scripture Passage: Memory Verse: P S AL M 1 3 9

Transcription

1 LESSON 7 humanity Image-Bearers, Wonderfully Made Communicate that God created people in His image. Our humanity includes both our dignity and our depravity. We are wonderfully made but deeply fallen. Each person has dignity as an image bearer of God; each is fully known by God and wonderfully made. To believe in the dignity bestowed on you by your Creator, and yet realize your sinfulness demands your need of a Savior. Background Passage: scripture Passage: Memory Verse: P S AL M P SAL M : G ENESIS 1 : 2 6 I am fully known by God (vv. 1-6). I am always in God s presence (vv. 7-12). I am remarkably and wonderfully made by God (vv ). page 52 humanity Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.

2 PREPARING TO TEACH Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? What are my next steps? These are questions every person asks. That first question of identity must be answered before we can determine our direction and purpose. The unbelieving world tries to tell us we are minigods, superior to others, or completely worthless. Those are lies. The Bible is the only reliable source to discern who we really are. What we discover about our identity on the pages of God s Word is both exhilarating and sobering. It can also be transforming, which is God s desire for us and the goal of this Venture In Transforming Truths Travelogue. Remember as you prepare and teach to keep spiritual transformation, and not just gaining biblical information, your ultimate aim. Read Genesis 1:26-27 and Psalm 139:1-16 in your Bible, looking for answers to the question, Who am I? Study Lesson 7 in your Travelogue, responding to all bolded activities. You may find it helpful to read Psalm 139: No Escape from God at seriespage/psalm-139-no-escape-god OR Psalm 139: You Are There at Psalm_139.html. Pray through Psalm 139:1-16, talking directly to God about yourself. Journal your thoughts and God s responses in the margin of your Travelogue. Then pray Psalm 139 for your LIFE Group, either individually or with the group as a whole. Obtain an electrostatic cloth or duster (such as Swiffer ). Write Who Am I? on the board. TEACHING SUGGESTIONS MADE IN HIS IMAGE Greet adults as they arrive and request they read Genesis 2:7 in their Bibles. Enlist two volunteers to look up and be prepared to read Genesis 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 3:20. Display the electrostatic cloth and ask what it s for. Demonstrate how the cloth is used to wipe up unwanted dust and then thrown away. page 5 3 humanity

3 Invite the enlisted volunteers to read Genesis 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 3:20. Ask: Is that all we are just dust to be wiped up and thrown away? How does Genesis 2:7 answer that question? Why is it essential to understand what the Bible in its entirety teaches about who we are? Invite someone to read the Travelogue paragraph (p. 70) beginning, Understanding what the Bible teaches about humanity is very important. Today, as the group studies the biblical doctrine of humanity, you will be examining one of life s most basic questions Who am I? (Draw attention to that question you ve written on the board.) You will discover the transforming truths that every person has dignity as an image bearer of God and is wonderfully made and fully known by God. Teacher Tip If you used the teaching plan suggestion to introduce Lesson 4, you may recall adults were asked Who are you? as a means to get them thinking about important truths about Jesus. That lesson focused on the doctrine of Christology; today s lesson focuses on the doctrine of humanity. Asking similar questions, rather than being redundant, can emphasize how all biblical theology is related and vital. KNOWN BY GOD Invite a volunteer to read Psalm 139:1-4. Ask: Do we more often view being searched, intensely examined and investigated, as positive or negative? Why is that? Ask adults if they ve ever examined a project they ve completed or just stared at their children or grandchildren, not to find fault, but to simply marvel at the creation. Ask: How would it change your attitude about yourself and your relationship with God if you understood that He delights in searching you because He marvels at His creation of you? Because God made us and searches us, He knows us fully. Encourage adults to put into their own words specific things God page 5 4 humanity

4 knows about them from verses 2-4. Consider advantages of God knowing everything about us. (We don t have to pretend with God or try to explain ourselves. God s the only One we don t have to try to hide anything from. God knows when we mean well, even when we mess up.) Ask: Why might some people be frightened to read that God sees and knows everything about them? Declare some people might envision God always ready to wipe us up like dust and throw us away because He knows what we re really like. But the psalmist knew that God s complete knowledge of him was for his good. Request a volunteer read Psalm 139:5. Declare God s hand on us is an indication of His Fatherly loving care for us; His hand might be heavy at times, but that s for our protection and discipline. Ask: How does knowing God s hand is upon you provide confidence for your life (Travelogue, p. 72)? Teacher Help The Christianity Today article, Have We Forgotten the Power of Touch? by Nicole Watt ( women/2014/june/have-we-forgotten-power-of-touch.html) explores the power of healthy touch. If human touch is so powerful, imagine the power of recognizing God places His mighty hand on each of us. Draw attention to the question Who Am I? on the board. Ask: How would you answer that question based on Psalm 139:1-5? (Samples: I am significant. I am a person worth being known, touched, cared for, and protected.) IN HIS PRESENCE Declare Psalm 139:7-12 provides more answers to the question Who am I? Invite a volunteer to read those verses. Ask: What do we learn about who we are? (Samples: We are people always in God s presence, held on to and guided by His mighty hand.) Evaluate the purpose of the psalmist s questions in verse 7. Explain some interpret this as the psalmist wanting to escape God s presence and recognizing it s impossible. Others interpret them page 5 5 humanity

5 as rhetorical questions that the psalmist wrote to celebrate God s merciful omnipresence (see Travelogue p. 141). Guide the class to identify the three sets of opposites the psalmist used to make his point that God is everywhere. (Heaven/ Sheol. East/West. Dark/Light) Explain Sheol is a Hebrew word for either the grave or the realm of the dead. 1 Encourage adults, either together as a large group or in smaller teams, to compose a 21 st century version of verses 8 and 9. (Sample: When I m on top of the world, You re there. When I m in an airplane clutching the armrest with white knuckles, You re there. When I m in the depths of despair, You re there. When I m in that hospital room, classroom, or boardroom, You re there. When I m far from home and missing my friends and family so badly I feel like there s a gaping hole in my heart, You re there.) Teaching Option The psalmist had no idea people really would go into the heavens and find God there. When astronaut John Glenn looked out the window of Discovery from outer space he said, To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith. Share other testimonies from Astronauts Who Found God by Chuck Colson at Discuss: In what sense is God s presence everywhere a source of comfort to you (Travelogue, p. 73)? How is the psalmist s description of God s omnipresence also a warning? Read from Travelogue page 72: You also cannot avoid God s watchful eye and His awareness of your sin. You may think you can hide from God in the darkness, but God can see just as easily in darkness as in light (vv ), so there is no hope of concealing your sin from God. Ask: According to verse 10, what does God s hand do for us even when we do sin or try to flee from His presence? Emphasize God does not give up on us when we re unfaithful. No page 5 6 humanity

6 matter where we are, and whether or not we sense His presence, He s there to hold and guide us. REMARKABLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE Declare: The psalmist marveled at God s knowledge, he marveled at God s presence, and he marveled at himself as God s magnificent creation. Ask a volunteer to read Psalm 139: Ask: How does verse 14 answer the question, Who am I? Explain inward parts literally says kidneys which is often used in the Old Testament to refer to the seat of emotions or affections. The psalmist was emphasizing God didn t just create our amazingly complex physical bodies; He created what makes us uniquely us our souls, spirits, personalities, and abilities. Request adults identify the two word pictures the psalmist used to describe how God created him (vv. 13,15). Ask: What insights do those two images give you about your significance? Use the Travelogue (p. 74) remarks to discuss formed. Declare embroidery and knitting require planning and a pattern to produce works of art that have purpose. Declare God has a purpose for each human life He has created. He has written each person s story and we have no right to try to edit His book and determine the value or length of any human life. IN THE IMAGE OF GOD Assert every person is remarkably and wonderfully made because every person is created in the image of God. Invite someone to read Genesis 1: Point out verse 26 is this lesson s memory verse. Ask: How would you define the image of God (Travelogue, p. 77)? Read the Travelogue (p. 75) explanation of the Imago Dei (see Travelogue p. 140) beginning with: The image of God is a likeness or similarity Ask: How do you think sin impacts the image of God in human lives (Travelogue, p. 77)? Invite a volunteer to read Romans 3: State: Sin has marred, but not destroyed, the image of God in us. We are wonderfully made but deeply fallen. We have page 57 humanity

7 great dignity but also great depravity. However, God did not wipe us up and throw us away because of our sinful, fallen nature. Instead He sent His Son to wipe our sins away with His sacrificial death on the cross. Declare it is still God s intention for us to bear His likeness. He has placed all who have trusted in Jesus as Savior on a journey of being transformed into the image of His Son, who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). Read 2 Corinthians 3:18. CONCLUSION Ask: How would you summarize all we have explored today to answer the question, Who am I? Share a summary such as: I am God s masterpiece, marred by sin, saved by grace through faith, sanctified by the power of God, and continually being transformed from glory to glory into the image of Jesus. Ask: What implications can those truths have on how you think about yourself? How you live? How you relate to God and others? Close in prayer, thanking God for wonderfully making and wonderfully saving His people. FOLLOW THROUGH Contact all participants by phone or . Thank them for their faithfulness to this study. Encourage them to continue studying God s Word and the Travelogue lessons, and to work on memorizing the memory verses. This lesson s discussion on the sanctity of life may have stimulated conversation about serving a Crisis Pregnancy Center or nursing home. Enlist participants to explore and promote opportunities for your LIFE Group to promote and protect the value of every life. 1 HCSB Study Bible bullet note, page page 5 8 humanity