2 Samuel 13, Galatians 5:22, Colossians 3:12-14, Luke 19:41-44, John 16:20-24
Memory text: John 16:20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
Amnon, Tamar and Absalom
- What would you say is the primary lesson to be learned in this story? (e.g. incest, lust, revenge, guilt, emotions controlling behavior, etc.)
- Is attraction negative and evil?
- If not, what makes it so?
- How can attraction be used positively?
- Biblical examples (e.g. Song of Solomon).
- What advice do you have for victims of abuse?
Note the contrasting effects of negative and positive emotions in Galatians 5:22 and the SS lesson list.
- What might you add to these lists?
- Do you see connections between the fruit of the Spirit and human feelings?
- Do you see any significance to the sequence of items in that list?
Jesus’ compassion often motivated Jesus’ actions (e.g. feeding the crowds, healing lepers, touching children).
- How have we acted on feelings of compassion?
- Is it important to act out a response to our feelings?
- What of feelings experienced but not acted on?
- Might apparently good acts be motivated by something other than compassion? (e.g. mission trips for the adventure vs the service)
- Better not to act kindly at all?
- Do feelings ever follow actions? (E.g. Jesus as sorrowful and suffering after looking over Jerusalem just preceding His triumphal entry, and the description in Isaiah 53).
God’s plan for painful emotions.
- Does John 16 offer hope or discouragement? (“In this world you will have trouble. . .”)
- Why give up all the fun things in life now for an uncertain future hope?
- Is this comfort for the comfortable or only a message for the suffering?
- What does one say to those already comfortable?
