We are now going to learn about Jesus Christ. All lessons about the Christian faith are important, but the ones that follow are especially important. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God works to save the world. For that reason, Jesus is the center of the Christian faith. He is the one that Christians follow, believe in, and love. It is a blessing to know him, and in this lesson, we introduce our study of Jesus Christ with the hope of knowing him more fully.
Before we begin the introduction to our lessons on the Lord Jesus, there might be some members of your group who would like to share how they came to Christ and what he has done in their lives. Please give them the opportunity to share their faith. Perhaps there are some in your group who would like to commit themselves to Christ for the first time. Explain to them the privileges and responsibilities of this commitment. Pray with them, and for them, asking them to speak aloud to the Lord Jesus of their desire to be forgiven of their sins and to follow him daily. Or, perhaps there are some in your group who have committed themselves to him, but have not followed him fully. Give them an opportunity to confess their failings and to ask for prayer that they might become more faithful. Perhaps they have a weakness or sin they need to confess. Often it is good for those present to lay hands upon the person in need, praying that the power of God would come upon them and cure them of their failing. If there are those who wish to follow Jesus and have not been baptized, tell your church's pastor about their desire, and ask the pastor to speak with them about baptism with the aim of baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In a future lesson we will discuss baptism, but for now, it represents a public rite of confessing Christ and of entering into his death to sin and rising to a new life with God and his people.
Before we go any further, let us pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending us your Son. Thank you that he lived that we might live, that he died for our sins, that he rose from the dead, and that he reigns with you in heaven. Pour out upon us, we pray, a spirit of humility and love that our hearts may be open to hear and receive your saving work through this lesson and the ones that follow. All this we ask in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
How do we know Jesus? We know Jesus, above all, by reading about him in the Bible, especially the first four books of the New Testament. These books describe the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They are called "gospels." The word "gospel" means "good news," and what we will learn there is very good news indeed. As we study these gospels, we will not read all of them in detail. These are introductory lessons, and in the future, we will study the gospels more fully. For now, however, we will study portions of Luke's gospel followed by the book of Acts. As you will see, Luke and Acts were written by the same person.
As we read Luke's gospel, we need to know how to understand it. To help us do that, we will begin with certain very important ideas which I will now present. We will discover the importance of these ideas as our lessons unfold. Please read the following points, think about them, and pray that God will show us why these events are important.
1. Jesus lived, and as he lived, he redeemed the four broken areas of life we studied in our lesson entitled, ”God Creates the World.” These four areas are our relationship with God, our relations with each other, how we use our material possessions, and our being subject to Satan and his evil spirits. Jesus redeemed all these areas of life. He redeemed these four areas by being obedient to God, by calling disciples, teaching the way of truth, fulfilling the hopes of the Old Testament, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, befriending the needy, forgiving sinners, casting out demons, reconciling sinners to a living God, proclaiming good news, and forming a company of men and women who came to love him, to love God, and to love each other. These are a few of the things he did while alive, and you can read about them in the gospels.
2. Jesus died on the cross. As studied in previous lessons, he atoned for our sins, forgave us, reconciled us to God, clothed us in his righteousness, and since we are now forgiven and clean, he brings us into the very presence of the living God.
3. God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus appeared to his disciples and then he ascended to the right hand of God. His being at the right hand of God means that he has the authority of God. As stated in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." He exercises this authority in many ways, but among the most important are Scripture and the witness and work of those who believe in him.
4. Once risen, Jesus poured out his Spirit upon those who followed him. This is important. Receiving the Holy Spirit means that the risen Jesus becomes a liberating force in the lives of believers. As Jesus acts by the Spirit, he creates the very life of God in believers and redeems all areas of life. He can do this for all people everywhere because he is no longer limited in space and time as he was in the days of his flesh. Rather, seated at the right hand of God, he can be in all times and places by the power of the Spirit. As believers are empowered by the Spirit, as they proclaim Christ's words and do his deeds, Jesus acts and speaks, and Jesus recreates the very life of God that he created in the days of his flesh. This means that Jesus, through the witness and the work of believers, preaches good news, calls disciples, teaches truth, fulfills the hope of the Old Testament, heals the sick, feeds the hungry, associates with the needy, forgives sinners, casts out demons, reconciles sinners to God, to each other, and to themselves, and forms a company of people who, by his atoning sacrifice are clothed in his righteousness, can enter into the very presence of God, see his face, hear his voice, receive love from him, and love him forever. The risen and ascended Jesus does these things, and those who receive his Spirit and live in obedience to him, do them in his name. This great reality of the Christian faith is the Kingdom of God on earth, and we are now going to enter into that reality.
5. As believers live in thankful obedience to Jesus and as they receive the Holy Spirit, they enter into his Kingdom. This Kingdom, the Kingdom of God on earth, comes with great power and joy, but as we shall see, the Kingdom will not come in its fullness until Jesus returns at the end of this age. Until then, as the apostle Paul proclaims, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known" (First Corinthians 13:12). In other words, though we enter the Kingdom, we do not fully enter. We still suffer in this life, we have struggles and disappointments, and we still sin. Even so, we have hope, for Christ is with us, giving us his very life and calling us to live by faith, knowing that some day we will see him face to face.
6. To see this more fully, we need to know that Jesus is risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father where he exercises the authority needed to carry out his works on earth. We also need to know that believers can receive the Holy Spirit, and that by the Holy Spirit, followers of Jesus can do the deeds of Jesus as described in the gospels.
7. Therefore, in the next three lessons we will do the following: learn about the resurrection, learn about the ascension, and learn how to receive the Holy Spirit. As we shall see, the Spirit is promised in baptism and received by faith manifested as actions that allow the Spirit to work in the life of the believer.
8. Once we know that Jesus is alive, that he exercises his authority by the power of the Spirit, we will return and read portions of the gospel of Luke to learn what Jesus did in the days he walked the earth. As we study these things, we will approach them with the understanding that Jesus does these same things today, and that he does them through the work and witness of those who follow him. That is, we will study his words and deeds with the understanding that believers are to proclaim his words and do his deeds today.
Questions for Discussion
1. Point four, given above, lists some of the things that Jesus does today through the witness and work of those who believe in him. Reread this list, and then, share with each other how believers are doing these very deeds in the name of Jesus.
2. In your church and community, are believers failing to do some of these things? If so, which ones?
3. Are you open to receiving the power of the Spirit to do these things? Are you fearful or hesitant in any way? If so, confess this to your group, and pray together that God take away your fear or worry. You are a soldier for the King. Ask him to give you a longing for these things to occur in you lives and in the life of your community. Let your group, right now, pray that God, the living God, would empower you and your church to do the very deeds of Jesus today.
4. Have you attempted to follow Jesus, proclaim his words and do his deeds, and found yourself defeated in any way? Tell your group about this. Pray together and offer your disappointments to God. Let him heal your hearts and give you renewed faith and courage. Let us believe the words of the Lord Jesus, "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
5. What would be your answers to the five fundamental questions of this series of lessons: Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we now? Where are we going? What must we do?
6. Finally, in light of this lesson, how do you think Jesus has changed our relationship to God, to each other, to our use of our possessions and other material resources, and to the work of the devil in our lives?
Let us end this lesson with a prayer.
O living God, we cannot thank you enough for the great hope you have given us in Jesus Christ the Lord. Please pour out upon us your mercy that we might be soldiers in your Kingdom. All this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In our next lesson we will learn about Jesus' resurrection from the dead.
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
February, 2013
