). By faith we too can confess that Jesus is the Son of God. It is that confession that brings us into a relationship with Him. John wrote that for those who confess Christ, “God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”
As God takes up residence in our lives, so does His love. They are inseparable. That means if we don’t express Christlike love, it’s obvious His love does not reside in us—and God does not reside in us. It is a harsh truth that John repeated throughout this letter: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14, see also 2:9-11; 3:15-17; 4:8,20).
One of my favorite smells in the world is the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. It is a smell that invites me to seek out and find the source. Because the aroma has enticed me, I will not be satisfied until I find the source and taste of its goodness. As followers of Jesus, we give off the aroma of Jesus and the love of the Father. Wherever we go and whatever we do, there should be the aroma of Jesus coming off our lives. Why? Because God’s love is within us and remains in us. We have the very Spirit of God dwelling in us so that we give off the aroma of His love and His life. It can’t stay bottled in. The love of God who remains in us overflows into the lives of those around us.
Let me remind you of what we read earlier in 1 John 3:13: the world hates us. For me, the aroma of Christ in the life of a believer is sweeter than the aroma of a chocolate chip cookie! Unfortunately, not everyone feels that way. As Paul wrote, “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life” (2 Cor. 2:15-16).
My family has a creed we live by; it is how we define who we are as a family. There are five components to it: (1) We love God; (2) We love others; (3) We share our stuff; (4) We do our best; and (5) We are brave. We use this as a measuring stick to see how well we are doing as a family.
The Christian life also has a measuring stick: the love of God. The love of God is the foundation on which we build our lives as followers of Jesus. We should ask ourselves how the way we love others reflects how Christ loves us.
I hope you hear the incredible security that comes with God’s love in our lives. His love flowing out of our lives is evidence that we are in Christ. We can rest with assurance in His love.
Question 4
How have you come to know and believe the love that God has for you?
1 John 4:17-18
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
“Herein is,” refers back to verse 16: “he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” When we are secure in our relationship with God, “love [is] made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” Nothing more can be added to the love of God in us; He loves us fully and His love is fully accomplished and completed in our hearts. Because God’s love is in us, we have absolutely nothing to fear on the day of judgment. His love fills our lives so that there is no room for fear. In fact, fear and love are mutually exclusive.
If we do not have a relationship with God based on faith in Christ, we have every right to be afraid. One day we will all stand before God. The book of life will be opened and anyone whose name is not recorded will face condemnation, punishment, and death (Rev. 20:11-15). But when we trust in Christ, condemnation and punishment are removed because Christ took our punishment and death upon Himself. God sees us through the finished work of Christ, and He sees us as new creatures, fully justified and made new through Christ. Nothing can alter the completed work of Christ, and therefore, His followers have no need to fear judgment!
I’d think twice before walking through an unsavory part of town, but if I had a muscular, well-trained friend walk alongside me, my concerns and fear would disappear because of who is with me. In the same way, if I have yielded the throne of my life to Jesus, choosing to follow Him, living as He lived, loving as He loves, I have nothing to fear. Jesus does more than walk alongside me; He is in me!
This takes us back to the heart of our previous Bible study in Romans 8. In that passage, we saw how nothing can separate us from God because of the work of Christ. The love that brought us into salvation and security in Him is the same love that now indwells His followers and dispels fear.
We can walk confidently because we have experienced the love of Christ. We can love confidently because of Christ who dwells in us. We can love fully and completely because that is how Christ has loved us. Sometimes when I enter my house, I am joyfully overwhelmed with the aroma of chocolate chip cookies. In the same way, when people encounter us, let’s make sure the aroma that overwhelms others is the love of Jesus. When all is said and done, let it be said of us that we loved as Jesus loved.
Question 5
How does God’s love help us overcome fear?
ENGAGE
Maintaining a healthy life free of fear and full of love requires replacing harmful lies with life-giving truths.
List lies that might fill your thoughts and lead you to live fearfully:
List truths about God from this session’s focal passages that can fill your mind and lead you to live and love fearlessly:
LIVE IT OUT
What does it look like to rest in God’s love, free of fear and loving as Jesus loves?
Write. Make a list of all the ways you know you are loved by Christ. Turn that list into a prayer, thanking God for His incredible love.
Serve. Look for a tangible way to show love to somebody in your life. Identify a need or way you can help that individual. This could be anything from providing a meal to leaving a note of encouragement.
Love. Identify someone you find hard to love. Do something intentionally that reflects how Christ has loved you. It is genuinely Christlike to love an enemy or someone who is annoying or gets on your nerves. Afterwards, write down what you learned and what it revealed to you about Christ.
Bible Studies for Life: Senior Adult Personal Study Guide – Winter 2023filter_2Session 2: Security in Place of Fearsearchmore_vert
SESSION 2
Security in Place of Fear
Question 1
When have you had feelings of insecurity that later turned out to be unfounded?
THE POINT
Because of Christ, nothing will keep us from God and His work in our lives.
THE PASSAGE
Romans 8:28-39
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
I was full of anxiety when I asked my girlfriend to marry me. Despite my fear, she agreed to be my wife. We were going to run toward Jesus together, but her “yes” did not quell my anxiety and insecurity. I was aware of what kind of woman she was and the flawed man I was.
Even on the day of our wedding, the dark cloud of insecurity continued. Maybe she had realized she could do better and would back out. But when she walked in with her dad, she had a pep in her step. She was walking toward me with intention and anticipation. Nothing was going to stand in her way. And with that, my insecurity was gone.
Many of us feel a similar insecurity about God. Is He going to choose me? Does He really love me? As we read Romans 8, all that insecurity can be set aside. God spared no expense to show us His love for us through Christ. Nothing will keep us from God or the work He desires to do in our lives!
Romans 8:28-30
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
Key Words: Predestined (v. 29)—Refers to God’s ordaining salvation for those individuals whom He foreknew even before the creation of the world. From a word meaning “to pre-establish boundaries.”
Firstborn (v. 29)—Term for Jesus’s superior position over all creation. Does not mean firstborn in the sense of chronological order except as the first to rise from the dead.
Justified (v. 30)—A legal term used for the Christian doctrine that God, by His grace, declares the believer righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.
History does not record how a church formed in the capital city of Rome, but in preparation for travel to the city, Paul wrote them a letter of introduction, a resume if you will, of his theology, especially on the doctrine of salvation. The church in Rome was comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, two groups that might normally be at odds with each other, yet here they were united in their belief in a risen King named Jesus. Paul was clear in his explanation of why both Jews and Gentiles need salvation, and how that salvation was made possible through Christ.
When we come to Romans 8, Paul turned his focus to the life-giving and freeing work of the Holy Spirit. We are not left alone to live for Christ; His Spirit indwells every believer to empower us to live the righteous life God calls us to. Even as we face life’s difficulties, we have the Spirit with us and interceding for us. In all this, Paul pointed us to the hope and security we have because of the completed work of Jesus.
Romans 8:28 is a beloved passage for many Christians, because it reminds us that none of the setbacks or problems we face can thwart God’s good purpose for our lives. In fact, those very problems can be a part of God’s way of bringing about His good purpose in us. What an encouraging word related to our hope and security! No matter what may come our way, no matter what curveball life is about to throw at us, God will leverage it for our good. This does not mean every life circumstance will be good, but the Lord will bring good out of whatever situations we face.
Question 2
In your life, when has a difficult situation worked out for good?
Verse 28 tells us who this truth applies to: “those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” The verb tense in the Greek language means those who continually love Him. As we continue to seek, follow, and love the One who saves us and calls us, God can—and will—work in all things for our good and His glory.
We may wonder how God can bring good out of a bad situation. We tend to define good by what we want or what we think is best. But the good—the ultimate good—that God will work in our lives is tied to His purpose for us. So, what is God’s plan and purpose that He seeks to accomplish in our lives? As much as we love to quote Romans 8:28, we often fail to read it with verse 29 in mind: God’s purpose is for us “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” God wants to use everything we experience to make us more and more like Jesus. Anything that brings us closer to Christ and Christlikeness is always beneficial.
We are creatures of time, and we often limit our perspective to the moment we’re in; however, God’s purpose and plan for us spans eternity. God foreknew us, predestined us, called us, justified us, and glorified us. His plan for us to be like His Son was known in eternity past, and in the future when we are glorified, we will be mature, complete, and totally conformed to the image of Jesus. “We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Question 3
Since God is working for our good, why do we still struggle when life is hard?
Romans 8:31-34
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?
33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.
34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
Key Words: God’s elect (v. 33)—People chosen by God to follow Him and accomplish His will in the world. Originally applied to the nation of Israel, but here used to describe Christ’s redeemed people, the church.
In the neighborhood I grew up in, we had a neighbor who was not excited about the kids who lived there. As a kid, you were encouraged not to walk near or breathe too hard in the direction of this neighbor’s property. That did not keep my brother from riding his bike near this person’s house. We could all hear an outraged scream coming from this neighbor. Thankfully, another neighbor witnessed all of this, and with what seemed like superhuman courage, he stepped in and defended my brother. Our neighbor’s defense was ironclad, and nothing could be done to overturn his ruling!
To an infinitely greater degree, Jesus stands in our defense. Paul showed us that ironclad defense by asking a series of questions that bring us to our only conclusion: As God’s children, we are secure. Very secure.
- If God is for us, who is against us? No one is greater than God, and since God is on our side, we have no worries! Paul presented his case by arguing from the greater to the lesser. God is so much in our corner that He gave His greatest treasure—His own Son, Jesus Christ—as a sacrifice for our sins. God not only gave His Son to die in our place on the cross, but God continues to give us everything we need to make it through life victoriously. God gave us His best so we could experience the best!
- Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? The people of this world can try to make accusations against us because we do not follow their ways, but nothing they say has merit with God. Satan can try to discredit us, but all his accusations are unfounded. Why? Because “God is the one who justifies.” Jesus took all our sin—the basis for any accusation against us—upon Himself on the cross. When we repent and ask God to forgive us, all our sins—past, present, and future—are forgiven and removed. “He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14).
- Who is the one who condemns? The only One who has the right to condemn us is Jesus Christ, yet He did just the opposite. He made it possible for all condemnation to be removed. “Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised.” Jesus died in our place, and He continues to stand for us. “He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.” Even now, Jesus is our Advocate before the throne of God (1 John 2:1), and He continues to supply us with His mercy and grace (Heb. 4:14-16). “Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them” (7:25).
Question 4
Which truths in this passage give you the greatest sense of security?
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
My art projects in grade school involved a lot of construction paper and glue. I could do a lot with those two key elements. But if I made a mistake, separating two pieces of construction paper that had been glued together was quite the chore. If I realized my mistake quick enough, I might possibly rescue the project. But the longer I waited, the more inseparable those two pieces of paper became.
Separating two sheets of glued construction paper is practically impossible, but separating us from the love of Christ is most definitely impossible! What could possibly separate us from Christ and His love?
▶ Would persecution do it? What if we were beaten and thrown in jail? Could the political powers put us in a place where even Jesus couldn’t get to us? No.
▶ What about illness? Could pain or suffering blind us to the reality of Christ in our lives? No.
▶ What about supernatural powers like angels and demons? Nope. Nothing or no one can pull us away from Jesus.
▶ What about death? No, not even death—long seen as the great thief of meaning and hope in life—can pull us away from Jesus.
These are all things that may happen to us, but what if it’s something we do ourselves? What about our own stupidity? Can we do something so stupid, so utterly wrong that our failures simply become too gross for Jesus to hold onto us? The truth remains the same: Nothing can separate us from Christ’s love.
DIGGING DEEPER
BLESSED ASSURANCE
See the article from Mature Living on pp. 38-39 for words of promise and hope from Exodus 34:1-6 and Romans 8:35-39.
“Oh, but you don’t know what I’ve done.” True enough. I don’t want to minimize your pain, but know this: Nothing we have ever done or ever will do can undo or outdo what Jesus did for you and me on the cross. His death on the cross was the ultimate final word of forgiveness for our sins. God is for us! Who can be against us?
Paul made it clear: Nothing is more powerful than Christ. Absolutely nothing. We can never be separated from Him and His love, and that love gives us the strength to endure whatever we might face. There is nothing that the people of God, who are planted on the firm foundation of Jesus, cannot overcome. We are “more than conquerors” because of Jesus.
Question 5
When have you found God’s promise of unfailing love especially encouraging?
ENGAGE
Roman 8:38-39 gives several examples of things that can get between us and our heavenly Father. Use the space below to write down, illustrate, or describe obstacles that can get in the way of God’s love for you.
LIVE IT OUT
What will you do with the truth that you are secure in Christ?
▶ Memorize. Get your security in Christ ingrained in your mind. Memorize Romans 8:37-39: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Recite it daily. Post it on your bathroom mirror. Keep it before your eyes and fresh on your tongue.
▶ Encourage. Write an encouraging note to someone who may be struggling with insecurity in their relationship with Christ. Use what we’ve studied as a template to encourage this person.
▶ Minister. You may be sensing God calling you to serve in some way, but a fear of failure makes you hesitant. Rest on your foundation in Christ and step out in trustful obedience. Trust Him to work in you and through you for your own good.
BLESSED ASSURANCE
By Courtney Doctor
A “trust fall” is a team-building exercise where one person stands on an elevated platform, crosses her arms across her chest, closes her eyes, and falls backward into the arms of her teammates. Our daughter had experienced this in college and decided to bring it home. She would spin around in the kitchen and yell, “Trust fall!” and then without hesitation, fall backward into her dad’s arms. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that her dad would catch her, because she knew two things about him: his strength and his love. In other words, she trusted him because she knew him.
Trusting someone requires knowing him. It’s no different with God. We won’t trust Him if we don’t know Him—and we know Him by knowing what He has said (His words) and what He has done (His actions).
We know God by knowing His Word. The Bible is the record of both what God has said and what He has done. In Exodus 34:6, the Lord said He was “a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.” God showed us this was true through what He did. He faithfully pursued His people, forgiving them again and again, showing them great compassion, mercy, and love. He showed us the extent of His mercy and grace through His greatest act of love—sending His Son to rescue, redeem, forgive, and restore us to Himself through His life, death, and resurrection.
Words and actions. Both are important. Romans 8 lifts our eyes to see the love the Father has for us. The chapter ends with: “Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv. 35,38-39).
God has given us these words to assure us. He loves us in such a way that nothing could, or will, ever cause Him to forsake or turn away from His people. We need to know that God’s love is fixed, steady, sure, and trustworthy. Our hearts hunger to know that our salvation is sure and that we are eternally safe before the throne of God.
God has already given His one and only Son for us. Of course He loves us! He won’t let anything separate us from Him. He will see our salvation all the way through to the end, to that day when we will see Him face-to-face. Nothing, not even death, will separate us from His love.
You can fall into your Abba Father’s arms. He is strong, He loves you, and He will catch you every single time. Your Father is trustworthy. Rest assured.
Courtney Doctor serves as coordinator of women’s initiatives for The Gospel Coalition and is the author of In View of God’s Mercies, available at lifeway.com/mercies. Courtney and her husband, Craig, have four children and five grandchildren.
Bible Studies for Life: Adult Leader Guide – KJV – Winter 2023filter_2Putting Fear in Its Placesearchmore_vert
Putting Fear in Its Place
We all deal with fear. Some people resign themselves to fear, and some people do everything they can to avoid those things that make them afraid. Yet some people deal with fear by surrender. I don’t mean they surrender to the fear, but they surrender their fear to God. They’ve learned to trust God and walk with Him—even in the midst of fear!
All of us can live that way, because trusting in God forces our fear to take a backseat.
Join me on this journey through the Bible. We’re going to learn from others and pick up some tools for the journey. Along the way we’ll learn to exercise our faith and trust God.
It’s time we put fear in its place.
Author:
Nick Person was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Nick has been pastoring for the last twenty years, and he is currently a teaching pastor at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He and his wife, Laura, have three children.
Commentary Writer:
Dr. Tal Davis wrote the commentary for “Putting Fear in Its Place.” Tal is the Executive V. P. of MarketFaith Ministries, an online apologetics ministry. He has a B.A. from Florida State University, M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and D.Min. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He served for twenty-three years with the North American Mission Board. Tal and his wife, Barbara, live in Flowery Branch, Georgia, and have two sons and two granddaughters.
SESSION 1
The Fear of God
THE POINT
The fear of God gives us the foundation to face all other fears.
LIFE CONNECTION
Franklin Roosevelt famously said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That is simply not true. One fear is necessary and beneficial: a fear of God. When we see God for who He is in all His greatness, glory, and absolute power, we recognize His authority and power over us. From a position of humble submission before Him, we fear Him and trust Him to take care of us.
THE PASSAGE
Psalm 33:6-15,18-22
THE SETTING
Psalm 33 is praise song to the Lord (Yahweh) written for a victory or festival. The psalm’s author is not identified, nor is its historical context. In any case, the psalmist calls on God’s people to rejoice in the Lord (v. 1), praise Him (v. 2), and to sing a “new song” (v. 3) Why? Simply because the Lord’s word is right, His work is trustworthy, and He loves righteousness and justice (vv. 4,5).
Get into the Study
LEADER PACK: Display Pack Item 1, the “Putting Fear in Its Place” poster, to introduce the major theme of this study, along with the focus of each session.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, play a video about people dealing with fear. Then ask Question #1.
NOTE: A video option can be found at BibleStudiesforLife.com/AdultExtra.
DISCUSS: Question #1 on page 14 of the PSG: “When has fear served a good purpose in your life?”
GUIDE: Direct group members to “The Bible Meets Life” on page 15 of the PSG. Introduce the importance of fearing God by reading or summarizing the text or by encouraging group members to read it on their own.
RECAP: Franklin Roosevelt once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” but that statement is simply not true. One fear is necessary and beneficial: fear of God. We will see this healthy fear of God as we navigate Psalm 33; this is a healthy fear that leads us to better navigate life.
GUIDE: Call attention to “The Point” on page 15 of the PSG: “The fear of God gives us the foundation to face all other fears.”
PRAY: Transition into the study by asking God to help the group understand fear. Thank Him for calling us to fear Him and protecting us from all our other fears.
Psalm 33:6-9
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
KEY WORDS: The depth (v. 7)–This term refers to the deep waters of the sea. In this instance, God gathers them together in a heap as in a storehouse to demonstrate His power over creation. Fear (v. 8)–The fear of the Lord is the awe and reverence that results from comprehending His holiness and omnipotent power.
Verse 6. The psalmist, having commanded his readers to sing praises, then poetically detailed the greatness of God and outlined the reasons why they should worship Him. The Lord, in this psalm and in most places in the Old Testament, refers to YHWH (Yahweh), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the covenant name that was revealed to Moses on Mount Horeb (Ex. 3:13-15). Rather than saying this name aloud, Jewish readers often substituted the Hebrew word for “Lord” (Adonai) when the covenant name of God appeared. The Septuagint, a Greek Old Testament translation done by Jewish scholars in the second century BC, used the Greek word for “Lord” (Kurios) when translating the name of God. Most Bible versions follow that tradition by using “Lord” (small caps) when translating YHWH into English and other languages.
The psalmist began by appealing all the way back to the creation itself (Gen. 1:1,16). He declared that the heavens and all the stars in the universe were the result of the word of the Lord and the breath of his mouth. The heavens, that is, the sun, the moon, the planets, all the host of them [the stars], and the constellations testify that God created the whole universe (vv. 1-8,14-19). He spoke and they came into existence. He named and numbered them all (Ps. 147:4).
Verse 7. The psalmist continued his proclamation of God’s greatness. The Lord not only made the heavens, He also controls the currents of the seas. God reigns over the waters that often symbolize the chaos out of which He brings order, as in the creation narrative (Gen. 1:2,9-10). He proclaimed that God gathers the waters as an heap somewhat like a farmer collects his grain into a storehouse. The same Hebrew terms for the depth and gathers . . . as an heap are used in the Lord’s destruction of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea (Ex. 15:5,8). Thus, those phrases can designate either destruction or construction, curse or blessing, depending on their circumstances. In this context, the psalmist was clearly extolling God’s creative actions as reasons for praise, singing, and worship.
Verse 8. Contemplating the infinite creative power of the Lord should elicit joyous praise and worship for God’s people. But, nonetheless, it also should provoke another more intense emotion, that of fear. The psalmist demands that all the earth fear the Lord. Most people naturally feel fear when they sense they are in danger. Even the most courageous war veterans will admit they lived with fear each and every day. As one GI put it about D-Day, “If someone says they weren’t afraid, they’re either a liar or they weren’t there!”
The fear of the Lord is a prominent theme in the Old Testament. It may, in some instances, refer to intense terror some evildoers experienced when they were confronted by the righteous power of God. In most instances, however, fear of the Lord was used in a more nuanced sense that spoke of a deep wonderment and esteem for who God is and His supreme rule over all creation. This kind of fear is called the beginning of wisdom and knowledge in numerous passages of Scripture (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:4,7; Job 28:28). As Paul told the believers in Philippi: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). 
Conversely, the Lord often told His people and prophets not to be afraid because He would take care of them in bad times. He promised to be with them and defend them in times of trouble and war. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Jehoshaphat, and others, were assured by God of His presence and support.
That being said, fear was the usual response whenever someone came into God’s presence or recognized His holiness. Isaiah was forced to fearfully confess his sinfulness before the Holy Lord he saw “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1-5). There is an immeasurable gulf between sinful humans and God’s holiness that, when grasped by the sinner, inevitably leads to humble contrition. It should result in obedience and submission to His will and dependence on His good favor. In this case, the psalmist expected all the inhabitants of the world [to] stand in awe of him and acknowledge the Lord’s holy majesty and universal rule over creation.
Verse 9. The psalmist reiterated his thesis that God made the universe (Ps. 33:6). Again, he asserted that all God had to do was whisper and it was done. When He expressed His unlimited power in His simple command, all time, space, matter, and energy came into existence and they still stand firm. The emphasis of this verse is that all creation was made by God, is sustained by Him, and obeys His will.
The doctrine of creation ex nihilo (from nothing) is a foundational tenet of biblical faith. The Bible asserts from beginning to end that only one eternal and infinite Being exists, and He made everything else. Remarkably,in the twentieth century, astronomers and physicists uncovered near irrefutable evidence that the cosmos had a beginning. They were dumbfounded to learn how exquisitely fine-tuned the universe is to endure the way it has and for life to exist on this planet. Even some of the world’s most ardent atheists had to reevaluate their positions in light of those discoveries. Some incredulous scientists were even led to accept the Bible as true and received Jesus Christ as their Savior. Yes, even brilliant minds can come to fear the Lord. That fact is worthy of singing God’s praise!
DIGGING DEEPER
Creation Beyond Genesis
When we want to know what the Bible has to say about creation, we usually go to Genesis 1–2 for answers. Other Scripture passages, however, help us too. They offer insights into creation that enable us to understand more about God as Creator and everything He created.
See the article, “Creation Beyond Genesis,” from Biblical Illustrator, on pp. 26-29, for more information (PSG, pp. 24-27).
Study the Bible
Psalm 33:6-9
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Psalm 33:6-9 on page 16 of the PSG.
LEADER PACK: In advance, make copies of Pack Item 2, the “Fear of God” handout, to provide a definition and examples of the fear of God. Summarize the word study and invite volunteers to read aloud one example each.
GUIDE: Use Commentary on page 18 to give further background on the fear of the Lord.
RECAP: The Psalms are a collection of Hebrew poetry, used as both songs and prayers, bending the reader to worship God. The Psalms cover a litany of circumstances and the many twists and turns of life. Whatever I’m walking through, I have found the Psalms are a great place to turn for wisdom and a glimpse of how others navigated the tricky maze of life.
Psalm 33 calls us to praise the Lord for who He is. We’re not sure who wrote this psalm, but the psalmist points us to God’s attributes, His Word, and His creative power and work. Beginning in verse 6, the psalmist painted a poetic picture of the work of God. The psalm unveiled a symphony proclaiming who God is. No one is like God; He can speak things into existence. No one has ever been able to create something from nothing with his hands, but God can do the unbelievable with just His words!
DISCUSS: Question #2 on page 17 of the PSG: “What aspects of creation put you in awe of God?”
Alternate: How can you tell our culture does not fear God?
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, bring a few items from nature that might help group members relate to God’s awesomeness. These could be actual objects like a pine cone or an insect, or images from the Hubble telescope. You could also bring a microscope to view microorganisms to contrast the great scope of God’s awesome power that leads us to have a healthy fear of Him. Invite observations from group members.
TRANSITION: We fear God when we stand in awe of Him as Creator. In the next verses, we see that we fear God when we willingly surrender to His plans as Lord.
Psalm 33:10-15
10 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
13 The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.
Verse 10. The psalmist established God’s creation of the universe and His sovereignty over it. He now lowered his aim to the nations and peoples of the earth, stating that the Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought. He meant that the Lord nullifies the purposes of countries and kings who deny His divine sovereignty. The heathen are the goyim. That Hebrew term is often applied in Scripture to non-Jewish Gentiles. Sometimes it is used in an ethnic sense and other times in a religious sense to refer to pagans. The Old Testament prophets and psalmists stated that in a future time all nations will gather to worship the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name” (Ps. 86:9). He is the one God of all humanity and Israel’s purpose was to bring the light of God to everyone. “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6b; see also Ps. 102:15-17; Isa. 2:2-4; 42:1). These promises are being fulfilled in Jesus Christ and His church (Matt. 4:15-16; 28:19; Luke 2:32).
Furthermore, the psalmist reiterated, God maketh the devices of the people of none effect. Both clauses in this verse establish that whatever the nations of the world have as their intentions, they are subject to God’s intervention and annulment.
Verse 11. In contrast to the nations’ temporal intentions and plans, the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever. The psalmist was emphasizing three key aspects of God’s attributes: His omniscience, His omnipotence, and His eternality. The plans of God cannot be deterred by any person or nation. His purposes will invariably be played out on the stage of world history.
The psalmist further emphasized the magnitude and everlasting impact of God’s intentions. He wrote that God’s purposes originate in his heart, that is, His essential being, will, and mind. And, those plans will extend to all generations without end.
Verse 12 The psalmist then focused his attention on the nation of Israel, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. In contrast to those of verse 10, these people were especially blessed because the Lord, the only true God, was their God. They, among all the nations, were His inheritance by the covenant He made with Abraham (Gen. 17; Deut. 7:7-9; 32:8,9). The fact that God chose the Israelites does not mean they were in some way better than other nations. Rather, by His divine sovereignty He selected them to be the channel through which He would carry out His plan of redemption for mankind (Gen. 12:1-3). Today that channel is His people, the church.
Verses 13-14. The psalmist extolled God’s omniscience—He knows all things. He wrote, figuratively speaking, that the Lord looketh from heaven. God is pictured as being high above the earth, intently watching everyone down below. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. From His throne room He evaluates the actions and motivations of all people.
Heaven (shamyim; Greek: ouranos) is, of course, the abode of God. It is not, however, a place where God is isolated from the world. Rather, it is where He conducts His saving work on the earth. From heaven God sends blessings, punishes the wicked and His enemies, and it is from heaven that He communicates with humanity. It is also from heaven that the Father sent His Son, the Second Person of the eternal Trinity, to be born as a man to die for the sins of the world (Phil. 2:5-8). In some cases in the New Testament, the “kingdom of heaven” is used as a synonym for “the kingdom of God” (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:14,15).
Verse 15. God observes the actions of the people of the earth. He wrote that the Lord fashioneth their hearts alike. Like a potter at the wheel, He fashions the motivations of humanity to act according to His sovereign will. In His sovereignty God has allowed human beings to have free will, with which they can choose to sin. But sin cannot ultimately thwart the plans of Almighty God. The heart of a person is the innermost sanctum of his thoughts and feelings. God’s all-encompassing knowledge extends to the deepest parts of the human psyche. God’s purposes cannot be altered. The scope of God’s regime is universal. His power extends to all of them.
In the second clause of this verse, the psalmist defined the reason for God’s examination of human hearts. By it He discerns all their works. As the sovereign judge He evaluates the actions and the motivations of all humans. Works are deeds that are based on a planned outcome, whether for good or evil. The works of a person are the evidence of his or her saving faith. The New Testament reveals that works do not establish one’s salvation, that is received by grace through faith alone (Eph. 2:8,9). Good works should be the natural outflow of salvation in the life of the believer (v. 10; Col. 1:10; 2 Thess. 2:17; 1 Tim. 5:25; Titus 2:7,14; Heb. 10:24; 1 Pet. 2:12; Jas. 2:14-16).
We express our awe and worship (i.e., fear) of the Lord when we willingly surrender our plans to His purposes as our divine ruler. When we acknowledge His power and reign in our lives, we will be blessed and will demonstrate our faith through good works and righteous living.
Study the Bible
Psalm 33:10-15
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Psalm 33:10-15 on page 18 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on pages 20-21 to give further background on the role of the nations in God’s plan.
RECAP: We can choose our way, or we can choose God’s way. But when our ways conflict with God’s way, we can be sure our plans will fail. The way of wisdom is to always begin with God’s plans. He foils and thwarts the plans of everyone and everything else. Everything else is second tier to God. “The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” (v. 11).
We should have awe and a healthy fear of God in light of who He is and what He has done. This healthy fear of God moves us to walk in obedience to His ways. As we recognize who He is, we respond accordingly.
DISCUSS: Question #3 on page 19 of the PSG: “What truths about God make it easier for you to surrender to His plans?”
Alternate: What truths about God make it easier for you to surrender to His plans?
RECAP: Growing up, my mom was my Sunday School teacher. I knew if I stepped out of line in class, my mom would speak to me, correcting my behavior with discipline that I didn’t want to experience. Knowing my mom knew what was best helped me to live in a healthier way that would yield joy, not pain. This is true to a far greater degree with God, our good master who sees all and knows what is best. This should lead us to live differently because we want to please and honor Him.
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that we fear God when we depend on Him as our Shield and Provider.
Psalm 33:18-22
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
Verse 18. Thus far the psalmist had exhorted his readers to rejoice and sing (Ps. 33:1-5), to stand in awe of the creator of the universe (vv. 6-9), and to acknowledge the rule of the Lord in their lives (vv. 10-15). In verses 16 and 17 he warned kings against depending on military might as a way to escape danger. But now, to the contrary, he wrote emphatically as if to say “Listen carefully to what I say,” the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. The psalmist again attributed an anthropomorphic human characteristic to God. Obviously, God does not literally have eyes or have need of them. God’s perception of His creation is constant and unlimited. The psalmist was restating the theological principle of verses 13 and 14, that God sees and knows everything and everyone. In this instance, He has His vision especially focused “upon them that fear him.” These are those who sincerely honor and worship Him as their Lord God.
They also hope in his mercy. They wait with high hopes, trusting God to soon deliver what they need. In the face of difficulties and life struggles, they are confident in His love and faithfulness. The Hebrew word used here for “mercy” (chesed) is usually translated as “loving kindness” or “faithful love.” It is the Old Testament’s highest expression of love. It was particularly applied to God’s steadfast covenant love for His people, Israel. His faithful love remains steady in all circumstances and is unshakable (Isa. 54:8-10). It is similar to God’s kind of love (agape) expressed by Jesus and throughout the New Testament (John 3:16; 13:34-35; 1 Cor. 13).
Verse 19. Those who fear God are confident that He will save them from at least two terrible fates. First, the psalmist wrote He will deliver their soul from death. A person, made in the image of God, consists of a living soul (nephesh). The term is used more than seven hundred and fifty times in the Old Testament, particularly in reference to human beings. It consists of the entire human person both physical and spiritual. The biblical principle is that a person does not have a soul, but is a soul (Gen. 2:7).
Death is the inevitable end to every person’s physical life. People fear that their lives may be taken early, perhaps by disease, in war, or by murder. Certainly the greatest cost of war is the deaths of so many before they have even reached the prime of their lives. The headstones of fallen soldiers seen in any military cemetery bear silent witness to war’s tragedy. Likewise, the senseless death of so many young people is a terrible plague on society.
Those who trust in God also look to Him to keep them alive in times of famine. Most people in twenty-first century North America cannot identify with the problem of famine. Many of our parents and grandparents, however, did endure times of want during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Even today, many Americans do not get adequate nourishment. And in some countries constant food shortages are the norm.
Verse 20. The psalmist now spoke in the third person plural (we, our) on behalf of the whole nation and congregation at worship. He declared that, because of the perils of living, our soul waiteth for the Lord. It is a confident confession that the Lord will keep His promises and so they will wait patiently for His deliverance. The confidence of believers (i.e., those who fear God) is sure because he is our help and our shield. Shields were a standard part of the ancient soldier’s equipment. Made of wood, wicker, or metal, they were an essential defensive armament. Even soldiers today wear body armor made of synthetic fibers that are five times harder than steel. But, unlike the ancient kings who depended on their military might (Ps. 33:16,17) and metal shields, God’s people depend on Him for the victory and rely on Him for the protection only He can give. The Lord Himself is their defense.
Verse 21. The natural consequence of such confidence is that our heart shall rejoice in him. The psalmist began his poem by calling the people to rejoice (vv. 1-3), and he closed it by calling them to continue rejoicing. Why? Because of what he had already said (vv. 18-20) and because we have trusted in his holy name. Trust is the essence of real faith. It is one thing to believe in God intellectually, but something else altogether to put one’s unreserved trust in Him when the chips are down. In this case, they have faith in the name of the Lord, who has the divine attributes the psalmist has alluded to in his poem. The Lord is holy because He is perfect, transcendent, and pure. Thus, He is worthy of their adoration and reverence.
Verse 22. The most important attribute of God is His mercy (v. 18). So, the psalmist concluded his poem with a brief prayer directed to the Lord Himself. He asked God that His love will continue to rest on them as they promise Him … to hope in thee.
Study the Bible
Psalm 33:18-22
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Psalm 33:18-22 on page 20 of the PSG.
GUIDE: Use Commentary 
on page 23 to give further background on God’s faithful love.
RECAP: Some people might be wary of the statement, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him,” as if God was like a stern drill instructor calling down a soldier: “I’ve got my eye on you!” That’s not the case, as the rest of verse 18 makes clear: God keeps His eye on “them that hope in his mercy.” Because God keeps His eye on those who humbly fear Him, He knows when they need rescue or deliverance.
DISCUSS: Question #4 on page 20 of the PSG: “When do you struggle to trust that God is looking out for your best interest?”
Alternate: How would you describe the walk of the person who fears God?
RECAP: Seeing how God works on our behalf as our shield and provider should lead us to respond with love and awe, confidently resting in Him. We have protection because we can see how He loves us and is attentive to us and our needs. A key phrase that captures this confident rest is in verse 20: “We wait for the Lord.” The Hebrew word for “wait” captures the idea of looking toward something with a confident hope. We often wait for individuals, say for a lunch meeting, but we have no guarantee they will come. But waiting on God is a sure thing. We wait for Him with a confident trust. We know “he is our help and our shield” and His “mercy, O Lord, be upon us.” As the psalmist began verse 20 with a reference to waiting on the Lord, he ended this section in verse 22 with a parallel statement: “we hope in thee.”
DISCUSS: Question #5 on page 22 of the PSG: “How can we demonstrate the fear of the Lord on a daily basis?”
DO: Direct group members to Engage on page 22 of the PSG (page 25 of this Leader Guide) to help group members reflect on the awe of God they experience in their daily lives.
GUIDE: Refer back to “The Point” for this session: “The fear of God gives us the foundation to face all other fears.”
Live It Out
5 MINUTES
READ: Direct group members to page 23 of the PSG. Encourage them to choose one of the applications to carry out this week.
Wrap It Up
SUMMARIZE: Read or restate this idea from page 23 of the PSG: When we see God for who He is in all His greatness, glory, and absolute power, we recognize His authority and power over us. Let’s live differently in our day-to-day lives based upon this truth!
PRAY: Thank God for being a God we can fear and love at the same time. Ask Him to help group members develop a healthy and reverent fear of Him.
LIVE IT OUT
There is one fear that is necessary and beneficial: fear of God. When we see God for who He is in all His greatness, glory, and absolute power, we recognize His authority and power over us. This right view and proper fear should lead us to live differently in our day-to-day lives. What will that look like in your life?
- Pray. Read through Psalm 33, making it your own prayer. Reflect on the greatness of God and confess any attitude that did not reflect an awe and holy fear of God.
- Memorize. Choose a verse about the fear of God and memorize it to continually remind yourself of your relationship with God and the benefits of a proper attitude toward Him. Here are two verses to consider: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil” (Prov. 3:7).
- Trust. Surrender your plans to God. Trust Him in His great power and love to lead you as He sees best.
ENGAGE
What’s Your Focus?
Things adults may fear:
Drawbacks of focusing on the gravity of things we fear:
Qualities of God detailed in Psalm 33:
Benefits of focusing on the grandness of God:
Free additional ideas for your group are available at
BibleStudiesforLife.com/AdultExtra
CREATION BEYOND GENESIS
By Argile A. Smith Jr.
When we want to know what the Bible has to say about creation, we usually go to Genesis 1–2 for answers. Other Scripture passages, however, help us too. They offer insights into creation that enable us to understand more about God as Creator and everything He created.
THE “WHO” OF CREATION
The Bible points to God alone as the Creator of the universe. In His challenge to Job, God spoke of His creative acts: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? … Who hath laid the measures thereof … or who laid the corner stone thereof?” (Job 38:4-6).
According to the Bible, the universe did not form on its own or by accident.
That God alone is the Creator is the most repeated fact in the passages that speak of creation. The affirmation about God the Creator resulted from noticing the existence of the world itself and the humans who live in it. A house’s presence gives evidence of a builder. Likewise, the actual presence of the world and the people in it affirms God’s existence.1
Psalmists declared that bedrock truth. David wrote about the glory of God that people could see by taking a long look at what He had created. David called attention to the heavens and the sky, day and night, as well as the sun’s rising and setting. He beheld all of it and testified that he could behold God’s glory in it (Ps. 19:1-6). Psalm 33 picked up the same line of testimony. The psalmist connected the presence of the heavens, stars, bodies of water, and other features of creation with the Lord who created all of it (33:6-9).
One psalm in particular shows how the human body’s intricate design points to the creating activity of God. In Psalm 139, David wrote that the parts of a person’s body underscored God’s presence. He observed that God the Creator could be seen in the existence of vital organs working together in a complex manner so a human could function well for many years. The formation of a human body in a mother’s womb also testified to God’s work as Creator (139:13-14). Centuries later, the apostle Paul insisted that everyone could see for themselves the living God at work in His world. Nobody had an excuse, therefore, for saying that they did not know about God (Rom. 1:20).
THE “HOW” OF CREATION
According to the Bible, the universe did not form on its own or by accident. Nameless forces did not just happen to merge at the right time coincidentally, so that something appeared from nothing. Quite the contrary, God took the initiative to create the universe completely on His own and absolutely by Himself. The psalmists described God’s method of creation by way of anthropomorphisms.2 They employed terms that described how ordinary people accomplish tasks in their effort to shed a glimmer of light on how God Almighty performed the miracles of creation.
For instance, David said God used His hands as He created the universe. Because of the work of God’s hand, the sky and sun came to exist. As a result, God gave the sun a home in the sky as it traveled from east to west each day (Ps. 19:1,4). Although David did not use specific scientific jargon from the field of astronomy in his description, he conveyed essential insights and affirmed God’s personal touch by referring to God’s hand in creation.
The psalmist who penned Psalm 33 declared that God used His voice to perform creation miracles. He observed that the stars had been placed in the sky and that water had been collected and stored in the sea. Then He affirmed that God spoke and the stars found their places in the heavens. With His word, the waters were gathered perfectly, so the sea could be formed (33:6-7). Without using scientific terms, he spoke volumes about how God performed such monumental miracles of creation.
THE “WHY” OF CREATION
God had a purpose in mind when He created everything and everyone. We can best understand God’s purpose in creation when we think about it in connection with redemption. For instance, the prophet Isaiah brought up God’s work in creation as he assured His people of His intention to restore them (Isa. 45:7).3 Paul conveyed the same linkage when he taught believers that Jesus Christ was the centerpiece of creation. Paul affirmed that Christ created everything. Everything in creation held together, therefore, only through Him (Col. 1:15-17). With his affirmation, Paul provided valuable wisdom for growing believers then and now. Without Christ, everything in the world falls apart. With Christ, however, everything in the world falls into place.
Paul also encouraged Christians to bear in mind the longing of God’s creation. When God held Adam accountable for his sin, He stated that He cursed the ground too (Gen. 3:17-19). Since that moment, God’s creation has been yearning to be set free from the curse. The long-awaited freedom from the curse would coincide with the eternal liberation of believers (Rom. 8:19-22).
Along with Paul, the apostle John had insights to offer regarding God’s creation. At the beginning of Revelation, he wrote that the Lord gave him
visions full of hope. In a vision about worship, he had an opportunity to peek into heaven and see a stirring picture of God being praised and adored. He provided details about creation’s role in worshiping the Lord. John had the created order in mind when he identified four creatures that kept on affirming God’s holiness and sovereignty. God’s creation never ceased to give Him honor and glory (Rev. 4:6-9). At the end of Revelation, John shared a vision about what the Lord would do with His creation in the future. In this vision, he saw a new heaven and a new earth. What he saw had been created by the Lord who declared that He would make all things new (21:1-5).
The Bible helps us to understand more about God’s work in creation. His Word gives Christians a perspective on what the Lord has done that encourages us as we serve Him.
1. Herbert Lockyer, All the Doctrines of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1964), 21.
2. Michael Fink, “Anthropomorphism” in Holman Bible Dictionary, gen. ed. Trent C. Butler (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), 63.
3. Mike Mitchell, “Creation” in ibid., 314.
Argile A. Smith Jr. is the pastor of Parkway Baptist Church in Biloxi, Mississippi.
09/04/2022
Leader Guide
Session 1
Faith on Display in Hard Times
Getting Started
DISCUSS: What’s an important lesson you’ve learned after coming through a tough experience?
RECAP (PAGE 7): The road has not always been easy for Dave Dravecky. While a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, doctors diagnosed cancer in Dravecky’s pitching arm. The ensuing surgery did not deter him; he was determined to keep pitching. On August 10, 1989, just ten months after surgery to remove the tumor, Dave Dravecky won the first game of his comeback. Five days later, however, in the bottom of the sixth inning, he delivered his 69th pitch of the night. He would not throw another.
With that final pitch, Dravecky snapped his humerus bone and fell to the ground in pain. His arm, weakened by cancer and the accompanying surgery and radiation, could not hold up to the stress of a major league pitch.1 Eventually, doctors amputated his left arm and shoulder when radiation and surgeries failed to stop the cancer.
It’s difficult even to think of joy in trying moments such as those Dave Dravecky experienced, yet James wrote that believers should consider trials joyous. It’s not that trials themselves are joyous, but we can have joy even as we go through hard seasons.
GUIDE: Direct attention to The Point on page 8. Invite group members to fill in the blanks. THE POINT: God uses trials to mature your faith.
Leader Pack: Display Pack Item #1, the “James: Living Out Your Faith” poster, and give a brief overview of the session titles in this study.
Study the Bible
GIVE BIBLICAL CONTEXT: James wrote this letter to address specific problems in the lives of believers. Forced to live far from their homeland, they faced the accompanying pressure applied by the people in their new surroundings. James addressed the subject of adversity early on in his letter with his initial words aimed at helping his readers learn how to deal with stress and pressure. By urging them to turn to God, he helped them see that the trials they feared could actually be avenues towards spiritual maturity.
Leader Pack: In advance, make copies of Pack Item #2, the “James: An Overview” handout, and distribute them to your group members. Use this summary to give group members an overview of the book of James.
RECAP (PAGE 8): After a brief introduction, James got straight to the point in his letter. He called his readers and us to face our various trials with “all joy” (James 1:2). To be a joyful Christian is not an option; in fact, to “count it all joy” (v. 2) is an imperative command!
READ: read aloud James 1:1-4 on page 8.
GUIDE: Direct your group’s attention to the following heading on page 8: Trials can strengthen our faith.
RECAP (PAGE 8): When James spoke of “the trying” (James 1:3) of our faith, he used the word dokimion that appears in the New Testament only here and one other place. Peter also used this word to compare believers’ various trials with a refiner’s fire, which burns away impurities (1 Peter 1:6-7). Difficult days function to refine our faith. Trials purify a believer’s faith.
The testing of our faith works effectively to accomplish something specific. God’s ultimate goal in testing is that our faith becomes “perfect and entire” (James 1:4). Through the trials we experience, God is developing endurance—staying power—in us (v. 4). The word endure means to remain under. We sometimes call it perseverance, faithfulness, or steadfastness, but it is God’s work of developing our spiritual muscles and resolve to stand firm, even during the greatest trials and sufferings. And our faith? It will then lack nothing.
DISCUSS: What are some common trials and difficulties we might experience in today’s
world? [ALTERNATE: What are some common responses to trials people experience in our world today?]
DISCUSS: What are some spiritual benefits we stand to gain from experiencing trials?
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud James 1:5-8 on page 8.
GUIDE: Direct your group’s attention to the following heading on page 8: Trials require the wisdom of God.
RECAP (Pages 8-9): During trials, we do not need worldly judgment; we need the wisdom of God, wisdom that He generously gives. Believers do not need to be hesitant; we can approach God boldly. When we approach Him, we can ask for wisdom with full assurance that He will provide it. God does not give His wisdom because we are either worthy or innocent. We can approach God, asking Him for wisdom because of His character. He invites us to come to Him and ask, seek, and knock. “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:8).
DISCUSS: What might hold us back from approaching God during a trial? [ALTERNATE: How can we know if we lack wisdom?]
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud James 1:9-12 on page 9.
GUIDE: Direct your group’s attention to the following heading on page 9: Trials can help us keep the right perspective.
RECAP (PAGE 9): Poverty is a trial for obvious reasons. People need clean water, nutritious food, adequate shelter, and warm clothing. If they do not have these things, they suffer. Yet James commanded the poor believer to “rejoice in that he is exalted” (James 1:9). What do the poor have to boast or rejoice about? James would answer that more fully later: “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” (2:5). Their poverty is a constant reminder of their dependence upon God, providing them with nonstop opportunities to exercise their faith.
The wealthy make a dire mistake if they think their greatest resources are what they own. Those resources are temporary, at best. The wealthy are not to boast in what they have because their wealth will wither and pass away—just like the grass and flowers. The wealthy also need the grace of God. Only as they realize their great need will they be led to seek and find eternal riches in Christ.
DISCUSS: How does a view of eternity change the way you respond to trials? [ALTERNATE: How can believers prepare now to have unwavering faith during trials that might come tomorrow?]
DO: Instruct group members to complete the activity, True Maturity, on page 9, on their own. If time allows, invite volunteers to share their responses.
True Maturity: Think of someone whom you consider to be spiritually mature. List several words or phrases that describe this person and his or her faith. Underline the words that also apply to your own faith. Circle words or phrases that describe where you’d like to see more growth in your life.
Live It Out
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, gather and bring a small hand weight to your group gathering. Explain that we typically use exercise equipment to condition or train for some objective. Whatever the goal, exercise produces results. Weights are key to gaining physical strength and endurance. In a similar way, trials can cause us to more fully trust God. While no one wants adversity, challenges can deepen our dependence on God, and in the process strengthen our faith.
SAY: “How will you live out the truth that God uses trials to mature your faith?”
GUIDE: Direct group members to review the three bulleted statements under Live It Out on page 10. Call on volunteers to share (1) which of these statements is something they want to pursue further, or (2) ways this study will transform their prayer life this week.
Pray for strength. In whatever trial you are facing, ask God for help. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6). Our Lord has experienced trials just as we have, and He is sympathetic about our human weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).
Ask others for help. It is easier for most people to offer help to others than it is to ask for help. If you are experiencing a difficult trial, reach out to a close friend, your Bible study leader, or your Bible study group and ask for their help.
Look for the ministry opportunity in your pain. After his career-ending amputation, Dave Dravecky and his wife began a ministry, endurance.org, to minister to people who are facing their own trials. Find a way to use your pain to benefit others.
GUIDE: Invite each person to gather with two or three Christ-followers of the same gender this week for a deeper discussion, using Talk It Out (page 10) to guide their discussion. Encourage group members to spend time each day in God’s Word with the devotions found in the Daily Study section (pages 11-14).
PRAY: Close your group time with prayer.
DIG DEEPER
Use the commentary below as you prepare to lead the session.
[Verses 1-2]: James wrote to encourage the “twelve tribes” scattered around the world as they would experience “divers temptations.” Trials could come because of their commitment to Christ or from the seductive temptations of life. James instructed believers to “count it all joy.” Trials would never be joyful experiences. But living through trials can lead to growth in faith, resulting in an occasion for genuine rejoicing.
[Verse 3]: They could rejoice because the testing of their faith would produce the virtue of “patience.” The idea behind “trying” referred to something being put in the crucible of the refiner’s fire (Proverbs 27:21)—only the genuine substance would survive the process. Going through a crucible of suffering will refine away the dross so that what remains might become pure and valuable before God.
[Verse 4]: James pushed his readers further so that endurance might “have her perfect work.” His use of the present imperative (“let endurance have”) literally means, “let it keep on having.” In other words, a believer’s spiritual growth has no end; development is to continue throughout life, trial after trial. Trials provide the spiritual muscle-building experiences necessary for growing so believers may be “perfect and entire.”
[Verse 5]: In moments of trials or temptations, we should ask God for wisdom. The one who lacks wisdom would not know how to handle problems. James urged them to ask God for the wisdom they lacked. To all who ask for wisdom, God will give it “liberally, and upbraideth not.”
[Verses 6-8]: James warned that we must “ask in faith, nothing wavering.” Remaining faithful to God stands at the heart of the issue. This should not be understood as asserting the idea that prayers will never be answered where any degree of doubt exists. We are prone to wonder—and doubt! God will respond to our prayers when our lives reflect a consistency of faith in Him. The wavering person is like “a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” Doubt leaves one exposed to life’s random assaults. One who sloshes back and forth in persistent doubt nullifies his prayer and should “not . . . think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” The doubting believer misunderstands the Father and has no grasp of the relationship between faith and prayer.
[Verses 9-10]: James contrasted “the brother of low degree” and “the rich.” James first addressed believers at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, relatively poor and powerless. James encouraged them to take pride in the fact that as followers of Christ they belong to the heavenly realm and have great worth to God. James encouraged the rich not to take pride in their possessions but rather in their identification with Christ.
[Verse 11]: James intensified the folly of trusting in wealth by pointing to a familiar phenomenon in Palestine. “Burning heat” describes the blistering east wind called the sirocco that blows constantly, usually for three or four days, during the spring and fall transitions. The intense heat dries up grass and causes flowers to fall away. Similarly, the pursuits of those who trust wealth will eventually wither away. While James may have been referring to the loss of wealth, he more likely intended the judgment day for the one who trusted wealth rather than the Lord.
[Verse 12]: James promised we are blessed when we endure trials because we have been “tried.” The word “tried” comes from metallurgy, referring to the process through which metals become purified and stronger by fire. Those who meet the conditions of faith will receive “the crown of life.” “Crown” often conveys to us a gem-studded headpiece worn by royalty, but James’s word alluded to the laurel wreath given to victors in athletic contests. Coupled with the idea of this reward, “life” indicated the reward might begin in this life but pointed into eternity.
08/28/22
Session 6
Share Christ with Your Neighbor
The Point
We love our neighbors when we tell them about Jesus.
Life Connection
Of all the needs we have, none is greater than the need for salvation and eternal life. We can help our neighbors with a lot of their physical, emotional, or relational needs, but more than anything else, they need Christ. We cannot meet this need for them, but we can point them to Christ, the only one who can provide eternal life. To invite someone to know Christ is the greatest thing we can do for anyone.
The Passage
John 1:40-49
The Setting
Each rabbi in the first century typically called a few select young men to be his pupils or disciples. The process weeded out all but the finest candidates. The rabbi’s invitation was considered to be a high honor. Jesus, though, did not follow the norm. He chose the least likely of candidates. And although He used a different process to call His disciples, one aspect was the same: accepting His invitation meant life would never again be the same.
John 1:40-42
40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
Verse 40. News spreads. John, one of the Twelve, wrote his Gospel because of important news he wanted to share: “these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). Thus John’s intention was to point to Jesus as the Messiah. This is exactly what happened in the first chapter of his Gospel—men pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. Those who knew told others.
John’s Gospel is different from the other three in that it tells of the preincarnational existence of Christ. That is, it points to Jesus’s existence from eternity past rather than highlight His birth. The story of Jesus’s life this Gospel portrays begins with the one who came as the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist—not to be confused with the apostle John who penned the Gospel.
John the Baptist had been telling his disciples about the coming Messiah. He explained that when he had baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus. Isaiah had foretold this detail (Isa. 11:1-2; 42:1). Seeing the Spirit descend, John realized Jesus’s identity; before that moment, John “knew him not” (John 1:31), meaning he had not realized before the Spirit descended that Jesus was the Messiah.
The other three Gospels explain that after Jesus’s baptism, He was tempted in the wilderness for forty days (Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). Thus the events in today’s text occurred at least some weeks after Jesus’s baptism and at a location known as Bethabara, sometimes identified as Bethany, beyond the Jordan (John 1:28). The location, southeast of Jericho, east of the Jordan River, and about four miles north of the Dead Sea, is not the Bethany near Jerusalem, the hometown of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
The location of Jesus’s baptism itself is significant. The site is, according to tradition, where Elijah and Elisha parted the Jordan and a few hundred yards from where Elijah ascended in the chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:1-14). The location affirmed the coming of Elijah, as prophesied in Malachi 4:5. Thus every single detail in John 1 screams, “Jesus is the Messiah!”
When John saw Jesus, he proclaimed Him to be “the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). John’s proclamation encapsulated the hallmark of his ministry—he was putting the spotlight on Jesus and at the same time taking it off himself (3:30).
Two of John’s disciples heard what he said about Jesus and began to follow Him. When Jesus noticed them following, He asked, “What seek ye?” In reply, “They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?” (1:38). Interestingly, the two responded to Jesus’s question with a question. This practice was extremely common among the ancient Jews. Jesus invited the two to join Him; they stayed with Him for the rest of the day—and likely, through the night.
The Gospel identifies one of the two as Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. The other is not identified. Verse 39, though, offers a clue. It says, “it was about the tenth hour”—meaning ten hours since dawn. Although the exact date is not known, most biblical scholars agree that John wrote his Gospel between AD 70-100. The time of day is a pretty specific fact to include forty to seventy years after the event, unless the one recording that detail was an eyewitness. This detail thus at least hints that John, the son of Zebedee and writer of this Gospel, was the other disciple who followed Jesus. This possibility is strengthened by two facts. First, Mark listed John as an early convert and follower of Jesus (Mark 1:16-20). Second, John elsewhere referred to himself in the Gospel, but not by name (John 18:15; 19:26-27), often calling himself the disciple “Jesus loved” (13:23; 21:7,20).
The fact Andrew is identified as Simon Peter’s brother indicates Peter was better known than Andrew. The two, though, followed Jesus. Verse 40 is the second time John’s Gospel used this verb with these two who had been disciples of John the Baptist (v. 37). The verb was commonly used in the teacher/student or rabbi/disciple relationship. Rabbis often walked while they taught; thus their disciples were regularly referred to as “followers.” To
be a follower meant the student had made a commitment to his teacher and believed in his teacher’s doctrine.
Verse 41. John’s use of first may mean Andrew found Simon before he did anything else, or it could mean he found his brother Simon before John found his brother James. Regardless, having spent time with Jesus, Andrew’s priority was to find his brother. Once he found Simon, Andrew stated that they had found the Messiah.
The word Messias is based on a Hebrew term that referred to someone who had been anointed or smeared with oil as a symbol they had been set apart or consecrated for a special service. The Old Testament spoke of anointing in connection with kings (1 Sam. 10:1; 16:1-13), the priests (Ex. 30:30), or a prophet (1 Kings 19:16).
Jews of the first century longed for Messiah. This meant they were looking for someone to destroy their enemies—specifically the Romans—and to restore David’s royal kingdom. The thought of a Messiah was more than a hope—it was an expectation. Jews based this on God’s promise to David (2 Sam. 7:16) and other Old Testament prophecies (Gen. 49:10; Num. 24:17; Isa. 9:6-7; 11:1-5). Thus after centuries of anticipation, Andrew’s statement was certainly a triumphant proclamation—We have found the Messias.
Verse 42. Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. The other two times we read of Andrew in John’s Gospel, he was bringing or connecting others to Jesus (6:8-9; 12:20-22). Andrew was not content to tell Simon what he had learned from Jesus after spending time with Him; he brought Simon to see for himself. The term “brought” carries the idea of leading, as in leading an animal. For the brothers, it meant Andrew accompanied Simon. We can imagine Andrew talking and encouraging Simon every step of the way.
Evangelism is the act of bringing or leading people to Jesus. Sometimes telling family members about Jesus is the most challenging type of evangelism. We might be afraid they will reject not only the message but also the messenger. Yet Andrew’s action can serve as a model and motivator for us to introduce family members to Christ.
When Jesus met Simon, He made a connection regarding his past—he was a son of Jona. Jesus also made a proclamation regarding his future—he would be Cephas, the Aramaic word “Rock,” that in Greek is “Petros,” anglicized as “Peter.”
Simon was a common name in the first century. Six other men in the Gospels have the name: one of Jesus’s brothers (Matt. 13:55); the Cyrenian who carried Jesus’s cross (27:32); a leper in Bethany (Mark 14:3-9); another of Jesus’s disciples, the Zealot (Luke 6:15); a Pharisee who hosted Jesus (7:36-50); and Judas Iscariot’s father (John 13:26). No other man in the New Testament is named “Peter.” It was not a proper name but merely a nickname—one this disciple would eventually live up to as he boldly proclaimed, lived for, and ultimately died for the resurrected Christ.
Three times in this section John translated a word into Greek (vv. 38,41,42). He did this for the benefit of his Greek-speaking Gentile readers who would not have been familiar with Aramaic or Jewish expressions or terms, further evidence John wrote with the intention of making sure all his readers understood and believed Jesus is the Messiah.
John 1:43-46
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
Verse 43. Jesus intentionally left the area where John had been baptizing and headed to Galilee, about a hundred miles north. The word Galilee means “circle of the Gentiles” or “district of foreigners.” The name derives from the fact many cities of Greek and Roman heritage encircled the region. Those surrounding areas were thus populated by non-Jews. Galilee itself, though, was dotted with over two hundred villages and cities that were predominantly Jewish. Geographically, Galilee was the area west of the Sea of Galilee. Cities in the region included Cana, Nazareth, Capernaum, Magdala, Nain, and Chorazin. Grapes, olives, figs, and grain grew in the fertile soil of Galilee. Fishing was a major industry for the villages along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
The text is clear that Jesus found Philip. The word also emphasizes intentionality in Jesus’s actions; He went looking for Philip. Having found Philip, Jesus told or commanded him: Follow me. Whereas Andrew, Simon, and John were each introduced to Jesus by someone else, Jesus initiated the invitation for Philip to follow. “Follow me” carries with it the understanding of an ongoing commitment to follow Jesus as a disciple.
Training to potentially become a disciple began at age five for Jewish boys. At that age they began to memorize the Torah in classes at the local synagogue. By age thirteen they were expected to have all of the Torah memorized. Rabbis would then invite the students who showed the greatest potential to become part of what was called the learning community. Having been exposed to various trains of rabbinic thought, a promising student would link up with the specific rabbi he would model himself after. This linking was always at the student’s initiative. If the rabbi agreed to allow the student to be “yoked” to him, an intensive “apprenticeship” continued for about four to seven years. During this time and process, students became increasingly like their teaching rabbi (Luke 6:40). After years of training and testing, the rabbi would finally issue the invitation to only his finest students—an invitation marked by two words: “Follow me.”
Jesus, though, turned the process on its head. He initiated the invitation, but not after years of training and testing. And rather than call those who were the most qualified in Hebrew academics, He called men who certainly would have never made the cut of any other rabbi. But then again, Jesus was unlike any other rabbi who had ever lived.
Verses 44-46. Although Simon and Andrew lived in Capernaum at the time Jesus began His ministry (Mark 1:21-30), they grew up in Bethsaida and considered it their hometown. The exact location of Bethsaida is unknown; each of the potential locations, though, overlooks the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida translates as “House of Fish,” an indication the village was known for its fishing.
Because of what he had heard and experienced, Philip could not wait to tell his friend Nathanael about Jesus. In using the plural pronoun We have found, Philip was including himself among Jesus’s followers. The Synoptic Gospels refer to Nathanael as Bartholomew; only in John is he called Nathanael. Bartholomew translates as “Son of Talmai,” which would have been his surname; Nathanael means “God has given.” The only other piece of information John gives us about him is Nathanael was from Cana of Galilee (John 21:2).
Philip linked Jesus’s identity with what Moses had written. In doing so, Philip may have been referring to Moses’s prophecy that God would raise up “a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me [Moses]; . . . and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deut. 18:15-18). Or Philip may have been speaking more generally about Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, meaning the fulfillment of all the Old Testament had said about the coming Messiah. Regardless, in connecting Jesus with Moses and the prophets, Philip was declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, again a prevalent theme in John’s Gospel.
Philip also referred to Jesus as “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” People of the New Testament era commonly introduced others by their family’s name and the village from which they came. In the New Testament era, Nazareth was a small village that perhaps lacked culture and may have been morally lax. However, Nathanael’s question about whether anything good could come from Nazareth likely had nothing to do with the village’s reputation. It was probably based on the fact Nazareth was an insignificant village that was not mentioned in the Old Testament or other Jewish writings that foretold the coming Messiah. Surely the Messiah could not come from such an obscure place.
In response to Nathanael’s question, Philip did not argue or explain. Instead he responded simply with “Come and see.” Philip was confident that if Nathanael would just meet Jesus, he too would be convinced Jesus was the Messiah.
John 1:47-49
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
Verse 47. Trust God to work in the hearts of others. In the Old Testament Jacob was a deceiver, yet God changed his character and changed his name to Israel (Gen. 27:26-35; 32:28). This Old Testament story serves as the background of Nathanael’s encounter with Jesus.
Seeing the two men approach, Jesus revealed that He knew supernaturally the purity of Nathanael’s heart, in which was no guile. The earliest Greek writers used the word translated “guile” to refer to bait; in time, it referred to anything that was cunning. Jesus was saying He recognized Nathanael was like Israel, the man of faith, rather than the deceitful Jacob.
Additionally, in saying Nathanael was truly an Israelite, Jesus was affirming he was man of genuine faith, not a man of Hebrew ancestry who was content merely to observe Jewish rules and rituals. Paul later wrote of this and explained that genuinely being a Jew was a matter of the heart and the Spirit, not a matter of keeping Jewish laws and observances (Rom. 2:28-29; 9:6-7).
Verse 48. Jesus’s response astonished Nathanael. His question Whence knowest thou me? was more than “Have we met before?” Instead it shows that Nathanael recognized Jesus had seen into his very core. The Gospel writers mentioned several times that Jesus could know what someone was thinking or what was in the person’s heart (Matt. 12:25; 22:18; Mark 2:8; Luke 6:8; 11:17; John 2:25). This ability was an affirmation of Jesus’s divinity as the Old Testament describes God as being able to know the hearts and minds of men (Prov. 15:11; Jer. 20:12).
Jesus’s answer to Nathanael’s question further validated His divinity; He had seen Nathanael when he was under the fig tree. This particular phrase was actually part of an idiom for the Hebrew people. Since a person did not gather a crop from a fig tree or a grapevine for some years after they were planted, being able to sit under either came to refer to a prolonged period of peace. It meant that the plants had not been destroyed by war in the land. We see this in the Old Testament, that described an era of peace by saying, “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon” (1 Kings 4:25).
By the New Testament era, the phrase had come to refer to the place where men of faith, especially rabbis, could study the law in tranquility and in the relative comfort that the fig tree’s shade provided. To say that He had seen Nathanael under the fig tree was Jesus’s way of acknowledging that Nathanael was a dedicated student of the Word.
Verse 49. Nathanael, who had been skeptical that anything good could come from Nazareth and who had been curt with Jesus, made a great declaration of faith about Jesus’s true identity. No longer did it matter that this Rabbi was the son of Joseph or that He was from the nondescript village of Nazareth. Nathanael realized that standing before him was none other than the Son of God and the King of Israel.
What Philip had trusted would happen indeed happened—Jesus and Nathanael had connected on a deep level. And for Nathanael, life would never again be the same.
LIVE IT OUT
We love our neighbors when we tell them about Jesus. Choose one of the following applications:
Trust. What holds you back from sharing Christ? Pray and ask God to make your faith in Him greater than your fears.
Invite. With the same “come and see” mindset seen in both Andrew and Philip, invite friends to come with you to your Bible study group. Your group can provide a non-threatening way to “come and see” Jesus as your group discusses God’s Word.
Share. Draw three circles and make a list of people God has put in your life. In the first circle, include your closest relationships. In the second circle, write a list of your friends and coworkers. And in the third circle include acquaintances or neighbors you don’t know well. Who in those circles does the Lord want you to reach with the gospel? As you pray, look for opportunities to share Christ.
Get into the Study
Discuss: Question #1 on page 152 of the PSG: “What’s the nicest thing a neighbor has done for you?”
Guide: Direct group members to “The Bible Meets Life” on page 153 of the PSG. Introduce the importance of sharing Christ by reading or summarizing the text or by encouraging group members to read it on their own.
RECAP: The devastating effects of COVID-19 pale in comparison to the desperation of being separated from a right relationship with God and the urgency of our mission to reach those lost people with His message of reconciliation. Let’s consider how we can love our neighbors by helping them find their greatest joy and deepest need—the Lord Jesus Christ.
GUIDE: Call attention to “The Point” on page 153 of the PSG: “We love our neighbors when we tell them about Jesus.”
PRAY: Transition into the study by asking God to stir our group’s hearts for sharing Christ with our neighbors. Thank Him for saving us and giving us a message to share.
Study the Bible
John 1:40-42
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud John 1:40-42 on page 154 of the PSG.
RECAP: We make sharing the message of Jesus far too complicated. As helpful as evangelism methods and training programs might be, the most effective witness you can give is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to use the gifts and the personality God gave you. You see the different approaches and responses from Jesus’s disciples in how they told others about Him.
When Andrew responded to Jesus’s invitation to follow Him, he had been one of John the Baptist’s disciples (John 1:35). It seems apparent that Andrew had publicly turned away from his sins and was waiting for the promised Messiah, God’s Anointed One. After John professed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, Andrew didn’t waste any time. Interestingly, verse 41 notes that Andrew “first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias,” indicating that telling his brother was a top priority to him. While Simon may have been the first person he told, Andrew likely told a lot of other people this good news as well.
Discuss: Question #2 on page 155 of the PSG: “What makes our testimony such an effective tool when sharing the gospel?”
Alternate: What can we learn from Andrew about sharing our faith?
GUIDE: Use Commentary on pages 153-156 to give further background on Peter’s new name.
RECAP: God has already placed you in a mission field and called you to reach the people nearest you with His good news. You don’t need to go on an international mission trip or even go door-to-door in a community, as important as those ministry opportunities are. You can just start with the people closest to you like Andrew did. No matter where you are, people need to hear about Jesus.
TRANSITION: We are to love others by telling them about our experience with Christ. In the next verses, we see that we are to invite others to “come and see” about Jesus for themselves.
Study the Bible
John 1:43-46
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud John 1:43-46 on page 156 of the PSG.
RECAP: Did you catch Philip’s approach to evangelism in verse 46, when Nathanael was skeptical? Philip simply said, “Come and see.” Those three words tell us as much about what evangelism is not as they tell us what evangelism is. As followers of Christ, we are simply messengers, heralds who invite people to encounter the Lord Jesus for themselves. We’re not sharing our message; we’re sharing His message.
That simple truth is incredibly freeing when we feel inadequate to be His witnesses. We only need to share the message. It’s not our job to convict. We don’t even have to persuade. This isn’t an excuse not to study or to be informed of barriers to someone’s faith. But a “come and see” approach frees us from trying to change anyone. Only God’s power can change someone’s heart.
GUIDE: Use Commentary on pages 156-158 to give further background on the town of Nazareth.
RECAP: Jesus is the Good Samaritan who saw our helpless state when we were still His enemies and stopped to rescue us. He is the gracious King, who delights in forgiving the debts we can never repay. He is the Incarnation of patience, kindness, and self-sacrifice. When we see Jesus, we see love.
Discuss: Question #3 on page 158 of the PSG: “Who first invited you to come and see Jesus?”
Alternate: Why are we sometimes hesitant to tell others about our experience with Jesus?
LEADER PACK: In advance, make copies of Item 13: Five Tips for Sharing the Gospel handout, and distribute them to help group members develop a personal plan for sharing the gospel. Brainstorm other ideas as a group.
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, invite one or two volunteers to share their Christian testimonies. They should include (briefly) life before Christ, how they met Christ and were saved, and life since becoming a believer. Then, have group members write down one name of a lost family member or friend who would benefit from hearing their faith story. Lead a prayer of commitment that members would seek out opportunities to share their testimonies with these persons and other neighbors this week.
TRANSITION: In the next verses, we see that we are to trust God to work in the hearts of others.
Study the Bible
John 1:47-49
READ: Ask a group member to read aloud John 1:47-49 on page 158 of the PSG.
RECAP: We see the heart of Jesus in how He greeted Nathanael with a blessing. He said Nathanael was an honest man. There was no deceit in him. His heart and motives were pure. How did Jesus know this? Because Jesus is God. He created Nathanael. He knew Nathanael better than Nathanael knew himself. Jesus knows what is in the hearts of all people (John 2:24-25). He knows our sinful state and He sees our corruption. No one could accuse Jesus of being overly optimistic about the human condition.
Discuss: Question #4 on page 159 of the PSG: “When have you seen friendship start someone on the path to Jesus?”
GUIDE: Use Commentary on pages 159-160 to give further background on the titles Nathaniel attributes to Jesus.
Discuss: Question #5 on page 160 of the PSG: “How can our group be a helpful means in leading people to Christ?”
Alternate: Why is it important to trust God with the results as you share your faith?
DO: Direct group members to complete “Engage” on page 160 of the PSG to help reinforce “The Point.”
ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): In advance, have writing materials on hand for the group. Distribute writing materials and invite members to sing a song such as “Since Jesus Came into My Heart.” Next, have members write their own verse for that song starting with the line “since Jesus came into my heart. . . .” Invite volunteers to share their song verse with the group. Celebrate the ways members were saved by determining to introduce others to Jesus.
GUIDE: Refer back to “The Point” for this session: “We love our neighbors when we tell them about Jesus.”
Live It Out
READ: Direct group members to page 161 of the PSG. Encourage them to choose one of the applications to carry out this week.
Wrap It Up
Summarize: Read or restate this idea from page 160 of the PSG:
With our friends, we show love when we invite them to “come and see” Jesus. We make the introduction, tell what we experienced when we “came and saw,” and trust God to work in their hearts.
Pray: Thank God for the awesome privilege of being able to lead others to Christ. Ask Him to help our group passionately carry out that responsibility