Bible Study: Genesis 15

For starters
1. Would you describe yourself as a patient person? When do you find waiting for something most difficult in your life?
2. Try to put this proverb into your own words: ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life’ (Proverbs 13:12). Do you agree? How does this help us understand some of the challenges of living by faith in God’s promises in the gospel?

Into the Bible – Genesis 15
3. Recap the story of Abraham/Abram so far by looking over Genesis chs. 11-14.
• What are the promises God has made to Abram? (e.g. 12:1-3, 7; 13:14-17)
• How would you describe Abram’s faith in God and God’s promises in these chapters?

Read Genesis 15:1-6
4. How are God’s words to Abram in v.1 exactly what he needs to hear?
5. Look at vv.2-3. Why does Abram struggle to take comfort from God’s words?
6. Can you relate to Abram’s struggle here? When do you struggle to believe God has the power to keep the promises he has made in the gospel?
7. Look at vv.4-5. How does God reassure Abram that he will keep the promises he has made to him to give him descendants ‘from his own body’?
8. Look at v.6. How does God respond to Abram’s faith in him and in his promises?

Look at Romans 4:1-5 & 18-25
9. How does the apostle Paul link Abraham’s faith with the faith of those who trust in Jesus? What can we learn from Abraham’s faith in our Christian lives?

Read Genesis 15:7-21
10. What promise does God reaffirm to Abram in v.7? How does Abram respond to this in v.8?
11. Look at the covenant God makes with Abram in vv.9-21. What is the significance of the cut-up animal pieces in vv.9-11?

[Note: In Near-Eastern countries of this period, this was the most solemn way of making an agreement with someone. The cut-up animal pieces are a sign of the serious consequences if one party breaks the agreement – ‘If I break this covenant, may I end up like these animals and be cut up and killed.’]

12. What is the significance of vv.17-21 – that it is only the LORD (in the form of a smoking brazier) that walks between the animal pieces, and not Abram (who is in a deep sleep – see v.12)?

[Note: By this action, God is saying the he will bear the consequences alone if his covenant with Abram is broken. Of course, both Abram and his descendants break their covenant with God repeatedly throughout the Old Testament – and God finally bears the consequences of that in the person of his Son Jesus at the cross.]

Bible Study: Matthew 11:25-30

For starters

1. Think of a time in your life when you would have described yourself as ‘weary’ (it could be right now).  In what ways is ‘weariness’ distinct from simple tiredness?
2. What things do you generally find yourself worrying about in your life?  What keeps you up at night?

Into the Bible – Matthew 11:25-30

Read Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:25-30.

3. What do we learn about the Son / Jesus from vv.25-27?
4. According to Jesus, which sort of people respond to him in the right way?  Which sort of people fail to respond to him in the right way?

Look at vv.28-30.

5. According to Jesus, what is the solution to our burdens?
6. In what ways would a first-century Jewish audience listening to Jesus have been ‘weary and burdened’?  (If it’s helpful, look up the following passages:

• Matthew 23:1-4
• Matthew 5:41 (almost certainly a reference to the practice of Roman soldiers of conscripting ordinary citizens to carry military equipment)

7. In what ways might we similarly feel ‘weary and burdened’ as Christians today?

‘I will give you rest’.

8. Look up Hebrews 4:1-11.  What do we learn about the ‘rest’ God offers his people here?  How does this help us understand more fully what Jesus is offering us here?

9. The rest Jesus offers those who come to him includes rest from:

• the burden of not being good enough
• the expectations of other people
• emotional anxiety
• ultimately, physical restriction (in God’s ‘rest’, the new creation)

   
Is this how we think of relationship with Jesus in the gospel?  Is this the invitation we’re    holding out to people in the gospel?

10. Look at vv.29-30.  Jesus speaks of his people being ‘yoked’ to him.  How does being yoked to Jesus result in us finding rest for our souls?

Application

11. “Jesus’ burden is light, because he’s done the heavy lifting.”  What do you most need to remember about Jesus in your life right now?
12. “Jesus’ invitation in these verses is too good to refuse – and too good to keep to ourselves.”  Think of a friend/relative/neighbour/colleague who doesn’t know Jesus – and spend some time praying that they would come to find rest in him.