The difference is the gap between reality and fiction. And the heart of the issue may be idolatry.
This week, discuss as a group how we often bring templates, or expectations to every one else in the universe. And the more comfortable we get with doing it with God, the easier it becomes to do it to people. And vice versa. Once we are aware that we do this, we can cease from anxious control and begin living in the flow of God's Spirit and with others for who they really are.
You may find that various members of the group want to get into the particulars of what a modern day equivalent of idolatry is. Some will focus on statues in some churches. Others want to be certain that iconic paintings such as found at Sistine Chapel aren't against the second command. Help the group understand that it's easy to point away from ourselves to see who's guilty, but that the goal of the group is locate your own misalignment and work there.
Thaw
- What most stuck with you from Sunday?
- Was there a recurring thought, name or face that was brought to mind during the message?
Read
- Deut 4:1-20
- Thoughts?
- Difficult as it might be, how would you explain the importance of the second commandment ("You shall not make idols...", Exodus 20:4) as elaborated on here by Moses?
Leader note: Help the group understand this from far more angles than God being threatened by a seeming lack of fidelity. This was about interpersonal welfare, sociological and psychological health. Additionally, Israel's job was to put YHWH on display and be a people of light for the world, so the perception of other nations was always a concern. The children who didn't experience the flight from Egypt staying true to their redeemer was in view as well. Idolatry would rot all these areas and more. Help the group discover these and as many other angles as possible.
You may also want to note that Ezekiel 18:20 makes clear that God doesn't punish kids for their relative's sins, and that the second command seems to be about the observation of the associated social consequences of choosing to make God's Spirit out to be a wooden remote control. "Visiting the guilt" as it says in Exodus 20 doesn't mean capital punishment, but literally "tending to it".
Read (Leader note: you may want to make this a quiet meditation)
- Psalm 115
- Thoughts?
- What does verse 8 mean?
Read
- John 3:3, 8
- John 4:23-24
- Thoughts?
- Why is this difficult?
Discuss
- What kind of relationship to God do we have when we refuse ourselves the clear cut definitions of an easy religion and a predictable god?
- When someone is disappointed with God, how might this sometimes be a form of idolatry brought to light?
- When someone becomes fixated on their interpretation or ideas about God, rather than God, how would someone else be able to tell the difference?
- How does creating and attaching ourself to a template of reality affect how we relate to others?
- How does it affect our ability to actually love someone?
Apply
- Perhaps you have ongoing relational tensions. Disappointments. Frustrations. How might some of these relationships improve by the realization that you have a template or mold for who this person(s) should be?
- Apply this same question to God.
- Perhaps you are failing someone else's template. They have an inner projection on all you should be, do and become. And you're none of it. How can you love this person(s) even while they have created an idol of what they think you ought to be?
Leader note: Point out to anyone struggling in this area that a demand for their parents/sibling/spouse/etc to drop their template before the group member will love or respect them is a template in and of itself. Living and worshiping in Spirit and in Truth allows others to carry their templates until they are aware enough to drop them. Loving them is not contingent on them dropping their idols.
- What is God asking this group to do with a spirit of idolatry regarding the church, the Bible, doctrine, prayer, etc?
- What is God asking this group to do with regard to how we see people as they really are, and the lack of control we actually have on others?
- What step can the group take together?
Prayer
- Spend time quietly praying and experiencing the mysterious, unpredictable flow of God's Spirit and God's direction on how to destroy our inner idols of him and what others should be.
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