Week 5 Extravagantly Generous Discussion Guide

Sermon recording

If anyone missed Sunday's sermon, encourage them to watch the recording.

Check-in

Share with the group something you are grateful for and something that is causing you stress

Opening prayer (pray aloud together):

Godliness with contentment is great gain. We bring nothing into this world, and we take nothing out of it. We, who call Jesus LORD, devote ourselves to resisting greed, which plunges the human heart into ruin and pierces it with many griefs.

We are determined to practice generosity with free hearts, fixing our hope on GOD and not the uncertainty of wealth. We desire to be rich in good deeds and willing to share all that we have, laying up for ourselves treasure that will not decay but will shine in the age to come. Amen.

Opening questions:

• In Will’s sermon Sunday, he shared the story of how he was using his backpacking stove upside down with dangerous consequences. He used this story to illustrate how we often use our money and resources in ways that they were not designed to be used.
  
  When is a time that you used something in a way that it was not intended to be used? What happened as a result?

• Will also shared about how he and his wife made a commitment to tithing from the beginning of their marriage. The first check they write is their tithe check. Because of the way they have modeled tithing, their children are doing the same. What was modeled to you as a child? Were your parents generous? Did they tithe? How does that impact your relationship with money today? 

Reading of Scripture:

Have someone read Mark 10:17-27

• What resonates with you in this passage? Where do you experience resistance?

• Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” As someone who is rich in comparison to much of the world, how does this message sit with you? Why do you think Jesus says this?
  
  
• Jesus didn’t call everyone to sell all they have to follow him. But he recognized the young man’s heart was enslaved to money. Jesus’ call for this man to sell his possessions was an invitation to bring freedom to his heart. Will in his sermon said: “Jesus doesn’t want your money. He wants your heart.” How does the idea that giving is a matter of the heart strike you? … Do you desire to have your whole heart devoted to Jesus? What stands in the way of you giving your entire heart to Him?

• Jesus loved the rich young ruler. He loved him enough to tell him what to do with his money. Do you experience Jesus’ call to generosity as an act of love? 

Have someone read Genesis 28:10-22

• In this passage, Jacob has a profound encounter with God and then promises to give a tithe (a tenth) of all he is given back to God. When have you had an encounter with God? Is there a moment when you powerfully experienced his love and presence? What was the result of the encounter? How did it change you?
  
  
• In the past two sermons, it’s been said: “When you receive an incredible gift of love, generosity is a reflex.” Do you find generosity to be reflexive? If not, how might God be inviting you to experience his generous love and healing?

• In his sermon, Will referenced the Old Testament practice of tithing, giving a tenth of your income to the Lord. What has your experience been with tithing? 

Response:

In the Old Testament, the people of God would bring their “firstfruits”— the first and the best of their produce — to the Lord. In your giving, do you give “off the top” or from your “leftovers”? Consider an “experiment of trust”: For the next month or two, try giving away a percentage of your income off the top. And see how God might meet you and provide for you.