A. In antiquity

B. In the modern era

C. In God’s kingdom

1. Colossians 3:18-4:1 – Social engineering at its best!

1. Wives and husbands

2. Children and fathers (parents)

3. Slaves and masters

A. In all things...King Jesus

1. All of life to be Christ-centered

B. Mutual submission and sacrifice for each other (3:18-19) 

C. Strengthen and encourage one another (3:20-21) 

D. Reaching for the kingdom (3:22 – 4:1)

For Further Discussion:

• Which of the relationships mentioned prove to be most difficult for you? (Please substitute employee and employer for slave and master) Why?

• According to Paul’s kingdom social engineering plan, what can you do to better align your life with the principles? 

    

A. The right question actually deals with the way we interpret scripture.

B. How do we interpret scripture?

1. Historical/cultural context; Christocentric; Kingdom orientation

A. In the beginning | Genesis 1:26-27; 2:18; 21-23

B. After the fall | Genesis 3:16

C. In the 1st century (before Christ)

D. In the 1st century (after Christ)

A. Just live out the future…now! | 1 Corinthians 7:29

1. Through mutual submission | Ephesians 5:21-33

2. Through a right mindset | Philippians 2:3-8

3. Through power under

B. Leadership at home

1. By giftedness or traditional roles?

• Describe the dynamics of your parents’ relationship when you were growing up. Discuss their approach to husband/wife relationship, roles, and responsibilities.

• Have you followed their model or have you landed in a different place? If so, describe where you have landed and why. You do not need to be married to have an opinion on this!

• What can we learn from the way Paul approaches his contemporaries with this radical way of doing relationships? How is this like being a missionary to a culture foreign to us?

by Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart

A. 1st century patriarchal society

B. The responsibility of all in the family…

A. The “born-again” children of God | John 1:12-13; John 3:5

B. God’s DNA…really? | Romans 12:2; 1 John 3:1

A. God, our Father; Jesus, our Brother; Spirit, our Helper

B. We are family | Ephesians 2:14; 2:19

C. The responsibility of all in the family

D. What about my earthly/biological family?

• What did your family look like growing up? (Traditional nuclear; large extended; blended; single parent)

• Overall, was it a good or bad experience? Why?

• How do you feel about your new family in God? (Hesitant, happy, hopeful)

• What are the implications of being God’s child? What about being related to others as brothers and sisters?

• How should you relate to your earthly/biological family since you now have a new family?

• What has been your experience with this, both good and bad?

A. Spiritual highs

B. The absence of trouble

• John 16:33

A. The goal of our life on earth with Christ is to learn how to cooperate with the Spirit as he transforms us from the inside out into Christlikeness

• Colossians 1:28

A. Grace: the empowering presence of God in us that enables us to be and do all the things that God has called us to be and do B. The grace filled life is one in which we experience the reality of the presence of God in our everyday, ordinary lives. – Romans 12: 1-2

C. The thing about grace is that we must cooperate with God to experience it.

D. The grace filled life is the essence of a truly connected life with God…this is the stuff that life is made of.

• What signs do you typically look for to figure out whether or not your life with God is successful? Asked another way, how do you determine whether or not your life with God is good?

• How do you feel/what do you think about goal of the Christian life is to learn how to cooperate with the spirit and to be transformed into Christlikeness? What has your experience with this been?

• Read 2 Corinthians 12:9. What are some areas in your life where God might be giving you grace instead of resolution or healing? How do you feel about this? What does this look like in your life?

• How is God shaping you through this process of receiving grace?

A. A truncated imagining… Lacking the awareness that we don’t lack anything!

B. An imagination aligned with God’s view of things… All that Jesus is by nature is ours by grace!

A. Why should we wait until we die to start living?

B. Imaging the resurrection means being the future now!

1. Living complete…

2. Living dead…

3. Living resurrected…

             “He is risen, indeed!”

                     “We are risen with Him!”

For Further Discussion

• Have you ever considered yourself dead to sin? How do you actually do that? What does it look like in everyday life?

• What kinds of things have you chased after to feel complete (religious and/or material things)?

• Why do you think we become like mice and chase the “Cheese of Completeness”?

• What do you feel/think when you hear that we are to be the future now?

• When you really imagine that resurrection life…what does it look like on you?

II. The Story of New Creation | John 1: 1-5

III. The Christ on the Cross

A. John tells of 7 signs that Jesus gave

B. Jesus reveals all of his glory by going to the cross for all of creation

A. Once Jesus has shown humanity the way to freedom, he finished his work of destroying the devil and his works by breathing his last breath - 1 John 3:8

B. All of humanity now lives rescued with the opportunity to walk in freedom

• How has your understanding of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and how it applies to your life been impacted and/or enlarged throughout Lent?

• What are some of the things that keep you from experiencing freedom and a sense of being ‘rescued’ by Jesus?

• Knowing that life still goes on until Jesus returns, what do you feel the Spirit might be inviting you into when it comes to these places in your life?

• As a group, pray for one another, asking for God’s grace and his eyes to see what he sees.

A. Even His own disciples had difficulty interpreting His story because of their cultural, nationalistic, philosophical, and religious perspectives.

B. Jesus helps them connect the dots through the observance of the Passover meal.

C. Blood on the doorpost…of Israel

1. Exodus (selected verses)

2. Themes: Rescue from slavery; Being God’s people in a new way: Being sent

A. His story is to be interpreted through the lens of their story.

B. Three matzos and four cups of wine

1. This is my body…this is my blood

C. Receiving the Eucharist 1. “A good gift”

2. Themes: Rescue from slavery; Being God’s people in a new way

A. Their new story is to be interpreted through His.

B. This is not an ambiguous idea or concept; there is something to do!

1. “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

2. Broken and poured out

C. Blood on the doorpost of the universe

1. Theme: Being sent

D. Being the Eucharist

1. “A good gift”

• What was your understanding of the Communion meal or the Eucharist, prior to today’s talk?

• How has your understanding been changed, challenged, or enlarged as a result of today’s experience?

• What does the command, “Do this in remembrance of me,” look like in real life? Did you agree/disagree with interpreting that statement as, “Image Me”? Why or why not?

• What are your thoughts on the Eucharist or Communion Meal not simply being a memorial but instead an “imaging” of Christ?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us,

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

A. John 13:21-30

B. Jesus experiences the sins of humanity in a very literal way as he is lied against, oppressed, betrayed and violently tortured

A. Isaiah 50: 4-9

B. Jesus breaks the cycle of sin and violence by fighting violence with love, mercy and forgiveness

C. Through his death, Jesus gives us a way to come out from under the weight of being a victim

A. Forgiveness releases the one extending forgiveness from the chains of evil and injustice

B. The beauty of grace

• Read (alone or with a group) Matthew 18:21-35

• What has your experience been with receiving forgiveness from others?

• Describe your experience of receiving forgiveness from God.

• What about forgiving others in your life proves to be most difficult?

• What might the Holy Spirit be inviting you into in the area of forgiving yourself? Forgiving others? Receiving/experiencing God’s forgiveness?

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

A. John 12:20-36

B. Trust, Commit, Wait

A. Luke 9:23

B. John 5:1-6

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1. Learning to Listen (do this alone or with a group of 3 – 12 people):

Step 1: Sit in quiet for 30 seconds

Step 2: Read John 5:1-7 aloud (if in a group, choose one reader, while everyone else keeps their eyes closed).

Step 3: Sit in silence for 3 minutes. Reflect on the passage. What one word or phrase stood out to you?

Step 4: Read the passage aloud again.

Step 5: Sit in silence for 2 minutes. Reflect on the passage. What word or phrase stood out to you this time?

Step 6: Read the passage once more aloud.

Step 7: Sit in silence for 3 minutes. Listen for the Holy Spirit. What is the Spirit inviting you into?

2. Discuss this experience with your friends.