Sunday School Lesson
August 9
Lesson 10 (KJV)
Hearing and Doing
Devotional Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:26–31
Background Scripture: James 1:19–27
James 1:19–27
19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Lesson Aims
After participating in this lesson, each learner will be able to:
1. Identify what negates pure religion.
2. Explain the part wisdom plays in hearing, speaking, and doing.
3. Prepare an action plan of specific steps to take regarding conduct that is grounded in godly wisdom.
HOW TO SAY IT
| Sirach | Sigh-rak. |
| superfluity | soo-per-floo-ih-tee. |
Introduction
A. Disconnected
The title of today’s lesson gets at what is really a fundamental human problem: the disconnect in our hearts and minds between hearing and doing. The problem is not really a lack of information but rather what we do or don’t do with it. Consider: we know so much about what we should or should not be eating, yet we find it difficult to adhere to healthy dietary guidelines.
Some have pointed to the problem of an “attention economy.” Our attention is scarce, the argument goes, and is therefore valuable. Advertisers, tech companies, and social media platforms recognize this and capitalize on it. Advertising is everywhere. Even gas stations have pumps fitted with display screens in order to advertise while we fill our tanks.
In the midst of all this noise, we learn quickly how to tune out calls to action. We become so practiced in this that it can be difficult to tune in to the calls that are truly important. Today’s lesson has something valuable to teach us in that regard.
B. Lesson Context
Amid all that the Creator provided Adam and Eve in the garden—amid all the evidence of God’s goodness—the first humans heard the command not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. But they failed to do what God commanded (Genesis 3) when they failed to tune out a contradictory voice. The disconnect between hearing and doing was and is at the heart of sin.
This is also the story of Israel. Even after clear evidence of God’s presence during the exodus, the Israelites failed to obey, instead creating an idol to worship (Exodus 32). During the time of the judges, the Israelites went through relentless cycles of oppression, deliverance, and relapse. They never seemed to make the connection between their actions and the results. This pattern was fundamentally a problem of the heart (see Proverbs 4:23).
The power of speech is likewise a thread that can be traced through Scripture, beginning in Genesis 3. As we study, we remember the context of James’s audience: economic oppression, some infighting, and persecution (see lesson 9 Lesson Context: James the Epistle; also see James 2:1–7; 3:13–4:12; 5:1–6).
I. Faithful Speech
(James 1:19–21)
A. Swift and Slow (v. 19)
19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
James has just reminded his readers that they are called to be “a kind of firstfruits of [God’s] creatures” (James 1:18). In light of this goal, the instructions of the present verse become all the more necessary.
The three commands in the verse before us are straightforward. They are commands that are already familiar to James’s Christian readers of Jewish background, being well established in the Jewish wisdom tradition. An admonishment of similar wording is found in the nonbiblical Sirach 5:11–13, which is part of Jewish literature written in the time between the Old and New Testaments:
Be swift to hear; and let thy life be sincere; and with patience give answer. If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbour; if not, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. Honour and shame is in talk: and the tongue of man is his fall.
These instructions are about how members of the community interact with one another and, to some extent, how they interact with outsiders. Swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath is not so much about casual conversation—although it can certainly apply in that setting—as it is about how they should conduct themselves in verbal interactions that hold the potential to become aggressively confrontational.
B. Wrath and Righteousness (vv. 20, 21)
20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
James now gives the reason for the previous command. The wrath of man is a reference to our anger and especially our tendency to lash out. At such times, we often feel that our fury and the rash actions we take as a result of it are good and positive, or at least justified. This is a situation that all of us have experienced at one time or another: we fall into the trap of thinking that we know better than God what is needed in a given situation.
Anger that results in rashly violent behavior or hasty speech cannot bring about God’s desired righteousness, justice, or salvation. It should probably be said that James is not calling for passivity or for sitting on our hands. Instead, this is a call to the right kind of speech and action: wise, patient, and discerning.
Symbolic Speech
I recently renewed my driver’s license. This required taking the written test again. Before going to the Department of Motor Vehicles, I read the latest edition of the California Driver Handbook and noticed some changes.
The handbook had quite a bit to say about how to avoid road rage incidents. No matter how bad you think other drivers are, the handbook warns against “speaking” to them by swerving, flashing your high beams, or making obscene gestures. That is, don’t use actions as symbolic speech that might incite other drivers into even more aggressive behavior.
What we show by our speech, whether verbally or in actions that are a type of speech, reflects what is going on inside our hearts and minds. How often do you express wrath in ungodly behavior that can provoke others into one-upping your questionable actions? It’s not just in heavy traffic that this question is relevant!
—C. R. B.
| What Do You Think? How does James 1:20 change your view of anger when compared and contrasted with the anger of Jesus in Mark 3:1–6; 11:15–17? Digging Deeper |
21a. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.
James’s readers know how to communicate, and they know on some level that their anger works contrary to God’s desires and plans. But where do they begin the cure? How do they put away the sins that are at the heart of the problem? The word wherefore in the verse before us introduces the solution.
All filthiness casts a wide net, covering a great many sins. Superfluity of naughtiness is older English that may confuse for several reasons. First, of course, is the fact that naughtiness often carries with it a silly connotation in modern English. Things are more likely to be described as naughty in a joking way than with any level of seriousness. But James is quite serious!
A superfluity is an excess. Taking the terms together, James is instructing his audience to get rid of all the sin and every kind of evil that infects their lives.
| What Do You Think? What are some things Christians should do to implement the imperative of James 1:21a? Digging Deeper |
21b. And receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
It’s not enough merely to get rid of the bad; it must be replaced with the good (see Matthew 12:43–45). The agricultural imagery in the verse before us refers to the action of God in the heart of the believer. The phrase the engrafted word seems to be synonymous with other terms in the surrounding text: “the word of truth” (James 1:18), “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25), and “the royal law” (2:8).
We cannot be fully certain, but it seems that James envisions a close, almost inseparable, relationship between the word and the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). At any rate, the meekness with which it is to be received refers not to timidity or weakness, but to restraint.
Consider the pressure that these believers are under to lash out against their oppressors and persecutors. They need the meekness that grows out of wisdom and obedience to the Word.
II. Faithful Action
(James 1:22–25)
A. Hearing the Word (vv. 22–24)
22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
We move into a new section of the text with an emphasis on action. There are two kinds of hearing in the Bible. There is the hearing that understands and leads to obedience, and there is the hearing that goes “in one ear and out the other”; this results in no change on the part of the hearer. To put it another way, the Scriptures make a distinction between “hearing only” and “hearing and doing” (compare Isaiah 6:9, 10, quoted in Matthew 13:14, 15; Mark 4:10–12; and Acts 28:25–27).
The engrafted Word of God will yield fruit in changed behavior (Matthew 7:15–20). If the behavior has not changed, then the Word has been uprooted or never engrafted in the first place. Our actions are the best indicators of the reality of our hearts.
James is firmly in line here with the overall testimony of Scripture. The thought he expresses is very similar to one found in the Sermon on the Mount: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
Those who fail to act are deceiving themselves (see James 2:14–26). The reality of such self-deception is found in Scripture repeatedly. Horrible to say, when we go down that path decisively, God allows it (see Jeremiah 44:24–28; Romans 1:24, 28; 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12). This makes James’s imperative here all the more important.
Giving Lip Service
My second wife, Barbara, and I both suffered the death of our first spouses. Before Barbara and I married, we were invited to be part of a marriage enhancement group. Our married friends hoped we would be able to provide helpful insights to the engaged couples, gleaned from our collective 100 years of married life.
We were dismayed by the baggage some of them were bringing to their anticipated marriages. One couple seemed to be “in love with being in love.” They obviously had not seriously confronted some significant issues. This turned out to be true of the married couple leading the group as well. They gave lip service to the workshop material, but a few months after the group finished meeting, they divorced.
James says we must practice what we know if we are to be faithful to Christ. Otherwise, we are only deceiving ourselves.
—C. R. B.
23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
James now describes the self-deception of the person who does not act on the Word of God. In the world of the New Testament, people were just as concerned about their appearance as we are today. So mirrors (the meaning of glass) were rather common. But being made of polished metal, they were not entirely like ours. Even so, these ancient mirrors allowed people to check their appearance.
Of course, the purpose of looking in a mirror is to be able to do just that. That is the situation James is describing: one who is examining his natural face—that is, the person’s physical face—is doing so to get a close, deliberate look. The person takes note of the image in order to make adjustments to improve his or her appearance.
24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Looking in the mirror involves being honest about how we look and then remembering as a reference point for the next time we look in that mirror. How foolish to go away from the mirror and remember something false: “Yes, I have a full head of hair!” “No wrinkles—great!” or “Why, I look the same as I did when I was a teenager!”
Why?” So it is with the person who hears God’s Word and does not put it into practice. God’s Word reveals our true selves, “warts and all” as the old saying goes. It shows us what is wrong and puts us on the path to make it right. Not putting the Word into practice is akin to the foolish self-deception of looking in a mirror and pretending our real appearance is different. Like the mirror and the camera, God’s Word shows our true selves.
B. Doing the Word (v. 25)
25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
James presses his analogy of God’s Word as a mirror that reveals one’s true self. He speaks of law, but that word is not limited to the books of Law in the Old Testament. God’s Word in all its parts is the sure and only guide to right understanding and right living. Although James’s readers do not have the full New Testament, they recognize that Jesus came in fulfillment of God’s Word. He is the climax of God’s all-important instruction of His people.
We tend to think of law as restrictive, but James affirms that God’s law gives liberty. This is a key theme of Scripture. The God who gave freedom to the Israelite slaves (Exodus 20:2) is the God who gives the commandments that instruct His people in the way of true freedom. Paul reminds us that the ultimate slavery is slavery to sin (Romans 6:15–23).
To enjoy this freedom, we have to do with God’s Word what the wise person does with a mirror: pay attention to what it reveals and live accordingly. It is a matter of hearing and doing, not forgetting. What God’s Word reveals about us may not be pleasant, but it is true. What’s more, God’s Word gives the answer to what it reveals about us, the solution to our essential problem.
So James says that the person who acknowledges what God’s Word reveals and acts on the Word is the one who shall be blessed. This is the way to receive God’s favor, to experience life as God designed it to be experienced.
| What Do You Think? What are some ways to recognize and enjoy the freedom, or liberty, we have in Christ? Digging Deeper |
III. Faithful Religion
(James 1:26, 27)
A. Vanity (v. 26)
26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
The shift of subject in these last two verses is a natural extension of what has come before. From James’s praise of the one who is “a doer of the work” (James 1:25), he moves to address what that work entails.
Of critical importance for our understanding of these verses is James’s use of the word religion (and its derivative religious). The Greek noun behind this word is found in only two other places in the New Testament: Acts 26:5 and, translated “worshipping,” Colossians 2:18. In some circles religion has taken on a negative connotation. Consider, for example, a 2013 best-selling book titled Jesus > Religion, the mathematical symbol “>” signifying that “Jesus is greater than religion.” Or ponder the phenomenon that has emerged in recent years of people who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.”
In both cases, the distinction being made would likely have struck James as odd, at the very least. For James, religion can be true or it can be vain. In either case, it is not a category to be rejected out of hand.
For the occasion of this letter, a critical determinant of one’s religion is one’s ability and willingness to bridle the tongue. That does not mean that pagans who control their tongues well have a valid religion. To control one’s tongue is necessary for one’s religion to be valid religion, but such control is not sufficient in and of itself. So having considered the negative of vain religion, James moves to observations about the positive of pure religion, next.
| What Do You Think? What guardrails can you erect to help you control your tongue in difficult situations? Digging Deeper |
Purity (v. 27)27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
The distinction between pure religion and religion that is vain is defined by the contents of each. James underlines that content as including a series of actions.
To visit should be understood as meaning “taking care of.” This involves knowing a situation well enough to offer appropriate aid and doing so. The fatherless and widows are frequently mentioned together in the Old Testament as two of the most vulnerable people groups (example: Isaiah 1:17). God is their best and only hope for help in their state of helplessness, but often He expects His work to be done through our hands (6:8). When no one is willing to do so, bad things happen (Ezekiel 22:29, 30). Those who know the true God will reflect that fact in their response to the needs of the most vulnerable (Isaiah 1:17).
James’s example of the fatherless and widows might envision a situation in which a deceased father leaves behind a wife and one or more children who need the care of the Christian community (compare Acts 6:1–6; 1 Timothy 5:3–5). The phrase in their affliction likely envisions financial distress in addition to the grief that accompanies the loss of a loved one.
| What Do You Think? How does Acts 6:1–7 help you understand the role God expects you to have as your church implements the imperative of James 1:27a? Digging Deeper |
Another significant point here is James’s link between social and personal holiness. The definition of pure religion for James is twofold: caring for others (social or interpersonal dimension) and remaining unspotted from the world (personal dimension). He does not see one as more important than the other. Each is necessary, but neither is sufficient by itself.
It is important to emphasize this to ensure that we do not separate the two or elevate one over the other. Stop and try to imagine a person who excels at helping the poor, but whose personal life is a shamble of unholiness; then compare that person to 1 Peter 1:13–16. Flipped around, imagine a person who focuses only on personal piety, ignoring the needy around him. The condemnation of Mark 12:38–40 may very well await that individual.
Conclusion
A. Why Do You Speak?
From the time we can first utter individual words like “Mama” or “Daddy,” we like to talk. As we grow up, our speech helps to form our identity and to distinguish ourselves from others. Talking is, by and large, extremely beneficial. It helps us work through problems, ask for help, comfort others, unburden ourselves, and so forth.
On the other hand, sometimes we just like to hear ourselves talk. It appeals to our pride, makes us feel smart, and can make us feel superior to those around us. James understands this about human nature. He understands that often our words are not as beneficial—either to us or to those around us—as we may like to think. What is best, rather, is when our thoughtfully slow words result in or are accompanied by action.
This is especially true when it comes to our posture toward our fellow believers who are most vulnerable and in need. Consider the thoughts of the apostle John on this subject:
But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:17, 18).
Openness to what God has to say is the starting point for faithful speech and for the action that accompanies or follows it.
The principles of today’s first-century text can be brought readily into the twenty-first century. Do we not deal with the same problems of words in relation to action? In one respect or another, God’s Word reveals in all of us our stubborn tendency to run our lives on our terms—to value words and actions (or lack of either) in ways that God does not. If we do so after we have confessed that God’s way is the only way, then it is time to allow God’s Word to assess ourselves anew.
B. Prayer
Heavenly Father, strengthen our resolve to discipline our speech so that it may result in action rather than attitude. May we not be content with mere words as we minister to others in the name of Your Son, Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.
C. Thought to Remember
Faithful actions must accompany faithful speech.
KID’S CORNER
What Only Jesus Could and Can Do
Sunday, August 9, 2020
John 10:11-21
John 10:11-21
(John 10:11) “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Jesus added “shepherd” to the illustration of himself as the “gate.” The “gate” admits and protects those qualified to enter the sheepfold (the sheep, those Jesus has saved). The “shepherd” defends, feeds, and leads the sheep of God out into the world to serve God and share the gospel. To protect and save the sheep of God, the “Good Shepherd” sacrificed His life when He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus not only saves God’s people from external enemies (physical and spiritual), but also from the eternal consequences (and often the temporal consequences) of the foolish, evil, and wrong choices the sheep of God have made. Notice how Jesus defined a “good” person and what this means when He called himself “the ‘good’ shepherd:” “Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone’” (Mark 10:18).
(John 10:12) “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
The hired hand has no financial investment in the owner’s flock of sheep. Hired hands work for wages, and the owner of the sheep pays them for their service. Hired hands may reason that the possibility of injury or death in protecting the sheep of someone else is something they should avoid when weighed against what they are being paid as laborers. Hired hands are working for wages and not for the welfare of the sheep. Hired hands will not do what Jesus does, only Jesus can and will do what Jesus does.
(John 10:13) “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
Jesus said that He was not a hired hand. Jesus is the owner of the sheep. Jesus owns the sheepfold of God. He cares for His sheep. Unlike a hired hand, if a sheep is lost, Jesus would be the one who would suffer the loss of a lost sheep (one He has died and risen again to save). So, Jesus does not lose His sheep, He finds them and carries them back to the sheepfold (see Matthew 18:12-14). His sheep are valuable and important to Him and to His Father personally. Jesus risked His life; He gave His life and died to save His sheep; He rose from the dead, and still fights against the enemies of His sheep to protect and save them.
(John 10:14) “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
Jesus is not an absent owner of His sheep. Jesus does not leave the care of His sheep to hired hands. Jesus is with His sheep and in a relationship with His sheep moment-by-moment every day; so, Jesus knows the needs of His sheep personally and each one of His sheep know Him. Jesus is good and spends time; indeed, Jesus spends eternity caring for His sheep and all their needs. As His sheep read the Bible, the Holy Spirit helps His sheep hear His voice, know Him, and follow Him.
(John 10:15) even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
Jesus knows God the Father intimately, just as in any loving father and son relationship. Jesus compared the knowledge He has of His sheep and their knowledge of Him to this closeness of a loving family, to the closeness He has to His Father. The sheep belong to the Father and the Son, and the Son chose to lay down His life in death to save their sheep and bring more sheep into their fold.
(John 10:16) “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
Jesus had and would have other sheep that were not Jews in His sheepfold. During His ministry, Jesus had Samaritans and other Gentiles (including some Roman soldiers) come to believe in and follow Him. Throughout the last 2000 years, different people from nations and languages all around the world have heard the voice of Jesus when someone has shared the truth of the Bible and Jesus with them, and they have come into His flock of sheep. Eventually, God’s flock will inherit the earth and Jesus will be their Shepherd, for Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
(John 10:17) “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
The word “loves” in this verse means very satisfied and happy with someone because love for God and others motivates their attitude, thoughts, and actions. The Father loved Jesus for who Jesus is as the Son of God, and He also loved Jesus because of what Jesus did and the reasons for why Jesus did what He did. Love, unselfish benevolence, was the grand motive of Jesus for everything He said and did. Jesus does not teach that the Father would not love Him under certain circumstances, because Jesus is the Father’s Son. But if Jesus chose not to obey the Father and not to follow the agreement that they made in heaven before Jesus came into the world, then the Father would not be happy with His decision and would not “love” His disobedience and failure to die a sacrificial death. Of course, Jesus would never disobey His Father, and they were always in agreement. Throughout the Gospels, we see the Father and the Son always working together in perfect unity of love, thought, purpose, and action.
(John 10:18) “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
When Jesus died on the cross, the devil or wolves in sheep’s clothing did not take Jesus’ life from Him in the sense of being a victor over Him in death. Roman soldiers hanged Jesus on the cross to murder him, so they needed to be forgiven for their sin, and Jesus prayed they would be forgiven by His Father (see Luke 23:34). But Jesus chose the exact moment of His death (when His atoning sacrifice was finished). Jesus also chose the exact moment to rise from the dead on the first resurrection Sunday. Because His Father commanded Him to do these things, in obedience to His Father, Jesus willed His Father’s will and chose His moment of death and the moment of His resurrection with the perfect timing of God. By doing so, Jesus was obedient to His Father and not disobedient. Jesus obeyed His Father when He chose to remain on the cross and allowed himself to be mocked when some sneered, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42).
(John 10:19) A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.
Once again, John shows that Jesus’ words divided His listeners, those who did not believe what He taught. The Jews would have included the religious leaders, such as the Pharisees, and others.
(John 10:20) Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?”
Probably the vilest condemnation that could be made against Jesus was calling Him demon possessed. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit always worked together with perfect unity in all Jesus said and did during His ministry. His enemies attributed His work of God to demons and insanity. They thought that by labeling Jesus in this disgusting way that they could deter people from even listening to Him. The same tactic is used today against the followers of Jesus and those who speak the truth.
(John 10:21) Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”
Though they did not believe in Jesus (or yet believe in Jesus), some knew by experience the works and words on one possessed by demons. Jesus cast out demons and restored people to their right minds. Jesus’ good and wise sayings and parables would never have been expressed by a person possessed by a demon. The Jews knew how demon possessed people talked. The Jews knew how evil people talked. And Jesus did not talk in these ways. Nor would a demon or demon possessed person ever do something good; such as restoring sight to the blind. A demon possessed person would not have had the power of God to do so with good intentions. Therefore, some of those who were divided about Jesus believed that Jesus was still worth listening to, and some of them may have come to believe in Him.
What Only Jesus Could and Can Do
Sunday, August 9, 2020
John 10:11-21
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (John 10:17-18—KJV). For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father (John 10:17-18—NASB). For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father (John 10:17-18—NRSV). A shepherd would risk his life and sometimes lose it to defend his sheep. As the Good Shepherd, when Jesus came into the world, He knew that He would die to save His sheep—all those who would receive Him as Lord and Savior and enter His sheepfold. Only by God’s Son dying on the cross as a voluntary sacrifice for the sins of God’s children could God be both just and merciful to forgive them for their sins and prepare them for eternal life with God and all who love God and one another. Jesus knew what His Father expected of Him and what He had agreed to do before He was born in human flesh. When Jesus obeyed His Father’s command, Jesus fulfilled their agreement and sealed the new covenant between God and His people in His own shed blood. As the Son of God, Jesus did what no mere human could do. Jesus chose His way of death and His moment of death, not by suicide, but at the hands of sinful men in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Then Jesus chose His way to live again in a glorified human body that could pass through walls and appear to His disciples in a room or on a road. Jesus did and continues to do all God promised, so we can safely entrust our future into Jesus’ loving care.
What Only Jesus Could and Can Do
Sunday, August 9, 2020
John 10:11-21
Thinking Further
Name __________________________________
- What is the difference between the good shepherd and the hired hand?
- How did Jesus describe His relationship with His sheep and His Father? What might He mean by this description?
- What did Jesus say He was willing to do for His sheep? Did He do this for His sheep?
- In addition to the people He was talking to, who might the other sheep be that Jesus wanted to bring into His sheepfold?
- Why might it have been important for Jesus to teach that His Father had commanded Him to use His own power when He laid down His life in death and when He took it up again in rising from the dead?
Discussion and Thinking Further
- What is the difference between the good shepherd and the hired hand? The good shepherd cares for each of his sheep as his own possession, and he will face danger to save any of his sheep. The hired hand works for wages and will run away when facing danger and leave the sheep unprotected.
- How did Jesus describe His relationship with His sheep and His Father? What might He mean by this description? Jesus knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. The Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows the Father. Jesus and all who trust Him as their Lord and Savior have a close and personal relationship. The Father and the Son have a close and personal relationship.
- What did Jesus say He was willing to do for His sheep? Did He do this for His sheep? Lay down His life. Yes, when He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.
- In addition to the people He was talking to, who might the other sheep be that Jesus wanted to bring into His sheepfold? The Gentiles (those not Jews) who would come to believe in Him until He returned as He promised. They would listen to His voice and follow Him into the one sheepfold and join with the Jews who also believed in Him.
- Why might it have been important for Jesus to teach that His Father had commanded Him to use His own power when He laid down His life in death and when He took it up again in rising from the dead? Jesus taught that He only did what His Father commanded Him to do. Jesus obeyed His Father in everything He said and did. He said that His words were the words of His Father. Therefore, He said that when you saw Him, you saw the Father. Some might have thought that Jesus had chosen to die of His own will and that Jesus chose to raise himself from the dead of His own will apart from what the Father wanted Him to do. Jesus wanted to teach that His Father and He were in perfect agreement regarding His life, way and time of death, and way and time of His resurrection. Only God could raise himself from the dead without external help, so in these words Jesus taught in advance that He was God and then He proved the fact by His way and time of death and resurrection
What Only Jesus Could and Can Do
Sunday, August 9, 2020
John 10:11-21
Word Search
Name __________________________________
D H X Y B L U Y L S D X C J S
S N U R V H E D T U V O F U C
T I A Y C L N M Y S I X O H A
A O K X D F O E T E R T A G T
W E M E S M S P N J A X E D T
N O R L Y Q X N G O M Y B Z E
X I Q O C O M M A N D S U K R
H F N V H P D V L T H Q C L S
U C L E B I K G M E C O N O P
P W J S L V C Z P R L H H U E
U F B M B T I H C F E A E Q E
H C A R E S E F U G N H Y S H
E G P H Y R H L P D M L T I S
Y R S L D Q U O K W R X C A V
J O P E T S K W Q F H G Y R F
Good
Shepherd
Sheep
Hired
Hand
Wolf
Snatches
Scatters
Runs
Cares
Father
One
Flock
Loves
Command
What Only Jesus Could and Can Do
Sunday, August 9, 2020
John 10:11-21
True and False Test
Name __________________________________
Circle the True or False answers. Correct the False statements by restating them.
- The Good Shepherd lays down His life to rest and relax on hot summer afternoons. True or False
- The Good Shepherd lay down His life in death as a sacrifice for our sins. True or False
- The Good Shepherd runs away with the hired hands when they see a wolf coming. True or False
- When sheep are left unattended, a wolf may come and snatch them away. True or False
- Even though none of His sheep know Him, the Good Shepherd knows His sheep. True or False
- The Father knows the Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd knows the Father. True or False
- Jesus’ fold only includes the rich and power leaders of the nations of this world. True or False
- The Father loves Jesus because Jesus lay down His life in order to take it up again. True or False
- Jesus needed the power of the Pharisees to save Him from death, but they chose to kill Him on a cross. True or False
- Some of those who heard Jesus teach thought He was demon possessed and out of His mind. True or False
True and False Test Answers
- False
- True
- False
- True
- False
- True
- False
- True
- False
- True
Prayer
Heavenly Father, strengthen our resolve to discipline our speech so that it may result in action rather than attitude. May we not be content with mere words as we minister to others in the name of Your Son, Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.