ESG Study questions

Chapter One

Well, I tried to write out questions.  Really I did. But for some reason, I really had a hard time writing discussion questions for this chapter.  I think it may be because of the question and answer format that Packer used when he wrote the chapter; either that or my lack of sleep has so scrambled my brain that I just can’t think straight!

Regardless, there is a lot to discuss in this chapter and since I can’t seem to pull together questions per se, I figured I’d highlight the areas I’d like to bring forth for discussion so we all know where we’re going to focus our attention.

PG 11

“if you are a Christian, you pray; and the recognition of God’s sovereignty is the basis of your prayers.”

“The prayer of a Christian is not an attempt to force God’s hand, but a humble acknowledgement of helplessness and dependence.”

PG 12

“Your thanksgiving is itself and acknowledgement that your conversion was not your own work, but His work.”

"Perhaps, in the days when you were seeking Christ, you labored and strove hard, read and pondered much, but all that outlay of effort did not make your conversion your own work.  Your act of faith when you closed with Christ was yours in the sense that it was you who performed it; but that does not mean that you saved yourself.”

PG 14

Too much to type out.  Let’s discuss the whole middle section beginning with “You have never for one moment supposed that the decisive contribution to your salvation was yours and not God’s” down to “And every Christian in the world does the same.”

PG 15

Re: prayer for the conversion of others:

“I think that what you do is to pray in categorical terms that God will, quite simply and decisively, save them:  that He will open the eyes of their understanding, soften their hearts, renew their natures, and move their wills to receive the Saviour.”

“When you pray for unconverted people, you do so on the assumption that it is in God’s power to bring them to faith.”

Down near the bottom of the page, he continues this thought by saying, “the content of your prayers is determined by this knowledge.”

PG 16

“For it is not true that some Christians believe in divine sovereignty while others whole an opposite view. What is true is that all Christians believe in divine sovereignty, but some are not aware that they do, and mistakenly imagine and insist that they reject it.”  (he alluded to this idea on pg. 11)

Packer ends the chapter with a challenging paragraph about prayer.  He asks some pointed questions about our prayers and what they say about our condition.  Jonathan Edwards addresses this same topic in a very challenging and sobering sermon, “Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer.”  

If we have time, we’ll discuss the video.  If not, we’ll save that for later.