DISCUSSION GUIDE
Introduction
What we believe is true, shapes what we do with our lives, and together they are making us into who we are…we are “becoming” someone. But it’s really not linear. Because we can value something very much and yet fail to act in line with those values. We can believe something is true and fail to act in line with that belief. We might say “But that is not who I really am” after making a poor choice, but is it? We can debate the question of whether that really is or isn’t who we are, but we know the answer is complex. I made the choice, so it was “me”, but I am also different now. That choice is not indicative of who I full am. Beliefs, Values, Behavior interact in our lives more like a complex network than a simple set of steps. The New Testament letters strike this wonderful balance in believing the truth, doing what is right, and becoming like Christ. It’s important that we grapple with this because we do want to become transformed…head, heart, hands.
Question: Name a time when you did something (doesn’t have to be “terrible”) that was not in line with you truly believe and not in line with who you “are” now?
Explain: Many would say we are hypocrites if our behavior doesn’t perfectly align with our beliefs, but hypocrisy is claiming you are perfect, it is not failing to measure up to your own belief.
Question: What are some of the factors at play when we fail to act in line with our own values and beliefs?
Read: 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Explain:
-“Keep on loving” implies this is going to be an ongoing challenge.
-“Entertaining strangers” was important because there were no “safe” hotels and Christians were being chased around the Roman empire through persecution.
-Abraham and Lot hosted angels thinking they were just men.
-The main idea here is to put “love for each other” into practice in practical and sacrificial ways.
Question: Can we help it if we “feel” love or affection towards others? Why or why not?
Question: Is there someone you formerly had feelings of dislike for and now you have “warm” feelings towards them? What about the opposite? What did you do for this to happen? What can you do to change your “feelings?”
Read: 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Explain: Marriage purity and freedom from the love of money are both expressions of contentment. If you are not married or don’t struggle per se with love for money, think of this in terms of other ways you struggle to be content.
Question: How does the fact that God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” and ” The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” speak to contentment? How does this belief help us become more content?
Read: 7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Explain: This is similar to Hebrews 11 but the difference is these were people they had actually known. It is likely they had been killed for their faith.
Question: How does verse 8 help us apply verse 7 to our lives? (Since Jesus doesn’t change, we can expect the same outcomes for the same acts of faithfulness)
Read: 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.
Explain: Already in the early church there were many different kinds of strange teachings. But there was also a set body of doctrine that was emerging and was the standard by which “strange” teachings were judged.
Question: How does the sheer volume of different viewpoints undermine your confidence in being able to know truth? What are you doing about this? How are you nurturing confidence in the truth?
Read: 10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
Explain: The bodies of blood-sacrificed animals were taken outside the city and burned so as to not make the city unclean. Jesus was sacrificed outside the city. His “disgrace” from made us holy.
Read: 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Explain: “The era when Christians could disagree with the broader convictions of the secular world and yet still find themselves respected as decent members of society at large is coming to an end, if indeed it has not ended already.” “Strange New World”, Carl Trueman.
Question: What does this mean for us practically? How might it help us see what it could mean for us to “go outside the camp, bearing the disgrace that he bore”
Question: In what ways is it difficult for you to not “chase cool?” What “inner rings” do you find yourself wanting to be in?
Conclude:
Pray this verse for yourself and your group:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 12:2,3