LIFE Groups Teaching Plan

LIFE Groups Teaching Plan

Sent: Just like Jesus

John 20:19-23

January 17, 2016

PREPARATION

> Spend the week reading through and studying John 20:19-23. 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 our pastors, the upcoming group meeting, your teaching, your group members, and their receptivity to the study.

HIGHLIGHTS

Biblical Emphasis: After the resurrection, Jesus commissioned His disciples to go into the world, and He imparted them with a measure of the Holy Spirit to do His will. Like the first disciples, all disciples are sent.

Teaching Aim: As a result of today’s study, we will learn that to be a disciple of Jesus means to be sent by Jesus.

INTRODUCTION

As your group time begins, use this section to help get the conversation going.

• Imagine you are headed out on a vacation to the beach for a couple of weeks but can only take one suitcase. What are the absolute essentials you would pack?
• How do you know what is absolutely essential and what is necessary?
• What would you say is necessary to be sent on mission for Jesus?

Going on vacations, we often take far more than we need. In order to be comfortable, we think we need to be secure with all our things. Far too often, we take this same mentality into being sent by Jesus. We can’t be sent by Jesus because we don’t know enough, we don’t have enough experience, we don’t feel called to this particular place. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that all followers of Christ are also sent by Christ. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you,” Jesus said in John 20:21. Yet, the Bible doesn’t qualify beyond that point. There is no list of gifts one must have to be sent or training they must receive. To know Jesus is to be sent by Jesus. However, Jesus gives us His peace, His power, and His presence as we are sent.

UNDERSTANDING

Unpack the biblical text to discover what Scripture says or means about a particular topic.

> Have a volunteer read John 20:19-22.

• Why had the disciples locked themselves in a room? What had happened, and why were they afraid?
• In what ways do we let our fear stop us from being sent like Jesus? Why did the disciples let it stop them?

The disciples had heard Jesus was risen and a couple had seen the empty tomb with their own eyes, but they still didn’t understand the Scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead (John 20:1-9). Unsure of what happened to Jesus and what might happen to them for being associated with Jesus, the disciples became afraid and hid themselves. We are more like the early disciples than we would care to admit. They were afraid for their lives, and though we don’t have those same fears we do have others that seem urgent to us. Whether it’s our reputation, or something like a fear of feeling awkward, we stop short of living up to the mission on which we have been sent. Yet, Jesus graciously breaks through the locked doors we have created for ourselves and brings His peace.

• Why was “Peace to you!” the first thing Jesus said to His disciples?
• Read Philippians 4:4-7. How do we access the peace of God? How does this peace give us comfort as we are sent on mission by Christ?
• Why did Jesus show the disciples His hands and feet? Why did He feel the need to be physically present with them? Though Christ is not physically present with us, how is He still with us?

John did not supply the details for how Jesus got into the room, just that He appeared to them. Jesus is bigger and more powerful than any barriers we create and so is the peace He brings. The peace of Christ is an incredible gift and it is ours to claim through our relationship with Him. Being afraid can be a natural response, but the promise of peace from God is greater than any fears we may feel. We access the peace of God through communication with Him and connection to Him in prayer and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

• What did the Father send Jesus to do? How does this help us understand what it means to be sent as Jesus’ disciples?
• Do you see yourself as being sent by Jesus? If so, where has Jesus sent you? If not, why not?
• Read Acts 1:8. Who is the power referred to in this verse? How do we have this same power as disciples today?
• What opportunities do we have to seek and serve the lost in Middle Tennessee like Jesus would?

Jesus was sent as a servant on a mission to serve and seek the lost (Mark 10:45; Luke 19:10). In God’s providence and grace He has sent people from many nations to Middle Tennessee. Great physical and spiritual needs are present all around us, and God has also placed us in Middle Tennessee to meet them. Being sent just like Jesus means we seek and serve the same type of people Jesus would. We have Jesus’ peace and presence as well as the power of His Spirit to accomplish the mission before us (v. 22). A follower of Christ never has to ask the question, Am I sent?, the right question is, Where am I sent? If we do not reach the people of Middle Tennessee, who will? Jesus has sent us to be His hands and feet in Middle Tennessee and around the world.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told a series of three parables to help His disciples understand the mission He was sent on. We will take a closer look at one of these parables.

> Have a volunteer read Luke 15:1-7.

• Why do you think sinners and people on the boundaries of community were attracted to Jesus and His teaching? Do we have the same relationship with these people that Jesus had?
• Why did the Pharisees and scribes take issue with Jesus?

Jesus was welcomed by sinners and tax collectors because He welcomed them. He did not see them the same way society saw them, as people to be avoided, but rather these were the people Jesus was sent to save. These people loved Jesus because Jesus loved them and did not condemn them. Instead, he told them the truth about themselves with love and in a way that valued them. Being sent by Jesus requires us to be around people who are different than us, and for many churched people this simple step is the hardest part. The Pharisees and scribes were the “churched” people of their day, and over and over again they missed the point. To be sent by Jesus, we must recognize the mission He has sent us on.

• What happens in this parable? What does it teach us about what Jesus is like and what He expects from those He sends?
• What does this parable teach us about what success looks like from God’s perspective? How closely does your perspective align with God’s?
• To whom is Jesus’ mission? Do you think we do a good job of keeping our focus the same as Jesus’? Why or why not?
  

The parable of the lost sheep is a parable of priority. For the shepherd, the one lost sheep is far more important than the 99 that are found, so he went on a mission to rescue it. The focus of Jesus’ mission is to bring people into His kingdom through repentance. If we are sent by Jesus, this should be our mission as well. We leave the relative comfort of the 99 to seek after the one Jesus wants to save. There are lost sheep all around us, and God has sent us just like He sent Jesus.

APPLICATION

Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives.

• Make a list of the places you go on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis. Do you see yourself as being sent by Jesus to be salt and light in those places? What would change if you did?
• For many of us, the prospect of being sent brings us anxiety and stress. Yet Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace to you!” (v. 19). How does Jesus give peace when we are sent to do His work?
• God has given Brentwood Baptist Church a specific mission to reach our region through the Middle Tennessee Initiative. How will you be sent like Jesus in this mission God has given our church?
• How can you make time in your schedule to be around the same types of people Jesus made time for?
  

PRAY

Pray that you would take seriously what it means to be sent by Jesus. Consider all the places you go—where you live, work, and play—and ask Jesus why He has sent you to those places. Also ask Him to open your eyes to see what He is doing in those places and how you can join in His work.

FOLLOW UP

Midway through this week, send a follow-up email to your group with some or all of the following information:

Questions to consider as they continue to reflect on what they learned this week:

• Where have you been sent this week? What does a step of obedience look like?

> A note of encouragement, following up on any specific prayer requests mentioned during your group gathering.

> The challenge to memorize John 20:21.

COMMENTARY

John 20:19-21

20:19-20. The scene now moves from predawn hours to the evening of the same day. The disciples were locked in and riddled with fear in spite of what Peter and John had seen and what Mary had reported. Miraculously, instantly, the Lord appeared to offer them a warm “Shalom.” Before they could respond, he showed them the nail prints in his hands and the spear scar in his side. Why such a display? These fearful believers had to grasp that the same Jesus who died now lived again and stood before them.

In the disciples’ minds the locked doors protected them to some extent against Jewish authorities who might want to do to them what they had done to their Lord. But in John’s view, the locked doors served as a symbolic reminder that nothing can stop or hinder the resurrection body of Jesus.

20:21-22.Again the Father became the center of Jesus’ words. He had been a servant on a mission, and now he sent his people out to witness. Most evangelical scholars believe this reception of the Holy Spirit was temporary—an illumination of their hearts for the next fifty days before Pentecost.

Luke 15:1-7

15:1. Jesus had just described heaven as a banquet for the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. He had told the rich banquet hosts to invite such people to their feasts, not seeking repayment. Naturally, such people found Jesus and his teaching attractive. They wanted to hear more and to see what Jesus would do for them.

15:2. Meanwhile, the religious experts also maintained their watch, hoping to trap Jesus (11:53; 14:1). They continually chided him: Why do you associate with these kinds of people? Do you not know their reputation? They will ruin you. Get away from them. You are becoming unclean.

15:3-6. Jesus’ parables, at first meant to reveal the mysteries of God’s kingdom to the disciples and to conceal them from the crowds, have now become tools to teach the opponents (cf. 14:15–16). This parable retains its character as a story, but it is placed in the interrogative mood. The listeners become participants, characters in the story, and must choose a course of action. The story turns the self-righteous, ritually clean scribes and Pharisees into dirty shepherds involved in an occupation that constantly makes them unclean (see commentary on 2:8–12). The rabbis regarded shepherds—along with gamblers, tax collectors, camel drivers, and sailors—as despised, evil, thieving occupations.

As a shepherd, you care for one hundred sheep. One night one lone sheep wanders from the fold. When it comes time to count the sheep, you find one missing. What do you do? You leave the ninety nine to fend for themselves in the relative safety of the open field and begin an immediate search-and-rescue mission for the lost sheep. Having found the sheep, what do you do? Party! Celebrate! Rejoice! Gather all your friends and neighbors and share the good news with them.

15:7. That is what heaven is like. Ninety-nine self-righteous people who keep all the rituals, festivals, and rules bring no joy to heaven. One sinner confessing his sin and repenting sets off party time in heaven. God is concerned about the lost who will admit they are lost and turn back to him. He wants people to put the sinful life behind them and follow him. Pharisees never do this. Why? They never realize they are lost! They always count themselves among the saved, even though they have never repented of their sins. Start the party in heaven today. Repent of your sins and be saved.