August 11, 2013 ALL ABOUT JESUS: Who is Jesus?

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All About jesus

 

Week 1: Who Is Jesus?

 

August 11, 2013

 

 

GETTING THINGS STARTED

 

View the following video for your group: youtube.com/watch?v=johNLhZ5y48

 

 

  • What’s your response to the answers you heard in this video?
  • If we conducted this kind of survey at your school, would the answers about Jesus be similar or different? Explain.
  • Why is the question “Who is Jesus?” such an important question to answer?

 

 

Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and he walked on this Earth just like you and I do. And each of us must offer an answer to that question of who we believe Jesus is. Today we’ll spend our time together examining what the Bible says about Jesus and how he was the fulfillment of numerous prophecies from the Old Testament.

 

 

Read ISAIAH 53:1-12 (NLT)

 

1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.

 

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.

 

7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.[b]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.[c]
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.

 

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

 

 

 

Read John 4:21-26

 

 

 

Some skeptics say Jesus was just a great teacher and not really the Messiah, the fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies. Other people would say Jesus was a prophet, who happened to be able to execute miracles—a really gifted prophet. Still others cling to the notion that Jesus is not the Messiah and that the true Messiah has yet to arrive.

 

 

However, as followers of Christ, we find evidence throughout the Bible that Jesus is who he claimed to be: the Messiah, the Promised One, the Son of God. Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah include what we read in Isaiah 53.

 

 

 

Let’s dig deeper to see what these passages reveal about Jesus and the reason he came to us.

 

 

 

1. Long before Jesus’ birth, Scripture spoke of him and his coming

 

 

  • If you could learn what would happen in the future, what future events would you want to know about, and why?
  • What do you discover about the Messiah from reading the verses in Isaiah? Which verses particularly sound like they describe moments from Jesus’ life? Be specific.
  • How does the message about the Messiah in Isaiah compare to the verses in John about who Jesus was?

 

 

Long before Jesus was born, prophets who heard directly from God and told others the message wrote down the messages that God spoke to them. We know that Jesus is the Messiah because prophets talked about it, and then later on, it happened according to the Word of God/the Bible. These verses from Isaiah revealed details about the promised Messiah—the one sent by God, God’s anointed one.

 

 

 

2. Jesus was God in human form—divine humanity

 

 

  • Does it matter if Jesus truly was God, and not just a man? Why or why not?
  • In John 4, Jesus himself declares that he was the Messiah. If that wasn’t true, then Jesus was a liar. How can some people say that they don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah but also say that they don’t believe that he is a liar?

 

 

Jesus is the Messiah and willingly came to Earth as a human—but as one who was sinless and perfect. His coming to Earth and telling people that he was the Messiah meant that what Isaiah talked about was true and from God.

 

 

 

3. Jesus gave up his place in heaven to become a servant to God’s creation

 

 

  • When have you served and helped other people? What do you learn from that kind of experience?
  • Read Philippians 2:5-11. What does this passage reveal about the significance of Jesus coming to Earth and taking a position of humility?
  • What are some common human reactions when people criticize us, beat us, reject us, or accuse us of doing things we haven’t done?
  • When Jesus was rejected, accused, and beaten, he acted differently than most of us would—what does that reveal about his character?

 

 

When I think about all Jesus sacrificed to come as the Messiah, it makes me realize how amazing and loving he truly is. He knew that his own creation would reject him, say untrue things about him, and ultimately kill him, but he loves us so much that he was willing to take on all the evil in order to offer us salvation from sin.

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION

 

 

  • What are your biggest questions about Jesus? What claims or statements or declarations do you find difficult to believe? If you don’t find any difficult to believe, how might you respond to someone who isn’t sure Jesus truly is who he claimed to be?

 

 

  • Read John 10:25-30. How can this passage help you respond to people who don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah or the Son of God?

 

 

  • Read 1 John 4:9-10. What do you find most amazing about God’s love expressed through Jesus, and why?

 

 

  • What is something that you learned or considered about Jesus today that was new?

 

 

APPLICATION

 

  • What is one specific way this week you can practice the kind of humility Jesus demonstrated?

 

 

  • How might you incorporate the question from our opening video into a conversation this week?

 

 

  • What kinds of prayers can you pray this week to ask God to give you the ability to trust in what the Bible says to be truth and to not listen to what others say?

 

 

 

SUMMARY

 

The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would come to this world in human form. In the New Testament, prophecy is fulfilled when Jesus is born of a virgin and spends his life here ministering to people and sharing his message of good news. Jesus was divine humanity—God in human flesh. Through this lesson, we examined how Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament.

 

 

FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]

 

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only
Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him
(1 John 4:9 NLT).

 

 

 

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