Suggestions for leading a study:

• Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself.  Who wrote it to whom, and why?
• Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
• Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study.  One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
• Be prayed up
• Have fun!
  

Managing Mess-Ups

³⁶"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
⁴²"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
⁴⁵"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' ⁴⁹and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Discussion Questions

-After reading verse 13, how do you think Paul would respond to someone who said, “I’ve been saved by grace, so I’m free to do whatever I want.” 

-What is the other option besides indulging our sinful nature?  Why do think that is?

-According to verse 14, how many of God’s rules and regulations can be summed up by “love each other?”   

-Think of the first of God’s laws that comes to your mind and tell how it can be accomplished by loving and serving other people.

-If we don’t live like this, what else do we tend to do, according to verse 15?  What are the consequences?  Have you seen that happen because of critical spirits in people?

-Often-times when we try to deal with sin issues we focus on those sins in order to avoid doing them.  How does verse 16 describe a different approach?

-What are some of the ways we can shift our focus away from our sins and on to developing our spiritual lives?

-Verse 17 describes the issue in terms of who we are, or our “natures”.  Do you think that we tend to focus more on what we do, or external issues?  

-How does verse 18 address people who try to use guilt to motivate better behavior?

 Leaders' Guide

This study is about dealing with sin in our lives and reminds us that the solution is building Godly character through spiritual development rather than trying harder not to sin.

-After reading verse 13, how do you think Paul would respond to someone who said, “I’ve been saved by grace, so I’m free to do whatever I want.” 

            Obviously, Paul (the author) would have a big issue with this statement.  But apparently there were people in the church at that time who believed that would be a fair thing to say.  It is safe to say that this attitude still exists, and still needs to be addressed.  The Bible is very crystal clear that Jesus came to save us from sin, not to sin. 

-What is the other option besides indulging our sinful nature?  Why do think that is?

            The alternative, according to Paul, is to serve one another in love.  The reason is because all sin, at its core, is self-centered.  Serving other people is the antidote to the disease of sin in our lives.  It keeps us from sinning, since serving other people in love will by its nature be something other than sin.  But it also trains us not to sin, since it gets us focused on living to serve other people rather than ourselves.

-According to verse 14, how many of God’s rules and regulations can be summed up by “love each other?”   

            All of them.  The entire law is summed up in that statement.  A practical way to think about what this means is included in the next question.

-Think of the first of God’s laws that comes to your mind and tell how it can be accomplished by loving and serving other people.

Just a way to bring home how it is that the law of love takes over all of the lists of do’s and don’ts in the Old Testament. 

-If we don’t live like this, what else do we tend to do, according to verse 15?  What are the consequences?  Have you seen that happen because of critical spirits in people?

            Paul talks in this verse about “biting and devouring” each other.  Not literally feasting on each other, of course, but in the context of this discussion it no doubt refers to condemning each other.  Especially putting each other down because we don’t think someone is behaving just right.  Critical, condemning spirits are the inevitable outgrowth of legalistic thinking and Paul says that ultimate result is to destroy each other.  Again, not literally, but the last part of the question asks for personal experiences of the kinds of damage people have seen happen because of this sort of thing.  If you dig deep enough, everybody has probably known someone who has been hurt because of someone putting them down.  Avoid name-calling and character assassination (then we’d just be doing what Paul tells us not to, wouldn’t we?)

-Often-times when we try to deal with sin issues we focus on those sins in order to avoid doing them.  How does verse 16 describe a different approach?

            This verse tells us to live by the Spirit.  In other words, dealing with sin management is more about a positive focus on your spiritual life and relationship with God than it is about obsessing about our problem behaviors.

-What are some of the ways we can shift our focus away from our sins and on to developing our spiritual lives?

            This doesn’t come from the text itself, but the ways in which we develop our walk with God will hopefully come from the group.  Prayer, Bible study, positive relationships in the church, worship, etc.  Don’t forget what Paul said in the beginning: serving other people.  This is just as important a spiritual discipline as any other, and especially so in regards to dealing with sin in our lives, for reasons stated previously.

-Verse 17 describes the issue in terms of who we are, or our “natures”.  Do you think that we tend to focus more on what we do, or external issues?  

            Usually when someone has a problem with someone else’s behavior they deal with the behavior and the results.  Rarely does someone respond to sinful behavior with, “I think you need to deal with your sinful nature.”  Focusing on externals is exactly the trap that Paul is trying to get us to avoid.  It rarely fixes anything anyway, and certainly the long term solution is about who you are becoming in Christ.

-How does verse 18 address people who try to use guilt to motivate better behavior?

            Since we are not under law, there is no  longer any standard by which anyone has a right to judge us.  Unfortunately, this is still a common motivator, and very destructive.  If anyone in your group mentions being made to feel guilty, or still seems to be struggling with those feelings, ask them how they could be guilty if the law that people are accusing them of breaking is something that doesn’t even apply to them anymore.  For verification of this principle, see Colossians 2:14.

-Read verses 19 through 23.  Which list is about what we do, and which one is about who we are?  What does that say about the issue of sin in our lives?