The Christian's Job Description - Vineyard Columbus Small Groups


[PDF]The Christian's Job Description - Vineyard Columbus Small Groupsf9a7b7786f1ce66fc2b9-4da3901bb7dbc049255d550984c2bbc5.r97.cf2.rackcdn.co...

0 downloads 90 Views 74KB Size

Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide

The Christian’s Job Description: Discipleship and God’s Kingdom Rich Nathan January 18-19, 2014 Vineyard Core Series Deuteronomy 10:12-22

INTERACTING WITH THE SERMON SYNOPSIS OF THE SERMON Rich begins by asking, what is a Christian’s job description? To understand this, Rich takes a look at a passage from the Old Testament that lays out a significant portion of what is required of us. First we need to “fear the Lord.” This command is given well over a hundred times in the scriptures. This is not a command to shrink back in terror before God…it means we fully submit to him, trust him and are in awe of him as we are in relationship with him. It also means that we fear sin and its effect upon our life. Secondly we “walk in obedience” literally, “walk in the ways of God.” Rich goes on to explain that doing this is like trying to follow his pattern – like a He is our map. We imitate God and listen to Him and then walk according to His plans and ways. Thirdly, we “love the Lord.” We start loving God by realizing his love for us. 1 John 4:10 says, “This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” As we grow in understanding about the love God has for us, we will be able to love him better. Many people wonder why they need to have this love relationship with God, why not just be a good person? Isn’t that enough? Rich points out that nearly everyone would say that there is something insufficient about being a good person and refusing a relationship with the one who made it all possible. Fourthly, we must “submit to the Lord.” We submit to the Lord in several ways, we submit intellectually, we submit morally and we submit vocationally. Fifthly, we “listen to the Lord.” We do that by reading the Bible. God also speaks by his Spirit, so we take time and space to listen to the Spirit. Finally, we “imitate the Lord.” Rich says that the problem with us humans is that we want to imitate those attributes of God that he doesn’t share with us; for example, we want to have total control, or total knowledge. But in this passage, we see that we imitate God by caring for the least and the last. 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.

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. • Which of these six areas resonated the most for you? Which one are you feeling tugged to pursue in your life right now?

Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide

• How did this model for discipleship match up with your own definitions of what it means to be a Christian disciple? What was missing from this list that you would add? What was there that surprised you?

SCRIPTURE STUDY David Benner’s book Surrender to Love is a helpful resource for this teaching if you have it. It is available in our bookstore. Read: 1 John 4:7-18 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1. (v. 7-8) Where does love come from? What should be done as a result of this love? (observation) Why do you think this is important for the early Christians to love each other? (interpretation) What do you think it means that “God is love”? (interpretation) What do you make of these verses in light of people in your everyday life? Do you know loving people who don’t know God? Do you know people who don’t love who say that they do know God? Why do you think this is? (application) – Pressing this out more: We can begin to build bridges with people who don’t know Christ by recognizing and encouraging the love they have for other people in their life. David Benner writes in Surrender to Love “To be human is to have been designed for intimate relationship with the Divine. This is why the yearning for connection is spiritual.” We can call out the way people love others well and desire connection; we can affirm it as being a sign of the God we know and love. We can honor that quality as being of God and showing God and bringing his Kingdom in the world. 2. (v. 9-10) How did God show his love for us? (observation) What 2 things in the text happened as a result of this act of love? (we get to live through him, he became an atoning sacrifice for our sins) (observation) What do you think it means that we “live

Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide

through him”? (interpretation) Do you have any thoughts about what that means for you personally? How do you “live through Christ”? (application) 3. (v.11-12) What is the effect of the body of Christ loving each other (he lives in us and his love is made complete in us) (observation) What do you think it means that “his love is made complete it us”? (interpretation) (hint – peek ahead in v. 17: we have confidence, we are like Jesus, fear no longer has a hold on our lives) 4. (v.13-15) How do we know that “God lives in us”? (observation) (by the Holy Spirit) What does the Apostle John say the church has seen and should “testify” to? (observation) (that God has sent Jesus to be the “Savior of the world”) What do you think it meant for the early church to testify to this truth? (interpretation) What do you think it means for us to testify to this truth? How does the Holy Spirit play a role in that?(application) 5. (v. 16-17) What do you think it means to “know and rely on the love God has for us”? Do you struggle with the concept of being loved by God? Does the truth of his love go down to your core? Often we can objectively know that God loves us, but we do not know it experientially. Do you feel like you’ve had an experience of God’s love for you? Would you be willing to share? 6. (v. 18) What do you think it means that “there is no fear in love…because fear has to do with punishment”? (often we fear God because of our sins, but the truth is that our sin does not make God stop loving us. David Benner writes in Surrender to Love: “Responsible behavior does not increase the Father’s love, nor does irresponsible behavior decrease it.” Perfect love drives out fear because we begin to look at God as loving Father and Savior instead of our punisher.)

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.

• David Benner writes in Surrender to Love “Transformation demands that we meet God in the vulnerability of our sin and shame rather than retreating to try to get on with our self-improvement projects. But it also requires that we stay long enough in his loving presence to allow our shame to begin to melt away. For love to transform us, not only must we meet in vulnerability, we must also linger long enough for it to penetrate our woundedness.” Take some time to soak in God’s love for you. Have the group split into smaller groups of 3-4 (or stay together for smaller groups.) Have each person take a turn reading through these verses while the others listen and let the words soak in. Take several minutes between verses to allow God’s Spirit to touch people. (feel free to only read a few of these verses to save time and give more time for the words to sink in) Psalm 23, Psalm 91, Psalm 131, Isaiah 43:1-4, Isaiah 49:1416, Hosea 11:1-4, Matthew 10:29-31, Romans 8:31-39 • Have several half sheets of paper for your group. Give each person one blank sheet. Ask them to write down privately anything they feel is keeping them separate from

Sermon-Based Small Group Leader’s Discussion Guide

God. Encourage people to be specific and very honest. When they are done, ask people to pray and ask God to show them how his love covers over these things. After several minutes doing this, break into groups of 2 (men with men and women with women in coed groups) and have them pray for each other to bless what ever God is doing. If (AND ONLY IF) you feel your group is well connected and has built trust, encourage them to ask God if there is anything they need to confess to another human being. Read James 5:16: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” Explain there is no pressure to confess anything right now, unless God is leading them, but communicate that this is a safe place where we can be real with each other. There is much freedom in bringing sin to light. Second option: After praying for each other, offer these lists to God. You can burn them if you have a fireplace or backyard fire pit or have everyone tear up their papers.

• Follow-up - consider reading Surrender to Love as a group or individually.