Active Learning Bible Studies
Christmas:
Jesus, Humble
These weekly active learning studies aim for growth in leaders and learners alike. Each onscreen study has a link beneath it to a printable version, leaving these flexible for in-person studies, groups studying remotely, or people studying solo.
Try It!
Advent is a season to learn from the Bible's prophecies about the Messiah and his work.
Two thousand years ago, that savior arrived in this world: Jesus of Nazareth.
This Advent, let's study some roles that the Father appointed him to.
Advent 1
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Scripture reveals that Jesus is our substitute.
Read the astounding prophecy found in Isaiah 52:13–53:12.
What is the text's main point? Ensure it is clearly understood!
Like Isaiah, this text unveils the beauty and power of Christ's substitution.
Turn also to
Compare Isaiah 53:11 with 2 Corinthians 5:21: Christ gives us his death (to pay our sins' debt) and his ________________!
Which verse in the Corinthians passage explains that Christ's substitution itself completely transforms those who believe in God's salvation through Christ's substitution?
Help your study group engage with the text by discovering these important truths through active learning.
What questions could you ask to guide this process?
Remember to form your questions so they direct learners to discover what is important, interesting, powerful, etc.
Shaping purposeful questions takes practice. One approach is recreating your own thought process when you read the text, breaking down that process into steps.
Try it! Recall something that thrilled, intrigued, puzzled, or impressed you in one of these texts. Explore it in Scripture.
Guide fellow participants through your discovery process with a few questions; try answering their questions. Learn from each other.
Try It!
"As in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.... For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders."
―Isaiah 9:4,6a
Advent 2
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Scripture proclaims that Jesus is our warrior.
"The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work."
(1Jn 3:8b)
Scripture names our oppressor: Satan, the devil. Find some Bible passages teaching these truths:
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Satan spreads the lie that sin is good.
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Sin enslaves all who practice it.
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Satan murders people through the death sentence God's holy law imposes on wrongdoers.
Scripture also foretells Christ's victory over Satan and sin.
Read Exodus 15:2... and it quoted about the Christ in Isaiah 12:1–3. (Go back to chapter 11 to see what "in that day" refers to.)
Notice that God overthrowing outward Israel's enslaving oppressor ________ is a typological prophecy foreshadowing God overthrowing spiritual Israel's enslaving oppressor, ________!
Isaiah isn't the only prophet to announce that Jesus would triumph.
Choose one of the three pairs of texts below; study it. Compose good questions teaching what that text pair emphasizes about Christ fighting for us. Share with each other.
Unlike Satan, God doesn't deceive or compel us. He pleads with us to turn from evil, to not in unbelief choose the devil's path and punishment. But he will not force us to return to him as our God and father.
Simply, powerfully, he loves us.
Triumphantly, he loves us.
A final note: hell is not a comfortable topic, even for many Christians. But the sword Jesus bears justly destroys his enemies.
We ask, "How could a loving God sentence people to hell?" God answers with integrity in Psalm 45:3–7: what's the answer?
He answers from his heart in Ezekiel 33:10–11: what's the answer?
He answers on the cross: what's the answer?
See also Matthew 25:41. For whom did God prepare the punishment of hell?
Try It!
"You who bring good news to Zion... lift up your voice with a shout... 'Here is your God!'
He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."
―from Isaiah 40:9,11
Advent 3
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Scripture assures us that Jesus is our shepherd.
Our shepherd is able to guarantee us peace because he has overcome our enemy.
Read Micah 5:2–5a. Verses 4 and 5 powerfully connect the strength and authority of Jesus' shepherding to the peace he gifts us—just as the angels said at his birth!
Consider what the three fascinating passages below teach about God establishing peace. What does each say about God's strength? About God's name [reputation]? About the kind of peace he provides?
These texts all discuss God's dual motivation for making peace with us: to save us and to restore us to holiness.
One couldn't happen without the other.
With sparkling clarity, Isaiah 59 illustrates this truth... about Jesus in verses 16–17 and about us in verse 21.
"He will be our peace." (Micah 5:5a)
Choose a single phrase you've read in one of these passages that really caught your attention. Create a short study composed of 3–4 active learning questions teaching the significance of that phrase.
Share these with each other.
"'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by his wounds you have been healed.' For 'you were like sheep going astray,' but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
(1 Peter 2:24–25)
Try It!
"To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent... but born of God.
The Word became flesh."
―from John 1:12–14
Advent 4
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Scripture glories in Jesus being our brother.
Why does God glory in this?
This week, let's focus on a single mindblowing passage answering that question in multiple ways.
Read Hebrews 2:14–18.
Which phrases speak of our brother justifying us? Which discuss him sanctifying us?
(1 Corinthians 15:56–57; Romans 8:1–4,14–17; and Hebrews 4:15–16 help clarify the meaning of some phrases in Hebrews 2.)
Which pre-Mosaic incident foretold the Father's gift of his only Son, the Son willingly bearing the cross as our substitute, and where that atonement would take place?
"If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!" (Pr 24:10)
Find a phrase or two in the Psalms reminding God's children that he is our strength.
The Old Testament also bears witness to these truths. Why does this matter?
Now open Hebrews 2:10–13, which assures us that a hard truth truly is God's plan.
It is "fitting" that God should perfect (that is, complete) both Jesus' earthly race and ours through ____________.
Pair "the Word became flesh" with a passage from this exercise or a different relevant passage. Outline a brief active learning study on our brother's plan for his believers, basing it on those two texts.
Pray God for help with a trouble you face today. Try asking for his plan rather than suggesting yours.
We will find grace to help in our need. (He 4:16)
If we were designing a fitting way for God's Son to swoop in and rescue us, would it look like the cross?
If we designed a fitting earthly life for God's adopted children, would it look like Jesus' path? Or perhaps like something a bit more... comfortable?
Try It!
"'What shall I do?
I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.'"
―God the Father
("owner of the vineyard" in a parable: Luke 20)
Christmas
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Christmas celebrates the incarnation: that the Son of God, to save us, became also Son of Man.
Few people grappled more directly than Joseph did with looking foolish for believing the incarnation. The angel simply points him—and us—to Scripture.
Notice how Jesus' response to the high priest uses the title "Son of Man." He alludes to two prophecies: Psalm 110 (with which he proves his incarnation in Matthew 22:41–45) and Daniel 7:13–14.
Were Jesus' accusers stumbling over his divinity or his humanity? How does Daniel's prophetic vision of the "Son of Man" show that this man is God? Was Jesus testifying to truth that was easy for them or difficult?
Read Hebrews 1:2. Does this verse emphasize Jesus' divinity, humanity, or both? Explain.
Bonus question: which words in this verse obliquely reference the Last Day, when God's Christ will visibly reign over everything after destroying all opposition?
We began this exercise quoting Luke 20 on the incarnation. God-in-human-flesh is fact. It's history. It's also a stumbling block to people who don't accept God saving us his way.
Read also Acts 17:31, which speaks of that same Last Day. Does this verse emphasize Jesus' divinity, humanity, or both? Explain.
The incarnation is still hard for people to accept. Satan very much wants people to dismiss it as mere church tradition, to smile at a baby in a manger—without also anticipating his return with the clouds of heaven.
Read the account of Joseph in Matthew 1:18–25. The angel references three OT prophecies: what are they? Outline a short study based on the angel's words here. Follow Joseph's example and believe!
When people in Jesus' day stumbled over the incarnation, he clung to the truth. He pointed both the crowds and his enemies to Scripture's testimony.
In Mark 14:60–64, Jesus testifies of his incarnation even at his sham trial, even knowing they'd convict him of blasphemy for it.