Week 19 Are We Meant for the Storm?
You are His workmanship and He values you more than many sparrows
“God made you the way you are, to use you as you are filled and empowered by the spirit of God.”
Alistair Begg
Passage
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
11Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—
12remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:10–13 (NASB95)
"Standing in the Big Storm" by hilighters is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Background
Quote-Alistair Begg (born May 22, 1952) is the senior pastor of Cleveland's Parkside Church (located in Bainbridge Township, Geauga County, Ohio), a position he has held since 1983. He is the voice behind the Truth For Life Christian radio preaching and teaching ministry, which broadcasts his sermons daily to stations across North America through over 1,800 radio outlets. He is also the author of several books. Begg was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1952 and still carries a distinctive Scottish accent after years of ministry in the United States. He and his wife, Susan, have been married since 1975. They have three married children and 8 grandchildren. Susan is American by birth and Begg himself became a U.S. citizen in 2004. He remains a proud supporter of his boyhood club, the Glasgow Rangers. Begg believes in the inerrancy and supremacy of Scripture, and in the saving power of Christ alone. He has said that the core belief of Parkside Church is "that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and that to know Him is to know life, both now and forever [...] Jesus Christ is the only Savior, because Jesus is the only one who is qualified to save.” Begg is especially known for compelling oratory and a style of teaching that makes frequent reference to Biblical passages.
Passage-The book of Ephesians is a Prison Epistle (letter written while in prison). Paul wrote it about 60-62 A.D. The key personalities of Ephesians are the Apostle Paul and Tychicus. It was written to encourage believers to walk as fruitful followers of Christ and to serve in unity and love in the midst of persecution.
Lesson Notes
Opening Statement
Life seems filled with hard things, difficult things that we often times cannot understand why they’ve happened to us. Most of us can accept the consequences of our own actions, but what about when we didn’t do anything wrong, or think we didn’t?
Ask: Why do we have hardship and difficulties in life?
Point: Some things are the consequences of our decisions. Some things are the consequences of other people’s decisions, and still other things just happen to us and we don’t know why.
Ask: Is there a scriptural reason why bad things happen to us?
Point: Yes. Please read the following:
17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
18“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
19By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17–19 (NASB95)
Ask: Can we boil this event down to just one word and is that one word scriptural?
Point: Yes, and yes. Please read the following:
17For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
18So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
19For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
Romans 5:17–19 (NASB95)
Ask: What is that one word made evident by the last reading (it’s in verse nineteen)?
Point: Obedience.
Ask: Does that mean all my hardships are my fault?
Point: No it does not. Sometimes they are, yes, but other times our hardships come from the bad decisions other people make. Sometimes we cannot fathom why our hardships are on us at all.
Ask: So, why focus on obedience if I’m not causing all my own problems?
Point: Because for all the storms of life obedience is the first step in getting out of them.
Ask: If disobedience isn’t causing a problem I want solved what should I be obedient to and how does that correct something not my fault?
Point: I don’t know. What has God given you to do?
Ask: “I don’t know either. How do I find out?”
Point: Please read the following:
20Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?”
21And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.
22“And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Matthew 21:20–22 (NASB95)
Ask: “So we can pray for a new car and get it or more money and get that, right?”
Point: No, but why not? Please read the following:
2You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
3You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
James 4:2–4 (NASB95)
Ask: I don’t commit adultery so how does this apply to me?
Point: It isn’t about adultery of the flesh. It is about claiming Jesus as Lord but then being disobedient to His ways by following what the World wants instead.
Ask: So how then do we get back to getting out of the storm or problems we didn’t cause by being obedient?
Point: Please read the following:
22and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
23This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
1 John 3:22–23 (NASB95)
Closing Statement
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 (NASB95)
The storms of life, the hardships are, well, hard. We need help to get through them. Some times that help is earthy from brothers and sisters in Jesus. Other times we need more than human hands can do. In those times we need to remember that God did not make us to suffer, to dwell in sorrow, to be preoccupied with the storms around us. We are His workmanship for His tasks. We are valuable. He has declared us clean, worthy of His love as His children. Listen to His voice and believe:
5“But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!
6“Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
7“Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
8“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God;
9but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
Luke 12:5–9 (NASB95)
Questions for the Week
Question 1 We touched briefly on Adam and Eve’s first sin of disobedience. Re-read all of Genesis 3.
Question 2 Now, read all of Romans 5 which we also touched on in this lesson.
Question 3 Paul speaks of obedience in Romans 5 as he explains how Jesus’ obedience cleansed all who believe in Him from their sins. How do these two chapters of scripture come together in your life to direct your obedience to God?
Question 4 Contemplate these two chapters and how they direct your obedience to God all week.
Question 5 By Saturday write down three things your prayer, study, and contemplation revealed to you about your obedience to God.
Question 6 Who’s authority are you under?
Definitions
obedience
oh-bee-dee-uhns
noun
The state or quality of being obedient.
The act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance: Military service demands obedience from its members.
sphere of authority or jurisdiction, especially ecclesiastical.
Chiefly Ecclesiastical.
1. Conformity to a monastic rule or the authority of a religious superior, especially on the part of one who has vowed such conformance.
2. The rule or authority that exacts such conformance.
obedient
oh-bee-dee-uhnt
adjective
Obeying or willing to obey; complying with or submissive to authority: an obedient son.