Deja Vu, Temptation part II

"I can resist anything except for temptation." -Oscar Wilde

This is week is both week two of the series as well as the second part of the message regarding Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. Using the generic discussion template below (which is useful for any resource you are reading or watching together) try and find ways the members of your group are living in a belief that life is found in constant ascent. In turn, see what it might look like in the near term and the long to follow Christ back down the mountain into vulnerable, powerful living.

This will be a potentially confusing topic for those that believe in a literal upward trajectory for faithful people. This discussion may have the side effect of helping people to hold hyperbole and metaphor less tightly in order to appreciate the deeper meaning.

• What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?
• What were the key points for you in the message?
• What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?
• What did you learn:
• *About God?
• *About yourself?
• *About others?
• What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?
• What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?
• What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Passages for discussion.

• Matthew 4:1-11
• Matthew 16:13-23
• James 1:12-21

Deja Vu, Temptation

This series is all about that strange sense where you feel like this isn't the first time you've come across this. Whatever this is. 
In the context of direction for the next several weeks, we want to recognize where this pertains to Jesus and his life as depicted in the Gospels. Sometimes it's his words. Other times just where he is standing. A familiarity not only with having read that part of the gospel, but with the setting itself, can come over you.
Sometimes Jesus sounds a lot like Moses.
Sometimes like Israel herself.
Sometimes like people or circumstances in your own life.


This week, wrestle with the wrestling Jesus did in the desert. These first two of the three temptations were not just for Christ to pass a test, but to further show his solidarity with his own familial history and with all those that would come after him.


Thaw

• Where you are from, what is fall like?
• What most stuck with you from Sunday morning and why did it seem important to you?

Read

• Matt 4:1-4
• Thoughts?
• What key words are your eyes drawn to?

Read

• Deut 8:2-3
• Thoughts?

Discuss

• Taking the imagery further, how does this temptation speak to our lives now in the modern west?

Read

• Matthew4:5-7
• Thoughts? 

Read

• Psalm 91:9-13
• Thoughts?

Leader note; You may want to point out that the tempter leaves out in his quote of Psalm 91 the line where the Cobra (a serpent) and the Lion (one of the euphemisms for sin) are crushed under the heel of the One spoken of. This also pertains visually to the promise in Genesis 3 where the seed of Eve will, eventually, crush the serpents head, even though being injured in the process. Obviously this part was not beneficial to the tempter, so it was omitted.

Read

• Deut. 6:16
• Thoughts

Leader note: Make sure and guide the conversation to an understanding that it doesn't anger God when we test him. We all do it. More than God's irritability is at stake. We who are constantly testing and making contingencies on God's performance are establishing a relationship based on what God does. This puts us in control as well as makes the miracles, the answers and the sense of safety that come with our assurances our master.  Not God himself. 

Discuss

• What does this second temptation have to do with us?
• Why has God always been using a chosen few, Israel or Christ himself to show what trust (regardless of external circumstances) looks like?
• How does it help or hurt to consider that Christ is showcasing God's goodness and trustworthiness, while aware that his ministry and life would be cut short by a brutal crucifixion?
• Why is it difficult to see God as worthy of trust when things can go so badly with or without that trust in him?

Apply

• How can this group, or even just a few members of it, help you be a person of trust and peace no matter what temptations to the contrary come around?

A book named Action

"Those are good problems to have."

This is the retort of many people outside the Crosspointe community when they hear the challenges we face.  The logistical difficulties with parking and routing children and adjusting service times. The constant need for volunteer leaders in LifeGroups, student ministry, first impressions, etc. The sheer number of people and what it means to be their church home. The alternative to all of this of course is staring out the window, wondering why the same number of people slip in and slip out every weekend with no effort to or by them. Yawn.

Yes, we have some challenges. But they're good ones.

Use this group time to not only discuss the particulars of being part of a church that has grown so much in so relatively little time. But also recognize that the principles, countercultural as they are, help us experience fullness of life in every respect.



Thaw

• Besides sports or a favorite TV show, what seems to be on your mind the most as the fall season gets underway?
• How is your attitude about all this and why?
• What has most stuck with you from Sunday morning?

Read 

• Acts 20:35
• Though Paul is speaking directly to funding the mission and remaining generous with money, the principle for which he quotes Jesus, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’, is applicable more generally. How have you found it to be true in your life?
• In what ways is our culture learning that to give your self to something is nobler than to take from it?
• In what ways do our lives find confusion in being a Communer vs a Consumer?

Leader note: The idea here is to help members grow in awareness that we often mix the giving and taking roles. When we do this, the taking role is disguised as a giving role but is actually dominating the person's life. Such examples might be giving money mostly for a tax write-off, saying kind things to your spouse to earn sex, cleaning the house to assuage vocalized disappointment, making promises to garner promotions or votes. These and countless other ways appear to be giving, and are even celebrated. But, as always, the heart of the one acting, not their actions, is Christ's concern.

Discuss

• Within the context of Crosspointe, how might the individuals better exhibit being part of the story?

Leader note: This is no guilt trip. Some people can't serve any more than they already are, can't at all, or just shouldn't. There is a phenomenon where the same few people keep taking on responsibilities, wearing themselves out. Like a football game with 22 people sweating and exhausted and 40,000 spectators sitting and watching. This question doesn't represent this kind of scenario being perpetuated. It's simply about people who have predominantly received other's effort instead jumping in and saying "I want to be part of this!" Should interest be expressed, regardless of the area (parking lot, children, students, cafe, info team, etc.) have the person email volunteers@crosspointe.org

• Within the context of Crosspointe, how might this group better exhibit being part of the story?

Leader note: Dinners at DRM. Mission trip. Serving together as an entire volunteer team for children on Sunday morning, etc. Again, contact volunteers@crosspointe.org for more information.

• Outside the context of Crosspointe, what are some ways that you can live the kind of story where you give yourself to others more than you hold expectations and demands on them?

Meditate and Apply

• Many times when a challenge for volunteers and "doing" go out from a church leadership, it just sounds like manipulation and coercing. Hopefully, what is being conveyed and heard is instead an ongoing invitation to be part of a better story. To leave the tired narrative about predominantly taking, expecting, consuming and evaluating based on personal benefit, and embrace sacred difficulty as a new way of life. Read Acts chapters 1&2 to yourself, and allow the Spirit to kindle, or rekindle an excitement about being part of something bigger than a Sunday event going well. We're all invited into the story of the one who gave Himself, and called it more blessed.

Mind Your Head: People of the Smaller Table

On a chilly Saturday, March 4, 1933, with the US reeling in economic hardship few of us could really comprehend, Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in the opening of his inaugural speech,

"...first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Here we are, eight decades after the Great Depression, still learning from these historic words. Still trying to figure out how un-paralyze in the face of economic challenges. Still trying to figure out what to do with a seemingly primal urge to be terrified. Still allowing ourselves to slip into a visceral, instinctive anxiety that robs us of the very life we're trying to protect with panic.

And Jesus offers us, in yet another way, rescue. Freedom from slavery. Peace during storms.

Use this group time to not only discuss the topic, but to uncover ways that the topic describes how the members of your group are living their actual lives. This isn't most centrally about money, even though that issue is the anchor we're using. It's about wisdom and mindfulness. Remember, wisdom isn't just about knowing things that others might not. Wisdom is being able to apply that knowledge when everyone else has succumbed to reflex. You may find that your LifeGroup is the best (only?) shot some of your members have to live a different way, despite the culture demanding we live off fear and the divisiveness that goes with it.


Thaw

• Share a time when you were paralyzed by fear.
• What most stuck with you from Sunday?

Read

• 1 Timothy 6:6-21
• Thoughts?
• Why was this a big enough deal for Paul to close his letter to Timothy this way?
• What would you say is the wrong way to understand his words to Timothy, and ourselves?
• Have you seen what Paul is warning Timothy about play itself out in your or others' life?

Read

• Matthew 6:25-34
• Thoughts?
• Do we believe Jesus is giving realistic words to us in this passage? Why or why not?
• Jesus mentions "what will we eat...drink...wear..?" These are primary categories of sustenance and protection from the elements. What can we learn by his not mentioning "How will I pay for my house?" or "where will I work?" or "how will I receive a college education?".

Leader note: The idea in this last question is to recalibrate our perspective about how much of our normal life would be better considered a blessing. An extra. In speaking to the poorest of the poor, Jesus was speaking to base needs. To us, it sounds like he doesn't understand what needs really are because his list is so incomplete. Many of us have amassed so many things and experiences that we forget a life of blessing can be lived in conditions we may now unconsciously consider a curse. Being careful not to demonize the wonderful blessings we have, it's helpful for people to see how insulated from reality they can have us become. God may not consider us in a tragic situation if we lose our house or are unable to fix our car. Challenged, but not in a tragedy. Worry is a sign that we have forgotten that poverty is relative, and that we've been invited to live richly at every level of resource.

• What are things that sneak up and make you worry the most?
• How does this affect your life? The life of those around you?

Read

• Proverbs 15:17
• Thoughts?

Read

• Romans 12:1-2a
• Thoughts?

Discuss

• How can we, in the midst of a culture that seems to exist on fear and impulse, live un-conformed lives?
• What would the affect be on the culture if followers of Christ were known not by what they were against, but for being models of wholeness, peace and love no matter the outer circumstances?

Apply

• What are things you feel paralyzed by right now?
• How can this group help you?

Leader note: People may say that there is nothing the group can do to help. This presupposes that there is nothing that can be done with the fear and as such, must be experienced. Gently reaffirm that the person is not alone, that Christ's words about worry are about perspective change, not circumstance change, and allow the group to be creative in how it can love its members.

Story

• Many of us have heard this story, but it does a good job in repositioning us back into the reality we most desire:

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.

As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.

The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”

The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”

“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.

“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.

The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”

The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.

“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”

The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”

The fisherman asks, “And after that?”

The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”

The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”