COMMENTARY / This portion of the lesson is for the leader s personal study.

Transcription

1 LESSON 4: TEACH THE WORD Key Scriptures: Joh 17:13-17; Matthew 13:23, 34-36; Mark 10:17-34; Matthew 24:1-14; Joh 11:1-44 Memory Verse: I have give them Your Word ad the world has hated them, for they are ot of the world ay more tha I am of the world. Joh 17:14 COMMENTARY / This portio of the lesso is for the leader s persoal study. Review For the past three weeks we have bee studyig what it meas to follow Jesus, to be His disciple ad how followig Him results i disciple-makig. The foudatio of beig Christ s disciple is belief i the perso of Jesus Christ that He is who He says He is. This belief compels us to multiply ourselves through Christ s method of disciple-makig by sharig the Word with others. Last week, we looked at how Christ ot oly shared the Word verbally but showed the Word physically. This week we are goig to study the ext compoet of disciple-makig, teachig the Word. Disciple-makig progressio: Sharig the Word, Showig the Word, Teachig the Word. I Joh 17:13-17, Jesus cotiues His prayer for His disciples. I verse 13, Jesus ackowledges to the Father that He will be comig to Him (God) soo. Jesus says i verse 14 that He has give the disciples God s Word. How has Jesus give the disciples God s Word? He has shared the Word ad showed the Word to them. This week we will see how Jesus teaches the Word. Not of the World I verse 15 Jesus prays that God would protect the disciples from the evil oe (Sata). He ackowledges i verse 16 that the world hates the disciples because they are o loger of the world. Why are they o loger of the world? Because they have followed Christ ad become His disciples. They are ow set apart for a higher purpose the God-give purpose to make disciples of all atios.

2 Set Apart Notice their idetificatio with Christ i verse 16. I the same way that Christ is ot of the world, either are they. I verse 17 Jesus asks the Father to sactify the disciples by the truth. The word sactify i the Greek meas to set apart, to make holy. Jesus goes o to say that Your Word is truth. Jesus has give the disciples God s Word. The Word sactifies them or sets them apart from the world. I tur, the world ow hates them because they are o loger of the world. Sice God s Word has bee give to them, they are ow resposible to teach it to others, despite the cost. This is why Jesus is prayig for them. He kows the cost of obediece. Now We Have the Resposibility This truth has huge implicatios i our lives today as disciples of Christ ad as disciple-makers. If we have repeted of our sis ad placed our faith i Christ, we too are o loger of the world. We have bee set apart, made holy. We are sactified by the truth just as the disciples were. We have bee give the Word, just as Christ gave the Word to the disciples. We are ow resposible to teach this Word to others. Not oly do we share the Word ad show the Word; we teach the Word. 2 Beyod a Classroom It is especially here that we see disciple-makig go from accidetal to itetioal. With Christ, class was always i sessio. His life was the class. As the disciples observed Him (showig the Word) they also listeed to His words (teachig the Word). True disciple-makig caot occur i a classroom settig oe hour each week. It will happe as we live daily with the itetioal purpose to reproduce ourselves i the lives of others. This will move us from beig self- cetered Christias to God-cetered disciples of Christ. What God teaches us will o loger be oly for us, but also for the beefit of the disciples God has etrusted to us. Taki a Tour I today s lesso, we will be takig a tour of the Gospels to see how Christ created teachig opportuities out of both large ad small evets i His life. From raisig the dead, to parables, to commo coversatio, Jesus was always teachig His disciples. Observe as you study today that Jesus teachig was always more tha verbal it was traiig istructio by word ad example. See the Examples What follows are four examples of these teachig opportuities from the Gospels. This week we wat to observe the Scripture from the perspective of the disciples. As you prepare ad lead your group, cotiually be askig yourself ad your studets the questios, What was this evet like for the disciples? What were they learig from Jesus by what they saw ad heard? The key this week is to help your group uderstad that Jesus took every opportuity to teach His disciples. They costatly beefited from His miistry to others because as He showed the Word to others, He taught the Word to them. It will be helpful for you to read each passage before you read the commetary for it. Durig your teachig time you will be breakig the class ito smaller groups ad assigig each group oe of these examples to read, examie ad discuss. The you will brig the groups back together to share what they leared. The commetary will be helpful as you facilitate discussio as each group shares.

3 A hadout for each group is icluded at the ed of the lesso. You may wat to make a copy of the hadouts ad complete oe for yourself as you prepare ad study. Eve if you do ot typically do small group discussio withi your group, we ask that you do so at least this oe time this lesso is formulated for studets to discover these truths from the Word themselves through this iteractio. Each example is listed by the evet that occurred, what Jesus taught the disciples through this evet ad the Scripture referece. Evet: The Parables Teachig: Mysteries of God Revealed Matthew 13:1-51 Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus teachig the crowds with parables. What we wat to focus o i this passage is how Jesus uses parables to teach the Word to His disciples. As we examie this passage from the perspective of the disciples, what do we lear? First, we see that Jesus told the parables to large crowds but He oly explaied the full meaig of these parables to His disciples. Verse 2 says that such a large crowd gathered aroud Jesus that He got i a boat to teach while they stood o the shore. Verse 3 goes o to say that He told the crowd may thigs i parables. Verse 10 tells us that the disciples came to Jesus ad asked Him why He taught the crowd i parables. I verses we see Jesus itetioally teachig the Word to His disciples i a differet way tha He taught the crowd. He uses their questio about parables to explai the fulfillmet of a Old Testamet prophecy (Isaiah 6:9-10). 3 The i verse 16 Jesus begis to teach His disciples that they are blessed because God s Word has bee revealed to them. May righteous me have loged to uderstad the truths that Christ is revealig to them. The mysteries of God are beig etrusted to the disciples. They are ot just beig told parables like everyoe else; they are beig taught God s Word. Notice how this relates back to Jesus prayer i Joh 17:14 whe Jesus says He has give them Your Word. It is this Word that sactifies them. We further see the distictio i how the disciples are taught i verses as Jesus explais to the disciples what the parable meas. Do ot miss the itetioality of Christ i this passage. He shares the Word with the crowd by tellig the parable. The He maximizes the opportuity to teach the Word to His disciples whe they questio Him i verse 10. Notice that they did ot ask Him what the parable meat. They asked Him why He speaks i parables. This questio leads to a lesso about the treasure that is beig etrusted to them. The He explais the meaig of the parable. Throughout the rest of chapter 13, we see Jesus tellig may parables to the crowds. As we skip dow to verses 34-36, we agai see Jesus teachig the Word to the disciples as they questio Jesus i private about the meaig of the parable of the weeds i the field. I verses Jesus explais the meaig to His disciples. Verse 51 further illustrates Jesus itetioality as He asks the disciples the questio, Have you uderstood all these thigs? He did ot wat the disciples to merely hear the Word; He wated to make sure that they uderstood so that they could teach the Word to others. It was i the times after the crowds scattered that the disciples had the opportuity to ask

4 questios. Christ recogized these times as precious opportuities to teach the Word. Evet: The Rich Youg Ruler Teachig: Eteral Life Mark 10:17-34 You may have heard the story of the rich youg ruler cotaied i the begiig of this passage. Agai, we wat our focus today to be o how this evet played out i the lives of the disciples. I verse 17 a ma comes to Jesus ad asks what he must do to iherit eteral life. I verses 18-22, Jesus has a coversatio with this ma about God s commadmets ad what he lacks. Jesus istructs him to go ad sell all of his possessios ad give the moey to the poor, the he will have treasure i heave. Verse 22 tells us that the ma wet away sad because he had great wealth. Notice the itetioality of Jesus istructio to this ma. Begiig i verse 23, Jesus begis to teach His disciples about how hard it is for a rich ma to eter the kigdom of heave. I verse 26 the disciples begi to questio who ca be saved. This leads to a lesso i verses about the cost ad blessig of eteral life. I verse 30 Jesus promises both blessig ad persecutio i the preset age ad eteral life i the age to come. 4 The, i verse 32, we agai see Jesus take the disciples to the side to teach them. This time Jesus begis to share with them what is to come His betrayal, crucifixio, ad resurrectio. Notice how Jesus is revealig the mystery of God s will to these me. What started out as a coversatio betwee Jesus ad the rich youg ruler has ow become a itimate momet of revelatio i the lives of the disciples. Evet: Preachig at the Temple Teachig: Sigs of the Ed of the Age Matthew 24:1-14 This passage picks up after Jesus has bee preachig to His disciples ad the crowds at the Temple (Matthew 23). Chapter 24 begis by tellig us i verse 1 that Jesus is leavig the temple whe His disciples come to Him to call His attetio to the buildigs. Mark 13:1 describes the same evet by sayig that the disciples came to Jesus ad said, Look, Teacher! What massive stoes! What magificet buildigs! I this passage, Jesus uses their fasciatio with the temple as a opportuity to teach the Word. I verse 2 He tells them that ot oe stoe of the temple will be left stadig. Naturally, the disciples questio Jesus i verse 3. They wat to kow whe ad what will be the sig of His comig at the ed of the age. I verses 4-14 Jesus begis to teach the disciples about the sigs that will come. I verse 9, Jesus teaches His disciples that they will be persecuted, hated by all atios, ad eve killed because of Christ. Remember what we studied last week about the Holy Spirit comig to the disciples ad brigig them power to be Christ s witesses (Acts 1:8)? We leared last week that the Greek defiitio of witesses i this verse is to testify uto death; to martyr. What bega as a coversatio about architecture has ow become Christ teachig ad preparig His disciples for what lies ahead. He is agai revealig the mystery of God s will to them i a distictive way. I verses 10-13

5 Jesus tells them that may will tur away from the faith i the face of the persecutio ad sufferig to come, but those who edure to the ed will be saved. Verse 14 says that the Gospel will be preached to the whole world as a testimoy to the atios the same atios that will hate them. Who will preach the Gospel to the world? How will all that Jesus is teachig the disciples make it to the etire world? Through the lives of the disciples. Remember Jesus prayer for their protectio i Joh 17: He does ot pray that they would be take out of the world that will hate them accordig to Matthew 24:9, but that they will be protected from the evil oe (Joh 17:14) as they surreder their lives to Christ s missio to make disciples of all atios. Evet: Raisig Lazarus from the Dead Teachig: Belief Joh 11:1-44 This passage is a great example of how Jesus disciples beefited from His showig the Word to others. This is a familiar story to may, but as we examie it from the perspective of the disciples we ca see how Christ had them i mid, eve as He miistered to Lazarus ad his family. Jesus tells His disciples i verses 7-10 that they are goig back to Judea to check o Lazarus. The disciples questio this decisio because the Jews there have bee tryig to kill Jesus. They are fearful to go back. I verse 11 Jesus explais that Lazarus has falle asleep but He is goig to wake him up. They thik Jesus meas literal sleep istead of death. I verse 14, Jesus plaily tells them that Lazarus is dead. I verse 15 Jesus says, Ad for your sake I am glad I was ot there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him (Lazarus). For the sake of the disciples, Jesus is glad He was t there with Lazarus whe he died. Why? So that they would believe. Jesus kows that raisig Lazarus from the dead will icrease the faith of His disciples whe they witess the miracle. They too will beefit from this miracle. We kow from verse 16 that the disciples did go with Jesus back to Judea. Verses tell the story of how Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. 5 This passage demostrates for us that eve as Christ miistered to others with miracles, His disciples were still the focus of His miistry. Everythig Christ did was to reveal God s Word to His disciples. Applicatio From preachig to crowds, to a coversatio with a rich ma, to viewig magificet architecture, to raisig the dead, Jesus was costatly teachig the Word to these twelve me. No evet was too large or too small to be a teachig opportuity. So what does this mea for us today? Lifelog Learers As disciples, we are lifelog learers ad followers of Christ. Like those twelve me who Jesus called to follow Him, class is always i sessio for us, too. We may ot lear from the physical presece of Christ, but we lear from His Word through the Holy Spirit. Some of us also lear from people who disciple us by multiplyig themselves i our lives. Because the Word of God has bee revealed to us, we have bee etrusted with the mysteries of God s will. For ceturies, righteous me loged to uderstad what Christ has revealed to us. I the same way that Jesus

6 disciples had a resposibility to take what He had give them ad ivest it i the lives of others, we have that same resposibility. As disciple-makers, our lives become a classroom to those we disciple. As we follow Christ, we itetioally teach our disciples what we lear, both verbally ad physically. As we show the Word to the world, our disciples ca beefit greatly from our miistry to others if we choose to maximize the teachable momets God gives us. Jesus prayed i Joh 17:17 that God would sactify His disciples by the truth of His Word. He kew what lay ahead for them. He kew they would be hated, persecuted, ad eve killed because of their obediece to His missio for the Gospel to go to the eds of the earth. He had approximately three years to prepare them for this future. Kowig the cost of true discipleship, Christ took every opportuity God gave Him to teach these me. The He prayed that the Father would protect them as they lived what they leared from Him after He left the earth. Christ prays for us i the same way. Romas 8:34-37 says that Christ is at the right had of the Father i heave itercedig for us. For His sake we face death all day log, we are cosidered sheep to be slaughtered accordig to verse 36. We will face hardship ad persecutio if we choose to live out this missio, but we have a advocate who has faced all of this Himself ad has oversome. Therefore, as Romas 8:37 says, we are more tha coquerors i all of these thigs. 6 The questio for us today is whether or ot we ca say with Jesus, Father, I have revealed You to those You have give me out of the world (Joh 17:6). Ca we say to the Father, I have give them Your Word, as Jesus prayed i Joh 17:14? Sice God s Word has bee give to us, it is our resposibility ad privilege to itetioally teach it to others. If we are followers of Jesus Christ we are sactified, set apart, made holy. The mysteries of God are i our care. There is a world of lost people who will beefit from the truth we have livig i us. The choice is yours to make. Will you keep what you kow for yourself, or will you surreder everythig for the God-give missio to make disciples of all atios? TEACHING / This portio of the lesso is for the etire class. Opeig Activity / 5 miutes Prior to your group time, cotact a studet from your class ad ask them to be prepared to teach aother class member how to do somethig simple. Examples iclude how to braid hair, cross stitch, pait, play a istrumet, or make somethig. The idea for this activity is to have the studet show the etire group how to do it (by doig it i frot of the class), but be teachig oe other class member (who is stadig with him/her) as he/she does it. This will illustrate how Jesus showed the Word to crowds but explaied ad taught the Word to His disciples. You could do this yourself if you ca t fid a studet to do it. At the ed of the activity, ask the group who would be best equipped to teach someoe else how to do the activity the etire group, or the perso who was stadig with the perso ad gettig more detailed istructios? How Jesus Taught Explai that today we are goig to cotiue our study of disciple-makig by lookig at how Jesus taught the Word to His disciples.

7 Key Study / 35 miutes As you begi your study time i God s Word, pray that God would make the etire class receptive to what He wats to reveal to the group today as you discuss His word. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide the class ito all truth (Joh 16:13) so that He will be glorified through the discussio. Pray that each perso s life will be chaged as a result of the truths you lear today (James 1:22). Usig the commetary sectio o Joh 17:13-17, explai to the group our basis for study today. Make sure to iclude iformatio about Joh 17:14. Also defie sactificatio i verse 17. Explai that today we will observe the Scripture from the perspective of the disciples to see how Jesus used every opportuity to teach them the Word. Tell your group that you will be dividig them ito 4 smaller groups (adjust based o class size). Explai that each smaller group will be give oe passage of Scripture ad a hadout with some questios. Each smaller group should select oe perso who is willig to speak for them to share what they lear with the etire group. Remid them to focus o each passage from the perspective of the disciples as they aswer the questios. Small Group Discussio Lead a discussio of each passage usig the hadouts ad allow each group leader to share what they leared. Before they begi to aswer the questios, have each smaller group leader share a quick overview of their assiged passage to put the questios i cotext for the rest of the group. It is ot ecessary to cover every questio listed o the hadouts. Use the lesso commetary for each passage to help guide the discussio. You may eve wat to make lists of key poits for each passage o the white board. After each smaller group has shared, ask the followig questios: I these passages, how did Jesus use both the commo ad the extraordiary to teach the Word to His disciples? How was He itetioal? How did the disciples beefit from Christ sharig ad showig the Word to others? Based o the passages we studied today, i what ways did Jesus disciples lear from Him? Name as may ways as you ca thik of. What do you thik it was like to be oe of Christ s twelve disciples? Discuss both the beefits ad the hardships. 7 Applicatio / 5 miutes Usig the commetary portio of the lesso, explai to the group that as disciples of Christ today, the Word has bee give to us, just as it was give to the twelve disciples. We too have bee etrusted with the mysteries of Christ. We have bee set apart from the world. Explai that that Romas 8:34-37 teaches us that Christ itercedes for us, just as He prayed for His twelve disciples i Joh 17. Lead a discussio about how what we see i the life of Jesus as a disciplemaker applies to us today. Remid your studets about the ames they wrote dow o the idex card at the ed of last week s lesso. What ca we apply from these passages of Scripture that will help us be more itetioal about teachig the Word to those i our spheres of ifluece. Use the followig questios to help guide the discussio: Jesus cosidered both the ordiary ad the extraordiary momets of life to be opportuities to teach His disciples. Thik about your life. What are some examples of ordiary, everyday evets that could be trasformed ito teachable momets? Iclude examples such as family life, career, eighbors, etc.

8 Share some examples of big life evets that God has used to coform you to Christ s image. How ca you be itetioal i these types of life evets to teach others God s Word, just by how you walk through them? How ca you be itetioal as you miister to the world to teach those i your sphere of ifluece? How ca your disciples beefit from your showig the Word to others? What are some practical ways that you ca begi to recogize opportuities to teach the Word that you might ot have oticed before? How does somethig as simple as fillig out the sermo outlie every Suday provide you with a resource to teach others? How does learig for the purpose of teachig others chage the way we lear? How does believig that what God teaches us is ot oly for us chage the way we view our salvatio? How does it chage the way we view people? How does it chage the way we view ourselves? Close your time together by prayig for your group. Small Group Relatioships ad Teachig As a remider, the very Small Group you are facilitatig provides ogoig opportuities to teach the Word by speakig ad example. The relatioships you ad others build withi ad beyod your Small Group give you opportuities to put teachig the Word ito practice every week. 8 The Reteachig Guide We have made available a simple Reteachig Guide, which explais how to take a lesso like this Small Group lesso or a Suday sermo ad study ad reteach it to others durig the week. Free copies of the Reteachig Guide are olie as a PDF dowload at godswordisgood.org. Additioal lessos ad iformatio are available at

9 Studet Hadout / Group 1 Read Matthew 13:1-23 ad aswer the followig questios: Accordig to verse 2, describe the size of Jesus audiece for this sermo. What is the disciples questio to Jesus i verse 10? What is His aswer i verses 11-15? What does Jesus tell His disciples has bee give to them i verse 11? Because this has bee give to them, how does Jesus describe them i verses 16-17? What does Jesus do for His disciples i verses that He did t do for the crowds cocerig the parable of the sower? I verses 24-33, Jesus cotiues to teach the crowds i parables. Skip dow ad read Matthew 13:34-36 ad aswer the followig questios: What questio do the disciples agai ask Jesus i verse 37? Where does this occur? Is it i public? Accordig to verse 37, does Jesus aswer their questio? I verses 44-50, Jesus cotiues to teach i parables. Skip dow ad read verse 51 ad aswer the followig questios: What does Jesus ask His disciples i this verse? I this passage, what differece do you see i how Jesus taught the crowds, ad how He taught His disciples? 9 Did His disciples hear the parables as Jesus taught the crowds? How do you kow? (Hit: The questios they asked Him i private) If they heard the parables alog with the crowds, why do you thik Jesus explaied their meaig i more detail to the disciples? Put yourselves i the place of the disciples. Describe the evet from their perspective. What did they see, hear, lear, etc. from just beig with Christ i this passage? How does this passage show Jesus itetioality i teachig the Word to His disciples?

10 Studet Hadout/ Group 2 Read Mark 10:17-34 ad aswer the followig questios: Describe what traspires i verses Who was with Jesus whe this coversatio occurred accordig to verse 23? What does Jesus say to His disciples i verses 23-25? What is the disciples reactio to this statemet i verse 26? What truth does Jesus teach His disciples i verses 27-31? What does Jesus do i verse 32? What did Jesus share with His disciples i verses 33-34? 10 Why do you thik Jesus took the Twelve aside to share these thigs with them? What does that tell you about His relatioship with His disciples? Put yourselves i the place of the disciples. Describe the evet from their perspective. What did they see, hear, lear, etc. from just beig with Christ i this passage? How does this passage show Jesus itetioality i teachig the Word to His disciples?

11 Studet Hadout / Group 3 Read Matthew 24:1-14 ad aswer the followig questios: What do the disciples poit out to Jesus i verse 1? (It might be helpful for you to read Mark 13:1, which gives a more detailed accout of this verse.) How does Jesus aswer them i verse 2? What questios does Jesus statemet brig from the disciples i verse 3? Describe Jesus aswer i verses Make sure to iclude what you lear from verse 9. What does Jesus say will happe i verse 14? How will verse 14 be fulfilled after Christ returs to heave? Who will carry o His miistry of the Gospel? Why do you thik Jesus shares the details of the ed of the age with His disciples? Why do they eed to kow? How does this relate to the previous questio? Put yourselves i the place of the disciples. Describe the evet from their perspective. What did they see, hear, lear, etc. from just beig with Christ i this passage? How does this passage show Jesus itetioality i teachig the Word to His disciples? They bega talkig about the architecture of the temple. How does Jesus create a teachig opportuity from this coversatio? 11

12 Studet Hadout / Group 4 Read Joh 11:1-44 ad aswer the followig questios: What does Jesus say about Lazarus sickess i verse 4? Why is he sick? How does verse 5 tell us Jesus felt about Lazarus ad his sisters? Eve though Jesus loved him, what does verse 6 say Jesus did whe He foud out Lazarus was sick? Describe Jesus coversatio with His disciples i verses Pay special attetio to what Jesus says i verse 15. Compare verses 4, 6 ad 15. What do you see? Accordig to verse 16, did the disciples go with Jesus to see Lazarus? Describe what happeed whe Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead i verses How does Jesus describe Himself to Martha i verses 25-26? What questio do the Jews ask i verse 37? 12 Put yourselves i the place of the disciples. Describe the evet from their perspective. What did they see, hear, lear, etc. from just beig with Christ i this passage? What did Jesus mea i verse 15? How did the disciples beefit from this miracle?