Simple (Part 1): Simple Giving

TO START

This week, our Lead Preaching Minister, Zane, invited us into a part 1 of a new series called Simple, a series that challenges us to simplify our lives so that we can hear the good news and invitations of Jesus. And in particular this week, we focused on dealing with the clutter in our lives which might just change everything.

  • What’s an item that you’ve gone without that you thought would be harder to live without?. 

TO DISCUSS

To begin Zane’s sermon, he named that there are many times when we find ourselves chasing more and more as if that’s our purpose and yet even when we achieve it we find ourselves empty. 

  • Have you ever found yourself in a season where you have been sad with what you had? Sad with the way life has panned out? 

To get to the heart of Jesus’s invitation for us to live fully. Read Luke 18:18-30

  • What emotions do you feel or what’s your initial response when you hear Jesus say to the man that in order to experience the fullness of life, he must, “give up everything he has” and share it?

Zane points us to the reality that throughout Jesus’s life, there are so many stories where he points people to recognize the thing that is getting in between that person and God. It’s not always the same. It could be greed, it could be shame, etc. And in response, Jesus invites us to simplify the equation by giving that thing up to experience him fully and it’s not easy.

  • What in your life right now are you holding onto that is a barrier between you and God? (greed, lust, envy, jealousy, coveting, etc.)

Even more, in all of the situations like the one with the rich young ruler,  Jesus doesn’t just say that there is something in the way of our relationship with God but he provides us an actual step to lean into a new way.

  • What is the next simple set with Jesus that you need to take? Is it something you’ve been putting off? 

To close, Zane challenged us to do some spring cleaning over the next 36 days as a reminder that if we want to experience the inner reality God wants for us, it starts with the giving away of our outer world. In other words, Zane says, “to gain what we do not have we must start with what we do have!” 

  • So, what are some items that you are willing to share off the top of your head?

TO CLOSE

We want to invite your group to close by praying for the Holy Spirit to make each member aware of the one thing they still lack. Invite God to make your group brave and open-handed for the next six weeks. Close with this prayer: 

God, help us to live simply,

Help us to declutter our lives, 

From our resources to our calendars to our stuff to our money,

Help us to gain what we don’t have, 

By starting with sharing what we do have.

Matt DeLano