Explore the Bible Teaching Plans Fall 2013

EXPLORE THE BIBLE, TEACHING PLANS

VOLUME 10, SESSION 6

Your goal this week is to help adults reflect on and thank God for spiritual freedom He provides.

1. Get Started

• Ask learners to identify things that help keep hope alive in them. Survey the titles and topics of the next three lessons using Unit 2 Poster (Pack Item 10). (If you don’t have the Leader Pack, see p. 91.) Q: Why do you think many are living in a free land but still lack spiritual hope?

• Share this quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: “She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.” Say: The main character in Hawthorne’s novel had to wear a scarlet “A” so others would identify her as an adulterer. When she was able to remove the letter, only then did she realize the weight caused by her guilt, shame, and sin. Q: How do people typically react when they have been set free from an oppressive dictator in a foreign country? How is their reaction different than those of us who live where freedom has been provided?

• Write spiritual freedom and political freedom on the markerboard. Q: What’s the difference in these two? What happens when people have spiritual freedom but no political freedom? Or political freedom but no spiritual freedom?

2. Get Into the Word

• Use Map: World of Ezekiel and Daniel (Pack Item 1) and provide background information based on your studies to set the stage for this unit of study.

• Q: Have you ever had a time in your life when God brought hope to you at just the right moment? Explain. How did this new hope help you endure?

• Call attention to the headings for each section of study (pp. 49-53) in the Personal Study Guide (PSG). Note the key word found in each outline point. Q: What rescue did the exiles expect? Say: Look for ways God’s rescue differed from their expectations.

Why Is Rescue Required?—Ezekiel 34:2b-6

• Ask a volunteer to read Ezekiel 34:2b-6 and direct learners to listen for reasons why rescue was needed at this time. Emphasize the fall of Jerusalem and the problems it caused the exiles. Q: Who were the shepherds Ezekiel prophesied against? Say: Political leaders were often called shepherds. Ask volunteers to read these verses to illustrate this: 2 Samuel 7:7 (Judges); Psalm 78:70-72 (David); Jeremiah 23:1-6 (unrighteous kings).

• Q: What were the actions of these shepherds in Ezekiel 34:3-4? (They were only looking out for themselves.) What were the results of poor political and spiritual leadership? (The people were captive because the shepherds did not lead them properly.) Why is leadership so important to a nation? to a church?

• Say: The shepherds abused and neglected those who were needy. Rather than seeing their people in distress and trying to lead them to a more healthy perspective, they preyed upon them and used them to build their own wealth. Q: Why is the way a leader cares for the underprivileged or needy important? How did this set up Ezekiel’s message of the hope of a new freedom?

What Does Rescue Involve?—Ezekiel 34:11-16

• Say: God Himself promised to be the Shepherd who would restore their land and bring them home from exile. Read Ezekiel 34:11-16 and ask learners to think of the contrast between God and the false shepherds mentioned in Ezekiel 24:2-6.

• Ask learners to circle all the verbs that God promised He would accomplish as the Shepherd for His people (search for, look for, rescue, bring them out, will shepherd, tend them, let them lie down, seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, strengthen the weak, and destroy the fat and the strong).

• Q: Why do you think the Lord mentioned one negative thing He would do (destroy the fat and the strong)? How does the role of a political leader parallel that of a shepherd? How does a spiritual leader parallel the role of a shepherd?

• Say: God never intended for His people to have a political king, but their desire for one was a rejection of His kingship in their lives (1 Sam. 8:1-8). The kings, beginning with Saul, immediately began to lead the people away from the Lord rather than to Him. Their actions effectively scattered the flock rather than bringing it together.

• Q: Why was restoration of the Israelites to the promised land one of the points of His rescue? Say: Returning to Israel did not cure their broken relationship with God. It took the arrival of the Good Shepherd to make complete restoration possible. Invite learners to read John 10:7-18. Ask what parallels they find between the actions of God in Ezekiel and the actions of Jesus in John.

• Q: What did God mean in the final sentence of Ezekiel 34:16?

Who Provides Rescue?—Ezekiel 34:22-24

• Say: God promised political freedom as He promised to restore the nation of Israel to its rightful home. However, political freedom alone was not God’s aim. Ask a learner to read Ezekiel 34:22-24. Q: Why is political freedom inadequate if it is not coupled with spiritual freedom? What kind of spiritual leader did God promise to send to the Israelites?

• Encourage learners to review the passage and list things that might be on the resume of the person God would send to bring spiritual freedom to the people [single shepherd, descendent of David, prince (Son) of God]. Q: In what New Testament passage did Jesus declare that He was the only way to God? Read John 14:6. Refer to Matthew 1:1-17 to prove Jesus was a descendent of David. Ask a learner to read John 5:23 to demonstrate that Jesus also saw Himself as the Son of God. Emphasize how Jesus embodied all the qualities of the new Shepherd/King.

• Q: How did the death of Jesus make possible the complete restoration of sinners with God? Invite learners to list some of the spiritual benefits of the death of Christ in their own lives. Allow volunteers to share a brief story of how they came to know Christ and what that has meant for their lives since that day.

3. Get to the Point

• Read the Life Goal (p. 48 of PSG). Q: If you are a Christian, what freedoms have you experienced since Christ came into your life?

• Using a sentence prayer approach, allow people to thank God briefly for the benefits of His freedom in their lives. Take responsibility to close the prayer time and avoid some awkward moments.

• Remind learners that God had given political freedom also. Suggest some of the benefits of political freedom you have enjoyed up to this point. Again pray and thank the Lord for the blessings of political freedom.

• Explain that sometimes political freedom dulls our senses to all the things we have to be thankful for in our country. Remind learners to never take for granted the things that freedom has brought into their lives.

For further discussion

• What does a good shepherd do for his flock? What are signals that a shepherd is not good to his flock? How do people in the church respond to both good shepherds and bad shepherds? (Ezek. 34:2b-6)

• Reflecting upon what you know of the ministry of Jesus, how did He minister to His people as a good shepherd to sheep? (Ezek. 34:11-16)

• What evidence do you see in your life that you need rescuing and cannot save yourself? (Ezek. 34:11-16)

• What or whom are you looking toward for that rescue? (Ezek. 34:22-24)

Teaching Options

GET STARTED or DEPARTMENT Idea

Say: Many couples today are seeking childcare for their children if both parents are working. Q: What would you be looking for if you had to choose a childcare facility? (security, love, nurture, safety, and so forth) Explain that some of these same qualities might have been what Ezekiel was expecting in a future Messiah.

GET INTO THE WORD Idea

As part of your examination of Ezekiel 34:2b-6, bring a packet of seeds and distribute them to group members. Q: What would be necessary for you to turn those seeds into a productive plant? What would be your responsibility in that project? What would be outside of your control? Explain that God’s nation was the seed and Jesus was the gardener. Note that Ezekiel chose the Shepherd/sheep relationship to illustrate a similar point.

GET INTO THE WORD Idea

Say: Suppose half of our group went hiking on the Appalachian Trail and got lost. They had one call before their cell phone died, and they called you. Q: What steps would you take to find them if you could not involve professional help? Encourage learners to list their steps on an index card. Read Ezekiel 34:11-16 and find God’s plan for rescuing those who were lost.

GET INTO THE WORD Idea

Prior to group time, find and print pictures of past political leaders who were well thought of (avoid leaders who might cause divisiveness among learners). Show the pictures. Q: Why were these leaders so well loved? In spite of all their goodwill and effort, what are some of the shortcomings you may know about these leaders? How was their power limited? Contrast political leadership with the role of Messiah in Ezekiel 34:22-24.

STAY ON TRACK

“shepherd” (34:5)

This lesson should not turn into a gripe session against current leadership in the church. Certainly churches should honor their leadership (Heb. 13:17; 1 Thess. 5:12-13; Rom. 13:1). If the discussion turns in that direction, be prepared as the leader of the group to keep the discussion on Ezekiel and the failure of the shepherds in their day, which gave rise to the hope that they had in Jesus Christ. Note how positive it is that all people today—leaders and followers—have the opportunity of submitting themselves to His leadership as Messiah.

“search” (34:11)

Do not teach this passage in isolation of its context. God promised He would search for their flock because they had scattered after the spiritual climate of the kingdom deteriorated following the death of King Josiah (609 B.C.). Every king after Josiah led the nation farther from the truth and abandoned the revival movement established by Josiah when he rediscovered the lost writings of Scripture.

Hymn—“Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us” (Hymn 161, The Baptist Hymnal, 2008) Available for purchase at lifewayworship.com/ETB.

Reflect and Evaluate

Examine your shepherding skills in relation to your group. Are you uniting the flock or driving them away?

Examine your teaching skills. How effectively are you communicating God’s Word?

Examine your reaching skills. How effectively are you reaching chronic absentees?