Love is: Week Four

Not Boastful or Proud 

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading Matthew 6:1-7, Luke 18:9-14 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

Matt. 6:1    “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. ² When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. ³ But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. ⁴ Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matt. 6:5    “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matt. 6:7    “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

Luke 18:9    Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: ¹⁰ “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! ¹² I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

Luke 18:13    “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Questions for Consideration:

1. As you read the above passage from Matthew is the Jesus calling you not to pray and not to do good deeds?
2. We are called to do good, to bless others and to fast and pray, but we are called to do them out of the generosity of our hearts and not for public display. What are some ways in which you can live out this kind of life today?
3. Why did the tax collector get the blessing and not the Pharisee? How do you approach God?

As you meet this week, we encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Do I thank God that I am not like others?  (Pages 95-98 in The Wesley Challenge)

Love Is: Week Three

Not Jealous 

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading Galatians 5:24-26 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

Gal. 5:24-26    

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. ²⁵ Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

Questions for Consideration:

1. We live in a world today that tells us we should want the things of those around us and that having what they have is what will give us joy. Paul, in this letter to the Galatian church, calls the disciple to get rid of all jealousy, literally to nail our desires to the cross. Where do you see the world calling you to desire the things or those around you? 
2. What will it take to live a life content with what you have? Is it possible in today’s world?
3. Paul gives the answer to the above question when he calls the church to live in the Spirit. In surrendering our lives to God fully God enters our lives fully with the Holy Spirit and sets us free from the desires of this world. What is God calling you to do to surrender more to His will today?

As you meet this week, we encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful? (Pages 109-112 in The Wesley Challenge)

Love Is: Week Two

Kindness

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Proverbs 11:17, Galatians 6:10 and Philippians 2:1-4 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

1Corinthians 13:4-7  

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Prov. 11:17   

When you’re kind to others, you help yourself; when you’re cruel to others, you hurt yourself.

Galatians 6:10

Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Philippians 2:1-4

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— ² then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. ³ Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. ⁴ Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Questions for Consideration:

1. Take time to share with the group of an experience in your life where someone showed you underserved kindness.
2. Why do you think the Psalmist declared that to be kind to others helps you?
3. After Galatians 6:10, do you believe you are a person who works for the benefit of all? If so, share with the group how your practice this, and if not, think of a way you could move towards this practice of kindness.
4. Philippians 2:4 calls us to stop being obsessed with getting our own advantage but to begin to lend a helping hand. How can this become more of a trait of each of our lives?

As you meet this week, we encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite? (Pages 99-103 in The Wesley Challenge)

Love Is…

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

1Cor. 13:4  Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Questions for Consideration:

1. Have someone in your group read chapters 12, 13 and 14 of 1 Corinthians. Within the context of Paul’s letter discuss why you think Paul wrote this long passage about love? 
2. How have you found this type of love lived out within your church community? Your Home? Your life?
3. In what ways do you show love through your patience? How can you grow within this trait of love?

As you meet this week, we encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful? (Pages 109-112 in The Wesley Challenge)

Epiphany Sunday

One Job

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading Matthew 13:24-30 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

Matt. 13:24  Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. ²⁵ But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. ²⁶ When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

Matt. 13:27  “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

Matt. 13:28  “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

Matt. 13:29  “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

Questions for Consideration:

1. Take time this week, in your groups or individually, to reflect on the past year and share where you have seen God at work in your lives.
2. After having read the passage for this week, how does this parable relate to the ministry of the church? What does this mean for your small group?
3. What is the "one job" we are each called to do as disciples and as a community?
4. Share with your group an area of prayer where they can lift you up as we enter into the new year.