The Church and Judement
November 30, 2009 · Filed Under Sermon Study Guides · Comment
1 Corinthians 6:1-8
- In general, what problems do you think result from taking your brother to a secular court regarding a civil matter? In addition, talk about what underlying issues such an action exposes.
- Read Proverbs 25:8-10. What does it mean? How does it relate to this sermon’s text and the issues in it?
- Why do we often treat relationships within the church body like we could take or leave them? How might they change if we genuinely saw them the way we do family relationships?
- Regarding the judgment of the world, does 6:2-3 contradict what 5:12 teaches regarding outsiders? Can you explain this seeming contradiction? What are the implications of the future role of believers in God’s judgment for their present role as part of the church?
- Talk about the role that personal rights play in our contemporary society? Do you think they play a healthy or unhealthy role today? How are they expressed in the personal lives of believers and in their life together as the church? What impact does this have on our body-life as a church?
- Reflect on John 13:35, 1 Jn. 4:20 and this text. What does our marginalizing of one another communicate?
- Formulate your own question from this text to share with the group.
- Pray for individuals to value others more than their own “rights.” Pray for our church to maintain a great testimony to the world because of the way that we relate to each other.
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An Unholy Church
November 22, 2009 · Filed Under Sermon Study Guides · Comment
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
- To what degree is holiness valued in the church today? Explain the factors that you think play into your answer.
- Respond to this statement: The church is supposed to be a different type of community with a different type of culture because they possess a different type of character.
- Why do you think the Corinthian church tolerated this man’s sin? What do you think it says about them?
- Explain the reason for the placement of the statement, “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” In attempting to connect it to vs. 6 and the first part of vs. 7 please read Exodus 13:7 and Deuteronomy 16:4 (and possibly their contexts). How is the Gospel at the center of this issue? (You might recall the three things listed in the sermon.)
- How does Paul think the church should respond to immorality outside and immorality inside the church? Why do these responses differ? What are the respective goals of each?
- Formulate your own question from this text to share with the group.
- Pray for Lifeline to value holiness and restoration. Pray for Lifeline to keep the Gospel at the center of the issues we face as we do life together.
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An Apostle and the Church
November 15, 2009 · Filed Under Sermon Study Guides · Comment
1 Corinthians 4:1-21
- What is an Apostle? Characterize in your own words the attitudes of the Corinthians and Paul if all you had to go on was this chapter.
- Think about the metaphors below that Paul uses in this text to refer to himself. What do they tell you about his role and how he perceives that role?
- Under-rower –
- Steward (also read Luke 12:35-48) –
- Father –
- What role does the conscience play in human life? Is it a reliable guide for decision making? How is it fashioned or formed? What are the implications of our conscience’s formation for how we live our lives and for what we allow into our lives?
- Make some notes about the contrast in vs. 8-13 between the Corinthians perception of the Christian life and Paul’s perception as an Apostle. How do they mix with your own perception?
- Explain the contrast in metaphors Paul uses in vs. 15. Vs. 21 is thought to end a major section of the letter: what do you make of the way he ends this section?
- Pray for yourself and all who minister at Lifeline to serve as under-rowers and good stewards of what God has entrusted to them. Pray for each one in the group to have a proper perspective of the task of Christian discipleship.
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Buildling God’s Way
November 8, 2009 · Filed Under Sermon Study Guides · Comment
1 Corinthians 3:10-23
- According to this passage what should you consider as you build into God’s church?
- In addition and more specifically, how do we build in ways that are not perishable? (think of specific and individual ways)
- What other foundations do some people try to lay for the church? Can you think of examples where a wrong foundation has been laid and what the consequence has been?
- Share some ideas about how you can effectively communicate and gather support for the $100 challenge as a means of helping Lifeline obtain a permanent facility.
- Look closely at vs. 13-17. What is the difference between the person in vs. 15 whose work is burned up and the one in vs. 17 who is destroyed? (regarding the word used for “destroyed” you might look at the other NT uses: 1 Cor. 15:33; 2 Cor. 7:2; 11:3; Eph. 4:22; 2 Pt. 2:12; Jude 1:10; Rev. 19:2)
- Pay attention to vs. 17, how is the church at large viewed by people who attend it? How is Lifeline viewed? How ought it to be viewed? What does this mean for your actions as part of the church?
- What does Paul mean in vs. 21-23? In what sense are “all things” yours? Why does he speak this way to them? What are the implications of this for the things he mentioned (world, life, death, present, future)? How do these things oppress us?
- Pray that God would help you be a good builder at Lifeline. Pray that we would treat the church as holy/set apart? Pray for our $100 challenge.
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God’s Building
November 1, 2009 · Filed Under Sermon Study Guides · Comment
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
- In your own words describe the Corinthians from what Paul has said so far.
- How is the Gospel both milk and solid food? How is this analogous to our ABC’s and language? How does the Gospel find import into all of life? Talk about some specific areas of life and how the Gospel reforms and reshapes them.
- Talk about what it means to “act as mere men.” What is meant here? (keep in mind that the Greek literally says, “are you not walking according to men?” Contrast this to Galatians 5:16-26.
- How are the “laborers” in this text characterized? What do you learn about them and their roles both individually and as they relate to God and His “field”? How have the Corinthians misunderstood the role of teachers in the local body? (keep in mind 1 Cor. 1:10-17; 2:10-16; 12:4-6 and 29)
- How does God build His church? What are some good evaluative questions to diagnose if it is being built well?
- Pray for Lifeline and its leadership. Pray that God would build His church and ask Him to show you how to contribute in the best way possible.
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