And Jesus illuminates for us yet one more way that we withhold love from our brothers and sisters in that he shows us how we act as judge toward every perceived deficit we find.
In this section of Matthew, we find key phrases that we have heard before, like "judge not, lest ye be judged", "the plank in your own eye", "Ask, seek and knock" and of course, the Golden Rule. But for many of us, we've never taken the time to do the hard work of figuring out what the application looks like in our life. This week, the goal is to take a step as an individual, as well as a group, into more of what it means to love people the Kingdom way.
Be sure and point to the daily devotional guide if you haven't.
Thaw
- What was Humpty Dumpty?
Leader note: The answer will be "egg", of course. Ask whoever answers how they determined Humpty Dumpty was an egg. The nursery rhyme never mentions an egg. It does appear that this rhyme is a centuries old riddle whose answer was an egg (not an egg-man), but it's interesting how many people have an egg-man in their heads from a an associated drawing, not the rhyme itself. This can be a fun way of asking questions like "what else do we hold in our minds as facts, but in reality it's something opinion-based that someone once attached to it? " This next question might also be fun to stir the pot in your group: "Why do we hate dandelions and love tulips?" Both yellow, but dandelions are free and plenty? Is it conditioning? Why have we determined that one is to be purchased and displayed, and the other is to be poisoned and removed? Why do we believe this, and where else do we believe things like this? People?
- Describe a time when you had made up your mind about someone, and then you got to know them and realized you were wrong.
- Has there ever been a time where someone had their mind made up about you, and you couldn't seem to change their perception? Share.
- What really stuck in your mind from the message Sunday?
- What other thoughts did it generate that weren't covered in the message itself?
Read
- Matthew 7:1-12
- Thoughts?
Leader note: Just a reminder, let people have time to process the etxt and let things bubble to the surface. This can take up to a whole minute, with any group reading. Let them have the time they need to be thoughtful about the text.
- How do these thoughts connect with what's been said in Jesus' sermon up to this point?
- What is the difference between what Jesus is saying and proper discernment about people?
Leader note: You may want to reference 1 Corinthians 15:33 as an example of using proper discernment about others. Even then, maturity must be taken into account. A solid Christian may be able to hang with people that an unsteady, easily influenced Christian cannot.
- How would you guess that the culture of Jesus' day worked against this teaching?
- How does our culture work against this part of the teaching?
Read
- Romans 12:1-3
- Thoughts
- Consider Paul's history...why is the grace that he has been given so key?
- Why does he use the word "sober"?
Leader note: you may want to point out that when you're not sober, you think you are prettier, funnier and a better singer than you really are.
- What's going on when we see people by their deficits?
- Is there any group of people that are not to be loved because that would just enable their bad choices and circumstances? How would Christ Himself agree or disagree with the answer(s) given?
Discuss
- Who are the people in our society that seem to be easy targets of judgment?
- Thinking through the elements of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 7:1-12, how could followers of Jesus improve their attitudes and approach toward this group?
Leader note: The group may need help determining a group because everyone's too scared to say. Once you have done one group, bring up another or even a kind of person that you think we might go to school or work with. It doesn't have to be a nation or class, nor should it only be a personality trait or people who dress funny. Lead your group to consider the whole scope of those judged by others, and as such, go unloved by those of us commanded to love them better than anyone.
- Why does Jesus put the "Golden Rule" here of all places? Why not next to the anger part, or the beatitudes?
- When does it not apply?
Apply
- In living out he kingdom way, we have to start living and interacting with new assumptions about people. We must assume context and assume worth? What are ways that we can begin to assume context?
Leader note: from the message, it's the art of "pause". If we pause- refusing to let our minds (or our mouths) come to a judgmental conclusion, we find that it's easier to adjust for the context, or the whole story, that's generated the choices and circumstances we are seeing in others.
- How does pausing, refusing to let our minds (or our mouths) come to a judgmental conclusions, equal love?
- What are ways that we can train ourselves to assume worth?
Prayer
Lead the group to pray for a few minutes. Ask them to hold in their mind someone that they have judged. Ask them to, as they pray, imagine Christ in their life. Perhaps they need to imagine that this particular person or people group is a story in the Bible. Imagine Jesus interacting with them and the hypocritical religious leaders standing near them. Imagine Jesus assuming context, or the entire fabric of their story that led them to be living the choices and circumstances everyone else is so coldly judging. Imagine Jesus assuming worth, touching them, smiling over them, and expressing his love for them, despite their feeling of being unloved by others. Invite the group to continue this mental prayer exercise with every group, belief system or view that they can think of for 5 minutes. You may want to tell them to write down which groups they have the hardest time imagining that this mental image could be so, and to continue asking God to reveal the power of his love. (It's so often easy to image Jesus smiling over and loving those we're okay with, and of course him smiling over and loving us is how it should be too!). Make sure that the time of prayer includes a time of forgiveness and a request for God's grace and forgiveness for our judgmental attitudes and our immediate calculations about the context and worth of other human souls.
Additional texts for further study
- Colossians 3
- Romans 2:1-3
- Romans 12
- James 4:11-12
- Galatians 5:22-6:1
- John 8:1-11
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