TODAY:

Galatians - Christ Alone Part 6: From Performance to Promise

BIG IDEA:

The law was not given to secure the promise of God, but to point to it

SCRIPTURES:

Galatians 3:15-25, Luke 15:11-32

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Q: Do you typically view/evaluate/engage people based on their performance or through a Gospel-lens? Would the people around you agree with your answer?

Q: How is God’s Word both a window & a mirror?

Q: How do the Scriptures/concepts from this week help you grow as a disciple who loves God, loves people & serves the world (lives on incarnational mission) in everyday life?

Q: Based on these Scriptures, how can you move from unbelief to belief, from just knowing to actually doing in your life?

Connect with God (UP)...

Q: Read John 3:16-17 & 1 John 4:7-11,19-21. What can we learn about God’s covenant promise from these?

Q: Read Galatians 3:15-25. How do the verses from John & 1 John help us understand this passage better?

Q: God’s “I love you” is a promise. Do you trust Him? Why or why not? What difference does this make?

Q: What are some ways that “Christians” try to add to, take away from or change God’s promise as found in the Bible? What effect does this have? What can/should we do about it?

Connect with Others(IN)...

Q: How to the above passages help us understand how to treat & relate with those around us, according to God’s promise of love?

Q: How are the insecurity/despair &/or pride/judgementalism of a performance-based system deadly within a church? How does God’s promise bring guidance & healing instead?

Connect with the World (OUT)...

Q: What are some ways that systems in the world/culture try to add to, take away from or change God’s promise as found in the Bible? What effect does this have? What can/should we do about it?

NOTES & QUOTES:

“The law of Moses can’t turn God’s promise/covenant with Abraham into something other than what it was – a promise. If the law of Moses came as away of salvation, it means that God changed His mind. It would mean that God had decided that we didn’t need a Savior, and that He would give out His blessing on the basis of (our) performance, not (His) promise.” (Keller – Acts For You)

“As long as a person thinks he is right, he is going to be incomprehensibly proud and presumptuous. He is going to hate God, despise His grace and mercy, and ignore the promise in Christ. The Gospel (of grace) will never appeal to the self- righteous. The monster of self-righteousness, this stiff-necked beast, needs a big axe. And that is what the law is – a big axe.” (Martin Luther)

ACTION STEPS

Examine our lives: are we living out of & creating performance-based or promise-based systems?