Life Skills Bible Study Facing Freedom Lesson 4

Life Skills Bible Study Facing Freedom Lesson 4

Facing Freedom

DEPRESSION - “Doctor, Doctor, Can You Tell Me Why…?”

Opening Thoughts

· Two people suffered from depression. One recognized that he had a problem; the other refused to acknowledge the sad fact. One went to the doctor and was given a prescription. The other did nothing. The one that went to the doctor is leading a happy life with wonderful friends and family forming a solid support group for him. The other is dead; he took his own life.

· This class is not about depression. It’s about why depression, - along with a hundred and one other ailments – even exists. It’s about cause and cure. It’s about the Doctor; it’s about you, and it’s about me.

Read Luke 30-32: 30But the Pharisees and their teachers of the law complained to Jesus' disciples. They said, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"31Jesus answered them, "Those who are healthy don't need a doctor. Sick people do. 32I have not come to get those who think they are right with God to follow me. I have come to get sinners to turn away from their sins."

1. Who were the “Pharisees,” and what was their attitude toward Jesus?

2. Compare Jesus’ words with the little story about two people with depression. What did Jesus mean in verses 31-32?

Read Ecclesiastes 7:20: There isn't anyone on earth who does only what is right and never sins.

Read Romans 8:6-8: 6The way a sinful person thinks leads to death. But the mind controlled by the Spirit brings life and peace. 7The sinful mind is at war with God. It does not obey God's law. It can't. Those who are controlled by their sinful nature can't please God.

3. Are there truly any “healthy” people in the world who don’t need a “doctor”?

Read Psalm 51:5: I know I've been a sinner ever since I was born. I've been a sinner ever since my mother became pregnant with me.

Read 1 John 1:8-9: 8Suppose we claim we are without sin. Then we are fooling ourselves. The truth is not in us. 9But God is faithful and fair. If we admit that we have sinned, he will forgive us our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure.

4. Which of these passages characterizes the man with depression who went to the doctor, and which represents the man who did not?

You and I are sick. All of us need a doctor. We have different symptoms and different disabilities to be sure, but we all have the same disease and each of us needs the same cure. The things we do wrong, the things that destroy our relationships with others, those things are only symptoms. The disease is sin. It’s a condition. We were born with it. So, what’s the cure?

Read 1 John 1:9: But God is faithful and fair. If we admit that we have sinned, he will forgive us our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure.

5. Which words of this passage compare to “going to the doctor”?

6. Who is the doctor?

7. What will the doctor do? Is that a quick fix?

Read Romans 7:18-19: 18I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can't. 19I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do.

In the sense of fixing our lives so that we do not sin, the answer is “no.” But read on!

Read 2 Corinthians 5:21: 21 Christ didn't have any sin. But God made him become sin for us. So we can be made right with God because of what Christ has done for us.

Read Isaiah 53:5-6: 5But the servant was pierced because we had sinned. He was crushed because we had done what was evil. He was punished to make us whole again. His wounds have healed us. 6All of us are like sheep. We have wandered away from God. All of us have turned to our own way. And the Lord has placed on his servant the sins of all of us.

Read Matthew 20:28: "Be like the Son of Man. He did not come to be served. Instead, he came to serve others. He came to give his life as the price for setting many people free."

8. Those passages describe a surgeon at work. What has he done? How has he done it?

Read 1 John 1:7: …the blood of Jesus, his Son, makes us pure from all sin.

Read John 8:36: So if the Son of Man sets you free, you will really be free.

Read Romans 8:1-2: 1Those who belong to Christ Jesus are no longer under God's sentence. 2I am now controlled by the law of the Holy Spirit. That law gives me life because of what Christ Jesus has done. It has set me free from the law of sin that brings death.

Read Psalm 103:10: He doesn't punish us for our sins as much as we should be punished. He doesn't pay us back in keeping with the evil things we've done.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: 14Christ's love controls us. We are sure that one person died for everyone. And so everyone died. 15Christ died for everyone. He died so that those who live should not live for themselves anymore. They should live for Christ. He died for them and was raised again.

9. What is the result of the “surgery”?

10. So if we are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ and declared not guilty by God, but we still sin, what good does that do me?

Read Galatians 5:24-25: 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed their sinful nature to his cross. They don't want what their sinful nature loves and longs for. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us march in step with the Spirit.

Read Galatians 5:16-18: 16 So I say, live by the Holy Spirit's power. Then you will not do what your sinful nature wants you to do. 17 The sinful nature does not want what the Spirit delights in. And the Spirit does not want what the sinful nature delights in. The two are at war with each other. That's what makes you do what you don't want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the authority of the law.

Closing Prayer

Adapted from a Bible study originally prepared by David Kapanke (2010).

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