Youthworks Bible Studies - 1 John

YOUTHWORKS BIBLE STUDY SERIES N e w T e s t a m e nt

1 John

Living the Real Thing

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Jon Thorpe

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Welcome to the Youthworks Bible studies If you are anything like me, you are going straight past the boring bits and you just want to get into the studies (you’re probably also one of those people who never read the instructions for your phone!) The next couple of pages offer some really helpful ideas about using this study guide and running a small group. Take five minutes and I am reasonably sure the studies will still be there when you finish.

Helpful features of this guide 1) Tips for getting the most out of your time together 2) Totally reproducible study sheets 3) Leaders get the same study sheet as students (but with the answers!)

4) Questions that work for established Christians and the new person 5) Great interactive studies 6) Bonus optional studies on related topics.

Copyright

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I know copyright is a pain, so we will rip the bandaid off early and be done with it.

This book is for one group.

➔ I f you are using this book as part of your youth group main meeting then you only need to buy one copy, even though you might split into several small groups. ➔ I f you are using it as a Bible study then you need to have one book per Bible study group. For example, if a separate girls’ Bible study and guys’ Bible study meets on Sunday afternoon then you will need two books.

Please don’t steal from us. (Exodus 20:15)

A book by Christian Education Publications Published June 2008 Copyright © CEP 2008

Written by Jon Thorpe Edited by Rhonda Watson, Sue Aiken Designed by Neo 1 Works Christian Education Publications PO Box A287, Sydney South NSW 1235 Australia National Library of Australia ISBN 978-1-921137-87-7 Bible quotes taken from: New International Version copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984

by International Bible Society.

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Contents The purpose of this study guide

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Background to 1 John

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Study 1: Real Christians and wolves in sheep’s clothing 4 Leader’s notes 1 John 1:1– Leader’s study guide Participant’s study guide

Study 2: Real Christians understand Jesus 1 John 1:5– 2:2

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Leader’s notes Leader’s study guide Participant’s study guide

Study 3: Real Christians live it 1 John 2:3– 6

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Leader’s notes Leader’s study guide Participant’s study guide

Study 4: Real Christians don’t love the world

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1 John 2:15–17 Leader’s notes

Leader’s study guide

Participant’s study guide

Study 5: Real Christians keep going 1 John 2:18–27 Leader’s notes

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Study 6: Real Christians love one another 1 John 3:14–18; Leader’s notes

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Study 7: Real Christians get answers

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4:7–12

Leader’s study guide Participant’s study guide

Leader’s study guide Participant’s study guide

1 John 5:13–15, Leader’s notes

Leader’s study guide 16–21

Participant’s study guide

Bonus Study 1: Doubting the resurrection

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John 20:19– 31 Leader’s notes

Leader’s study guide

Participant’s study guide

Bonus Study 2: The Big review

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Extra useful information

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Who is the apostle John?

Love The Resurrection appearances Miracles of Jesus Final thoughts

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The purpose of this study guide These studies seek to bring out the big idea of the passage and get the group involved in understanding God’s word and applying it in their lives. Bible study groups are made up of a diverse range of people from mature Christians to absolute first timers. We want these studies to be accessible for everyone, with a range of learning styles that will help the whole group engage with God’s word.

These studies aren’t a substitute for your own preparation. You need to spend time understanding 1 John so you have a passion to teach it and a desire to be changed by it. At the end of the day it will be your leadership and enthusiasm and understanding of the group that will really help these studies hit the spot.

Can I strongly encourage you to get some extra reading material on 1 John. I have included a brief list of books and articles that I found helpful but there are plenty of other good books out there.

Term goes for 10 weeks!

Most groups don’t quite use the whole term but if you have a week or two extra that you need to fill then here are a few options.

1. There is a bonus study that explores the resurrection.

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2. There is a ’The Big Review’ to help reinforce what the group has been learning and to share how they have been going over the last term.

3. If you are doing the studies as a small group, it’s good to take a night off every now and again and just hang out. Go and get McDonald’s or go to a café. It’s a simple way that you can show students that you like them as people and not just as members of a group. Don’t do The Big Review and the night off back-to-back. Too much change, too often, starts to get messy.

Using this study as part of a main meeting For many youth groups the main teaching is done as a Bible study. If you are using this study as part of your main youth group then perhaps do the introduction together with the whole group before splitting off and looking at the study. I have included a variety of introductions to cater for different groups at the beginning of each study. A great way to finish the study is to come back together at the end and share what the different groups talked about before having some time in prayer. The first time you try this it might be a bit slow but give it a chance and the group will start getting used to the idea.

The teaching time could look something like this: 10 minutes Introduction with everyone together 45 minutes Bible study groups 5 minutes Come back together and share 10 minutes Prayer time.

Using this study as a Bible study Groups go under lots of different names; Bible study, Small group, Connect group, Home group.

Whatever we call them they are an opportunity to come together and spend time in God’s word and share our lives with each other. Make your time together fun, relational but also purposeful. Below is a brief outline of how you might break down your time together.

20 minutes 5 minutes 45 minutes 20 minutes

Hang time Sharing question Bible study Prayer

Hang time This will vary from group to group, what Year 8 girls do for the time is going to be different to Year 11 guys.

You might have afternoon tea (it sounds so peaceful when you put it like that), you might wander down to the shops and get some hot chips, you might play hacky sack. Whatever you do make sure that it doesn’t stop people from starting the Bible study on time and being focused. Playing a game of footy before you sit down is probably not going to be helpful as you sit there with sweat dripping off your forehead.

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The study Each study should go for approximately 45 minutes. It is helpful to finish a study in one week because the study is designed to have a purposeful start and finish, and it’s hard to recapture the momentum after a break. However, there is a time and a place to stay with the discussion rather than finishing the study and you need to recognise those times when they come along.

Sharing questions ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

Rate your week from 1–10. Why? If you could have one wish, what would it be?

If you had $20 to spend what would you do?

Hand around a bowl of cheezels. Once everyone has a handful tell them that for each cheezel they need to say something about themselves.

Favourite flower Favourite car Draw your perfect postcard (where would they like to be, what would they like to be doing?)

Yes/No game. The leader asks the questions and the students can’t say yes/no (or nod/shake their head). They must answer the question (maybe is not an answer, even for Year 9!). If they can answer seven questions in a row they ‘win’. Ask silly questions but also ask questions about them, their family, what they like doing and so on.

Prayer

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They are a good way to get people talking and they allow the group to get to know each other better.

They should be questions that anyone can answer, even if this is the first Christian thing they have ever done. A few sharing questions you could ask ...

Unfortunately prayer is often the neglected poor cousin. We know that God wants us to be praying but we then run out of time and finish with a token 30 seconds at the end. Can I encourage you to set a fixed time to pray, even if it sometimes means leaving behind an interesting discussion. It can be daunting for young people to pray in a group so here are a few suggestions. ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

Never force someone to pray. Even if you go around in a circle give people permission to opt out.

Brain storm some prayer points onto an A3 piece of paper.

Write three things on a piece of paper and then swap with another person.

One liner – Dear God thank you for ... ; Dear God I pray for ...

Break the time into four categories, P–R–A–Y (Praise – Repent – Ask for others – Yourself )

Time and place for Bible study Make your group as stable as possible – it encourages commitment and it’s good for morale. If you can, it would be fantastic for you meet at the same time and place every week. Meeting in someone’s home is by far the best but if that is not possible meet at the church.

Make sure you consider Safe Ministry issues when choosing a time and place.

Environment ➔ T ry to meet in a place that helps people feel connected and focused. For example; five people meeting in a huge hall can make you feel a bit lost. Equally meeting in a lounge room where everyone is crushed together can also be very distracting. ➔ Sit in a way that helps people focus, for some groups that might be chairs and tables, for others sitting on the floor is fine. Make sure that you can see everyone in your group so you can engage with them. ➔ T ry to meet somewhere with the least amount of distractions. Let’s face it, they get distracted enough as is, let alone when someone is banging around next door.

That’s it. You survived.

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Background to 1 John How can you tell the real Christian from the fakes? How can I know that I have the truth? How can I be confident that I will stand before God one day and be declared righteous? They are big questions and the answers either lead to confidence, peace and joy or a terrible uncertainty. These are the issues that the Christians are facing in 1 John. Some members of their Christian community, who they trusted, who they called brothers and sisters, have now split away and have become wolves in sheep’s clothing.

They claim to be true Christians but have rejected the truth and now threaten to seduce true Christians with their lies.

From the internal evidence of 1 John we can get a picture of what these wolves believed (they are called secessionists in the commentaries which means people who formally withdrew from the Christian community).

1. They claimed to ‘know’ Christ, but in fact are walking in darkness.

2. They claimed to be without sin.

3. They claimed to know God but did not obey Christ.

4. They denied Jesus is the Christ.

5. They denied Jesus was an atoning sacrifice for our sin (linking back to point 2, if they are without sin then there is no need for an atoning sacrifice).

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Where this teaching came from is a point of significant debate. One popular suggestion is it’s an early form of Gnosticism, which became more developed in the second century. The Gnostics believed that it was all about having a special knowledge of God (Gnostic comes from the Greek word for knowledge) and they believed they had connected with the true knowledge of God and ultimate reality. If knowledge is the heart of how we connect with God, what we do with our earthly, fleshly bodies is irrelevant and this seems to reflect in their attitude to sin and their denial of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

John writes to the Christian community to expose the wolves and to give the Christians an assurance of their salvation. For John, assurance is not just a feeling of being right with God but is grounded in objective reality; what we believe, how we respond to sin, how we live, our perseverance in our faith, all objectively testify to our salvation and the work of the Spirit within us. The whole book is a check list that affirms the true Christian, rebukes the wolves and challenges those who have started to be seduced by this false teaching. Each week the study will create another point to add to the check list.

Unfortunately it’s not a case of 50% is a pass mark – the real Christian will be able to tick each box, not that we are perfect but that these things will be characteristic of our lives.

Further reading The Letters of John, Colin G Kruse. The Pillar New Testament Commentary, Eerdmans, 2000.

This is a pretty academic commentary with frequent reference to the Greek. It’s a very thorough look at the letters of John. Hard work but excellent.

New Bible Commentary, D.A. Carson, R.France, J Motyer, J. Wenham (Cons Edus) Inter-Varisty Press, 1994.

Big and expensive but a great overview of all the books of the Bible. Definitely worth having on your shelf anyway, and it looks very impressive.

Justification by Faith article by D.A. Carson in Explorations 10 – Moore College Lecture series.

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Real Christians and wolves in sheep’s clothing STUDY 1: 1 JOHN 1:1–4

Aims ➔ To help the group understand the context of 1 John. ➔ To show John is a trustworthy witness of the truth.

Background John starts the letter by laying down his credentials for knowing the truth, ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life’ (1 John 1:1) . It’s an important opening to the letter because the best message is only as good as the credibility of the messenger.

It will be on this foundation that he will go on to affirm the Christian community and their salvation.

Introduction

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➔ To raise the question ‘What is a real Christian?’.

This series has the theme of ‘Real Christians and wolves in sheep’s clothing’ so the idea of ‘spot-thedifference’ is a good way to raise the topic. If you are using the study with a bigger group you might want to split them into teams for the ‘Spot-the-difference’ picture or put it up on the big screen.

Part 1: Spot-the-difference picture Get a spot-the-difference picture and have a race to see who can find the most differences in 30 seconds.

Part 2: Spot-the-Christian Get a picture of a bunch of people (perhaps a picture of you and your friends) and ask them to spot who the Christians are. Obviously they can’t do it but it raises the question – ‘how do we tell who is really a Christian and how do I know if I am really a Christian?’

Lead into the introduction question on the work sheet.

Conclusion Wrap up the study by sharing what the series is hoping to achieve. We want students to come out with one of two reactions: 1) Confident that you know the truth and you are saved.

2) Recognize that perhaps you know ‘Christian stuff’ but you are not really a Christian and see that something needs to change.

Helpful Reminder Be Prepared ➔ Make sure you have done your research. ➔ Make sure you understand the passage and the flow of the study. ➔ Have everything you need before you start – spare Bibles and pens, food. ➔ Set up the room so it will be a good environment to do Bible study.

S tudy 1 – L eader ' s notes

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Real Christians and wolves in sheep’s clothing STUDY 1: 1 JOHN 1:1–4

Spot-the-difference Lots of people claim to be Christians.

What do you think a real Christian looks like?

Don’t squash wrong answers, just give people an opportunity to give their opinion. You will have a chance to correct anything dodgy over the next couple of weeks. Below are some common, but not necessarily correct, suggestions:

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O If someone says they believe that Jesus died for them O Go to church O Pray

O Good people

O If someone lives the way Jesus wants

O We see the fruit of the spirit in their life.

What was the situation when 1 John was written?

Give a brief introduction to the situation in 1 John. Make sure you read the background stuff at the beginning of this study and some other reading.

O They claim to be Christians.

O They used to be part of the Christian community.

O They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

O They want to seduce the true Christians with their lies.

O They have left the real Christians doubting they are saved.

O They have left the real Christians questioning the truth.

O John writes to give them confidence in who they are in Christ.

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S tudy 1 – L eader ' s S T U DY G U I D E

Who can we trust to tell us the truth?

Read 1 John 1:1–4 Who/what is the ‘Word of life’?

What do we know about the ‘Word of life’ from these verses? v1 – was from the beginning v1–2 – came to earth and appeared to us

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□ God ✓ Jesus □ □ The Bible

Do you think John is a trustworthy witness? Why?

v1 – ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched’.

John was one of Jesus’ disciples.

He spent three years listening to Jesus.

He saw the miracles.

He watched Jesus die and rise again.

Why did John write this letter? v3 – So the Christians might have fellowship with the Father and with us.

What is fellowship?

John is not saying I tell you these things so we can be friends, he is saying I am telling you these things so we can be brothers and sisters in Christ. Fellowship is the result of being saved by Christ and therefore the issues of 1 John are not just important they are fundamental to our eternal salvation.

Wrap up the study by sharing what the series is hoping to achieve.

We want students to come out with one of two reactions – 1) Confident that you know the truth and you are saved.

2) Recognise that perhaps you know ‘Christian stuff’ but you are not really a Christian and see that some thing needs to change!

S tudy 1 – L eader ' s S T U DY G U I D E

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Real Christians and wolves in sheep’s clothing STUDY 1: 1 JOHN 1:1–4

Spot-the-difference Lots of people claim to be Christians.

What do you think a real Christian looks like?

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Who can we trust to tell us the truth?

Read 1 John 1:1–4 Who/what is the ‘Word of life’?

What do we know about the ‘Word of life’ from these verses?

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□ God □ Jesus □ The Bible

Do you think John is a trustworthy witness? Why?

Why did John write this letter?

What is fellowship?

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