Archive for the ‘fear’ tag
October 24, 2010: God’s Covenant with Abram
The text for this lesson is Genesis 15:1–6; 17:1–27
Key Points
- God gave Abram (Abraham) faith to trust His promises to save His people. God gives us faith in Jesus, our Savior.
- Law: God wants me to believe and trust in Him.
- Gospel: God grants me faith in Jesus, my Savior.
- Law: In my sin, I doubt that God can do what He promises. I do not trust God.
- Gospel: God in His mercy carries out His promises, giving me reason to trust Him in all things and the faith to do so.
- “Fear not, Abram.” Why would Abram fear? He has just vanquished the enemy, rescued Lot, and received the blessing of the priest of the Most High God. What is there to fear?
- Have we felt the fears of Abram?
- How often have we sat, like Abram, in the silence of our corporate Confession considering our own doubts and fears, waiting for these words: “I, as a called and ordained servant of the Word . . . forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”? How often have we yearned for our Shield, Abram’s very great reward, Jesus Christ, to speak His comforting words of clemency to us?
- God speaks over and over again to Abram. Yet, His Word is always the same. He continually tells Abram that He will bless him through his offspring. Contemplate this cycle of fear/promise in the life of Abram. How is this similar to our lives of faith in Christ? Christ crucified is preached every Sunday of the year in our churches. Every Sunday, His resurrection is proclaimed. Why must we be comforted with the same message over and over again as was Abram? What does this message say about our need to go to regular worship services and hear His merciful speaking?
- It is popular these days to give a loved one a paper certifying that a star will be named in one’s honor. Yet, this is only paper. Reread Genesis 15:5. How are we linked with the stars? Look toward heaven, Christian, and number the stars. Each one bears the name of an offspring of Abraham. Read Galatians 3:29. How is this so?
- Genesis 17 is not so much about Abraham as it is about Sarah. This was her promise. Abraham had already received the promise of a son born to him (Genesis 15:4). Believing that the barrenness of Sarah was a barrier, Abraham took matters into his own hands. He had a son, Ishmael, by Hagar. God’s promise to Sarah required even more faith. How is it that she who was infertile could produce a child?
- Note Abram’s reaction in Genesis 17:17. In the midst of God’s speaking, Abram laughed. Seems a bit inappropriate, doesn’t it? Read Psalm 126:1–3. God showers His good gifts on us every Sunday. Felicity follows forgiveness, even if tempered by reverence. God found no fault with Abram’s festive feedback. How was Abram’s laughter a sign of his faith? What else accompanied it? Should we follow Abram with regard to his worship practice?
- What did circumcision signify? Read Exodus 4:24–26. How important was the circumcision covenant to God? Read Colossians 2:10–14. In which watery way are Christians to be circumcised now? Explain how this is tied to Christ’s own keeping of the Law. See Luke 2:21. How important is it to God that we receive the new circumcision without flesh? What is bestowed upon us in this new circumcision?
- John the Baptist declared that God can
make descendants of Abraham out of stones (Matthew 3:9). What does this tell us about how Christians are made? What does this tell us about the hardness of our hearts before we are converted? In a discussion with the Pharisees, Jesus told them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did” (John 8:39). How was Jesus’ thought influenced by Genesis 15:6? What is it that Abraham did? - Do you ever wonder why Moses wrote this simple sentence in Genesis 15:6? Certainly faith is not seen. We can’t look at someone and see faith written across the forehead. Moses, too, could not see Abram’s faith. See Romans 4:20–25. Why would the Holy Spirit inspire Moses to pen this intimate look into the inner workings of Abraham’s soul?
Discussion Points
March 1, 2009: Jesus Calms a Storm
The text for this lesson is Mark 4:35–41.
Key Points
- Just as Jesus calmed the storm with His Word for the frightened disciples, so He calms and ends the storm of sin and its certain death by taking our sin on Himself and dying in our place so we may live eternally.
- Law: “God doesn’t care about us, our fears, our sufferings, our anything.” That’s what we think, all too often, when the storms of life hit. We feel God is giving us the cold shoulder, or, worse by far, wonder if He even exists. Fear suffocates faith, leading ultimately to despair and hopelessness.
- Gospel: God does care. In the vast cosmos, nothing is as much the object of His love as you. Though, when walking through this valley of sorrow (or being tossed about in a ferocious sea), it seems the Lord is heartless, He is anything but. He is with you. At the right time, He will provide peace through His Word, bring you out of the valley and storm, and calm your trembling heart.
December 14, 2008: An Angel Visits Joseph
The text for this lesson is Matthew 1:18–25.
Key Points
- Just as the angel proclaimed to Joseph that Mary would bear an infant who is the Son of God, the Savior, so God proclaimed to us in His Word that this same Jesus is our Savior from sin and death.
- Law: “Seeing is believing,” or so we tell, or, rather, deceive ourselves. We live by sight, not faith in the divine Word. Worse yet, most often we see only what we want to see. We school our eyes to perceive reality as we desire it to be, not as it really is. In our own eyes, our own senses, we trust, not Christ.
- Gospel: God tells us what is real, what is true, what is trustworthy. He acts in a way perceptible not necessarily through the eyes, but through the ears—ears attuned to what God says. Believing is not seeing, but hearing, for “faith comes from hearing” (Romans 10:17) and is “the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is in Immanuel, God with us, cradled in a virgin womb.
