14 Jun Discussion Guide: Children of Promise
Prayer
Take the first 10 minutes of your time together to listen to what God is doing in one another’s lives and pray for any specific needs people in your group may have.
This week we continue our series titled Sons and Daughters. We will be taking a look at how the Gospel transforms our lives and gives us a new identity as children of God.
Discussion Questions
“I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them, and from a philosophical standpoint Christianity is not even the best.” – C.S. Lewis at age 17
“You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” – C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy
Where were you, what was your life like, when Jesus saved you?
How did your life change after that moment?
What had you done to deserve or to earn that gift of salvation?
Genesis 3:7
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Having bought into the lie of the Serpant, Adam and Eve choose to disobey God and as a result they become aware of their own weakness and vulnerability and try to cover their shame. From that point on the human race has continued to try to cover their weakness by seeking our own glory rather than the glory of God.
How would you define the word shame?
Shame is that feeling that you have failed to meet the expectations of others. It’s feeling like you are unworthy of love and belonging. And yet it is more than just a feeling. Shame can very easily become an identity in our hearts. Based on what others have said about us, or done to us, or thoughts we have had about our own failures, can all lead to not just feeling unloved, but to actually seeing yourself as unlovable. That is the essence of shame.
What role does shame play in our sin?
Because of our sinful nature and the sinful choices we have made, we inherently feel inadequate, like we don’t have what it takes. That knowledge leads us to the shameful feeling that we are not lovable, and since being loved is our deepest desire we all grasp for and look to those things that we believe will make us somebody. We look to those things that give us a leg up on others, that make us more powerful, more beautiful, smarter, envied by others. And, since God’s purpose in our creation is to love Him and love others first, to seek anything that makes much of us, or puts us at the center of existence, is by definition sin. This was the lie Adam and Eve believed when the Serpent told them God didn’t really love them and if they wanted to truly be somebody they needed to become like God rather than worshipping the One True God. It is the lie we believe many times as well, that God’s love for us is not enough, that we need the love a respect of people more than the affirmation of our Heavenly Father.
How does that shame fuel religious behavior and self-righteous living?
Religion is just another way to seek to obtain a reputation that can supplant the shame we feel. It’s a way to earn approval from God and others, to make us feel like we’ve done enough, we have what it takes. Religion is simply ya more disciplined form of sin. It’s still seeking an identity apart from Christ.
Romans 9:10-12
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
How does the Gospel remove our shame?
The heart of the Gospel is that we are so messed up that Jesus had to die for us, but we are so loved that He was glad to do it. Which means that we can actually embrace our failures and acknowledge our shortcomings because we can know that our identity does not lie within those things, but rather it lies in the fact that God has called us His own despite our failures. We can live open and authentic lives without pretense or shame because the most important Being in the Universe has accepted us and affirmed us. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what others think about us. We don’t need to live up to other people’s expectations because there is no one in all of creation who’s opinion can outweigh that of God.
How can our living out the Gospel in the places God puts us help free others from the shame they carry as well?
Closing Thought
To lose our grip on the costliness of forgiveness will result in a superficial, perfunctory confession that does not lead to any real change of heart. There will be no life change. To lose our grip on the freeness of forgiveness, however, will lead to continued guilt, shame, and self-loathing. There will be no relief. Only when we see both the freeness and the cost of forgiveness will we get relief from the guilt as well as liberation from the power of sin in our lives.”
How do you suppose knowing the love of God, and the costliness of forgiveness, not only free us from shame but also liberate us from the power of sin in our lives?