Matt Zainea Rockford Campus June 25, 2023
The Goal of Worship
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
REMINDERS
July 2nd Combined Service – We we be holding only one service this week, at 9am, due to the holiday weekend. Hope to see you there!
TOGETHER IN LIFE
What’s one time when you got to see the church at its best? Share an example you personally witnessed or experienced rather than one you just read about or saw online.
TOGETHER IN THE WORD
THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 14:1–12
Note: We encourage you to read the entire text together as a group out loud.
Big Idea
To love Jesus is to love His bride, the church—and to love the church is to love the local church where God has planted you. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul takes his teaching on love and applies it to disagreements about tongues, prophecy, and leadership that are causing disunity and disorder in the church.
Warm Up Questions
- Matt asked us to think of a person that you love very much and investigate whether we love that person for who they are or what they do. What does it look like when we love someone for what they do? How might this differ from loving someone for who they are?
- What kind of love do you think God has for you? Is there a Bible verse that you use to remind you of the way God loves you?
- “To love God is to love the church.” Did this statement surprise you? Is it challenging to accept? Why or why not?
Activity: Pause and Pray
Matt challenged us to consider whether we love the church unconditionally or just because of what it does for us. As you begin, take some time to pray for each other that your love for the church would grow in this study. Ask God to help you see any areas where you are tempted to withhold your love for the church or make it contingent on what it does.
Building Up the Church
Chapter 14 returns to the discussion of spiritual gifts Paul began in chapter 12. Keeping in mind that love is “the more excellent way,” he explores the gifts of tongues and prophecy in the life of the church. Verse 12 says, “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.”
QUESTIONS
- If you could gift just one thing—anything at all—to the local church, what would it be and why?
- Compare and contrast Paul’s description of tongues with his description of prophecy (vv1–5). What makes prophecy better than tongues?
| Tongues For God Needs Interpretation Builds Self For Unbelievers Good |
Prophecy For People Needs Obedience Builds Others For Believers Better |
- What can we learn about what God values from this passage? How might this change how you think about other spiritual gifts? (To jog your memory, see lists in 1 Cor 12:8–10, Rom 12:6–8, and Eph 4:11, 12.)
Responding to Conflict
A recurring theme in 1 Corinthians is conflict. Matt said that two opposing sides can form over any change, no matter how small.
QUESTIONS
- Have you ever seen division arise from one of God’s good gifts to the church? How did that play out?
- When you find out about a conflict in church, how do you respond? Do you run in the opposite direction? Fight for your side? Try to make peace? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your approach?
- What gets you “worked up” the most? Is it a passion for something? A reaction against something? What do you tend to do with that energy?
- How might you go about redirecting your passion and energy over an issue toward building up the church? What obstacles immediately come to mind when you consider this?
Women and Order
While not the focus of the chapter, verses 33b–35 have stirred up lots of division over the years. Matt briefly listed 5 common interpretations and why 4 of them fall short. Paul appears to be saying that male leadership in the local church is the system that best honors God. Verse 40 says, “all things should be done decently and in order.”
QUESTIONS
- Do you come from a church background with a different view about women in local church leadership? If so, was it stricter or freer with regard to women? Was it challenging to come to Magnify?
- Knowing that this is a divisive issue in some churches, what might it look like to “excel in building up the church” if you disagree over this?
- Matt reminded us that loving the local church means loving specific people, and experiencing specific problems and specific joys. Which of these is the most challenging to deal with right now? Why?
- 2 Cor 11:23–28 lists Paul’s struggles and hardships in service of Christ and His church. Do you find this list inspiring or convicting when you relate it to the challenges you face in the local church?
Application: Growing and Letting Go
Matt observed that growth in his life often includes learning to let go of things that he used to think were important. As we work on our love for the local church, we should take stock and consider whether we need to do the same.
QUESTIONS
- Can you think of a time when your values or priorities were in conflict? How could you tell? What did you do about it?
- Is there any area in your life where you see signs that something is challenging your love for the local church?
- If you’re not sure, consider the categories mentioned in the sermon: good gifts from God, disagreements, and difficulties/trials.
- What would it take to remove that barrier? Is it a matter of changing the way you think about something or does it demand a change in action?
- Is there anything you learned from a previous sermon in this series that could help you here?
TOGETHER IN PRAYER
Loving the local church and the specific people in it may be a tall order sometimes, but Jesus did it first. You are a specific person in the local church, and Christ loves you unconditionally. Note what Ephesians 5:25–30 teaches us about Christ’s love for the Church: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”
Pray through this passage together as a group, asking God to give you the same heart for the church that Christ has. Thank God for loving the church so faithfully and including us in that love.
