The Bible for Grown-Ups | Week 3

Week 3 The Bible for Grown-Ups 

INTRODUCTION  

The Old Testament chronicles God’s redemptive, sequential activity in history. It’s a fabulous, gritty, epic history of the Hebrew people in which, over and over, Israel is reminded that they are a divine means to an end. So instead of seeing the Old Testament as a spiritual guidebook or a storyline that needs to be tidied up, maybe we should see it as something even better—the history of God preparing the world for a Savior.  

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS  

Leaders: Grab some pens and notecards for the group discussion.

1. Discuss a story or an idea from the Old Testament that someone tried to tidy up and soften the edges of to serve their practical purpose in teaching you.  

   • What’s the difference in seeing the Old Testament as a spiritual guidebook versus a history of the Hebrew nation?  

2. Write each of the following words on separate notecards and put them in order where everyone can see them.  

   Abraham, Moses, Sinai Covenant, Kings, Temple, Prophets  

   • As a group, discuss a few words and phrases that you associate with the subject of each card. Write your answers on the cards.  

3. Many people criticize the seemingly unsophisticated nature of the Sinai covenant and use it as a reason to abandon faith. In actuality, the Hebrew nation, because of the guidelines in Leviticus, was way ahead of its time.  

   • Which of the following ideas is most surprising or meaningful to you?  

   • What do these ideas change about the way you see God?  

   • What do they change about your view of the purpose of the Old Testament?  

   • The covenant represented a moral and civil code that ascribed inherent dignity to every person.  

• The covenant included a sexual ethic that protected the weak and vulnerable.  

• The covenant viewed humanity as the pinnacle of creation because every person is made in God’s image.  

• Women, servants, foreigners, and children all fared better under Hebrew law than did their counterparts in the surrounding nations.  

4. Occasionally, a prophet would speak beyond their historical context to a future day when God would do something through a nation for all nations.  

   Read Isaiah 53:5–11  

   But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;by his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 

   • What is the most meaningful image to you in this passage?  

5. On a notecard, write “Jesus,” and put the notecard after Prophets in line with the others you’ve already made so that everyone can see them in sequential order.  

   • As a group, write words or phrases you associate with Jesus on the notecard. Now take the other cards, put them in a pile, and place them to the side with only the Jesus card showing.  

Read Galatians 4:4–5  

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 

• What does it mean that Jesus would redeem those under the law?  

• What is different about the relationship we can have with God versus the relationship an ancient Jew could have with him? 

MOVING FORWARD  

The storyline of the Old Testament should cause us to drop to our knees in gratitude. There’s no need to tidy it up and sand off the rough edges. It’s not a spiritual guidebook. It’s the story of our God, who waded into the mess in order to write a story of redemption.

This week, write Galatians 4:4–5 on a notecard and think about what these verses mean for you.