21 Feb Discussion Guide: Where Can Wisdom Be Found? Week 6
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.
This week we continue our series Where Can Wisdom Be Found. This week we will be taking a specific look at the Wisdom Literature of Scripture as it specifically pertains to relationships, marriage and sex. We will see that God’s wisdom when it comes to sex and relationships is both more liberal and more conservative than anything our culture can come up with.
Discussion Questions
Robert Emery, UVA Psychology Professor
“The notion today is that marriage is about love and love is about personal fulfillment.”
How has the view of marriage changed from your grandparent’s generation to today?
Why do you think that view has changed?
What do you, or what would you, want your marriage to look like?
Ephesians 5:31-33
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
What, if anything, intimidated or scared you when you were about to get married? Or if you’re single, what is it that intimidates or scares you about getting married?
What do you think is God’s purpose for marriage?
Scripture tells us that the purpose of all things is to glorify God. Romans 11:36 says, “For from Him, and to Him, and through Him are all things. To Him be glory forever, Amen.” Since marriage is included in “all things” then we can know for sure that the ultimate purpose of marriage is to glorify God, not primarily to make us happy. But what does it mean to glorify God with our marriages or our relationships? The word glory means weightiness. It means that our marriages are supposed to show the world that God matters most to us, and we do that by obeying His Word and reflecting the truth of the Gospel as best we can. As the husband loves his wife the way Christ has loved the church, and as the wife loves her husband as the church is supposed to love Christ, then we do indeed paint a picture of God’s love for our neighbors and friends and put the glory of God on display for the world to see.
What would you say is the greatest threat to that purpose in our marriages today, or in the future?
Samantha Keller, Scrappy Sam Blogger
”It really hit me the first time I had to go church all by myself. With my new single vision goggles I realized how intimidating it is to even walk in the worship center a la carte. If you stand at the door for more than a minute it becomes apparent you are missing half of your species. And there you stand, all awkward with a cup of coffee grasped like a lifeline, so you have something cool to do –like sip, pretending that being alone is a choice and not a condition.The pastor would generally poke at the singles over thirty. He would remind us we were too picky, not that awesome of a catch anyway, and urge us to get our “sparkly act” together. Strangely enough, church wasn’t a safe place when I was single.”
What cultural stigmas would you say have been connected to being single?
Are those stigmas Biblical at all? If not, then how should we view singleness?
Matt Chandler, Pastor of The Village Church
”Love says: I’ve seen the ugly parts of you, and I’m staying.”
Swedish Proverb
”Love me when I least deserve it, because that is when I really need it.”
How does the Gospel empower us to have amazing marriages or amazing friendships?
The Gospel reveals to our hearts that in Christ we have been set free from sin and selfishness, and that we have been completely and unconditionally loved, accepted, affirmed, desired and pursued by the King of the Universe. Which means, I don’t need my spouse or friends to make me feel loved, accepted, affirmed, etc. And, when I don’t need anything from my spouse or friends then I can give all I have to my spouse or friends. It is only when I understand how unconditionally loved I am in Christ that I can then love my spouse or friends unconditionally as well. It is only then that I can recognize that my role in my marriage or in that friendship is not about making me happy or getting what I think I need, but rather it is about seeking the welfare and the joy of my spouse or friends. And that is an amazing marriage/friendship.
How can we help our spouse, or our friends, live a great story?
Closing Thought
Philippians 2:5-8
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
How can we love our spouse, our friends, our neighbors in a way that puts the glory of God, as seen in the Gospel, on display?