Alan Frow // Genesis 21
Sermon Questions:
1. Because of disappointment and delay, Abraham and Sarah laughed with skepticism at God’s promise of a child in Genesis 17 and 18. Skepticism protects us from the vulnerability of hope but it is a shallow kind of joy. Talk about your struggle with skepticism and how we can be a community that helps one another to keep hoping in God, even though this makes us vulnerable to disappointment.
2. God is faithful and he gave the good gift of Isaac as he promised. However, very quickly Isaac became an idol to his parents, and Ishmael’s mocking laughter in Genesis 21 revealed this. Keller says that an idol is often a good thing that becomes an ultimate thing. Talk about how God’s good gifts can become idols in your life and how this makes your joy fragile.
3. God’s joy is abiding because it rests upon his faithfulness rather than ours.
Reflect on the joy of justification, (Romans 4) the wonder of transformation (2 Cor 5:17) and the thrill of obedience (Luke 10:12 -17) which of these sources of joy do you most need right now? Ask for the joy of the Holy Spirit.
