The Point: Share the hope and new life all can have in Christ.
Opening Question
- When is it a good decision to “agree to disagree”?
- If the church changes its stance on homosexuality, is that more loving or less loving?
- What are some natural events that can devastate our lives and our communities?
- How have you seen disobedience devastate lives?
- God is our ultimate designer and the authority on how is design best functions. What are the outcomes when we honor that? What are the outcomes when we have disregard for God’s design?
- Homosexuality is a very sensitive subject. How does God call us to a high standard while supplying ample amounts of grace?
Romans 1:18-23
- In what ways does creation point to a Creator?
- What ideas or images come to mind when you hear the word wrath?
- Why is wrath a necessary element of God’s character?
- According to Romans 1:18-23, what is the root cause of sin in the world?
- Is God’s wrath reserved for just some sin and withheld from others?
- Why are we quick to point out the sin in other’s lives while ignoring our own?
- Despite what our culture might say, how is all sexual sin ultimately a rejection of God?
- How is the very existence of our world evidence of our Creator? What do you have to ignore to adopt a purely naturalistic view of the world?
- In what ways is the orderly nature of creation further evidence of how God engineered this world to function best?
- Since the beginning of history humans have recognized someone (or something) made this world. What are different ways humans get sidetracked and worship the creation and not the Creator?
- What are different ways people acknowledge God while ignoring or disregarding Him?
- How does the wrong idea about God lead to even more cloudy and wrong ideas about God? Can you think of examples where wrong ideas of God lead to even more off-base ideas of God?
- Confidence in your religion (or opinions) does not mean a person is right. How does the wrong concept of God lead to bad decisions and immoral living?
- How is sexual sin a form of idol worship?
- Share examples of one sin leading to further degrading sin?
- Besides sexual sin, what other sins create a spiraling vortex that gets worse over time? What does a worsening sin condition look like?
Romans 1:24-27
- What emotions do you experience when you hear the term homosexuality? Why?
- How would you summarize our culture’s view of homosexuality?
- Why should Christians be concerned with homosexuality? What’s the harm?
- Some say that homosexuality is never mentioned or condemned in Scripture. What does Romans 1:24-27 say about that?
- Why is it necessary to see this as a sin rather than just a lifestyle or a way that some were born?
- How can we help others see our struggle with sin and rebellion so that they can deal with theirs?
- Based on these verses, how is sexual sin a form of idolatry?
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
- Do you feel that homosexuality is on the same level as other sins? Explain.
- What do these verses say about God’s grace on all believers?
- How can we love our brothers and sisters who are struggling with same-sex attraction?
- Where did you see yourself in the verses above from 1 Corinthians 6? Where do you struggle?
- In what ways have you seen or experienced the changes that can take place when a person is made new in Christ?
- How can we balance showing love and grace while still taking a firm stand against those things the Bible calls sin?
- What is the warning to us all in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11?
- What is the promise for all in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11?
- How does being justified, washed, and sanctified change a life?
- How do we respond with love, grace and truth to those we know are gay?
- List the various sins Paul articulates in this section. The list is broad – why do you suppose we give more attention/are more disgusted by some sins and we’re not as offended by others?
- What is the end result of complete disregard/disinterest in God’s standards?
- This is not a list of past failures but current behaviors. How does our lifestyle define us? How does our lifestyle show what we really believe about ourselves and about God?
- All of us have some sort of “past.” How are we made right with God?
- Sometimes we have a harder time forgiving ourselves or letting go of past failures. What do we learn about God’s work in our lives from this section?
Jerry Frazier says
I believe it is imperative in doing the biblical background on this passage to understand that Paul’s writings have strong foundations in some simple truths from Genesis:gender differences are good ( 1:27);Reproduction is good ( 1:28), marriage is good ( 2;24) and sex itself is good ( 2:24-25). I preached on this passage several months ago and got a-mens after the fourth statement! We also need to understand Romans in the context of the first three chapters, Paul goes into great depth to share about gravity of sin (including all sexual sin) and the role of grace.
I plan to end this lesson by asking some very practical questions such as: • How do you respond to your teenage or college son or daughter when they say to you—“you just need to chill about this LGBT thing. It’s no big deal. “
• How do you respond when a co-worker (who is not a follower of Christ) completely disagrees with your views on sexual behavior—particularly homosexual behavior?
• How would you respond to a wedding invitation from a co-worker’s gay son?
• How would you respond to a youth who attends our church who confides in you that he/she has same sex attraction?
• How would you respond if you discovered that a brother or sister in Christ was attracted to gay pornography?
• How would you respond to a friend or family member who shares with you in confidence that their son/daughter is involved in a same-sex relationship?
• How would you respond to someone who says that the Romans passage only condemns homosexuality when it is a part of idol worship?
Its important for me to give my class members (who are parents of high school and college students) time to “practice” in voicing their convictions.