Absolute #17 Members of One Body

Members of One Body

Absolute Curriculum 

Year 1, Lesson 17

Introduction

In our last session we discussed the fact that as believers in Jesus Christ we must not only believe in Him for our salvation, but we must also work daily to put to death the sin in our lives. But how do we do that? In the final three lessons this year, I want to walk through three basic steps we must take toward becoming more like Jesus, three things every single one of you can and should do. First, become a part of the Body of Christ. Then next week we will look at reading the Bible for yourself, and finally we will look at prayer.

Members of One Body

To use the phrase become a part of the Body of Christ may have been a bit misleading. What I mean by that is that all who believe in Jesus Christ are by definition brought into the body, or family of God.

John 1:12

All who believe in Jesus Christ are called children of God. We have been adopted by Him, loved by Him, saved by Him.

Ephesians 4:4-6

Throughout the scriptures there is this emphasis on unity between all believers in Jesus Christ. Why? because we share One Lord and One Salvation. There is a spiritual unity that exists between every individual who is in Christ. But what does that look like on a practical level? So what if I have an abstract spiritual unity with people all the globe and history; how does this affect my life currently?

Well, the Scriptures are clear that we are not saved to be “islands” as it were. We were called to be a part of the local body of Christ, His Church.

Hebrews 10:24-25

How does the Body shape us?

So what is the practical effect of becoming part of the church locally? The first part we can see right there in Hebrews 10:24, being around other believers gives us the opportunity to stir them up to love and good deeds, and puts us in a position where we to can be encouraged and pushed toward living a life that honors God. But there are several other ways that the Church can draw us closer to Christ, and help us in our fight to become more and more like Him.

First of all, baptism. Baptism is one of the two ordinances established by the Lord Jesus before He left earth, which the church is to administer to those who become believers in Him. Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 6
Baptism publicly identifies us with the Triune God by showing that we have become one with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection to new life. Indeed, this should be one of the first things that we do upon believing in Christ is to be publicly identified with Him in baptism. And as we see in the Great Commission at the end of Matthew, as well as throughout church history, baptism is something administered by the church.

Second, communion or, as it is also known, The Lord’s Supper. Jesus, in Luke 22 and other passages, commands His disciples to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the bread and the wine (or the crackers and juice as we often take it), in remembrance of Him. We are to join with other believers in commemorating the death of Jesus for us, and by doing so with other Christians, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that we proclaim the Lord’s death (and its saving effect) until He comes.

Third, preaching. The preached word is one of the main reasons we are to be in church Sunday after Sunday. There are other places that we can and should receive teaching. Obviously, right now you’re in youth group. There are also Bible studies you can join, you can read the Bible yourself, maybe your parents or grandparents teach you about God and the Bible. Those are all great things. But do you remember 2 Timothy 3:16-17 where Paul tells Timothy all of the uses of God’s word, how powerful it is? What is his next statement in chapter four? Preach the word! Timothy (and all pastors) are to preach the word, because in hearing the word preached, you and I are changed. God corrects us, rebukes us, trains us, encourages us, equips us: these things are what happens when you consistently sit under the preaching of the word of God with an attitude of humility and a desire to hear from God. Bible studies are cool. Youth group is good. Listening to sermons online is helpful (I do that a lot). But none of these is as important or valuable as sitting under the consistent preaching of God’s Holy Word by your local pastor.

Finally, encouragement. We hit on this a little already, but I want to look at another verse here

Colossians 3:16

None of these things are possible outside the regular gathering together with the local church. There is so much more to say about the church and its benefits, and what the church should look like, but obviously this introduction is very much aimed at showing how the church helps us toward growing in Christlikeness. I’ll cap it off with an analogical statement for you:

Sanctification is a team sport.

Absolute #16 Sanctification

Introduction:
Last session we discussed justification, the act whereby God declares us just and righteous. This comes to us by the grace of God, through faith alone. We Bring nothing to the table.

Sanctification: 
Romans 8:28-30

In that list of four things in Romans 8:30 we see four acts of God in the salvation process; predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. However, those who have in the past been justified, but have not yet been glorified, live in the process of another aspect of salvation: sanctification.

Whereas those four acts in Romans 8:30 are unilateral or sovereign acts of God, sanctification involves work and effort on our part. Wayne Grudem defines sanctification this way,

"Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives."

Romans 6:12-14

Let not sin reign. Sin is no longer our task-master, because God, in saving us, has freed us from our bondage to sin.

James 2:17-18

We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. We are saved by faith apart from works, but the faith that saves is not without works. (See also Ephesians 2:8-10)

Philippians 2:12-13

God is the one working in us--and this does not excuse us from action, it motivates our action!

Does this matter:

1 Thessalonians 4:1-3

This is the will of God for all who believe.

Absolute #13 Son of God, Son of Man

Son of God, Son of Man

Absolute Curriculum

Year 1, Lesson 13

Introduction:

A couple of sessions ago we discussed the nature of sin, that man is stuck in it, and that this comes to us both by birth and by choice. We then spent our last session examining but a very few of the Old Testament promises concerning the coming salvation, the coming Redeemer that God would send unto His people.

What I would like to do today is primarily to read a number of passages which show us the way in which Jesus entered into our world and identified Himself with us. Or stated another way, I want to discuss the amazing reality that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) as one of us. One of the main things I want us to notice as we walk through these passages is the dual realities of Jesus divine nature and His human nature. Jesus is truly God and truly man. The fact that He is truly God makes the way in which He became a man and lived as a man all the more remarkable.

The Birth of Christ:

Predicted: Luke 1:26-38

Human: Coming to a young mother, most likely 12-16 years old

Divine: verses 31-33 Jesus very name (Jesus=Joshua=Yeshua) means “Yahweh saves” of “The Lord saves”, indicating His mission. Further, though his mother is human, this birth is of divine origin (v 35).

Song: Luke 1:46-55

Human: Again, we see the humble nature of Mary. She is not someone of royal descent or nobility, rather, she is a woman of lowliness. God's choosing her to mother Christ was not based of earthly logic.

Divine: Mary celebrates the salvation which God is bringing to His people through this child who is to be born.

Birth: Luke 2:4-20

Human: Jesus was laid in a manger, his birth was announced first of all to shepherds (the lowest of the low) and witnessed by them rather than high class or “reliable” people. There was not even room for Mary and Joseph in the inn!

Divine: The birth of Christ was announced first of all by a choir of angels; “angels from the realms of glory” as it were.

The Life of Christ:

Early life: Almost 30 years of obscurity, between the visit of the magi (when he was less than 2) and the beginning of of his ministry (at age 30) the only thing we hear about His life is a short scene Luke gives us from the temple in Luke 2:41-52. Even that passage, while pointing to the unusual nature, wisdom, and calling of Jesus (see especially verses 47 and 49), also point toward the ordinariness of His earthly life. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”¹

Baptism: Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus earthly ministry is initiated with his baptism by John in the Jordan river. Though John's baptism was a baptism of repentance and Jesus never sinned, what we see here is Jesus identifying himself with sinful humanity. Though He is unlike us, He is one of us. Here at the Jordan we also see the stark reality of Jesus unlikeness to us, His oneness with God. When He comes us from the water the heavens are opened (or as Mark says, ripped open) and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him like a dove, and the Father proclaims that “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Temptation: Hebrews 4:15

While we see longer sections regarding Jesus' temptation in the wilderness in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (called the synoptic Gospels because the cover a lot of the same material), there are many other places where Jesus is tempted. Indeed, because of His humanity it is true that throughout His entire life Jesus would have faced the same kind of temptations daily, even hourly that we do to sin. Yet, He did not sin.

Ministry:

Jesus spends his ministry teaching, healing, showing compassion toward and feeling empathy for the people He encountered. 

Death: 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24

Of course the place where we see Jesus most radically identify with us is on the cross. He not only takes on our sin, but becomes our sin, that in Him we might die to sin, that in Him we might become God's righteousness.

Resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:1-6, 12-19

In this passage we see that our eternal hope as believers is tied to that fact that not only can we be identified with Christ in His death, but that His resurrection is the guarantee that we ourselves might one day be resurrected.

1The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. All Scripture quoted, unless otherwise noted, will be from the ESV.