25 Sep Discussion Guide: Reversal Week 7
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
Today, we continue our new series titled, Reversal. We will be taking some time to walk through the Gospel account of Luke. Luke was an historian who set out to document the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the impact it had on the world of his day. What we see in Luke’s account is that when Jesus gets involved in the life of a person, things get turned upside-down and inside-out. Jesus brings about a reversal of everything we thought we knew.
Today’s Topic
Back to School: Reversing
Discussion Questions
When you hear the word, “Church,” what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
Has that association changed over the course of your life, and if so, how?
Luke 6:20-23
“And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
How does Jesus’ idea of success (blessing) when it comes to power, comfort, happiness, and popularity differ from our culture’s idea of success?
Does it differ from your idea of success? If so, how? If not, why not?
Luke 6:27-31
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”
Pastor Morgan Stephens
“To be a baptismal Christian, to be a baptismal church, then, is not to be a people who are covered in water, but to be a people who are plunged into a central act that unleashes forgiveness into our lives and the world.”
What does it mean to be identified with Jesus?
How might identifying with Jesus impact the way others view or treat you?
How should identifying with Jesus impact the way we view or treat others?
How might our response to the way others treat us, and the love with which we treat others, impact the world around us?
Luke 9:23-24
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
Why is living this kind of “upside down” life Jesus calls us to, so difficult to do?
What is the only thing powerful enough to enable us to live this kind of “Upside Down” life?
The driving force, or motivation, behind our cultural definitions of success is the sense that you need to prove yourself better than others. The ultimate goal is to be the person everyone else envies, the person everyone else fears. The heart behind that motivation is essentially fear. We fear rejection. We fear not belonging. We fear being left out. In response to that fear we reach for whatever we think will give us the security, or the upper hand, we are looking for. This is the root of all idolatry, and idolatry is the root of all sin.
The only thing powerful enough to overcome that fear is unconditional love. It is only when we know that we are loved apart from our performance or achievement that we can be completely secure with who we are and where our value lies. And, it is only then, that we are capable of loving others without expecting anything in return, or even loving others when they threaten to do us wrongly, because it is only when we know we are loved unconditionally that we can begin to understand that the offenses we experience say more about the people who offend us than about us. You cannot give unconditional love away unless you first possess it.
Where is the only place we can find that source?
The Gospel of Jesus is the only place we can find truly unconditional love. The reason for this is because the Gospel tells us that the most powerful, most beautiful, most righteous Being in the Universe has loved us despite our performance or achievements. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
When you realize the Creator of Heaven and Earth has loved you like that, then you realize there is nothing anyone can say or do to you that can add to, or take away from, the value you have in the eyes of Christ. Then, you are free to love others unconditionally.
Closing Thought
Who is someone you can model that kind of unconditionally loving, upside down Kingdom to?