LESSON 13 becoming an answer to jesus prayer To help Christ-followers accept Jesus call to carry the gospel to the whole world. Jesus sends His followers into the world as the Father had sent Him. Believers are on mission with Christ and with one another to reach the world with the good news of Jesus. To join God on His mission by delivering His good news as disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus. Background Passage: scripture Passage: Memory Verse: JOHN 1 7 JOHN 1 7 : 1 8-2 6 JOHN 1 7 : 1 8 As the Father sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends His disciples into the world that other may believe in the message of Christ (v. 18). Jesus prayed for our oneness that the world may believe in Jesus (vv. 20-21). Jesus has revealed the Father to His disciples and promised to indwell them with His presence and love (vv. 25-26). page 1 02 becoming an answer to jesus prayer As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
PREPARING TO TEACH This is the final lesson of the Living Sent study. Before beginning to prepare for this lesson specifically, review the 12 previous lessons, noticing their relationship to one another. Make particular notice of lessons that have been the most meaningful to you and/or your group. Prepare to lead your LIFE Group in an overview of the entire study up to this point, highlighting for them those lessons that stood out. After reading the entire John 17 chapter, review specifically the focal passage, verses 18-26. Read the Venture In: Living Sent Travelogue (pp. 129-138) for this lesson, completing all the highlighted activities with sensitivity to which ones might especially speak to the adults in your group. Ask God to guide you in developing this lesson, that it may be a tool challenging each person to understand better and practice daily the discipline of joining Christ on His mission. As you plan, allow more time for the section on three reasons why unity matters because this is where adults will be challenged to consider changes they might need to make in order to live in oneness with God and with fellow Christians. This may be especially important if you are aware of conflicts or disunity within your group or the church as a whole. (If you are aware of such conflicts, make them a matter of focused prayer as you prepare to lead this study.) Make the prayer at the end of this lesson your personal prayer each day as you prepare. TEACHING SUGGESTIONS NOT OUR PRAYER, BUT HIS Greet adults as they arrive. At the appointed time, thank the group for their participation in the study of Living Sent. Ask members to share any points during the study that have been highlights for them, or things God s Spirit has taught or challenged them with during the study. When it appears all have shared who wish to, briefly lead the group through an overview of the study to this point, page 1 0 3 becoming an answer to jesus prayer
drawing attention to those studies that spoke most meaningfully to you and those that seemed to most speak to the group as a whole. Display on a tear sheet or the board the following question adapted from the Travelogue (p. 129): How might a community be changed if the churches focused on one purpose to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus? Lead the group to brainstorm responses to the question. List and discuss. Invite participants to identify which, if any, changes they see in their community. Follow up by asking which they believe would make the greatest impact in the community and why. Draw from the Travelogue (pp. 130-131) to overview characteristics of Christian unity: (1) unity is not unanimity; (2) unity is differing opinions united around a single purpose; (3) unity is allowing different opinions and gifts to strengthen the community, not destroy it; (4) unity is validation of the uniqueness of Jesus; (5) unity is unifying around Jesus for the sake of the gospel. Discuss responses to the Travelogue study question (p. 131): What might have to change [in our church] for unity around the gospel of Jesus to become a reality? A PRAYER FOR UNITY Set the scene for the lesson Focal Passage. Jesus was praying with His disciples the night before He would go to the cross. Call on a volunteer to read aloud John 17:18. Then read the same verse aloud from The Message: In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. Comment that Jesus prayer was a commission to the disciples with Him in the room and to all the disciples who would come after them. Ask adults to read aloud in unison this sentence from the Travelogue (p. 132): Our mission, like that of Jesus, is to love like His Father loves so that people who don t believe they are loved might trust and know God s love, and, thus, begin to give His love away. Emphasize that as the lesson title suggests, our mission is to become an answer to Jesus prayer. Ask: What do you find challenging about your mission as described in Jesus prayer? Discuss responses. page 1 0 4 becoming an answer to jesus prayer
Ask adults to read silently John 17:19. Briefly explain the meanings of being sanctified as applied to Jesus and as applied to believers. Ask: What hinders you from carrying out your commission from Jesus to make disciples? What hinders our church from doing so? Read aloud John 17:20, Jesus inclusive prayer for all believers, those alive at the time Jesus prayed and those of the generations that have followed. Ask: What does it mean to you that you are part of a magnificent family tree that began with Jesus, extended to His disciples, to those they discipled, and to all generations that have followed up to today? Discuss. Call on a volunteer to read aloud John 17:21. Ask: How would you describe the unity of God the Father and Jesus? Point out from the Travelogue (p. 134) that the unity of God the Father and God the Son is perfect. Ask: What does the verse say is the purpose of believers seeking oneness with Christ? Ask adults to read silently John 17:22 and the accompanying Travelogue commentary (p. 134) and be prepared to define the word glory as used in this verse. (It is not the disciples glory but the glory of the Father and Son shared with those who follow them.) After discussing glory, ask: What does this verse tell us about Jesus level of trust in believers? Call on volunteers to identify their responses to the Travelogue study activity related to this verse (p. 134): List ways you think the members of your church are kept from being united to make the Father known. Ask: What can we do as a small group to strengthen unity in our church? WHY OUR UNITY ACTUALLY MATTERS Display the following question on a tear sheet or the board: When a congregation becomes divided to the point of a split, what may be the impact on the members of the church and on the community? Lead adults to identify possible consequences within the church and then in the community at large. List responses and discuss. Ask any in the group who have been through such a controversy to briefly describe their experiences. (Use caution at page 1 0 5 becoming an answer to jesus prayer
this point. If your church has recently experienced a split, or if you know a participant has, take care to not allow your Bible study time to become a venting session.) Call attention to the heading of this section of the lesson, Why Our Unity Actually Matters. Call on a volunteer to read aloud John 17:23-26. Ask adults to turn to this section of the Travelogue (pp. 135-137). Comment that the writer lists three reasons church unity as defined earlier in the lesson does matter. Point out that first, unity within a church enables members to work together and individually to make disciples. Ask adults to read silently John 17:23 from the Travelogue (p. 135) and be prepared to identify why Jesus said unity among believers is important. As adults respond, contrast answers with earlier responses about the consequences of disunity within a church. Call attention to the final sentence related to the first reason unity matters (p. 135): Therefore, our becoming completely one is the catalyst for the work of God coming among us in our community and in the world. Ask adults to underline this sentence and begin praying regularly for this kind of unity in your church. Ask: How are believers in a church experiencing Christ-like unity different from believers in churches that are not experiencing such unity? Point out from the Travelogue the second reason church unity matters: Because Our Unity Affirms the Messiahship of Jesus. Ask adults to read silently John 17:24-25 and be prepared to answer this question: How does Jesus prayer suggest that the unity of believers affirms the truth that Jesus is Messiah? Call on volunteers to respond. Call attention to the illustration in the Travelogue (p. 136) about Moshe, the Jewish teacher, who said more Jews might accept Christ if His followers lived in unity with God as Jesus did. Discuss the implication of this statement for making disciples. Review the list of life experiences below in which adults are asked to suggest what they would say or do in given situations to contribute to Christ-like relationships within the church. Select the most relevant to your group to discuss, or you may wish to identify other situations. page 1 0 6 becoming an answer to jesus prayer
What could you do or say when 1. A church friend launches into angry comments about the pastor or another leader? 2. A couple who recently visited your church tells you they won t come again because no one spoke to them or even seemed to notice their presence? 3. A fellow church member approaches you, asking for your support in speaking out against a committee proposal to change the way a function of the church has always been handled in the past? 4. At the first meeting of a group planning a mission trip, a conflict breaks out among team members about their assignments? Discuss one or two of these situations as time permits. Or, as an option, create two or three groups and assign one of the situations to each group. Call attention to the Travelogue study question (p. 137), What personal preferences are keeping you from being one with Jesus and other believers? Ask adults to review their responses or, if they haven t answered the question to do so. Challenge adults to make their responses a matter of prayer, asking God to work in their lives to enable them to be one with Jesus. Read aloud the third reason unity matters, Because God Has Always Desired to Dwell With Us in Oneness. Ask adults to read silently John 17:26 and be prepared to respond to the following question: Why is following Jesus example of being one with God imperative for believers in making disciples? AS WE GO Close the session by reading aloud in unison the prayer at the end of the lesson (p. 137). As adults read the prayer, ask them to change us in the prayer to me. Challenge adults to make this a daily prayer for themselves during this week. page 1 0 7 becoming an answer to jesus prayer
FOLLOW THROUGH In your weekly communication to your group, suggest that they devote at least one day of devotional time during the week to reviewing this quarter s lessons on living sent lives. Suggest that they make a list of prayer requests for themselves, group members, and the church as you all seek to grow in living sent lives as followers of Christ. Thank them again for participating in the study. Pray daily for yourself and for your group that you will be able to grow individually and as a group in becoming one with Christ. page 1 0 8 becoming an answer to jesus prayer
NOTES page 1 0 9 becoming an answer to jesus prayer