Session 1 (Together)

Intro

Welcome to session one of our series called together. We are going to look at the church and what it means for the church to be together as God’s people. This issue is important because if we do not properly understand how the church should function it will be hard to carry out God’s mission through the church. Today we will look at the nation of Isreal as the beginning of God’s concept for His people, how we become part of the church, and we will look at faith.

Teaching Point 1: The foundations of the Church began when God called Israel to be His People.

Turn to Deuteronomy 28. As they’re finding it, provide some context for the passage using the following

bullet points:

o Deuteronomy serves as the final chapter of Moses’ biography.

o Moses spends a lot of the book remembering Israel’s mistakes that caused them to have to wander in the

wilderness for 40 years and not enter into the Promised Land immediately after they escaped slavery in Egypt.

o In this section, Moses is reminding the people of the blessings that will be theirs if they obey God.

• Read Deuteronomy 28:1-9 in its entirety.

Deuteronomy 28:1–9 NKJV

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.

Thank you for reading the passage. Now let’s look at what this passage is talking about. Moses is talking to Isreal here and reassuring them of the blessing that God has for them, but What is Isreal? It is country and a people in the Old Testament, but why are they Special?

o Israel is God’s chosen people. God had promised Abraham and Sarah they would have offspring as

many as the stars in the sky. Abraham and Sarah had Isaac. Isaac had Jacob and Esau. Jacob had 12 sons, one of

whom was Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt by his brothers but ended up becoming one of

Pharaoh’s most trusted advisors. Joseph’s family moved to Egypt, and for 400 years, the Israelites grew in

number, even as they were enslaved by the Egyptians. God rescued His people from slavery and led them to the

Promised Land, but not without them wandering in the desert for two generations because of their

unfaithfulness to God. In this passage, Moses is reminding the Israelites of the special relationship they have

with God.

o Look at what Moses says in verses 1-2. He helps the Israelites understand that keeping their covenant with God

will lead them to a harmonious relationship with God. Of course, we know that as human beings, just like us,

the Israelites were incapable of perfectly obeying God. But God still wanted to make the expectation clear to

them that there were major benefits to being His chosen people with whom He had formed a covenant. Verses

3-8 highlight some of these blessings.

Remember what I said about Deuteronomy 28: 1-9 and how Moses spent much of the time talking about the Israelites had been unfaithful. Well in this short a history of Isreal we can see the many times the Israelites it is clear that they are often unfaithful to God. Why do you think that God continued to deliver them? Because God chose them and because he loved them. God all throughout the Bible has given people chances this continues all the way today. God gives us a chance to be forgiven of sin and brought into a relationship with him through Christ.

o The Israelites were God’s people, set apart for His purposes. Israel had a unique

relationship with God in the Old Testament. They were alone among all people groups as having this close,

personal, covenant with God. Through calling Israel as a nation unto Himself, God was laying the foundation for

growing His family. What God knew is that thousands of years in the future, He would send His Son Jesus

through the Jewish people as the Savior for all humankind. Through faith in Christ, God’s people would grow

from being just Israel to anyone who would believe in Christ. But it all started with God calling a people to

Himself.

Why were the Israelites set apart from the other nations? Let’s look back at our passage (Deuteronomy 28:1-9). God promises the Israelites all of these blessings if they obey the voice and commands of God. What made the Israelites a special nation is that God chose them to be holy In fact that’s what Holy means to be “set apart. “ The nation of Israel is called to be different from the world in the same way the church should also be different from the world.

Teaching Point 2: God’s plan all along was to make a way for all people to have the

possibility of becoming part of the Church.

Have students turn to Galatians 3. Explain that this is the Apostle Paul writing a letter to the Christ-followers scattered

throughout the region of Galatia.

o This passage was written thousands of years after the passage from Deuteronomy you just looked at.

o In this passage we see Paul talk about what it means to be God’s people now.

It is important to consider first the context of these verses. Paul is writing to the scattered Galatian believers to tech them regarding certain errors that they are encountering. Galatians in one of Paul’s early letters. Paul’s ministry in the New Testament was not actually mainly writing letters. What Paul did the most of is planting churches. After Paul planted these churches he would either write the them or visit them to encourage them and help them with problems. In this particular case the Galatians had problems with false teachings. Paul was writing to the Galatian believers to warn them about false teachings. The Galatian church was having a problem with Judaizers. Judaizers where people who taught that Christians needed to conform to the traditions, rules, and customs of the Jews.

• Then, read Galatians 3:26-29 . When you’ve finished, say:

Galatians 3:26–29 NKJV

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

What do these verses that Paul is writing mean?

What do you think Paul is trying to say through these verses? Paul is trying to tell the Galatian believers that it is not the rules that make you righteous and part of the church but faith that makes you righteous. Righteousness is being right before God and God seeing no sin in someone’s life. There are two key phrases that help us understand this passage.

Two key phrases help us understand what Paul is saying.

Abraham’s Seed- We see that Paul calls believers Abrahams seed, but what does that mean. It means we are considered Abrahams spiritual decedents . What was Abrahams defining characteristic according to God. Does anyone know? Faith. Abraham was considered righteous because of his faith. Paul tells us about Abraham’s faith in a different book turn with me to Romans 4:3 (pause to allow people to turn there) “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”” Abraham was given righteousness for his faith, but in this chapter Paul does not only talk about Abraham he talks about believers too in Romans 4:11–12 “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.” In this passage circumcised meant you were a Jew and uncircumcised meant you were not a Jew. Circumcision was a sign of obedience that God commanded the Jews to do. What Paul is saying is that Abraham was not only the father of Jews but of also Gentiles. Abraham through his faith became the father of all those who believe. We are in the spiritual family of Abraham if we have faith.

According to the promise- God had made a promise to Abraham long ago in the Old Testament telling him that were would be a blessing to many nations because of him. That blessing is Christ and we as Christians are blessed through that promise. The promise was given to Abraham but the whole world benefits through this promise.

In this verse Paul is saying that it doesn’t matter about your race or beliefs but it matters abut your faith. Faith is what defines the church. The church is made up of those who believe in Jesus. It doesn’t matter about ethnicity or gender. The question is do you have faith? Later on in the next sessions we will look at what faith looks like.

o Verse 28 helps us understand the progression from God’s children being exclusively the Jews to God’s people

being extended to all who come to faith in Jesus. Here Paul is saying that admission into God’s family by faith in

Jesus trumps any claim to nationality, race, or gender. All who come to faith in Jesus are welcomed into by God.

And Paul makes an awesome statement in verse 29. He says that even non-Jews who come to faith in Christ can

trace their spiritual heritage back to Abraham. When God called the Israelites to Himself through Abraham, He

always had a day in mind where His family would include countless other people groups. Jesus makes this

possible.

o Let’s go back to the passage for another concept. Look at verses 26-27 at what Paul says about our identity as Christ-followers. Paul says that when we profess faith in Jesus as Savior, we are welcomed as children (Paul uses the word “sons”) into God’s family. Our identities fundamentally change. We become God’s people. This is what Paul means when he says we have been “clothed with Christ.” It’s an identity shift. We are new people with a new look. When we come to saving faith

in Jesus, we are God’s people.

Teaching Point 3: When we come to faith in Jesus, God welcomes us into the Church.

• Explain that you’re going to look at one more passage that will define what it means to be the Church and to be called

“Together.”

• Turn to Ephesians 2:19-22 . When you have finished say:

Ephesians 2:19–22 NKJV

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

o Paul ties a bow on what we’ve been talking about up to this point. Paul once again describes our place as God’s

people, this time bringing in the concept of citizens as well family members. Verse 20 paints the picture of the

historical nature of this family: it’s built on the foundation of the great people of faith who have gone before us

and is held together by Jesus Himself. The picture Paul is painting here, especially in verse 21, is of a building

where the “bricks,” if you will, are made up of all of God’s children, past, present, and future. We can think of

this “building” as the Church.

• All people who have been saved by Christ can partake in the building of the church and the family of God. The important thing is that everything that we do is built on Christ. First, our salvation is in Christ but also the work that we do is Christ’s work.

What is Christ’s work? Christ’s work is the see many people believe in his death burial and resurrection. The death burial and resurrection show Christ’s deity and give Him the power to forgive sins.

How does Christ accomplish his work? The work of Christ is accomplished through the church which means it is accomplished through you. All throughout the new Testament the gospel was spread by people who worked in the church. Paul was a missionary from the church of Antioch. James was an elder in the church of Israel. These people planted more churches and these churches collectively did the work of discipleship.

What is discipleship? Discipleship is when Christians teach other Christians more about the truth of the Bible and show them ways to live for Christ. This is done in many ways through the church through pastors, teachers, deacons, and other believers. Jesus commanded the disciples to make disciples of all nations. The church also is to take care of the needy as well as make disciples. Taking care of the needy takes different people with different gifts. It takes lots of different types of people to run the church. Which is where all of you can find a place serving Christ’s mission through the Church.

o The powerful truth is that salvation in Christ does more than save us from our sins. It welcomes us into a new

life, one that is lived out as a part of vast body of believers we call the Church. And it is a welcoming group! As

we’re going to learn over the next few sessions, God’s plan to call you together as a group of Christ-followers is

a sign of His love and care for you. He has provided you with an amazing body to be a part of. We’re going to

explore what that looks like, but for now, it’s enough to know that saving faith in Jesus ushers you into an

awesome and unique relationship with other Christ-followers.

Closing

We have just seen the beginning of what it means to be together. We have seen the roots of the Church, what it takes to be in the church, and some of what the church is for. We look more at what it looks like to be in the church in future sections. I am excited to start this theme of together with you guys so we can better understand our roles in the church. I hope you guys will go into these sessions with an open mind seeking to learn what God is trying to teach us from His word.