June 6, 2011
Good Work Wk 6: Charity
Posted by Michael
Learn:
Philippians 2:14-18
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Main Idea:
There is a tension between humility and charity. We are called to use our gifts in a way that helps others. Ignoring the gifts God has given us does not make us humble. We should use them as much as we can, but not boast in them. When we use our gifts to help others but do not get the results we expect (or feel under-appreciated) we tend to grumble and complain. We choose to get angry, envious, bitter, etc. These responses may not seem like choices, but they are. When things don’t work out the way we would like them to, we must learn how to unchoose our natural response and choose joy instead. One way of doing that is to remember no matter how good you are at something, you are not a big deal. God is, and we can accomplish nothing without Him.
Know What: God did not give us gifts to make us seem important, but rather to allow us to be included in the great work He is doing.
So What: Because it’s not about trying to make ourselves look good, we should not grumble or complain when serving others.
Now What: Spend more time using your gifts than boasting about them.
Discuss…
1. When you are around others, are you tempted to constantly paint a positive image of yourself or impress people? Why?
2. What is the difference between acknowledging your God-given gifts and boasting in them? How can you do the former without the latter?
3. Do you ever feel like your gifts are not adequate enough to be helpful in the community/church? Why? Do you feel that way currently? If so, how do you think Paul would respond to you?
4. When you try your best to serve in some way and the results aren’t what you expect, what is your most natural response (anger, envy, withdrawal, etc)? Feel free to give examples of past situations where this occurred. How can you be intentional about unchoosing “grumbling” and choosing joy?
5. Think about one gift God has given you to serve others with. What are some ways God needs to constantly show up in order for you to keep using that gift well? How can you remind yourself that God is the One who you need to rely on to keep using that gift well, rather than yourself?
6. Do you think that it would be hard to go one week without talking about your accomplishments, spiritual maturity, or something else impressive about yourself? What do you think this discipline of abstinence would teach you? Are you willing to give it a try?
Next Steps…
This week, pray about how you can use your gifts to serve the church and community. Volunteering at Summit and participating in niceSERVE on June 25th are two great ways to do that. Remember that we do not use our gifts to seem important. Jesus died for us to show us that. Rather, we use our gifts because it’s God’s plan for the Church.
