Leader's Notes

LEADER’S NOTES

My grace is sufficient for you.

Leading a Bible discussion can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. But it can also be scary—especially if you’ve never done it before. If this is your feeling, you’re in good company. When God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he replied, “Lord. Please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13). It was the same with Solomon, Jeremiah, and Timothy, but God helped these people in spite of their weaknesses, and he will help you as well.

You don’t need to be an expert on the Bible or a trained teacher to lead a Bible discussion. The idea behind these inductive studies is that the leader guides group members to discover for themselves what the Bible has to say. This method of learning will allow group members to remember much more of what is said than a lecture would.

These studies are designed to be led easily. As a matter of fact, the flow of questions through the passage from observation to interpretation to application is so natural that you may feel that the studies lead themselves. This study guide is also flexible. You can use it with a variety of groups—student, professional, neighborhood, or church groups. Each study takes forty-five to sixty minutes in a group setting.

There are some important facts to know about group dynamics and encouraging discussion. The suggestions listed below should enable you to effectively and enjoyably fulfill your role as leader.

PREPARING FOR THE STUDY

1. Ask God to help you understand and apply the passage in your own life. Unless this happens, you will not be prepared to lead others. Pray too for the various members of the group. Ask God to open your hearts to the message of his Word and motivate you to action.

2. Read the introduction to the entire guide to get an overview of the entire book and the issues which will be explored.

3. As you begin each study, read and reread the assigned Bible passage to familiarize yourself with it.

4. This study guide is based on the New International Version of the Bible. It will help you and the group if you use this translation as the basis for your study and discussion.

5. Carefully work through each question in the study. Spend time in meditation and reflection as you consider how to respond.

6. Write your thoughts and responses in the space provided in the study guide. This will help you to express your understanding of the passage clearly.

7. It might help to have a Bible dictionary handy. Use it to look up any unfamiliar words, names, or places. (For additional help on how to study a passage, see chapter five of How to Lead a LifeGuide Bible Study, InterVarsity Press.)

8. Consider how you can apply the Scripture to your life. Remember that the group will follow your lead in responding to the studies. They will not go any deeper than you do.

9. Once you have finished your own study of the passage, familiarize yourself with the leader’s notes for the study you are leading. These are designed to help you in several ways. First, they tell you the purpose the study guide author had in mind when writing the study. Take time to think through how the study questions work together to accomplish that purpose. Second, the notes provide you with additional background information or suggestions on group dynamics for various questions. This information can be useful when people have difficulty understanding or answering a question. Third, the leader’s notes can alert you to potential problems you may encounter during the study.

10. If you wish to remind yourself of anything mentioned in the leader’s notes, make a note to yourself below that question in the study.

LEADING THE STUDY

1. Begin the study on time. Open with prayer, asking God to help the group to understand and apply the passage.

2. Be sure that everyone in your group has a study guide. Encourage the group to prepare beforehand for each discussion by reading the introduction to the guide and by working through the questions in the study.

3. At the beginning of your first time together, explain that these studies are meant to be discussions, not lectures. Encourage the members of the group to participate. However, do not put pressure on those who may be hesitant to speak during the first few sessions. You may want to suggest the following guidelines to your group.

4. Have a group member read the introduction at the beginning of the discussion.

5. Every session begins with a group discussion question. The question or activity is meant to be used before the passage is read. The question introduces the theme of the study and encourages group members to begin to open up. Encourage as many members as possible to participate, and be ready to get the discussion going with your own response.

This section is designed to reveal where our thoughts or feelings need to be transformed by Scripture. That is why it is especially important not to read the passage before the discussion question is asked. The passage will tend to color the honest reactions people would otherwise give because they are, of course, supposed to think the way the Bible does.

You may want to supplement the group discussion question with an icebreaker to help people to get comfortable. See the community section of InterVarsity Press’s Small Group Idea Book for more ideas.

You also might want to use the personal reflection question with your group. Either allow a time of silence for people to respond individually or discuss it together.

6. Have a group member (or members if the passage is long) read aloud the passage to be studied. Then give people several minutes to read the passage again silently so that they can take it all in.

7. Question 1 will generally be an overview question designed to briefly survey the passage. Encourage the group to look at the whole passage, but try to avoid getting sidetracked by questions or issues that will be addressed later in the study.

8. As you ask the questions, keep in mind that they are designed to be used just as they are written. You may simply read them aloud. Or you may prefer to express them in your own words.

There may be times when it is appropriate to deviate from the study guide. For example, a question may have already been answered. If so, move on to the next question. Or someone may raise an important question not covered in the guide. Take time to discuss it, but try to keep the group from going off on tangents.

9. Avoid answering your own questions. If necessary, repeat or rephrase them until they are clearly understood. Or point out something you read in the leader’s notes to clarify the context or meaning. An eager group quickly becomes passive and silent if they think the leader will do most of the talking.

10. Don’t be afraid of silence. People may need time to think about the question before formulating their answers.

11. Don’t be content with just one answer. Ask, “What do the rest of you think?” or “Anything else?” until several people have given answers to the question.

12. Acknowledge all contributions. Try to be affirming whenever possible. Never reject an answer. If it is clearly off base, ask, “Which verse led you to that conclusion?” or again, “What do the rest of you think?”

13. Don’t expect every answer to be addressed to you, even though this will probably happen at first. As group members become more at ease, they will begin to truly interact with each other. This is one sign of healthy discussion.

14. Don’t be afraid of controversy. It can be very stimulating. If you don’t resolve an issue completely, don’t be frustrated. Move on and keep it in mind for later. A subsequent study may solve the problem.

15. Periodically summarize what the group has said about the passage. This helps to draw together the various ideas mentioned and gives continuity to the study. But don’t preach.

16. At the end of the Bible discussion, you may want to allow group members a time of quiet to work on an idea under “Now or Later.” Then discuss what you experienced. Or you may want to encourage group members to work on these ideas between meetings. Give an opportunity during the session for people to talk about what they are learning.

17. Conclude your time together with conversational prayer, adapting the prayer suggestion at the end of the study to your group. Ask for God’s help in following through on the commitments you’ve made.

18. End on time.

Many more suggestions and helps are found in How to Lead a LifeGuide Bible Study, which is part of the LifeGuide Bible Study series.

COMPONENTS OF SMALL GROUPS

A healthy small group should do more than study the Bible. There are four components to consider as you structure your time together.

Nurture. Small groups help us to grow in our knowledge and love of God. Bible study is the key to making this happen and is the foundation of your small group.

Community. Small groups are a great place to develop deep friendships with other Christians. Allow time for informal interaction before and after each study. Plan activities and games that will help you get to know each other. Spend time having fun together—going on a picnic or cooking dinner together.

Worship and prayer. Your study will be enhanced by spending time praising God together in prayer or song. Pray for each other’s needs—and keep track of how God is answering prayer in your group. Ask God to help you to apply what you are learning in your study.

Outreach. Reaching out to others can be a practical way of applying what you are learning, and it will keep your group from becoming self-focused. Host a series of evangelistic discussions for your friends or neighbors. Clean up the yard of an elderly friend. Serve at a soup kitchen together, or spend a day working on a Habitat house.

Many more suggestions and helps in each of these areas are found in Small Group Idea Book. Information on building a small group can be found in Small Group Leaders’ Handbook and The Big Book on Small Groups (both from InterVarsity Press). Reading through one of these books would be worth your time.

STUDY 1. JACOB. GENESIS 32

PURPOSE: To focus on God’s purposes rather than our own pursuit of happiness as our source of hope.

Question 1. Genesis 32 can be outlined several ways. One is to divide it into three acts. In act 1, Jacob sends messengers to Esau (vv. 1-6). Act 2 entails three scenes: Jacob’s initial plan (vv. 7-8), his prayer (vv. 9-12), and his detailed plans to appease Esau (vv. 13-21). The last act is Jacob’s struggle with the mysterious man (vv. 22-32).

Question 3. Jacob splits his flocks and herds into groups, and he selects a large gift to send ahead for Esau. He wants to make these animals into a series of distinct signs of the wealth he brings, from which he is able to give Esau more. He hopes all of this will mollify Esau before the two meet. But as a realist he is providing for the worst case: if Esau attacks one group, the rest, being separate, may escape (v. 8). Then he sends his wives and their maidservants and his sons across the ford of the Jabbok.

Question 4. Jacob invokes God’s faithfulness to his promises thus far and makes this the basis for his plea that God will continue to watch over him—because God is his only hope. Jacob knows that. This is perhaps the most desperate prayer he’s ever made. It deserves detailed study.

Question 8. Jacob called the place Peniel, which means “face of God,” for he realized that he had experienced what we call a theophany, a manifestation of God to him: “I saw God face to face.” What do we make of that? We may not experience a wrestling match as Jacob did, but God often appears to people in the form that will most help them to meet him—as an indestructible burning bush to Moses, as a soldier to Joshua, as an enthroned monarch to Isaiah and Ezekiel. Here God appears as a wrestler, forcing Jacob to the ground. God’s revelation of himself to us probably will not be so dramatic. However, God reveals himself through Scripture when we receive new insight into a passage. God often reveals himself through the love or actions of other people or the church. He might reveal himself through our meditation or even in a dream.

Question 9. This wrestling match shows us that God may bring us down before he raises us up. Down from what? Down from the way that we set ourselves up in pride, self-sufficiency, cleverness, initiative, self-reliance, and conscious adversarial tactics so that we can outsmart other people. This had been Jacob’s way, and now all his self-serving habits were being squeezed out of him. That’s what God was doing as he wrestled with Jacob. Rebekah’s spoiled boy needed this treatment and needed it badly. However, let us be clear that original sin (our inherited sin from Adam and Eve), the deepest root of pride and self-serving, is a universal disease, and we all need the same treatment to some extent. Because Jacob had a heart for God as well as for gain, God mercifully guided him, guarded him, and changed him for the better. The change process was painful, however, and left him with a limp. Other proud hearts may need comparable treatment today, and God one way or another may give it. It will be an act of grace if and when he does, however low we may be brought in the process.

Question 11. We serve a God who loves us, and we can interpret much that happens to us in terms of the love of God. But if perhaps we feel that we have failed our God, we must remember that as Christians we live by being forgiven. Our God is endlessly gracious. We must confess our follies, receive his forgiveness, and then look to him to help us forward. As there was recovery first for Jacob and then for his family so there is hope in God for us and ours.

STUDY 2. MANOAH’S WIFE. JUDGES 13

PURPOSE: To prepare for hope-filled surprises from God.

Question 1. If you put yourself in the situation of Manoah and his wife, you will find much to bring both fright and joy throughout the story. On a theological level, part of this confusing blend of emotions comes from the mystery of God. Manoah asked for the name of their visitor, and the visitor did not give an answer—or rather he gave an answer that was quite unclear, something to the effect of, “There is more to me than you can understand, and I’m not telling you my name to help you realize that.” Shortly, we find Manoah saying, “We have seen God!” I (JIP) think the theologians (and Manoah) are right to suppose that this angel (the term means “messenger” in both Hebrew and Greek) was a preincarnate appearance of the Son of God, the personal, divine Word we know as Jesus Christ our Lord.

Question 2. Ancient peoples believed that God was so majestic, so transcendent, so glorious that mere humans could not survive in God’s presence. And Israel had a history of believing this. Indeed, the Lord said to Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). Even in New Testament times, Jesus’ disciples thought they were doomed when they perceived Jesus as Lord God Almighty. When Jesus calmed the “furious squall” on the Sea of Galilee, the text says, “They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this?’” (Mark 4:41).

Questions 3 and 4. Manoah’s response to God’s startling surprise might be likely for many of us: “We are doomed to die! We have seen God!” Manoah had hold of a half-truth at this point. He realized that neither he nor his wife was fit by nature to fellowship with God. What is reflected in Manoah’s words was his sense that God is holy: pure, just, strong, intolerably severe, terrifyingly hostile to evil and imperfection, and inexorable once he detects things that are wrong. There’s a truth there. However, in light of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ, we realize that such a response to God is only skin-deep, a formality based on fear rather than a fellowship based on faith. Under similar unnerving circumstances and traumatic troubles, we might say the same. We might think that God has turned against us. We say, “I thought God would protect me and give me a sheltered life, but I was wrong. He cannot love me after all. All my hope is gone.” Manoah’s wife, on the other hand, shows in her response to Manoah’s fear that she is a truly spiritual person with a heart firmly anchored in God himself, a depth that her husband lacks. In this story, Mrs. Manoah is a more appropriate model for our own faith.

Question 6. A paraphrase of verse 8 might have Manoah saying, “You know, Lord, I can’t rely on the things she says, and this is important. Please let the man of God come to me and tell me what we’re to do. Then I’ll see to it that we obey the instructions.” It’s interesting that God’s response to that prayer was a return visit—to the woman! By the end of the account it is the woman who brings solid sense and aggressive faith to the dilemma. Perhaps Manoah needed her more than the initial scenes of the story suggest.

Question 7. Look for ways that God is revealing himself in verses 16-20. What do his words and actions suggest about his nature, purpose, and plan? If we could listen to an elongated version of the husband-wife conversation recorded in verses 22-23, we might hear Manoah’s wife say something like this: “Manoah, if the Lord had meant to kill us here and now, he would not have accepted a burned offering or grain offering from our hand, and he has in fact just accepted both. He would not have shown us all these things that he has now shown us or told us that we’re going to have a son. That certainly means that, far from killing us, he is going to keep us alive for nine months at least. He’s perfectly consistent. He stands by his purposes; he fulfills his promises. Our God is the faithful One, wise, steady, and safe for us to trust, and that’s what we must hold on to as we seek to get our breath back after what we have seen.” Manoah and his wife did not learn all of this from a single encounter with God; they drew on it as they coped with one of God’s surprises. What they knew about God helped them accept what they could not know—and continue to trust him.

Question 8. Consider some of the mystifying events in Scripture and in your own life—and God’s hand in them. Consider also some of the mysteries embedded in God’s character: his wrath and mercy, his holiness and grace, his timelessness but his entering time with the birth of Christ.

Question 9. There are many promises in the Bible. The most glorious, of course, is that God would send his Messiah to establish his kingdom and deliver his people. Some biblical promises are given to specific groups or persons for a specific time. So we must be careful when attempting to apply promises to our contemporary situation. Try to steer the members of your group to look for general promises that are applicable to all Christians. Some possibilities are Matthew 11:28 (“I will give you rest”); 28:20 (“I am with you always”); John 1:18 (Jesus reveals the Father); 6:37 (“whoever comes to me I will never drive away”); 14:3 (“I will come back and take you to be with me”); 14:16-17 (Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to help us); 14:21 (“the one who loves me will be loved by my Father”); Romans 8:11 (“he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies”); 8:26 (“the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans”); 8:28 (“God works for the good of those who love him”); 8:37 (“in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us”); 8:39 (nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”).

STUDY 3. JONAH. JONAH 1; 2:1, 10; 3; 4:1-2, 5-11

PURPOSE: To look to God’s mercy as our example and the source of our hope.

Question 1. The biblical texts show that Jonah was prophet but also a merciless, uncaring man. He was a Jew in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam II, whose military success in restoring Israel’s former boundaries Jonah had been privileged to predict (2 Kings 14:25). He clearly was a patriot whose affection was focused on his own people. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a large city in a large nation. In Jonah’s time (the eighth century before Christ) its size, influence, and military might made it the leading imperial power of the day and a constant threat to Israel. But Jonah is at least an honest man. He spells out in his prayers exactly how he feels about the way God has acted. He hates to think of the use God has made of Jonah’s prophetic ministry, and in his disgust he tells God that he would rather be dead than alive (Jonah 4:3). Jonah is also an angry man, angry at God, letting his anger overflow against God for what God has done.

Question 3. One of the interesting things in the book of Jonah is that nearly every time God is spoken of, he is referred to by his covenant name he had revealed to the Jews—the name they were to use to invoke him. That name used to be rendered Jehovah; scholars now usually spell it as Yahweh. In our English translations of the Old Testament it’s “LORD” (in small caps). In this book of forty-eight verses the Lord’s covenant name, YHWH, appears twenty-six times. Yet this great God reveals himself throughout the book as a God of grace and mercy. First, the effect of stilling the storm is that the sailors “greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him” (1:16). This was the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. They had encountered the real God. That was mercy from God to this pagan crew. Second, God showed mercy to Nineveh. He moved in their hearts just as he had moved in the hearts of the crew, and so we read in Jonah 3:5, “The Ninevites believed God.” The king himself called Nineveh to repentance. God’s grace to Nineveh seems disgraceful to Jonah, a softhearted lapse from what he thought God ought to be doing. Jonah’s running away to Tarshish had really been the prophet’s attempt to save God from himself. But God was merciful even to his reluctant and angry prophet. “Is it right for you to be angry?” God asks (4:4). Jonah in his own conscience knows, or half-knows, that by this question God is rebuking him. It’s mercy that God doesn’t let us ignore that prodding of our own consciences.

Questions 4 and 5. Jonah’s two prayers are full of profound spiritual insight. Yet he failed to live up to what he believed to be true of God. For example, in Jonah 1:3 the Hebrew language says that Jonah went out from God’s presence. The presence of the Lord is something very precious. It is not a geographical but a spiritual reality. It is knowing that God is with you to bless you wherever you are. When Jonah ran away from the Lord in disobedience, I think he knew that he was running away from the blessing of God. It was a sort of spiritual suicide. But I suppose he thought of it as a brave gesture. He didn’t want Nineveh to repent; he wanted Nineveh to be judged. The happiest thing for Israel, he thought, would be to see Assyria go up in flames; so he defied God by refusing to preach there. He saw himself as a hero, sacrificing himself for his people’s welfare. But it was idiocy, really. He was leaving the presence of the Lord. He was turning his back on God, and God on his throne in glory will not have his purposes thwarted by action like this.

Question 7. The fish is one of God’s many mercies to Jonah. The Lord prepared the great fish to swallow Jonah, but he didn’t lose consciousness straightaway. When he found himself inside the fish, spiritually he came to his senses. Thoughts went through his mind, and humble, hopeful, thankful, trustful prayer came out of his heart—which (later, one supposes) he turned into the psalm in Jonah 2:2-9. Soon we read, “The LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (v. 10). It was not just that God saved Jonah’s life. God had shown his hand and taught his prophet a lesson. God had opened Jonah’s heart and forgiven him for a ruinous bit of disobedience. God then restored Jonah to godliness and now wished to restore him to his prophetic ministry. Awed at that moment by the marvel of God’s majestic mercy, Jonah must surely have resolved never to say no to God again.

Question 10. Try to tease out of your group the following good things the Lord brought to pass through Jonah: (1) the Lord revealed himself to the pagan sailors, who then sacrificed to him and made vows to him; (2) the word of the Lord was delivered to Nineveh, and the king and his people turned from their evil; (3) God did not destroy Nineveh; (4) we learn of the futility of trying to thwart God’s will; (5) we learn of God’s mercy and forgiveness; (6) we learn that there is hope for us even when we are angry with and disobedient to God.

Question 12. Obedience and compassion are lessons our Lord wants each of us to learn. You and I live by being forgiven, as did the Ninevites and Jonah, so let us appreciate God’s saving mercy, which both lessons presuppose. As God taught Jonah the necessity of obedience in his service, so let us allow him to sensitize our consciences to the importance of always doing what he commands. As God worked to change Jonah into a man of compassion, so let us allow him to teach us to be women and men of compassion, neighbor lovers in the fullest sense.

Whenever you feel hostile to anybody or any group of people, however badly they may have behaved toward you, say to yourself: God made them, as God made me. God loves them, as God loves me. If they turn to Christ, they’ll be forgiven, as I am forgiven. It’s not my part to be hostile toward them because of what I see as their sins when my Savior has shown such wonderful redemptive love toward sinful me. This is an element in the Christian mindset that you learn to experience by making yourself think along these lines: love your enemies as well as your friends, and desire God’s best for the one group as well as the other. Loving your neighbor includes enemies as well as friends. It’s a tremendous lesson, and it takes all of life for some of us to learn it.

Let us learn also from Jonah how ruinous a thing it is to defy God and imagine that we can get away with refusing to do his will. God is in his heaven and sits on the throne. God is fully in charge of his world. No one can get away with defying God.

STUDY 4. MARTHA. LUKE 10:38-42; JOHN 11:1-44; 12:1-3

PURPOSE: To express our discipleship to Jesus through work and through devotion (whichever is appropriate for the setting), and to do both with contentment.

Group Discussion. We need Marthas in our lives. Without their practical work, nothing would get done. Some of us are good at Martha roles, and God uses our hands-on skills and dedicated work. But we, like Martha, have to learn that when we are sharing our lives with our Lord Jesus Christ, we are not in charge. He’s in charge. As we follow Martha through the three scenes where the Gospels show her in action, we will see her learning this lesson.

Question 1. In verse 40 Martha first accuses Jesus of not caring. Second, she complains that Mary has abandoned her. Third, Martha commands Jesus to tell Mary to help her.

Question 4. The first thing communicated by Martha’s words was that she wanted to be noticed. Jesus’ reply begins, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things.” In other words: “Martha, you are noticed. I know what you’re doing, and I’m grateful. Don’t be in any doubt about that.” The second thing Martha expressed was that she wanted to control Mary’s life by hauling her into the kitchen. To that, Jesus’ response is, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” This is to say, “Martha, resenting Mary’s absence from the kitchen is an attitude you shouldn’t have; hauling her there is something you shouldn’t be trying to do. You ought to be glad that Mary has the opportunity to sit here and listen to me and learn from me. You should think of it as your gift to her.” The third thing Martha had expressed in her words was a desire to manipulate and use Jesus as her tool against her sibling. On that Jesus is being quite firm with Martha. “Martha, you must not try to do that.” This is what he implies when he says “only one” thing is needed. “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (I am not going to order her into the kitchen.)

Question 7. We are not told why Jesus didn’t rush to Bethany to heal Lazarus. New Testament theologian Craig Keener provides a likely explanation: “Given the urgent request for a miracle-worker, Jesus’ delay may have seemed culturally offensive. Perhaps by the time Jesus receives news, however, and certainly before he could have reached Bethany, Lazarus was already dead” (Craig S. Keener, Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed. [Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014], 282).

Question 8. Trace the conversation that Jesus initiated with Martha and the way he guided her toward her powerful statement of faith (v. 27). You will find steps toward faith in each verse. In his conversation on the road with Martha, Jesus makes one of the most revealing statements about himself that Scripture records. Clearly he did not hold her previous work in the kitchen against her. When the time was right, Martha received his undivided attention and an intimate revelation of his true nature and purpose. Mary listened at his feet with the disciples; Martha got her own private tutoring session.

Question 10. We see two things here. One is that Martha served the meal at her home. She is still the hostess, and she’s managing this celebration dinner in Jesus’ honor. Thus by her service she exalts him, as now she wants to do more than anything else. The second thing is that when Mary makes an extravagant gesture of adoration to the Lord she loves so deeply, Martha doesn’t say a word. Martha accepts that Mary has a right to express her worship of Jesus in her own way, and that it’s not for Martha to put Mary down. From Martha’s experience with Jesus we may learn that Jesus values our entire backstage ministry that few, if any, notice and nobody thanks us for. Perhaps we are tempted sometimes to lose patience because we invest a great deal of ourselves in serving others and nobody seems to care. The proper way to handle that feeling is to say, “But Jesus knows and Jesus cares.” And indeed he does. When we serve others for his sake, we serve him truly, as did Martha at this banquet.

Question 11. Situational responsibilities are not to be ignored for the sake of devotional exercises, any more than vice versa. Martha has been doing the right thing for her in that situation, as has Mary, though they have been doing different things. The lesson that all have to learn is to be Martha and Mary by turn. When the food preparation was complete, it would be right for Martha to come in and join the party, learn from Jesus, and deepen her relationship with him—just as Mary was doing. But until the requirements of hospitality were covered, Martha’s place was backstage, doing what she had to do as Jesus’ hostess.

Question 12. Let’s learn that we ought to have space in our lives for doing what Mary did: spending time with the Word of God, learning from Jesus by listening to him in worship and adoration—which is the most important activity of our lives. But let us also learn that from time to time we are to do the practical, helpful things that are needed around the house and, for that matter, around the church building. Let us not suppose that intensity of devotion excuses us from this. Some of us skimp the Martha side of our discipleship, just as some of us skimp our times of Bible reading and prayer—the Mary side of our discipleship. And skimping both ways is wrong. Our Lord Jesus looks for better than that from all of us.

STUDY 5. THOMAS. JOHN 20:19-31

PURPOSE: To become convinced that Jesus is “My Lord and my God” and our hope of life after death.

Question 1. The similarities of these accounts are (1) the doors are locked, (2) Jesus appears, (3) Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” (4) he shows his hands and his side. The differences are (1) while the other disciples are overjoyed, Thomas (who undoubtedly was joyful) declares, “My Lord and my God”; (2) in the first appearance Jesus says, “Peace be with you” twice and then sends the disciples out; (3) in the first account Jesus breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” while in the second account Jesus blesses those who believe.

Question 5. As you look at four potential obstacles to Thomas’s faith, you may spot similar forces on your own life or personality. First, Thomas may have been depressive. (Other biblical texts suggest this possibility.) When I say this, I am not thinking of people in pathological and clinical depression that medication and psychiatry can help, but of the temperamental depressives (the Eeyores and Puddleglums) of the human race. Their minds are anchored in gloom and despondency. Second, I think stress had something to do with his attitude. By the time Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross, the disciples had been through an awful lot. They were utterly crushed and totally at a loss. Thomas had been with them throughout, and he (because of his temperament, I imagine) found it especially difficult. Perhaps the reason why Thomas was not with the ten when Jesus first came was that he had gotten beyond the point where he could enjoy being with anyone. Third is pride. Thomas says to his friends, in effect, “Now wait a minute. You’re telling me you saw Jesus. All right, that’s what you say. But we need solid evidence—at least I do. You didn’t touch him, did you? Haven’t you ever heard of people who’ve seen visions and there wasn’t anything really there? If I’d been with you, I would have insisted on touching him.” Fourth, resentment might also have had something to do with Thomas’s reaction. Jesus had come to the ten and hadn’t come to him. They had received a blessing that he himself had missed, he resented that whole situation, and his rejection of what his friends were saying was a way of expressing that resentment.

Question 6. Jesus’ ministry to Thomas is quite simply overwhelming kindness. Thomas had painted himself into a corner, and Jesus affirmed him by taking him at his word, meeting him where he was, and saying, in effect, “If it is going to help you to touch the wounds in my body, then do so. Only stop acting the unbeliever, Thomas. Acknowledge the reality of my rising. Believe.” We’re not told whether Thomas actually did what Jesus was inviting him to do. Maybe he stood, bowed, even knelt; we don’t know. What is apparent is that Thomas was absolutely broken. “My Lord and my God,” he said. He made the perfect confession of faith, the fullest and clearest that is found anywhere in the Gospels. It is as if he said, “Lord Jesus, yes I believe. I believe that you are alive from the dead, and I should have believed that a week ago. I honor you now, both for your glorious rising and for your loving ministry to me at this moment. You are God, and I will be your person, your servant, your worshiper from now on. And whatever you send in your providence, your ordering of things, I will take as from your hand. I will recognize that henceforth I’ll never be out of your sight but will always be in your fellowship. I didn’t believe that before, but I believe it now.” Thomas’s statement of faith was a vow: “Jesus, you are my Lord and my God.”

Question 7. Ancient Israel arose from within pagan cultures and was surrounded by them. These cultures in Mesopotamia, Canaan, and Egypt were polytheistic; that is, they worshiped many gods. Even though the Lord God of Israel informed them that he was the one and only God (see Exodus 20:1-3; Deuteronomy 6:14; Isaiah 44:6), they succumbed to worshiping other gods until the exile in Babylon (see Exodus 32:1-6; Deuteronomy 29:26; 2 Kings 23). After the exile, the Jews had learned their lesson; they became fiercely monotheistic, believing in one God. One of the Jews’ primary beliefs is taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which begins, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” This was true for Jesus’ disciples. Thus it was extremely difficult for Thomas (as well as the other disciples) to say of Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”

Question 10. There is every reason to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. The original disciples bore witness. They preached the gospel, brought people of many nationalities to faith, founded churches, and wrote material that now serves to guide all of us in later generations into faith like theirs. Most of the apostles were martyred. All of them were willing to die for Christ. If they had had the slightest doubt as to whether the Christ they preached was for real or if there had been the slightest pretense in the attitude they first adopted, they wouldn’t have behaved like that. They knew, and so they were prepared to give their lives rather than deny or go back on what they knew. Their testimony has come down the centuries to us. And if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, why didn’t the Jews at once produce the body from the grave to show that Jesus wasn’t risen and that all this talk about resurrection faith was nonsense? The answer is simple: they didn’t produce the body because they couldn’t. The body wasn’t there; the grave was empty. They knew (as do we) that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, the whole of Christianity falls apart (1 Corinthians 15:17-18).

It might be helpful to suggest some books that defend the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. While there are many good books to choose from, here are a few titles: Norman Anderson, The Evidence for the Resurrection; Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone?; Lee Strobel, The Case for Easter; and Gary Habermas and Michael Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.

STUDY 6. SIMON PETER. JOHN 21; 1 PETER 5:8-11

PURPOSE: To place our hope in the reconciling power of Christ—and then to commit our love to him.

Question 3. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Jesus used these three questions to restore Peter to fellowship with him and reestablish his leadership among the disciples.

Questions 4 and 5. We need to be honest with ourselves and with God if the hope of God remaking us as he remade Simon Peter is to be fulfilled. Can we say to Jesus with Peter, “Lord, you know that I love you”? No doubt we are compelled to say with him, “Lord, I know I’ve let you down. What I have done is terrible, and the memory of it is awful—and yet in my heart I do love you, and what I want more than anything is to love you more and better.” Have we heard the voice of Jesus speaking pardon and peace to our hearts for our sins and failures, assuring us that despite everything, he still has work for us to do? Have we heard him telling us that the way to show love to anyone—to our Lord himself, to other Christians, to our own nearest and dearest, or to whomever—is by what we do for them, over and above anything we say to them? Becoming this honest, realistic, and responsive to the Son of God was the path of Simon’s progress. It was how he came to know God the Father. It was as he traveled this path that God transformed him from Simon the unstable into Peter the rock. This is the way you and I must go. May the Lord lead us this way.

Question 6. Jesus invited Peter to reconciliation with immense kindness. He invited Peter by a threefold profession of love to begin to wash out the bitter memory of that threefold denial. Then each time Simon said, “Lord, you know that I love you,” Jesus immediately gave him a job to do: “Feed my lambs”; “take care of my sheep”; “feed my sheep.” That was Jesus reinstating Simon in the leadership role in ministry that he had had in mind for his disciples right from the word go. Simon had gone out fishing the night before because he was quite sure that his public discipleship and public ministry were done. He’d disqualified himself forever from being any use to the Lord Jesus, or so he thought. But here is the Lord Jesus putting him back in that leadership role, specifically recommissioning him for ministry, and the link between Jesus’ question to him and the recommissioning is in his words, “Lord, you know that I love you.”

Question 7. Reread the chapter, looking particularly at what Peter says and does. Try to trace his thinking, looking for signs of loyalty to Jesus—in spite of his previous actions.

Question 10. Peter’s letter, written late in his life, flashes ahead to what Jesus predicted to Peter that morning on the shore. His letter, written to encourage struggling believers, is full of suffering, but beyond that it is full of faith that endures suffering—and still believes. On the shore that post-Easter morning Jesus pulls aside for a moment the curtain that hides the future. He tells Simon in effect that the disciples are going to finish their ministry by being martyred for the glory of God. I think Jesus did that because he wanted to give Simon an opportunity to negate in an explicit way that panicky passion to save his own skin, which had led to the denial. So Jesus tells him bluntly, “Simon, if you accept my recommissioning, you won’t be able to save your skin. I want you to know that. You will glorify me finally by death, a martyr’s death, at the hands of the authorities, who will execute you as a subversive, just as they did to me. Now, against the background of that, Simon, I say to you, ‘Follow me.’” Simon Peter did just that—to the end.

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) is regarded as one of the most well-known theologians and influential evangelicals of our time. His many books include the bestselling Knowing God.

Carolyn Nystrom has written more than eighty books, Bible study guides, and children’s titles. She coauthored Praying with J. I. Packer and is the author of multiple LifeGuide Bible Studies, including 1 & 2 Peter and Jude, Money and Work, Friendship, and Listening to God.

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