Say When....Discussion Guide

Over the next few weeks we will be discussing personal finances, our resources and why God spends so much time discussing this topic. Like most issues, finances, and how we view them and spend them, has much to do with our hearts and how we see God.

Use this series to get your group members openly discussing their fears and questions about money, stewardship, generosity and how it all relates to tangible faith (and subsequent growth) for followers of Christ. You may want to spend time praying for the hearts of your members before each meeting, that walls of defensiveness, guilt or fear would crumble and that your people would grow in this core area of trusting Jesus. There is a lot of baggage that comes with money and faith. Pray that your people would see that beyond all that is the loving call of Christ to entrust all that matters to us, to Him.

For newer groups, you may consider watching this Nooma video before launching into study. It’s a good conversation starter for groups that are still growing in trust of each other on deeper personal issues. The video can be picked up in the upstairs office on the curriculum table.

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 Discussion Guide for Say When, Part I

Thaw

• What’s the strangest job you have ever had?
  
• Have you ever found money? Where? How much? What did you do?
• What was most impactful about the message Sunday?
  
• What were the key points for you about it?
  
• What surprised you about the message?
  
• Who learned something about Jesus or themselves that they didn’t realize before? What was it?

Read

Luke 18:18-27

• What stand out to you in this passage?

Leader note: You may want to also read Mark 10:17-27 to get some of the other nuances of this scene, such as Jesus’ love for this man, as well as an extra command added in verse 19.

 

Discuss

• Why does Jesus tell this man to sell all his possessions? Why not just tell him what’s wrong with his heart?
• Jesus says the man still lacks one thing. Discuss as a group the implications of following the law, obeying all the commands- and yet still lacking something in your heart.

Leader note: See if the group can uncover other ways that some people fool themselves into thinking that the strict observance of rules and traditions is the point. Some people never miss a Sunday at church, and yet lack generosity or the awareness of the world around them in need. Some people study the scriptures and gain all kinds of knowledge and information, and yet don’t realize that their possessions (or fear of losing those possessions) take up the most space in their heart. You may wish to point out that just 5 verses after this story is the telling of a blind man being given his sight. It’s likely that both of these stories are about blindness.

You may also note in Luke 18 the interchangeability of the words “inherit eternal life”, “follow me”, “Kingdom of God” and “saved” (vs. 18,22,25,26) and how the availability of these things isn’t based on his having the rules down, but in being hardened and distracted by self-centered wealth accumulation.

 

Apply

• Jesus’ prescription for what was lacking would have seriously impacted the local poor, as well as help the soul of the rich man, himself.Take time as a group to share examples of things Jesus is trying to do in us where our possessions are concerned, that will benefit others as well? What are ways we block this work, or have a bad perception of it?

Leader note: See if the group can uncover many ways in which we are part of the circuitry of His grace. We can conduct it, or we can block it. Help the group see ways in which our fears and our guilt and even how churches can get in the way. Also explore how this Kingdom movement that Jesus is inviting both the rich and poor into have to do with being saved, on both sides.

 

Additional passages to consider.

• Luke 12:15
• Luke 13:22-30
• Acts 2:41-47