Discussion Questions

Hebrews 2:11 says Jesus “is not ashamed to call them brethren”; what does that reveal about God’s posture toward weak, sinful humans, and what parts of your instincts about God resist that level of closeness and honor? Jumpstart

The speaker stresses “children of the Father and brothers of the Son,” alongside Philippians 3:20–21 (lowly bodies transformed to be conformed to Christ’s glorious body); how should this reshape the way you view the body, aging, disability, and “ordinary” human life right now? Jumpstart

The transcript frames Jesus lowering Himself “to be like us” and then raising us “to be like him”; how would early Christians—especially those facing persecution—have heard that promise differently than comfortable modern Christians do? Jumpstart

Hebrews 2:14 says Jesus shared in “flesh and blood” so that “through his death he might destroy… the devil”; what does it say about God’s wisdom that He chose to defeat Satan through death rather than by immediate obliteration, and how does that confront modern expectations of power? Jumpstart

The speaker leans on C.S. Lewis’s idea that God “in his own nature” does not surrender, suffer, submit, or die, so the Son became man to lead the way; how does that challenge the common evangelical tendency to treat Jesus mainly as a substitute instead of a “captain… setting an example” for the way we walk? Jumpstart

Chrysostom’s image is that Satan was “overcome by the weapon with which he had previously prevailed,” and that Christ “absorbed the evil” as Satan “swung his own sword”; how does this way of describing the atonement differ from the categories you usually use, and what gets clarified—or unsettled—by it? Jumpstart

Chrysostom claims, “He who fears death is a slave and submits to all things rather than to die,” illustrated by the pill example and the mayonnaise sandwich at gunpoint; where do you see fear of loss, suffering, or death shaping your decisions more than obedience to Christ, even in respectable or churchy ways? Jumpstart

The teaching contrasts persecuted Christians (“deprived of country and of substance”) living “more sweetly and more freely” than prosperous unbelievers because believers “laugh at that which they shudder”; what would have to change in your discipleship for that to be a believable description of your life? Jumpstart

Chrysostom’s “dainties vs. combat” choice frames two lives: comfort in a prison of death-fear versus struggle that “should no longer lead to death but to a kingdom”; what “dainties” most compete for your loyalty, and what would it practically look like for you to choose the “combat” he describes? Jumpstart

The speaker highlights Chrysostom’s claim that the person who doesn’t fear death is “out of the reach of the devil’s tyranny,” connecting it to Acts 20:24 (“nor do I count my life dear”); if that is true, what specific threats still control you (property, reputation, comfort, security), and how would “laughing death to scorn” re-order your habits, risk-taking, generosity, and witness? Jumpstart