ST NICOLAS, NEWBURY

HOME GROUP QUESTIONS

FROM SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2007

ROAMING ROMANS SESSION 5: ROMANS 3:21-31

1. How have these last few weeks in Romans 1 to 3 made you feel? Overall, has this been a positive or negative experience? Why?

2. On Sunday, Edward said "God is after us - not to make our life a misery, despite these opening chapters of Romans, but rather to bless us!" What exactly is this 'blessing'?

3. Read Romans 3:21-31. Why do you think Martin Luther described these verses as "the chief point, and the very central place of the whole Bible"?

4. What is so "earth shattering" about verse 21?

5. How do you respond to the idea that we cannot put ourselves right with God but that this is something that can be done for us by Jesus Christ?

6. How can God remain true to his justice and therefore punish sin, and yet at the same time be merciful and forgive us our sins?

7. How would you answer someone who said that the death of Jesus on the cross was no more than a demonstration of God's love? What then did it actually achieve?

8. How can we on the one hand all be guilty, and yet God find us not guilty? Does God not really care that much about sin? Does he just sweep it under the carpet? If not, what does he do?

9. In what ways are we 'slaves to sin'? How does the death of Jesus help?

10. How does what Jesus did on the cross turn us from being God's enemies into his friends?

11. How would you help someone on the edge of all this to make it real in their experience?

12. Take some time to pray for the different ways in which the message of the gospel is communicated through our life together as a church. Where do you fit in?

David Stone
30 October 2007