SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 11.1-12.3

“What can we do? We can live in relationship with God. We can fix our eyes on his example, and hold on to the combination of confidence in faith and humility in certainty Jesus embodies. When we wander from the actual example of Jesus into our assumptions about what God should do, we tend to cheapen our faith and trade it for pride. But the thing that makes faith so special is that it’s the only sense we have that forces us out of ourselves, out of our own narrow worldview. It’s the way we pick up on what someone else is doing, and seek to align ourselves to it.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How would you define “faith”? How have you heard it defined before? What makes this a particularly tricky term to work with?

2. The anonymous author of Hebrews writes that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Try to put yourself in the context of a Jewish Christian, living in the first century: how might this definition resonate with you? What do you think the author is trying to say to this audience?

3. How do the stories of others’ faith help our own faith to grow? What is the difference, according to this letter, between the kind of faith our ancestors had and the kind of faith we, as Christians, are able to have?

4. What actual example of faith does Jesus set? What was he like? How did he model faith…even though he was also God? What can we learn from this?

5. What is the difference between confidence and certainty? Kenny made the case on Saturday that the American church has been “peddling certainty” in recent days, and that this is a source for real concern about our future. What did he mean? What might the problem be?

6. How can we be confident in our faith, even when we still have questions? Can we actually live as healthy Christians if we are still wrestling with doubts?

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10.19-39

“Here’s the truth: when things are hard in the world, when it seems like God’s plan is either failing or taking far too long, we have to lean on each other if we’re going to really remember the promises our hope is built on. We can’t trust them on our own, because the best evidence we have to support what we believe is the love and the transformation we see in others. It’s hard for me to see what God is doing in me! But I can see what he’s doing in you. I can see resurrection in your story. I can be reminded that God isn’t bound by the game clock in your life...and so he’s not bound by it in mine, either.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Have you ever wondered why things aren’t better in the world? Where does that question lead you? What fears does it uncover? What can help you face them?

2. Kenny said that there are two big temptations we often face when we think about God in light of these questions: the first is that we think of him as a “disinterested watchmaker” who cares little for his Creation. The second is that we think of him as a riddle we’re supposed to solve: if we pray the right way or do the right things, he’ll do what we ask. Have you ever been tempted by these views? What might be dangerous about them?

3. If Jesus’s work actually restores our access to God, why don’t we tend to take more advantage of that? How might you pursue that relationship?

4. What is so doggone important about Jesus’s resurrection? What does it change for us, in terms of our fears about how long it seems to be taking for the world to change?

5. When have you been “stirred up” for love and good works in the past? What did the trick? How can you motivate and encourage others in this way?

6. Kenny said that it is absolutely critical for us to keep meeting together, to be present with each other, because we just can’t keep the faith without each other. What do you think he meant by that? What sometimes gets in the way of your presence in our church community? What would growth look like for you in this area?

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 3:3b-9, Colossians 4:7-18

“There is one church in Annapolis–one church in the world–and we are a door among other doors into it. If we’re going to actually be a contributing part of the entire church’s success, we have to start thinking radically about what it means to be a part of the whole. We have to lean in to what makes this door distinctive and effective in its particular and unique context...and we have to lean out over to the side to make sure that the doors next to ours are able to succeed, that they are able to deeply and truly believe they aren’t on their own.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What have your experiences been with rivalries–either real or perceived–between churches? Where do you think rivalries come from?

2. What would happen to tensions or “rivalries” in your own life if you were able to let go of the desire to be the “hero” in the story?

3. Why is it important for churches to “talk to each other”? Think about real, particular benefits in our own church community.

4. Why is it important for churches to “share with each other”? What does that look like for us, as a young church here in Annapolis? What makes it difficult? 

5. What, in your view, is “unique” about Revolution? How can we do a better job of celebrating and sharing that with people who aren’t a part of this community?

How can you participate in celebrating and encouraging other churches in our city?

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 29, Philippians 2:5-11

“We need to seek our city’s flourishing for our city’s benefit rather than our own. We need to seek it because sharing love and kindness in our neighborhoods gives people reason and permission to have hope that there really is a God of Truth and Power and Justice in the universe. We simply cannot let our hopes for our own success or our own fame get in the way of that: we can’t insert ourselves between the hope we exist to share and the God whose goodness and glory can deliver it.”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What have your experiences been with serving your community at the church-event level? What has been really positive about those experiences? What questions do you also have about them? 

2. Have you ever fallen victim to the temptation Kenny described this week to “look for the logic behind your blessings or privileges”? What makes this so tempting? What might be dangerous about it? 

3. Read Philippians 2:5-11 together. What do you notice here? Why would this be a popular song in the early church? What is challenging or instructive about it? 

4. What might it mean to love your neighbors or love your community for their own sake? What are some things that can make that difficult? 

5. Do you ever struggle with a desire to feel useful or relevant in our culture? What problems does this create? What might help to relieve this burden?

6. Andy Crouch might ask us, “what keeps you from choosing sainthood?” How would you answer that challenge?

7. What are some practical ways you can participate in God’s love for your neighbors this week? What are one or two concrete things you could do?

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 23:3-5, John 3:2-10, John 3:16-17

“The author of John’s gospel says that ‘God sent his Son into the world not to condemn it, but to save it through Him.’ This means there’s no shortcutting the relationship, because that relationship is actually the means God is using to save the world. In Jesus, the big picture and the little picture come together, and our questions find an Answer that sends us all the way back to the beginning, calling us to actually live differently. Then, Jesus teaches, that different kind of life will be the very thing that manifests the different kind of world you are hoping for.”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. When was the last time you actually changed your mind about something? Was it a quick process? What made it possible? How has your actual life been affected by that change?

2. Kenny argued that the culture we live in (like the culture of Israel in the 1st century!) puts more pressure on choosing the right political side or having the right opinion than it does on the slow work of living out what we believe. Is that true in your experience? 

3. Read the story of Nicodemus in John 3. What stands out to you? What is Nicodemus seeking? Why is Jesus’s answer so challenging for him? 

4. How do the famous verses of John 3:16-18 relate to the Nicodemus story that precedes them? What is the author’s point, do you think?

5. When you think about the big problems facing the world, do you ever feel impatient about the Way of Jesus? 

6. What is so challenging--and what might be encouraging--about Jesus’s instruction that we must all be “born again”? Is there hope in this idea?

7. How do you need to respond to the challenge you find in Jesus’s words?

SCRIPTURE: Luke 23:39-43, 1 Timothy 1:12-16

“The story of the Bible begins with a garden that is in perfect balance. Then, the human beings God puts there (the human beings God entrusts with that space!) mess it up. The consequence is that they get kicked out: “no imperfect people allowed.” But every page of the Bible that comes after that is telling a story about God’s plan to bring them back home. Which makes one thing absolutely inescapable for those who set out to obey and follow God: our God loves imperfect people.”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Think back to the time before you either became a Christian or began exploring Christian belief. How did you think about Christian communities or churches? What ‘stereotypes’ came to mind? Which of those would you now say are ‘untrue’? Which ones still hold up?

2. Have you ever felt like you needed to behave in a particular way in order to ‘fit in’ in a church context? How does this resonate or clash with what you believe about Jesus and His ministry?

3. What do you think your attitude or behavior communicates to those outside the church about who Jesus is or what the church might be?

4. The “No Perfect People Allowed” slogan can’t just be about who and how we welcome outsiders...it needs to describe how we behave as insiders, too. Do you sometimes wear a mask in our church community? What steps can you take towards taking that mask off? 

5. Who are some people in our church community you might be able to trust with this process? Would you feel comfortable reaching out to them?

6. How can being seen or being known help your faith grow? 

In this series, we will be exploring how God has formed and shaped the mission and values of our church over the last 11 years. This week, Matt Murphy—who was once our worship leader, then our executive pastor, and now works for Stadia Church Planting to help hundreds more churches get started each year!—shares about how church planting has been a key passion at Revolution since the very beginning. By sponsoring planters, hosting church planting residents, sending out members to join new plants in our area (and beyond!), and consistently giving 10% of our tithes and offerings back to church-planting, we strive to be an open-handed church, not striving for our own unique success, but doing all we can to promote the growth of God’s Kingdom by starting more and more local churches where people can discover a personal and radical relationship with Jesus.