Thursday Night Fellowship
August 3, 2006
Study of John
Order
Food and Fellowship – leaders serve refreshments
Music – Lord I Life Your Name, Thy Mercy My God
Lesson
Prayer
Game
Introduction
It has come to my attention that we have too many people sitting nice and quiet during our lesson time, so to help all of you join in with the rest of the group we're going to have everyone answer at least one question tonight. We're going to write you names on the board and then mark it off when you answered a question. I'll have all sorts of questions from easy to hard. Some questions will have multiple answers. Be sure to volunteer when you know the answer or you might get stuck, and I'll call on you.
(Setup whiteboard with everyone's names on it.)
Let's brainstorm here for a minute (easy question), what are some things that need to be done each week for youth group to happen? I need someone to write these down.
Turn on A/C
setup chairs
turn down a/c after yg
buy and setup snack
prepare lesson
teach lesson
distribute snack
distribute paper and pens
pick out music
pick out games
set up games
play games
prayer time
setup baby sitter
Has anybody here ever been to a foot washing service? What was it like? How did the feet look? Any polydacytly?
What book of the Bible are we studying right now?
What chapter did we study last week?
What book did we study before we started John?
Let's read tonight's passage: John 13:1-17 (reading counts as answering a question, but at least three verses)
OK Let's summarize what's going on here.
What time of day is it? Hint: see verse 2.
Who's in the scene? Jesus and his disciples.
What does Jesus do? Washes feet.
Who is specifically mentioned in this passage? What is noted about them?
Jesus and his disciples are about to have dinner. They are all reclining by the table. Judas is already planning on betraying Jesus, yet Jesus plans to wash his feet anyway. Jesus understands that he is the Son of God and the he was over everything. What would you do with all that power? Would you wash some dirty feet? Probably not. Jesus being the highest being of all stoops to wash the disciples feet.
Why?
It needed to be done. No one else would do it. (In Jewish culture, slaves were the ones to wash the feet. It was customary. It was offensive not to have someone was your guests feet. The disciples were too proud to do it since they did not have any slaves. So Jesus got up and met the need. This was a physical, hygienic need, and Jesus used it to teach an important lesson.)
It demonstrated his humility.
Jesus wanted to show his disciples how they ought to serve one another.
Jesus loved his disciples, and his love led him to wash their feet. Doing this demonstrated what true love did. True love acts, it serves, it gives.
So what's Peter's beef about this whole deal? Why doesn't he want Jesus to wash his feet?
Why does Jesus not need to wash Peter's head and hands? What is Jesus symbolizing by saying one who has been washed all over doesn't need to be washed again, but only to wash the feet?
Repentance. Jesus is saying that those who believe in and belong to him have already been washed all over and made clean meaning salvation. Now those who are Jesus' followers only need to be cleansed meaning repentance and forgiveness of current sins.
What does it mean to repent? To turn around, to change your mind. To say no to me and yes to God. To give up the sin I am holding on to. Godly sorrow over our sin. Not flippantly.
How often do we need to repent? Every time we sin.
What does that look like? Mom tells me to do something. I back talk. I realize what I did was wrong. I confess the attitude of pride and anger to God and ask him to forgive me and to make things right between us. Then I go and ask forgiveness from Mom and tell her I'm sorry. Sometimes it's just between you and God.
According to Jesus, what did he want the other disciples to do after he had finished washing their feet? For them to wash each other's feet.
Is Jesus speaking literally or figuratively? Yo. Yes and No. Jesus wants us to serve one another. If it means washing each other's feet then we ought to do so. For us in this time and culture it might mean something else.
What might that mean to you, a teenager in the US in 2006? (Have the list read from the beginning of the lesson.)
So we just listed all sorts of things that you can do to serve one another in our time and culture. What are you going to do about it?
Application: Where the rubber meets the road.
Practice repentance. If you are a child of God, a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to repent. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you sin in your heart. Read Psalm 139:23-24 Confess, repent. Move on. Repeat as necessary. Seek out help to overcome your areas of weakness: anger, pride, lust, selfishness, laziness, negative thoughts, gossip, hateful words, hardheartedness.
Serve one another. Volunteer at church, at youth group, at home. Do the things that no one else wants to do. Do the things that need to be done so that other people don't need to worry about it.
Let's pray for God to help us learn how to repent and how to serve.
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1 comment:
I really liked how you got everyone involved. I also liked the emphasis on service. Sometimes I have a chance to do something good for someone else, and I don't either because I feel embarassed, or I don't think the person deserved it, or because I'm shy. Jesus is a good exampl of a person who washed his desciples feet, even though the lowly servants were supposed to do that, and he washed Judas' feet as well, even though Judas would betray Him and didn't deserve it. I really liked youth group.
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