Wednesday Night, October 15, 2003

 

As a result of this discussion, members will be motivated to participate responsibly in the community at every opportunity, considering it a privilege to do so. One of our primary objectives is to learn where participation and responsibility intersect in the community of faith.  

 

 

  

 

 

Name a time in your life when you were working with someone in some setting who didn’t do their fair share and pull their own weight. How did that make you feel?  What were some of the repercussions caused by this inequity?  

 

 

 

G.K. Chesterton notes, “It is a good sign in a nation when things are done badly. It shows that all the people are doing them. And it is a bad sign in a nation when things are done very well, for it shows that only a few experts and eccentrics are doing them, and that the nation is merely looking on.”  

 

What are the implications of these observations for the church?  

In the past few weeks, we have discussed how the church is a community where everyone can feel they belong. We have seen how the church is a loving family and how the church operates as a functional body. Our discussion tonight springs naturally from these concepts. Every community of faith relies on participation from every member if the body is to function as God planned.  

In his sermon Sunday Night, Chuck highlighted four areas of participation and responsibility within the community:  

􏰀 Organization 

􏰀 Welfare 

􏰀 Discipline  

􏰀 Growth 

How do you see these areas of participation and responsibility working in the church today?  

With which of these four areas do you feel the church has the most difficulty? Why?   

Read Galatians 6:1-10. 

  

  What are some of the ways Paul calls upon the Christians in Galatia to participate in the work of God?  

􏰀 Gently restore persons caught in sin (v. 1) 

􏰀 Carry each other’s burdens (v. 2) 

􏰀 Test your own actions (v. 4) 

􏰀 Carry your own load (v. 5) 

􏰀 Share all good things with your instructor (v. 6) 

􏰀 Do good for all people when the opportunity arises (v. 10) 

What is our motivation for serving in the community?  

􏰀 We are gentle with people caught in sin because we recognize we could fall (v. 1). 

􏰀 We carry each other’s burdens because we recognize that in this way we fulfill the law of Christ (v. 2). 

􏰀 We test our actions because we recognize we could be deceived by pride (v. 3).  

􏰀 We share good things because we recognize that we have received something we would not otherwise have (v. 6).  

􏰀 We do good for all people when we recognize the law of the harvest – “A man reaps what he sows” (vv. 7-8).  

􏰀 Knowing that the harvest is sure, we’re able to continue in doing good, even when weary (v. 9).  

 

 

 

Paul writes in Galatians 6:1-10 about reaping what you have sown. Can you share an example of reaping benefits within a church community when you have taken responsibility to sow good into that same community?  

 

What will you do to “carry your own load in the near future?”  

 

 

 

Mention the empty chair. Be fishing!  

Go around the room tonight and allow everyone to share what support you each need to help you fulfill your responsibility. And then pray about these things!