Better at Pleasure (part 1): Good Fun
TO START
Share something that you find pleasurable that might be weird or surprising to your group. Maybe it’s the first cold morning of the year and getting to wear a sweater. Maybe it’s the sound of tissue paper being stuffed into a gift bag. Maybe it’s the smell of gasoline.
TO DISCUSS
When you saw the title for the sermon series, what thoughts came into your head? What questions do you have about pleasure and the Christian life? Do you have baggage from the past that shapes your response to this topic? (Feel free to email your list to jgerhardt@rrcoc.org)
Did anything from the sermon surprise you or challenge what you believe/have been taught? Share.
Are there areas where you’ve been a killjoy, avoiding pleasure entirely because it seems potentially dangerous? Share with the group.
Have you ever been tempted to make an idol of pleasure? Why is it that pleasure has so much power over us?
Thinker GK Chesteron believed that pleasure was proof of God. Do you find pleasure to be compelling evidence for the existence of God?
Justin said on Sunday, “We should… search for purpose in pleasure.” Do you generally think of pleasure as purposeful? What might God be trying to accomplish through our pleasure? Have you ever seen pleasure play a role in shaping you to look more like Christ?
TO READ
Read 2 Timothy 3:1-5
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
Consider that phrase “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” What does it teach us about pleasure’s relationship to God? Is pleasure itself a problem?
TO PRAY
Pray for your group that God would open their eyes to places in their lives where they’re either unnecessarily denying themselves good pleasure or over-indulging in pleasure. Ask God to help them see themselves clearly and be convicted and challenged.