The Bible Q&A (Part 3)

Introduction:

After taking a break last week, we are back!

Like I mentioned earlier, this was originally going to be the last session, but because of how many great questions you have been asking, we have decided to extend it for one week.

Last time, we made it through the seventh question.

We answered a question about alcohol consumption, a question about whether or not Jesus can feel “hurt” from us, and one about Joseph

So, let’s pick up where we left off!

Question #8: How can I be a better sibling?

I am so happy and proud that someone had the humility to ask this question!

Let me start off by saying this: being a sibling is a blessing

I really enjoyed my time with my older brother growing up

It wasn’t perfect, of course, but it was mostly positive

I know this too, however: being a sibling is HARD

There are all sorts of different reasons for this

When you are an only child, and then suddenly, you have a sibling, that can be a difficult thing to experience, because suddenly, your parents have something other than you to focus on

Having a sibling is also just hard because, to be honest, sharing the roof with anybody is tough.

You get to see your siblings faults like no one else gets to see them

So a lot of times, there can be some conflict when it comes to siblings

So, biblically speaking, how do can we treat our siblings better?

1. Show them brotherly love

Romans 12:10 ESV

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

What is brotherly love?

Loving someone as if you are brothers (or siblings)

What does that tell you?

Sibling should love each other

In fact, siblings should love each other so much that it becomes the standard by which you measure other people that you love in your life.

But what else can we do to foster brotherly love with our siblings?

2. Forgive easily

Matthew 18:21–22 ESV

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

What does this passage tell us?

Peter isn’t necessarily talking about his biological brother here, but the principle is the same

We are called to forgive over and over and over and over

Being a sibling means that you will have to forgive your brother or sister over and over and over and over

That’s part of what it is all about

So I’d say, if you are in here, and you want to know how to be a better sibling, start embracing radical forgiveness

This doesn’t mean that you don’t have boundaries, and it doesn’t mean that you allow your sibling to step all over you or anything like that, but it does mean forgiving your brother because Jesus has forgiven us.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Jesus forgave first.

Now its our turn to forgive our siblings

… And to speak kindly to them

3. Watch what you say to them.

James 3:5–10 (ESV)

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

How can we apply this verse to the way we should treat our siblings?

It is easy to say mean stuff

This is especially true when it comes to our siblings

For a lot of us, the meanest stuff that we ever say… is to our siblings

That is sad

We should be encouraging our siblings by saying nice things to them.

An encouraging word to your sibling can go a long way, did you know that?

Look at this proverb:

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

How can we apply this verse to the way we should treat our siblings?

We need to be soft in the way that we answer our siblings

Also look at this Proverb:

Proverbs 16:24 ESV

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

How can we apply this verse to the way we should treat our siblings?

You have the opportunity to make a HUGE impact in the lives of your siblings by speaking graciously to them.

We should be saying graceful words, not hateful words

As a sibling, you have the power to encourage and discourage

Do the right thing; be encouraging to your sibling and make a difference in their lives

Before you speak out of frustration to your sibling, take a second to breathe

And think before you speak

Don’t be reactionary in your speech; don’t just say stuff without thinking about it

God has called us to be a people that thinks before we speak

This begins at home with your siblings

This is the perfect opportunity in life for you to get better at guarding your tongue

And overall, I believe that if you do these things, you are going to continue to grow to be the great sibling that God has called you to be.

Do you have any other questions/thoughts about this topic?

Question #9: Why did God the Father not come to earth Himself to die on the cross for our sins?

This is a a very, very interesting question

Well, let’s get the stuff that we already know out of the way first

Jesus died for our sins.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Also, Jesus is God.

John 1:1 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Furthermore, the Trinity is a reality: God in a unified essence expressing Himself in three persons

We only worship 1 God, but that God appears in 3 persons.

This stuff is mysterious; it is beyond our comprehension

No matter how I answer this, there will always be a degree of mystery to it.

But we’re gonna give it a shot

Before we answer the question at hand though, I think that we have to answer another question first.

The answers to this question will help us get to my answer for the main question.

What do we mean when we say that Jesus died on the cross?

1. God the Son (Jesus) physically died a human death.

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Jesus was put to death in the flesh

Jesus died in the same way that every human that has ever existed died; his heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing

But does that mean that, after Jesus died, for the next three days before raising again, did He cease to exist? This can’t be the case!

2. Jesus’ soul (or spirit) did not cease to exist.

During the three days that Jesus was dead, His divine nature continued to exist.

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Could this verse be true if Jesus ceased to exist for three days?

No; it could not be.

Jesus has always existed and has never ceased existing, nor will He ever cease to exist

No matter the time period, He remains the same.

And there is something else that we can learn from this:

3. Neither God the Father nor God the Holy Spirit died on the cross

The Trinity was not broken; not even for three days

These three points are helpful for a few different reasons.

First, it is important to remember that, when we are talking about Jesus’ death, we are not talking about Him ceasing to exist

Second, it is important to understand that the phrase “God the Father died for you on the cross” isn’t true

But to get back to the original question…

I have a pretty strong hunch about how this might be the case

But this can’t exactly be proven: this is just a hunch

There is still a lot of mystery to this; it is impossible to know for sure, but I think that my answer can shed some light on what might be going on.

Why didn’t God the Father come to earth Himself to die on the cross?

3. Jesus’ role as “the Word” makes Him the best candidate for the incarnation.

The trinity is something that is beyond human comprehension

But there are some things that we can know about it

One thing is that each person of the Trinity has different roles.

They are the same God in essence, but different persons with different roles.

God the Father, for example, is the One who sends the Son. (John 14:24)

Thus, the Son is sent by the Father

And likewise, the Holy Spirit is sent by both the Son and the Father, and bears witness to the Son by bringing to remembrance what He said.

Let’s focus a bit more on Jesus’ role as being sent by God the Father

Another way to say this is that Jesus is the “Word of God.”

This is something that John goes into great lengths to talk about in his Gospel account:

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.

Here, Jesus is described as the Word of God

Why is Jesus called “the Word?”

This is an intrinsic part of the second person of the Trinity

And here, the Greek word for word “logos” carries with it the idea of divine self-expression

This whole passage points to another point in Scripture

What other place in the Bible begins with the words “in the beginning..?”

Genesis.

So that’s the first clue that John is wanting us to think about Genesis

What is a second clue that points us to Genesis?

The second clue is when he starts to talk about Jesus’ involvement with creation .

And it might be easy to read the creation account back in Genesis without seeing anything about Jesus, but let’s take a look at it, shall we?

Genesis 1:3 ESV

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Here, we see a pattern: God speaks, and then what He says happens.

So, we see “the Word”

The Word of God is powerful; it accomplishes things

This goes right in line with something that we read in Isaiah:

Isaiah 55:11 ESV

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s Word is sent, and it accomplishes what He sent it to do

Jesus being identified as “the Word” is showing us that He is the person of the Trinity that functions as the divine self-expression of God through which things are accomplished.

Just like God speaks creation into existence in Genesis, God spoke by sending Jesus to the earth.

Jesus shows us who God is, just like God speaking creation into existence revealed that he was Creator (John 1:14).

As that part of the trinity, he had to be the one who would become a human and die a physical death for our sins.

Is this beyond our comprehension somewhat? Absolutely. But the reality of the different roles of each person of the trinity cannot be denied.

In my view, God the Son’s role as the Word insisted that He would be the one to come and die for us.

Do you have any other questions about this?

Question #10: How can we have Gospel conversations with people when they don’t believe they are sinful?

Another great question

This is an important one to answer, because it is quite often that people don’t see their sin correctly

So, when someone doesn’t believe that they are sinful, what do you even do? How do you even begin to have that conversation?

Here are some helpful pointers.

1. Define sin

It has to start here.

A lot of people have different ideas about what “sin” is

But what does the Bible say?

Sin: “Actions that violate the law or moral standard of God.”

Here’s a verse that talks about this:

1 John 3:4 ESV

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

What does this verse teach us about sin?

Sin equals breaking God’s law, or His moral standard

The Hebrew understanding of the word in the OT is “missing the mark.”

The word could be used to describe someone missing a target with a bow and arrow

In the same way, we “miss the mark” by doing actions that go against Gods plan for our lives.

And if you’re tempted to misinterpret the use of “actions” to exclude your thoughts, Jesus had something to say about that

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Yikes!

What do these verses show us?

So the mind and heart are at play here, too

It is possible to sin internally

Both sinning in your mind and sinning outwardly are missing the mark in God’s eyes

With this definition of sin, no one could rationally say that they are without sin

You see, when it comes to your friends who aren’t saved, your goal isn’t to observe their mistakes and talk about how bad they are

Rather than trying to convince them that what they are doing is sin, try to convince them that sin is a universal problem that humanity has of missing God’s mark.

And this leads us to our second point

2. Focus on the universal nature of sin

In other words, make your Gospel conversation less about “you do bad stuff, I’ve seen it!” and more about “we all are sinners, including myself

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The “all” includes you! It includes the person giving the Gospel presentation

Gospel presentations will never be successful if we are just pointing fingers; we MUST talk about the universal nature of sin, and how EVERYONE needs Jesus.

This is why we should never stand on the side of a street with signs that say “you’re going to hell!” or something like that

And this leads us to our third point:

3. Share your story

Talk about how Jesus saved you from your sin; make it PERSONAL

Paul did this a lot. On three separate accounts in Acts, he shares his testimony three times.

What does that tell us?

This is important for us to see, because it shows us how important sharing our own story is.

Our hope is that, through you sharing your own personal story of how Jesus saved you from your sin, their sin in their own life will be revealed and they will choose to respond to Christ in faith

This leads us to our last point.

4. Remember that it is only the work of God Himself that can save your friend.

It cannot be overstated how important it is to share the Gospel with our friends.

But we have to remember that, ultimately, we can’t save anybody.

We don’t have the supernatural power to transform someone’s heart

Only God can do that

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

What do you see in this verse?

Only God can turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh

Your job is simply to be faithful to share, and to continue to meet needs in the lives of these friends and to build relationships with them.

We plant the seed, and God waters it.

You ultimately can’t convince your friend that he or she is a sinner; only God can do that

But you can point towards the truth of sin by describing what biblical, universal sin is like, and by sharing your personal testimony.

Who knows what God will do through you?

Conclusion

Here we are, at the end of another session.

Two of the three questions tonight had to do with obedience: how can we learn to be a better sibling? How can we be more effective in the way that we share the Gospel with our friends?

This is something that is worth striving towards

How can I grow in my walk with God?

I pray that that’s a conversation that you will have with God right now and throughout the week “how can I grow in my walk with God?”

Ask yourself, “what is my next step?”

“What other questions do I need to ask?”

“What routines and rhythms do I need to practice in my life?”

“How can I stop sinning in this specific way?”

Whatever your next step is, take it!

And I would love to help you take your next step

and so would the other leaders

We’re here to help

If you’d like to chat about what your next step might be after service, feel free to do so

Helping students find their next step is one of the primary reasons that this ministry exists

So let’s do that together!

PRAY