The Image

GREETING ONE ANOTHER:

  • Take some time as a group to gather and socialize.

PRAYING TOGETHER:

Consider having 2-3 people open in prayer and focus prayer on VCC and/or community needs such as:

  • VCC Regathering from COVID

  • Spiritual and emotional well-being of VCC congregation while we’re in this long period of isolation from “community”

  • Inklings connections and outreach into the community

STARTER QUESTION

The Hebrew word used in the text this week, tselem, can be defined as an image that represents the power and presence of someone like a king or a god. Are these present in today’s world? What sorts of thoughts and feelings do things like this evoke?

REVIEW QUESTION

Give a brief summary of Chapter 2 that sets up this fiery furnace story.

IN THE BOOK

Here's week 2 of our experiment with Q's & Cues format. We truly look for your feedback to seek to make these as useful as possible for you all to facilitate a meaningful discussion and application of the sermon passage. I expect the biggest challenge is to focus discussion on only 3-4 of these questions and don't try to cover them all. This week we're adding a section called Leader Notes that contains some of the backup that you may want to refer to as you consider which questions to use.

And just as a reminder, there are three different types of questions, so we encourage you to seek a balance if possible.

  1. The Understanding questions are designed to refresh your group's memory about the text. These can be answered fairly briefly without a need for longer discussion.

  2. Application questions are structured to draw out the ways the text, as preached, calls us to live. You should make a strong effort in your group to point people to Scripture as they’re discussing these.

  3. We’ve built out Personal Sharing questions that connect with the sermon, but make a more conscious effort to allow the members of your group to know each other better. These help to build a sense of trust by giving people a chance to share their lived experiences.

We pray that as you consider which of these questions work best for your group that God blesses your time together so that the Word of Christ “dwells in you more richly” and you become “knit together in love” as a community.

The King's Edict & the Fiery Furnace

READ: Daniel 3:1-15

UNDERSTANDING:

Nebuchadnezzar set up a “golden image” and this act of “setting up an image” is repeated 9x in the chapter.

What do we know about the word “image” according to Heath? Why did kings set up “images” during this time in history? [see leader notes ]

3:15 - is at the center of the chapter. How is that verse significant?

APPLICATION:

Genesis 1 tells us we are created in the “image of God.” What role are we called to as God’s image-bearers? [see leader notes ]

Colossians 1:15-20 - How is Jesus the “image” of God in the way this sermon helped us understand the term?

Heath defined idolatry as "any way of life that doesn’t have God as what defines you." What can we do to guard our hearts from this?

PERSONAL SHARING:

Nebuchadnezzar’s insecurity motivated his displays of power throughout the narrative of Daniel. How has insecurity played out in your life and what were the effects? How has that made you reflect on your relationship with God?

Response & Deliverance

READ: Daniel 3:16-30

UNDERSTANDING:

3:16-18 - What do we learn about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s hearts from their response to the King’s edict?

3:28-29 - What is the significance of the chapter ending as it does in vs. 28-29?

APPLICATION:

3:16-18 - What learn from trials in contrast to how we ought to respond to them?

3:24-25 - Who is this 4th person? What is the significance of there being four instead of three in the furnace?

3:27 - What is the lesson? [see leader notes]

Why does God allow fiery furnace experiences in our lives? [see leader notes]

How can we act as God’s image-bearers even in a world that lives in opposition to Him?

PERSONAL SHARING:

Do you have a story about how God has delivered you through trials or “furnace of adversity”? What lessons did you learn?

God is worthy of our worship “even if” he doesn’t do those things we expect or hope for. How have you struggled with that idea or found that ring true in your life?

LEADER STUDY NOTES:

What does "image" mean?

“Ancient kings would set up images of themselves in distant lands over which they ruled in order to represent their sovereign presence. For example, after conquering a new territory, the Assyrian king Shalmanesar ‘fashioned a mighty image of my majesty’ that he set up on a black obelisk, and then he virtually equates his image with that of the glory of Assur his god. Likewise, Adam was created as the image of the divine king to indicate that earth was ruled over by Yahweh.” [G.K. Beale quoted in Last Things First, p. 48-49]”

What role are we called to as God’s image-bearers?

From the beginning God placed mankind as his image to represent him throughout his creation (“to multiply and fill the earth”). That image was marred and defaced by sin, but through Christ, the cross, and the gospel God is renewing his image in his creation, starting with Jesus Christ as his perfect image-bearer, and continuing by renewing his image in those who are apprentices of Jesus, and finally by assigning to those apprentices a great commission to fill the earth with Christ’s image-bearers (“go into all the world and make disciples”).

What is the lesson of 3:27?

Heath: "God saves us NOT FROM the fiery furnace, but THROUGH it." This verse describes that the three men had fully experienced the fiery furnace, but they were also fully delivered through that experience . the fire had “no power over their bodies … not a hair of their head was singed … their cloaks were not harmed … there was no smell of fire on them.” God is able to fully deliver his people!

Why does God allow “fiery furnace” experiences in our lives?

Heath: "God refines us through the furnace of trials to shine as his image bearers." Whereas Nebuchadnezzar use his fiery furnace to forge gold for creating an idol of gold, and to persecute Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, God tells us in 1 Peter that he uses “various trials” to test and prove the genuineness of the faith of his children to be more precious than gold, and to result in glory when Christ returns.

  • In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9)

ONE ANOTHERING:

Whether you are meeting together or not, check in with one another to make sure that everyone is cared for and has what they need. Does someone in your group need help with grocery shopping, childcare, or caring for themselves? Keep a list of the ways you can provide care as a comGroup.

Remember that the Benevolence Ministry is a resource for our comGroups.

  • How can we love or serve one another this week?