Jesus is All Sunday School Lesson

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Jesus is All Sunday School Lesson
Light That Conquers De7et,13

Jesus Christ: A Portrait of God

Unit 1: Christ, the Image of God(Lessons 1-5)

Lesson Aims

After participating in this lesson, each studentwill be able to:

s. quote 1 loan J1, t4 from memory.

2.Discuss the personal implications of what itmeans to walk as Jesus did.

3.Describe one way that he or she will walk asJesus did.

Lesson Outline

brrRonucrioN

A.Unresolved Guilt

B.Lesson Background

I. THE WALK OF FELLOWSHIP (1 John 1:1-4)

A.Experiencing the Word of Life (vv. 1, 2)

B.Experiencing Fellowship (v. 3)

C. Experiencing joy (v. 4)

II. THE WALK IN THE LIGHT (1 John 1:5-10)

A.Full Cleansing (vv. 5-7)

B.Full Confession (vv. 8-10)III. T. WALK OF Lovr. (1 John 2:1-6)

A.Jesus Our Advocate (v. 1)An Advocate

B.Jesus Our Propitiation (v. 2)

C.Jesus Our Standard (vv. 3-5)Keeping Commandments

D.Jesus Our Trailblazer (v. 6)CONCLUSION

A.What Would Jesus Do?

B.Prayer

C. Thought to Remember

Introduction

A. Unresolved Guilt

She sat on the tailgate of a pickup in the park-ing lot, her body shuddering with silent sobs. In

the nearby park the rest of the church was enjoy-ing the annual picnic, but she &hit participate.

ne just sat there, hugging herself tightly, staringinto nothing.

The preacher sat down next to her and asked."What's wrong, dear? Can I help?" She gainedcontrol for a minute and blurted, "I take showerafter shower, but I still feel dirty." Her problem?She had recently committed adultery with her

best friend's husband. Her sin made her feelguilty and unclean, and she felt there was noway to get over it.

Counseling professionals say that unresolvedguilt is one of the great problems facing troubledadults. The church knows the cause of unre-solved guilt: sin. Some secular counseling theo-ries deal with sin problems by saying, "That'swho you are. Just accept yourself and be happy."They believe that clients want a therapist whowill say that their sin is OK. Actually, no oneneeds to spend money to hear this. All you haveto do is find a bunch of drinking buddies to partywith, and they will tell you this for nothing!God, who made us, knows that sin cannot beignored or explained away. It must be confrontedand overcome. Ignoring sin is a sin itself and isultimately destructive. The apostle John has astrategy for dealing with sin that we will seetoday. This week's lesson uses bold symboliclanguage to guide us into a fellowship with God.This fellowship moves beyond paralyzing guiltto a joyous walk with the Lord.

B. Lesson Background

The apostle John was one of Jesus' closest as-sociates. Jesus trusted him enough to task hintwith the care of His own mother, Mary, at thecross (see John 19:26, 27). Church tradition saysthat John later moved to the great city of Ephe-sus, taking Mary with hint. There he ministeredfor many years, dying sometime between An 95and 100. His exile to Patmos is also well known(Revelation 1:9).

There are five books in the Bible written bythe apostle John: the Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John:and Revelation. We are not sure who the in-tended audience was for 1 John, but apparentlythey were confronted with many threats to theirfaith. Some may have been Jewish believers whohad denied Jesus in order to return to the syna-gogue (see 1 John 2:22). Others may have beenforesee pagans who were being lured back intothe worship of idols (see 1 John 5:21).

Still others were being tempted by an earlyform of the attractive heresy we call gnosticism(see discussion of this in the first lesson of thisquarter). For this reason John emphasized hispersonal contact with the human \esti% includ-ing seeing and touching (1 John 1:1).

First John deals with both extremes on theissue of sin: legalism and license. On the onehand, John confronts a legalism that refuses torecognize the sufficiency of Jesus to deal with sin.On the other hand, John will not stand for thosewho think that they have a license to sin because :hey believe that personal righteousness and life-style are unimportant (compare Romans 6:1, 2).John's solution to both extremes is to combineforgiveness with godly living. If we try to liverighteously but do not feel forgiven for thosetimes we have failed, we will be miserable. If wedory in our forgiveness but disdain God's stan-dards of personal purity and integrity, then wenave given up the possibility of a close relation-ship with God. We too will ultimately be miser-able. These issues of John's clay are amazinglycurrent for on today. The message of 1 John stillhas a place in the church and should be heard.

I. The Walk of Fellowship(1 John 1:1-4)

John begins his letter by outlining a dual pur-pose. First, he writes to bring about true fellow-ship among his readers. This is fellowship notonly with one another but also with God (1 John1:3). Second, he wants his readers to have heartsfull of joy from hearing his words (1 John 1:4).ohs has no joy in knowing that some of hisreaders lack true, intimate fellowship. He wantsto break down the barriers that destroy fellow-ship and cause joy to be stifled.

A. Experiencing the Word of Life (vv. 1, 2)1. That which was from the beginning, whichwe have heard, which we have seen with ourryes, which we have looked upon, and ourhands have handled, of the Word of life.

This verse contains strong echoes of the firstverses of the Gospel of John. In both places theapostle opens with an affirmation of the preexis-tence of Christ: He was from the beginning.When the universe was created and time began,He was already there. John identifies the Christas the Word of life, combining his descriptions ofWord (John 1:1) and life (John 1:4). These areWong statements of Jesus' deity. (See question.

Also important are John's eyewitness reportsof the humanity of Jesus. Jesus was not a divinebeing who merely seemed to be human. Johnemploys three of the five senses to confirm howhumanly real Jesus was: John heard Him, sawHim, and even touched Him. These things areburned into John's memory, and he shares themfreely with his readers.

2.(For the life was manifested, and we haveseen it, and bear witness, and show unto youthat eternal life, which was with the Father, andwas manifested unto us;).

John now explains further what he meanswhen he calls Jesus the "Word of life" from verse1. First, he describes Him as eternal life. In Jesuswe both find and receive eternal life. Jesus is life(John 11:25), and Jesus grants life to His believ-ers (see John 10:28).

Second, true life cannot be found apart from arelationship with God the Father. One of thegreat promises of the Bible is that, in the end, wewill be given renewed access to the tree of lifethat is in the presence of God (see Revelation2:7). Believers, though, don't need to wait untilHeaven to experience life. John wrote to assureus that Jesus brings us life in the here and now(John 20:31). By scathing with Jesus, trusting andfollowing Him, we will experience LIFE in allcapital letters!

B. Experiencing Fellowship (v. 3)

3.That which we have seen and hearddeclare we unto you, that ye also may have fel-lowship with us: and truly our fellowship iswith the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.Fellowship is the Greek word koinonia. Thisword has the sense of "mutual sharing." Fellow-ship is not a matter of being part of an audience.HOW much fellowship can you have withstrangers while watching a movie in the theater?Koinonia fellowship involves closeness and car-ing. A church with this type of fellowship willhave members who care about one another farbeyond the casual, "How are you doing?" onSunday morning.

John teaches us that fellowship in the churchmust exist on two levels. First, we most have fel-lowship with God. God has already initiated this.He has revealed himself through His prophetsand, finally, through His Son (Hebrews 1:1, 2,last week's lesson). We can know the very heartof God if we study the Scriptures.

Second, we will begin to have fellowship thatis more authentic with fellow believers when weallow our relationship with God to flourish. Wehave much stronger mutual ties and learn to care for each other as God does. Christian fellowship,then, is experienced on both the vertical level(with God) and the horizontal level (with otherbelievers). ,es1 km #2, 144.!

C. Experiencing Joy (v. 4)

4. And these things write we unto you, thatyour joy may be full.

John has no ulterior motives, no hidden agen-das, in writing to his friends. He is seeking nei-ther personal gain nor personal vindication overhis critics. He simply wants his readers to experi-ence the joy that comes from having a secure re-lationship with God. That result should controltheir relationship with others. This is the walk offellowship. It is the abundant, joyous life (seeJohn 10:10).

H. The Walk in the Light(1 John 1:5-10)

Another powerful theme that 1 John shareswith the Gospel of John is the image of Jesus asthe light (see John 1:4; 8:12). Walking in His lightimplies two things for believers. First, it meansthat we walk without hiddenness, without pri-vate sin. We live wills integrity, with no fear ofpublic exposure of even the most intimate detailsof our lives. Darkness for John is equated withsin and ignorance. Walking in the light meanswe walk in truth and holiness.

Second, walking in the light means walkingwith God. God allows no darkness in His pres-ence. The great barrier to walking with God,then, is sin. John outlines a two-part process todeal with sin: cleansing and confessing.

A. Full Cleansing (vv. 5-7)

5.This then is the message which we haveheard of him, and declare unto you, that God islight, and in him is no darkness at all.

We begin to understand personal spiritualcleansing by remembering that the cleanser(God) is without any taint of sin. John's imageGod is light means that God is pure and holy inevery possible way. We should not understandthis as an exclusive, absolute statement that con-flicts with John's other basic declarations aboutGod. For example, John can say "God is light"here and "God is love" later (1 John 4:8), andboth statements are completely true.

6.If we say that we have fellowship withhim, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do notthe truth.

The church always has had false believersamong its members. These are the ones whoclaim to be God's children but engage in behav-iors that God abhors. We, from our human per-spective, cannot always tell who is a truebeliever and who is a false believer. Sometimesthe person with many chronic and visible sinproblems is struggling sincerely to change his orher life every day.

In other cases a person who presents the ap-pearance of great righteousness and piety may beliving a secret life of evil and disdain for God.For John this is the person walking in darkness.His or her relationship with God is a sham as lifeis lived only for self. Jesus labeled such peoplehypocrites and reserved His strongest condemna-tion for them (see Mark 7:6). Elsewhere Jesus in-dicated that such evil persons may coexist withbelievers now, but they will be condemned at thetime of judgment (Matthew 13:30).

7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in thelight, we have fellowship one with another, andthe blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth usfrom all sin.

John follows the discussion of the hypocritewith a message of hope for the one strugglingwith sin (and this includes every believer). Thisis not addressed to the nonbeliever.

How does the Christian deal with sin? First,we maintain a strong relationship with God,walking in the light. (See question #3, page 144.)Out, furthermore, we never lose sight of the factthat our sins have been paid for by the blood ofJesus, shed for us (see Revelation 1:5). [See ques-tion #4. paw: I -141

B. Full Confession (vv. 8-10)

8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceiveourselves, and the truth is not in us.

It is unlikely that John is dealing with a hypo-thetical situation here. There apparently are falseteachers trying to convince the church that theyhave no sin at all. We know this is not true, bothfrom our experience and from God's Word. Even'le strongest, most mature believers can stow-:Ile. Remember that Paul had to confront Peterer a matter of hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-14).

9.If we confess our sins, he is faithful andjust to forgive on our sins, and to cleanse usfrom all unrighteousness.

John offers another key to how Christians canovercome sin problems. We must confess oursins. To confess means to acknowledge our sinbefore God. It means we are not comfortable withA. nor do we ignore it. We come to God and say,'0 wretched man that I am! Who shall deliverme from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24).We acknowledge our sinfulness and our help-lessness. God cleanses us, meaning He forgivesus. We who are unrighteous are reckoned by Godas righteous because of His cleansing power.

10.If we say that we have not sinned, wemake him a liar, and his word is not in us.John now presents the most awful conse-quences of falsehood: if we deny our sinfulness,we are calling God a liar. We are saying that wedon't need a Savior and that God didn't need tosend Jesus to die for our sins. This is the com-plete, polar opposite of confessing our sins.

III. The Walk of Love

(1 John 2:1-6)

Our lives as believers are to be controlled andcharacterized by love (John 13:35). When wetruly understand what God has provided for onin Jesus, our lives will radiate His love to others.

A. Jesus Our Advocate (v. 1)

1. My little children, these things write I untoyou, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, wehave an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christthe righteous.

In Christ we have another advantage when itcomes to sin. In the heavenly court of judgment,we have the finest defense attorney available:Jesus our advocate. The Greek word for this canalso be translated "comforter," as it is in John14:26. There this word is used of the Holy Spiritby Jesus.

AN ADVOCATEIt was a common practice in my neighborhoodwhen I was a youngster. If you wanted to dosomething with some of the other kids and you

believed Mom might not approve, you brought inone of the other kids to ask her, "We're going toride our bikes over to the park. Can Johnny comewith us?" You could ask her yourself, of course,but you knew you had a better chance of gettingher approval if one of the other kids asked. Wewanted someone to stand alongside as and speakour request to Mom.

The word advocate suggests a lawyer who rep-resents someone in court. Such a one standsalongside, speaks to the judge, and argues thecase. The picture that emerges out of all this isthat Jesus is our defense attorney, so to speak.Jesus pleads our case. As He does He stressesthat we can go free with no penalty, because Hehas paid sin's price on the cross. He knows ourdesire to live right, but He also knows howpoorly we have been able to do it. Yet in all thisHe faithfully represents our best interests. Whatan advocate we have! —J. B. N.

B. Jesus Our Propitiation (v. 2)

2. And he is the propitiation for our sins: andnot for ours only, but also for the sins of thewhole world.

John uses doctrinally heavy language to state abasic truth: Jesus is our propitiation, meaning oursacrifice for sins. This is the doctrine of theatonement; God's penalty for our sins is paid bythe sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. Thestatement here is remarkably similar to the dec-laration of John the Baptist about Jesus: "Beholdthe Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin ofthe world" (John 1:29). See also 1 John 4:10.

C. Jesus Our Standard (vv. 3-5)

3. And hereby we do know that we know him,if we keep his commandments.

A confused brother or sister may wonder, "AmI really a believer? Sometimes I doubt my ownfaith." John says the time for self-delusion isover. You know whether you are a believer bylooking at your own life. Jesus said, "Ye shallknow them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16). Johnsays that you can know yourself by your actionsas you keep his commandments.

KEEPING COMMANDMENTS

Some years ago a friend of mine mentioned anincident that had occurred in his family. Hischildren had various chores they were to doaround the house. His youngest son, Jimmy, wasto take the garbage each evening and put it in thegarbage can at the back of their yard. His motherusually wrapped it in a newspaper and placed iton the corner of the kitchen cabinet.

One night Jimmy went out to play, and myfriend asked his daughter, "Did Jimmy pick upthe garbage?" She looked into the kitchen andnoticed the garbage was still on the kitchencounter. My friend said, "Tell Jimmy to comeback and get the garbage." She went to the backdoor and yelled out, "Jimmy, come back and getthe garbage." Jimmy yelled back, "Who says so?"She replied. "Dad says so." Only at that point didJimmy came back and pick up the garbage!Jimmy had heard his sister's command, butthere was no obedience because he did not re-spect her authority. When he understood whoseauthority lay behind the command, he obeyedreadily. John says that if we know Jesus, we willkeep His commands. Do we? —J. B. N.

4, 5. He that saith, I know him, and keepethnot his commandments, is a liar, and the truthis not in him. But whoso keepeth his word. inhim verily is the love of God perfected: herebyknow we that we are in him.

Why do we keep God's commandments? Outof fear? To earn heavenly merit badges? No.there is only one valid reason: We follow God'swill because we love Him. Some children obeytheir parents primarily out of the fear of punish-ment. Other children obey primarily becausethey love their parents and do not want to disap-point them or hurt them.

To obey out of love is a godly motivation. forGod loves us consistently at all times. When wetruly appreciate God's great love, the enjoymentof sin grows less and less enticing. We are ston-ing toward what John sees as perfect love. Whenwe achieve this type of relationship with God,we no longer fear Him (1 John 4:18).

D. Jesus Our Trailblazer (v. 6)

6. He that saith he abideth in hiss ought him-self also so to walk, even as he walked.

The section concludes by looking to the exam-ple of Jesus. When we don't know what to do, weshould look at the pattern of Jesus' life. In this Heis the "author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews12:2). He has walked before us and shown ushow to live.

Conclusion

A. What Would Jesus Do?

Over a century ago Charles Sheldon pennedthe classic Christian novel In His Steps. Themain character, a minister named Henry Max-well, is confronted by an angry poor man whoasks, "But what would Jesus do? Is that what youmean by following His steps?"

This challenge sets off a series of events thattransforms a town because the people begin toask themselves, "What would Jesus do in this sit-uation?" They allow the answer to determinetheir decisions.

The "What Would Jesus Do?" fad passedthrough many churches a few years ago, accom-panied by WWJD? wristbands and other para-phernalia. The question WWJD? doesn't alwayswork because Jesus did some miraculous thingsthat we cannot; Jesus even died on a cross to paysin's price—something we cannot and need notdo. But by and large the WWJD? phenomenonwas a good thing. Even if it is now out of fashions,the question still is worth asking.

Are you willing to do what Jesus would do, tolive as Jesus lived, to walk as Jesus walked? Areyou willing to act in a manner that acknowledgesChrist's presence in your life and let Hiss be thecontrolling influence for your actions? This isthe message of this lesson. When we do this, weare not automatically perfect. But we haveyielded to God's conquering light in our lives,and we are truly walking with Him.

B. Prayer

Gracious and merciful God. thank You for lov-ing us in spite of our sin. Thank You for beingwilling to allow us into Your close fellowship de-spite our weaknesses. And thank You for cleans-ing us despite our spiritual filthiness. We pray inthe powerful name of Jesus, Your Son and ouradvocate in Heavers, amen.

C. Thought to Remember

Walking with Jesus means living with Hispresence in our lives.

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