Hope's Tears

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.

Coming of the Lord

READ: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

UNDERSTANDING:

v. 13 - How does Paul uniquely encourage the church to address grief?

v. 16 - What promise does Paul remind the church of to give them hope?

v. 18 - How can we be agents of hope in our community?

APPLICATION:

What aspects of Jesus’ death and resurrection bring us hope? (See Notes)

What aspects of the end times can we be certain of? (See Notes)

Paul uses the term “apantesin” to describe the regal weight of believers meeting Jesus in verse 17. How does that change the way we prepare for his return. (See Notes)

PERSONAL SHARING:

What kind of circumstance that causes grief has been the most challenging for you to deal with?

How have you found hope in Jesus in the midst of grief? What kind of role did the people close to you play in finding that hope?

Apprentices of Jesus are called to REMEMBER and REHEARSE the future of our glorious reunion.

LEADER NOTES

  • Quotable Quotes:

    • “But apprentices of Jesus don’t swallow grief, denying its presence. Neither are they swallowed by grief, succumbing to despair. Rather, they contextualize it—they set grief in the hope-shaped story of The Gospel of Jesus, allowing it to be true grief but not tragic grief.”

    • “Death is not a PERIOD at the end of life. It’s a COMMA in the sentence that begins the story of one’s true life.”

    • “The worst isn’t the last thing about the world. It’s the next to the last thing. The last thing is the best. It’s the power from on high that comes down into the world, that wells up from the rock-bottom worst of the world like a hidden spring. Can you believe it? The last, best thing is the laughing deep in the hearts of the saints, sometimes our hearts even. Yes. You are terribly loved and forgiven. You are healed. All is well.” (Frederick Buechner)

    • “These light momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

  • What aspects of Jesus’ death and resurrection bring us hope?

    • This curse reversal & reweaving of flourishing happens through the work of Jesus.

      • Jesus died—here is the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus that pays for our rebellion, that puts death to death, that covers our sins.

      • Jesus rose from the dead—he conquered death and brings life.

        • Our sinful heart / the old us dies with him

        • Our new living heart / the new self rises to life in him.

        • His bodily resurrection leads to our forthcoming bodily resurrection.

        • We will rise bodily to live forever.

        • We will have new, redeemed bodies, rescued from aches, and entropy

        • No longer subject to fading and falling apart.

  • What aspects of the end times can we be certain of?

    • What does Paul know on good authority?

      • King Jesus will return.

      • He will come from heaven to earth.

      • He will call all who are his to himself.

      • The dead believers will be resurrected first.

      • Then the living believers will be caught up (transformed).

      • His people will be with him in his glory forever.

      • His people are to help each other live in light of this glorious future reunion amidst present grief.

  • Paul uses the term “apantesin” to describe the regal weight of believers meeting Jesus in verse 17.

      • The technical term for sending a delegation outside a city to meet an arriving dignitary.

      • A greeting committee to escort the King (in his “parousia”) into the city for his official visit.

      • Paul, then, is saying, when Jesus returns it will be something like what you have seen when the King comes to the city he has given resources to and protects. The faithful go to meet him, while the condemned, the unfaithful stay in the city.

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?