Big Calls - Teacher's manual

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.

A copy of John: The Visual Bible DVD is provided with this Teacher’s manual and is used with the permission of International Bible Society®. The DVD and its contents is the subject of copyright. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance or broadcasting of this DVD is prohibited by law. This DVD is for private use only and may not be shown or played in public other than as part of an act of religious worship or for the purposes of religious study or education and, in any such case, free of charge. No copy may be made for any purpose whatsoever.

National Library of Australia ISBN 978-1-922000-81-1 Author—Tim Clemens Managing editor—Julie Firmstone Theological editor—Loren Becroft Design—Bethany Abbottsmith

BIG CALLS Co nt e n t s How to use this manual

4

About the author 6 Unit overview 7 Lesson 1

The bread of life

9

Lesson 2

The gate and the good shepherd

13

Lesson 3

The resurrection and the life

17

Lesson 4

The way, the truth and the life

21

Lesson 5

The true vine

25

How to use this manual Big Calls is part of a series of curriculum products written by Tim Clemens for years 7–10 students studying Christian studies in independent schools and Special Religious Education in State schools.

As for all Christian Education Publications, Big Calls is grounded in the belief that God is the source of all truth and his word, the Bible, is where God reveals himself and his saving purposes. Each lesson aims to teach students directly from the Bible or, when this is not possible, to engage them with issues from a biblical perspective.

This unit is intended to provide you, the teacher, with reliable, engaging and ready-to-use material. With a total of five lessons, Big Calls is designed to run for one school term. Each of these lessons is structured to run for

Preparation B e fo r e yo u t e ac h e ac h l e s s o n :

4

•

pray for students to have open minds and hearts to receive God’s word

•

read through the lesson plan and the Bible passage(s). Think through how you will lead the discussion and what you will share with students about your own experience

•

watch the relevant DVD section and make sure you have the equipment ready to play the DVD at the appropriate time in the lesson

•

have the Student handbooks and Bibles ready to hand out (one per student)

•

gather together any additional props or materials you will need to run the games and activities.

Lesson format The lessons in this unit follow a basic format from week to week: Prayer

Introduction/ recap

An opportunity to commit the lesson to God and get the students used to praying and talking with him.

Lesson 1—A brief overview of what will be covered in this unit. All other lessons—a short revision of the previous lesson’s big idea.

Discussion or activity

An interactive section designed to get the students talking and thinking about the topic.

LINK

A bridge between the activities and what you have shared, and the Bible teaching to come.

DVD

A segment of the John: The Visual Bible DVD which relates to the day’s lesson topic.

Read the Bible

A chance for students to read the Bible themselves. Get a confident reader in the group to read the passage for the day aloud. Key passages are printed in the Student handbooks for easy reference.

Student handbooks

Reinforce the big idea

Chat

answers to common questions

A resource for students to complete with a variety of questions and activities based on the teaching. Be sure to allow time for students to share their answers with the class and for you to see how well they have understood the material. See the note on page 6 for more information.

A way to finish the lesson with the key points from the study.

An invitation to students to challenge you on any point they disagree with or find difficult to accept or understand.

Encourage any young person to approach you after class with questions or comments, and offer to pray with any student who wants this support.

Some examples of difficult questions you may get asked by students on the main issues discussed in each lesson, together with appropriate and helpful responses.

5

A note about the Student handbooks Each student should have their own handbook. Hand them out at the start of each lesson and collect them again at the end of class. This will give you the opportunity to review and mark (if you wish) their work, and to see whether the students have understood the material. At the end of the last lesson, allow the students to take home the Student handbooks as a record of what they have covered that term and a potential resource for any unanswered questions.

About the author Tim Clemens is passionate about reaching youth with the

gospel of Jesus Christ. He has been involved in youth ministry since 2006, and began teaching Special Religious Education (SRE) at St Ives High School in Sydney in 2009. Tim’s desire is to develop material which will engage and challenge high school students as they hear the gospel.

6

Unit overview The Big Calls unit aims to challenge students with five of Jesus’ ‘I am’ statements from John’s Gospel.

Each lesson seeks to investigate the meaning of the claim, as well as wrestle with its significance in terms of who Jesus is and what this means for us today. With each new statement, Jesus revealed something different about himself and his words challenge us to respond in repentance and faith.

There are five lessons in the unit: 1. The bread of life. Jesus said that those who believe in him will live forever.

2. The gate and the good shepherd. Jesus claimed that he is the gate to eternal life, and that he is the good shepherd who will protect and care for the people in his flock.

3. The resurrection and the life. Jesus has power over life and death, and will raise to eternal life everyone who believes in him.

4. The way, the truth and the life. Jesus claimed that he is the only way to get to God. 5. The true vine. Jesus wants his people to demonstrate the authenticity of their relationship with him by loving and caring for others.

Keys to this unit are the film John: The Visual Bible and the Bible reading.

Each lesson revolves around watching an excerpt from the DVD and reading the corresponding passage in the Bible. This has the benefits of reinforcing the main learning points, keeping students engaged, and giving them an opportunity to read the Bible for themselves.

Unit aims This unit aims to: 1. challenge students with five big calls from Jesus 2. help students to see that eternal life is only found in Jesus 3. persuade students to hear and obey the God-man, Jesus Christ.

7

Assumed knowledge Having participated in Christian Studies for 2–3 years, it is assumed that students will have: • • •

• • •

8

an understanding of the Bible as the inspired, inerrant and reliable word of God good skills in reading the Bible and locating Bible passages a fundamental understanding of the Christian faith including:

i. God as Creator

ii. Man as sinful

iii. Christ as Saviour a good understanding of what it looks like to live as a Christian a detailed knowledge of the person and work of Christ a strong knowledge of God’s dealings with the people of Israel.

3 The resurrection and the life Big idea

Jesus has power over life and death, and on the last day he will raise to eternal life everyone who has trusted in him.

Outcomes

In this lesson students will: • discuss the resurrection of the dead • reflect on the reality of death in their own lives • wrestle with Jesus’ words • be challenged to put their trust in Jesus.

Key passage

John 11:1–27

17

Today’s lesson Prayer Begin by praying something like, ‘God, thank you for the opportunity we have to read from your word, the Bible, today. Please help us to listen to Jesus, to understand what he says, and to apply his teaching to our lives. Show us what it means for him to be the resurrection and the life. Amen’.

Recap Ask the students what they remember from last week’s lesson. Perhaps you could provide a reward for the first student who reminds the class of the big idea: Jesus is the gate to eternal life and the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep.

Activity: Murder wink Begin the class by playing a game of ‘Murder Wink’. Instruct the students to stand in a circle around the classroom. Note that Murder Wink is usually played sitting on chairs, but this requires more room than is usually available in a classroom full of desks. While sitting on chairs is preferable, standing can be just as fun.

Once the students are standing in a circle, select one student to be the ‘detective’ and ask them to stand at the front of the classroom facing away from the rest of the group. Next, select an ‘assassin’ from the remaining students, but be sure to do it quietly so that the detective is unaware of their identity. The remaining students are ’citizens’. Finally, invite the detective to face the group and instruct him or her to stand in the middle of the circle.

The game can now begin. The detective’s job is to try and discover the identity of the assassin by nominating suspects. The assassin’s job is to ‘murder’ as many citizens as they can by winking at them without being caught by the detective. And the murdered citizens have the job of faking their death as dramatically as possible.

Depending on the class, you may like to ‘spice things up’ by limiting the number of guesses the detective is able to make (say, three guesses) and by stipulating how regularly the assassin must make a killing (for example, one every 10–20 seconds).

If either of these conditions is broken, the other side wins.

18

Discussion Facilitate a class discussion on the topic of whether or not the students believe in life after death, explaining the reasons for their answers. After you have given the students an opportunity to share their own thoughts, you may like to conclude the discussion with the following summary: According to the Bible, death in this life is not the end. Rather, there is the certainty of life after death for those who trust in Jesus (John 3:36). This is a wonderful truth and an incredible comfort. It means that, while death may still be sad and painful, we don’t need to live the rest of our lives in fear of it. As far as Jesus was concerned, death for the Christian was nothing but a good night’s sleep (John 11:11); it was the gateway to an eternity with him.

Link Tell the students: In today’s passage Jesus made another ‘big call’. Not only did he claim to be the ‘resurrection and the life’, he also demonstrated this claim by bringing a man back from the dead. This man wasn’t merely pretending to be dead (like some of you did earlier in the game of Murder Wink); he’d been dead for four days.

DVD Watch John: The Visual Bible from 1:30:38—1:38:55 minutes. This covers the story from John 11:1–45.

It’s quite a long DVD clip, but well worth the time because the ‘I am’ statement in John 11:25–26 is more easily understood within the context of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

Read the Bible Ask for a volunteer to read John 11:1–27. This is printed on pages 20–21 in their Student handbooks.

Student handbooks Instruct the students to begin answering the questions in their Student handbooks.

Go around the class and help them as they do this.

Depending on time, you may like to get your students to complete one (or both) of the Get creative activities as well. Be sure to give them an opportunity to share their work with the class. In the second activity, students may be encouraged to put in a

19

greater effort with the promise of an appropriate reward for the group that does the best job. The solution to ‘The meaning of the metaphor’ puzzle: ‘As Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, so too will he raise those who trust in him to eternal life’.

Reinforce the big idea Make sure the students understand that Jesus has power over life and death. He is the resurrection, so those who believe in him ‘will live, even though they die’. He is also the life, so those who live and believe in him ‘will never die’. As soon as we put our trust in Jesus, we have crossed over from death to life (John 5:24–25).

Chat Invite any students who have questions or who wish to talk further about the concepts in this lesson to speak with you during or after class.

Answers to common questions If Christians go to heaven when they die, does that mean that Jesus took Lazarus out of heaven when he raised him from the dead? Wouldn’t he have wanted to stay in heaven?

Firstly, was Lazarus in heaven? According to the Bible, all of human history is travelling towards a final moment called ‘the last day’ (John 11:24). At that time, every man, woman and child will come before Jesus to be judged. Those who have trusted in Jesus will be raised to life in physical bodies never to die again (heaven), but those who have not will be condemned to hell, which is called the second death (Revelation 20:11–15). Since we’re still waiting for the last day, it’s unlikely that Lazarus was in heaven as we often think of it.

So where was he? Well, there is some good biblical evidence to suggest that when Christians die, they go to be with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23) in a place which Jesus calls ‘paradise’ (Luke 23:43). If this is correct, then Lazarus was probably in paradise when Jesus raised him from the dead.

Secondly, and more importantly, why didn’t Jesus leave him there? This we can know for sure. 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’ (John 11:4). In other words, the whole purpose of the miracle was to point us to Jesus. He wanted us to know that he has power over life and death, and therefore he has the power to raise us to eternal life if we believe in him. This was much more important than leaving Lazarus in paradise.

20