“life in front of God is really one incessant party”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 12:25-29
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

Starting With Questions

We opened our discussion this week by making a list of questions anyone had after looking at the passage for ten minutes or so.  People in the group suggested several questions, and we intentionally delayed answering.  Not immediately trying to answer every question enables more questions to come out. Continue reading →

“Watch out for the Esau syndrome”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 12:11-17
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

Individual or Corporate?

Our group immediately focused on verse 12, “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak….” Is the command intended for each of us to look to our own weaknesses?  The “therefore” that begins this section connects this and following commands to the previous section about discipline, that is, training. Is the pastor emphasizing our personal discipline? Or are we involved in the strengthening dimensions of one another’s discipline? Continue reading →

“We must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time.”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 11:39-12:13
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

A Developing Theme

A good beginning observation for an inductive study of a passage is repetition.  What ideas did the writer keep coming back to?  In this passage the pastor mentions “endurance” four times (v. 1,2,3,7). “Discipline” occurs nine times (v.5,6, twice in 7,8,9, twice in 10,11).  The writer explicitly connects the two terms in verse 7:  “It is for discipline that you endure.” Continue reading →

“not a sprint but a marathon”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 12:1-3
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

Examples

Our discussion of the passage began with the questions, “Why did the pastor devote over 10% of the written sermon to record examples of faith?  How does that list lead to the ‘therefore’ in Hebrews 12:1?”  The group contributed several helpful suggestions. Continue reading →

“our perspective on faith is not the view of the writer to the Hebrews”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 11:30-40
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

A Shocking Contrast

The first person to open our discussion commented on the abrupt, even unexpected contrast in verse 35.

“Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured.”

All of chapter 11 so far has been one encouraging example after another of the “heroes of the faith.”  Then the writer sums up with a brief list of names well known in Jewish history.  But then, as one group member commented, he takes a sudden ninety-degree turn, a complete change of direction into increasingly disturbing descriptions of torture and suffering. Continue reading →

“God had repeatedly answered the flimsy objections that Moses raised”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 11:23-31
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

“What Should I Say?”

Before our discussion of the passage in Hebrews 11 began, one member of our group shared from some of his recent reading.  The author was responding to a friend confiding a difficulty.  The passage finished with the question by the writer, “What should I say?”  The response was surprising. Continue reading →

“faith grows by little bitty trusts”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 11:8-22
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

Several general observations marked the beginning of our discussion about this passage.  The writer drew attention to a variety of expressions of faith, from active obedience to passive submission.  But even that distinction raised differences of opinion among us. Continue reading →

“trust puts God in God’s place and it puts us in our place”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 11:1-7
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

A Shift in Style

Moving from Hebrews 10 into chapter 11 marks a distinct change in the pastor’s approach. The first nine and a half chapters have been a continual blending of sermon styles: exposition and explanation, exhortation and encouragement, caution and warning, comfort and reassurance.  (See a suggested outline that illustrates this pattern.)  The end of chapter 10 reads like a summary of those categories:

• • ¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence… (Exposition)
  • ²² let us draw near…hold fast…consider how to stimulate… (Exhortation)
  • ²⁶ For if we go on sinning willfully… (Warning)
  • ³² But remember the former days… (Reassurance)

In chapter 11, the style shifts.  Continue reading →

“The trouble started with their ‘forsaking the assembling together”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 10:18-39
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

Putting It Together

Our discussion this week drew together passages from the last three weeks.  The richness and theological density of this section was far too much to tackle in its entirety in one week.  Earlier, we spent a week on each of the three clear logical divisions.  The pastor moved from confident hope to alarming harshness to joyful reminder.  Now it was time to put those seemingly disparate pieces together. Continue reading →

“endurance based on a Person, not on circumstances”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 10:25-39 
Jump to beginning of Hebrews Discussion Group Blog

I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

A Stick and A Carrot

When we began our discussion, someone pointed out that this passage contains the same language as earlier in Hebrews.  Like the pastor’s pattern in chapter 6, this passage follows a stern warning with comforting encouragement.  The “stick” of warning (Hebrews 6:4-8 and 10:26-31) paves the way for the “carrot” of reassurance (Hebrews 6:9-12 and 10:32-39).  This was a good example of the value of studying a biblical book in its entirety, even over the course of several months.  Seeing that kind of repeated pattern gives us a clear idea of what was foremost on the writer’s mind. Continue reading →