"Jesus is Our Deliverer"
TRUTHS:
1. On the inaugural Palm Sunday, Jesus made his entrance into Jerusalem astride a donkey, a creature known for bearing burdens. He had come with the purpose of delivering his people, yet their understanding of his mission was clouded. While they hoped for King-Jesus to liberate them from Roman rule, Jesus had more important business to take care of. His focus was not on freeing them from the earthly kingdom of Rome, but rather from the oppressive 'kingdom of sin' that filled their own hearts and lives.
2. When Jesus overturns the tables in the temple, he demonstrates his role as a "deliverer." He recognizes that religious leaders are exploiting worshippers, turning their obedience to God into a means of personal and selfish profit. Instead of nurturing spiritual growth, they prioritized financial gain, leaving the vulnerable—like the blind and lame—neglected. Jesus confronts this injustice, revealing his mission to deliver people from false worship. This action clearly communicates that God condemns such exploitation. As followers of Christ, we're called to proclaim Jesus as the true Deliverer, not to obstruct his work of deliverance and redemption.
3. Although Jesus is mighty and faithful to deliver humanity from the bondages of sin, He prefers to keep us away from that darkness in the first place. The delivering power of Jesus has the ability to captivate our hearts and empowers us to resist temptation before we find ourselves enslaved to specific sins.
4. The Bible often uses ‘messy’ situations to help us see and understand the grace that our Creator extends to His creation (humanity). One such account in the Old Testament details a dispute between two harlots over parental rights. The tragic death of an infant prompted one harlot to steal the child of a fellow prostitute. As this mess gets sorted out, we can see the great grace that God offers these two broken women. He restores the child to its rightful guardian while simultaneously helping a grieving mother take the necessary and difficult steps towards healing.
5. The Word of God reveals how easy it is for the souls of God’s children to become full of worries, anxieties, and confusion. And our burden-bearing King, Jesus, wants to deliver us from many of the ‘weights’ we carry as a result of existing in a world marred by sin.
6. The relationship between Jewish and Samaritan people was severely strained (to say the least). Jewish people believed and behaved as if they were superior to the people of Samaria. In their eyes, Samaritans were compromisers, Jews who had turned their back on the true worship of God. So, it seemed unusual to find Jesus having a conversation with a Samaritan woman in John 4. But Jesus is our Deliverer, regardless of who we are or where we come from. Their conversation provides us with valuable insights concerning the true worship of Jesus. Participating in true worship has little to do with geographic location, who your ancestors were, or some other external detail, but instead focuses on approaching our Creator to worship Him in spirit and truth.
TALK TO EACH OTHER:
1. Why is it so easy for humanity (specifically God's people) to overlook what we really need deliverance from?
2. Consider how the people of God may be obstructing Jesus' delivering work in our modern context. These obstructions can be motivated by ignorance and/or willful sin. Can you identify some apparent obstructions and what they are perhaps motivated by?
3. The power of God is clearly noticeable when he delivers people from the sin that has plunged their lives into darkness and bondage. But in what ways can we notice the power and grace of God as he keeps a believer from that darkness in the first place?
4. How has Jesus manifested and revealed his great grace to you? How were you personally made aware of God's graciousness?
5. What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? Can we get these two aspects of true worship out of balance? If so, how would that imbalance show up in our expressions of worship?
TALK TO GOD:
Pray into the following areas:
For Abundant Life to know Jesus as our Deliverer
That we worship Jesus in spirit and truth
For God's great grace to be revealed in powerful and life-changing ways
That we would help the blind and lame and refrain from obstructing people from God's delivering power