INTRODUCTION
2012 is Olympics year in the United Kingdom. In the Olympics we have all the excitement and challenge of athletics. Sporting images are used often in the New Testament to speak of the challenge, discipline and achievement of living life with Christ.
This set of Lent studies is based on Hebrews 11.1-12.4. At the end of that passage there is an inspiring image of Christians running the race. As we do so we are surrounded by a crowd of witnesses cheering us on. Some of their stories are told in Hebrews 11 and so we will be looking at how they can be examples and inspire us in living the life of faith, just like our sporting heroes. This race is run looking to Jesus waiting at the finishing line. He himself has run the race and been victorious. The studies raise questions about what it means to believe; how we face up to difficulties and doubts; and the challenges of obedience to God.
OUTLINE OF THE SERIES
1. The Walk of Faith (Hebrews 11.1-7)
2. The Leap of Faith (Hebrews 11.8-22)
3. The Fight of Faith (Hebrews 11.23-31)
4. The Team Effort (Hebrews 11.32-40)
5. The Champion (12.1-4)
EACH STUDY has the following sections:
On one page so that you can photocopy just this page for group members:
The warm up
A list of passages for reading beforehand, which fill in the background to the stories referred to in Hebrews. They could be part of a pattern of daily Bible reading for Lent. It would be a great help if everyone read them. The leader of the group will definitely need to do so.
The starting line
A warm-up discussion starter to get everyone talking. Usually there’s a sport related idea and an alternative.
The race
The main suggestions for discussion for each week.
Over the line
A question to sum up and round off discussion.
Then for group leaders:
The extra mile
More questions which can be used instead of or in addition to the questions given under ‘The race’.
The briefing
Background notes to help you understand the passage.
Celebrating and reflecting
Prayer should always be part of the group’s time together. Some ideas that can be used throughout the series can be found following the studies. This section suggests ways of using those and other ideas.
SESSION 1 – THE WALK OF FAITH (Abel, Enoch, Noah)
The warm up
In the week before this study read the following passages from Genesis. Think about what they convey about faith, the promises of God and obedience to him.
1. Genesis 4.1-16
2. Genesis 5.18-24
3. Genesis 6.1-8
4. Genesis 6.9-22
5. Genesis 7.1-24
6. Genesis 8.1-22
7. Genesis 9.1-17
The starting line
Who are your sporting heroes, whether particular individuals or those who take part in a particular sport? Did anyone choose a walker? (Very unlikely!!) The passage we are studying over the next few weeks culminates in the picture of the Christian life as a race. Hebrews 11 describes some of the Old Testament characters who have run the race of faith. This week’s section, however, talks about people who walked with God. Walking is not a high profile sport. It’s an individual exercise and demands endurance. Which other sports require that sort of endurance? What are the challenges of an individual sport like walking? How do you motivate yourself? Are there any initial clues there about what it might mean to ‘walk with God’?
Or
Share in twos or threes what you enjoy about going for a walk – do you prefer to walk alone or with someone? Are there echoes of that in your relationship with God?
The race
Read Hebrews 11.1-7
1. The White Queen in Alice in Wonderland talked of believing ‘as many as six impossible things before breakfast’. How do you see faith? How is faith described in this passage?
Faith in a God who created everything out of nothing is attacked by some as unscientific. Why do you think such faith is reasonable? How does faith in God as creator make sense of the world we live in? Why is faith in God important?
2. Abel’s offering (verse 4) was accepted by God because of his faith, while his brother Cain, whose offering was not accepted, is described as harbouring evil in his heart (see Genesis 4.7). How does faith inspire our worship, giving and the dedication of our lives to God?
3. Enoch is described as someone who ‘walked with God’ (Genesis 5.22) – what might people have noticed about his life that would make them say that? How did Enoch’s faith shape his living and dying? What things help you to ‘walk with God’?
4. Genesis 6.9 describes Noah as ‘a righteous man, blameless in his generation’, who ‘walked with God’. How does his life demonstrate that? How did Noah exercise his faith? How does faith in God help us keep going in the face of difficult circumstances which threaten to overwhelm us?
Over the line
What key things have we learnt this week about faith and our relationship to God?
The extra mile
1. What can we learn from verses 1-3 and 6 about faith? Consider such things as
- What is the nature of faith?
- What is at the heart of faith?
- What is the outcome of faith?
2. Think of people you know who demonstrate a real faith in God. How do they show their faith?
3. The story of Cain and Abel is the first story in the Bible about family conflict, one taken up by many writers since. What are some of the things that cause divisions in families?
4. Both Abel and Noah are described as being accounted as ‘righteous’ because of their faith. What is the relationship between faith and acceptance by God? (You might like to look at the passages mentioned in ‘The briefing’.)
5. ‘From sudden death, good Lord deliver us,’ prays the Church of England’s Litany. ‘Death will be an awfully big adventure,’ says Peter Pan. What do you think makes a ‘good’ death? How does Enoch’s experience picture death as the end of a journey with God? How should Christians face dying?
6. ‘You must be mad!’ - people must have said that to Noah, as they do to Christians today. What circumstances can you think of today where faith in God goes counter to the accepted wisdom of those around us? How can we face up to mockery and opposition with Noah’s resolve? How did Noah’s behaviour show up the sin and failure of others?
7. Noah acted in faith to save his family, we are told; while Genesis 5.22 says it was after his son’s birth that Enoch walked with God. What are the challenges of showing a right concern for our families and their well-being?
The briefing
The passages listed for reading this week give the background to the verses in Hebrews. Leaders need to have read them beforehand.
Hebrews 11 is all about the ways in which faith is demonstrated. Verses 1-3 and verse 6 give us some definitions of faith but it is much easier to understand the nature of faith when we look at the example of those who have faith. That’s what the writer does in this chapter – he speaks of the great crowd of witnesses which surround us and spur us on as we live the life of faith (12.1-2).This chapter follows on from verses where he speaks of facing persecution (10.32-39) and many of the examples given are of people who stood firm in their faith despite difficulties of various sorts.
In verses 1-3 faith is described as something which enables us to have a conviction and assurance about things we can’t see. It enables us to look forward to what God will do in the future. It is faith which gains God’s approval or makes us ‘righteous’, accepted by him. Faith means believing that God is the creator (verse 3) that he exists (verse 6) and that he rewards those who seek him. Those who seek to know God do come to know him. They find forgiveness for the past, strength for the present and the hope of eternal life for the future.
We are given examples of faith, working our way through the Bible from the beginning - until the writer gives up because there are just too many (11.32)! So we begin with Abel. He and his brother Cain brought offerings to God. As a farmer Cain’s was from the fruit of his ground, Abel as a shepherd brought the firstlings from his flock. Genesis does not spell out why God accepted Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. Some suggest it was because Abel’s was the offering of an animal sacrifice. That doesn’t seem to be the reason, however. More likely is the way that God points out to Cain the sin lurking in his heart (Genesis 4.7), while Abel had come with faith and had brought the best he could as an offering. For the writer to the Hebrews it is Abel’s faith that marks him out.
It is in the description of Enoch (Genesis 5.22) that we first find the beautiful description of someone ‘walking with God’, which suggests an intimate day by day experience of fellowship with God. Enoch’s walk with God was so close that one day he just walked into eternity with God. He did not experience death in the usual way, but his experience echoes the way that for the Christian the sting of death has been drawn, death need not be feared and we can get on with living for God. (1 Corinthians 15.50-58).
Noah too ‘found favour with God’ and ‘walked with God’ (Genesis 6.8-9). This is seen in the way he simply got on with doing what God told him to do – even if it did seem a little ridiculous! His way of life contrasted with those around (Genesis 6.1-8) and so Hebrews 11.7 says he ‘condemned the world’ by showing up their failure to believe in God or to obey him. He is described as being ‘righteous’ (Genesis 6.9 and 7.1). Hebrews links that righteousness to his faith in the way Paul does in his letters (see Romans 4.11, 10.6 and Philippians 3.9).
Celebrating and reflecting
Use some of the ideas from the Worship resource pages to celebrate the faith of the patriarchs we have learnt about today.
Read or say Psalms which celebrate God the creator such as Psalms 8, 19, 136.1-9 (everyone can join in the response from the 2nd half of each verse of this Psalm) or a version of the Benedicite (Common Worship pages 778-779).
Give thanks for the reality of a relationship with God demonstrated in the lives of those who ‘walk with God’. Mention by name people you know who have shown what it means to ‘walk with God’.
You could include prayer for families, for the dying, for those who oppose the Christian faith and way of life.
SESSION 2 - THE LEAP OF FAITH (Abraham and his descendants)
The warm up
In the week before this study read the following passages from Genesis. Think about what they convey about faith, the promises of God and obedience to him?
1. Genesis 12.1-9
2. Genesis 18.1-15
3. Genesis 21.1-7
4. Genesis 22.1-19
5. Genesis 27.1-40
6. Genesis 47.28-48.5 and 48.17-49.2
7. Genesis 50.22-26
The starting line
Which sporting events involve jumping? Sometimes we talk about the ‘leap of faith’ involved in being a Christian. Imagine yourself in the position of someone taking part in one of those sporting events. Are there any ways in which the way those events are tackled which throw light on the idea of ‘the leap of faith’ Christians might make? What dissimilarities can you think of?
or
Share in twos or threes about the moves you have made from one place to another. Why did you move? Was there any sense of God guiding in those moves?
The race
Read Hebrews 11.8-22
1. Why did Abraham leave his home and set off into the unknown? Consider such things as
- What was he searching for?
- Why did he trust God?
- Was a ‘leap of faith’ required?
Today we often speak of people coming to faith as being like a journey. Does our experience mirror Abraham’s in any way? What motivates and inspires people to come to faith in God?
2. Christians were once upon a time regularly described as being ‘so heavenly-minded they’re of no earthly use’. How did a vision of a heavenly city, beyond even the Promised Land they were looking for, inspire and sustain the patriarchs?
Might it be true that Christians today are so earthly minded they are of no heavenly use? How can a future hope sustain and support us now?
3. ‘Trust and obey’ are two words Christians have often linked. How did the patriarchs trust? How did they obey? How does the story about Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac demonstrate his trust and obedience?
What are the links between our trust and our obedience?
4. This passage shows us people doing things which go against much in our contemporary culture. What can we learn about such things as
- letting go of our present security?
- not getting instant satisfaction but waiting patiently for things?
- not being tied down by earthly possessions?
Over the line
What key things have we learnt this week about faith as ‘the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen’ (v.1 NRSV)? (Or ‘being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’? (v.1 NIV)?)
The extra mile
1. Someone has said ‘impossible’ is not in the Christian vocabulary’. How does the story of the patriarchs demonstrate that? What dreams would you like to see fulfilled?
2. Sarah is described as having faith despite her initial laughter at the idea of her having a child. How can her example of unbelief turning into faith encourage us? When have you found it difficult to believe? What has helped you to believe?
3. How can having a vision to pursue or future goals shape someone’s life? Can you think of some examples from your own lives or those of others?
4. Which is more helpful - faith in God’s promises or faith in a faithful God?
5. The patriarchs trusted despite not seeing the fulfilment of God’s promises. Why do you think that was? How do we cope when things don’t seem to go according to our plans?
6. The image of Christians as ‘aliens and exiles’ in a foreign land is found in other places in the New Testament (see for example 1 Peter 2.11 and Ephesians 2.19). What are the challenges such an image presents to us? What encouragement does the picture give to us?
7. Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, Jacob to Joseph – trust in God and his promises is passed on from one generation to another. What are the challenges for us in passing the Christian faith on to future generations?
The briefing
The passages listed for reading this week give the background to the verses in Hebrews. Leaders need to have read them beforehand.
Genesis 12 tells of Abraham leaving his home and family in response to a command, which he obeyed, to go to the land God would show him and to a promise of blessing through his descendants, which he trusted. Though God led Abraham to the land of Canaan it was not until hundreds of years later that his descendants, after their time in Egypt, actually occupied the land. The writer to the Hebrews suggests that Abraham and his descendants were aware of a bigger picture than just occupying the land. They trusted in God whose plans were much bigger. The promise about blessings for all the world through Abraham’s offspring was a promise of the salvation brought to all the world by Jesus. So they had a distant glimpse of the hope of eternal life described here and in places like Revelation 21 and22 as a heavenly city. Their faith was the same as that of Christian believers.
Verse 11 raises some questions. Is Sarah an example of faith, which led to the birth of Isaac? That’s what some versions of the Greek text suggest. Genesis, however, tells of Sarah’s unbelieving laughter at the news she would have a son. So other Greek texts, perhaps trying to make sense of this, suggest it was Abraham who had the faith. Modern translations often include one version in the main text and the other in a foot-note. Sarah’s unbelief must have turned to faith in the process of carrying Isaac, as Genesis 21.6 suggests. Elsewhere in the New Testament Sarah is held up as an example of a godly woman. (See 1 Peter 3.5-6.)
God’s call to Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice is bound to raise questions – human sacrifice was not uncommon in the religions of other peoples, but Hebrew religion rejected it. Why did God ask this of Abraham and why did he obey? Hebrews speaks of it as a test of Abraham’s faith and obedience. Abraham trusted God’s promise that he would have heirs through Isaac, even if that meant God raising Isaac back to life. In Genesis 22.5 we read that as Abraham sets out with Isaac he does indeed say to those with him that, ‘We will come back to you,’ and in 22.8 he says that God would provide the lamb, which he did! Abraham trusted and obeyed, even when it seemed an almost impossible thing to do.