Salvation in its ordinary sense just means: rescue, deliverance, protection, help. Savior is the individual who does the rescuing (like firefighter rescuing someone from a burning building). Does anyone have a story of either themselves or someone they know being “saved” in a dramatic way like this?
Read Luke 2:11
Sometimes, our familiarity with Jesus as “Savior” downplays any sense of urgency that might play into this announcement. But when people need saved from something, they are usually in some kind of obviously desperate circumstance. How do you experience Jesus as “Savior” at an emotional level when the need isn’t always so obvious?
Matthew 1:21
Matthew insists that people (including each one of us) need to be saved from our sins. Is there anything in you that resists this claim? Has your understanding of this changed over the years?
Why is “sin” a difficult thing to talk about? Do you think it’s an “old-fashioned” concept?
Read Galatians 4:4-7
How does the imagery/metaphor of adoption change how you think about God? More specifically, how does it change or challenge your understanding of what God is looking for with us?
Matt shared the uniqueness behind the word, “Abba”. It’s the very intimate word for Father—specifically, it means “Dad” or “Daddy.” What does that mean to you? Does that make you uncomfortable? If so, why? a
What are some of the default ways you relate to God that do not reflect this “parent/child” relationship God desire?
How would your faith would change if you could truly grasp this invitation? In other words:
- How you pray?
- How you view temptation or failure?
- How you see other people?
- How you view yourself and your sense of worth?
