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 primary 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

Arise

Today’s Topic

What’s Your Problem

Discussion Questions

Romans 6:1-5

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Jesus’s death paid the penalty for sin.

Isaiah 53:5–6 

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Romans 3:23–26 

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

How do Paul’s words in Romans help us understand God’s justice and mercy working together through the cross?

How can we personally respond to the idea that Jesus bore punishment meant for us?

Why is a proper understanding of sin and forgiveness important in our daily lives?

Jesus’s death broke the power of sin.

Romans 6:6–7

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Hebrews 2:14–15

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

What does it mean to you personally that “we are no longer slaves to sin”?

How does the idea that Jesus broke sin’s power change the way we face temptation or guilt?

Hebrews says Jesus freed us from the fear of death—how does that freedom affect your daily mindset or your sense of purpose?

Jesus’s death provides a pattern for living

Philippians 2:5–8

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

What does it mean to have “the same mindset as Christ Jesus” in our relationships?

How does Jesus’s willingness to “make himself nothing” challenge our culture’s views of how we should live our lives?

What practices or perspectives can help us live lives shaped by the cross?

Closing Thought

N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

The message of the resurrection is that this world matters: that the injustices and pains of this present world must now be addressed with the news that healing, justice, and love have won… If Easter means Jesus Christ is only raised in a spiritual sense, then it is only about me and finding a new dimension in my personal spiritual life. But if Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead, Christianity becomes good news for the whole world… God is launching his project to remake the world — and we are invited to be a part of it.

 

In your final moments together, spend some time thanking God for the good news of the cross, pray for the week ahead, and lift up any needs the group may have.