“He Came to Jesus…”
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be one-on-one with Jesus?
The Gospel According to John is one of the most famous and well-loved compositions in the Bible. From its opening exultation of the Lord Jesus as fully God, to its conclusion where Jesus restores a broken Peter, John’s Gospel contains a huge variety of beautiful and mysterious teachings of Jesus.
One interesting theme that makes John distinct from the other three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) is how often if features personal conversations between Jesus and various key characters. While the other three Gospels often focus on Jesus’s teachings in front of large crowds, John often draws us in to listen to Jesus in his tender, and sometimes challenging, encounters with individuals and close friends.
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Reflection Questions
The questions below are great to use in a small group or for personal application. Click on the arrow or heading to expand and show the questions.
Peter (John 21:15-23, November 24)
- The resurrection restores you but also makes you fit for ministry. But where do you struggle with feeling unfit for ministry despite Christ’s restoring work?
- If serving the body of Christ is a sign of our love for him and his work in our life, how do you feel you’re doing in this? Are you serving? Too much? Too little? With the wrong motives?
- The prosperity gospel teaches that the cross is only for Jesus and not for us. Where do you fall into thinking your life should be smooth and problem-free?
- Where do you sometimes compare your life, and your cross to bear, with that of other people? How does that make you feel? Where does Christ’s perfect plan help you with this?
Thomas (John 20:24-31, November 17)
- In what ways can you identify with Thomas? What will it take to convince you that Jesus is God in the flesh?
- What is the Bible’s definition of faith?
- How have you seen the pattern of (1) reading the Bible then (2) believing and finally (3) having life everlasting in your own life?
- What does the Bible say about itself? Study that this week!
- If you have children then ask them “what are we doing or not doing to convince you that the Bible is true and to encourage your faith?”
Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18, November 10)
- What were your preconceived notions about Mary Magdalene before the sermon? Why is important not to buy into the “Hollywood version” of Bible stories? What are some other examples of “myths” about the Bible that you have grappled with?
- Discuss the idea that Jesus knows you personally by name. How can that be a comfort when you struggle?
- Why is the ascension of Jesus so often overlooked in the church? What are its implications for you, your family, and your church? Why does it matter that we are called individually to proclaim the message of the ascended Jesus?
Pilate (John 18:28-40, November 3)
- Where do you let feelings override truth in your life?
- Discuss what it is like to live in a post-truth world, where “truth” is redefined in relation to reality, but reality is fallen—therefore “my truth” is also fallen. Why, then, do we need Jesus to bring truth “from above”?
- Where do you struggle clinging to God’s truth and instead change your truth based on your circumstances? Is he the truth in your life—the reference point by which you navigate life?
- How can we better witness to those who have a different view of truth? What are the competing sources of truth in your life (social media, Hollywood, friends, politicians, your own desires)?
- Are we willing to follow the hard word and be weird for the sake of Jesus? What would that look like in your day-to-day?
- Resource: Evangelism in a Post-Truth World
Thomas and Philip (John 14:1-14, October 27)
- What “cures” do you turn to for your anxiety? Why is faith in Jesus (and all that entails) a superior cure for your soul’s worries? Where have you experienced this in your own life?
- What is your vision of the heavenly afterlife? How does the fact that Jesus is receiving us “to myself” shape your hopes for eternal life? That is, that his presence is the supreme gain?
- What would it look like to pray like Jesus prays (WWJP: “What Would Jesus Pray”) in your life? Where can you grow in conforming your prayers to the will of God?
- Resource: Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled
Peter (John 13:1-11, October 20)
- Do you have any examples of humble leaders in your life who inspire you to service? Discuss what makes their example so attractive.
- Reflect on the significance of Christ’s self-humbling to serve you and bring salvation.
- How does knowing your identity and your destiny shape your service today? Who or what has Christ called you to serve?
- What makes your resistant to being served by others? Where in your life do you need to “get down off the high horse (of pride)”?
- Resource: What I Am Doing You Do Not Understand Now
Judas (John 12:1-8, October 13)
- Discuss 3 areas of your life where God has been at work and your response of thankful worship.
- What keeps you from gratitude?
- How does that affect how you worship on Sunday?
- Where do you see greed in your own life? Discuss how greed is not only desiring more money, but even clinging to what you have. How have you seen it spoil your spiritual life?
- Where can you grow in how you use money not for selfish goals but to advance God’s purposes? How have you seen that nourish your spiritual life?
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11:1-44, October 6)
- Jesus allows his friend Lazarus to die so that God’s glory could be revealed in it
- What does this teach you about Jesus?
- Why is our comfort not the main focus of God?
- Why is it a good thing to know that God’s plan is bigger than your circumstances…
- …But that God still cares about your circumstances?
- Futurists hypothesize that the best human future is uploading our consciousness into the digital cloud so that we can be manifested in android robots. Discuss that vision and the problematic theology behind it. Why is the future promised by Jesus for those who believe in him much better?
- Where does the truth of the future resurrection provide comfort for you today? Where do you struggle believing it day-to-day?
- Resource: This Illness is for the Glory of God
The Man Born Blind (John 9:1-41, September 29)
- Reflect on your own life and potential areas of spiritual blindness:
- Rationalization…thinking you know best about how God should do things
- Reputation…calculating the social cost of claiming Christ, out of fear of man
- Rules…pursuing a certain vision or mold for the Christian life at all costs
- Other areas?
- Review the blind man’s journey from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight (after his physical healing): “I was blind, but now I see…I believe!” Where do you see your own story of Jesus’s grace in your life reflected in his story?
- Resource: Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone), by Shane & Shane
The Invalid at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-17, September 22)
- How have you struggled with the fact that God doesn’t heal everyone? Where have you found theological comfort?
- How can the hope of final renewal provide present encouragement in your day-to-day struggles? Spend time discussing any challenges you face in the present time, and encourage each other with God’s truth about our hope of the future resurrection and transformation of all things.
- What kind of self-made human rules are you following? How are they getting in the way of the message and work of Jesus?
- Are you showing gratitude to Jesus by honoring him in the way you live? How do you respond to the seriousness of the warning in v14 (heaven and hell)?
- Where are you tempted to dishonor Christ out of fear of man?
- Resource: Where Did John 5:4 Go?
A Royal Official (John 4:46-54, September 15)
- How can Jesus’s work in your own life motivate you to bear witness to others? How did the witness of others impact your own coming to faith? How can we, in our small groups, use our witness to build up others’ faith?
- Where do you struggle to believe before you know? How have you seen God work things out when you do take him at his word?
- Take time to tell others (kids, friends, parents) your personal testimony of coming to faith.
- Resource: If You Don’t Have a Dramatic Testimony
The Woman at the Well (John 4.1-26, September 1)
- Reflect on your understanding of how you worship God. What guides your worship? Are you driven more by sincerity than truth?
- What are some ways that your desire for control affects your Christian life? How does it impact your parenting? Your work? Your own salvation?
- What ways do you look down on others being incapable of receiving God’s grace? What causes this response? How can you develop a greater embrace of the inclusiveness of the gospel?
- Resource: New Covenant Worship
Unity, Love, Witness (John 17, August 25)
- Vision Sunday
- Discuss your understanding of church unity, and what genuine church unity looks like.
- How can you wrongfully consider church to ultimately be about yourself? How does that mindset manifest itself in your life? Why are you tempted to have that kind of mindset?
- What does genuine commitment to the church look like?How does that play out in your own life? How does loving others and being loved impact commitment to church?
Nicodemus (John 3:1-15, August 18)
- Where are you most tempted to retreat into the darkness? When do you most lack the boldness of talking about Christ? What causes this fear?
- What is the significance of “where Jesus comes from” and “what he does for a living” in your day-to-day? Where are you tempted to think of Jesus as nothing more than a “life coach” of some sort?
- Discuss the challenged of contributing nothing to your own salvation. What makes this reality so difficult to embrace? What ways do you wrongly desire to control the things which God controls?
- Resource: Am I Truly Born Again?
Mary (John 2:1-12, August 11)
- Where you do, like Mary, try to force Jesus to meet your expectations?
- Where do you need, like Mary, to submit to Jesus’s will?
- Where in your life can you celebrate Jesus’s work on your behalf? Where do you need to cultivate a future/heavenly-mindedness, as we await an even better wedding banquet?
Nathanael (John 1:35-51, August 4)
- Discuss what it would look like to “introduce” someone to Jesus. Who is someone God has placed in your life that you can introduce to Jesus? What are the hurdles which prevent you from doing so?
- How do you think Jesus would finish the statement about you: “Here comes (your name), a Floridian in whom there is ____“? What does it mean to you that Jesus sees you as you really are, knows everything about you, yet still loves you and wants a relationship with you?
- Resource: Ask God to Forgive You, Not Excuse You
Preparing for the series
- Read John 1. How does the evangelist John set up his account of Jesus? What things about Jesus does he particularly focus on?
- What draws you to Jesus? When do you feel most relationally close to him? Far away?
- What do your own conversations with others (family, coworkers, friends, parents, spouse, etc.) reveal about your character? How might that help us approach these conversations of Jesus?
