COMe TOGeTheR. Icebreaker Questions

Transcription

1 S E S S I O N 2 The New Covenant D A Y L I G H T P R E V I E W Something Changed For thousands of years, Judaism was the biblical way. The Old Testament tells the story of the Jewish people and how God led them, dealt with them, and spoke to them. Then suddenly, in what we now call the first century AD, a new kind of faith developed. Peter preached from the Old Testament that Jewish document and people became Christians. They became followers of Jesus. How did it happen, and what was behind this thing we call Christianity? These are the kinds of things Avner Boskey, Meno Kalisher, and Michael Rydelnik examine as they discuss with Mart De Haan the beginnings of the church. COMe TOGeTheR Icebreaker Questions 1. What are your earliest memories of hearing Scripture being read or reading it yourself? Does anything stand out to you about your first Bible? SeSSION 2 The New Covenant 17

2 2. How has your attitude toward the Bible changed over time? 3. Avner Boskey speaks of the growth of Christianity in terms of a little Jewish bunny and a huge Gentile bear. When in your life have you been able to identify with being part of the bunny the greatly outnumbered minority? F I N D I N G D A Y L I G H T Experience the Video Feel free to jot down Video Notes as you watch the presentation by Mart De Haan and friends. Use the space below for those notes. A new relationship VIDeO NOTeS Moses and the writings The symbols and the origins 18 J e w I S h R O O T S

3 What changed? The promise of the new covenant The spread of Christianity The bear and the bunny The church: Jew or Gentile? W A L K I N G I N T H E D A Y L I G H T Discussion Time CONSIDeR The CULTURAL ISSUeS Background Questions 1. How hard would it be for you to tell someone about Jesus if you couldn t refer to the New Testament (new covenant)? How would that kind of situation magnify for you the value and importance of the Old Testament (old covenant)? SeSSION 2 The New Covenant 19

4 2. Avner Boskey states that the identity of Christians as an entity separate from Judaism didn t occur right away. It happened over time because of (a) pressure from the Roman world, (b) the lack of acceptance from the synagogue, and (c) so many Gentile believers getting in on this good thing called the gospel. As the church gradually became a non-jewish movement, some of the anti-jewish feelings that were in the world at the time became part of the church. a. Do you agree with Avner that to a large extent the split in our perspective regarding Judaism and the church comes because we re looking at it two thousand years later from a Gentile perspective? b. If so, what difference would it make, when we read the New Testament, to get back into the culture and into the minds and hearts of the people then? 3. What does Meno Kalisher mean when he says that the Jews in Jesus day were masters of the symbol for instance, in regard to the animal sacrifices? How did Jesus represent the fulfillment of those symbols? 20 J e w I S h R O O T S

5 DISCOVeR GOD S word Discussion/Application Questions 1. Luke 24 recounts the story of two followers of Jesus who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the first Easter Sunday. We know from verse 33 that they weren t members of Jesus inner circle of disciples. Only one of them, Cleopas (verse 18), is named, and we know nothing more about him. Read the first part of the story in Luke 24: The expression Moses and all the Prophets in verse 27 designated the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures. What do you suppose some of Jesus specific points of explanation could have been? 2. Read how the story continues in verses How did Jesus explanation of the Scriptures affect these two disciples? 3. Read verses to see what happens as these two disciples return to Jerusalem. What role and significance do the Hebrew Scriptures have in this scene? SeSSION 2 The New Covenant 21

6 4. Mart De Haan points out that as we look back historically we know that God, the God of the Jewish people, was doing a new thing. That new thing, called the new covenant, was specifically prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah. Read that prophecy in Jeremiah 31: a. How will this covenant be different from the covenant God made with the Israelites when He brought them out of Egypt? b. What does Michael Rydelnik mean when he says that the new thing God was doing wasn t new because it wasn t Jewish it was new because it was a new covenant? c. How does the new covenant represent a changed relationship with God? 5. Although the fulfillment of this new covenant was initially fulfilled through Jewish people only, it soon grew to embrace the world as Jesus offer of forgiveness and new life was carried beyond Israel. Avner Boskey compares the growth of Christianity to a little Jewish bunny and a huge Gentile bear. And even though that was God s plan, bears and bunnies have to be very careful when they dance together, because there is naturally a lot of tension. Early on, as we see in the book of Acts, the question was, Can Gentiles become followers of Jesus without first becoming Jews? Ironically, today the shoe is on the other foot, and the question is, Can 22 J e w I S h R O O T S

7 Jews become followers of Jesus and continue being Jews? What do you think? Reflecting on your own life: Has there been a time in your life when you could especially relate to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus whose hearts burned within them as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them? D A Y L I G H T O N P R A Y E R A Time to Share 1. How do you feel about your current response to the Scriptures and the role that the Scriptures play in your life now? 2. How can the group support you in prayer? What prayer concerns do you have for other people or situations in the world? SeSSION 2 The New Covenant 23

8 D A Y L I G H T A H E A D Mart, Avner, Meno, and Michael remain on the temple steps in Jerusalem as they examine what happened 2,000 years ago when everything changed and the message of God s love which had historically been a Jewish story suddenly included Gentiles. What happened between Jews and Gentiles back then that still matters today? The men discuss this in Session J e w I S h R O O T S