*Questions marked in red are meant to draw out more personal responses.

1) In what way might it be detrimental to one’s spiritual health to know the life and teachings of Jesus too well?

In many ways the life of Christ is so important that I think it is often ignored – even by people who believe in Christ and know how important Christ is. There are people who are very familiar with the basic events in the life of Christ so when these events are heard one more time there is this kind of yawn. It goes in one ear and out the other. This Fall’s series is going to be a good test of whether our minds are basically asleep. Because we really can’t understand the life of Christ and the claims of Christ and not be moved. It’s just impossible. We can do it only if our hearts and minds are basically out of gear and on automatic pilot. And there’s a reason why I say this. Because the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth is absolutely preposterous and unique and outrageous in terms of what he claims for himself and what he does. There is nothing in the entire history of the world that can compare with it. Jesus breaks all the molds. Jesus tilts the minds. Jesus shatters all the categories. He doesn’t do anything in the way other people have done it. And he had an impact on the world like no one who has ever lived in the whole history of the world.

2) Discuss the various ways you hear the name of Jesus being used today? How have you used and how do you personally use the name of Jesus?

We can see something of this just in the way his name is used today. If I were to ask you to write down the two most common ways Jesus’ name is used today, I’ll bet most of us would come up with the same thing. His name is used either a) reverently as a blessing. We say, “The Lord bless you.” Or in worship we praise his name. Or we end our prayers with “In Jesus Name.” His name today is either used a) reverently or b) as a swear word and probably it is used more often as a swear word than as a blessing. But even in listening to how his name is used in these two different ways we see the power of his name to divide people for or against him in a very radical way.

3) If Jesus didn’t use military might or political power or monetary clout, then what explains his extraordinary impact on the world?

Jesus had an extraordinary impact on the world. But here’s the thing. He did so without using any of the tools that we normally use to make an impact. We humans throughout history have used military power to change the course of history. Jesus did not use military power. We humans throughout history have used political power to change the course of history. Jesus did not use political power. We use monetary clout to move peoples and nations. Jesus did not use money to move people. Jesus had none of these. In fact, he owned practically nothing – maybe only the clothes on his back. He didn’t own a house. He had to borrow a bed or a place on the floor to sleep on wherever he went. He had only a small following. He had to borrow a boat to preach from, a donkey to ride on, and finally was buried in a borrowed grave.

4) What would this world be like if Man had not rebelled against God?

This is a general concept to discuss, not specifically addressed in message.

5) Can you think of other ways God could have redeemed us other than sending the Son of God (Jesus) into the world?

This is a general concept to discuss, not specifically addressed in message

6) In what ways were Lucifer’s (Satan’s) rebellion (Isaiah 14:12-14) and Adam and Eve’s rebellion (Genesis 3:1-7) similar? In what areas and in what ways in life is your rebellion similar?

To understand ‘why’ God came this way we need at least a rudimentary understanding of human history. Basically, we need to reach all the way back to the 3 rd chapter of Genesis where man became alienated from God because of sin. Adam, the first man, had followed Satan’s temptation and all human history has followed. All of us since Adam sinned in Adam. When he sinned, we sinned. Prior to Satan or Lucifer tempting Adam we read in Isaiah 14 of that moment when the good angel Lucifer said, “I will go up. I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God….I will make myself like the Most High.” Here you have the real sense that he is challenging God to replace God. He is challenging God as a rival to God. But God said in the very next verse, “You will go down” and he did. Satan fell and was cast down out of heaven.

Satan then comes and throws a temptation at Adam and Eve in the Garden. But note carefully the explicit challenge in the temptation. Satan said, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil”. It’s the same challenge, the same temptation. Lucifer, the good angel, had said, “I will ascend and make myself like God”. He exalted himself in rebellion and fell down. Now he comes to Adam and Eve and tempts them to exalt themselves to become like God knowing good and evil. It’s the same challenge he opted for himself. “You will be in the place of God. You will become the moral arbiter of the universe.” It really is a stab at seeking to grasp something of God, to grasp equality with God. The temptation was that through gaining this new knowledge of good and evil, he would have a fuller life and know more of what it is to be a human being, to know more of life. But instead of laying hold of a fuller life, Adam, by exalting himself in rebellion against God, fell down and laid hold of death as God had said he would. He fell down and in him all of us descendents fell as well. We are now fallen creatures. We are sinful creatures. We are fallen and we live in a fallen, sinful world.

7) What is the primal sin of all? Why? How does this particular sin affect your life?

(Answer: pride)

8) What did the Son of God give up and what did he not give up in becoming a human being?

But then the New Testament speaks of a second Adam. In the N.T. Jesus, the Son of God, is spoken of as the second Adam who basically said, “I will go down”. He who is God in flesh said, “I will go down”. Listen to Philippians 2:5-7_____. There is something very profound here. The Son of God counted equality with God not something to be grasped, but rather let go of something of what it was to be God. What was it that he let go of? Well, it is clear he did not let go of his divinity. As Jesus of Nazareth it is clear he still claims to be God. He didn’t let go of his being God. It seems that what he let go of in order to live as a human being was his glory and his status as God.

9) Read Philippians 2:1-11. As you look at imitating the mind of Christ, in what areas of your life do you need encouragement, comfort, or joy? How are certain areas of your life more motivated out of selfish ambition than the mind of Christ?

This is a general concept to discuss, not specifically addressed in message