Christian Education Publications PO Box A287 Sydney South NSW 1235 Australia Ph.: +61 2 8268 3333 Fax: +61 2 8268 3357 Email: sales@youthworks.net Website: www.cepstore.com.au Published April 2013 Copyright © Tim Clemens 2013 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 (NIV). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. ‘New International Version’ and ‘NIV’ trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica. National Library of Australia ISBN 978–1–922000–82–8 Author—Tim Clemens Managing editor—Julie Firmstone Theological editor—Loren Becroft Design—Bethany Abbottsmith
BIG CALLS Co n t e n t s Introduction The ‘I am’ statements of Jesus Chapter 1 The bread of life
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Chapter 2 The gate and the good shepherd
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Chapter 3 The resurrection and the life
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Chapter 4 The way, the truth and the life 26 Chapter 5 The true vine
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The resurrection and the life
Jesus has power over life and death and will raise to eternal life everyone who believes in him. This will happen on the last day, but the verdict of that final day is determined by our response to him now.
Read: John 11:1–27 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick’. 1
When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it’. 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
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Then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea’. ‘But Rabbi’, they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?’
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Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. 10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light’.
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After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up’. 11
His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better’. 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him’. 12
16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’.
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On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
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‘Lord’, Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask’. 23 Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again’. 21 22
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Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day’.
Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ 25
‘Yes Lord’, she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world’. 27
Resurrection Do you believe in life after death? Where did you get this idea from? _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________
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FROM THE PASSAGE 1 a. b. c. d.
2 a. b. c. d.
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What did Jesus do when he first heard that Lazarus was sick? He went at once to Bethany He wept He stayed where he was for two more days He said, ‘Let us go back to Judea’ According to Jesus, what was the primary reason for Lazarus’ sickness? So that Jesus could heal him So that God and Jesus might be glorified So that Mary and Martha might come to trust in him So that he could impress his disciples Are the following statements True (T) or False (F)?
___ Lazarus had already been dead for two days when Jesus arrived ___ According to Mary, Lazarus would rise again on the last day ___ Martha believed that Jesus could have healed Lazarus if he’d been there ___ Lazarus was just sleeping ___ Whoever lives and believes in Jesus will never die ___ Bethany was three miles from Jerusalem ___ Whoever believes in Jesus will live even though they die
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Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’. What exactly did Jesus do in this story to demonstrate the truth of this claim? a. b. c. d. 22
He healed a sick man He woke up a sleeping man He raised a dead man He predicted the future
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Write verses 25–26 in your own words.
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Digging deeper 1
Do you believe that this miracle actually happened? Why or why not? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________
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Write down six adjectives (descriptive words) to describe the way you feel about death (for example, sad). ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
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For Jesus, raising someone from the dead is as simple as waking them from a good night’s sleep (see verse 11). Even though we die, Jesus has promised to raise all those who trust in him to eternal life. How might trusting in Jesus change the way you think and feel about death? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
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Do you think Jesus will raise you again on the last day? Why or why not? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________
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If you answered ‘no’ to question 4, what’s stopping you from putting your trust in Jesus? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ 23
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GET CREATIVE 2 Form groups of four or five, and choose one person to be Lazarus. Using nothing but pens, paper (newspaper, butcher’s paper or toilet paper) and sticky tape, dress ‘Lazarus’ as a corpse for burial in ancient times. 24
The meaning of the metaphor Use the letters below to fill in the blanks and construct the sentence.
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Making sense of it all In the first century, the Israelites believed in a final resurrection of the dead. The prophet Daniel had said that a day would come when ‘those who sleep in the dust’ would awake, some to everlasting life and others to everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2). This is what Martha was referring to when she spoke of ‘the resurrection at the last day’ (John 11:24). Interestingly, many Jews in the first century would have believed that they were the ones who would rise to everlasting life. Why? Because they were Jewish; they were God’s chosen people. The Gentiles (non-Jews) were those who would suffer everlasting contempt. In this passage, Jesus both affirmed and rejected this first century view. He said that while there will be a final resurrection day, a person’s fate will not be determined by their nationality. Rather, those who will be raised to everlasting life are those who believe in him. To make sure everybody understood that he was telling the truth, he then demonstrated this power by raising Lazarus from the dead. 25