Romans 11- Life Group Questions

Read Romans 11:25-36

Let’s remember theme Paul is laying out through the whole book of Romans. In many ways he keeps showing his audience who is split between Jews and Gentiles how all have fallen short and how God is working to redeem and embrace all. God‘s plan is for all the children of every creature through all of time. This is not only the arc of human history but the arc of our own story. 

“For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” 11:29 If you can live close to this truth, how will it affect you? Is there anyone in your life who is making it hard to remember because you can see they are far away from their call?

“For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.” 11:32 This is a verse that is often ignored. It’s almost hard to fit into much of what Western Christianity teaches. How do you look at this and how does it help you understand God’s heart toward us?

Paul responds to the previous verse with an exclamation of praise when he says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!” 11:33-36 Often the inner workings of faith feel confusing to many but Paul’s response to mystery is to return to praise. Sometimes in our confusion, due to where we are at this point in our story, is to remember the bigger story and return to praise in the middle of the mystery. Take a moment to pray and do just that.

The Waiting- Life Group Questions

Psalm 46

We all struggle in the waiting. We struggle with the tyranny of the urgent. In Genesis 1 we see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters which symbolize chaos, lack, disorder, or something unformed like the future. We struggle in the waiting that falls between the chaos and the creation, the problem and the solution, the death and resurrection. In this space we need Emanuel, the God who is with us right here and right now. We need the reminder to be still and know he is God… even in this. Being still, waiting, is not passive but active. It takes maturity and patience to wait well. To be present to where we are and where God has us. To be honest and wholehearted takes intentionality and the prayer to ask the Spirit of God to fill us right here and now.

What would “waiting well” look like for you? What do you do in that space and what does it feel like?

To wait well means we are responsive and not reactive. How do you contrast these two things?

Isaiah 40:31 is translated in two ways. One way says, “those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength.” A different translation says, “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.” Why do you think those are interchangeable through biblical translations?

Read Psalm 46: 1-5 again. Where do you see hope for yourself in this passage?



Wait Without Hope
By: T.S. Eliot
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.
The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,
The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy
Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony
Of death and birth.
T. S. Eliot

Read Romans 5:12-21

When you see a “therefore” in scripture, ask what it is there for. It’s building on an idea. Paul has leveled the playing field for all of us in Romans 1-4 showing how we are all equal in our need for grace and how it’s available to us. He builds on Romans 3 where he talks about us being justified through faith. Now he is going beyond it and making an argument about how the impact of Jesus is greater than the impact of Adam. How through Adam the world fell apart but through Jesus it is not only restored but being made new. We need that hope right now.

Paul is trying to promote faith and hope in a time where the Roman church feels little. It was hard and stressful times. He is reminding them of the big picture of what Christ is accomplishing. It’s hard to see and feel that right now. How do you think/ experience this idea of Christ’s work being greater than Adam’s trespass in a time like this?

Think of other times in your life where there has been a lot of disruption and disorientation. Hard times happen and we have no choice about that. We do get to choose our reaction in the middle of it. We do get to choose our response. What helps you get reoriented toward hope in hard times?

How can you feel connected to others during this time?

What is something you can do to calm yourself?

In these times we don’t need a hero but billions of small heroic acts. What is something you can do to make things a bit better for yourself and those around you?