While some students labored to write on themes of purpose and destiny and existence, one student simply wrote, “Why not?” and received an “A” on the exam.
Or at least that’s how the story goes. It is almost certainly an urban legend. Nevertheless, Why? remains one of the most important questions of our lives and leadership. And when it comes to defining and living out our house rules in a godly way, knowing why we do what we do is absolutely essential.
In Colossians 3, the Apostle Paul shares his inspired ideas about family living. Throughout his instruction, however, he reminds us again and again of the answer to that Why?
Do you know why?
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(WEEKLY COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE)
DATE: July 16, 2017 : Our House Rules: House Reasons
Scripture: Colossians 3:17-4:1
ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes
Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out.
SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes
This week we continued our series Our House Rules. Like we have seen, every house has House Rules. Last week we saw how these House Rules are worked out in House Relationships. This week we are answering, “Why are our House Rules important?” Asking the why questions gets us to the level of our motivations. In Colossians 3, Paul answers the questions of why in some fascinating ways. The repeated reason Paul gives us over and over is: Jesus is Lord. But what kind of Lord is Jesus? Jesus is the kind of Lord that steps into our messy and messed up situations with a purpose and a plan to lead us to His beautiful destination. Following Him to this beautiful destination requires us growing in maturity and maturity means learning to cope with our ambivalence, so we can hang in to the very end with what God is doing- knowing He is for us, not against us.
THE MAIN THOUGHT keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion.
The reason we live our lives in new ways is because we have a new Lord—Jesus is Lord.
CHANGE
5 questions to help us GROW or SEE IT
1. Which of the following kinds of questions do you ask most? (What?, How?, Where?, When? or Why?) Why?
As each person in your family answers which kind of question they ask most. Then demonstrate the only way for us to really understand what each other value is by asking the question “Why?” The last few weeks we have talked about what our House Rules are and how these House Rules are lived out in our relationships. This week we want to look at why these House Rules are important.
2. What is Paul’s reason for the new way of life that he is calling people to in Colossians 3?
*Review together Jon’s sermon and what Jon said was the most important reason Paul gave for living this new way of life—Jesus is Lord.
3. What kind of Lord is Jesus?
*Remind your family Jesus is the kind of Lord that starts right where we are—right in our messy and messed up situations and moves us to beautiful destinations through His purpose and His plan.
4. What are some of the messes that families face today? What are some of the messes or messed up places in our family? How might Jesus want to change these things?
*Try to come up with the top three things Jesus might want to change in your family. Start by naming as many things as you can as a family and then narrow those things down to the top three things Jesus might want to change.
5. What does the word ambivalence mean? How can we live in maturity with a “grown up” perspective in the midst of ambivalence? What happens when we don’t cope with ambivalence?
*This week Jon said that “maturity is the ability to cope with ambivalence”. Ambivalence means both liking and not liking something at the same time. Coping with ambivalence means hanging with God in ways we like and don’t like as He makes us into the kinds of people and families He wants us to be. When we don’t cope with ambivalence we give up too soon and miss out on what God wants to do in our lives.
CHALLENGE
3 exercises to help us GO or BE IT (choose at least 1)
UP (Our relationship with God): Beautifully Messed Up Me
Hand each person in your family a sheet of paper and a pen. Then ask each person to identify one place in their own life that might be messed up. Read Colossians 1:20-23 as a family and talk about the way Jesus’ death on the cross steps into our messed up lives and makes them beautiful again. Have each person draw a cross over what they have written on their paper to demonstrate how Jesus makes our messed up lives beautiful again.
IN (Our relationships with each other): Beautifully Messed Up Us Play a game of Wheel of Fortune with your family using the following question to solve for the following answer:
Question: What two things does God step into our messed up lives with to change things?
Answer: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (His purpose and His plan) Once your family has solved the puzzle—talk about how God’s purpose and God’s plan might affect your family.
OUT (Our relationship with the world): Beautifully Messed Up World
Spend this week identifying another family that might be as beautifully messed up as your family is. Identify one way you can serve them. Identify what the purpose and plan is for this service together as a family and put the purpose and plan into practice.