Grow Group Questions • February 13, 2022
Announcement
- Be in prayer for the last weekend of February as the search firm will be visiting to work with the church to finalize our search process.
Conversation Starter
- What is the greatest act of love someone has ever done to/for you?
Sermon Discussion:
Read John 12: 1-8
- For many of us, it’s easy to relate to Martha in her desire to “do” and to serve Jesus rather than slow down and worship him.
- How are those two things different?
- Why is it important to see this difference in our lives?
- If it takes less energy for Mary to sit and worship than for Martha to prepare and serve the meal:
- Why do you think it’s so hard for Martha to do a task that is seemingly easier?
- Why do you think Mary is commended by Jesus in Mark 14:9 and Martha is not?
- After Judas complains about Mary’s wasting of the ointment, Jesus says that we will always have the poor with us.
- What is Jesus saying about the poor? Is serving the poor useless since poverty will never go away?
- What other passages can you think of from the gospels help us understand how Jesus views the poor?
Read John 12: 9-19
- Judas and the crowd wanted Jesus to be something who he is not. This seems to be the natural way of approaching Jesus.
- Who are you tempted to want to make Jesus out to be? Is there some way that you naturally want to see Jesus that the Biblical Jesus continues to confront?
Going Deeper/Application:
- Think back to Martha and Mary:
- Who do you relate to in what you naturally tend to do for Jesus? (Martha: sitting at his feet, spending time with God and listening to him intimately or Mary: doing/serving for God)
- Which one of those areas do you need to grow in and how is God calling you to that?
- Mary’s worship was sacrificial with money, humility, and her reputation in how others saw her worship:
- What keeps you from worshiping in that same way?
- Why is it important to live and worship this way?
Final Challenge:
- What is something God is asking you to grow in right now through these scriptures? Spend prayer time on this as people share.
Prayer Time: (Leaders based on discussion choose your own prayer focuses, knowing what the group might need to focus on. This is a good time to break up into gendered groups if that might help.)