"You’re Very Pretty"
EPISODE 222
Rejoice at Jesus' Incredible Salvation
How does Jesus change things? In our second checkpoint in the Square One series, we discuss how Jesus brings hope. It’s the hinge of these conversations designed to bring someone to Christ, in between our “bad news” talk about sin and our next checkpoint, where we’ll invite them to make a decision and follow the Lord. We tell the Story of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and reign, and consider how Isaiah 53 explains his saving work. Look for more resources like videos and guides to help you lead these discussions in 2025.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: Jesus has conquered sin and death to bring hope, peace, and joy to our lives.
This Week's Challenge: Read Matthew 27:32-28:20 on your own and reflect on this important moment in Jesus' story.
Episode Transcription
You know, tell me how pretty I am, or what a good job I'm doing, or what? You're very pretty. Thank you very much, bud. Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the Bible Geeks Podcast. This is episode 222. I'm Bryan Schiele. I'm Ryan Joy. And thanks so much everyone for tuning in. This is our second Checkpoint episode in our Square One series. So let's conversation, we talked about what is not working. Why are things so messed up in life? And on this conversation, we're gonna talk about how does Jesus change things. This is absolutely the next place in this Square One study we need to go, because Jesus changes things, and people need to see that. Yeah, absolutely. Paul talked about that time in Corinth when he determined to know nothing, but Jesus and him crucified, and that's kind of what we're doing here today. It's very focused on Christ, and the simple facts of the gospel. And so in this conversation, we're gonna let those truths about Jesus and his story do their work to change people. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16, and we're getting really to the heart of the gospel here in this episode. It's gonna be very gospely for sure. Lots of good news. It's very gospely. Lots of exciting things to talk about. You know, if you listened to our last podcast episode, you will have noticed that we are walking through kind of the meat of these Square One conversations, almost like guided study style. And then at the end, we're gonna cover some exciting behind the scenes, maybe tips and tricks. Why did we pick these kinds of verses, and the challenges, and the questions, and all the things we did? We'll do all that discussion at the very end. But as we kick off this conversation, I think, Ryan, it's time for us to do something that we rarely ever do, and that is to follow up from the last challenge that we had in our previous discussion. And that's what we're encouraging people to do in these Square One discussions with people. And so let's do it here as we kick off this episode. Last time we talked about watching this week for both healthy and unhealthy things in the world. What did you notice as you looked around and watched for healthy and unhealthy things in the world? Well, I think the part of that conversation that really was resonant was whenever the questions forced me to look for those things in myself. Yeah. Which, you know, never comfortable, never fun, but that was helpful. And so, yeah, once you start to see it in yourself, it's easy to see it in other people, but that's when it really starts to come home. So yeah, I was noticing that, which is helpful to see so that we can look to the Lord for help, and repent, and do the work we need to do to align ourselves with God's will. How about you? I really think, you know, as you look around, especially in, well, as we record this, it's after the election, and there's lots of political arguing and bickering, and questions, and fear, and anxiety, and whatever, celebration, all the things that surround these times. And I just have to look around and realize how broken things are. Oh, man. When you see this whole thing play out, you know, we're really bad at leading ourselves. We're really bad at coming together in unity as a people. And I agree with you completely. As I look at myself, I see lots of unhealthy, and maybe some healthy things. But as I look around, it's everywhere, man. Yeah. And yeah, I think that's something I noticed this week. So as we kick off this conversation, let's get right into the hook here, and maybe some icebreaker. This is Square One. How does Jesus change things? If you're having a bad day, you might run across someone who encourages you to turn that frown upside down, hang in there, or look on the bright side. Depending on what's going on, it can be tough when folks lob platitudes and empty, enthusiastic expressions our way to try and make a difference. Sure, they probably mean well, but sometimes it takes more than cliche phrases and hollow words to pull us out of a funk. But maybe there's that person in your life, someone close to you who gets you, that knows just what to do, exactly what to say to help part those dark clouds of our heart and change our outlook. When someone like that steps in to help, it changes the game in substantial ways. So here's a question for you. If someone comes to you with both good news and bad news, which do you wanna hear first? Okay, so the icebreaker question here was, if someone comes to you with both good news and bad news, which do you wanna hear first, Ryan? Always the bad. I mean, how can you even think about the good? How could you enjoy good news if you know there's another shoe about to drop? So it gotta be the bad news first. What about you? Oh, yeah, I don't know. I wanna say the bad news. I'd really wanna brace myself for impact, but I don't know. I wanna hear the good news. Tell me something nice first. Tell me how pretty I am or what a good job I'm doing or what you're very pretty. Thank you very much. But then break it to me. Get real after that. I can steal myself through that, but I don't know. This is a silly question for sure, but tied on to that idea in the hook there about empty platitudes and things, good news that people try to bring you isn't always as good as it seems. Lofty words and little cliche kinds of phrases just don't really always land that well. And I don't know, I wish good news was gooder than it is sometimes. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, there's a lot of empty good news. And I guess last time we talked about the bad news. So we put the bad news first. We did. And once you know the bad news, then you can understand the good news. So let's get into that. So we've already seen how desperately we need someone to rescue us. People do their best to put a positive spin on the situation with self-help and diversions, but God has acted to answer our deepest needs so that today we can rejoice in Jesus' incredible salvation. There might be no better words to hear from a friend than I've got good news. In Jesus' day, when word came of a tyrant's defeat or the birth of a king that could change things, they used a word translated gospel or good news. An angel used that word with some shepherds one night, 2,000 years ago. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, Luke 2 verses 10 to 12. Centuries earlier, Isaiah looked forward to messengers announcing Jesus. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, proclaiming peace and happiness because God reigns. He predicted God's return when all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. So here's the big idea. Jesus has conquered sin and death to bring hope, peace and joy to our lives. His death on the cross, burial in a borrowed tomb and resurrection from the dead are the heart of the saving good news. When you understand what he did for us and what it means to have our sins forgiven, it can create a faith in Jesus that will remake your life. So what do you think about Jesus? Okay, so our reach out question there was, what do you think about Jesus? Which I guess, if you've listened to our podcast, we host a podcast called Bible Geeks, I guess this is a little bit on the nose, but it's meant to be a question for us to be challenged by and to be confronted with Jesus. That's what the gospels constantly do, is confront us with what will you do with Jesus? What do you think about him? Everybody's responding differently. And I do find him challenging. I find him endlessly fascinating. I love that we have started with Jesus on all our podcasts for all these years, because it really has kept us in the gospels more than any other part of the Bible and in our podcast at least. And I've learned so much about him through those accounts of his words and his life. And I have grown so much closer to Jesus over my life of following him. So he is worthy of my praise and devotion and trust, I guess would be my summary as a follower of Jesus of what I think about him. But what about you? I was just thinking, I mean, I know we're gonna talk about hosting these conversations later, but I would be really challenged not to completely monopolize the conversation here by just going on and on. All the things I think about him. I mean, you really could just camp on this, right? He's the savior, he's the one who destroyed sin and death, all of these things that he's able to do. And just every little facet, like you've said, we have found no bottom to the well of talking about Jesus over the past years that we've done this podcast. And there's gonna be an answer here. My answer is absolutely how Jesus consumes every part of my life. How there's not a time in my life where I can't be thinking about Jesus. The difficult things I'm going through, the celebrations I'm going through, all the things that make life meaningful are made possible by Jesus. And just to think through that and to think about how, like you said, I think what you put it really well when you said he's endlessly fascinating and challenging. It's not just like a cool historical figure that we can study about. No, it's Jesus who changes our lives. Well, and as we just talked about him, it's an opportunity for followers of Christ to share something about what that means. But like you said, not to monopolize, but to create an opening for just honest thoughts about whatever that means. And so as we transition in this conversation from this really powerful reach out question, let's move on and get into the book a little bit. We've previously considered a passage from Isaiah containing some bad news words like transgression, iniquity and sin. The picture these words paint isn't very positive and they may leave you with a dark and hopeless outlook. But a few chapters before that reading, in Isaiah 53, one through 12, those same words show up. Only this time we learn about the good news of God's servant Jesus, who came to fix our broken condition. Read Isaiah 53 verses one to 12 together to understand what Jesus went through for you. After reading, take some time to discuss it. How does this passage in Isaiah 53 verses one to 12 help explain how Jesus changes our sin problem? So here in these passages, we are looking at Isaiah 53 verses one to 12. And I think it would be helpful again for us like we did on the last episode to go ahead and read those together. Yeah, yeah, I'll read through verse six and maybe you can take over in verse seven. Who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its sheers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgressions of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he has poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Whew, that's such a good reading, man. So powerful, yeah, these readings are the heart of these studies. And we asked there that question, how does this passage in Isaiah 53, one to 12 help explain how Jesus changes our sin problem? What do you see there? I just can't help but notice how many times the word our shows up here. You know, all of the opportunities where our sins are taken care of, our iniquities, he was pierced for our transgressions. It's me and it's not just our collectively as a group, it's my and I can think through that. He has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. I love the connection that we have in these words, these like bad news words, transgression, iniquity and sin. They all show up here, right? From the very first conversation we had, they all show back up here and we see how each and every one of them are taken care of by Jesus in his death. It is really touching, obviously. It's such a powerful visceral description of what he's going through for us. Yeah, visceral is a good word. But how it changes our sin problem is just every single thing that we could think of that was broken, he has made whole again through his suffering. And it explains something that is mysterious to a lot of people. I mean, those of us who are Christians and have been Christians for a long time thought about the cross. We reflect on it every Sunday around the Lord's table and we think about why he did it and what he did it and why it matters. But this passage is like a nexus point of all kinds of ideas about what Jesus did and how it works that our sins are taken away by what he went through. And there's this sense of injustice throughout it. That's what struck me about it and about how he explains the work of Jesus here. The servant is beaten up in every way, you use that word visceral, for our sins, our transgressions. He heals us by his wounds. He takes our iniquity on himself, but then at the end, it's like there's this reverse and it's like, oh, he's just beaten up. Everything is happening bad to him, but then he'll prolong his days. Yeah. He'll prosper, he'll be satisfied. I thought he just died. How is he prolonging his days? I thought that he was wounded and punished for us, chastised, what is going on that he's prospering. And then it comes back and it's still saying he's carried our sins. He has interceded for us, but evidently he has also overcome. And so we find the death, also the resurrection starting to be talked about and this victory that comes in such a counterintuitive way that he's healing us by the pain that he goes through. And yet he also arises like from the ashes, like a phoenix and overcomes and is gonna live. And so, of course, the New Testament talks about how the prophets were pondering these things, trying to make sense of the things they were writing. As you read this, you start entering those meditations and want to hear more on how Jesus fulfills these things. And again, you talked about the counterintuitive nature of all of this. It's like verse 10 just blows my mind, right? It was the will of the Lord to crush him. Why would God want to do that? And clearly that's another deep question we could probably ask here. But speaking of going deeper, let's move into our next section here in the conversation where we get into a little bit of the story about Jesus. (bright music) Let's dig a little deeper by considering Jesus' life. The Bible is Jesus' story, an entire book centered on this saving king. God's plan to heal us and make everything right culminates in him. His cross and empty tomb were the turning points of history. And unlike us, his story has no beginning because he has always existed. So let's consider a few key moments in Jesus' story. Jesus is the eternal son of God who made the world and then entered it to live as a human. He grew up in many ways like an ordinary Jew of his day. The main difference, he always did the right thing. Most of what we know about his life came in his early 30s when he went about doing good and healing, Acts 10 verse 38. He taught differently than other rabbis, explaining love as God's golden rule and declaring God's kingdom near. Generations of Jews waited for that kingdom to come through the Messiah or Christ, a king who would conquer enemies and bring God's glorious reign. Many believed Jesus was that king, but they didn't understand God's plan for him to die for our sins. The Jewish leaders couldn't handle his teaching, miracles, and popularity with the people. So they had him arrested and killed in a humiliating and torturous way. On the Sunday morning after his death, he arose appearing to hundreds of people over the next 40 days. Jesus ascended to heaven where he reigns and speaks on our behalf. Then he sent the Holy Spirit to show us a new way and live within us. And today he saves all who surrender to him, acknowledging him as king and being baptized into him. So here's the big question. Are you starting to see how Jesus' story can change yours? (bright music) Well, we ended with that big question, another one of these confrontational kind of just decision questions, just a pondering kind of like, hey, are you starting to see, where are you with things? I don't know, I guess maybe it's not, it doesn't have to be confrontational, but it's like a check-in about this is not just information. It's meant to affect how we think about things. Who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Are you starting to see how Jesus' story can change yours? And Bryan, I don't know, how would you answer that? I mean, when you just really start to think about all the planning, this plan of God has existed since before we were even around. And when you think about something having that kind of history, that kind of backing to it, it just really starts to make you feel like this is not a fly-by-night kind of decision that you're making to follow Jesus. You're following the one who has existed since before you were ever even around. And that just, thinking about his story, thinking about the eternity of his story and the significance of his sacrifice and all of the suffering and everything that he's went through, I can see how he changes not only my life, but I can see how he changes the lives of the people I love around me. Yeah, it's funny. This is like a yes/no question, just like the last one. These big questions are like, yes, moving on. But it's also, so it's a check-in, but it's also an opportunity to share something about how the Lord and his story becomes our story. And when you're in Christ, you get to share his victory. And I see it more clearly every time I'm in the Word. Or, I mean, you spend, like you said, I think we've been talking about how much we can ponder these truths. You think about it all the time, and you start to see how Jesus' story can change yours more and more all the time. All right, so as we sort of wrap this up, we have a challenge, we're gonna look ahead, and we close this thing out with a blessing here in our final section. (bright music) We've considered how Jesus' death and resurrection changes things. So this week, read Matthew 27, 32 through to the end of Matthew on your own and reflect on how this important moment in Jesus' story affects your life. As you start the next conversation, take a moment to talk about what you noticed. Jesus is such an amazing friend, but with any great friendship, it takes both parties to make the relationship work. As we'll see next time, starting your journey with Jesus takes an all-in commitment, living a life which honors the great sacrifice he made for you. And as time passes and your trust in him deepens, so will your hope, peace, and joy. Praise God for his saving work in Jesus that offers peace to all the earth. (bright music) Well, most definitely praise God for his saving work in Jesus. It's just such a great way to sum up this whole good news story. Whereas the last checkpoint conversation was very heavy and had a lot of, I don't know, maybe not so positive things to it, as we focused in a lot on what's broken, I feel like this one leaves on a really joyful note. Maybe it would be helpful again for us to go back and sort of do it like a play-by-play as we kicked off this conversation and walk ourselves back through it as we take a closer look at this second checkpoint in square one. Number one, perhaps we better take an away team down and have a closer look. Yeah, so now we're in it, so hopefully the rapport, the rhythm are starting to get established, but where last time the giant, did you get that theme was sin, here it's all about wanting them to start seeing Jesus. And it might take some time for somebody to contemplate and make a decision about Jesus. And this study is not designed to be the moment where they become a Christian. We do mention confession and baptism as we go through, but that's really what the next checkpoint conversation is all about. So this is all about just introducing these ideas in a way that hopefully gets them pondering them. This might bring some other questions up for people that they want to explore, like why do you believe in Jesus? Well, in our longer 13 part series, we'll have a study that's all about that question. Yes. A conversation around why do you believe in Jesus? And other questions might come up that might be addressed in that longer study, but here we're just keeping it tight again, hinging these three points. Sin is the big problem, Jesus is the answer, and then he calls us to follow him is really where we'll end up next time. So yeah, going back to that intro, we talked about this lighthearted icebreaker that opened up the good news and bad news idea. I really liked what you did with that and the play on we're getting to the gospel, right? The good news, and gave us a chance to talk about that before getting deeper into this purpose. When you talked about the rapport here, and I feel like the rapport, you know, in these icebreakers, that's kind of where you're lightening up a little bit. This is not like a real serious thing where we're going through some like real deep heavy things right off the bat. It's kind of a nice on-ramp as I like to think about it. But before we even got to that point, that check-in, that follow-up of what we talked about the last time, I love that part of the conversation 'cause you don't wanna camp on that too much. You wanna make forward progress, you wanna move forward, but there's something so valuable in like checking in on the last conversation. And truthfully, even in our podcast where we have these challenges, we don't do that often enough. And I'd kind of like to see us do a little better on that on the next upcoming season. I agree, insight based, Paul, but I'm with you. For sure, so the kickoff there kind of led into the purpose and our purpose there was to rejoice in Jesus' incredible salvation. That's what we really want people to hone in on in this conversation. And to focus on Jesus and that great story of his birth, what better, more exciting, good news story can you hear than Jesus is here. And the one we've been waiting for is here. That story in Luke two is really just such a, yes, it's a holiday kind of time story that a lot of people know about. Yeah, some people have heard Charlie Brown read this or whatever, right? But that's kind of why I like it too is because it's familiar. And you might not have grown up learning about the Lord, but you may have heard this sometime in December or something. But the heart of the reason is that the word gospel was used for actually interestingly in Luke two verse one, right before this, it talks about Caesar Augustus. There's an inscription in an ancient calendar in Turkey that talks about, uses this word, Eugenia and the word for gospel, the Greek word for gospel, to talk about the God Augustus being born and how he's gonna bring peace and blessing to people. So interestingly, this is the true King who will bring good news, but that's how that word was used in the time. And then of course, getting from there into how the biblical writers really connect that to Isaiah introducing the idea of good news in Isaiah 52 as he leads into our key passage, Isaiah 53. You'd already see here in this conversation, the way we're designing it is like, we're getting heavier into the Bible. We're leaning into some of these passages and some of the depth. We have more references to other passages here as a helpful way point, but the idea here is just to focus on Jesus is in any way we can do that successfully is a good day because the big idea here that we brought up was that Jesus has conquered sin and death to bring hope, peace and joy to our lives. That is the focus of this conversation and seeing Jesus in all the different ways that he does that is a great way to kind of lead into that last reach out question, what do you think about Jesus? Hopefully getting people's wheels turning. And then we moved into the book, which I love this section right in the middle of a big, deep, meaty conversation, getting into Isaiah 53. Such a touching passage to read together with someone. Yeah, and so the other side of the coin of what we read last time in Isaiah 59. So it's like the opposite. If that was all darkness, flip the page and here's all light in what Jesus does to address those exact words, transgression, sin and equity that we talked about and really hopefully get people thinking about what it is that Jesus did that changed, why the cross? Why did this matter? The Bible explains it in a lot of different ways. His victory and his atonement and his sacrifice, it really gets you right into it and you're thinking about it and you're facing it but you're probably left with some things to ponder too, which is the point. Yeah, and you can definitely see how we are pulling a page out of Philip's book, if you wanna call it that. Do you understand what you're reading? How do you get somebody to come right to the point where they're seeing Jesus from the Old Testament? I mean, that's where the Ethiopian eunuch did it and we're gonna pull from that passage right here too. So as we went a little deeper and started telling Jesus' story, that's basically what Philip was doing, right? Starting from that place in Isaiah and then telling the story of Jesus. This may feel very overview. It is absolutely 30,000 foot but hopefully it's giving people some sense of this man, this savior, this Messiah or Christ or King, all the different ways we've described him here in this section. Hopefully this is giving people the sense that Jesus is so powerful. And we said something up at the beginning of that section that the Bible is Jesus' story and you alluded to it but there is another session in our guided study in this Square One guided study all about how the Bible is Jesus' story. And if that's something that piques someone's interest, definitely lead them to that conversation 'cause there's a lot of meat in that discussion about how the Bible really does center itself around this Messiah. Yeah, absolutely. So look for that conversation in 2025 if you're listening to this in 2024, those are gonna be really helpful to be able to kind of choose your own adventure and let people pivot to the next conversation that needs to happen. But here in this one, we deal with Jesus' story and we explain it from nine points or something like that. And then we ask this question, are you starting to see how Jesus' story can change yours? It's like this, it's not, are you ready? But is the light starting to come on? Are you starting to get this? And if they say no, I don't see anything there, well, that's something to talk about. But I think most people hopefully will start to see, I get something about this, here's what I don't get. We're not getting to the there's water, what keeps me from being baptized section yet, which is obviously the next checkpoint conversation that we're gonna have on the following episode. But right here, we're providing all the information, hopefully somebody is open to this and they're starting to see. And as we wrap this up, we left them with a challenge to read Matthew 27 verse 32, all the way to the end of the book of Matthew. This is the section that you want somebody meditating on after this conversation. I feel like going from Isaiah 53 to then reading the accounts in Matthew 27 of Jesus' crucifixion and his death, and then all of the things that happened after that is just a way for them to kind of open their eyes a bit more to see what Jesus is all about and what he's accomplished. It's a lengthy reading, but definitely you wanna check in on that reading on the next discussion for sure. Absolutely, truly this man was the son of God, the declaration, it ends with the great commission as Jesus having all authority in heaven and on earth is sending his disciples to make disciples, to baptize. There's a lot of seeds being planted there, but the heart of it is of course, reflecting more deeply so that his death and resurrection are not just a bullet point, it's something that you can interact with the story as the inspired biblical authors explained it. So this has been the second checkpoint conversation in our Square One study. Hopefully you're seeing how powerful these things are and really how simple they are. It's not overly complicated, it's really focused on all the things that we talked about this whole season and in our Getting to Square One series, focusing on the rapport, focusing on asking good questions, thinking together, reasoning together with people and just getting past ourselves and clearing a path for them, loving them, listening to them, all the things that we've talked about doing. And if you're having these conversations with people, may the Lord bless you in all these things because he's gonna do the work you just plant. He'll focus on your work, focus on your efforts here, just show people who Jesus is, God will take care of the rest. Amen, yeah, may the Lord strengthen us in this work we're doing and praise God that someone told us the story of Jesus and how Jesus changes everything. All right, everyone, thanks so much for tuning into the Bible Geeks podcast. You can find us on our website at biblegeeks.fm. You can find show notes for this episode in your podcast player of choice or at biblegeeks.fm/222. You can also follow along with the Square One series. If you are listening to this prior to 2025, we may not have all the resources available for you yet, but soon, very soon, we will have conversation starter, videos, articles, maybe even some other resources like study guides and various things that you can take advantage of. Thank you again and until the next conversation. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Shalom.