BUILDING BRIDGES PREPARATION

Transcription

1 FIRST BAPTIST RAYTOWN BUILDING BRIDGES APRIL 5, 2015

2 BUILDING BRIDGES APRIL 5, 2015 PREPARATION > Spend the week reading through and studying Ephesians 2:1-10 and Philippians 3:1-11. Consult the commentary provided and any additional study tools (such as a concordance or Bible dictionary) to enhance your preparation. > Determine which discussion points and questions will work best with your group. > Pray for Pastor Brandon, the upcoming group meeting, your teaching, your group members, and their receptivity to the study. HIGHLIGHTS BIBLICAL EMPHASIS: God created us for a relationship with him but we have rebelled against Him. The Bible tells us that we are dead in sin our sin has separated us from God. Thankfully, however, God has acted to bridge the gap. He sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins so that whoever believes in Him might be forgiven and restored fully to God for all eternity. TEACHING AIM: Know that through His death and resurrection, Jesus bridged the gap between us and God, we can stop trying to earn God s love with our good works and instead receive His grace by faith in His Son. 2 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

3 INTRODUCTION As your group time begins, use this section to help get the conversation going. 1 What is your best story of a time when you felt like you were in a dangerous situation? 2 What happened? How did you get out of that situation? 3 How did you feel once you realized you were safe? The Bridge to Life: One of the oldest questions humankind has been asking is, How can I know God? The question is a valid one. What is He like? What can we do to please Him? How can we get to Heaven? If we work hard enough to be a good enough person will He accept us then? If we do enough religious activities to get His attention, will that do it? In order to really experience God s grace, we have to first see just how desperate our situation is. Whether we realize it or not, all of us are in great danger apart from Jesus our sin has completely separated us from God. The Bible tells us that like a person in the casket at the front of a funeral, we are all, apart from Christ, spiritually dead. Because we are dead in sin, no amount of work we can do can bring us to life. The only way from death to life is Jesus. Only Jesus can bridge the gap between us and God. Fortunately for us, the answer is surprisingly simple. The Gospel that the Bible talks about literally means, the Good News, and the news is good indeed! - Evangelism%20Resources/Tools/ The%20Bridge%20to%20Life UNDERSTANDING Unpack the biblical text to discover what Scripture says or means about a particular topic. > Have a volunteer read Ephesians 2:1-3. We have all rebelled against God. It started with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and we ve continued the streak of thinking our ways are better ever since. We are rebels against our Creator. Because of this disobedience, we re all dead as sinners completely separated from God and under His condemnation. 3 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

4 Why does it matter that we understand we were dead in our sins and not simply near death, mostly dead, or just pretty bad off? What does this passage reveal about why we need God to save us and the consequences of not receiving salvation? Why did Paul refer to his audience in past tense terms here? If in Christ these truths are past tense, then why does Paul want us to remember that past condition? Paul reached a dismaying conclusion about the depth of sin: by nature we were children under wrath. God s righteous judgment against sin is settled. In our sinful nature, we all have deserved eternal condemnation. We were born into this fallen condition. Without God s grace, all human beings are spiritually hopeless. Paul was not morbid; nor was he obsessed with bad news. He understood that if are to truly appreciate the greatness of our salvation in Jesus, then we must understand the gravity of our situation. For the Christian, then, to revisit the sinful nature of humanity is a healthy practice. Is the need for God to save us from sin, death, and His wrath an easy concept to understand and accept? Why or why not? While the need for salvation might not be difficult to understand, it is very difficult for many people to accept. In fact, Scripture describes Jesus as a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23) because both groups had difficulty accepting that right standing with God could not be earned but could only be received as a gift through faith. Paul illustrates this struggle in Philippians 3. The Beginning and the Problem: First, we have to start at the beginning. In Genesis 1:26, when God created the first humans, He said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, then God blessed them and spent the days walking and talking with the people He had created. In short, life was good. But why isn t life like that anymore? What happened to mess everything up? This brings us to the second point: when we (humankind) chose to do the opposite of what God told us, sin poisoned the world. Sin separated us from God, and everything changed. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and in Isaiah 59:2 we re told, your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. This is especially bad news because there is no way for us to get across that gap on our own. We (humankind) have tried to find our way back to God and a perfect world on our own ever since then, and without any luck. We try to get there by being good people, or through religion, money, morality, philosophy, education, or any number of other ways, but eventually we find out that none of it works. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12). - Evangelism%20Resources/Tools/ The%20Bridge%20to%20Life 4 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

5 > Have a volunteer read Philippians 3:1-11. The dogs Paul refers to were probably a group of people know as the Judaizers. Paul called them mutilators of the flesh because they taught that circumcision was necessary for salvation. In contrast to the Judaizers, how does Paul describe Christians in verse 3? One Way: What does it mean to put no confidence in the flesh and to boast in Christ Jesus? Why are these essential descriptors of what it means to follow Christ? To put confidence in the flesh would mean to trust in our own strengths and abilities. When we trust in ourselves, we fail to recognize our spiritual deficiency and Christ s supreme sufficiency. If we are hoping to impress God with our good works or our competencies, we will be sorely disappointed. This is why Paul described Christians as those who boast in Christ Jesus : when we trust Christ as Savior, we cannot boast in our good works, strengths, or abilities because our salvation is a gift from God that was accomplished by Jesus Christ. Before becoming a Christian, what status and achievements might Paul have boasted in (vv. 4-6)? Is there anything in Paul s list of accomplishments that stands out to you? What accomplishments or achievements in your life are you often tempted to boast in? What might be spiritually dangerous about boasting in such things? There is only one way to find peace with God, and the Bible says it is through Jesus Christ. We were stranded without any way of getting back to our Creator, and we needed a way to pay for our sins and be clean again so that we could be welcomed back to be with Him. Romans 5:8 says, But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So this is the Good News that even though we were still enemies of God (as one translation says), Jesus came to die on the cross and pay the price for our sins so that we could have a relationship with Him again. John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. - Evangelism%20Resources/Tools/ The%20Bridge%20to%20Life 5 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

6 In verse 6 Paul says that he was faultless with regard to righteousness based on the law. This does not mean that Paul claimed to be perfect. It simply means that if righteousness were judged by outward appearances, he would pass the test. Another description that stands out in verse 6 is Paul s admission that he was a persecutor of the church. Paul was so passionate about being a good Pharisee that he sought to imprison Christians and see that they were killed (Acts 7). Paul had an incredibly impressive pedigree and performance record as a Pharisee, thus he said, If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more (v. 4). However, in verses 7-11, Paul shared how his past accomplishments did not improve his estate before God. After coming to faith in Christ, how did Paul consider his past accomplishments, his Jewish pedigree, and his religious zeal (v. 7)? How did trusting in Christ change Paul s view of success and his goal in life (vv )? Paul refers to his past achievements as loss. He considers them garbage (v. 8). He now had a righteousness that He could be confident in because it was not a righteousness of His own. His goal was no longer to prove how great he was by his religious zeal and faultless character. His purpose now was to know Christ and become like Him. Paul s purpose in life had radically shifted from focusing on himself to living for the glory of God in Christ. Have a volunteer read each of the following verses and answer the question, How does the gospel redefine success? Ephesians 2:8-10 Mark 10:42-45 Isaiah 63:6-9 Galatians 6:14-15 Psalm 51:16-17 Philippians 2:1-11 > Have a volunteer read Ephesians 2:4-10. After reading verses 1-3, how do you feel when you read the words But... God in verse 4? Are there any experiences in your life when your situation was desperate but God showed up in His mercy? 6 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

7 With the wonderful words But... God, Paul turned from a focus on our spiritual death to describing the merciful God who has saved us. He began by piling up three overlapping terms that describe the divine basis for our salvation. We owe everything to God s character. Similar to Philippians 3, Paul reiterated that salvation cannot be achieved by good works. Why is this impossible? Why do you think Paul kept reminding churches of this fact? How would the gospel change if we could boast in some personal contribution to salvation? Works are anything and everything that a human being might do to achieve something commendable on behalf of others. However, neither religious rituals, nor great kindness to others, nor living morally counts as anything in terms of meriting God s salvation. As we saw earlier in Philippians 3, Paul called all these things filth if they are thought of as contributing to our standing with God (Phil. 3:8). For this reason, no one can boast about a personal contribution to salvation. Heaven will be filled with the praises of Christ s glory and His works. No human display of works can compare to the riches of God s grace toward those who once were dead in their sins but now are alive with Christ. How is believing in God for salvation different from simply believing the story of Jesus death and resurrection? How should people respond to the gospel? What then should be our reaction to this awesome news? This brings us to the last and most important part. John 5:24 says, I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. Jesus Christ himself even says, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10), and Romans 5:1 says, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So how can I have peace with God, life to the full, and be confident of eternal life like these verses say? First, through an honest prayer to God, I have to admit that I m not perfect that I can t escape my sins, and I can t save myself. I follow this admission by believing that Jesus Christ died for me on the cross and rose from the grave, conquering death and sin. Then I invite Jesus Christ to live in me and be the Lord of my life, accepting His free gift of eternal life with Him. God s wonderful grace is the basis of our salvation. That grace alone changes our story and brings us into God s family. The channel or instrument of our salvation is faith. We act on our belief of Jesus saving work on the cross by committing our entire lives to Christ, obeying Him for His glory as He prepared in advance for us to do. - Evangelism%20Resources/Tools/ The%20Bridge%20to%20Life 7 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

8 APPLICATION Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives P R A Y How might knowing that Jesus makes us righteous by faith change the way we think about our failures and successes? Are there any works or achievements in your life that you still find yourself boasting in? What might it look like for you to repent from such boasting? How has your understanding of salvation been encouraged or challenged today? What do you already do, or can you do, on a daily basis to remind yourself of your need for salvation and God s great mercy in offering salvation? Pray that God would help your group reflect on how God s grace has changed their story and brought them into salvation and eternal life with Him. Ask that your actions would accurately reflect His truth to those who need Him. FOLLOW UP Midway through this week, send a follow-up to your group with some or all of the following information: Have you been more mindful this week of your salvation and how God brought you from spiritual death to new life? Example Prayer for Salvation: Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and that I need You to forgive me. I know that You died a painful death so that my sins could be washed clean. Thank you. I want to make You the Lord of my life, and I will trust and follow You. Everything I have is Yours now. In Your name, Lord. Amen. There is nothing magical about these words. It s not the words themselves that make things right between you and God it s whether or not your heart really means it. We know this because in 1 Samuel 16:7, the Bible says, The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The best part of this whole process is that it doesn t matter how badly we ve messed up, Jesus is powerful enough to save anyone from their sins even the worst of us. Romans 10:13 says, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That s fantastic news no matter how badly we ve messed up, we can place our complete trust in Jesus, and He will wipe all of our sins off the face of the earth. Jesus is the bridge to life. - Evangelism%20Resources/Tools/ The%20Bridge%20to%20Life 8 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

9 What are some practical ways you could boast in Christ this week? Have you shared the gospel with the one person you began praying for two weeks ago? If not, how might you go about reaching out to them with the hope of the gospel? > The challenge to memorize Ephesians 2: Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

10 COMMENTARY APRIL 5, 2015 EPHESIANS 2:1-10 2:1 People are not willing to be found (saved) until they know they are lost. Paul reminded his readers of the awfulness of sin that results in every person being lost, separated from God. As long as they are still unbelievers, sinners are in fact best described as dead people. The terms translated trespasses and sins are similar in meaning. The first term means falling from a known path, that is, actively breaking a boundary or rule. The second means falling short of a required standard. Both refer to the universal human failure to do what is right, either actively or passively. Notes: 2:2-3 Another way to describe the helplessness of sinners is to think of it in terms of a lifestyle, step by step, headed in the wrong direction. No person can blame the world or the devil for their sinning. We have only ourselves to blame. It was our fleshly desires that we indulged. It was the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts that have been the source of our disobedience to God. God s righteous judgment against sin is settled. In our sinful nature, we all deserved eternal condemnation. We were born into this fallen condition. Without God s grace, all human beings are spiritually helpless and hopeless. We need salvation because of what sin has done to us. 2:4-5 Paul turned from diagnosing our spiritual death to describing our new life in Christ. He began by piling up three overlapping terms that describe the divine basis for our salvation. We owe everything to God s character. First, notice the reference to God s mercy. Mercy is the disposition to act compassionately in response to the plight of someone in need. Second, notice the reference to God s love, His sacrificial concern. Paul stressed the abundance of God s love just as he had noted the abundance of His mercy: it was great. The third term Paul used to express the basis of salvation in God s character is grace. Grace is similar to mercy and love but with a special distinction. The emphasis in the term grace is a person s showing undeserved favor toward someone who has sinned against that person. The first benefit of receiving salvation by grace is that God made us alive. When Christ was raised from the dead, God saw all believers as united with Him. 10 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

11 COMMENTARY APRIL 5, :6-7 The second benefit of receiving God s salvation by grace through faith is that God raised us up. Thus when Jesus visibly ascended from earth to heaven, God saw believers as being spiritually united with Him in His ascension. We are now citizens of heaven (see Phil. 3:20). We no longer have to live as those bound to the sinful world, the flesh, and the Devil. Our true identity is in the heavens. The third benefit of salvation Paul named is that God seated us. After His resurrection and ascension, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God (see Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 12:2). He is there now, and God considers believers already to be sharing Christ s eternal victory. Notes: 2:8-9 It s too often typical for us humans to suppose that our actions can help earn our eternal life. Paul wrote that this is never true. But then he went on to explain the role that good works have in the life of those who are saved. Trusting wholly in God s provision is the opposite of trusting in one s own contribution to salvation. The whole of our redemption past, present, and future is God s gift, by His initiative. For this reason, no one can boast about a personal contribution to salvation. Heaven will be filled with the praises of Christ s glory and His works. No human display of works can compare to the riches of God s grace toward those who once were dead in their sins but now are alive with Christ. 2:10 One of the goals of salvation for us is the fruit of Christlike character and of good deeds. In eternity past God prepared ahead of time that His redeemed people would do these good works as evidence of His grace. Here is His power not only in giving us new life but also in helping us to walk in good works throughout this life and into eternity. We cannot do anything to earn salvation. Yet God means for us who have received salvation to produce good works. If we have been given new life, raised with Christ, and seated with Him, we will certainly do good works as evidence that we have received this great salvation. PHILIPPIANS 3:1-11 3:1. Paul marked a transition point in his letter with a term that can mean finally but often indicates something like well, then, or furthermore (v. 1). He is only halfway through his 11 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

12 COMMENTARY APRIL 5, 2015 letter at this point. In spite of his difficult circumstances, Paul s relationship with Christ provided him with joy. He encourages us to rejoice in the Lord. This spirit or attitude of joy permeates this entire letter. Joy comes, however, only as one lives in the Lord. He is joy s only source. Notes: 3:2. As a father protects his children, Paul wanted to keep his spiritual children from harm (v. 2). He warned them in strong language of opponents who would tempt them to false doctrine. These men are unclean dogs, not qualified to enter into spiritual worship. A group of Jews in Paul s day attempted to distort the gospel by adding the requirement of circumcision plus faith in Christ as necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1). Their false way of salvation was evil, as it could cause great confusion to the true message of Christ. They misunderstood the teachings of the Old Testament on circumcision and the Christian gospel of salvation by grace through faith. They wanted to preserve the Jewish heritage at any cost. 3:3. In disagreement with the teachings of his opponents, Paul took over their claims as belonging to the church and not to the Jews (v. 3). The opponents claimed to be the true Israel, circumcised in the flesh, being the truly spiritual ones, and glorying in their worship and goodness as measured by obedience to the law. Paul turned the tables. Believers in Christ are the true circumcision (Rom. 9:24 26; Gal. 6:16), having their hearts circumcised. Christians put no confidence in the flesh, neither in the ritual of circumcision, nor in the practice of obeying a law. This stands radically opposed to the false teachers who said Gentiles had to be circumcised to be acceptable to God. The Philippians and modern readers must make the choice glory in Christ or in human religious achievement. Genuine believers have their complete hope or confidence in Christ s finished work in our behalf on the cross rather than anything done by them for God or in God s name. Trusting in anyone or anything besides the true Messiah is foolishness. 3:4-8. If anyone had bragging rights about their status and achievement, Paul did (vv. 4-6), but Jesus showed him that just being Jewish did not make him righteous before God. While these credentials and accomplishments are impressive, Paul placed no stock or confidence in them (vv. 7-8). His relationship with 12 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown

13 COMMENTARY APRIL 5, 2015 Christ was far superior to his Jewish background. The things of the world all human accomplishments are viewed as rubbish or garbage in comparison to gaining Christ. Paul s focus changed completely. No longer did personal religious ritual and obedient religious acts occupy center stage. All eyes were on Christ and on him alone. 3:9-12. Paul s description of his desires pointed forward to a goal (v. 12). Not yet mature, he was still very much in the race of the Christian life. The perfection he would have at the future resurrection was not yet attained. He still had to deal with what in Romans 7 he calls the flesh, an innate pull to sin. He had to deal with his sinful body and was only too aware of the need for further spiritual growth. He purposes to press on as he had not attained the intense personal knowledge of Christ that he desired and had not become all that Christ wanted him to be. Paul always held God up as the source of every part of the salvation experience. 13 Building Bridges First Baptist Raytown