This guide is a tool to help you facilitate discussion with your rGroup. Use it to lead your group in discovering, owning, and applying God’s Word. This is a flexible tool, not a rigid task list. Follow the Holy Spirit’s lead as you lead your group. You don’t need to ask every question.
Understanding God’s Word: Know and Understand the Truth
READ Romans 12:1-2
- As Pastor Nathan said, “therefore” is an important word that helps us have a better understanding of this passage of Scripture.
- What has Paul been writing about leading up to this point?
- Let’s tackle some of the phrases in this Scripture that may be harder for some people to understand. What does Paul mean when he uses the phrase “present your bodies as a living sacrifice?”
- Example: When he talks about our bodies, he means that we are giving to God our whole person. Everything about ourselves, externally and internally, belongs to God. Living sacrifice may be referring to the life that we have been given in Christ, rather than living like those who are “dead in their sin.” (Colossians 2:13 — “And you, who were dead in your trespasses…God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.”
- How can Christians “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect?”
- What does this passage tell us about who God is?
- What does this passage reveal to us about ourselves?
Living and Applying God’s Word: Give a Vision of Life With God
- The life of worship that Christians are called to live doesn’t just take place on Sunday mornings. How can the church worship God in every aspect of our lives? Be specific. (What would worship look like in our finances, eating a meal, taking a hike, doing our work, studying at school, parenting our children, etc.?)
- In what ways can God use Christians who demonstrate worship outside of Sunday mornings to be attractive to unbelievers?
- Can you give an example of someone whose everyday worship of God made an impact on your life?
Assessing the Heart: Identify and Address Sin
- Worship is not a practice exclusive to those who consider themselves "religious". Author David Foster Wallace, who was not a Christian, wrote shortly before he committed suicide, “…here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of the adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” The apostle Paul also knows that this is true, because he warns Christians about how to worship. He says, “Do not be conformed to this world."
- What are some of the things that the people in the world and culture around us choose to worship?
- What are some of the consequences that people can face when they worship and give themselves fully to worldly things?
- In what ways have you been conformed to the world? What besides God are you functionally worshiping and chasing after?
- Why do you believe that the things the world has to offer you is more life-giving and satisfying than what God can and has given us?
Turn to God: Confess and Renew Belief in God
- This Holy Week serves as a good reminder for what kind of people we are. The same people that cried out Hosanna and laid down palm branches for King Jesus were the same people that turned their backs on him and called for him to be crucified days later. We, too, are people who oscillate back and forth: we passionately praise and thank our God for his love and mercy one minute, then the next we cheat on him by turning our backs on him and chasing after the allures and charms of sin and worldliness.
- Why would Jesus give up everything he had in his Father’s loving presence, to horrifically experience a bloody crucifixion on a wooden cross and take on hellish wrath of God that we deserved?
- So that people like us could experience the love, grace, and mercies of God that Paul is talking about in Romans 1-11!
- Why would Jesus give up everything he had in his Father’s loving presence, to horrifically experience a bloody crucifixion on a wooden cross and take on hellish wrath of God that we deserved?
- How can the practice of remembering these truths help turn our hearts back to worship of God?
- The time that we spend remembering in church on Sundays and in our rGroups is not sufficient to maintain hearts of worship for each day and every aspect of our lives. What are things we can practice each day to help us remember and allow the Holy Spirit to sustain worship in our hearts?
- Examples: Reading Scripture; prayer; communicating the gospel that saved us with unbelievers; conversations in community with believers; preaching the gospel to ourselves when we’re struggling to believe it.
