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~~WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY TO TIGER WOODS

OVERVIEW:  Last weekend, in the series “Christ in Culture,” Pastor Terry took on the topic of what Jesus might say to Tiger Woods.  If you missed the message, you may want to get the CD or watch it at cityofgrace.com.  It was an important message, and one too diverse to capture in total in these brief LifeGroup notes.  Let’s pull a couple of Pastor Terry’s points out from his message to stimulate our discussion tonight.

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Point One:  Celebrity Worship.  Read Exodus 20:3-5
Talk about how Tiger Woods had evolved to near worship celebrity status as a model of what we admire, and how that all came crashing down overnight.  Why do you think it is that in our culture, we are so prone to elevate celebrities to such extravagant status?  How does that tendency violate the command of God?

Point Two:  Self Discipline
Tiger Woods’ golf achievements stand as exemplary of the power of disciplining oneself to master a skill.  How could a man with such capacity for discipline allow parts of his life to be so undisciplined and destructive?

Read Galatians 5:22-23 and 2 Timothy 1:7.  Talk about the power available to believers to avoid the trappings that ensnared Tiger Woods.

Point Three:  Building ourselves up in our most holy faith
When people fail,  like Tiger Woods did, we can either judge him, or use his example to cause us to take heed that we must be on guard for our own lives.

Read Jude verse 20-21 and 2 Peter 1:3-11 and talk about how we should be constantly building ourselves up in our faith.

Point Four: Casting Stones
While not condoning the sins of others, we would do well to leave the judging up to God.  Read the passage out of Matthew 7 below and discuss the underlying message Jesus is speaking to us about.  Notice that even to take a speck out of someone’s eye would require that they trust us.  How do we earn that much trust with someone.
 1″Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3″Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.   —Matthew 7:1-5

TAKING ACTION:  Read James 2:1-11.  Consider this verse in light of how we tend to consider some people as more important than others.  Think about people in your life.  Are there people you treat differently because of a “celebrity status” you have given them, or do you tend to love people simply because all people are important to God.  What adjustments might you make in this area?
MINISTRY TIME

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 ~~WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY TO OPRAH? 

OVERVIEW: In the message “What would Jesus say to Oprah,” Pastor Bobby acknowledged the amazing life and achievements of Oprah Winfrey.  She has become one of the most influential people alive in the world today.  While supporting many admirable causes and encouraging many to take action to improve their lives, she has placed herself in stark contradiction to the most influential person in the history of the world: Jesus Christ.  Today in our groups, let’s contrast a foundational premise of Oprah’s theology with the teachings of Jesus. 

DISCUSSION POINT ONE:  Is Jesus one of MANY or is he the one and ONLY? 
The Religion of Oprah, like Buddhism, Hinduism and other world religions, acknowledges Jesus as a good man and teacher, but denies that Jesus is who he says he is.  Read the Oprah quotes below and then contrast them with the words of Christ. 

“The biggest mistake that humans make is to believe that there is only one way to God.  Actually there are many different paths to what you call God… there couldn’t possibly be only one way.”    —From televised panel discussion   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwGLNbiw1gk&feature=related

“Well, I am a Christian who believes that there are certainly many more paths to God other than Christianity.”                    –Oprah Winfrey, From a New Earth web seminar dated March 3, 2008

Read John 14:5-7
Thomas asked, “how can we know the way?”  Contrast the difference between Oprah’ belief and Jesus’ teaching. 
How would Jesus finish Oprah’s comment: “the biggest mistake humans make is…”

DISCUSSION POINT TWO:  A road less traveled. 
Read Matt. 7:13-14 and discuss the contrast between Oprah’s path and Jesus’ path.  Talk about the consequences Jesus describes for those who take Oprah’s path. 

POINT THREE:  Read John 10:1-21 and discuss what Jesus is saying about this subject:

• Jesus describes himself both as the only gate and only true shepherd.  As his sheep, how is Jesus’ warning his flock against ALL other counterfeit spirituality.
• Is Oprah “entering the sheep pen” through the “gate” ie. Jesus?”  If not, how does Jesus describe Oprah in verse one?
• Do you think Jesus would encourage us to listen to the voice of spiritual teachers who deny his deity, or would he warn us to listen only to his voice for spiritual guidance?  How is this stated in the Mark 10 passage?
• Notice in verses 10-21 how this teaching of Jesus divided the crowd.  How has this same point divide spiritual seekers today?

TAKING ACTION: In your devotional time this week, meditate on this thought  from C. S. Lewis and prayerfully consider how it affects your view of Christ.

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”  —C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

MINISTRY TIME

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~~ JESUS THE REIGNING KING~~

 OVERVIEW: People who hear about Jesus seem to take one of several approaches.  One response many people have is to disregard him from the start, closing their heart off completely to the example of his life and expression of his love toward them.  For those who are receptive to consider Jesus, they will either accept him for who he says he is (the way and truth and life), or ignore what he said about himself and accept him on their own terms (good man, great teacher, prophet, etc.).  For our discussion in our groups tonight, let’s consider Jesus from the standpoint of who he says he is: the Son of God, the Savior of the World, the Messiah and the Reigning King.

DISCUSSION TOPICS:

ONE: John 18:33-37 is a passage of scripture describing a conversation Pilot had with Jesus just before he sentenced him to death.  As you read the passage, notice what Jesus says about the kingdom he rules over and the people who follow him.  Read the scripture above and then discuss the following questions:

1. How is Jesus Kingship different than what you would expect from the king of a country?
2. How is the Kingdom Jesus is reigning over different than the kingdom of this world?

TWO: Philippians 2:1-11 describes the nature of the our King Jesus, specifically drawing attention to his “attitude” and then encouraging followers of Christ to follow Jesus example.  Read the passage above out loud and then discuss the following questions:

1. What is the “attitude” we are being encouraged to have?
2. How are some of the ways we can express this attitude in our families? In our Church?  In our work place?  In our neighborhood?  To strangers?

THREE:  Mark 10:35-45 tells of a time when Jesus is talking about what make for true greatness. It captures the disciples arguing among themselves and Jesus speaks into their ignorance with a powerful truth about leadership and greatness in his kingdom.  Read the passage and then discuss the questions below:

1. How does the attitude of the disciple’s represent typical attitudes among people today?
2. Read versus 43-45 again and talk about some examples you have seen in people of the servant leadership Jesus is describing. 

TAKING ACTION:  In your devotional time this week, read all four chapters of the book of Philippians and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you fresh insight into the prevalent attitude of the Kingdom of God.

MINISTRY TIME

~~Jesus the Healer~~

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OVERVIEW:  Easter is commonly understood to be the most holy day of the Christian calendar.  Like my Dad used to say, “without Easter, Christmas would be meaningless.”  Christmas and Easter draw many people to church who otherwise don’t attend.  These holiday attendees have become known as C&E Christians, or “Chreasters.”   According to Jim Davidson, professor of religion at Purdue University, church attendance increases about 25% at Easter.  It begs the question, “Who is the Jesus we are seeking, and why are we seeking him?” 

At our Good Friday service, Pastor Terry spoke of “Jesus the Sin Bearer.”  On Easter Sunday he directed us toward “Jesus the Healer.”  In this post Easter week, let’s explore the dynamics of who it is that we are seeking as we pursue Jesus our “sin bearer” and “healer.”

DISCUSSION POINTS:
In the passage below, what is it Jesus is communicating to the Pharisees?

38Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”  39He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.   —Matthew 12:38-40

As we read the prophetic passage below from Isaiah, that points to the coming Messiah, notice the haunting statement in verse 4.  As we contemplate the question of how we “esteem” Christ, let’s consider whether we esteem him first as sin bearer or as healer. 

1Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. —Isaiah 53:1-4 (NKJV)

Continue reading in Isaiah 53 and then in the New Testament book of 1 Peter:

Isaiah 4-6. 4Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But He was wounded for our transgressions,  He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way;  and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV) 24who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

What do these passages reveal about where our healing originates?

Final Discussion point:  Back to the opening question, “who is the Jesus we are seeking and why are we seeking him?”  Consider and discuss these final questions:
1.  Does it matter if we seek Jesus first for what we want him to do instead of what he has already done?  Why or why not?
2.  Approaching Jesus as our “sin bearer” requires us to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior.  It accepts the reality that we are powerless to reverse the lethal consequences of our sins and reveals our need for the healing power of God through Christ.  Why is it important to start from this humble position rather than “seeking a sign”?  (consider the opening passage from Matthew 12 above).

TAKING ACTION:  In your devotional time this week, reflect back on your experience over Easter.  What do you sense that the Holy Spirit was speaking to your heart this year?  If nothing stands out, then  take some time to reflect back before the Easter season becomes a distant memory.  Write down what the Lord speaks to you about and tuck it away in your Bible.
MINISTRY TIME