Tips for Teaching This Week’s Session of The Gospel Project for Adults

Every week for Volume 4: From Captivity to the Wilderness, Ken Braddy, Lifeway’s director of Sunday School, will offer guidance to help leaders prepare to lead and teach each session of The Gospel Project for Adults.

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This week’s training notes:

This week, your group will be studying Unit 3, Session 3, A Promise Tested, which focuses on the command to sacrifice Isaac, the child God promised to Abraham and Sarah. Here are three things to know, read, and do as you prepare for this week’s session:

Something to know

This is a difficult passage of Scripture. In fact, it’s one that, at least at a surface level, seems at odds with the rest of Scripture. After all, how could God ask Abraham to sacrifice a child when the Law prohibits such things in Leviticus 18:21, 20:3 and Deuteronomy 12:30–31, 18:10? Even the explanation that this command was a test of Abraham’s faith doesn’t really make it easier to take. It’s a hard passage of scripture. It’s a difficult narrative. And it is okay for it to be difficult. But it’s also a passage that demands we focus on the entirety of the biblical narrative. It is another signpost passage, one that draws our attention not simply to Abraham’s faith, but to Jesus. This event in the narrative is one that sets us up to recognize the power of Jesus’s death for our sins, and the sacrifice the Father made in sending His Son into the world to live and die on our behalf. So as you prepare, that is your thing to know. Wrestle with the tension. Embrace that difficulty. But even as you do, look to Jesus as the solution to the tension it brings.

Something to read

For something to read, I would definitely encourage you to read the article by Glen Scrivener called The Beautiful Scandal of Abraham’s Sacrifice. This article helpfully unpacks the connections to Christ’s death and resurrection that I shared about previously, and will be a great help to you in preparing for this session. I would also encourage reading the commentary excerpt by John Walton on page 126 of your Leader Guide. This commentary not only provides insight into the events of Genesis 22, but also helps us grasp the emotional weight of Abraham’s faithfulness. 

Something to do

Finally, I would encourage you to listen to the sermon by Afshin Ziafat in the Additional Resources called A Sacrificial Climb. Afshin preached this message at his church a few years ago, and it is a valuable and pastoral reflection on this passage that will both bless you and help you focus on Jesus in your prep time.

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