Matt Zainea Rockford Campus May 7, 2023
ACTIVE PASSIVITY
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
TOGETHER IN LIFE
QUESTION: What’s your favorite time of day and why?
TOGETHER IN THE WORD
THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Note: We encourage you to read the entire text together as a group out loud.
QUESTION: What stands out to you most in this scripture? Is there anything that was confusing to you or that you didn’t understand?
- We live in a right’s based culture.
- We are so obsessed with our rights that we undermine our credibility to share the gospel.
RIGHTS
- Apostles and their families have the right to support
- Workers deserve the fruit of their labor
- Don’t muzzle an ox when it treads grain
QUESTION: What are some of the rights that our culture is obsessed with right now?
QUESTION: How do you think being obsessed with our rights could undermine our credibility to share the gospel? Do you have an example of how this might play out in our world today?
RIGHTS SET ASIDE
- The Lord commands that gospel teachers are sustained by their ministry
- Paul doesn’t use his right to not work – he’d rather die
- Paul doesn’t want to lose his boast. What is his boast?
- He is going to forgo his right to financial compensation to amplify the power of the message.
- The gospel gains a unique potency when rights are surrendered because that is a picture of the gospel.
- Jesus, the only perfect person, gave up his rights and suffered the cross in order to rescue us.
QUESTION: In the home that you grew up in, how was conflict handled? Examples: Was there a lot of fighting, was it vocal or more passive aggressive? Did you ever see conflict resolved in a healthy way?
QUESTION: Paul did not take financial support from the church in Corinth, and instead of being grateful they used it against him. Have you ever been in a situation like that where you were had the best of intentions and someone used it against you, or maybe the other way around? Was the conflict ever resolved?
- Paul became all things to all people for the sake of the gospel, without ever compromising God’s law.
- He practiced what Francis Schaeffer referred to as Active Passivity.
- He remained flexible and absorbed criticism in order to advance the gospel.
QUESTION: Can you remember a time where you witnessed someone absorb criticism instead of telling their side of the story for the benefit of the other person?
QUESTION: Would you describe yourself as flexible? Why or why not? Would your spouse or someone else close to you agree with your description?
TYPE OF RIGHTS
- Natural – Each person has dignity because they are created in the image of God.
- Prescribed – Flows out of the natural right, prescribed by country, organization, etc.
- Relational – Arise in the inner self, self appointed.
** Matt and Lesley shared a story from when they were newlyweds and putting up a Christmas tree. As Matt struggled to get the tree to stand up, his frustration grew and Lesley felt his anger. After he finally got the tree up, Lesley tried to adjust it and it fell over. Matt needed to leave for an event with the college age kids at church, so he left. Lesley sat on the floor and cried, wondered why she ever got married and then put the tree up herself, decorated it and vacuumed up the needles. Matt stated that Lesley values order while he values convenience. While they did make up, it’s an argument they would repeat many times, but in different situations. We are all tempted to turn what we value into a right.
QUESTION: Matt was able to describe what both he and Lesley value in one word. If you had to describe what you value in one word, what would that word be? In what situations are you tempted to demand it as a right?
NEXT STEP QUESTION: In what ways do you use your rights as a weapon? Where do you think God might be asking you to lay those rights aside for the sake of the gospel? (Not just proclaiming the gospel to all the world, but bringing life to those around us.)
TOGETHER IN PRAYER + ACTION + SPEAKING
End with this prayer, based on Philippians 2:5-8
“Father, When we struggle to lay down our rights, when we desperately want to go our own way and do our own things, when we don’t want to consider others, remind us of your son, Jesus, though He was in the form of God and had all the power to fulfill all of His desires and rescue Himself from all suffering, 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. He obeyed you, Father, in order to rescued us. Help us to continue to grow in gratitude to you for that ultimate sacrifice and to grow in love toward one another.”
