09 Sep Discussion Guide: (IN) BREAKING Week 5
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
If you could go back in time and live in any period as a citizen of any kingdom/empire, when and where would you choose to go and why?
John 18:36-37, The Kingdom New Testament transaltion
“My kingdom isn’t the sort that grows in this world,” replied Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my supporters would have fought to stop me being handed over to the Judaeans. So, then, my kingdom is not the sort that comes from here.”
“So!” said Pilate. “You are a king, are you?”
“You’re the one who’s calling me a king,” replied Jesus. “I was born for this; I’ve come into the world for this: to give evidence about the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
How would you describe the difference between every manmade kingdom that has ever existed and God’s Kingdom as displayed by the life of Jesus?
At the heart of every manmade kingdom or empire throughout the course of history has been the desire to rule, to be in control. Even the most benevolent of kingdoms has sought to “conquer” the surrounding peoples for the purpose of importing what they consider good and right compared to the evil or foolishness they perceive the surrounding nations to be pursuing. It is the desire to rule, to be in power, to determine what is right and wrong, good and evil. On the contrary, Jesus modeled a Kingdom that was rooted in serving, in sacrifice, in loving those whom culture deemed unworthy of love. Jesus showed us that God’s Kingdom is not about conquering and dominating others to force them into submission, but rather conquering the hearts of others through love and humility so that they would willingly submit to a good and loving King. Man’s kingdom has self at the center. God’s Kingdom has others at the center for the glory of God being made known.
Why do you suppose God’s Kingdom is more challenging to our hearts and desires than man’s kingdom?
Because it’s much easier to do what feels good, what’s comfortable, what benefits us the most. From early childhood, we learn the “power” of taking what we want, throwing a fit when we don’t get our way, manipulating to gain control, and if unchecked by the Spirit of God, that selfishness remains our natural bent. The Kingdom of God, however, directly confronts that self-centeredness. It tells us if we want to find true life we have to die to ourselves. It tells us the first shall be last and the last shall be first. That goes against every natural impulse and desire we have grown up with. Dying to self is never an easy thing to do.
Dr. John Perkins, Pastor & Human Rights Advocate
“The mission of the Church is to demonstrate God’s love to the world- not only through words but deeds. We live out our call most fully when we are a community of faith with arms wrapped about a community of pain.”
What might the world look like if God’s Kingdom were fully established in it now? Give practical examples of what would be different.
Why doesn’t the world look like that today?
What is our responsibility in seeing God’s Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven?
What can we do today to see that become a reality?
Matthew 4:17, The Kingdom New Testament
From that time Jesus began to make his proclamation, “Repent!” he would say. “The kingdom of heaven is arriving.”
If we want to see change happen through us, what must first happen to us?
Repentance must happen in us before we can ever see change happen through us. If we have not turned from our own selfish pursuits, even if they appear to be moral and noble, then we can only reproduce what we are. It takes a transformation in our hearts, a turning from self and a trusting in Jesus, if we want to reproduce something other than selfishness. The only way we can truly love others unconditionally is if we have first received and trusted in the unconditional love of Christ.
In what area of your life is that change, or what the Bible calls repentance, most difficult? Why?
What might that indicate about where our hearts are seeking to find hope, identity, or even salvation?
How might the Gospel empower us to trust in Jesus for our hope, identity and salvation and ultimately submit our lives to Him as the One True King?
Closing Thought
N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is
“Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion…The gospel of Jesus points us and indeed urges us to be at the leading edge of the whole culture, articulating in story and music and art and philosophy and education and poetry and politics and theology and even–heaven help us–Biblical studies, a worldview that will mount the historically-rooted Christian challenge to both modernity and postmodernity, leading the way… I believe if we face the question, “if not now, then when?” if we are grasped by this vision we may also hear the question, “if not us, then who?” And if the gospel of Jesus is not the key to this task, then what is?”
What are some practical ways we, as a community, can bring God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven?