05.20.07
Small Group Plan - May 20, 2007
“Stumbling or Stepping”
Small Group Plan
May 20, 2007
Dear Group Leader…
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said:
“We can’t keep the Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. When they meet for fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk. Make their minor differences seem large, tempt them to compare and pass judgment so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions.”
Has Satan been successful in his scheme?
OPEN IT / INTRODUCE IT …
· Where do most of our differences of opinion come from?
· Why do we care so much that others agree with us on nonessential items?
· How can we allow room for disagreement without being disagreeable?
LOOK AT IT / STUDY IT …
Romans 14:13-14
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. 14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
· How is “passing judgment” a “stumbling block” to faith?
· Whose Faith is hurt the most – the one judging or the one being judged? Explain.
· Why and how has God accepted us?
· What does His acceptance have to do with our acceptance of one another?
Romans 14:15-16
15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
· What is the signal that a Christian’s conscience is “distressed” ?
· What attitudes should rule when two consciences are in collision? Why?
Romans 14:17-18
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
· Describe the kind of person who would choose eating and drinking over peace and joy?
· How can my choice of food be affected by my choice to eat with others?
Romans 14:19-23
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
· What does the phrase “make every effort” mean?
· Why are peace and mutual edification so important?
· How can a personal opinion “destroy” God’s work?
· Give an example of a belief that you should “keep between yourself and God.”
· When a Christian “condemns himself” what has he done?
USE IT / APPLY IT …
· Why does Paul call those who are uncertain, the “weak” ?
· Think of some “disputable matters” (vs. 1) where the principles of Romans 14 can be applied.
· Love and knowledge are balanced in Romans 14. Describe a life that has knowledge but no love. Describe a life that has love but no knowledge.
Close by asking God to help you to put each other first.