Easter Equipping: GOOD NEWS
WEEK 1: APRIL 7-11
April 7: Read Matthew 21:1-11
- What’s something new you learned while reading these verses?
April 8: Read Mark 11:1-11
- How does Mark’s account differ from Matthew’s account?
April 9: Read Luke 19:29-44
- How does Luke’s account differ from Matthew and Mark’s accounts?
April 10: Read “Palm Sunday and Why the ‘Date’ is So Significant”
April 11: Read John 12:12-19
- How does John’s account differ from Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s accounts?
WEEK 2: APRIL 14-18
April 14: Read these sections from the article below: “Redemption: Definition, Summary, and Old Testament Background”
April 15: Read Matthew 20:28, Romans 3:22-25, Ephesians 1:7-8, and Hebrews 9:12-15
- How would you define redemption based off of these verses?
April 16: Read this section from the article below: “Four Significant New Testament Passages”
April 17: Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-58
- How would you define redemption based off of these verses?
April 18: Read “Good News vs Good Advice” (below) and then answer the following questions
- What are some ways that you personally struggle to treat the gospel like “military advice” rather than “good news”? How does that affect your relationship with God? Your prayer life? Your obedience?
- How can you tell if your motivation to obey God comes from joy and gratitude rather than fear and guilt? What are some signs in your own life when you are driven more by fear than joy?
- If the gospel is truly “good news” that the victory is won, what would change in the way you face challenges, temptation, or failure? How might knowing the battle is already won give you freedom and confidence in daily life?
GOOD NEWS vs. GOOD ADVICE
By Timothy Keller
Imagine that there is a king, and he goes into a battle against an invading army to defend his land. If the king defeats the invading army, he sends back to the capital city messengers, envoys, very happy envoys. He sends back “good newsers”.
And what they come back with is a report. They come back and they say: “It’s been defeated and it’s been all done, therefore respond with joy and now go about your lives in this peace which has been achieved for you!”
But if he doesn’t defeat the invading army, and the invading army breaks through, the king sends back military advisers and says . . . “Marksmen over here and the horseman over there, and we will have to fight for our lives.”
Every other religion sends “military advisers” to people. Every other religion says that if you want to achieve salvation, you will have to fight for your life. Every other religion is sending advice saying “here are the rites, here are the rituals, here’s the transformation of the consciousness and here are the laws and the regulations: ‘Marksmen over here and horsemen over there and we are going to fight for our lives.'”
We send heralds; we send messengers and not military advisers.
Both the messenger and the military adviser get an enormous response. One is a response of joy and the other one is a response of fear. All other religions give advice and they drive everything you do with fear. As you know, when you hear the gospel, when you hear the message that it’s all been done for you, it’s a historical event that has happened, your salvation is accomplished for you, what do you want to do? You want to obey the Ten Commandments, you want to pray, and you want to please the one that did this for you.
If, on the other hand, “military advisers” say you have to live a really good life if you want to get into heaven, what do you do? You want to pray and you want to obey the Ten Commandments. It looks the same, but for two radically different reasons: One is joy and the other one is fear. One is news, and one is advice. In the short run, they look alike. But in the long run, over here we have burn out and self-righteousness and guilt and all sorts of problems.
