Loving One Another

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.

Godly Living Takes a Village

READ: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

UNDERSTANDING:

4:9 How is this section connected to Paul’s message in v. 1-8? Why does Paul move on in this direction? (See Notes)

APPLICATION:

4:9 How does godly living take a village? (See Notes)

How does the Lord grow love in us?

PERSONAL SHARING:

How’s your love life? Not your romantic love life, but your love for your brothers and sisters in Christ?

Find Your Sweet Spot

READ: 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

UNDERSTANDING:

4:11 What is meant by the phrase “live quietly, mind your own affairs, and work with your hands?” (See Notes)

APPLICATION:

What does Pastor Joe mean when he says “find your sweet spot?” (See Notes)

4:12 Why does Paul commend the 1Th 4:11 lifestyle? (See Notes)

PERSONAL SHARING:

How are you doing with this type of lifestyle commended by Paul?

How well are you living with outsiders in mind?

Love and live like everybody’s watching — because they are!

LEADER NOTES

  • Quotable Quotes:

    • “This new way of loving is given to you and me as apprentices of Jesus because we have a new heart. We have a new ability to love. We have a supernatural ability to love.” - Pastor Joe

    • “To love one another within the church takes more than passing participation. To love one another as brothers and sisters requires wholehearted commitment and persistence.” - J.D. Greear

    • "When (not if) your reputation suffers an undeserved injury, your quiet integrity over time will say all that needs to be said.” - Ray Ortlund Jr.

    • “Love and live like everyone is watching ... because they are.”

  • How is this section connected to Paul’s message in v. 1-8? Why does Paul move on in this direction?

    • Paul began chapter 4 talking about “how you ought to walk and to please God” and then let the Thessalonians know what God’s will was for them — their sanctification. After the first section in which he focuses on sexual purity, he now turns to loving one another and living a quiet lifestyle as other ways to please God and grow in sanctification.

  • How does godly living take a village?

    • If you want to grow more and more with God you have to grow deeper and deeper with God’s people. God places us in community with each other so we may grow to love one another more and more. “To love one another within the church takes more than passing participation. To love one another as brothers and sisters requires wholehearted commitment and persistence” JD Greear. It’s hard to love one another — we don’t get along or agree all the time. We can be quick to text, comment, or unfollow, but slow to love. Imagine a church where democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives, rich and poor were the most united people in the community. If we want to go deeper with God, we need to go deeper with each other. This is the new humanity that God is restoring and building — united in love for God and one another. The love Paul calls the Thessalonians to is the fruit of his Spirit in us. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc.

  • What does Pastor Joe mean when he says “find your sweet spot?”

    • Find your sweet spot where God has you and Paul is saying do whatever you’re good at, wherever God has you, however, you serve in your church community--do it all in light of the gospel. As the world sees you serving, working, not getting wrapped up in smear campaigns and Facebook battles, your life is going to be attractive to outsiders.

  • Why is Paul focused on love and the exhortations in v. 11?

    • Paul is thinking about our impact on those outside the Christian faith by walking properly. He wants us to live with “outsiders” in mind. He sees our love, and our quiet and humble life, as an unhurried presence in the world and a faithful witness to the people around us. This is the opposite of letting the anxieties of society becoming our anxieties, and let them infringe on our unhurried presence and hurt our faithful witness. How you work and how you spend your time can increase or hurt your gospel witness in the world. Love and live like everyone is watching ... because they are.

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?