Student Notes 6 The Way of Redemption

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SERIES: NO TIME TO BE TIMID

SESSION SIX, FALL 2015

THE WAY OF REDEMPTION HOW SHOULD WE RELATE TO A HOSTILE CULTURE? 1. We should retreat from the culture: The Way of the Essenes. 2. We should rebuke the culture: The Way of the Pharisees. 3. We may resemble the culture: The Way of the Hellenized Jews. The problem with these three responses: they are not the way of ________. 4. WE SHOULD REDEEM THE CULTURE. Mark 10.45: For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is the Redeemer – not us. But we are to ____________ his ministry of bringing redemption into a world that is lost. Redemption: Deliverance from some evil by payment of a price. Who could be redeemed in biblical times? ________: A price could be paid so they could be bought out of bondage and set free. John 8.34: Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. _____________________: If a soldier or a civilian was captured by a foreign army, he or she could be redeemed and set free by the payment of a ransom. Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus came not to condemn sinners but to pay a price for their freedom and wage a war that would __________ the prisoners of a sinful culture that corrupted their hearts, pulled them away from God, and condemned them to death. Jesus told his followers to continue his mission. John 20.21: As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. With these words Jesus gave his followers: Their commission: Continue the work of redemption I began. Their methodology: Do the Father’s work in the same way __________.

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Matthew 9.35-38: Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” THE WAY OF JESUS 1. OUR MISSION MUST BE _____________ TO OUR EXISTENCE Matthew9.35: Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. Jesus focused his life – his thoughts, his plans, his schedule, his energies – on accomplishing the mission the Father had for him to fulfill. If we are going to be in the world the way Jesus was in the world, we must see ourselves as men with a __________ and fulfilling that mission must be at the heart of who we are. A. Because no oppressor gives up his captives without a ________. The work of redemption is spiritual ____________. Ephesians 6.12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We are in a battle against spiritual realities that are dark, malevolent and _____________. They will not give up their captives without a fight. The work of redemption is not child’s play: it cannot be accomplished by men who are _______________ or uncommitted. John 12.31: The prince of this world will be driven out. The Greek verb for “driven out” in this verse means “to remove someone by __________.” Wesley to his pastors: Therefore, spend and be spent in your work. If not physically, then emotionally and spiritually, for evil to be defeated, someone always goes to a ___________.

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B. A cynical culture is looking for something to___________ in. The most powerful, inspiring force on the planet is a man who believes in something so passionately that he will not bend, break or __________. That’s the kind of men our God deserves. That’s the kind of men we were created to be. That’s the kind of men who can cause the lost to believe there is more to life than they have previously known. Jesus was driven by two purposes: (1) To glorify the Father (John 12.27-28) (2) To release the captives and keep them safe (Luke 4.16-21) The work of redemption was central to the existence of Jesus. 2. OUR MISSION MUST SPRING FROM _____________ Matthew 9.36: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The Greek word used here for “compassion” – as a noun it refers to a person’s “______________;” as a verb it means to feel something deeply or to be __________ to the core of your being. Mark 8: When Jesus saw a hungry crowd, moved by compassion, he fed them. Matthew 14: When he saw the masses broken, blind and diseased, moved by compassion, he healed them. Luke 7: When he saw a widow on her way to bury her only son, moved by compassion, he raised the boy from the dead, and gave him back to his mother. Mark 1: When he saw a man suffering from leprosy, moved by compassion, Jesus reached out, touched the man, and healed him. Jesus never became ___________ to human suffering. Love, compassion, a costly act of kindness – these were powerful in the time of Jesus and they still are today. How will we change the world and redeem the culture? Not by shouting louder, but by ___________ more. Not through criticism and condemnation but through caring and compassion. Nicholas Kristof: There also are many, many secular aid workers doing heroic work. But the people I’ve encountered over the years in the most impossible places — like Nuba, where anyone reasonable has fled — are disproportionately unreasonable because of their faith.

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That’s what we should be known for – we love too much, our compassion is unreasonable and what we give of ourselves is kind of ________. That’s who Christians are – people who give their lives away because they follow a man who did that very thing. Compassion commands attention – it’s unexpected, it’s unusual and it looks like _________. 3. OUR MISSION MUST CARE ABOUT THE ___________ PERSON Matthew 9.35: Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. The Social Gospel: An emphasis on transforming society and helping the poor through attacking the greed of capitalism, using politics to alleviate the ills of poverty, and fighting for social justice. Fundamentalism: An almost exclusive focus on _______________. Jesus didn’t love souls – he loved __________. Jesus didn’t focus on bodies – he focused on people. He cared about the whole person. Mother Teresa: I cannot do what you can do. You cannot do what I can do. But together we can do something beautiful for God. 4. OUR MISSION MUST BE BUILT ON __________ Matthew 9.37: Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” There was a compelling urgency to Jesus’s ministry. There was also a ____________ that the Gospel would be effective. If we are faithful, God can be trusted to use our work to reach the lost and use the Gospel to change the culture like yeast causes the dough to rise.

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