Week 12 Moths to a Flame
42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
44 And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.
45 "He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
46 "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.
John 12:42-46 (NASB)
"11.322 - moth to a flame" by Sean Garrett (blacktau) is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Background
Quote-Norman Blann Rice (born May 4, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 49th mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving two terms from 1990 to 1997. Rice was Seattle's first, and to date only, elected African-American mayor (Bruce Harrell, who served as acting mayor from September 13, 2017 to September 18, 2017, was elected mayor in the 2021 Seattle mayoral election and will take office on January 1, 2022). In 1997, Rice made a guest appearance as himself on an episode of Frasier, entitled "The 1000th Show." Rice has been awarded honorary degrees by Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle University, the University of Puget Sound, and Whitman College.
Passage- The book of John is a Gospel that contains Narrative History, Sermons, Parables, and a few Prophetic Oracles. It was written by the Disciple/Apostle John around 85-95 A.D. The key personalities of this book are Jesus Christ, His Twelve Disciples, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Lazarus, his sisters Mary and Martha, Jewish religious leaders, and Pilate.
It was written so that all may believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God who gives eternal life. John’s gospel uses the word “Believe” 98 times and the word “Life” 36 times, in an effort to embed the importance that one must believe in order to live eternally. John is not one of the three synoptic (common view) gospels, but instead was written with a more theological substance, yet equally as inspired and important as the first three gospels.
Lesson Notes
Opening Statement
We are called into the light for a purpose. Jesus brought the light into the world so that all who saw it and believed would not remain in darkness. Scripture outlines those things considered as in the light and those that are in the darkness. It becomes our choice where we stay, if we move from where we are, and whether or not our lives look like something others might want to emulate.
Ask: Why do we build a fire when out in the woods camping?
Point: Fire illuminates the darkness so we can see, provides warmth, creates an atmosphere of safety, and wild animals have a natural fear of fire.
Ask: What does Jesus mean when he states “…everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness?”
Point: Darkness hides what is there, what is around us as we stand there. Turning on the light doesn’t do anything more than reveal what our surroundings are.
Ask: If all Jesus does is reveal what we are standing in what implication does that have for our lives?
Point: It means we become aware of where we are standing; the good things that are around us and the bad things too.
Ask: What choice does the light present to us as we discover where we stand in life?
Point: A very simple choice. Either we choose to remain where we are, surrounded by what is revealed to us or we choose to move away from where we are to a place that is better.
Ask: What destination are we seeking?
Point: God in Heaven.
Ask: How do we get there?
Point: First Reding (John 14:1-6 (NASB)
Ask: If Jesus is the path, the way of good things, good actions, and how we get to God, how do we get others onto this path?
Point: Lead by example
Second Reading (1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (NASB)
Ask: What is the “…more excellent way?”
Point: Third Reading (1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NASB)
Ask: How does desiring a more excellent way and love lead to a light that draws people to that same path?
Point: Fourth Reading (John 3:19-21 (NASB)
Ask: What does this light look like in a practical sense in our lives and what should we do with it?
Point: The light is the Holy Spirit as he illuminates ideas, information, knowledge, wisdom, correction, and chastisement in scripture from the Bible.
Fifth Reading (John 14:23-26 (NASB)
Closing Statement
46 "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. John 12:46 (NASB) Not remaining in darkness means finally seeing our surroundings. It means becoming aware to the nature of things that we have been bumping into and only vaguely understanding. Some of us have been in the light a very long time, most of our lives. Others a far shorter time. The point isn’t how long we’ve been in the light but what we are doing while we are in it? When we first began feeding on the milk of Christian wisdom, we made small steps. Feeding on solid food spurred our growth. As a mature Christian we should be literally feasting on the word of God, daily.
Questions for the Week
How does your consumption of God’s word manifest in daily life?
Does anyone else see you consuming God’s word?
Take stock of your current situation as concerns how your Christian walk is seen by those you encounter daily.
Write down one thing you can do regularly that is seen by others as reflecting the love of Jesus to the world you encounter daily. Document this step so you can revisit it at the end of the year.
Scripture
First Reading
1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
4 "And you know the way where I am going."
5 Thomas *said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?"
6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
John 14:1-6 (NASB)
Second Reading
27 Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it.
28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?
30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?
31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (NASB)
Third Reading
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NASB)
Fourth Reading
19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
John 3:19-21 (NASB)
Fifth Reading
23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.
25 "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:23-26 (NASB)
Definitions
1 Cor. 13 Love
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
This chapter contains the premier teaching of Christianity. It is an undying expression of Jesus' doctrine of heavenly love. This chapter is more potent for the building of the church than any, or all, of the various manifestations of God's power.
Love is the church's most effective weapon. Love is the essence of God's nature. Love is the perfection of human character. Love is the most powerful, ultimate force in the universe. Without love, all the various gifts of the Spirit are of no avail.
"If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing" (v. 3). The gift of speaking like an angel, of prophesying, of having all knowledge, of faith that moves mountains, of giving the last dollar to charity, even martyrdom—all are of no use unless we have the spirit of Christian love. What a call to self-examination!