Getting the Most Out of Resurrection
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· 4 viewsBerglund, Kristie. 2013. Resurrection: Living as People of the Risen Lord: 10 Studies for Individuals or Groups: With Notes for Leaders. A Life Guide Bible Study. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Connect: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press.
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The resurrection of Jesus Christ changed everything.
When dawn broke on that first Easter morning, the sun rose on an entirely new world. The very fabric of creation had been transformed. The direction of history had been altered. The power of death had been broken. Life was victorious.How are we to live in the light of that glorious day? How does Christ’s great victory play out in our everyday lives? As people of the risen Lord, our identity and calling are rooted in the resurrection. We are the people of God’s new creation living in the midst of a world still reeling from the longstanding effects of sin and death. As we receive healing and experience our own transformation in Christ, we show forth his risen life to others. Our renewed lives proclaim his resurrection, and those around us are drawn to the ever-living source of that warmth and light.
Explore the significance of Christ’s resurrection for our everyday lives.
Suggestions for Individual Study
1. As we begin each study, pray that God will speak to you through his Word.
2. Read the introduction to the study and respond to the personal reflection question or exercise. This is designed to help you focus on God and on the theme of the study.
3. Each study deals with a particular passage so that you can delve into the author’s meaning in that context. Read and reread the passage to be studied.
4. This is an inductive Bible study, designed to help you discover for yourself what Scripture is saying. The study includes three types of questions. Observation questions ask about the basic facts: who, what, when, where and how. Interpretation questions delve into the meaning of the passage. Application questions help you discover the implications of the text for growing in Christ. These three keys unlock the treasures of Scripture.Write your answers to the questions in the spaces provided or in a personal journal. Writing can bring clarity and deeper understanding of yourself and of God’s Word.
5. It might be good to have a Bible dictionary handy. Use it to look up any unfamiliar words, names or places.
6. Use the prayer suggestion to guide you in thanking God for what you have learned and to pray about the applications that have come to mind.
7. You may want to go on to the suggestion under “Now or Later,” or you may want to use that idea for your next study.
Suggestions for Members of a Group Study
1. Come to the study prepared. Follow the suggestions for individual study mentioned above. You will find that careful preparation will greatly enrich your time spent in group discussion.
2. Be willing to participate in the discussion. The leader of your group will not be lecturing. Instead, he or she will be encouraging the members of the group to discuss what they have learned. The leader will be asking the questions that are found in this guide.
3. Stick to the topic being discussed. Your answers should be based on the verses which are the focus of the discussion and not on outside authorities such as commentaries or speakers. These studies focus on a particular passage of Scripture. Only rarely should you refer to other portions of the Bible. This allows for everyone to participate in in-depth study on equal ground.
4. Be sensitive to the other members of the group. Listen attentively when they describe what they have learned. You may be surprised by their insights! Each question assumes a variety of answers. Many questions do not have “right” answers, particularly questions that aim at meaning or application. Instead the questions push us to explore the passage more thoroughly.When possible, link what you say to the comments of others. Also, be affirming whenever you can. This will encourage some of the more hesitant members of the group to participate.
5. Be careful not to dominate the discussion. We are sometimes so eager to express our thoughts that we leave too little opportunity for others to respond. By all means participate! But allow others to also.
6. Expect God to teach you through the passage being discussed and through the other members of the group. Pray that you will have an enjoyable and profitable time together, but also that as a result of the study you will find ways that you can take action individually and/or as a group.
7. Remember that anything said in the group is considered confidential and should not be discussed outside the group unless specific permission is given to do so.
8. If you are the group leader, you will find additional suggestions at the back of the guide.
Leading the Study
1. Begin the study on time. Open with prayer, asking God to help the group to understand and apply the passage.
2. Be sure that everyone in your group has a study guide. Encourage the group to prepare beforehand for each discussion by reading the introduction to the guide and by working through the questions in the study.
3. At the beginning of your first time together, explain that these studies are meant to be discussions, not lectures. Encourage the members of the group to participate. However, do not put pressure on those who may be hesitant to speak during the first few sessions. You may want to suggest the following guidelines to your group.
☐ Stick to the topic being discussed.
☐ Your responses should be based on the verses which are the focus of the discussion and not on outside authorities such as commentaries or speakers.
☐ These studies focus on a particular passage of Scripture. Only rarely should you refer to other portions of the Bible. This allows for everyone to participate in in-depth study on equal ground.
☐ Anything said in the group is considered confidential and will not be discussed outside the group unless specific permission is given to do so.
☐ We will listen attentively to each other and provide time for each person present to talk.
☐ We will pray for each other.
4. Have a group member read the introduction at the beginning of the discussion.
5. Every session begins with a group discussion question.
a. The question or activity is meant to be used before the passage is read.
b. The question introduces the theme of the study and encourages group members to begin to open up.
c. Encourage as many members as possible to participate, and be ready to get the discussion going with your own response.
d. This section is designed to reveal where our thoughts or feelings need to be transformed by Scripture.
e. That is why it is especially important not to read the passage before the discussion question is asked.
f. The passage will tend to color the honest reactions people would otherwise give because they are, of course, supposed to think the way the Bible does.
g. You may want to supplement the group discussion question with an icebreaker to help people to get comfortable.
h. You also might want to use the personal reflection question with your group. Either allow a time of silence for people to respond individually or discuss it together.
6. Have a group member (or members if the passage is long) read aloud the passage to be studied. Then give people several minutes to read the passage again silently so that they can take it all in.
7. Question 1 will generally be an overview question designed to briefly survey the passage. Encourage the group to look at the whole passage, but try to avoid getting sidetracked by questions or issues that will be addressed later in the study.
8. As you ask the questions, keep in mind that they are designed to be used just as they are written. You may simply read them aloud. Or you may prefer to express them in your own words. There may be times when it is appropriate to deviate from the study guide. For example, a question may have already been answered. If so, move on to the next question. Or someone may raise an important question not covered in the guide. Take time to discuss it, but try to keep the group from going off on tangents.
9. Avoid answering your own questions. If necessary, repeat or rephrase them until they are clearly understood. Or point out something you read in the leader’s notes to clarify the context or meaning. An eager group quickly becomes passive and silent if they think the leader will do most of the talking.
10. Don’t be afraid of silence. People may need time to think about the question before formulating their answers.
11. Don’t be content with just one answer. Ask, “What do the rest of you think?” or “Anything else?” until several people have given answers to the question.
12. Acknowledge all contributions. Try to be affirming whenever possible. Never reject an answer. If it is clearly off-base, ask, “Which verse led you to that conclusion?” or again, “What do the rest of you think?”
13. Don’t expect every answer to be addressed to you, even though this will probably happen at first. As group members become more at ease, they will begin to truly interact with each other. This is one sign of healthy discussion.
14. Don’t be afraid of controversy. It can be very stimulating. If you don’t resolve an issue completely, don’t be frustrated. Move on and keep it in mind for later. A subsequent study may solve the problem.
15. Periodically summarize what the group has said about the passage. This helps to draw together the various ideas mentioned and gives continuity to the study. But don’t preach.
16. At the end of the Bible discussion you may want to allow group members a time of quiet to work on an idea under “Now or Later.” Then discuss what you experienced. Or you may want to encourage group members to work on these ideas between meetings. Give an opportunity during the session for people to talk about what they are learning.
17. Conclude your time together with conversational prayer, adapting the prayer suggestion at the end of the study to your group. Ask for God’s help in following through on the commitments you’ve made.
18. End on time.
Components of Small Groups
A healthy small group should do more than study the Bible. There are four components to consider as you structure your time together.
Nurture. Small groups help us to grow in our knowledge and love of God. Bible study is the key to making this happen and is the foundation of your small group.
Community. Small groups are a great place to develop deep friendships with other Christians. Allow time for informal interaction before and after each study. Plan activities and games that will help you get to know each other. Spend time having fun together going on a picnic or cooking dinner together.
Worship and prayer. Your study will be enhanced by spending time praising God together in prayer or song. Pray for each other’s needs and keep track of how God is answering prayer in your group. Ask God to help you to apply what you are learning in your study.
Outreach. Reaching out to others can be a practical way of applying what you are learning, and it will keep your group from becoming self-focused. Host a series of evangelistic discussions for your friends or neighbors. Clean up the yard of an elderly friend. Serve at a soup kitchen together, or spend a day working on a Habitat house.
New Breath for Old Bones (Ezekiel 37:1–14)
“Remember to breathe,” said my friend as she consoled me. What strange advice. Isn’t breathing one of those few things we aren’t supposed to have to “remember” to do? In this instance, however, I had been grieving the sudden death of an old friend and was apparently in desperate need of such basic guidance.
Grief and loss had nearly drained the life out of me. My insides felt withered and starved of essential nutrients. I was amazed by how a few deep breaths began to bring back the sensation of life. In this study we’ll explore God’s promise to send his own life-giving breath to renew our lives in a way we could never do for ourselves.
GROUP DISCUSSION. Describe a time when you could have used a reminder to breathe. What was happening in your life? Was someone there to help you?
PERSONAL REFLECTION. How do you experience the presence of God’s Spirit in times of pain and loss?
ANSWER Purpose: To discover hope in the promise of a new beginning here and now.
Participants may sympathize with Ezekiel’s response: “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Indeed! How are we supposed to know? From a human standpoint, bodies that have died and decayed certainly cannot live again. Yet rather than responding “Not a chance!” the prophet lets God have the final say on the matter. Apparent hopelessness is not necessarily ultimate hopelessness. Our perspective is limited.
The people of Israel lost their home to foreign invaders and were taken away as captives to a strange land. Overcome with grief, they wept aloud to the God who was supposed to look out for them. In response, the Spirit of the Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel and gave him a vision for the people. Read Ezekiel 37:1–14.1.
Imagine how Ezekiel must have felt after wandering back and forth through a valley full of old human bones. How does he respond to the Lord’s surprising question in verse 3?
2. Notice that Ezekiel is not permitted to be a passive bystander in this vision. How did the Lord require Ezekiel to participate (v. 4)?
3. Why is it so important for the dry bones to “hear the word of the LORD” (v. 4)?
ANSWER: Question 3. A related question here is: How are these old, dead bones supposed to “hear” anything? I love how Christopher J. H. Wright puts this problem: “Now it is a well-attested anatomical fact that although ears have many bones, bones do not have any ears. To preach to bones is even more futile than preaching to the deaf” (The Message of Ezekiel, Bible Speaks Today [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001], p. 306). But this is just the point. The people of Israel had been “deaf” to God’s promises and had therefore given themselves up for dead. They desperately needed to hear again that God was still their God, to know that their future was full of hope and life.
4. What prevents you from hearing God’s Word in times of pain?
5. What happens as Ezekiel begins to prophesy as he is commanded (v. 7)?
6. Why are the bodies still lifeless after the bones come together and are covered with sinews and skin (v. 8)?
7. Why might the two-stage process of bringing these dead back to life mirror the two-stage creation of human beings in the very beginning (see Genesis 2:7)?
ANSWER: Question 7. This question tries to get at the theological message of this passage. The account of the creation of the first human begins with the Lord forming Adam from the “dust of the ground” and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen 2:7). The message of Ezekiel’s vision is nothing less than the promise of new creation. The same God who created the people of Israel in the first place would create them all over again from the dust of their dried-up bones. And just as the original humans were given a place to live and work and flourish, so the people of Israel would be restored to their land. It will be a brand new beginning.
8. What do the bones (v. 11) and breath (v. 14) represent?
9. What did God promise the people through this vision (vv. 11–14)?
ANSWER: Question 9. This vision uses the imagery of resurrection and new creation to speak of God’s promise to restore Israel to their homeland. It represents the promise of forgiveness of past sins and the chance for a new start. It speaks of a hopeful future for a people who feared they had lost all hope.
10. How does God’s promise to raise up the dry bones and breathe new life into them give you courage in the face of pain and loss?
11. Who are the people in your life who feel that “hope is gone” (v. 11)?
ANSWER: Question 11. Encourage participants to be specific here. It’s easy enough to say “the poor” or “the sick,” but often challenging to name those particular people in our lives who badly need to “hear the word of the Lord.”
12. How is God calling you to “prophesy” to the “bones” and “breath” today?
ANSWER: Question 12. If you meet resistance to the idea that we “regular people” are called to “prophesy,” you may want to talk about how prophesy in this context is simply another way of talking about “proclamation.” We are all called to proclaim the good news to one another. And we are all called to pray for God’s Spirit to come and renew this world, breathing new life into all who have given themselves up for dead.
Give thanks to God that all hope is not lost, and pray that his Spirit would continue to breathe new life into you and all his people. Ask God to give you such confidence in his promises of resurrection and new creation that you joyfully speak this good news to all who are tempted to despair.
Now or Later
Ezekiel 37:1–14 is just one of several key Old Testament passages that began to cultivate a hope for resurrection among the people of Israel.
Others you may want to reflect on are Job 19:25–27; Daniel 12:1–3; Isaiah 53:10–12 and Hosea 13:14.
What images are used in each of these passages to communicate God’s promises to his people? How do they find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ?