Use the following thoughts and questions to have a spiritual conversation as a family. Don’t emphasize having the right answer, but focus on spending time discussing the Word as a family. 

SCRIPTURE

Mark 12:13-17

SESSION SUMMARY

We are in our new series, Problematic Stories in the Bible. We are going to spend the next couple weeks looking at stories that have been brought up to try to show that God is messed up, abusive, or evil. We will dive into what we don't understand as 21st century westerners and many times understanding eastern Jewish culture makes these stories make way more sense and gives a great awe who God is.

This week we looked at Jesus response to a group trying to trap Him in an argument about taxes (nothing new, right?). The important part is that this has nothing to do with taxes, but who we are as people. When Jesus uses the word image (verse 16) is this passage, we should taken back to Genesis 1, man being made in the image of God. From this we are challenged to what narrative do we put our life to. Do we follow God and give Him all of ourselves as his image bearers; or do we buy into earthly narratives and devote ourselves to selfish temporal narratives. 

DISCUSSION QUESTION

Use these to start a discussion with your students. 

1. What does it mean to be made in the image of God?
2. What was Jesus’ answer? What makes this answer so controversial to anyone? 
3. One Pastor said, “As we live in the city of man, let us serve the city of God.” Think about your mindset and attitudes- Are you more focused on preserving America/supporting an earthly narrative (or making your team the best, or being the best at your hobby… etc) or building the Kingdom of Christ (making disciples)?
4. One Pastor said “Our faith isn’t about building a Christian nation, but about taking Christianity to all nations.” And “Jesus does not allow us to refer to any nation as a Christian nation.”How do these statements challenge you? Do you think of America as a “Christian nation?”  Is there a danger to this?

LIVE IT OUT 

• Jesus said to “give to God what belongs to God.” He was talking about our own lives. We are the image bearers of God (like the coin bore the image of Caesar).
  
  Giving ourselves to God means that we do not make an idol of our fatherly narratives. Our big desires and views are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) source of self -righteousness that we struggle with today including political ones. In other words, it is often our political views that become what makes us feel morally superior to others.
  
  Have you seen this idol creep into your life? How can giving yourself to God more fully free you from this idol?
• How can you give up earthly narratives to be an image bearer and servant of God?

Thanks for all your prayers for our students and our ministry. Have an amazing week!