Unit 1: 

SEE THE BIG PICTURE BETTER

God makes the big picture make sense. 

Big Picture.png

Seeing & Giving the Big Picture

Video describing Luther’s time vs. Ours. The need for a world view. Define “tearing Christian liberty to shreds.”

“The deplorable, miserable conditions which I recently observed when visiting the parishes have constrained and pressed me to put this catechism of Christian doctrine into this brief, plain, and simple form. How pitiable, so help me God, were the things I saw: the common man, especially in the villages, knows practically nothing of Christian doctrine, and many of the pastors are almost entirely incompetent and unable to teach. Yet all the people are supposed to be Christians, have been baptized, and receive the Holy Sacrament even though they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments and live like poor animals of the barnyard and pigpen. What these people have mastered, however, is the fine art of tearing all Christian liberty to shreds.”

Martin Luther | Preface to the Small Catechism 

God sees it best

There’s some Bible reading required here: read (or at least attentively skim) Job 40 & 41. You can find it here. It’s an interaction between God and Job, and in it God kind of puts Job in his place. (It will be helpful for you if you can put yourself in Job’s place as you read this…)

  1. What does God talk about to illustrate that he is bigger than Job?

  2. What overall point does God make to Job in these chapters?

  3. How does this point serve as a serious warning and a helpful guide for you?

Here’s something true: Seeing the big picture better and seeing God better are the same thing. There’s no difference. You can’t do one without the other. The more you can truly see, the more honestly you can assess and accept, and the more there is about which you can admit you didn’t once know, the closer you’re getting to God. This is a good pursuit, too. It’s what you were created to do. God wants you to seek him, and promises that when you do, you will find him.

At the end of the day, that’s what this course is for. See Life Better means something new now that Jesus has said, “I am the life.”

Homework

Martin Luther was a German monk who worked hard to reform the church of God when it had strayed from the truth in the 1500s. He wrote a book called the Small Catechism as a guide for people on things they ought to know about God. Take the time to read it – not so much to be able to understand everything in it right away, but to get a glimpse at the breadth and depth of what God has in store.

Unit 1, Lesson 1

SEE LIFE BETTER

God makes life make sense.

 




God is practical to life because, without him, it is chaos.

 

Questions for Discussion

1.     When did human life first exist?






2.     When will life cease to exist?

 






3.     Why does life exist? This is a tough one. Give it a shot.

 

 

 

4.     Read Job 25. If God ceased to exist, right now, what do you think would happen?

 





5.     How does God keep the universe together each day? What tools does he use?

 






6.     How are you, specifically, one of the tools God uses to hold the universe together each day?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homework

7.     Write a prayer, thanking God for keeping us from chaos and for making life make sense. Try to use 2-3 specific examples of how your life wouldn’t make sense if God weren’t a part of it.














In the other lessons of this unit, we’ll be using the ideas expressed in:

    1. The 2nd Article of the Apostles Creed

    2. The section on Communion

    3. The 1st Commandment

    4. The Conclusion to the 10 Commandments

    5. The Doxology of the Lord’s Prayer


Please read these sections with their meanings once a day until the next class.

 

 

U1L2: SEE SALVATION BETTER

God makes salvation make sense.

 




 

Salvation is practical to life because,
without it, we can’t do what we were meant to do.

 

1.     Review from Lesson 1: What is the purpose of life?

 

2.     If God created life (at the beginning, before sin) with that purpose, why did we need to be saved?






3.     What does the word “salvation” mean to you?






Review the 2nd Article & meaning.

4.     The meaning portion of the 2nd article defines “salvation.” What things are included within salvation? (What do we do now that we are saved?)






5.     According to the 2nd Article, what happened so that we could be redeemed?






6.     What parts of Christ’s work were his “humiliation?”






7.     What parts were his “exaltation?”






8.     Why does the difference between “humiliation” and “exaltation” matter?

 

 

Exercise: Communion’s Purpose and Results

 

  1. Read Matthew 26:24-30. What do you think are the most important words from this section?






Review the “Sacrament of Holy Communion” in the Small Catechism.

  1. How many parts are there?






  1. What are the parts?






  1. What do we learn from the words “given and poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins?”






  1. How is communion a great reminder of our salvation?








  1. What blessings (name as many as you can) come from receiving Communion?








  1. What do you think was Jesus’ primary, #1, ultimate purpose in establishing Communion?






  1. Who can receive Communion? Why?






  1. Who can give Communion? Why?






  1. Where can Communion be celebrated? Why?

 

 

U1L3: SEE PRIORITIES BETTER

God makes priorities make sense.

 




 

Prioritizing is practical to life because,
without it, we don’t know how to do what we were meant to do.

 

  1. Review from lesson 1: What is the purpose of life?





  2. Review from lesson 2: What is purpose of salvation?





  3. Read the Conclusion to the 10 Commandments + its meaning. What words or phrases answer the question: What do we do now that we are saved?






  4. When did God give the 10 Commandments? What sort of “salvation” had just taken place?





  5. After saving Abraham’s descendants, how did God help them prioritize? What did he put first?





  6. Define “all your heart, soul, and mind.”





  7. What is the difference between heart and soul?





  8. What is the difference between soul and mind?





  9. What is the difference between mind and heart?





  10. Consider the analogy of the filling the jar. Which commandment would be the biggest rock? Can you think of three reasons why?

Exercise: The Doxology

 

  1. Take a look at Matthew 6:9-13. Jesus is teaching “The Lord’s Prayer” for the first time.
    What is missing from Jesus’ version (compared to the one we say?)

 

 

 

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins.

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory

are yours now and forever. Amen.

 

 

 

  1. Using a concordance, justify the doxology of the Lord’s Prayer.