BIBLE FELLOWSHIP TEACHING PLANS

Transcription

1 BIBLE FELLOWSHIP TEACHING PLANS MARCH 25, 2018

2 PREPARATION At this point you will have become familiar with the things that we have asked you to do each week. Answer some of these questions, pray for your group, and pray for your pastor. This week though, I want to add some encouragement for you as the leader. My biggest encouragement for this final week is not to shy away from personal conviction, statistics show us that this last two chapters will hit on an area of our spiritual journey that we are called to live out but seldom do. Because we do not do it and because it is at times uncomfortable, does not mean you are any less called to obedience in it. Allow the Holy Spirit to challenge you as an individual first and then as a leader of your group second. The other piece of encouragement I have for you this week is to not shy away from being transparent about your struggles with these things to your class. Once you have been transparent, challenge them in the same way. Challenge them out of hiding and complacency and into light and obedience to what God has called them to. CHAPTERS 1. Ch. 7, Keeping the Cross at the Center 2. Ch. 8, The Power of the Gospel Main Points: 1. There is only one true gospel. 2. Jesus death and resurrection are necessary pieces in the true gospel. 3. The gospel hasn t lost its effect, we are just sinful. 4. Christians and non-christians alike have a response to the gospel in their lives. 5. Don t love the kingdom, love the King of the kingdom. Memory Verse: How will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? Romans 10:14 Introduction (Conversation starting questions) 1. Have you ever tried to do a DIY (do it yourself) job around the house and cut the corners with materials? Did it ever backfire and cause you to circle back at a later time only to have to fix it again? 2

3 TEACHING EMPHASIS & UNDERSTANDING There is only one true gospel. (Read pages ) Teaching emphasis: To help the group understand that there is no salvation apart from Christ, people are not capable of saving themselves. This same gospel that is relevant for the individual is relevant for the bigger issues in life. DISCUSS - It is not enough to be navigating the path of the Christian life. If a person doesn t come in through that gate, he is not truly a Christian (102). The bible makes it distinctly clear that there is only one way to become a Christian, through faith in Jesus Christ. If we try to arrive through an alternative method than we have missed the very thing that Jesus has done to pardon us before a holy God. DISCUSS - One of the greatest dangers the body of Christ faces today is the temptation to rethink and rearticulate the gospel in a way that makes its center something other than the death of Jesus on the cross in place of sinners (102). 1. People will try to convince us that the gospel is not big enough to handle the problems like war, oppression, poverty, and injustice. However, the end result of the gospel is the diminishing of all these things in God s perfect kingdom. 2. If we re not careful we can allow the cross to be placed in a secondary position in the gospel narrative and we can incidentally insert good, secondary things in the primary seat. 3. ASK - What are some different things that might get inserted as the primary focus of the gospel? Declarations that the heart of the gospel is actually { The fact that God is remaking the world. { That he has promised a kingdom that will make everything right. { That he is calling us to join him in transforming our culture. 3

4 4. 4. To assume, marginalize, or ignore the death of Jesus in place of sinners is to miss the heart of the gospel entirely. Three Substitute Gospels (Read pages ) Teaching Emphasis: We need to be careful that we do not substitute the true gospel for something else. The first substitute we need to be careful in avoiding is the idea that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is Savior are separate. 1. Some people will only emphasize Jesus Lordship because they want to proclaim that it is Jesus who rules. 2. The declaration that Jesus is Lord is absolutely true and it is essential to the gospel message. (Rom. 10:9) ASK - How can we get in trouble by only acknowledging Jesus as Lord? 1. If Jesus is only Lord then he is just the ruler over our lives who will require a verdict of us before a holy God. This is no good news at all, lordship implies the right to judge. We should not desire to be judged by a God that we are enemies of. 2. However, if Jesus is not just Lord but he is also Savior, then he can intercede on our behalf and make it so we are no longer enemies of God the judge, 3. It is important to keep the entire narrative. The second substitute we need to be careful in avoiding is the idea that the gospel is Creation-Fall-Redemption- Consumation. ASK - What do you understand this process to mean? This is a great outline for the overall narrative of scripture. But it is not the gospel. However, you can find the gospel inside of this narrative. The issue is that this narrative has been wrongly used. Its current emphasis is on the reality that the gospel has promised to renew the world instead of placing the emphasis on the cross of Jesus. ASK - Why or how can this become an issue? 4

5 DISCUSS - If we say merely that God is redeeming a people and remaking the world, but do not say how he is doing so and how a person can be included in that redemption, then we have not proclaimed the good news. We have simply told the narrative of the Bible in broad outline and left sinners with their faces pressed against the window looking in (107). Lastly we need to understand that Cultural Transformation is not the gospel. 1. The main idea here is that culture will be transformed through the work of Christians. Resisting personal and systemic evil in society is certainly a biblical effort. For example, Christians that fought against slavery were certainly living out a faithful gospel witness to the culture and that is a good thing. ASK - How do you see this being taken too far and excluding the true gospel? 1. A transformationslist might take it too far and say that they must do what they see God is doing. In doing this they begin to try and establish God s reign in their neighborhoods, cities, nations and world. 2. The problem is, in their attempt to establish God s reign they have focused too heavily on building God s moral kingdom and failed to include the people that God desires in that kingdom with them. They lost sight of the true gospel entirely. Cultural Transformation is not possible apart from Individual transformation. Individual transformation is not possible without Jesus redeeming work on the cross, this is the gospel. DISCUSS - In the process, Christianity becomes less about grace and faith, and more a banal religion of Live like this, and we ll change the world. That s not Christianity; its moralism. (109) 5

6 The Gospel, A Stumbling Block (Read pages ) Teaching Emphasis: Being saved by a crucified man is not normal, but it must remain central. It should not surprise us that those who are not yet in a relationship with Jesus think of the cross as either a fairy tail or a monsterous lie. Paul told us this would be the case. ASK - Why do you think some people think of the gospel this way? On top of the fact that the world is rejecting the gospel, as Christians, our desire is for the gospel to be accepted. Because we desire for it to be relatable, we try hard to be relatable. The reality of it is that no matter how much we try to be relatable to non-christians, our level of normalcy will eventually run out, let s be ok with that. At some point you re going to break the news that you were saved by a crucified man. ASK - Has anyone gotten any weird responses after sharing the gospel? Even though this is the case, the cross must remain the center of the gospel. By leaving this out or replacing it we are doing the world a disservice because there is nothing capable of saving like that crucial piece of the gospel message. Even Paul insisted on preaching Christ crucified because it was of first importance in the gospel message. If we do not preach the cross at the center of the gospel then we are implying that there is another way.. A shortcut. A shortcut is misdirection and misdirection does not lead to eternal life. 6

7 You are God s plan (Read pages ) Teaching Emphasis: Both believers and non-believers alike have a next step. Understand that you re next step plays a vital role in God s plan. ASK - Have you seen something in nature and immediately been taken back by how beautiful it was? ASK - When you noticed it, did you immediately acknowledge the Creator that made it? Does the gospel have the same effect on you every day? ASK - Why or Why not? There is a good chance that the things you deal with every day are keeping your attention and not allowing you to look up and come face to face with all that God has done for you in the gospel. ASK - What keeps us from allowing the gospel to permeate every single aspect of our lives from top to bottom (Relationships with friends, our spouse, our children, our coworkers, and our church members)? It is generally the fact that we are sinners and worldliness will continue to linger in our heart and war against us until the day Jesus comes back. However, even in the midst of this we should still have a desire to FIGHT against spiritual laziness. Ultimately the individual question is Do you want to embrace the gospel hard and let it affect everything (Actions, emotions, affections, desires, thoughts, and will)? Or are you content where you are, letting these worldly things keep your attention? Christians and Non-Christians both have a next step in light of the gospel. Non-Christians: There are not a million things that you ought to do. There is one thing you ought to do. Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. Also, keep in mind that becoming a Christian is not a laborious process. There is nothing to earn. Jesus has already earned everything you need. It begins with repenting of sin and trusting in Jesus. 7

8 Christians: First, rest in Jesus and rejoice in the salvation that he has won for you. Do not think of your salvation as fragile or fleeting, it comes from faith in Jesus. If your salvation was fragile or fleeting we would know that Jesus is fragile and fleeting and neither of those two things are true. You re righteous standing before God is not grounded in some spiritual bingo card. God s verdict over you is forgiven. This verdict will never change because it is grounded solely in and forever in Jesus his death on the cross in your place and his intercession for you even now before the throne of God. (Rom. 8:31-32) Next we need to be able to love Christ s people. ASK - Does the vastness of God s love for you increase your love for others? As Christians, the gospel should drive us towards a deeper and livelier love for God s people, the church. ASK - Does it? Why do you think we struggle with this? We understand that we are a part of God s kingdom because of his grace towards us, but do we fail to recognize that this is true of the same flawed Christians around us? We need to truly ask ourselves if Christ s redemptive work in our life is enough to swallow up the little criticisms you have of your brothers and sisters. We also need to ask if it is deep enough to sink the offenses they ve committed against us, even the most painful ones. Recognize that you need to love God s people. Then recognize that we need to understand our mission for those outside the church. Love them and share the gospel with them. ASK How has the gospel led you to love the moved you to love the world around you more? Does what you know about the gospel make you long to see people come to know Jesus? Once you understand God s grace shown to us we will long to see it shown to others. 8

9 You are God s plan (Luke 24:46-48) Although God is more than capable of operating on his own, he chooses to carry out his message of salvation through the people who have been changed by it. ASK - Do you ever feel unworthy or inadequate of the calling God has placed on your life? You should, because you are inadequate and you are unworthy. God is fully aware of your inadequacies and calls us anyway. As Christians we hold the only true message of salvation the world will ever hear. This should directly affect the way that we communicate to those around us, our friends, our family, our coworkers.. If they are ever going to be saved from their sins it is because someone has shared the gospel with them. o DISCUSS Romans 10:14 o If you fail to proclaim the gospel, then no one will. EXERCISE This week would be to find 2 or 3 friends and challenge them one another to share the gospel. Encourage and challenge one another. Also consider the prayer tents that you have been using as a family to identify and pray for other people around you and in your community as you engage them with the gospel. The last thing for us to do as Christians is to long for him. Naturally, as Christians the gospel should cause us to long for the day when Christ restores everything. However, the longing should not just be for being in the restored kingdom. Instead, if we understand the gospel correctly, the longing will not be for the kingdom, but for the King. Just as God desires to be with us, so to should we desire to be with him. 9

10 WRAP UP In the midst of the exhausting trials that a sinful world has for us every day, the gospel points us to heaven, where King Jesus sits interceding for you after he bought your life as crucified Savior and Risen King. Again, keep in mind the prayer tents that we have been using as families and consider the people you can be praying for, sharing the gospel with, and inviting to service next week. 10