As our Savior and Creator, Jesus is concerned with even more than our trust and our obedience, he has created us to flourish.  But he has designed us to flourish in ways that are very different than what flourishing looks like on the surface.  In fact, they're often the very opposite.  In his most famous teaching Jesus pulls back the curtain and reveals that we've been seeing our entire world upside-down, and he gives us eyes to see what reality is truly like.

Application Questions:

1. How does your understanding of the Beatitudes change when you see them, not simply as "blessings" from God (though they are), but more fundamentally as proverbial wisdom statements about the nature of the flourishing life?

2. How would your life look different if you saw the poor as people the rich should seek to emulate instead of the rich as people the poor should seek to emulate?

3. How have you experienced mourning as a means of flourishing in your life?

4. What examples of persecution have you experienced or can you imagine experiencing that Jesus would point to as reasons for eternal rejoicing?

John concludes the letter of 1st John by reminding us of the truths that assure our hearts: Jesus protects us from the evil one, we are from God, and we know Him who is true. These truths give us confidence to follow Christ in the midst of a fallen world, keeping ourselves from idols by abiding in Jesus.

Application Questions

1. Why is it so important that in Christ we have a new nature?

2. How does it change your life to know that God protects you in the midst of a fallen world?

3. What are practical ways you can build your life on the God who is Truth?

4. How have you become complacent in your walk with God? What steps can you take to revitalize your relationship with Him?

When we talk to God we can know that he hears us and that he will answer us.  And when we ask for his kingdom to come and transform our hearts, we can know that he will do it.  Therefore, when we pray for one another we can do so expecting God to produce the redemption we desire.  Prayer is the Christian's superpower.

Application Questions:

1. In what way might God be drawing you deeper into your relationship with him through prayer?

2. How should the confidence you can have shape your prayers?

3. How can you more intentionally use the privilege of your relationship and communication with God to bless your brothers and sisters in Christ?

4. Where do you see sin in the lives of your brothers and sisters that you can take confidently to God in prayer?

Application Questions:

1. What is prayer, and why is it an essential spiritual discipline?

2. If God has answered your greatest need (you being separated from Him), what are some of the reasons that keep you from bringing your other concerns and needs to Him?

3. What does it mean to ask anything according to His will (1 John 5:14)?

Like the lame beggar, we all have needs that often go unmet, and we are far off from where we feel we ought and want to be.  But Jesus offers far more than we could ever ask or imagine, and setting our minds and hearts on him profoundly changes us in a way that we can revel in and invite the world to enjoy as well.

Application Questions

1. What are some of the things in life you think you need but really just want?  

2. What are the things in life that excite you the most?  

3. How can celebrating all that Jesus has done for you help you to reorient your desires?  What benefit do you think you would see in your life and the lives of those around you?

The message of the gospel has been validated by the testimony of God - the person and work of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. As Christians we carry that testimony in us, and in us it produces eternal life.

Application Questions:

1. How do the water, blood, and Spirit testify to the person and work of Jesus Christ?

2. If you reject God's testimony you reject God Himself - why is this so crucial for understanding how we submit ourselves to the gospel?

3. What does it look like for the testimony of God to be "in yourself"?

4. How does eternal life begin now for you?

In response to the gospel we are called to two actions: believe in God, and love God. Trusting in the message of the gospel is what it means to believe in God, and loving God above all else is what it means to love Him. Though the world may try to undermine our belief, and draw us away from Christ with false loves, in Him we have victory over the world.

As John continues his meditation on the power of love, he invites us to think deeply about the abiding nature of God's love.  What does it mean that God's love abides in us?  What does it mean that we abide in Him?  And how does this abiding love give us the confidence and the selflessness that every soul ultimately longs for?

Application Questions:

How does the abiding nature of love change how you view yourself or your relationship with God?

What's a practical way you can meditate on the love of God this week?

What are you tempted to fear?  How does remembering and meditating on the love of God displace that fear?

What are some specific ways you can practically and intentionally love your brothers and sisters in Christ this week?

God is love.  He defines and perfectly demonstrates love.  And while God's love was demonstrated most radically through the cross, the cross did not mark the end of the pouring out of God's love.  His love pours out uniquely in each generation and is being poured out uniquely today.

Application Questions:

How can you take time this week to meditate on the reality of God's trinitarian love?

How can you take time this week to meditate on the reality and significance of the cross?

How would your love for others look different if you saw it less as a Spirit-empowered duty and more as a manifestation of God's love to the world?

Who can you love more sincerely and practically this week?  What might that look like?

The path from joy to truth comes through fellowship with God. In order to abide in Him we must be able to distinguish between truth and error, and in a world of deception where the spirit of the world vies for our attention and affection, we must hold fast to His truth in His Word, so that we can abide in Him and live in His joy.

Application Questions:

Why is it crucial for you to be able to distinguish truth from error?
How and where do you see the deception of the world in your life?
What would it look like to cultivate spiritual discernment according to God's Word?
How does the hope of God give you strength to hold fast to His truth?