12 Priceless: finding your value in god 2015 LifeWay

Transcription

1 12 P r i c e l e s s: f i n d i n g yo u r va l u e i n g o d

2 What gives you value? Your value is determined by God. Remember those credit card commercials that went something like this? Two tickets to the big game: $46 Two hot dogs, two popcorns, two sodas: $27 One autographed baseball: $50 Real conversation with your child: Priceless There are some things money can t buy. What gives something value? The U.S. Mint does not use $20 worth of ink to print a $20 bill. They don t make it with $20 worth of paper. The paper is the same as in a $1 bill. A $20 bill is worth $20 because the government says it is worth $20. 1 What gives you value? Your value is determined by God. Your worth is based on the fact that God created you, loves you, and gives you value. And unlike items that go up or down in worth and value based on the opinions of others, your value doesn t change. Because God isn t going to change His mind, we can know that the value He has assigned to us isn t going to change either. But how can you know you are highly valued by God? This study will examine seven things God has done for you that speak to your worth to Him. You are priceless. 1. Adapted from Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (pp ). Grant Ethridge Dr. Grant Ethridge is the senior pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Hampton, Va., a church he has served and led since He and his wife, Tammy, have four children and four grandchildren. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 13

3 Priceless: Finding Your Value in God As you lead your group through this study, help them to know CHRIST and His gracious work, live as contributing servants in the COMMUNITY of faith, and engage the CULTURE without losing distinction. Note in the group plans the icons (below), which identify activities to help group members connect in specific ways to Christ, Community, and Culture. Christ Community Culture Christ extends grace and forgiveness to us and invites us into His family. 14 Jesus Christ forgives completely. P r i c e l e s s: f i n d i n g yo u r va l u e i n g o d

4 God adopts us as His children, which means we are adopted in His family: the church. Each believer is uniquely gifted, and we need each other. We go out into the world in the strength and power of God. When we love others and honor Christ in what we do, our lives stand in stark contrast to the self-serving motivation exhibited by the world. Helping you move from where you are to where God wants you to be. This is your passion for your class or group. Yet helping different individuals each take their next step to grow as disciples is challenging. The Transformational Discipleship Assessment (TDA) is a quick and easy tool to help you discover how you and the members of your group are doing in eight essential areas of discipleship. The TDA provides next steps to help your group move from where you are to where God wants you to be. The assessment is online which allows each group participant to take it in the comfort and privacy of their home, office, or even on their mobile device. Discover more at: TDA.LifeWay.com

5 PRICELESS: FINDING YOUR VALUE IN GOD Session 1 Adopted into God s Family 1 John 3:1-10 Session 2 Freed by God s Forgiveness John 8:2-11 Session 3 Saved by God s Son John 1:1-5,9-14 Session 4 Strengthened by God s Power Ephesians 3:14-21 Session 5 Equipped with God s Gifts 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 Session 6 Used in God s Service 1 Corinthians 12:12-16,21-22; 1 Peter 4:9-11 Session 7 Cherished in God s Eyes Psalm 8:1-8 Songs, Magazine Articles, and Book Excerpts are available online to support this study. Go to BibleStudiesForLife.com/blog. Here are some examples: Session 1 How Much You Love Me The song How Much You Love Me from Bible Studies for Life: Songs, Vol. 2, declares the depth of God s love for us. Visit LifeWayWorship.com to listen and purchase. Session 5 Spiritual Gifts Survey Spiritual Gifts Survey (Lifeway.com/youngadults) Curious how the Holy Spirit has gifted you? Download our Spiritual Gifts Survey and Gifts Explanation List. 16 Priceless: finding your value in god

6 The Point We are loved by God, our perfect Father. The Passage 1 John 3:1-10 The Bible Meets Life One of the hardest things for us to do is to love unconditionally. Even within families, our ability to love freely can be impacted by the hurts or disappointments we experience. It s easier to love when love is returned. God is not like that. Regardless of what we ve done, He loves us. And He loves us so much He made it possible for us to be adopted as His children. The Setting First John was written to encourage Christians to remain true to their faith in Jesus Christ. A heretical group had split from the believers church (1 John 2:19), but was still trying to influence them. Among the heretics teachings were denials that Jesus was the Messiah, God s Son (2:22; 4:15; 5:1); Jesus had come in the flesh (4:2-3); and the atoning nature of Jesus sacrifice gives eternal life to those who believe in Him (5:6-13). BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 17

7 What does the Bible say? Seed (v. 9) This term is the translation of a Greek word originally used to mean the literal seed of a plant; but, gradually it acquired the poetic sense of anything that has the power to create or give life. It was used as a synonym for words such as family and descendants. John s reference in 1 John to God s seed may refer to the grace and power of the gospel, or to the new life placed in the believer by the Holy Spirit. 1 John 3:1-10 (HCSB) 1 Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn t know Him. 2 Dear friends, we are God s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. 4 Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law. 5 You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, and there is no sin in Him. 6 Everyone who remains in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil s works. 9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how God s children and the Devil s children are made evident. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother. 18 SESSION 1

8 THE POINT We are loved by God, our perfect Father. GET INTO THE STUDY DISCUSS: Invite your group members to turn their attention to the image at the bottom of page 13 of the Personal Study Guide (PSG). Ask: When have you felt like you belonged? Allow time for each person to respond (a response now will encourage them to respond to other questions later in the study). ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): Bring in a family picture (old or recent) and share just a bit about your family. Be sensitive to those in your group who may have painful family situations. For some, their close friends fill the role of family. 10 minutes Notes TIP: This session is a great opportunity to talk about salvation with any group members who aren t yet believers. Use the inside front cover of this Leader Guide for assistance. RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 14): My wife, Tammy, and I once visited an orphanage in Calcutta, India. We were taken aback by all the orphaned babies needing attention. Tammy went over and put her hand on a screaming child and began to sing, Jesus loves me, this I know. Immediately, the child became perfectly still and silent. She locked eyes with Tammy. It was a God moment. Several years later, our daughter and son-in-law became foster parents. Their first little boy, Jeremiah, taught each of us so much about God s love. When the day came for him to go to his new home, we all shed tears. Jeremiah did not choose his earthly father; his father chose him. SAY: Much in the same way, we are loved by God and adopted into His family. GUIDE: Call the group s attention to The Point on page 14 of the PSG: We are loved by God, our perfect Father. ENHANCEMENT: Bring your group s attention to Pack Item #2, Priceless poster, to introduce the topic of this six-week study. PRAY: Transition into the Bible study by praying for your group. Thank God for His unmatched love that allows us to have a relationship with Him. Post Pack Item #1 to invite others to your study. Display Pack Item #2 to communicate the study topic. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 19

9 10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE 1 John 3:1-3 Notes 1 Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn t know Him. 2 Dear friends, we are God s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. READ: Ask a group member to read aloud 1 John 3:1-3. ALTERNATE QUESTION: How have you recently experienced the love of God? DISCUSS: Question 2 on page 16 of the PSG: What about God s love in this passage really captures your attention? Why? SUMMARIZE: Out of His great love, God the Father makes us His children. God s love is unconditional, undeserved, unmerited, and unselfish. One of the hardest things for us to do is to love unconditionally. Even within families, our ability to love freely can be hindered by the hurts or disappointments we have experienced. And it s certainly easier to love when love is returned. But God is not like that. Regardless of what we ve done, or even if we don t love Him, He loves us. Your worth as a person isn t based on your performance; it s based on the love of God. You may feel unworthy and you are. But God makes you worthy. One of Satan s greatest tools is doubt. If you are unsure of who you are, you will be uncertain of where you should be and what you should be doing. But your salvation and security are grounded in who God is. To highlight this truth, John wrote in verse 2, We are God s children now. Growing as a Christian means you are becoming more like your Father every day. This process will be complete when you see Him face to face. TRANSITION: In light of God s unconditional love, our only proper response is unconditional surrender to Him. 20 SESSION 1

10 THE POINT We are loved by God, our perfect Father. 1 John 3:1-3 Commentary In His love, God the Father makes us His children. Verse 1: John s purpose for writing his first letter was to warn his fellow believers against false doctrine that led to false living, living that denied the power and truth of the gospel. John emphasized that Jesus followers will reflect His purity. John encouraged his readers to remain pure by reminding them of the Father s love and their status as His children. Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God s children. The first-century Romans and Greeks who worshiped false gods would never have talked about how their gods loved them. They tried to earn the favor of their gods by their religious deeds. Sadly, the same approach is common among those who embrace today s false religions. And despite their best efforts in adhering to certain rituals or rules, these people have no assurance of any lasting blessing. They can only hope that their gods will look favorably on them. Only Yahweh, God of Scripture, comes to us with perfect and limitless love through His Son Jesus Christ. As Creator, God is in a sense the Father of all those He creates. However, this sense of fatherhood is limited, in that while God may be the Father of all humanity through creation, this fatherhood does not resolve either the problem of separation from God due to sin or the just punishment due to all people for their sins. But for Christians, God is not only our Father in the sense that He is our Creator; He is our Father in a spiritual sense through our faith in Jesus Christ. This is the emotionally charged image John was trying to convey to his readers as he challenged them to live in purity and faithfulness. John emphasized the uniqueness of our relationship by comparing the response the Christian receives from the world to the response Jesus received when He was physically present on the earth. The reason the world does not know us is that it didn t know Him. John s point here was not that we should retreat from obedience to God s truth but that we should faithfully persevere, regardless of the response of the non-believing world. Verses 2-3: In these verses John referred back to one of his opening themes: we should be faithful so that we can be found bold in our service and pure in our character when Jesus returns. We are confident of our status as God s beloved children; but when Jesus returns, our status will be even better. Then we will be like Him and able to see His full glory. John used this certain hope of being with Jesus in all His glory to challenge believers to aim for the highest standard. John not only called for purity in Jesus followers but emphatically stated that those whose hope is in Jesus will reflect His character everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 21

11 10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE 1 John 3:4-8 Notes 4 Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law. 5 You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, and there is no sin in Him. 6 Everyone who remains in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil s works. READ: Ask a group member to read aloud 1 John 3:4-8. SUMMARIZE: Verse 6 is difficult at first glance because all humans including Christians struggle with sin. In the original language the phrase does not sin is a present-tense verb denoting continuous action. In other words, a child of God doesn t keep on committing habitual sin. A child of God cannot continue to live in sin and enjoy it, without any desire for repentance. ALTERNATE QUESTION: What helps you face temptation without giving in to sin? DISCUSS: Question 3 on page 17 of the PSG: Why do we tend to treat some sins lightly? SUMMARIZE: God does not let His children get by with their sin; rather, He convicts, warns, and disciplines His children (Revelation 3:19). When we repent of our sins, we re forgiven. Repentance also means we turn from sin and turn back to following Jesus as Lord, but the person who continues to live in sin isn t repentant. DISCUSS: Question 4 on page 18 of the PSG: What message of hope is found in these verses? TRANSITION: The good news of the gospel is that Jesus delivered us from the power of sin. Verses 9-10 tell us that God also gives us a new nature that gives evidence of God s righteousness in us. 22 SESSION 1

12 THE POINT We are loved by God, our perfect Father. 1 John 3:4-8 Commentary In His love, God the Son removes our sin. Verse 4: John knew false teachers were saying sin was really no big deal. They taught this view because they believed that the body was evil and separate from the soul which was good. These teachers claimed what we do in our physical bodies has no effect on our spiritual well-being. John stressed that any kind of sin is breaking God s law. Verse 5: To reinforce his point, John reminded his readers that God the Father had sent Jesus so that He might take away sins. Jesus was able to take away sins because He Himself was sinless (Hebrews 4:15) and perfectly obedient to His Father (Philippians 2:8). To say there s nothing wrong with continuing to sin denies the reality that Jesus died in order to take away the awfulness of our guilt and slavery to sin. Verse 6: John continued to an even stronger argument to urge his readers to stop sinning. Everyone who remains in Him does not sin. Just in case his readers were not clear on his point, he added that everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. John did not mean believers are sinless. John knew that not only are believers tempted to sin; but, because we still retain our sinful natures, we sometimes yield to Satan s temptations. If we claim to be sinless, we re only fooling ourselves (1 John 1:8). Furthermore, John was not saying if we sin after we re saved we will lose our salvation. John never suggested that our sins will separate us from God s saving grace. Instead, he urged his readers to go to God and confess their failures so that God could forgive and cleanse them from all unrighteousness [sin] (v. 9). He was not saying God would restore our salvation. There was no need for that. He was saying God would restore our closeness and our fellowship with Himself. The key to understanding John s meaning is to examine the tense of the verbs in the Greek language used by John. The tense used in verse 6 implies a continuing action, in this case habitual acts of sin. John was describing a person whose life reflects a continuing pattern of sin. John wasn t talking about a single sin (or even a particular sin or sins that a believer might continue to struggle with) but a lifestyle of sinning. A person who claims to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord but who continues in all the same sinful habits, whose supposed faith in Christ leads to absolutely no change in his or her behavior and lifestyle, is mistaken. This person doesn t truly know Jesus; he or she is not a real disciple of Jesus Christ. Verses 7-8: John was concerned that the false teachers were deceiving his friends, so he laid out the facts in simple terms. The one who does what is right is righteous.... The one who commits sin is of the Devil. Genuine believers produce righteous, godly, spiritual fruit. Unsaved people can t do that. The lives of unsaved people reflect the author of sin the Devil. The lives of saved people reflect the Author of righteousness Jesus Christ. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 23

13 10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE 1 John 3:9-10 Notes 9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how God s children and the Devil s children are made evident. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother. READ: Ask a group member to read aloud 1 John 3:9-10. RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 19): When you were born physically, you were born with a sinful nature. That means the most natural thing in the world for you to do is to sin. But when you are born again, you receive a new nature. As a Christian a follower of Christ you are born of God. Scripture says that you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus takes away your sin and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life (Romans 8:9). ALTERNATE QUESTION: How does God s nature in us provide a deterrent to sin? DISCUSS: Question 5 on page 19 of the PSG: Is having a new nature from God more about obeying commands, showing love, or something else? Explain. DO: Divide your members into groups of three or four people each. Within each small group, direct members to take turns sharing aloud their responses to the activity on page 18 of the PSG. Children of God: Which of the following images best depicts your understanding of the new nature God imparts to His children? Explain. TRANSITION: When we are adopted into God s family, we are to become more and more like Him. When we experience and are filled with God s love, His love is going to be seen in our conversation and our choices. Christians are to love out loud! 24 SESSION 1

14 THE POINT We are loved by God, our perfect Father. 1 John 3:9-10 Commentary In His love, God imparts a new nature to His children. Verses 9-10: Not only did Jesus come to free us from the guilt of our past sins but also to enable us to live in freedom from the Devil s temptations and attacks. Everyone who has been born of God does not sin. Again, the tense of the Greek verb John used is significant. He was not talking about being sinless, but about not continuing to be controlled by sinful desires. Our new birth in Jesus means we are new people in our hearts and minds. John explained the reason for this newness when he wrote, because His seed remains in him. John said we don t continue to sin because God s seed lives in us. Seed is the translation of a Greek term originally used to mean the literal seed of a plant; but, gradually it acquired the poetic sense of anything that has the power to create or give life. It was used as a synonym for words such as family and descendants. John s reference in 1 John to God s seed is unique and may refer to the grace and power of the gospel, or to the new life placed in the believer by the Holy Spirit. Because of the power of the gospel and the Spirit s transforming presence, we have a new spiritual power. The believer is not able to sin, that is, continue to obey the Devil. Now the believer s focus is to honor and obey God. Not only does Jesus disciple want to obey God: he or she is able to obey God (Philippians 2:13). John concluded this section by repeating his emphasis from verses 7-8: the proof of who is really a child of God is how he or she lives. The opposite is also true: those who aren t God s children those still enslaved by the Devil also reveal their true character by their lifestyles. Probably John emphasized this point to warn his readers about being deceived by false teachers (1 John 3:7). Though believers can sometimes recognize false teachers by the errors in their doctrine, an even better way to recognize these kinds of people is by their lives their values, their speech, their behavior. Jesus calls all of us to let our light shine through our good works so that others will give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Jesus warned us to stop pointing out the speck of dust in our brother s eye until we first get rid of the log that is in our eyes (7:1-5). As John wrote, our lifestyles should reveal to all who see us that we are God s children. This will only happen when we allow God s seed to flourish in us. Read the article Sin and Lawlessness in the Winter issue of Biblical Illustrator. Previous Biblical Illustrator articles Children in John s Letters (Summer 2015), Love in John s Writings (Summer 2011), and Abide: The Meaning (Winter ) relate to this lesson and can be purchased, along with other articles for this quarter, at Look for Bundles: Bible Studies for Life. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 25

15 5 minutes LIVE IT OUT Notes SAY: Who doesn t want to be loved unconditionally? We all do. What will you do this week with the love God offers? GUIDE: Lead group members to consider the responses to the Bible study listed on page 20 of the PSG. Embrace the love of Christ. If you have not accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, there s no better time than now to be accepted into God s family. Talk to someone in your group or read the inside front cover of this book. Love through actions. Let the love of God overflow out of your life into the lives of others. Look for specific ways to share the love of God with others. Love through words. Tell someone how he or she can experience the love of Christ. Stand strong in the love of Christ, even in a culture that opposes your faith in Him. Wrap It Up SAY: God, our perfect Father, loves us more than we can comprehend. It s simply part of His nature. Out of this deep love, He makes us His children. Get expert insights on weekly studies through the Ministry Grid (MinistryGrid.com/web/BibleStudiesForLife). 26 SESSION 1