29 Oct Discussion Guide: Living Out of a Living Hope Week 3
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
Today, we continue our series from 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Living Out of a Living Hope. In life’s ups and downs, the frailty of our human bodies, and with the time that we have each day, the resurrection of Jesus offers us what it offered for the early church in Thessalonica: a living hope.
Today’s Topic
Suffering
Discussion Questions
If you were given the opportunity to watch a five-minute video detailing all the things you will face in the next thirty years of your life, would you watch it?
1 Thessalonians 2:13-16
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
Christianity & Suffering
Elisabeth Elliot, These Strange Ashes
To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss.
John 16:33 (NIV)
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel
Something I’ll never forget: ‘To ask for forgiveness is to die a small death.’ Yes. And I suppose humility is a small death too, the death of supremacy. Trust is a small death, the death of control. Truth is a small death, the death of lack of accountability. Reparation is a small death, the death of domination. Reciprocity is a small death, the death of autonomy. To embrace ‘the other’ is a small death, the death of self-absorption.
Given the centrality of the cross in our faith, why does suffering still take us by surprise so often?
How is our own suffering an invitation to a deeper understanding of God?
What spiritual practices help you face small “deaths” like forgiving offenses, humbling circumstances, or loving difficult people?
Purpose & Suffering
2 Corinthians 1:6-7 (TLB)
We are in deep trouble for bringing you God’s comfort and salvation. But in our trouble God has comforted us—and this, too, to help you: to show you from our personal experience how God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings. He will give you the strength to endure.
Rick Warren, The Purpose of Your Pain, pastorrick.com
One of the biggest hurts in my life was the death of my youngest son, who took his life after struggling with mental illness for 27 years. Almost every day somebody calls me from around the world, asking for help with mental health. I didn’t ask for that ministry; I didn’t think that would be a part of my dream. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to waste my pain. The people that come to me for help think I must be safe because I’ve been through it—and because I’m willing to talk about it.
Tim Keller, Walking Through Pain and Suffering
Jonathan Edwards once said: ‘God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.’ It is not enough to say, ‘I guess he is God, so I have got to knuckle under.’ You have to see his beauty. Glorifying God does not mean obeying him only because you have to. It means to obey him because you want to — because you are attracted to him, because you delight in him. This is what C.S. Lewis grasped and explained so well in his chapter on praising. We need beauty.
Can you share about a time in your life when you faced “trouble” of some kind, and God sent someone to comfort you?
How can talking about our painful experiences with safe people help us endure suffering in life?
Are there beautiful places or particular disciplines that help you trust in God with your whole mind, heart, and strength, no matter what you might be facing?
Encouragement & Suffering
Romans 15:5-6 (NIV)
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Priscilla Shirer
We can see hope in the midst of hopelessness. We can see peace in the midst of chaos. We have a hope that the world does not have. We can see clearly that all things work together for the good of them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words
Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.
How are unity and community at the center of God’s gifts of endurance and encouragement mentioned in Romans 15:5?
What part does prayer play in lifting us out of the pain and suffering we face in life?
Who could you reach out to this week, to comfort and encourage them in the midst of difficult circumstances?
Closing Thought
Julian of Norwich
And all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be exceedingly well.
Take the last few minutes of your time together to pray for endurance and encouragement for anyone present who is walking through something painful.