Group Guide
This Week's City 7:
3. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Since “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin is death,” Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the fine for my sin so I could be right with God.
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
Ice-Breaker:
What did you do for July 4th? Are you a fireworks person? Or are you one that would rather not see your money explode?
Discussion Questions:
- Scripture tells us that Jesus, upon seeing the large crowd of people, was moved with compassion. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. These were fringe people too, not faithful followers. They were mostly there to see the show or to get something from Jesus. But he doesn't send them away or rebuke them... the welcomes them and teaches them and spends time with them and heals them. And he knew what they actually needed. They WANTED to be healed and to eat, but what they NEEDED was truth. We are very similar to the crowd. We come to him for what he can do for us. But what we need most in our lives is ultimate truth that only comes from God's Word. We don't want truth most of the time. We'd rather have a little truth sprinkled in with our own thoughts and preferences and ideas. But without ultimate truth, we are a rudderless ship. Talk about a time in your life when you needed truth that was hard to hear. What was that truth? Who gave it to you? Is there a truth that you are resisting in your life right now?
- Jesus was so moved with compassion as he looked at these hurting people that it broke his heart. Matthew 14:14 uses a from of the greek verb, "splagchnizomai" (good luck with that one), which literally refers to internal organs... that pain in the pit of your stomach. It's saying that Jesus felt such deep compassion for the people that it physically hurt him. Human suffering truly caused him pain and moved him to do something to alleviate it. God's heart breaks when we suffer, too. His heart breaks with ours. Question: Does YOUR heart break with THEIR'S? Do you have compassion for those suffering around you? What about those that don't look or believe like you? Do you tend to be all grace and no truth, or all truth and no grace? Are your convictions clothed in compassion?
- The first challenge on Sunday was to the "crowd"... Come closer! The crowd in Luke 9 was there for all the wrong reasons. They weren't there to submit to his authority or to surrender their lives to Jesus and follow him to the end. While Jesus wasn't mad at them, he did eventually call them to more. If you are one that is in that outer ring of the crowd, God isn't mad at you either! But he IS calling you to more. The church is full of Christians that aren't engaged with him. It's full of fans that are resistant to move to followers. Have you had a time in your life when you were just part of the crowd? Or are you there now? Has there been a reluctance to submit your life fully, take up your cross and follow Jesus?
- The next challenge was for the disciples of Jesus... Learn to trust! This miracle of feeding the 5,000 was the only one in which Jesus DID the miracle, but it was the disciples who actually carried it out. They were the ones to deliver the bread and fish. Think about the logistics of taking food, one basket at a time, to 20,000 people. That took some time. Jesus gave to a disciple, who then took it and gave to the people. One trip at a time. Imagine that first trip back to Jesus, just hoping and praying that there was food left. No one wants to tick off 20,000 hungry people! But trip by trip, their faith grew. That's what it's like to learn to walk in faith with Jesus. You muster up what little faith you have, then you come back to him with your empty hands and he gives you more. Little by little your faith grows as you learn to trust in him. Describe a time when God used a situation in your life to grow your faith muscle. What do you think is keeping you from having BIG faith in your life today?
- Finally, the last challenge was to those of us in the position of the little boy... Give him what you've got! We should ALL seek to be like the boy who willingly offered up his lunch to Jesus. It was such a ridiculous, feeble offering, yet he gave it anyway. How many others that were there that day that might have had some food weren't willing to give it? In the New Testament Church, it is the pastor's job to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. That means God has a ministry for all of us. No matter your occupation, your ministry is to bring Jesus to people in your life and sphere of influence. But many of us see our lives as insignificant or think that God can't use us because of some flaw we have or something in our past. But the fact is, God ONLY uses messed up, broken people to do amazing things for the Kingdom because that's all there is in the world... people that are messed up and broken. What is that one thing for you that God has nudged you towards, but you’ve been slow to answer his call? What has the enemy convinced you that you CAN’T do? Where has fear kept you on the sidelines?
Prayer Topics:
- That we would seek TRUTH in our lives.
- That our convictions would be clothed in compassion.
- That we would learn to walk in faith.
- That we would bring God what we have and let him use it.
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