What does the life of
Jesus teach us about God?
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So, this might seem completely obvious…look at Jesus
to know who God really is. However, it is interesting
to me that our own subjective understandings of God (formed
by our histories, our families, our culture) carry more weight
on a day-to-day basis. Frequently, we believe more in
a God we have created in our minds, than the God represented
in Jesus.
First things first... Do you believe the following statements
to be true?
The Son is the radiance of God’s
glory and the exact representation of his being…
Hebrews 1:3 NIV otherwise
stated:
This son perfectly mirrors God, and
is stamped with God’s
nature.
Hebrews 1:3 The Message
If you believe this verse, then we have a lot to learn about
God by studying Jesus.
Here’s the exercise for this week (this one will take
some time so pace yourself)…You are
going to read through an entire gospel (a gospel is a special
story account of the life of Jesus. The gospels most
frequently read are called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John…they
are found in the New Testament of the bible.)
Anyway, for sake of time, read the gospel of Mark (it’s
the shortest). To really make this exercise powerful,
read all four and do the same thing with each. Here’s
what you need to do: As you read the story, write down
certain things about Jesus. You might want to use separate
sheets of paper for each, or create columns, or whatever…
- Write out any direct commands of Jesus (make a note to
self about the context)
- Write out any “teachings”…you know,
statements that just are good for living
- Note who Jesus is surrounded by and interacting with
- Note
anything your heart pauses on while reading about Jesus…I
mean, where did you stop and drink in the story (our souls cause
us to pause when we need to experience something)
Time for reflection….
After reviewing all that you wrote out about Jesus:
- What stands out to you the most about him?
- What image of God does he portray?
- Where does the image of God you carry around inside contradict
the image found in Jesus? (if at all…)
- This Jesus portrayed in Mark, do you even want your
life to be like his? Why or why not? Again, we
don’t have time for cheesy answers. Get to the
heart of this…Do you believe this kind of God exists
AND that you can interact with this God AND that he wants
to interact with you? If so, what does that mean for
your life?
With your group/community this week….
Designate your conversation helpers, light the candle,
open in prayer, etc…
- Share with one another some initial thoughts or observations
you had as you did this exercise. Notice where
your observations are similar and where they are different.
- Try to identify at least one portion of your image
of God that was represented in the life of Jesus. Now
identify one portion of your image that was not represented
in Jesus. See if you can articulate where
your image came from.
- Wonder with one another how a fuller, more accurate
image of God can be nurtured in the future. What
are practical things that can be done to nurture this
image?
End specifically praying for one another and the topics
that surfaced from this exercise. |
Season One is coming to an end. Next week, you will
be summarizing why you have been talking about this image of
God stuff…..how this image stuff impacts spiritual formation….and
where do you and your community go from here.
Blessings to you and your community as you seek to see and
know and live for God.
FYI: This coming week’s exercise will take only
10-15 minutes to complete.
Download the pdf here |
