2023
Grace to Live
Passage: 2 Kings 5:1-3, 9-19
“No linguistic, historical, or geographical culture is perfectly suited to the reception of the gospel message, such that as Christians mature they will all gravitate towards that one culture. Christ was not a European. Bethlehem is not in Europe…The message of the Bible will affirm some aspects of all cultures and challenge some aspects of all cultures, and it can find a home in all cultures as it transforms each of them from within.”
—Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Read 2 Kings 5:1-3 and 9-19. What do you observe about God from this passage? What does this story teach us about who God is, what he cares about, and how he cares for his people? Anything that surprises you or sparks questions?
How is Naaman described in this passage? Compare his description before and after verse 14.
What did resilient faith look like in this passage? Consider how resilient faith looked similar or different in various lives in this story. What were the challenges to faith in this passage? How are these similar to or different from the challenges we face to our faith today?
In what ways does Naaman’s life change after verse 14? How have you experienced a transformation in your thinking/perspective, identity and public expression of faith because of the gospel?
What do you think was the motivation for the young slave girl to speak up in verse 3? What reasons did she have to not share what she knew?
Seeing the young girl as Naaman’s suffering servant is an invitation to reflect on Jesus as our suffering servant. How does this story invite and challenge us to respond to Jesus as our suffering servant? How do the examples of faith in this passage teach us to love God and love others?
What do we need to remember, rejoice in, request, or repent of from this passage?
PRAYER
Spend time praying for resilient faith and a desire to surrender to God in your present circumstances. Ask God for grateful hearts to see his goodness and receive his mercy. Enjoy the truth that God knows you fully and loves you deeply.
Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4)