Class #3 Good Religion vs Bad Religion

This week we framed the wonderful character of Jesus between the 2 extremes of the dysfunctional/evil Right and Left. On the one side we looked at the Right Wing Controlling/dysfunctionally angry version of Christianity. On the other side the Left Wing Permissive/dysfunctionally compassionate version of Christianity. Then we looked at the healthy version of Christiantity as seen in the person of Jesus:

1. John 11 - Jesus weeps over Lazarus and the loss of Mary and Martha's family. These are real tears as He is moved by compassion. Therefore God has real compassion over our pains and losses.
   
2. Mark 10:35 - Jesus is so approachable that James and John think that by merely asking Jesus they can get the highest rewards in all of eternity! The children find Jesus approachable and not scary like typical 'holiness' preachers. Even the despised Tax Collectors and prostitutes come to listen to Jesus an interact with Him. Therefore God is approachable ... if you really know what He is like. He is not angry and fault finding - just looking for something to accuse you of.
   
3. John 2 - Jesus drives out all the profiteering businessmen and the religous leaders who entrench their wicked system from the temple with physical violence and force. His anger and zeal result in worship of Jehova being re-established in the temple. Matthew 21:14 says that after this "The blind and the lame came to Him as the temple, and He healed them." Jesus's anger results in protection and healing! Therfore God's anger results in protection and healing.

When we dig through the Gospels we can contrast Jesus' healthy anger and fierceness with His healthy compassion and tenderness. Then we truly see why He is both:

The Lion and the Lamb! (Revelation 5:5)

And to pull another quote from John 1:17 we can see why Grace AND Truth came through Jesus Christ... not just one or the other. He is not one extreme or the other. He is both in perfect harmony!

Class #2 The Character of Jesus equals the Character of God!

This week we started out with the newspaper article from USA Today from Sept 12th, 2006 tittled: "View of God can reveal your values and politics." This article summarized an extensive Baylor University survey that asked people in depth questions about their view of God and came up with 4 categories:

1. The Authoritarian God "is angry at humanity's sins and engaged in every creature's life and world affairs. He is ready to throw the thunderbolt of judgment down on "the unfaithful or ungodly."
2. The Benevolent God "still sets absolute standards for mankind in the Bible... [but] a forgiving God, more like the father who embraces his repentant prodigal son."
3. The Critical God "has his judgmental eye on the world, but he's not going to intervene, either to punish or to comfort."
4. The Distant God "is no bearded old man in the sky raining down opinions on us... [but] a cosmic force that launched the world, then left it spinning on its own."

We talked about our personal views of God and how they were similar to one of these 4 groups, different or a combination of these four views. Then we reviewed the foundation verses of the class to give us a Biblical method to define God's character: John 14:9

• "If you have seen Me [Jesus], you have seen the Father [God]."

We looked at verse that gave us a picture of Jesus' tenderness or compassion. Then we contrasted this with a verse regarding Jesus' fierceness or anger. Lastly we looked at a verse that demonstrates Jesus' patience.

1. Jesus' tenderness or compassion: Mark 10:13-16

• "People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them.... And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them"

Jesus wasn't in a rush - He enjoyed blessing the children. He even 'takes them in His arms' and prays for them. He isn't annoyed by them. He isn't worrying about all the important business of training the disciples. He is focused on the children He brought into existence. Luke 18:15 says that "babies" were brought to him. If Jesus' has compassion on the children and enjoys them, that means God has compassion on the children and enjoys them!

2. Jesus' fierceness or anger: Luke 13:10-17

• "Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, 'There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.' The Lord answered him, 'You hypocrites!....' When He said this, all His opponents were humiliated."

Jesus heals this lady who had been bent over and crippled by a spirit for 18 years on a Sabbath (Saturday). The leader is indignant. Then Jesus is indignant and calls the leader a hypocrite in front of all the people and humiliates Him! Jesus' anger and indignation result in protecting the woman! Who knows what would have happened to her without Jesus standing up for her! If Jesus' anger results in protection then God's anger in the Old and New Testament results in protection.

3. Jesus' patience as the disciples argue over 'who is the greatest': Mark 10:35

There are 3 times that the disciples argue over who is the greatest. The first is right after the Mount of Transfiguration. Mark 9:33 indicates that the disciples fight or argue about who is the greatest the day after Peter, James and John see Jesus in His Kingly glory on the mountain.

Later in Mark 10:35 James and John try to get the seats at Jesus' right and left hand in His eternal kingdom. When the other 10 hear about this they are furious or indignant.

Lastly, right during or after the last supper, the disciple again wrestle and argue over who is the greatest. (Luke 22:24)

• Mark 10:35 "They replied, 'Let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.'... When the ten heard about this they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said... 'whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,...'

The disciples are struggling with gross envy and desire for recognition. Jesus isn't upset about this. He doesn't get angry. In fact, He doesn't criticize the desire to be great. Desiring to be great is not the issue, it is just important how you go about it. Jesus is patient and merely teaches the disciples pulling in a child to help with a word picture about how to serve one another. Jesus isn't moody or frustrated... therefore neither is God.

Class #1 Introduction to "The Character of God equals the Character of Jesus" June 17, 2007

In this first class we identified that the crucial issue among the nations of the earth is NOT, "Does God exist?" The crucial issue that our race deals with in our many nations is: "What exactly is God like?" A vast majority of the people of the earth believe in some sort of god. Atheists are in short supply when you are talking the total population of the earth.

To answer this question we turned directly to 5 verses to support the theology that Jesus was God who became a human. Neither Buddha, Ghandi nor Muhammad made this claim. The uniqueness of Jesus is stunning. In John 14:9 Jesus claims:

"If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father!"

Then we looked at 4 supporting verses:

• "When he looks at Me, he sees the one who sent me." John 12:45
• "In the past God spoke to our forefatherrs through the prophets... The Son is the ... exact representation of his being...." Hebrews 1:3
• "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form..." Colossians 2:9
• "He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God...." Colossians 1:15
  

Lastly we talked about identifying or remembering events from our own personal history with God where He "came through" and provided a job, or protected us from harm, or provided relationships/friendship, or money to pay the bills or any number of other active interventions on our behalf.

We talked about committing our Top 3 items to memory so that when the latest fear, depressive thought, or struggle occurs we could fall back on these events to strengthen our faith to press in and trust God! And, because we know God's character by looking at Jesus' character, we can intensely trust that He is good!

If you have seen Me you have seen the Father!

This Sunday school class is designed to significantly deepen your active faith in God by grappling with His physical earthly existence. How can you really trust God if you don't deeply know His character? In Jesus we have the clear undiluted revelation of God's invisible character. Are you curious how God relates to children? ... how He relates to women? ... to men, leaders and those who attacked Him? The foundation of our class is: "If you know Him, you can trust Him."

Isn't it strange that we become Christians and or we live as Christians and yet we study everything under the sun except Jesus Himself? We study evangelism, church growth, tithing, holiness, church planting, missions, leadership... and on the list goes. All of these are important and are aspects of Jesus' Kingdom on earth. But these things are not the center... they are not Him!

This is particularly shocking because Jesus said that He Himself was the visible expression and representation of the invisible Jewish God:

"If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father!" John 14:9

Jesus IS God made visible! How does God look at people? How does He act towards people? How does He act towards different people in different situations? Jesus reveals the Father ... His Character, His Personality, His will and even His emotions. Gandhi does not reveal the Father in a one to one correlation. Buddha was not the physical incarnation of the eternal God. Muhammad was not the unique Son of God! None of these died to bear the sins of our race to ultimately reveal the Father's desire for people who are totally estranged from Him!

We will contrast Jesus' tenderness on one end of the spectrum with His fierceness on the other end to know God more deeply. We will examine his patience and goodness as he relates to weak immature people. This may be thought of as the middle of the spectrum. We will look at Peter's relationship and interaction with Jesus to more fully understand the texture of Jesus' character and personality. We will review certain verses and passages that can be stumbling points to knowing Jesus' goodness. We will look at the 'picture' of God that we have in our hearts and see if it is built on scripture or something else like bad experiences in life. Lastly we will talk about journaling and remembering as a means to identify powerful events in our own walk with God where He actively came through! Often we neglect to remember times in the past that God came through. Since we fail to remember God's provision, we fail to use these events to bolster our faith in Him when we need it the most. Remembering God's good works in our past actively strengthens our faith in Him for the present!

The clearer our picture of God the more we will grow and the more healthy we will be. God's glory can be seen in His character and His ways. The more we see God's goodness, the more freely and fully we can worship Him and obey Him!

Calvary Adult Sunday School Syllabus

1.Introduction: “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” - Jesus (John 14:9)
2.The Character of Jesus is The Character of God
- Define the spectrum of His Character from His tenderness to His fierceness with His patience and goodness in the middle
- Build your mental and emotional picture of God from Jesus Character with Scripture
3.The Character of Jesus is The Character of God part 2
4.The Character of Jesus is The Character of God part 3
5.Remembering, Thanksgiving and Journaling: Agreeing with reality
-Israel in the Desert forgot God's interventions on their behalf
-Class: discover your own history with God
6.The Personality of Jesus (different than the Character of Jesus)
7.Learning to Fight the Good Fight of Faith
-Top 10 Character verses, Top 10 Active Provisions, Top 10 Encouragement verses, Top 10 Thanksgiving, Top 10 Words from God
-If He came through then, He will come through now.
-Faith in future Grace - John Piper
8.What Peter shows us about Jesus and God
9.Removing Stumbling Blocks to trusting God is really Good
10.Review / Summary

Calvary E-Free Bible Church
Boulder, Colorado
9:00 Am

Contact Info for Questions:
Chris Sarris
303-775-0023
ChrisSarris@hotmail.com