FAMILY FAITH TALK â Romans 8:14-17
1.
1:10 JOURNEY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Sunday, July 26, 2015 • Summit Evangelical Free Church, Alta, IA • Renato Jimenez Series: The Righteous Shall Live By Faith (Romans), Message #27
Tell about your relationship with your earthly father, and how it has affected your relationship with the Heavenly Father.
ADOPTED INTO GOD’S FAMILY ROMANS 8:14-17
2.
Read Romans 8:14-17. What did you hear in the sermon that made an impression on you as a new, significant, or helpful insight?
3.
What difference does it make to us that we know God as a Father and not simply as a Master?
4.
What are the privileges of being an adopted child of God?
5.
If we can cry out, “Abba, Father,” how does this truth comfort you? Excite you? Change how you pray?
6.
Have you ever sensed the Spirit of God bearing with your spirit that you are a child of God? How would you describe the experience? (see Wednesday devotional)
7.
What do you think it means to be an heir of God and fellow heir of Christ? Compare 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 and discuss the meaning of these verses.
8.
How do the words about suffering in verse 17 challenge or encourage you today?
9.
If you are a son or daughter of God, what aspect of your adoption particularly thrills you today?
Believers in Christ are adopted as children of God. What does this mean to us?
1. A NEW ______________________________ (v 14)
2. A SECURE ___________________________ (v 15-16)
10. What difference will that aspect make to your thoughts, priorities, or behavior today?
FAMILY FAITH TALK — Romans 8:14-17 Questions progress from targeting younger children (#1-2) to teens (#5-6).
1. Share parental love with your kids. Explain how they don’t have to earn your love. 2. How do you think of God’s love, since He calls Christians “children of God”? 3. Who is a person that you follow and try to be like? 4. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? 5. How do you feel about being adopted by God? How about calling him “Daddy”? 6. What does the Bible mean when it says “suffer” with Christ?
3. A GLORIOUS _________________________ (v 17)
Monday, July 27
Read Romans 8:14
Thursday, July 30
Read Romans 8:17
“Paul is talking about assurance of salvation and is arguing that one basis for this is our new relationship to God, which is a family relationship… Verse 14 is literally loaded with important teachings… The first point is a negative one: Not everyone is a member of God’s family… Jesus made clear that there are two families and two fatherhoods, and that only those who love and serve God are God’s children (John 8). This leads to the second important teaching of this verse. In fact, it is the main one: All Christians are members of God’s family. This involves a change that is radical, supernatural, and far-reaching… Third, To be a Christian means to be led by God’s Spirit… it means we will be growing in holiness increasingly... This introduces the fourth important teaching in this verse, which is, we might say, a test of paternity. It tells us how we know we are in God’s family. We are in God’s family if the Spirit of God is leading in our daily lives. If you are trying to please God, it is because the Spirit is at work within you, leading you to want and actually do the right thing. It is a strong reason for believing you are in God’s family.”
“Romans 8:17 introduces us to two important Biblical ideas: suffering and glory. Or, as Ray Stedman says, ‘the hurts and hallelujahs.’ The verse begins with the glory, talks about suffering, and ends with glory again. The first statement is that children of God are God’s heirs and co-heirs with Jesus Christ. What a marvelous thing this, to be an heir of God Himself! … Of what does our inheritance consist? What will believers actually possess in heaven? There are a number of things that I call ‘lesser items,’ and then there is the greatest prize of all. The lesser items: 1) A heavenly home—a place prepared especially for all believers… 2) A heavenly banquet—shared celebration and secure fellowship… 3) Rule with Christ—in His kingdom… 4) Likeness to Christ—we will be made like Jesus Himself… But there is an amazing and infinitely greater blessing that awaits us as ‘heirs of God’ and ‘co-heirs with Christ.’ What is Jesus’ inheritance? The only thing that can properly be said to be His inheritance is the Father… It is God Himself who is the inheritance of His children. He communicates Himself to them by His grace, His light, His holiness, His life.”
John 1:11-13; 8:31-47 2 Corinthians 6:16-18
Genesis 15:1 Joshua 13:33
1 John 3:1-3 Revelation 21:7
Tuesday, July 28
Read Romans 8:15
Psalm 73:25-26 Lamentations 3:24
Friday, July 31
John 17:4-5 1 Corinthians 3:21-23
Read Romans 8:17
“Adoption is the procedure by which a person is taken from one family (or no family) and placed in another. In this context, it refers to removing a person from the family of Adam (or Satan) and placing him or her in the family of God. Adoption is related to regeneration, or the new birth, but they are not the same thing. Regeneration has to do with our receiving a new life or new nature. Adoption has to do with our receiving a new status… But what is really involved is a set of new relationships— ...above all a new relationship to God. When we speak of salvation as justification, we are thinking of God as Judge. That is a remote and somewhat grim relationship. When we think of regeneration, we are thinking of God as Creator. That, too, is remote. But when we think of adoption, we are thinking of God as our Father, which denotes a far closer relationship. This is why the apostle says that the Spirit of adoption causes us to cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ ...abba was the address of small children to their fathers… it really means ‘daddy’… We now know that God is our loving Father, and because we know this we are drawn to Him.”
“Suffering is as common to God’s people today as in New Testament times. We need to understand that. It is true that most of us do not experience that special kind of suffering we call persecution, though our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world do. But we all know suffering. We suffer when we lose a husband or wife or other family member through death. We grieve when life itself or our friends or children disappoint us. We groan under pain, trauma, and sickness. We are hurt by prejudice, poverty, or a lack of rewarding work. The list is endless. Realism and pastoral concern undoubtedly caused the apostle to introduce this subject. Honesty did not allow him to talk about our inheritance without at the same time acknowledging that the path to glory involves a cross. But suffering is not the end of the story for Christians. Glory is! If suffering were the end, Christianity would be a form of masochism, suffering for suffering’s sake. Since it is not the end, since suffering is the path to glory, Christianity is a religion of genuine hope and effective consolation. So let’s hang in there! And let’s encourage one another as we run the race and fight the long battles.”
Psalm 103:3 Isaiah 64:8
2 Corinthians 1:3-11; 4:7-11, 16-18; 11:16—12:10
Jeremiah 3:19 Matthew 6:9
Mark 14:36 Galatians 3:26; 4:6
Wednesday, July 29
Read Romans 8:16
“I know that what I am going to say now will be misunderstood by some people… But what I am convinced this teaches is that there is such a thing as a direct witness of the Holy Spirit to believers that they are sons or daughters of God... In other words, it is possible to have a genuine experience of the Holy Spirit in one’s heart… Haven’t you ever had such an experience? An overwhelming sense of God’s presence?... You may have been moved to tears. You may have deeply felt some other sign of God’s presence, by which you were certainly moved to a more wonderful love for Him… If you have had any of these intensely spiritual moments, perhaps in your quiet times or while sitting in a church service, thank God for them. Know that they do not replace any of the other things I have stressed. The Bible is primary. But rejoice that God also has a way of making Himself so real to us that we are actually lifted up, even in hard times, and are assured by that spiritual whisper of divine love that we are and always will be God’s children.”
1 Kings 19:1-13 Psalm 43:3-5
1 Corinthians 13:12 Ephesians 3:14-19
Saturday, August 1
Read Romans 8:18-25
As you prepare for next Sunday’s message, meditate on what it means to be “groaning” and “waiting” for our completed salvation.
Devotional Thoughts by: James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) ROMANS, An Expositional Commentary, Vol 2: The Reign of Grace (Rom 5-8); Baker 1992
1:10 JOURNEY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Sunday, July 26, 2015 • Summit Evangelical Free Church, Alta, IA • Renato Jimenez Series: The Righteous Shall Live By Faith (Romans), Message #27
Tell about your relationship with your earthly father, and how it has affected your relationship with the Heavenly Father.
ADOPTED INTO GOD’S FAMILY ROMANS 8:14-17
2.
Read Romans 8:14-17. What did you hear in the sermon that made an impression on you as a new, significant, or helpful insight?
3.
What difference does it make to us that we know God as a Father and not simply as a Master?
4.
What are the privileges of being an adopted child of God?
5.
If we can cry out, “Abba, Father,” how does this truth comfort you? Excite you? Change how you pray?
6.
Have you ever sensed the Spirit of God bearing with your spirit that you are a child of God? How would you describe the experience? (see Wednesday devotional)
7.
What do you think it means to be an heir of God and fellow heir of Christ? Compare 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 and discuss the meaning of these verses.
8.
How do the words about suffering in verse 17 challenge or encourage you today?
9.
If you are a son or daughter of God, what aspect of your adoption particularly thrills you today?
Believers in Christ are adopted as children of God. What does this mean to us?
1. A NEW ______________________________ (v 14)
2. A SECURE ___________________________ (v 15-16)
10. What difference will that aspect make to your thoughts, priorities, or behavior today?
FAMILY FAITH TALK — Romans 8:14-17 Questions progress from targeting younger children (#1-2) to teens (#5-6).
1. Share parental love with your kids. Explain how they don’t have to earn your love. 2. How do you think of God’s love, since He calls Christians “children of God”? 3. Who is a person that you follow and try to be like? 4. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? 5. How do you feel about being adopted by God? How about calling him “Daddy”? 6. What does the Bible mean when it says “suffer” with Christ?
3. A GLORIOUS _________________________ (v 17)
Monday, July 27
Read Romans 8:14
Thursday, July 30
Read Romans 8:17
“Paul is talking about assurance of salvation and is arguing that one basis for this is our new relationship to God, which is a family relationship… Verse 14 is literally loaded with important teachings… The first point is a negative one: Not everyone is a member of God’s family… Jesus made clear that there are two families and two fatherhoods, and that only those who love and serve God are God’s children (John 8). This leads to the second important teaching of this verse. In fact, it is the main one: All Christians are members of God’s family. This involves a change that is radical, supernatural, and far-reaching… Third, To be a Christian means to be led by God’s Spirit… it means we will be growing in holiness increasingly... This introduces the fourth important teaching in this verse, which is, we might say, a test of paternity. It tells us how we know we are in God’s family. We are in God’s family if the Spirit of God is leading in our daily lives. If you are trying to please God, it is because the Spirit is at work within you, leading you to want and actually do the right thing. It is a strong reason for believing you are in God’s family.”
“Romans 8:17 introduces us to two important Biblical ideas: suffering and glory. Or, as Ray Stedman says, ‘the hurts and hallelujahs.’ The verse begins with the glory, talks about suffering, and ends with glory again. The first statement is that children of God are God’s heirs and co-heirs with Jesus Christ. What a marvelous thing this, to be an heir of God Himself! … Of what does our inheritance consist? What will believers actually possess in heaven? There are a number of things that I call ‘lesser items,’ and then there is the greatest prize of all. The lesser items: 1) A heavenly home—a place prepared especially for all believers… 2) A heavenly banquet—shared celebration and secure fellowship… 3) Rule with Christ—in His kingdom… 4) Likeness to Christ—we will be made like Jesus Himself… But there is an amazing and infinitely greater blessing that awaits us as ‘heirs of God’ and ‘co-heirs with Christ.’ What is Jesus’ inheritance? The only thing that can properly be said to be His inheritance is the Father… It is God Himself who is the inheritance of His children. He communicates Himself to them by His grace, His light, His holiness, His life.”
John 1:11-13; 8:31-47 2 Corinthians 6:16-18
Genesis 15:1 Joshua 13:33
1 John 3:1-3 Revelation 21:7
Tuesday, July 28
Read Romans 8:15
Psalm 73:25-26 Lamentations 3:24
Friday, July 31
John 17:4-5 1 Corinthians 3:21-23
Read Romans 8:17
“Adoption is the procedure by which a person is taken from one family (or no family) and placed in another. In this context, it refers to removing a person from the family of Adam (or Satan) and placing him or her in the family of God. Adoption is related to regeneration, or the new birth, but they are not the same thing. Regeneration has to do with our receiving a new life or new nature. Adoption has to do with our receiving a new status… But what is really involved is a set of new relationships— ...above all a new relationship to God. When we speak of salvation as justification, we are thinking of God as Judge. That is a remote and somewhat grim relationship. When we think of regeneration, we are thinking of God as Creator. That, too, is remote. But when we think of adoption, we are thinking of God as our Father, which denotes a far closer relationship. This is why the apostle says that the Spirit of adoption causes us to cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ ...abba was the address of small children to their fathers… it really means ‘daddy’… We now know that God is our loving Father, and because we know this we are drawn to Him.”
“Suffering is as common to God’s people today as in New Testament times. We need to understand that. It is true that most of us do not experience that special kind of suffering we call persecution, though our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world do. But we all know suffering. We suffer when we lose a husband or wife or other family member through death. We grieve when life itself or our friends or children disappoint us. We groan under pain, trauma, and sickness. We are hurt by prejudice, poverty, or a lack of rewarding work. The list is endless. Realism and pastoral concern undoubtedly caused the apostle to introduce this subject. Honesty did not allow him to talk about our inheritance without at the same time acknowledging that the path to glory involves a cross. But suffering is not the end of the story for Christians. Glory is! If suffering were the end, Christianity would be a form of masochism, suffering for suffering’s sake. Since it is not the end, since suffering is the path to glory, Christianity is a religion of genuine hope and effective consolation. So let’s hang in there! And let’s encourage one another as we run the race and fight the long battles.”
Psalm 103:3 Isaiah 64:8
2 Corinthians 1:3-11; 4:7-11, 16-18; 11:16—12:10
Jeremiah 3:19 Matthew 6:9
Mark 14:36 Galatians 3:26; 4:6
Wednesday, July 29
Read Romans 8:16
“I know that what I am going to say now will be misunderstood by some people… But what I am convinced this teaches is that there is such a thing as a direct witness of the Holy Spirit to believers that they are sons or daughters of God... In other words, it is possible to have a genuine experience of the Holy Spirit in one’s heart… Haven’t you ever had such an experience? An overwhelming sense of God’s presence?... You may have been moved to tears. You may have deeply felt some other sign of God’s presence, by which you were certainly moved to a more wonderful love for Him… If you have had any of these intensely spiritual moments, perhaps in your quiet times or while sitting in a church service, thank God for them. Know that they do not replace any of the other things I have stressed. The Bible is primary. But rejoice that God also has a way of making Himself so real to us that we are actually lifted up, even in hard times, and are assured by that spiritual whisper of divine love that we are and always will be God’s children.”
1 Kings 19:1-13 Psalm 43:3-5
1 Corinthians 13:12 Ephesians 3:14-19
Saturday, August 1
Read Romans 8:18-25
As you prepare for next Sunday’s message, meditate on what it means to be “groaning” and “waiting” for our completed salvation.
Devotional Thoughts by: James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) ROMANS, An Expositional Commentary, Vol 2: The Reign of Grace (Rom 5-8); Baker 1992
