Saturday, September 28
Location Change: LifeWay Building, Downtown NashvilleThis is our last training event for 2012 and it's FREE! We do need to know if you are going to attend so we can purchase a space for you. Please let us know whether you are or are not able to attend by returning the registration card you will find in your box this Sunday.
Take Note:
- Be sure to provide all participants, including guests, with a study guide. Emphasize the benefits of using it during the week to continue their study of John.
- Fall Festival is coming - Sunday, October 27. Mark your calendar and begin praying about how your group can help us as we reach out to our neighbors through this very important ministry.
Target: Focus on what adults should leave knowing, understanding and doing.
Your goal this week is to help adults specify ways to express gratitude for who Jesus is.
Suggested Resources:
- Personal Study Guides - Make sure all guests receive a Personal Study Guide or the Discovery Study Guide.
- If using the ETB packet, use posters as visuals to supplement the introduction: Map: Land of Jesus’ Ministry (Pack Item 1); Poster: John’s Gospel (Pack Item 2)
- MyStudyBible.com: Overview of John in HCSB Study Bible - http://msb.to/&x5sd668
- Research on the meaning of "Word": http://msb.to/&5EpGWS1 and QuickSource, page 9.
- Before the session: Send the following via text, email, or social media to your group:
- "Why was Jesus called the Word? Let's begin the conversation this Sunday as we learn together how to love God and others. Check out more information about the gospel of John by following this link: http://msb.to/&x5sd668
- Write the following on the marker board: "Word"
- Activity Handout. I will have a copy of the attached handout in your box if you choose to go the direction of the suggested plan below. See attachment: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v60p36tepeqbjr4/John%201%20God%20Revealed%20Group%20Discussion.docx
LOOK UP: "Soft methods" to draw attention to the study as adults are arriving, visiting, and gathering.
- As adults enter, ask them to begin gathering with others and sharing with them any history they know about why their parents gave them the name they have.
- Once most adults enter, ask them to discuss any nicknames, if appropriate, they had growing up and to explain why they had those names.
- Ask for several to share.
Today we begin a new six month study of the Gospel of John. Sometime between A.D. 85-95, God directed John to write the Gospel of John. John was one of Jesus' most beloved apostles. He walked closely with Christ during the 3 years of His earthly ministry. John wrote the gospel while living in Ephesus, a Greek city and culture, but he grew up in a Jewish background and culture in the areas of Galilee and Judea. As he sought to tell the story of Jesus, he was faced with the problem of how best to talk about the Lord in a meaningful way for both Jews and Greeks so that they might embrace Christ as God's Son. God gave him the words to say that introduced both groups to Jesus Christ.
It is through this gospel that God reveals Himself to us through His Son. He teaches us that Jesus Christ is the Word of God, is God, and is the One who reveals God. John will guide us to understand Jesus' Deity, faith (noun and verb form appears more times in John's Gospel than in the other three Gospels combined), eternal life, and the twin themes of truth and light.
LOOK IN: Ideas for Unpacking the Text
Read John 1:1. Call attention to the marker board and the name, "Word".
Explain:
John’s Gospel is different in its approach from the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The prologue (John 1:1-18) of John focuses on the Deity of Christ and encourages us to show our appreciation for who Jesus is. John begins the gospel by giving a very unique name to Jesus: "Word" or logos. Remember there were two audiences: Jews and Greeks.
- Jews: Understand the concept of "logos" because of how it was used in the Old Testament. Creation came into being and is preserved by the word of God. "And God said" appears throughout Genesis 1. Through his words God makes Himself known - Hosea 1:2. His word also provides redemption - Isaiah 55:11.
- Greeks: Interpreted "word" as referring to ultimate intelligence and the controlling reason of the universe -- organizing principle of logic or reason ordering the universe. They believed in dualism. They believed that the gods were detached from the world. They were impersonal and not compassionate.
The "Word" permeates his entire explanation in John 1 and sets the stage for all He is going teach his audience about the Person of Christ.
Activity:
Divide the class into three work groups or use the following to guide a large group discussion of the text. Assign one of the following assignments to each group. Give the groups 15 minutes to read the Scripture and answer the questions. Encourage them to use their study guides and cross reference verses. Use the information provided below to supplement their reports.
Group One: HOW IS THE "WORD" GOD? (John 1:1-8)
Read John 1:1-8 and answer the following:
- What beginning is John referring to in verse 1? (before creation)
- How does verses 2-3 explain that Jesus was not a created being? (He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him. Apart from Him, not one thing was created.)
- Read Genesis 1:26. If God created everything yet "apart from Him (the Word) not one thing was created," what does this mean about God and Jesus? Explain how significant the word "Us" is in Genesis 1:26 as it relates to John's description of Jesus. (Jesus and God are one. They were both present at creation. Jesus didn't show up later after God created everything, etc.)
- How does the "Word" give life? (John used a Greek term for life (zoe, pronounced: ZOH ee) to refer to both physical and spiritual life. John took advantage of both usages throughout his Gospel. The theme of eternal life is one of the most important themes in John, paralleling the significance in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke on the theme of the Kingdom of God (Heaven). The term life occurs twice in this verse and more than 40 times throughout John’s Gospel. The reader is alerted to keep both the physical and the spiritual usages of the term life in mind when reading John’s Gospel. When John wrote in 1:4 that life was in Jesus, he meant physical life, tying the statement to the previous verse on creation. He also meant spiritual life, as the rest of John’s Gospel will spell out for us. The spiritual sense of life seems to be in view in the statement that life was the light of all humanity.)
- Why can't darkness overcome light? (When John spoke of the light shining in the darkness, he used the present tense, meaning the light “continually shines.” Jesus the Light is shining as brightly today as when John wrote in the first century. The term darkness portrays that in His incarnation, Jesus came into a sin-cursed world. Although darkness always tries, it cannot overcome the light. Spiritual darkness can’t comprehend the light; neither can it extinguish it.)
- How is the "Word" different from John the Baptist. (John briefly interrupted his presentation of Jesus to introduce John the Baptist. All the New Testament Gospels introduce Jesus’ ministry with a reference to the work and ministry of John the Baptist. By referring to John the Baptist as a man sent from God, the Gospel writer sought to show him due respect and to clarify his role as a witness to Jesus the Light. He was not God nor was he a god. He was a messenger. If Jesus was just a man who became God, then John the Baptist could have become God, too. John uses this contrast to emphasize that Jesus was fully divine --Deity wasn't something He became; He came because He was Deity.)
Read John 1:9-14 and answer the following:
- What was the purpose of this true light coming into the realm of people? (The true light, Jesus, provides light to everyone (see 1:4). In this context, to give light refers to giving spiritual enlightenment. Jesus is uniquely qualified to open our eyes to the reality of God. Our minds are empowered through Him to see spiritual things, notably our sin and God’s love.)
- How do these verses refute any notion that all will go to Heaven -- the doctrine of universal salvation? (The reference to everyone indicates the scope of God’s love, but sadly not to the scope of people’s acceptance of Jesus. God loves all people and sends Jesus to enlighten everyone, but not everyone believes in Jesus. Many people reject Him. For this reason, no doctrine of universal salvation can be found here. Everyone doesn't go to Heaven just because Jesus came.)
- How do verses 11 and 12 illustrate that Salvation was not just for the Jews but for all who believe? (To avoid the impression that everyone rejected Jesus, John quickly focused on those who accepted Him. The actions of receiving Jesus and believing in Jesus are virtually synonymous. To receive Jesus is to believe in His name and to welcome His revelation. By using a present tense participle, John referred to believing in Jesus as a continuing reality. Those who truly receive Jesus go on believing in His name.)
- Based on these verses, how would you describe what believing in Jesus means? (In John’s understanding, the concept of name was synonymous with character and being. To know someone’s name was to know who they were, what they stood for, and where they were from. To believe in Jesus’ name means to totally “buy into” what Jesus revealed in His ministry. True believers make a lifelong surrender to live according to God’s Word and under the direction of His Spirit. Such a relationship results in Jesus giving us the authority, or power, to be children of God. Only God can give us the right to be His children.)
- How does verse 13 refute the idea that there are many roads to God? (It is not a result of biological action. Being born as a child of Christian parents doesn’t automatically make the child a believer. Nor is salvation a matter of fulfilling natural human desires. Finally, salvation is not a matter of the human will. Only God can give salvation.)
- John wrote this 60-70 years after Jesus' resurrection. He was one of three apostles in Jesus' inner circle. Imagine being John as he penned verse 14. What images and feelings might surface as you wrote these words? How does this verse explain the "Word" as "Light"? (The impact of John’s statement in common language might be something like this: “the Word became a living, breathing Person, and He moved in next door to us.” The Living Word came near enough to view.)
Group Three: HOW WAS/IS THE WORD REVEALED? (John 1:16-18)
After briefly mentioning John the Baptist’s witness to Jesus (1:15), John again focused on Jesus. Read John 1:16-18 and answer the following:
- How does grace reveal the "Word"?
- Describe how we receive "grace after grace" because of the "Word." All Christians have received abundant grace. The Greek construction probably refers to a repeated pouring out of gracious acts one after the other, like the unending line of waves sweeping the seashore. These repeated acts of grace come because Jesus is full of grace.)
- What image would you use to illustrate how Christ gives grace to those who seek Him? (DSG, p15)
- Why did John now identify the "Word" as Jesus Christ? (He contrasts what the written word provides and reveals -- our sinfulness because we can't live by the law -- and what Jesus offers -- grace and truth. John sought to show respect for Moses as the one who delivered God’s law to His people, but the law was incomplete without the grace and truth that came through Jesus, the Agent of the new and better covenant - see Heb. 7:22.)
- Had Jesus not come and if we were still living under the Old Testament law, what would we know about God? How did Jesus' coming help us understand God more fully? (As God’s unique Son—being Deity Himself—Jesus alone reveals God the Father to us. Because the Son is in the closest relationship with the Father—being equal with God —Jesus is perfectly suited and immanently qualified to reveal (literally to “exegete, explain”) the Father to the world. Jesus is unique in so many ways, not the least of which is the fact He alone reveals God to us.
LOOK OUT: Hitting the Target and Applying it to Daily Living
Explain:
For the apostle, the "Word" was a living Being and the Source of life, not a principle as the Jew and Greek might have thought. The "Word" was a person and not a personification. The "Word" was nothing less than God. The "Word" concept conveys the truth that Jesus existed before the creation events; He was "with God." (DSG, p95-96) The "Word" served as the Agent of creation. God, the ultimate Source of creation, created the world through His agent, the "Word," Jesus Christ. Jesus was not a created being, He created beings! That "Word" became flesh. Without surrendering His essential divinity, the "Word" became a person and took up residence among humanity. God Himself was present in the flesh.
The Word, who always was, who always was equal with God, even God Himself, came into being as flesh. He became what He had never been. God became Jesus of Nazareth! He is fully human, yet fully divine. He reconciles humanity and God in His Person, providing redemption for a lost world. (DSG, pp95-96)
Use any or all of the following questions to conclude the study:
- Why would/should God reveal Himself to you? What does you answer reveal about how you feel about yourself and Christ? (DSG, p15)
- How can you express your appreciation for Jesus in your relationships with other people? (DSG, p15)
- What are ways you can carry on Jesus' task of revealing the Father to this world? (DSG, p16)
- How would you explain Jesus as God to someone?
