With Him or Without Him

In one paragraph

On the second Sunday of Advent, Pastor Ray preached from John 5:16-30, asking the congregation to consider who Jesus actually claimed to be rather than arguing over church traditions. The sermon was part of an ongoing series through the gospel of John, with Boy Scout Troop 67 and Cub Scout Packs also present for the service. Communion followed the message. Pastor Ray picked up where the series...

Read together

1. Isaiah 55:8 Pastor's wife reading by the Christmas tree: 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways'
2. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 Read during the advent candle lighting: 'now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way'
3. John 5:16-30 The main passage for the sermon, covering Jesus's claims about himself and his relationship to the Father
4. John 5:18 Used to show the religious leaders understood Jesus was claiming equality with God
5. John 5:19 Jesus saying the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do
6. John 5:21 As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to whom he will
7. John 5:22 The Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son
8. John 5:26 As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray mentioned that his family celebrated Christmas without Jesus for the first seven years of their marriage. How has your own understanding of what Christmas is actually about changed over time, and what shaped that change?
2. The religious leaders were so committed to their traditions that they wanted to kill Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. Where have you seen traditions, whether in church or in your own life, get in the way of what God is actually doing?
3. Jesus said 'my Father' rather than 'our Father,' claiming a unique relationship with God. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is fully God and not simply a good teacher or moral example?
4. Pastor Ray described Jesus as our judge but argued that is actually a comfort rather than a threat, because Jesus took the weight of sin upon himself. Does thinking of Jesus as your judge feel like a comfort or a threat to you, and why?
5. The passage in John 5 says that whoever hears Jesus's word and believes in the one who sent him has already passed from death into life. What does it look like practically, in your day-to-day life, to actually hear and believe rather than just know about Jesus?