Welcome to this week's Group Study! This winter we're doing an 8-week block
from January 17 running through to the week of March 7.
Start your time with a Check-in (about 15 minutes)
inductive bible study (30-40 minutes)
Open your Bibles and begin with a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to help you read God's word. Read the passage out loud once together and then silently once more on your own, noting your observations and questions. Then take a few minutes to share your observations and questions together.
Key Scripture: Luke 20:9-18
20:9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’
14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
After you've taken time to share your questions and observations, read Isaiah 5:1-7 together.
Discuss some similarities and differences between Isaiah's song of the vineyard and Jesus' parable.
Does this passage in Isaiah shed light on any of the questions you've raised as a group?
Take a moment after your opening discussion to watch this video:
Discussion (15 minutes)
What do you think is the core meaning of this parable?
If you still have time, use these questions to think through some additional implications for us as disciples of Jesus:
What does God's grace and self-giving love teach us about how we are to represent Him in a world that persists in the hostile takeover of sin?
Are there any ways you are ever tempted to participate in the hostile takeover of sin rather than in God's self-giving love?
Discuss some ways that the gospel empowers us to participate in God's self-giving love. (Leaders: this may be an opportunity to help the group think through the question, What is the gospel? The parable of the vineyard can be helpful here).
Close with a time of prayer.
Pray for:
- The power of the Spirit to help us walk with Jesus.
- The desire to follow Jesus in his self-giving love and the way of the cross.
- The world that continues to reject God and King Jesus.
- Any other personal items.
