Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide
It’s Not Good to be Alone: Community in God’s Kingdom
Rich Nathan January 11-12, 2014 Vineyard Core Series 1 Peter 2:8-10
INTERACTING WITH THE SERMON SYNOPSIS OF THE SERMON
Recent studies show there is an epidemic of Reminders for SG Leaders loneliness in the United States. The number of • Jan 18th (9am-12pm) - All SG Leaders Gathering. Childcare provided. adults living alone has tripled in the last 50 years, • UPDATE: Jan 28-Mar 4 (Tues - 7-9pm) growing from 10% to 30% of the population. Our Coed New Leaders Training. Submit recs preoccupation with technologies, particularly social to
[email protected] media like facebook and twitter, ironically only • Jan 25-26 (Weekend services at Cooper makes us lonelier. We no longer know how to have sustained face-to-face conversations—we prefer texting! During meetings at work, everyone has their phone out and their attention is divided between the meeting and their screen. Despite all of our “connections,” when surveyed people say they have no one to confide in! We are lonelier today than ever before! This is not good! In the beginning, God told us it was not good for us to be alone. (Genesis 2:18) In this week’s sermon, we looked at four reasons why it is not good for us to be alone and God’s solution to our loneliness as we continue in the Vineyard Core Sermon Series. First, there are physical reasons why it’s not good for us to be alone. Everything we know about health tells us that isolation can lead to sickness and disease, and warm relationships lead to health. When cancer patients, heart patients, stroke patients are studied, it is proven that those with strong connections with other people heal far better than those who do not. Second, there are emotional reasons why it is not good for us to be alone. In a huge 75 year study about happiness it was shown that the number one indicator of life long happiness was not money or prestige or power or position, but warm relationships. People who had warm relationships were much happier than those who did not. There are spiritual reasons why it’s not good for us to be alone. We all know people who, when they first came to Christ, were “on fire” and enthusiastic about the Lord. They were at every bible study and prayer meeting they could get to. But after a few years, their passion for Jesus faded and they “dropped out” of church. Why? Because they lacked real relationship with other believers. This is why decisions for Christ do not always turn into disciples of Christ. We need relationship! Christian counselors and therapists have known for years that no one overcomes addictions alone. If we hope to change and find freedom from the things that enslave us, we need to be in relationship. Finally, there are theological reasons why it’s not good for us to be alone. We were made in the image of God, and we know from Genesis 1 that our God is a God of relationship. (“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”) God’s answer for our aloneness is the church!
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Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide
We see in 1 Peter that we are the people of God. The kingdom produces a people not just individual converts! We also see that we are a race—a new race to be exact. This new identity doesn’t obliterate or erase all of our distinctions and diversities, but it does bring us all together into a community—a network of relationships. Finally, we see that we are chosen. The community we have in the church is God-initiated and supernatural. It is not like our friendships, that we choose for ourselves—relationships that are natural and based on commonalities. The community God forms in the church is different. We cannot get from the natural friendships that we choose ourselves what God want to give us supernaturally through the church! It is not good for us to be alone. God has given us the church to meet our need for community.
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In 5 minutes or less, briefly give a synopsis of this week’s sermon. What insight, principle, or observation from this weekend’s message did you find to be most helpful, eye-opening, or troubling? Explain.
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GETTING THE CONVERSATION STARTED
These questions can be used as ice-breakers in the beginning OR interwoven between the questions below to draw the group into the discussion.
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• Consider for moment the premise that warm relationships promote physical health as well as emotional health. Share any observations from your personal experiences that would support this premise. • Now consider the notion that the growing popularity of social media has actually increased our loneliness and isolation. Do you agree or disagree and why? Take some time to discuss.
SCRIPTURE STUDY READ: PHILLIPIANS 2:1-4 1Therefore
if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
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Philippi was a prosperous Roman colony in Macedonia—on the main roadway linking eastern provinces to Rome. The city has a proud history, originally named after the father of Alexander the Great—Philip II. Many Italians had settled in Philippi, as well as a large number from the military. The Jewish population was quite small, which explains why Paul found only a small number of women praying by the river when he traveled there. (10 Jewish men were required to form a synagogue). As a result, Paul does not quote at all from the Old Testament in his writing. !2 Page 2 of 4
Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide
Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi is primarily a thank you for their contribution to him. But he also uses his writing as an opportunity to encourage them in the face of opposition and to rejoice regardless of their circumstances. Joy is a dominant theme throughout the letter, and occurs 16 times in various forms. Paul also commends several people by name. Philippians contains one of the most eloquent, poetic descriptions of the nature of Jesus (fully God and fully man) anywhere in the New Testament and many consider 2:6-11 to be an early Christian hymn.
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1. Paul seems to just assume that being united with Christ (v.1) automatically leads to relationships with other believers. Do you agree? Why or why not? Since coming to Christ, how would you describe your relationships with other believers? Identify some of the obstacles to “warm relationships” you’ve observed within the church. 2. List the words and/or phrases Paul uses in these verses to describe what our relationships with other believers ought to be like. How would you sum this up in your own words? Share some examples from personal experience of “tenderness” or “being like-minded” or “doing nothing from selfish ambition.” 3. Paul says that our “attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Why do you think he says “attitude” and not “behavior” or “actions?” What is the significance of this? 4. Take a moment to consider Jesus’ attitudes. What are some things that stand out to you about Jesus? What would it look like for you to emulate His attitudes in your own life? 5. Right attitudes ought to lead to right behaviors. Conclude the study by sharing practical, concrete examples of actions and practices the group can do that would promote the kind of community God wishes to build in His church.
MINISTRY APPLICATION
Below you’ll see some options for ministry time with your group. We always encourage you to reserve time in your group to pray for one another and wait on the Holy Spirit.
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Many of us have not experienced warm, positive relationships within the church. Perhaps we’ve been hurt through gossip or rejection or prejudice. We’ve been misunderstood. We’ve been in need and no one has seemed to care. The possibilities are endless. Often these negative experiences hinder our ability to move into warm, intimate fellowship with other Christians. Take some time to allow the Holy Spirit to bring to remembrance any experiences that may be keeping people out of community and then pray for healing and release from these. There may be a need to extend forgiveness for specific hurts and towards specific people or groups. !3 Page 3 of 4
Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide
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Others of us will recognize immediately, as we consider Jesus’ attitudes and the list Paul has in this passage, our need for repentance. We realize we are not like-minded with others; that we often act out of selfishness or conceit; that we are not humble. Encourage those who have felt convicted by the study to confess to one or two others in the group and have them pray for them.
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