JFS - Looking for life - Teachers Manual - SAMPLE

DIGITAL EDITION STUDENT HANDBOOK

Written by Tim Clemens

Christian Education Publications PO Box A287 Sydney South NSW 1235 Australia P +61 2 8268 3344 E sales@cepstore.com.au W cepstore.com.au Published May 2014. Copyright © Tim Clemens 2014 This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism and review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without the express permission of the Publisher. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc. National Library of Australia ISBN 978-1-925041-23-1 ISBN 978-1-925879-88-9 (PDF) Author—Tim Clemens Managing editor—Julie Firmstone Theological editor—Tess Holgate Design—Bethany Abbottsmith Digital Student handbook 2021 Project manager: Kenton Webb Designer: Andrew Hope

Looking for life CONT ENTS Lesson 1

Jesus brings truth

Lesson 2

Jesus brings clarity

Lesson 3

Jesus brings satisfaction

Lesson 4

Jesus brings cleansing

Lesson 5

Jesus brings certainty

Notes

1

Jesus brings truth JESUS BRINGS PURPOSE TO LIFE BY REVEALING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FATHER, AND ENABLING YOU TO BECOME HIS CHILD.

READ: John 1:1–18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 6

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, ‘This is the one I spoke about when I said, “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me”’.) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No-one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. 15

WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR? What do you think is the purpose of life? • Is it different for different people? • What makes a good life? • What makes you think that you’re right?

From the

passage 1. Circle all of the things that John says about the Word. Life was in him

The Word was not the light

He was God

He was a witness to the light

He has been seen

Everything was made through him

He was in the beginning

He made his dwelling among us

The Word became flesh

He came from the darkness

He came from the Father

The Word was with God

2. This passage doesn’t explicitly say who the Word is, but we can infer this by what is said about him. Who is the Word? a. b. c. d.

John Moses God the Father Jesus

3. Cross out each of the things that John does not say about the light. The darkness understood it. The light gives light to every man. The world received it. Some people did receive it. John was the light. The light was coming into the world. John was sent to testify about him. The world was made through him. He gave some people the right to become children of God.

4. Who is the light? a. b. c. d.

John Moses God the Father Jesus

5. Fill in the gaps by using the words provided below. darkness Word creatures God John light communicate Jesus speak evil John 1 is a poetic introduction to the Gospel of John. In just a few verses,

uses two massive metaphors to

describe who Jesus is and what he accomplished. First, he is the

. One of the main difficulties that children have in

communicating is that they cannot use words. Instead, all that comes out is gobbledegook. Words are what we use to

with other people.

By calling Jesus God’s ‘Word’ John is saying that Jesus was God’s ultimate act of communication with his

. Put simply, if you want to hear God

look at and listen to Jesus. That’s where you hear the voice of Second, he is the

,

!

. When a light is turned on in a dark room, the darkness

disappears. It’s almost as if the light overpowers the

and forces

it to retreat. In the Bible, light and darkness often represent good and evil. By calling

the light, John says something about who Jesus is and what

he accomplished. Firstly, he is perfectly good and holy. Secondly, as the light, Jesus has conquered

.

1. If Jesus is God’s ultimate ‘word’ (or act of communication) to humanity,

have you been listening to him? From what you know about Jesus, what can you say about who God is and what he’s like? Write down three things from your own general knowledge or from what you’ve learned in previous lessons.

2. Write three short sentences that describe a loving parent–child relationship. For example, A parent takes an active interest in the health and wellbeing of their child or A child respects his/her parents and enjoys spending time with them.

According to the Bible, we were created to live in right relationship with God as his children (see Genesis 2). Verse 12 says that all who receive (or trust in) Jesus, will be given the right to become children of God. In other words, they get to live the lives they were actually designed to live! Those who trust in Jesus can be confident that God loves them even more than the very best earthly father. Additionally, they can have confidence to share their deepest fears and failures with God, knowing that he will never abandon them.

3. How would you describe your relationship with God? Are you a child, a friend,

an acquaintance, a slave, an enemy or something else? Pick one and describe why you think this best represents your relationship with God.

According to verse 12, becoming a child of God is not something that we do through our own effort. We don’t earn our way into a relationship with God. Rather, it is a gift that God freely gives to those who receive (or trust in) his Son. This is also why John says that ‘grace and truth’ came through Jesus Christ (verse 17). Grace is a free gift given by God.

4. If you trust in Jesus, what are two things you can do to grow in the way you

relate to God as your Father? If you have a good relationship with your dad, you might like to think of your own father for some inspiration. For example, speak to him more regularly through prayer or listen to what he says.

5. If you don’t trust in Jesus, what’s stopping you? Write down or draw the top two things that would need to change before you could trust in Jesus and receive his gift of being called a child of God.

Get Creative 1 John 1 is a poem. Write a poem, song or rap about Jesus as God’s ultimate act of communication with his people—his Word! You might like to address things like: • what life would be like without Jesus • what we know about God because of Jesus • what it means to live as God’s children.

Get Creative 2 A resume is a document that outlines someone’s qualifications for a job. Imagine that Jesus is applying for the job of king of the universe (he’s actually got that job already, but just pretend!) Use the information in John 1 to create a resume for Jesus below.

Jesus CHRIST

THE WORD THAT WAS WITH GOD AND WAS GOD According to John 1:1, the Word was with God and the Word was God. Did your brain just explode? Sounds a little weird doesn’t it? The obvious question here is how could the Word be God if he was with God? This question gets to the heart of who God is and what he is like. Theologians (smart Bible geeks) call this the doctrine of the Trinity. In short, the Bible teaches that there is one God, but that he exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To make this deceptively simple definition a little clearer, it is worth briefly outlining three common mistakes to avoid when thinking about God:

1

2

3

‘There are multiple Gods.’ Even though the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all God, there are not three Gods but one God. In Isaiah 45:5 God says, ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God’. So there is only one God.

‘God wears three different masks.’ One way people choose to explain the apparent contradiction is to suggest that there is only one God, and he wears different masks. In the Old Testament he wore the Father mask, when Jesus was around he wore the Son mask, and now he wears the Holy Spirit mask. But this is also wrong, since in Jesus’ baptism we see all three persons of the Trinity relating to one another at once (see Matthew 3:16–17).

‘Jesus and the Holy Spirit were created.’ Another mistake people make is to suggest that the Father is the real God and that he created the Son and the Holy Spirit as demi-Gods or powerful angels. What we have seen today, however, is that this can’t be true either! John clearly says, ‘the Word was with God and the Word was God’ (see John 1:1).

Each of these mistakes has been made in the past and continues to be made today. It may sound silly, but this distinction matters. Why? Because if Jesus were not God, then we could never truly know God through him, he would be unable to forgive our sins, and we could never become children of God.

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