Matt Zainea Rockford Campus November 27, 2022
LIVING UNDER AUTHORITY
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
REMINDERS
- Let’s Chat! I’d love to continue to get to know you! Let me buy you a coffee or a meal and let’s chat soon! Reach out to Trent [email protected] or Kathryn [email protected] to set up a time.
TOGETHER IN LIFE
QUESTION: Matt talked about airports in the beginning of his sermon, how do you feel about flying? What’s the most interesting airport you’ve ever been to and what was unique about it?
TOGETHER IN THE WORD
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” John 19:1-11
QUESTION: What roles do you fill in your life today? How do you approach those roles? How do you feel about the responsibilities given to you?
QUESTION: Matt shared a story about his experience at customs in Singapore that was very different than anything he had ever experienced anywhere else. They welcomed him, thanked him for coming, offered him a seat and a mint. When was the last time you were treated in a way you didn’t expect?
Pilate’s role puts him in a tough spot. Things are pressing down on him from all sides. He’s under pressure from the Roman government, the Jewish people and even his wife.
QUESTION: What role in your life is causing you to feel the most pressure right now?
AUTHORITY
Authority means something different to Pilate than it does to Jesus.
WORLDLY POWER: WE TRUST OURSELVES – Uses coercion. Forceful. Distrusting. Might. We may use material goods, physical appearance, our job or money to our advantage. Use our superiority over others to gain power. To live by power is to live by insecurity. You also breed insecurity into others. Seems like a good idea, because you can make other people do what you want, but you dehumanize people and yourself. Brings about death, violence. It’s life robbing. Destroys community. Not a community of life.
QUESTION: Can you think of a movie, TV show or book that tells a story where someone wields their worldly power? Please share a short synopsis with the group and the effect that worldly power had on the other characters. (Without ruining the story for others if possible…)
GOD’S AUTHORITY: WE TRUST GOD – Jesus lives and leads by invitation. He trusts people. Jesus trusts us far more than we trust each other. Authority depends on character. Jesus says, “Examine my character and do likewise.” Instead of fear, there’s safety. Humility. Patience. When we live under God’s authority, we become fully human and we live in a way that draws the humanity out of the people around us. It permeates everything we do. When we form community under God’s authority, life pours out of us. We don’t trust ourselves, we trust God. I’ve got desires, but when God is speaking, I have to follow God.
QUESTION: Can you think of a movie, TV show or book that tells a story where someone leads in a life giving way? How is the story different from the previous one and how are the other characters effected by the leader?
We are always choosing between worldly power or submission to God’s authority.
| POWER | AUTHORITY |
| Callousness | Compassion |
| Coldness | Kindness |
| Self-promotion | Humility |
| Striving | Meekness |
| Demandingness | Patience |
| Self-righteousness | Forgiveness |
| Self-preservation | Love |
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15
QUESTION: So much in our society today opposes any kind of authority, especially godly authority. We are inundated with messages to rebel against all limitations. How does the word, “rule’ hit you in this verse? What would it look like to let the peace of Christ rule in your heart today? What would be different?
Will we bow to God’s authority or will we reach for power?
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2: 5-11
QUESTION: What do you think the phrase, “which is yours in Christ Jesus” mean in this passage?
QUESTION: Brainstorm together some practical tools you could use to remind yourself to have this passage in mind during a situation that would normally prompt you to use worldly power.
TOGETHER IN ACTION
QUESTION: What are areas in your life where you grasp for power?
QUESTION: Where do you willingly bow to God’s authority?
