Of Forests and Trees. Nebuchadnezzar.

If God has an ego, we're in trouble.

Because history has shown that ego + power = suffering for all.

But what if God, and God's power, aren't there to keep us trembling and in fear (as in reminded at gunpoint this Town ain't big enough for more than one Sheriff) but as a resource and reminder that we don't have to do what the animals do; remain fit enough to survive. That at the center of a very beautiful and difficult Universe, there is love and peace for us all.


Use this discussion time to reshape your views of God, each other and what God wants us to know about our place in the Universe.


Thaw

• What's on your mind today?
• What most stuck with you from Sunday?

Read

• Philippians 2:10-11
• Without context -as verses like this are often shared- what does Paul seem to be saying to his audience of varying opinion and faith?

Read

• Philippians 2:1-11
• With context, what does this say?

Discuss

• What are the implications of a master who has walked all the way through life, and is THEN exalted to a place where other recognize his rule?
• What are the implications of a king who simply inherits the throne without any sense of "earning" it?

Read

• Daniel chapter 4
• Thoughts?

Leader note: It's important to realize that Nebuchadnezzar is an appreciator of the God of the Hebrews, but also still has his own pantheon of gods he's traditionally sought as a Babylonian. He is still transitioning to monotheism. His chief god, by the way, is Bel, or more technically in Akadian, "Marduk." Marduk is the head of the gods and is the judge, therefore making Daniel's involvement, whose named means "The Hebrew God is my Judge"all the more interesting. Also note in verse 35 that Nebuchadnezzar recognizes that "all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing." This is a rhetorical device, where his own humbling is applied universally. But clearly, as reenforced by Jesus' command to love one another and that being the highest law; others are worth infinitely more than "nothing." For a self-absorbed king, it's a big step for Nebuchadnezzar to say "perhaps nobody is that big of a deal after all!" The playing field is leveling a bit for Nebuchadnezzar.

Discuss

• Why didn't God destroy Nebuchadnezzar?
• What kind of leader do you think he was after he got his sanity back?

Apply

• In what ways might God need to humble you?
• Why would he want to do that (think of the relationships you have with friends, family, co-workers and how humility might make you more connected to them as "one with you".
• In what ways might God be trying to get you to notice the oppression around you?
• In what ways might God be inviting you to risk experiencing hardship, pain and disappointment, even though you may have gotten good at avoiding it?
• How can this group be helpful as you choose to allow yourself to be humbled so that you might grow in compassion, awareness and love?