Authentic Imitation

GATHERING TOGETHER

Welcome one another, catch up with one another and share personal stories to encourage, strengthen, and support at a time of isolation and discouragement.

PRAYING TOGETHER

Share your needs, and pray for one another.

IN THE WORD TOGETHER

Learning the way of apprenticeship together.

SERVING TOGETHER

Identify a service project to participate in together.

Starter Question

Share a humorous or poignant personal story about the power or reality of imitation — a child of a parent, or some habit or characteristic or way of being you’ve picked up inadvertently from another person in your life.

IN THE BOOK

Below there are three different types of questions, so we encourage you to seek a balance if possible. In addition, there is a Leader Study Notes section for further study!

  1. The Understanding questions are designed to refresh your group's memory about the text. These can be answered fairly briefly without a need for a longer discussion. (What does it mean?)

  2. Application questions are structured to draw out the ways the text, as preached, calls us to live. You should make a strong effort in your group to point people to Scripture as they’re discussing these. (How should I live?)

  3. We’ve built out Personal Sharing questions that connect with the sermon but make a more conscious effort to allow the members of your group to know each other better. These help to build a sense of trust by giving people a chance to share their lived experiences. (What is my experience?)

We pray that as you consider which of these questions work best for your group that God blesses your time together so that the Word of Christ “dwells in you more richly” and you become “knit together in love” as a community.

Be Imitators

READ: 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10

UNDERSTANDING:

What was Paul’s experience in Philippi just prior to visiting Thessalonica? [See Notes]

In light of this background, what did the Thessalonians see that was worth imitating?

APPLICATION:

6b-7 - What was the result of Paul, Silas, and Timothy’s example?

v. 8-10 - Discuss …saved FROM something; saved TO something; saved FOR something. See notes

How does this passage apply to you/us? To what are we called?

PERSONAL SHARING:

How does 1Corinthians 11:1 help clarify how Paul (or anyone) can call others to be imitators of Him?

Share a story about someone from your past that you found yourself imitating--be specific about what it was in their life you found worthy of imitation.

Summary

1 & 2 Letters to the Thessalonians are written to a down-to-earth church. They help us to see that the church is a people in which heaven comes to earth. In these letters, Paul:

  1. encourages the young church to stand firm under persecution,

  2. instructs them how to lead a godly life, and

  3. clears up some confusion about the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

LEADER NOTES

Quotable Quote

“Don’t waste your affliction. Affliction is an opportunity for authentic joy to be seen.”

Background of the visit to Thessalonica:

  • Paul, Silas, Timothy preaching at Philippi (100 miles away)

  • Arrested, tortured, beaten, caned

  • Likely bruised, bones broken

  • Imprisoned, shackled, and in a cold cell

  • Found singing hymns of praise out of joy in Christ

  • Arrives limping at Thessalonica (30 hr walk) with the signs of suffering still obvious

Word for “affliction” (Greek “thlipsis”) = a severe, crushing pressure; to be crushed beneath a weight. Used for squeezing olives or grapes to extract the oil or juice.

Effects of the gospel in the Thessalonians’ life (v. 8-10)

  • Saved FROM something (FAITH) - saved from lies and false narratives, idolatry (false gods, cruel masters that can’t deliver what they promise), addictions and sin-riddled conditions, and from the wrath of God by Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection.

  • Saved TO something (LOVE) - to a knowledge of the truth of Jesus, new life united to Christ, reconciled to a relationship to the true God.

  • Saved FOR something (HOPE) - a new way of inhabiting the world, living on earth as it is in heaven--where God’s will is done. Living in union with Jesus, abiding and obeying Him. Being transformed into His image, becoming truly human, living in faith, love, and hope. For a “life of apprenticeship” imitating Jesus.

ONE ANOTHERING:

Whether you are meeting together or not, check in with one another to make sure that everyone is cared for and has what they need. Does someone in your group need help with grocery shopping, childcare, or caring for themselves? Keep a list of the ways you can provide care as a comGroup.

Remember that the Benevolence Ministry is a resource for our comGroups.

  • How can we love or serve one another this week?