Q1, S02 John the Baptist

Quarter 1, Session 2: John the Baptist

DO YOU NEED A CLEAN START?

Passage

Luke 3:1–18

Concept

This session falls under Jesus’ first question: Do you need me? Before we are ready to come face to face with Jesus, we need to prepare. John the Baptist said that every dead tree would be chopped down, so he urged his listeners to repent, to be ready. To rightly hear Jesus’ message and choose to follow him, we need to first take stock of what’s in our hearts and lives: are we living, fruit-bearing trees? Or are we dead?

Key Question

As you think back over your life, has there been any point where you could say you had to start over? Explain. Is there any sense or any areas in which Jesus is calling you to start over now?

The Leveling Tool

Do you see our Leveling tool being played out in Luke 3? With whom? How so?

JOHN THE BAPTIST

Imagine walking into your doctor’s office for a checkup after experiencing some fairly benign yet unsettling symptoms. After a few tests, your doctor delivers some sobering news: your symptoms are the result of an aggressive cancer that is spreading in your body. Your heart sinks before the doctor explains that there is a treatment for this type of cancer, but you’ll have to start treatment immediately. If you don’t do something right away, you will die.

It’s possible that you don’t need to use your imagination at all to understand how you’d feel in this situation. But even if this hasn’t happened to you, you can imagine the urgency you would feel. It’s a fear that many of us share. Situations like this reveal a desperate need that was already real, though you are only now becoming aware of it. It’s the kind of need that we know must be addressed immediately.

We begin our journey with Jesus by acknowledging a similar need; the kind of thing we may never have acknowledged, but that has always been real nonetheless.

In the Gospels, Jesus’ arrival is preceded by a prophetic messenger: John the Baptist. Start by reading this account in Luke 3:1–18. Read it slowly. If this is a familiar passage to you, refuse to move on from a sentence until the words strike you. Try to place yourself in the setting that Luke describes. After you’ve spent some time soaking in the passage, continue working through this session.

1.     Read Luke 3:1–18. Right off the bat, what strikes you about this passage? What do you find interesting or challenging or confusing?

Getting Ready to See

Before Jesus started his ministry, God first sent John the Baptist as a prophet to prepare the way. We are starting here because if we’re going to truly see Jesus this year, we have to prepare ourselves to see. If we’re not ready, we’re likely to misunderstand what Jesus is doing. If we’re not looking, we may miss Jesus completely. We all have a tendency to recast Jesus in our own image, to see Jesus in a way that fits our interests, dreams, and current pursuits. But it’s vital that we see Jesus as he truly is. Take a moment to evaluate your heart as we begin:

2.     Can you think of any common misconceptions about Jesus? Are there any ways in which you might be prone to misunderstand Jesus? (E.g., many Westerners tend to see Jesus as a comfortable, middle class, self-help guru.)

The Great Leveling

John calls the crowds who come out to see him to make the path of the Lord straight. Quoting Isaiah 40, John describes this in terms of raising the valleys and lowering the hills. Filling the valleys and flattening the hills means that God is bringing a great leveling. Those who are high  will be brought low. Those who are low will be lifted up. It doesn’t matter what your starting place is, the Kingdom of God is open to everyone, but it first brings us through the leveling process of the Gospel.

If we are truly preparing to be with Jesus, we need to open ourselves up to this leveling. Is there any pride in your heart? If so, you need to humble yourself so that you are ready to be with him, to be shaped by his character and to follow his direction. Alternatively, if you are in a place where you have been brought low, you need to believe that God is all you truly need to be lifted up.

Baptism

The great sign of preparation for the coming of the Messiah is baptism. Baptism is a symbol of death (going below the surface) and resurrection (emerging in new life). This symbol should actually be jarring to us, because it’s a call for us to lay down our own lives. We don’t prepare by doing an inventory of our accomplishments. Preparation means turning our hearts toward God. It means repenting by letting go of everything that has kept us back from God. It’s one thing to be part of a church, to consider yourself a Christian. It’s another thing to truly repent and come to Jesus without any pride, without any expectation of being honored, but rather to come humbly with a heart that simply longs to be with Jesus.

Dead Trees

John describes this preparatory death in terms of dead trees being chopped down. If we’re going to prepare ourselves, we need to ask what is spiritually dead in our lives and what we need to turn from. Through repentance, we align ourselves with the Messiah. We take stock of what we have been pursuing, and we choose to pursue Jesus and his purposes instead. Painful as it is to imagine yourself as a dead tree being cut down to be replaced by a new sapling, this is the kind of transformation the Gospels describe, and it is the path to life. Truly examine your heart:

3.     Do you need a new start in your life in this season? What needs to be cut out as you prepare to be with Jesus? It’s hard to be honest and vulnerable with a question like this, but removing what is dead is an essential step in preparing. What needs to go?

Preparation isn’t about getting your life together before you encounter Jesus. It’s simply about seeking him. All you need to do is turn to him, prepare your heart, and ask him to transform you. This is what John called the nation of Israel to do through baptism. (Remember that Luke portrays Jesus as reconstituting the nation of Israel—they need to do some business before they are ready to be the New Israel.) And the call remains for us today. Answer the following questions as you wrap up this session:

4.     As you begin this journey with Jesus, is there anything that’s off limits? Is there anything you’re tempted to hold back? What would it take for you to truly lay everything before the Lord as you walk with him?

5.     Have you been baptized? What keeps you from this? What good reasons can you think of for being baptized? (If you have already been baptized, what convinced you to do it?)

6.     Spend some time in prayer. Ask God to prepare your heart to take this journey with him. Acknowledge any deadness in your life, any apathy that would keep you from truly engaging with Jesus. Pray that he would make himself real to you as you begin this study.

Key Question

As you think back over your life, has there been any point where you could say you had to start over? Explain. Is there any sense or any areas in which Jesus is calling you to start over now?