Group Guide
This Week's City 7:
4. Can a person be good enough to go to heaven? No. Because Jesus rose from the dead, proving He is God, I believe a person is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
(John 1:12, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 4:1-25, 5:1-2, 6-11, 6:23, 10:1-4, 10:9; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 3:4-7)
(John 1:12, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 4:1-25, 5:1-2, 6-11, 6:23, 10:1-4, 10:9; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 3:4-7)
Ice-Breaker:
- Any New Year's resolutions?
Scripture
Jude 1
3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Discussion Questions:
- On Sunday, we looked at several ways in which we can compare and contrast the godly and ungodly. In verse 3, Jude is sensing the need to write the church to encourage them to DEFEND the faith that God has entrusted to them. It seems that they were being led astray by false teachings and ways of believing the Gospel. The godly RECEIVE the faith, but the ungodly PERCEIVE THE FAITH. The godly hold fast to right doctrine. They aren't persuaded by new ways of interpreting Truth (If it's NEW it's not TRUE). The ungodly, according to verse 4, believe whatever they feel is right. The godly say, "What I BELIEVE determines the way I BEHAVE" while the ungodly say, "The way I BEHAVE determines what I BELIEVE." How important is it to hold fast to pure doctrine even when it goes against popular culture or political leanings? Where have you been tempted to stray to believing what feels good instead of what is true?
- Jude urges the church to defend the faith! The godly DEFEND the faith, while the ungodly EXTEND the faith. The church is called upon to, according to 2 Corinthians 10, "knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments," as well as, "destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God." The ungodly, on the other hand, extend the faith to include whatever they feel is right. The key for us is, if we are going to be able to defend the truth, we must KNOW the truth! How ready are you to defend the truth of the Gospel? Are you confident that you could spot false ways of thinking/believing? Are you committed to learning right theology?
- The ungodly demand TOLERANCE, but the godly command REPENTANCE. This is especially true in today's culture, where Christians are pressured to accept things that are clearly defined as sin in Scripture, all in the name of inclusion and acceptance. We are cornered into going along with distortion and perversion so as to appear loving and not judgmental. But if we are going to be faithful Christians, we must live by Paul's definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13: "...love rejoices in the TRUTH." The most loving thing we can do is to share the truth in love. We can't be all GRACE. We can't be all TRUTH. We must do our best to strike the grace/truth BALANCE. How difficult is this to do? Do you lean more grace or more truth?
- Satan will ALWAYS have an attractive counterfeit to God's truth. TOLERANCE is the satanic counterfeit of REPENTANCE. Repentance says, "I'm wrong, I need to change!" But tolerance says, "No, you're not wrong... you just need to accept yourself just as you are." It preaches to the world that there is nothing wrong with you. You, along with everyone else, need to accept and celebrate everything about you... period. How can we show the world that the need for repentance IS IN FACT based in love? How can we convince those we love that God's boundaries are for our own ultimate good, fulfillment and satisfaction? And do you live like you believe these things?
- The big idea from Sunday was that the godly CONTEND for the faith, but the ungodly COMPROMISE the faith. We are to CONTEND but not be CONTENTIOUS. We are to show compassion anchored to conviction and share convictions clothed in compassion. How can you bring balance, and who in your life needs this balance from you? Where (or with whom) is He calling you to CONTEND for the faith? Where is he revealing that you might be compromising?
Prayer Topics:
- That we would DEFEND the faith.
- That we would learn to be grace and truth for the world around us.
- That our convictions would be clothed in compassion, and our compassion would be anchored in convictions.
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