COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY AND DAILY STUDIES BASED UPON OUR PREACHING SERIES AT COMMUNITY CHURCH PUTNEY
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COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY STUDY
COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY STUDY
Peter says,“Salvation
is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind
by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
But what is unique about Jesus to qualify Him as the only Saviour? Last
week we looked at what He does for us from election to glorification; this week
we will think about how only Jesus could have achieved this.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR GOD TO BE THE SAVIOUR?
In study 2 we saw how God is Trinity: Jesus, along with the Father and
Holy Spirit is the eternal God. But Jesus, when He came to earth also became
fully man (the incarnation). Jesus was, and is, both fully God and fully man
(two natures in one person), which, like the trinity, is a great mystery.
Read
Philippians 2:2-6 and discuss:
Ø
What is Jesus essential nature? (2:6)
Ø
What ‘likeness’ did He become? (2:7)
Ø
What did His humanity enable Him to do for our
salvation? (2:8)
Ø
What happened to Jesus after His death?
(2:9-11)
Read 1 John
4:1-3 and discuss:
Ø
Are we to believe all teachers? (4:1)
Ø
What will true teachers, inspired by the
Spirit, hold to? (4:2)
Ø
What does the ‘spirit of antichrist’ teach? (4:3)
Only Jesus, as God and man could be our Saviour because,
‘It was not fit for any to satisfy God’s justice but
a man; none could do it but God; therefore, Christ being both God and man, is the
fittest to undertake this work of redemption.’ (Thomas Watson)
John Stott puts it,
‘In order to
save us in such a way as to satisfy Himself, God through Christ substituted
himself for us. Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.
The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty, severity and
grace, justice and mercy.’
This is why Paul says of Jesus,
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the
man Christ Jesus,
GOING DEEPER PERSONAL DAILY STUDIES
Monday: The incarnation of our Saviour
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and
made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one
and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word (who is God
v.1) became a man. Jesus is fully God and man. He has come to us to fill our
lives with ‘grace and truth’. Do you live amazed that the Son of God has died
to save you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done?
The incarnation
‘"Remaining what He was, He became what he was not."
In other words, while Jesus continued "remaining" what He was (that
is, fully divine) he also became what He previously had not been (that is,
fully human as well). Jesus did not give up any of his deity when He became
man, but he did take on humanity that was not His before.’ (Wayne Grudem)
Chalcedonian Definition
Over the rest of these
studies we will look at the Chalcedonian Definition of the
incarnation written in a.d. 451.
Tuesday: Perfect in Godhead and manhood
Excerpt 1 from The Chalcedonian
Definition: ‘We, then,
following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and
the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also
perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul
and body…’
Jesus is
fully God and man (including ‘soul and body’), both natures existing, fully, in
one person, sometimes called the ‘hypostatic union’, which means the union of Jesus’ human and
divine natures in one being. As Paul writes,
Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being
in very nature God, did not consider equality with
God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself
nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Wednesday: Fully man but
without sin
Excerpt 2 from The Chalcedonian
Definition: Consubstantial
[coessential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with
us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin.
Consubstantial means to have
the same nature: Jesus is perfect God and perfect man, but without sin. As the
author to the Hebrews expresses it,
Hebrews 4:15 For we do
not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but
we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not
sin.
Thursday: Eternal God
born of Mary
Excerpt 3 from The Chalcedonian
Definition: Begotten before
all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for
us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according
to the Manhood.
Jesus, as
God the Son is eternal, but His human nature came into existence at His
conception. Christmas celebrates Jesus becoming man in order to be able to die
for us.
Friday: two natures in one person
Excerpt 4 from The Chalcedonian
Definition: One and the same
Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures,
inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of
natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of
each nature being preserved and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence,
not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only
begotten, God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the
beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has
taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has been handed down to us.
Jesus is
God and man. Not as two persons in one body, but two distinct natures
mysteriously united in one person. This is our Saviour. His unique personhood
qualifies Him alone to be our perfect substitute on the cross.
Saturday: Receive the love and give the love of our
suffering shepherd
Acts 20:28 Be shepherds of the church of
God, which he bought with his own blood.
1 Peter 5:1-4 To the
elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of
Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be
shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not
because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not
pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not
lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the
flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you
will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
God died
for His church-His flock. The ‘Good Shepherd’ has laid down His life for the sheep
by entering this world and dying to saving the lost sheep. Do we see ourselves
as dearly loved, demonstrated by His incarnation and death? Do we live each day
knowing that the risen Saviour is caring for us? Do we also show love to this
world by going, with the message of Christ, to save? Do we also love His flock,
the church?
Only
Jesus, being God and man could have been the Saviour of mankind, let’s embrace
Him is all His beauty and mystery.
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