Gary Heim Rockford Campus June 18, 2023
The More Excellent Way
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
REMINDERS
June Newsletter – if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, take a look at the June Newsletter here. This is our chance to continue to encourage you and share thoughts for your leadership in your groups.
TOGETHER IN LIFE
One of Gary’s illustrations talked about “going sideways” over a chipmunk. Share a time in your life that causes you to laugh now when you look back, but did not seem funny at the time.
TOGETHER IN THE WORD
THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 13
Note: We encourage you to read the entire text together as a group out loud.
Big Idea
Love is a central theme of the Bible, summed up in the Double Love Command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. 1 Corinthians 13 helps us gain a clearer picture of what love is and is not.
Warm Up Questions
- This is a popular passage, often read at weddings. Is there anything that stood out to you that maybe you missed before?
- Love is a big deal in the Bible! Are there other Bible verses/passages about love that have stood out to you over the years? If not, take a minute and reflect on why.
- What are some common misconceptions about love that you have heard or wrestled with in your own life? How would you explain the Bible’s teaching on love to someone who didn’t know it?
What Love Is
Verse 4 says, “Love is patient and kind.” While the rest of the passage describes what love does or doesn’t do, these two words stand out from the rest as primary qualities of what love is.
QUESTIONS
- “Patience takes anything.” When you think about the people in your life, who is the best example of patience? Why?
- “Kindness gives everything.” Who would you describe as the kindest person you know? Why?
- When you think about God, is your picture of Him patient and kind? Why or why not? Is it different when you are thinking about God the Father versus Jesus Christ? When have you experienced either God’s patience or kindness in your life?
- Read 1 Cor 13:4–7 again, but this time replace the word “love” with God and “it/its” with He/His. Is there anything that surprises you?
Activity: What Love Is Not
Make a list of all the things Paul says love doesn’t do in verses 4–6. Why do you think the list is so much longer? What do these negative examples add to your understanding of love?
Challenge: Self-Centeredness
The call to love exposes the depths of our self-centeredness. Sometimes this is reflected in how we respond to disappointment or frustration. It can also creep into our motivations, where we might do a good thing but for unloving reasons.
QUESTIONS
- Is there an example from this past week where you feel God exposed some self-centeredness in either your actions or your motivations? How did you become aware of it? What did you do to resolve it?
- In what areas of your life have you seen a pattern of frustration or disappointment? It may be something resolved in the past or still ongoing. If it’s resolved, how did that come about? If it’s still ongoing, how does it feel to talk about that with the group?\
- Mixed motives are a constant struggle in this life. While we should always be on guard against subtle temptations here, is there an area of your life where you know your motives are obviously bad? (If not, great! Keep up the good work.)
- Did any of these specific challenges resonate with you?
- “Love is patient.”
- “…and kind.”
- “Love does not envy.”
- “[Love] is not arrogant.” (C. S. Lewis said a good way to check your heart for arrogance is to examine how you feel when someone snubs you.)
- “[Love] is not irritable or resentful.”
Conclusion: The Gospel & Application
If you know anything about Gary, you know one of the big themes in his teaching is learning to recognize that we have everything we need in Christ. Jesus’s love for us is supremely displayed by His death for us on the cross. We are perfectly loved and accepted in Him, and this gives us freedom not to demand these things from those around us.
QUESTIONS
- Do you find it easy or difficult to believe that you have everything you need in Christ?
- If it’s difficult, where do you think the challenge comes from? What’s one thing you can do to remind yourself of God’s love for you?
- If it’s easy, what’s one thing you can do to help strengthen the faith of those around you?
- How does Christ’s example of love inspire or challenge you?
- Where does the love of Christ in your life most obviously spill over into the lives of others?
- What’s one area you’ve identified today that you really want to work on this week? What’s one step you can take to make that a reality? Which one person can you ask to check in on you and encourage you in this area this week?
TOGETHER IN PRAYER
1 John 4:7–12: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
Pray together as a group, thanking God for His great love demonstrated in Jesus Christ, asking for help to rest in this love when trials come, and praying for perseverance to love others in all circumstances.
