Interactive Key Study: Enlightened

(15–20 minutes, easy set-up)
Preview “Enlightened” on page 6 of the Rooted student book OR download the Student Worksheet. Provide a copy for each student. Also provide pens.

Learning Goal: Students will learn that life-changing power is available to all people who put their hope in the gospel.

Call on a student to read Ephesians 1:18-23. Explain that these verses are part of a prayer that Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus in his letter to the believers there. Emphasize that when we read these verses, we must read them as a very personal message from Paul’s heart to the Ephesian believers. Also note that he truly wanted them to experience the things for which he was praying. Enlist a student to read verses 18-19 again. Then say: Paul prayed that God would open their eyes in a spiritual way for a specific reason. Ask: What were the three things that Paul specifically prayed that the Ephesians would know? (Answers: “the hope to which he has called you,” “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” “his incomparably great power for us who believe”) Point out that we will discover that Paul wasn’t simply telling the Ephesians that he wanted good things for them. Say: Paul prayed that the Ephesians would know these things because they were promises of God.

Next, direct students’ attention to the light bulb on page 6 in the student book. Instruct them to fill in the following words in the blanks on the bulb: “hope,” “treasure,” and “power”. Explain that students are going to use these words as reminders of the three incredible promises that Paul wanted the Ephesians to know. Ask: Before we get started, though, look again at verse 19. To whom did these promises apply? (those who believe, followers of Christ) Emphasize that if these promises were for believers, then the foundation for these promises had to be the gospel—without it, there would be no believers. Point out that by now looking at these three promises, students will get a brief snapshot of the gospel, which God desires for all people to believe.

Ask: How did Paul say that God demonstrated His power in the greatest way imaginable? (He raised Christ from the dead.) Encourage several students to describe how this demonstration of power helps tell part of the gospel story. After a couple of minutes, direct students’ attention to the lower left hand part of their page. Say: In your own words, summarize the power revealed in the gospel according to verses 19-23. Write a simple gospel story to the best of your understanding in the space in the bottom left corner of the page. (For example: “The power of God was demonstrated when He raised His Son, Jesus Christ, from the dead after His sacrificial death on the cross in place of sinners.”)

After allowing a couple of minutes for students to fill in the page, ask: Paul mentions an inheritance in verse 18. Who or what is the inheritance in this case? After students answer, inform them that the inheritance in this verse is God’s people, meaning that the saints of God’s family were His inheritance. Say: It is not that people are valuable on our own. The gospel reveals that all have rebelled and turned against God, choosing the darkness of sin over the light of holiness. But God chose to redeem us, buying back our freedom and releasing us from bondage to sin and death. Guide students to understand that God considers His people to be a treasure by emphasizing the amazing shock that a holy God would consider sinful people to be His prized inheritance. Encourage a couple of students to describe how this truth of God’s redeeming love tells an important part of the gospel story. Again, direct students to write a summary to the left of the word treasure. Say: Briefly describe the way God views and values His people as part of the gospel story. (For example: “Christ’s death paid the price for our freedom from slavery to sin. A Holy God could treasure His people as His own inheritance because everyone who believes in Christ is made sinless—transformed into the image and likeness of Christ.”)

Explain that the “hope to which he has called you” is spelled out partially in verse 20. Read Ephesians 1:20 again. Ask: Where is Christ now? (He is seated at the right hand of God in heaven.) Point out that Christ has promised to return for His people and take them to heaven with Him. Emphasize that He has called us to this hope of living with Him in eternity and experiencing the fullness of His glory. Ask: But what does it mean to have hope in this or anything for that matter? Point out that there are two aspects of hope: 1) a desire and 2) an expectation that the desire will be met. Emphasize that biblical hope isn’t simply a want, wish, or dream. Say: Biblical hope is fully expecting a desire to be met. It is being sure of something even though we might not see or understand. Then direct students to write their own summary of the promise of heaven in the gospel to the left of the word hope. (For example: “Because we are God’s treasure, He calls His people to hope in the certainty of His return and provision for them to live with Him in heaven.”)

Finally, say: If the gospel offers life-changing hope for sinners, then it also continues to be the guiding light for living in that hope as believers. Direct students’ attention to the right side of the page. Instruct students to write descriptions of each word as they discuss them. Say: Look at what we’ve learned about biblical hope. Describe the way that we can live in hope as believers. (We desire Christ and expect Him to fulfill all of His promises.) How can the gospel help us to live in hope as God’s treasure? (We know that God values and cares for us because He has purchased our freedom through Christ.) How does having our eyes opened to the truth of the gospel enable us to experience God’s life-changing power? (The same power that raised Christ from the dead is always at work in the lives of believers.)

Conclude by emphasizing that the gospel is available to everyone and that to all who believe in Christ the gospel gives hope to live in the life-changing power of God.