Discussion Guide: We Were Made for This Week 4

Before We Get Started

For our discussion today we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.

Prayer

Because the main goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for, or  anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together.

This Week’s Topic

Today we continue our series titled We Where Made For This. We will be studying through the book of James. James was the brother of Jesus who came to be one of His most devoted disciples and the leader of the church in Jerusalem. What would inspire a man to worship his own brother as God and follow Him to his own death? The same thing that can inspire us to follow Jesus with that same fervency. What was that? What did James come to realize? Let’s find out together as we take a look at what God has made us for.

Discussion Questions

What is freedom? And how to we obtain it?

James 1:18-21

“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

How would you describe the American definition of freedom? What’s right about that definition? What’s wrong with that definition?

How does that definition of freedom differ from Jame’s definition here?

Why do you think our culture, and many other cultures around the world, are so resistant to the idea of having someone else as an authority in our lives?

What’s the difference between Jesus being our Authority and any other person being an authority in our lives? 

James 1:22-25

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

 

What does it take for Jesus’ authority, His Word, to produce freedom in our lives?

Why do you think we are so much more comfortable with learning about Scripture than we are with submitting to Scripture?

What part does learning play in our becoming who God made us to be? What part does obeying play?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

Throughout history, man’s definition of freedom has simply been that which gives him power over himself and others. However, James’ definition, and Dr. King’s echoing of that definition, proclaim that true freedom leads to the power of love, which in turn produces freedom in the lives of those under the authority of that power.

How did Jesus, God come in the flesh, wield His power and authority during His time on earth?

What does that tell us about His heart for you and me?

How can we know for sure that Jesus has our ultimate freedom, our best, in mind when He tells us to submit to His Word and His authority?

Closing Thought

So then, what does true freedom look like in your life and mine? What does it look like for us as a community group?



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