The Gospel Project Session 3-1 Notes

The Gospel Project

Session 3-1 Notes

 

Preface

 

Before reading this lesson, I looked again at the notes on how to use this curriculum that are found on page 6. So many of the tips that I read there address specific concerns that our teachers have mentioned. Please take a look and remember the following:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Yes, the lesson has more material than you can cover—that is intentional. Your job is not to present everything that is written, but to target specific points and questions that your students will most relate to. Thus, if a particular question won’t work for your group, don’t ask it. If a particular point really gets your group’s attention, don’t feel a need to fly past it to “finish” the lesson.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Your students have much of the information that you have in their books. This means that you can feel free to tell them to read a particular point on their own if you run out of time or if you think that point not to be helpful for your particular group on this particular morning.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Preparation is important. If your students will read their lessons and do the devotionals provided, they will be better able to follow the flow and intent of the lesson.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Also remember that this curriculum is not, generally, focused on a single passage of Scripture, but is instead aimed at developing a biblical theology by showing how a concept develops in the word of God. Don’t be surprised when lessons use a variety of passages to show you a concept developing.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>There is a great tip on the last page of this lesson about organizing care groups in your class. This is a really good idea.

 

Introduction

 

OK, I’ll admit right away, there is no way that I would personally use the Sherlock Holmes illustration. However, maybe it works for you—to each his own.

 

The verses that we are going to cover in this lesson are often referred to as the “prologue” in the Gospel According to John. In these 18 verses, we see many of the major themes that John will unveil for his readers as they work through the book. Like listening to the overture at the beginning of a musical, a careful reader will pick up themes that he will have played for him later.

 

This section also shows us a tremendous amount about the Savior who is coming. It should spur us to worship, to reverence Christ. It should also stir us to desire to point people to Jesus just like John the Baptist did.

 

Point 1: The identity of the King who has come (John 1:1-5)

 

Highlight:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>“in the beginning” harkens us back to the beginning of God’s great story of redemption. The book of John is not a new story, but a continuation of the one glorious story of God’s promised Rescuer.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>In Genesis 1, we see a time when the earth was formless and void. Then God spoke, and he shaped the world into what he wanted it to be. Similarly, as Judah seemed hopeless and empty, failing to follow God or receive his promises, God’s word comes to fulfill his plan.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Calling Jesus the “word” is a way of pointing out that Jesus is the self-expression of God. You cannot know me well if you do not have words from me to express to you who I am. Similarly, we cannot know God if we do not have his self-revelation, his self-expression Jesus is the word of God. He is God who came into the world and revealed himself to us.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Jesus is also the light of the world who shines into the darkness. The darkness of the world cannot overcome the Savior.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>This point is about the identity of the Savior. So, let’s not miss that identity from this passage. What can we see? Look at the following to affirm that the Savior is indeed God:

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>He exists eternally. (v1)

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>He is the self-expression of God. (v1)

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>He is with the Father, thus not the Father. (v1)

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>He is God, thus not lower or lesser. (v1)

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>He is Creator. (v3)

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>He is not created. (v3)

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>He has life in himself; he is not given life by another. (v4)

 

Application Questions:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Why is it significant to recognize that Jesus is God? [Try not to let students just say that this is important, but instead push for the why. Make them get practical and say why it matters theologically, why it matters personally, why it matters on a day-to-day basis.]

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Verse 3 tells us that nothing was made that was not made by Jesus, the word. How does this help us to prove that John wants to say that Jesus is God? Does it surprise you to see that Jesus is as much the Creator as is God the Father?

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>If Jesus is all that these verses tell us he is, then there never was a time when Jesus did not exist. He always is—just as God tells us, “I Am.” How does this draw you to worship Jesus?

 

Point 2: The witness to the King who has come (John 1:6-9)

 

Highlight:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Please note that the John mentioned here is John the Baptist, not the same John who wrote this gospel.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>In the middle of the discussion about Jesus, the Light of the World, the author points his readers to John the Baptist, a man sent from God to bear witness to the light.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>The author is careful to point out that John the Baptist is not the light, but his job is to point others to the light.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>You could replace John’s name in these verses with the name of any Christian and it would be true. To say that we are sent from God to bear witness to the true light is biblically sound. “There was one sent from God whose name was…”

Application Questions:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>How [get specific here] can you point others toward the light of Jesus this week? This month? Before Easter?

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Ask students to explain the significance of the fact that our witness is not about us, but instead it is about Jesus. John bore witness to the light, not to John himself.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>If the evangelist chose to put this theme in the prologue, it must be important. How important do you think it is that Christians take seriously their responsibility to bear witness to Jesus?

Point 3: The purpose of the King who has come (John 1:10-13)

 

Highlight:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>It seems crazy to think that the Creator could step down onto the world and have the world not recognize him. It seems even more amazing that the Jews could fail to recognize the promised Messiah-King.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>If the world was totally blind to Jesus on its own, it goes to show us just how darkened is the human heart before God makes it alive.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>While many fail to see the light of Jesus, some do and receive him. What does receive him mean? It means to believe in his name. What happens if we believe in his name? We get to be children of God. How does all this happen? Not by our will alone, but by the power of God (v12-13). If it is by the power of God, then God gets all the glory for anyone’s salvation.

 

Application Questions:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Using this passage alone, why did the King come? [Lead students to see that he came, in this passage at least, to make lost people into children of God. Be careful not to let them leave this text to get their answers.]

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>If the world is so apt to miss the presence of the Creator, what should we do?

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Why is it important, from verses 12-13, that we realize that God is the one ultimately responsible for anyone’s salvation? Why is it important that he get the glory and not the saved person or the evangelist?

 

Point 4: The way the King has come (John 1:14-18)

 

Highlight:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>John finally reveals that the light of the world and the word of God became flesh, took on humanity. That amazing God-man is Jesus.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Nobody who had not been graced by God to understand the Old Testament prophecies could have ever imagined that God would rescue his people by sending God the Son to become one of his people. No one would have ever grasped that, if God did come to earth as a man, he would also redeem his people by dying in their place and rising from the grave.

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>Moses brought the law, which is a kind of grace. The law shows us some of who God is and lets us see that we need a Savior. But Jesus brought grace upon grace, as he brings not only the knowledge of our need but the solution to our need.

 

Application Questions:

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>What does it say about God that he would choose to rescue his children in this way? How does this highlight the absolute seriousness of his justice and the absolute glory of his grace? [If you need help here, the justice of God is highlighted in the fact that Jesus had to die and bear the guilt of God’s people for God’s justice to be proved (see Romans 3:23-26). It highlights God’s mercy, because Jesus fully sacrificed himself, his rights, and his comforts for the good of others (see Romans 5:8 and Philippians 2:5-11).]

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>What do you think that John, the author of this passage (1:1-18) wants his readers to understand? What does John want them to feel? What does John want them to do? What will you do? [Some good thoughts here are to worship Jesus and to bear witness to Jesus in the world.]

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>If Jesus sacrificed so much to become human for the sake of the glory of God and the salvation of the lost, what might you and I need to be willing to give up or change for the same reasons?

 

Conclusion

 

Note from the verses in our section how often we see language that hints at the glory of God on display in Jesus. Jesus shows us the greatness of God so that we might know God and show that glory to others. Let us make that our mission.

 

For other helps visit www.gospelproject.com/additionalresources. There you will find a short teacher help video for this lesson, blog posts and podcasts of sermons that relate to this lesson, and connection conversations for parents to use with their children and students based on this week of the Gospel Project.

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