Loving the Poor. A Hope for LA Community Group Study. Leader s Guide

Transcription

1 Loving the Poor A Hope for LA Community Group Study Leader s Guide

2 Dear Leaders, Thank you for trying this new Community Group study on loving the poor. It s great to think about how God loves the poor even before we do. He talks about the poor a lot, in both the Old and New Testaments. And in God s plan of reconciling the world to himself, he describes that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). We hope that these four weeks would be a rich time for your group to share thoughts and experiences, study a passage of scripture, and serve at a local ministry together. We would encourage you to have your Hope for LA Rep lead this study. It was designed with that possibility in mind, and it would give you a much needed break. Our hope is that through doing this study in community, your group would not simply serve more but that their hearts would change through knowing God s heart. Studying together (First 3 weeks): This study is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan you will actually read it every week for 3 weeks straight. This may be a very familiar passage to you and your group try not to let the familiarity quench its relevancy to us. There are many things to talk about in studying the poor. We have chosen to highlight these themes based on Luke 10:25-37: - Who is our neighbor? - Who are the poor? - Being a neighbor Each week, on the first page of the study, we ve given you a couple quotes, the big idea, a few objectives for you to focus your group s conversation on, and a prayer for you as you prepare for the study. In the discussion guide, we elaborate on some themes that will come up in the discussion with your group. We must approach loving the poor with humility and not jump to conclusions. And as in all community group gatherings, you should encourage your group to be honest about the difficulties and questions that this topic presents to their lives and hearts. At the end of your 4- week experience, it would help us if you could fill out the survey printed on the last page of this guide. You can either fill it out by hand and return it to us or use the electronic copy on the Community Groups leaders website. 2

3 Serving together (4 th week): At least a week before you start this study, you should plan a service opportunity for your group for the 4 th week of this study. The next page has a form for you to collect the info you need. On the CG Leaders website you will find a list of opportunities, or Hope for LA can help you find an opportunity. We have provided optional scripture passages for personal study in the week leading up to your service opportunity. You will also find questions to help your group reflect together afterwards. We are all on a journey of loving the poor. We are really excited for your group as you journey together to know God and to love your neighbor as yourself. In Christ Our Hope, Dave Kleinknecht and Jeremy Weese 3

4 Community Group Service Opportunity Our Service Opportunity (description): Org Name: Address: Date: Time (start and end): Name of Contact at Site: Phone: Additional Notes: (details, what to bring, who is doing what) 4

5 Loving the Poor Overview of the Study We will be looking in depth at the story of the Good Samaritan over the next few weeks. In the first week, we will be looking at the conversation between Jesus and the lawyer, which prompts the story in the first place. We will see the way in which Jesus was challenging the lawyer, and us, in how to think about loving your neighbor. In the second week, we will look at how Jesus tells the story, and how the way he sets it up reveals who the lawyer is, and who we really are. In the third week, we will look at the way the Samaritan is an example for how we are to care for the poor. Acknowledgements Much of the material in this study is drawn from Tim Keller s Ministries of Mercy and Generous Justice, as well as material from Harbor Presbyterian Church, with some expansion and modification. The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" 27 And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" 37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." 5

6 Week 1: Who Is Our Neighbor? And, seeking to justify himself, he said to Jesus, But who is my neighbor? Luke 10:29 Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can. John Wesley Reading: Luke 10:25-37 Big Idea: v Loving the poor is more than simply serving the poor; to love the poor, we need a changed heart. Objectives: Ø Get an idea of the group s experience loving the poor. Ø Examine our hearts about our motivations in serving the poor Prayer for the Week: Father, as we begin this study on the poor whom you love, and for whom you have a special care, would you prepare my heart as I lead this study? Would you expose the sinful and selfish ways I make assumptions about the poor, and the ways I presume upon my own righteousness? Would you change my heart through your word and your Holy Spirit, and the hearts of the members of our community group as well? Thank you for your grace in my sin, your patience in my stubbornness, and your love in my neediness. Amen. 6

7 Discussion Guide: Who is Our Neighbor? Setting the Scene: There are two levels to this story: the real life conversation between the lawyer and Jesus, and the parable that Jesus tells in response to the lawyer s second question. If we want to understand the story of the Good Samaritan, we have to understand what was happening in the conversation, and what prompted Jesus to tell this story. An important point here: when the lawyer is asking, Who is my neighbor? he wants to know who he is responsible to help. The heart of this conversation between Jesus and the lawyer is loving the poor. But who are the poor? Two simple characteristics: The poor are needy, and the poor are powerless. The poor are needy because they have little or nothing of what the world values. The poor are powerless because they are subject to oppression. We see this in the man set upon by robbers in Jesus story he was needy (everything was taken from him) and he was powerless (he could not help himself). Main Players Jesus: We are just under halfway through Luke s account of Jesus life. Luke has set up Jesus as the one to redeem Israel, through the account of his miraculous birth and the prophecies surrounding it. Jesus has burst on the scene in both Judea and Galilee, proclaiming that in him the kingdom of God is at hand. He is drawing crowds, healing and teaching them. He also has drawn enemies, mainly the Jewish religious leaders of the day. Already, up to this point, they have tried to trick him into saying something that they could use to condemn him, either in the religious courts or the legal courts. The Lawyer: Literally, an expert in the law. One of the religious leaders that are opposed to Jesus. His initial question, although it could be seen on the surface as innocent, was really an attempt to trap Jesus, to test him, to get him to say something incriminating. We see this in verse 25, A lawyer stood up to put him to the test. The First Question: The challenge The lawyer asks a simple and yet profound question: What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Remember he was testing Jesus, to see if Jesus answer would contradict Jewish law. But Jesus, seeing through the lawyer, turns the question back to the lawyer. The lawyer responds with a well- known summary of the law, taken from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19: essentially, love God and love your neighbor. Jesus presses the lawyer on this with the simple statement do this and you will live. 7

8 The Second Question: The excuse The lawyer just gave his answer to the question, How do I inherit eternal life? by quoting directly from the law. Jesus, in hearing his answer, challenges him. Jesus basically is saying, Okay. Go do that! Here s the problem: the lawyer knows he cannot keep it. So he tries to narrow his responsibility into a more manageable one. And so he asks a follow- up question: Who is my neighbor? It s an excuse (in the words of Luke, he is justifying himself). In other words, the lawyer is implying, if we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, this cannot possibly mean that we have to love everyone as ourselves, just the people who fall into this category of neighbor. And so, in the lawyer s mind, if he can just define the limits of who counts as his neighbor, then keeping this law is possible. We are like the lawyer, aren t we? We ask similar questions about who we are supposed to love. Do we have to help the drug addict? I mean, he got into it himself. Or, Do we have to help people who aren t going to our church? Who aren t in our neighborhood? We, like the lawyer, want to narrow our responsibility. [Now, you might get questions about whether we really are to care for everybody which we will discuss more fully in week 3. For now, Deuteronomy 10:17-19 is a helpful reminder that we are called to be people of mercy: 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. See also Deuteronomy 15:7-11.] Jesus Responds: The Good Samaritan Jesus responds again to challenge the lawyer, yet this time he does it with a story. There is a lot going on in this story, which we will explore in later weeks. For now, notice how Jesus ends the story with a similar question to the lawyer: Who was the neighbor in this story? See how they use neighbor to mean very different things. Neighbor for the lawyer was who he was obligated to help. Neighbor for Jesus was a person who helps others. The lawyer was asking, Who do I have to love? Jesus says, Who is the loving person? This illustrates the problem for the lawyer, and for us as we think about our lives. We focus on what we have to do to get by what is my moral obligation? God wants us to become a different sort of person. He wants us to become people who are motivated to love others, not out of obligation, but out of their hearts. The lawyer wasn t there yet. None of us are, on our own. The lawyer asked for a definition of a neighbor; what he got was an invitation to a changed heart. And that invitation is for us as well. Next week we will look more closely at how our hearts are changed simply put, the gospel. How do we become loving people? How do we become neighbors? We look to Jesus. John 1:14: The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. 8

9 Opening Discussion: Does God love the poor? How do you know? What have been some of your experiences in loving and serving the poor? The Good Samaritan (Read Luke 10:25-37) Looking at the Text: What are the 2 stories in this passage? Who are the main characters? What were the lawyer s intentions in questioning Jesus? How do you think that affects Jesus response? What does the lawyer s question, Who is my neighbor? reveal about the lawyer? About his driving motivation? How does the lawyer define neighbor? How does Jesus define neighbor? Looking at Our Hearts According to Luke 10, who are our neighbors? When have you experienced someone being a neighbor to you? What actually motivates you to love your neighbor? Performance? Image? Guilt? What should motivate us to love our neighbors? How does God s love change the way we care for each other in our group? How we care for those outside the group? 9