04 Sep Discussion Guide: (IN) BREAKING Week 4
Prayer
Take the first 10 minutes of your time together to listen to what God is doing in one another’s lives and pray for any specific needs people in your group may have.
Today we continue our series titled (In) Breaking. We will be working through the gospel of Matthew and learning how God desires to have His Kingdom come, and His will be done, in our lives as in Heaven. God wants to break into our hearts, our emotions, our actions, our existence so that we might know Him, and be known by Him, in ways that we will never be the same.
Discussion Questions
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“When you argue against Him [God] you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.”
Who is the smartest person you know? Why do you consider that person the smartest you know?
How would you define these words: Knowledge? Understanding? Wisdom?
Knowledge: information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education; awareness of something. Understandingthe knowledge and ability to judge a particular situation or subject. Wisdom: the natural ability to understand things that most other people cannot understand; knowledge of what is proper or reasonable; good sense or judgment.
What influences wisdom in our culture today?
There are many different mediums and influences that affect our cultural understanding or wisdom today. Television, music, politicians, celebrities, etc. Because our culture has so overvalued beauty, money and entertainment we have also bought into the common misconception that people who are pretty, or funny or have lots of money must also be really smart and wise. Therefore, our culture tends to base its knowledge, understanding and wisdom on what we see on TV, YouTube, Facebook or the latest political debate rather than researching and seeking truth and knowledge on our own accord.
How does that affect understanding and wisdom in our culture today?
Where does Scripture say wisdom and understanding come from? How does that differ from where our culture tends to look for it?
Scripture tells us that Truth, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are rooted in the person of Jesus Christ (Prov. 9:10, Col. 1:15). This means that God’s Law, the way He has designed life to function and operate in regards to how we spend our time, manage our finances, view our sexuality, treat other people, etc. is the wisest way to live life. This differs vastly from our culture, which tends to view the wise way to live as what feels best for the individual. In other words Scripture says Wisdom is to submit to the will of God whereas the world says wisdom is to be god of your own world.
Elizabeth Elliot
“Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His Lordship.”
Why do you think King Herod was so angry and paranoid upon hearing a new King had been born?
What does Jesus’ claim to be King of the Universe mean for our lives personally?
Why do you think people resist that claim?
How does Jesus differ from just about every other king that has ever lived?
How does that difference encourage you to submit your life to Him?
…
Ephesians 1:3-10
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
What does this passage communicate to you?
Romans 5:8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
How does it make you feel to know that not only is God not surprised by your sin and shortcomings, but that in response to them Christ the King came and died on your behalf?
How does that Good News differ from every other religion or spirituality in existence?
How should that difference change the way we live?
Closing Thought
N.T. Wright
”The task of evangelism is therefore best understood as the proclamation that Jesus is already Lord, that in him God’s new creation has broken into history, and that all people are therefore summoned to submit to him in love, worship and obedience. The logic of this message requires that those who announce it should be seeking to bring Christ’s Lordship to bear on every area of human and worldly existence.”
How could our living in light of that difference affect the world around us?