Vintage Grace's Podcast

David and Michael walk through John 2:12-25 to help you lead meaningful discussions about the text.

Questions from the Conversation:

• Why was Jesus mad about the individuals selling goods and exchanging money in the Temple?
• How does John connect Jesus’s actions to Old Testament Prophecy? Why is that an important aspect of Jesus’s character?
• How does Jesus’s cleansing of the temple foreshadow the way he will cleanse us?
• What’s the significance of Jesus’s comment about tearing down the temple and raising it back up?

Big Idea:

Jesus purifies our access to God. → both the things we put between us and God AND the things innately within us between us and God.

Application:

What is something in your life that has been getting in the way of time with Jesus? How can we help keep each other accountable as a group to seek the unhindered presence of God in our lives?

David and Michael walk through John 2:1-11 to help you lead meaningful discussions about the text.

Questions from the Conversation

Narrative Questions:

In narrative, we’re always asking these 3 simple questions to get to the big idea.

• What happened? (summary & key points)
• Why here? (how it fits in John’s Gospel)
• What does the author want us to know/feel/do? 

Supplemental Questions:

• What did Jesus mean when he said, “My hour has not yet come”?
• What is significant about the wedding metaphor?
• In what way does this sign glorify Jesus? What are we supposed to know about Jesus as a result of this sign?

Big Idea:

Jesus is all we need → Links to messianic provision of wine and implication of the sign. 

Application:

• How do we know if we’re living in a way that we really believe Jesus is all we need? (Desperate/Dependent)
• When was a time in the last month that you were desperate and dependent on Jesus?
• What would it look like to be desperate and dependent on Jesus every day? What rhythms do you need in your life to consistently return to a posture of desperate dependence?

David and Michael walk through John 1:35-51 to help you lead meaningful discussions about the text.

Questions from the Conversation:

1. Summarize the narrative in your own words. (Try breaking it up into Day 1 and Day 2 v35-42 & v 43-51)
2. What words, phrases, or ideas are repeated? How do they point to a main idea?
3. What titles are used for Jesus in this text? What do they tell us about the identity of Jesus?
4. How did Jesus invite people to follow him? How does he do that today?
5. How does this story reinforce the point John is trying to make in this gospel?
6. Invite your group to reflect, when were you first invited to come and see Jesus? 
7. How can you invite others to come & see Jesus?
8. Who is one person this week you can invite to come and see? Pray together for the named individuals.

John 1:19-34(ESV)

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight[a] the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son[b] of God.”

Questions For Discussion & Reflection:

·     How does the background help you understand John 1:19-34?

·     Where else in the Gospels are we told about John the Baptist? What does it tell us about him?

·     How does John the Baptist continually point to Christ as the main focus of the narrative?

·     Application:

o  How do we find our identity when Christ is the center and focus of our lives?

o  What does it look like to actually live and walk by the Spirit throughout your week?

    Key Themes:

·     Pay attention to the background! The background often reveals to us why certain things are said, and often why certain things are not said.

·     There is curiosity and also confusion about John the Baptist. This has primarily to do with the way God revealed Himself in the Old Testament. Throughout all the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets.

Prophet, Priest & King:

·     John answers this question by explaining that he is not the Messiah—not the promised deliverer & King. 

·     He is not Elijah, which is a reference to Malachi 4:5, where there was an expectation that Elijah would come as a priest before the day of the Lord.

·     John the Baptist is not these things (interesting he reveals his identity by what he is not). Rather he is “preparing the way of the Lord.” Which is a reference to Isaiah 40:1-5.

John’s Baptism:

·     Baptism wasn’t a new thing. There were other baptisms that occurred, all around special cleansing ceremonies.

Behold The Lamb of God:

·     Jesus comes into the narrative for the first time and we get another picture of John and Christ’s relationship. “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.”

·     John the Evangelist, is showing us how John the Baptist is pointing to Christ. Again John the Baptist is pointing to Christ. Its not about him, its about Jesus!

John 1:19-34(ESV)

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight[a] the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son[b] of God.”

David and Michael walk through John 1:6-18 to help you lead meaningful discussions about the text.

John 1:6-18 (ESV)

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Questions from the Conversation:

1. Who was John the Baptist based on this text? What do you notice about John the Baptist’s job description in this text?
2. What words are repeated in 9-13, what do they tell us about the main idea of the passage?
3. What are the two ways the light was received?
4. What are the attributes of Jesus in verse 14? How can verse 14 serve as a summary of the whole passage (6-18)? 
5. How do grace and truth work together in this text?
6. How did Jesus make the father known?
7. BIG IDEA QUESTION: What does John want us to know about Jesus in this text?
8. How does recognizing Jesus is full of grace and truth demand a reorientation of our lives?
9. What does it look like to live a life characterized by grace and truth?
10. How do we speak the truth without shaming, and show grace without pleasing?

Chiastic Structure Example:
Here’s a great example of chiastic structure and a fun look at a modern take on it...
https://medium.com/@eabiusi/kanye-west-and-the-adaptation-of-ancient-hebrew-poetic-form-d8319b661ef

Book References:
How to Read the Bible for All its Worth - Fee & Stuart
How People Grow - Cloud & Townsend

David and Michael walk through John 1:1-5 to help you lead meaningful discussions about the text.

John 1:1-5 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Questions from the Conversation:

1. What do you think John is referencing in verse 1? How does that contribute to what John is trying to prove in his gospel? (See John 20:31 for author’s intent)
2. What is John saying about Jesus when he refers to Him as light and life?
3. Overall, what is John saying to his audience about who Jesus is? keep in mind John 20:31
4. What does it mean to you that Jesus is the creator, the Word, life, light?
5. If Jesus came to give us life to the full, (John 10:10) what is the “good” life Jesus wants us to live?
6. How is the “good” life Jesus came to give us different than the “good” life the world says we should have?
7. In what ways have you missed out on the “good” life Jesus wants for you?
8. Who is one person on your pray watch list you are praying will get the “good” life in Jesus? Pray for them as a group.

View Trinity Chart here:
vintagegrace.org/textlabblog/s01e01