Hebrews: Jesus is Truth and Grace - Week 5
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
For the week of October 4th
Connecting (Aim for 15 minutes)
Breaking the Ice/Think Time
1. Has anyone ever bailed you out of a difficult situation in your life? How did you feel afterwards?
Quick Review… Looking back at your notes from this Sunday’s sermon, what caught your attention, challenged, or confused you?
Understanding the Truth (Aim for 30 minutes)
1. Throughout the book of Hebrews, the author refers to Jesus as High Priest and compares his work to that of a high priest. What traits and characteristics are listed about Jesus that make him the Greater High Priest? Read Hebrews 1:3, 2:17-18, 3:1-2, 4:14-16
Read Hebrews 5:1-6
2. Verse 1-3 talks about the high priest’s role of offering up gifts and sacrifices for sin. What had to happen first before he could offer up gifts and sacrifices for the sins of the people (Leviticus 16:6)? Why (Heb 5:2-3)?
3. Who appointed the Levitical high priests (Heb 5:4)? Who appointed Jesus as High Priest, more specifically of the order of Melchizedek (Heb 5:5, Psalm 2:7, Psalm 110:4)?
Read Hebrews 5:7-10, 7:1-3
4. Verse 7 talks about how Jesus cried out him who could save him from death with loud cries and tears. We also see that through his suffering he was “made perfect” (vs.8-9). How did Jesus’s suffering and obedience make him perfect? Why was that perfection needed to fulfill his role as the Greater High Priest?
5. Hebrews 5:10 says that God ordered Jesus to be a priest of the Order of Melchizedek. How are Jesus and Melchizedek Similar? (Hebrews 7:1-3)
6. The role of the king was to be a judge and speak truth, the priest was supposed to be a counselor and demonstrate grace. How is Jesus the ultimate Truth (King) and Grace (Priest)?
Living the Truth (Aim for 20 minutes) – Consider breaking up in same gender groups.
7. Jesus offered up intense and heartfelt prayers to God in the middle of struggle (Heb. 5:7 & Luke 22:39-46). Because Jesus was perfectly obedient to God he relied on him in the middle of his struggle and prayed for His will to be done. How can we learn from and lean on Christ’s prayer life in times of intense struggle?
To the Hebrews, the high priest served as the religious head of the people and the mediator between God and Man. This shows that God’s relationship with us is personal . He is not removed from His creation, but He was active in our creation and our restoration. We see this when Jesus took on flesh. These verses remind us that Jesus’s humanity help him relate to us and our every weakness because he experienced it too. Now, our High Priest is in the presence of God, pleading for us based on His perfect sacrifice!
Prayer Requests (Aim for minimum of 10 minutes)