WEEK 1-4 // Lent 2015 Small Group Discussion...

Small Group Guide

Lent 2015

WESTWOOD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH LENT 2015

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WE’RE PART OF THE SOLUTION, NOT THE PROBLEM. A six-week small group discussion guide.

What this study is all about

Too often, it seems that the narrative “out there” about the church is less than hopeful. We hear about how the church has caused all kinds of problems across society. Admittedly, we can look to back across the history of the church and understand why we these stories are kept alive; there are many people that have been wounded by the church and “religion”.

But what if we were to spend 6 weeks looking at our history from a different angle? What if we were to take some time and think about the multitude of ways that the church has been a force for good in so many communities?

That is the heart behind this small group guide. To pour over the scriptures and find the places that God has proven that there is nothing to our message but hope, redemption and restoration. This is the narrative we’re talking about. Let’s reclaim together the great narrative that we are all part of; God’s people are part of the solution, not the problem. How this study works

Lent is a 40-day season leading up to Easter Sunday. (If you’re the type that would actually try and count those 40 days, you notice Sundays are not included in the 40 days. That’s why if you grew up giving something up during Lent, it was appropriate to break your fast on Sundays.) For groups that decide to use this curriculum, we’ll examine the scripture and theme that will be used for the following Sunday worship services a week ahead of time. That is why you are picking up this curriculum on February 15th when Lent doesn’t start until February 22nd. Our hope is that you will take these discussion questions and scripture to your groups this week and work through the first session. You’ll notice that there is no session for the week leading up to Easter Sunday, April 5th. That week we focus on the conclusion of Lent through our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.

We take our scripture focus for this series from the last week of Jesus’ life, beginning just after the Triumphal Entry. (Matthew 21) We’ll work our way through a couple of parables and sayings of Jesus as he gives his last instructions for this world before he departs. Be sure to use the provided cross-references as they are presented to supplement the conversation and emphasis.


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Session Outline

Session Begins Session Ends Sunday Scripture February 15 February 22 Matthew 21:12-17 February 22 March 1 Matthew 21:33–46

March 1 March 8 Matthew 22:15-20 March 8 March 15 Matthew 23:13-26

March 15 March 22 Matthew 24:1-14; 29-31 March 22 March 29 Matthew 26:6-13

SESSION ONE Sermon Title: Surprised by God. Focus: Sometimes we have assumptions because we know what is expected. We get so used to what we know, we miss out on what God’s doing in this world. God was working, healing, moving and the Pharisees didn’t even see it. We are surprised by God!

Matthew 21:12–17 (NRSV)

12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves.

13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” 14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.

15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry 16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”

Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” 17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Cross reference: Jeremiah 7:1-15 Discuss:


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What are some assumptions of professional Christians? What actions do we perform as a church that maintain the dullness of religion? (Verse 12) What is the context of the house of prayer that Jesus is talking about?

After all, what is a house of prayer?

How does v.14 relate to v.13? (The blind and the lame are showing up in the house of prayer!)

What would Jesus say to your small group as you reflect on verses 12 and 13? What did the chief priests and scribes see? What didn’t they see? (Check out Matthew 2:4, at one time the chief priests and scribes knew Jesus was coming!) How do we open ourselves to see the surprises of God? Describe the last time you were surprised by God? How will you open yourself to God’s surprises, around you, through you, in you? How is the church a surprise to the world? Application: Surprised by God. Getting out of our comfort zone. What is our reaction to the unexpected? Is Jesus taking us on an adventure?


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SESSION TWO Title: Nothing to fear; nothing to lose. Matthew 21:33–46 (NRSV)

33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. Questions: What perspective did the tenants have about the owner? The servants? With your group, think about the tenant’s outlook on life. Describe their concept of “ownership”. What gave the tenants legitimacy of their claim on the vineyard? Why did they think it was theirs? How did the tenants lose perspective?


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What positive and negative characteristics do you see or are implied about the landowner? What was Jesus implying in his response in verse 41? What is God’s inheritance? How are we evidence of Christ’s inheritance? (v.38+43) We have a few characters in this parable, tenants, landowners, slaves and the owner’s son. Which of these do see as the church, and why? What is the “fruit of the kingdom of God”? What is the challenge to the church to bear God’s fruit? Name five things that Westwood United Methodist Church does to bear fruit:

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Application

How do we keep perspective in our own lives about what we own and how we take care of what has been entrusted to us? How do we care for the church without becoming a tenant like one in the parable?


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SESSION THREE Title: Tax Day!

Matthew 22:15–22 (NRSV)

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21 They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. Cross Reference: Matthew 17:24-27 Notes: This passage works out the big idea that as followers of Jesus, we hold our

faithfulness to God and the world in tension. We do not exist outside of the context that we find ourselves in. In fact, God has a history of using people exactly where they are to demonstrate His grace and character as a type of incarnational witness to those around us! In our passage, the Pharisees are trying to trip up Jesus, yet again. Jesus doesn’t fall for their trap but instead confounds the Pharisees with a Kingdom response.

Questions Reflect on your experience with paying taxes for a moment, have they been a burden or a joy to pay? When paying taxes, how often do you keep the recipient in mind?

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance

that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

—Benjamin Franklin, 1789


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Have you ever felt caught in your own logic, or at least had someone try to trap you like the Pharisees attempted to trap Jesus? Sometimes we try to make an issue a yes or no issue when it’s far more complex. Consider an example of a time when you were in this situation. Looking back to our cross-reference in chapter 17, how does Jesus demonstrate God’s provision in case of the Temple tax? Does this mean we are to go fishing every year to pay our taxes? How do we keep our faithfulness to God in balance with our country? What is our country’s and what is God’s? Think in terms of what we can offer or give back. How do we balance what is God’s and what is ours? How have we tried to “trick” Jesus in our own lives? Is there a question that you come back to time and time again that you believe would have been hard for Jesus to answer? How does scripture answer your question? Application Talk about two “things” in your life that you believe God has entrusted you with. After considering this passage and its meaning, how have you feel about what you give to God?

WEEK 1-4 // Lent 2015 Small Group Discussion...

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