Matt Zainea Rockford Campus April 30, 2023
THE DIET OF DISCERNMENT
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
TOGETHER IN LIFE
QUESTION: When you go out to eat with friends, do you know ahead of time what you’re going to order or do you decide when you look at the menu? Do you ever change your order based on what your friend orders?
TOGETHER IN THE WORD
THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
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?
LEGALISM vs. LICENSE
- Legalism: We try to make rules for everything. This brings us comfort because we think we know the answers and then we can always be right. Legalism goes beyond scripture what says, we judge things as sin that are not sin.
- License: Because we’re in Christ, we’re free and think we can do anything we want.
DISCERNMENT
- Discernment thinks about what’s best for all involved and who it might affect, not just what’s best for me.
QUESTION: In the home that you grew up in, did your family tend more toward legalism or license?
QUESTION: Have you struggled to find the balance between legalism or license? Where do you think you tend to fall on the spectrum? Are you more prone to one or the other?
KNOWLEDGE: PUFFS UP VS. LOVE: BUILDS UP
- Knowledge has a purpose. Knowledge should bring about more love. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is not the goal. Love is the goal.
- Anytime we think our knowledge is superior, we’re puffed up. We think we’re superior to other Christ followers.
QUESTION: Have you ever made an assumption about someone that turned out to be false? Share your experience and what you learned about yourself?
QUESTION: Have you ever made a decision based on what was best for you, and then you were surprised by how that decision affected someone else? If so, please share.
QUESTION: When considering your significant relationships and the roles of leadership or influence that you have, who is most affected by your decisions? What kind of legacy do you want to leave for them?
QUESTION: Have you ever considered that people outside of your inner circle are watching you and being influenced by you? If you thought about this more often, how do you think it might change some of the decisions that you make?
- Our life is not our own.
- Some of our actions may cause other believers to sin.
- When we sin against other believers, we sin against Christ.
- Paul set aside his desires for the betterment of our spiritual walks.
- Take your freedom and become a servant. We are always slaves to something. If we don’t become servants, we’ll continue to be slaves to our sin. Lay your freedom down for the sake of other believers.
- Love is rooted in the person and activity of Jesus
QUESTION: As a society, what are some of our modern temples? What are some of our idols? What do we worship? What do we sacrifice?
Possible stumbling blocks
- Alcohol
- Entertainment
- Language
- Consumerism
- Sports
CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal and their life is to ours, as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
QUESTION: What is an area of my life where I make choices based on what I want?
QUESTION: What change can help me discern choices based on what others need to know of Christ?
TOGETHER IN PRAYER + ACTION + SPEAKING
End with this prayer, based on Philippians 2:5-8
“Father, When we struggle to follow you, 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.”
