Week 2 - The Old Testament
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Family Life - Small Group Warm Up Question:
Looking back at the past year, what was one of your favorite family memories? What sort of memories do you want to make in the year ahead
The Old Testament
Genesis 16-30
1. What were the consequences of Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah) not waiting for God’s timing and plan (Genesis 16 & 17)? Can you think of a time in your life when you doubted God’s goodness? Questioned His plans? Distrusted God’s timing? Took matters into your own hands? What can be the consequences when we don’t wait for the Lord?
2. Isaac’s name literally means “he laughs.” Likely this both reflects his parents’ doubt of God’s promise (they laughed when God told them a 100-year-old man and 90-year-old woman would have a child together) and also God’s joyous blessing in Isaac (Genesis 21:6 “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”). Is there any particular meaning to your name or your children’s names? How can our last name (family/surname) also be significant?
3. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah are given to us to because “by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6). Since the people of “Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities… indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire” they now “serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7). Why is sexual sin so dangerous? Why is it evidence of eternal lostness? Why does God speak so clearly and repeatedly about sexual sin? Why does God warn specifically about homosexuality? (Exodus 20:14, Leviticus 20:13, Matthew 5:27-32, Romans 1:26-28, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Timothy 1:9-11, Revelation 21:8)
4. Similar to how Abraham showed cowardice with Abimelech about Sarah being his wife (Genesis 20), Isaac was also afraid and lied about Rebekah being his wife (Genesis 26). Why do you think sinful patterns are often repeated among family members and across generations? Have you seen this happen within your own families? How can we learn from this for our own lives? How can we learn from this to protect the future generations of our own families?
5. When Abimelech is lied to about Abraham’s wife Sarah, God warns Abimelech in a dream that he will suffer death since he took a married woman into his house (Genesis 20). Later when a similar experience happens with Isaac’s wife Rebekah, Abimelech announces the death penalty for anyone who “molests this man or his wife” (Genesis 26:11). What does this show us about the significance of marriage? About how ignorance is not an excuse? Read Hebrews 13:4. How does this apply today? Eternally?
6. Genesis 22 starts out with “God tested Abraham.” Have you ever felt that God was testing you? What was that like? What is the purpose of such a test? Hebrews 11:17 says “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac… [19] He considered that God was able even to raise him [Isaac] from the dead.” How do difficult seasons of life reveal our faith? Grow our faith?
7. In the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Isaac is referred to as “your only son.” How is this foreshadowing God’s willingness to sacrifice Jesus? What other similarities do you see in Genesis 22 to Jesus’ incarnation and sacrifice on the cross?
8. Jacob deceived his brother Esau and his father Abraham (Genesis 25:29-34; 27). Later Jacob was deceived and lied to by Laban (Genesis 29:15-28) in regard to his work and desire to marry Rachel. What can we learn from this about sin and its consequences?
9. Esau’s choice to marry non-God-fearing local women was a “source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis 26:35). They learned from this and commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman but to get a wife from their homelands/family in Haran/Padam Aram (Genesis 28:1). How does this reflect the importance of following God’s plan for Christians to marry Christians and not be “unequally yoked”? (1 Corinthians 7:39, 2 Corinthians 6:14). Have you experienced grief in your own family or marriage with being married to a non-believer? Why is spiritual unity in a marriage so important?
10. Despite the many sins seen in the lives and families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God chooses to show mercy and bless the world through their lineage leading to Jesus. How does this encourage you about God using you in spite of your past sinful failings?
General Discussion Questions
• Context Questions: Who is writing this? Who is it being written to? When? Why? What type of writing is this? How does this matter to my understanding of the meaning of these chapters?
• Application Questions: How do you need to respond to and apply these truths to your life? (Is there a sin to avoid? A command to obey? An example to follow? A prayer to offer? A truth to remember or memorize? An attitude to change? A teaching to share?)