Mosaic Church

13 Jun Discussion Guide: How To Follow Jesus Christ Week 11

Posted at 16:04h in Community Group Resources by Mosaic Team

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

This week we continue our new sermon series that will focus on what discipleship looks like through the lens of the life of the Apostle Peter. The series is titled How to Follow Jesus Christ. Over the the course of this series we will be discussing who it is that God has called us to be as Christians, the motivation behind that calling, and what that calling looks like when lived out in our every day lives.

Today’s Topic

Following Jesus Into The Heart Of The Gospel

Discussion Questions

How would you define the sin of racism, or preferential treatment?

Galatians 2:11-14

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Throughout world history people have sought to set themselves, and those like them, up in positions of power at the expense of others not like them. Why do you think this has been the case?

Why do you think Peter was behaving this way when, according to Scripture (Acts 10) he knew better?

What role did ethnicity play in how people saw themselves in the first century?

What role does ethnicity seem to play in the identity of people today?

Galatians 2:20

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

How does the identity of being “in Christ,” or, “Christ living in me,” compare to the ethnic identities people tend to place value in?

Galatians 3:25-28

“But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons & daughters of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Derwin L. Gray, The High Definition Leader: Building Multiethnic Churches in a Multiethnic World.

“The gospel Paul preached destroyed racism (“neither Jew nor Greek”), economic classism (“slave nor free”), and gender inequality (“no male and female”). The local church should be a mosaic that the world looks at and says, “So that’s what heaven looks like.”

How does being part of a multiethnic Christian community help us grow in our identity in Christ?

What makes that growth and that commitment to people not like yourself, so difficult at times?

How might a community like that help to bring healing into our world?

What will it take for us to be that kind of multiethnic, Gospel-centered, sacrificially-loving community?

Romans 15:1-7

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

What aspect of your ethnic culture might be blinding you, or people like you, to the truth of the Gospel?

What aspect of your ethnic culture might be making you, or people like you, wiser to the Gospel?

How do we accept one another in those areas of blindness and wisdom?

How did Christ accept you in your areas of blindness and wisdom?