A Provisional Law
Before the Session
Facilitator: In advance of the session
- Have the Bible Background Video ready to view.
- Review today’s scripture text and the session activities to help better facilitate the discussion.
- Encourage your group to listen to the Faithelement podcast ahead of the next session (Share the link via email or social media)
Context (From the Media Session Page)
Begin by asking:
- If you had multiple children or grandchildren, and one of them came up to you and asked “which one of us do you love the best?” what would you say and why?
- What image/idea would you use to say you love all your children/grandchildren equally?
Play the Snowflake video and ask:
- After we get over the funny but sad image concluding Tim’s song, how do you feel about the snowflake image and why?
- What would you add to Tim’s song and why?
- What do you think the answer would be if we were to ask God whom God loves the most?
Content (From the Mind Session Page)
Read Galatians 3:23-29, then watch the Bible Background Video
Then ask questions like these:
- The “guardian” Paul speaks of was a slave or servant who watched over a child until they were old enough to safely make decisions on their own. In what ways is this an appropriate image for the Law?
- Paul also says we were “captive” or “in custody” under the Law. These images imply that we were limited or not free in some way, so what do you think that meant?
- All those rules in the Old Testament, how did they lead us to Jesus?
- What role did they play in the lives and hearts of human beings until Jesus came and at the same time, what could those rules not do for us?
- In what ways is “clothing yourselves with Christ an appropriate image for what Jesus accomplished?
- Paul is talking to Gentile Christ followers living in Galatians. They’ve been told that they need to follow the Jewish laws in order to really become Christians, but Paul’s saying they don’t. To these people, what do you think it would it mean to hear, “you are Abraham’s offspring?”
- In what ways does Jesus make us one, despite our differences?
Closure (from the Youth Session page)
Have each person find a partner and give each set of partners a piece of paper and something with which to write. Tell the pairs to make two columns on their paper, listing in the first the ways the two of them are similar to each other and in the second, the ways in which they are different from each other.
After a few minutes, have each group share their lists with the whole group, then ask:
- What are the most common similarities and difference we found together and what do you think that means?
- Which of our differences could be a big deal in the grand scheme of things and why?
- Which of our similarities are most important and why?
- In what ways is being a child of God the most important similarity that each of you have?
- In what ways does the most different Christian from you still have the most important things in common?
- What can our similarities and differences do for us when we face other people who are very different from us?
Close this session in prayer.