ENGAGE INSPIRE EQUIP

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Life Group Sermon Study

Masking: Pretending to achieve what we can only receive September 14-15, 2013

Break the Ice:

ENGAGE

(A key part of healthy group life is to make sure your group gets to know each other and builds good relationships.)

• When you were younger, did you ever do something that took a lot of guts? If so, what? • What is the greatest thing you have ever achieved? • What did God teach you during the message this weekend? Did anything in particular stand out? Prayer: Take some time to pray for God to speak to your group through this week’s study. Questions:

IN SP IRE

(Each question has a lot to unpack. Since the group may need time to process each question, don’t let silence scare you. Try to avoid filling the space with unnecessary explanation or moving on from the question too quickly.)

1. This weekend, Aaron made the statement, “There may be a short-term cost that comes with honesty, but it is always better than the long-term consequences of deception.” • Have you found this to be true in your life? Give an example. Read 1 John 1:8-10. 2. Read Luke 18:9-14. • What strikes you most about this parable? Does anything stand out to you? • Which person do you identify with more—the Pharisee or the tax collector? Why? Aaron said, “The people Jesus has in mind here are those who wear the masks of performance. This would be all of us, right? We constantly manage the way others perceive us in an effort to be considered better than we really are.” • In today’s culture, what are some ways we mask our identity to make ourselves look better than we really are? • In what ways do you catch yourself doing this? Why do you think we do this?

3. Aaron made the statement, “To be righteous is to be blameless before God.” Often times, we mask our true identity because we try to make ourselves “right.” We can’t do this, though, because we are not righteous. God alone makes us “right” because He alone is righteous. • In what areas of your life do you rely on yourself instead of depend on God? Why do you think it’s so hard to trust God with this? • What would it look like to humble yourself and hand those areas over to God? What would look different?

4. Aaron mentioned that while all of us struggle with the works righteousness mentality, consequence inevitably follows. He shared six ways this shows up: it urges us into comparisons, feeds our pride, allows us to rely on our performance to establish worth, holds others in contempt instead of offering compassion, makes self the ultimate authority, and is ultimately futile. • Which area did you see in yourself the most? Read Isaiah 64:6 and Philippians 3:8-9. Application:

EQUIP

(These questions will challenge your group members to apply the study to their daily lives. How can they live out what they take in?)

Read Romans 5:19. Aaron said, “God gives us perfection that is not our own. You don’t make yourself righteous. You are made righteous in Christ. God imputes His righteousness to us by faith through the suitable sacrifice of His Son. We cannot be saved by anything we do, but by what God has done for us in Christ. It is a gift that comes by faith. To become righteous, start by comparing yourself to Jesus, not others. Stop tolerating your sin and begin repenting of it. Humble yourself in repentance and receive the gift of righteousness that comes by the grace of Jesus enacted by your faith in Jesus. Don’t trust in yourself. Trust in the Lord. Humble yourself, confess your sin, receive righteousness done on your behalf and then rejoice in it because that’s good news.” • Do you believe Jesus has already made you righteous, or are you still trying to earn righteousness by yourself? • What steps can you take to fully depend on God rather than relying on yourself? Prayer: Take some time to: thank God for making us righteous in Christ, pray over each group member’s identified action steps and life issues, and pray for God’s guidance and the continued health of our church leadership. Equip Your Mind: “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19, ESV)