03 Jul Discussion Guide: Salvation Belongs to God Week 4
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 conclude our series looking at the book of Jonah that will then take us into a study of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. But, before we get to them, we’re going to spend a few weeks hearing what God might want to say to us through the life and ministry of one of the worst prophets in the Old Testament. Jonah ran from God, argued with God, complained to God, but eventually accomplished the purposes of God, even when he didn’t want to. Like Jonah, God is inviting us to be part of His sovereign plan of redemption, and a look at Jonah’s story can help us better understand how to find joy in our participation.
Today’s Topic
Jonah and Anger
Discussion Questions
Has there ever been a time where you were angry? What caused your anger and what did you do in response to it?
Jonah 4:1-4
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord , is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord , please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?””
What is anger?
Anger is the emotion we experience when something doesn’t go the way we wanted it to go. When we are threatened with the possibility something, or someone, we care about or love being taken away from us or harmed, something in us rises up that causes us to want to take action in order to protect that person or thing. Anger, in an of itself, is not sin or sinful. It can be righteous or unrighteous, depending not on the object of our anger, but on the object of our love.
What was Jonah so angry about?
What does this reveal about Jonah?
Jonah’s anger shows us that he was “loving” something that God did not love. It shows us that, for Jonah, his national identity, his ethnicity, and the “justice” he perceived he and his people deserved because of what they had experienced at the hands of the Assyrians. He was putting his hope and identity in the destruction of the Ninevites, not in their repentance and salvation. God wanted Jonah to have compassion, but Jonah was angry because of what he desired and felt he deserved.
The Four Loves
“If Affection is made the absolute sovereign of a human life the seeds will germinate. Love, having become a god, becomes a demon.”
What might our anger reveal about us?
Is there such a thing as righteous anger? Explain.
Jonah 4:1-2
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord , is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”
What is the difference between anger and compassion?
What makes compassion possible?
Compassion is only possible when you are able to empathize or sympathize with someone. When you rightly understand that the person who has angered you deals with the same kind of brokenness and lostness that you deal with, then you can have compassion. When you realize that apart from God’s grace at work in your life you would likely, or possibly, be taking the same actions that that other person has taken. Compassion arises when you recognize that you are no better than the “enemy” your anger is directed at.
If that’s what makes compassion possible, then what keeps us from having compassion?
Luke 23:33-34
“And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.”
Ephesians 4:30-32
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
What makes compassion for others hard for us/you?
How has God shown you compassion?
Do you believe that God desires for His compassion to end with you?
How does God want His compassion for you to make its way into the lives of others?
Closing Thought
Is there a person, or a people, whom God is calling you to model His compassion to? If so, how?