Emotionally Involved

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.

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.

Timothy's Encouraging Report

READ: 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

UNDERSTANDING:

v. 6-7 What report did Timothy bring to Paul about the Thessalonians?

v. 12-13 What does Paul hope for the Thessalonian church? (see also 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18) (See Notes)

APPLICATION:

In light of Paul’s hopes for the Thessalonian church, to what should we aspire? (See Notes)

Love is the most important thing in our journey to holiness before God at the coming of Christ. What does this love look like using Paul’s experience as our guide?

How does love involve investment? (See Notes)

PERSONAL SHARING:

Share a story of how someone has invested their love in you. With what result?

LEADER NOTES

  • Quotable Quote:

    • “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves)

  • What does Paul hope for the Thessalonian church?

    • (Review 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 and 5:15-18 ) A flourishing church abounds in love for one another and for all in an environment of constant rejoicing, thanksgiving, and prayer. This community is a glimpse of heaven on earth.

  • In light of Paul’s hopes for the Thessalonian church, to what should we aspire?

    • Paul desires to build a community that is a glimpse of heaven on earth … a church ready to meet Jesus. Paul is preparing the bride (the church) to meet the bridegroom (Jesus). And the bride prepared for the bridegroom is loving, joyful, thankful, prayerful … NOT grumbling and fighting amongst themselves. Paul is planting, watering, and trusting God for growth in love, joy, thankfulness, and prayer.

  • What does the love Paul desires for the Thessalonians (and us) look like?

    • Store up treasures in heaven, not on earth - Paul is modeling this for the Thessalonians. Only love is eternal because only people are eternal. Paul is investing in the Thessalonians by putting his body on the line to bring the gospel to them. Paul sent his beloved son in the Lord to them. He poured out his blood, sweat, and tears into this letter. He is up day and night sacrificing sleep, praying without ceasing, thanking God for them (note the parallel with 1Th 5:15-18). The Thessalonians are his children, they are his glory and joy. They are the treasure he is storing up in heaven. And that is love. To love someone then is to invest sacrificially in them to the point that you are genuinely concerned for their earthly and eternal welfare.

  • How does love involve investment?

    • Invest in people, in relationships. Only they are eternal. Don’t just come back to church and sports and school and become spread thin like you were pre-pandemic--get deeply engaged with some people. Selectively and sacrificially. Give anonymously to benevolence until you are emotionally involved in it. Plant a new comGroup even though your best friends are in your current one. Serve in a ministry that’s never highlighted. Pray daily for someone and never tell anyone. Invest in people. Invest in the eternal. That is how heaven invades earth. But recognize that sometimes the investment of love comes with affliction and suffering and disappointment and a cross (as did Paul’s and Jesus’s).

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?