Week 5 Harvest 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 (aloud together)

God of harvest,
gardener supreme
you place us at the center
feed us, equip us and
having provided for us
look to a different harvest—
a fruitfulness of lives
in service to you
and others.
God of harvest,
feed us
prune us
harvest us
that our lives
might bring glory to you.

Opening question

This was the final week of the Harvest sermon series. What has stood out to you the most about how Jesus uses agricultural imagery and parables to describe the Kingdom? What have you learned about the Kingdom? How has your view of the Kingdom changed?

Reading of Scripture

Have someone read Matthew 21:33-46

• What resonates with you in this passage? Where do you experience resistance?
  
  
• In the sermon Sunday, Chelsea explained that the context of this parable was the religious leaders challenging Jesus’ authority. They were asking, “Who is Jesus?” And Chelsea posed the question, “Who is Jesus to you?” How would you answer that question?
  
  
• At the time Jesus told this parable, some people were beginning to believe that Jesus might be the Messiah. And they had a certain vision in their mind of what the Messiah would be like. In your mind, what should the Messiah and King be like? How does the Jesus revealed in the Scriptures confirm or contradict what you think the Messiah should be like?
  
  
• How did Chelsea explain verse 42? — Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
  
  
• What does this parable show you about the type of Messiah Jesus is?
  
  
• In verse 43, Jesus says the Kingdom will be taken away from the religious leaders and put into the hands of a people who produce its fruit. What do you think Jesus means by this? Who are the people who produce Kingdom fruit? What is Kingdom fruit?
  
  
• In what ways do we tend to be like the religious leaders who heard this parable and rejected Jesus? Are there ways you tend to grasp for control in your life?
  
  
• Why do you think God entrusts his “vineyard” to tenants? 

Responding to Scripture

On Sunday, Chelsea asked us: “In what ways am I rejecting Jesus? In what ways am I welcoming Jesus?” Take some time to honestly reflect on these questions. If you need to repent of rejecting Jesus in some way, take some time to confess and receive His forgiveness.