DISCOVERY QUESTIONS

Series: Thrive
Sermon: Honor One Another
Passage: Phillipians 1:3-11

Main Idea: J.O.Y. – Jesus, Others and You.

Leader GuidePDF Version (Participant)PDF Version (Leader)

GROUP DISCUSSION

Lean In

Purpose: Introduce topic and get the group talking.

1. Are you an introvert or extrovert? Explain your ideal environment for connecting with people.


Look Down

Purpose: Observe the passage and interact with the text

2. Read Philippians 1:3-11 together. Describe Paul’s relationship with the Philippian church.


Look Out

Purpose: Connect observations in God’s Word with observations in our world today.

3. As you look out upon a country coming out of quarantine that is now deeply conflicted with racial tensions, where do you see the need for “love to abound” and for “discernment of what is best”?


Look In

Purpose: Internalize God’s Word and apply the truth to your personal life.

4. What judgments have you been holding that you might need to confess as you experience people’s reactions to all that is going on in our world? Where do you need God to fill you with love and provide you with discernment?


Live It Out

Purpose: Spend time listening for God’s for direction and guidance as you seek to live out the truths of this passage in your everyday life.

5. Spend 1-2 minutes in silence before God. Confess any judgment of others. Ask God to fill you with his love and discernment. Open your heart to him and ask for him to meet you and speak to you.

6. How did you sense (or not sense) God meeting you? What was your experience like with Him in the silence?

7. Close by praying for peace and unity in our community and for each other.

LEADER GUIDE

Lean In

Purpose: Introduce topic and get the group talking.

1. Are you an introvert or extrovert? Explain your ideal environment for connecting with people.

This question is designed to be an easy starter. Choose to use it if the group could use some light discussion before diving in to question #2.


Look Down

Purpose: Observe the passage and interact with the text

2. Read Philippians 1:3-11 together. Describe Paul’s relationship with the Philippian church.

– Paul remembers them fondly with “with joy”
– He consistently prays for them
– They partnered with him in the gospel
– He has them “in his heart”
– He longs for them with the affection of Christ Jesus
– He desires that their love may abound and that they may be able to discern what is best

We tend to think–and tend to tell one another in the Christian faith–that God is all we need; God is the only one who can satisfy. But remember that all Adam had was God when he was first created, and yet that wasn’t enough. “It is not good for man to be alone,” God said. And that’s why He created Eve (Genesis 2:18). Simply put, we were made for community.

That’s why although Paul can rejoice in Jesus, he knows that there is something missing as a result of imprisonment: he cannot be with people he loves. This is why he “longs” for them (Phil. 1:8).

1:4 “Joy” is used 5 times in this letter; “rejoice” is used 7 times. This speaks to the consistent theme of joy throughout Philippians.

1:5 The term “partnership” was often used in an economic sense for those who shared monetarily. It’s a reference to the financial help the Philippians had given (4:10-20).

1:9 Paul’s basic petition is that the Philippians’ love might “abound more and more”. Love is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), enabling all other spiritual virtues to be exercised properly (1 Cor. 3:14). He’s not talking about mere human love, or merely human efforts to love. Rather, he is talking about the spiritual fruit of love, produced by the Holy Spirit, that comes from knowing Jesus deeply and intimately.

1:10 Discernment is a key feature in Paul’s prayer for the Philippians. Some decisions are clearly either good or bad, but many decisions are complex and not so easily determined. Motivated by love, Paul asks God to give the Philippians “knowledge and depth of insight” to discern what is best. This discernment comes from the Holy Spirit, “who will guide [us] into all the truth” (John 16:3).


Look Out

Purpose: Connect observations in God’s Word with observations in our world today.

3. As you look out upon a country coming out of quarantine that is now deeply conflicted with racial tensions, where do you see the need for “love to abound” and for “discernment of what is best”?

Encourage the group to think of examples in the world, in pop culture, in the news, or in their own lives. There are so many areas of challenge and conflict in the world. Try to explore the issues both on a societal level and a personal experience level.


Look In

Purpose: Internalize God’s Word and apply the truth to your personal life.

4. What judgments have you been holding that you might need to confess as you experience people’s reactions to all that is going on in our world? Where do you need God to fill you with love and provide you with discernment?

Use this question to set up the final question, where you will spend a couple of minutes listening to what God might be saying to you. Encourage the group to be really honest, and let them know that you’ll have a chance to pray about these things in just a few minutes.


Live It Out

Purpose: Spend time listening for God’s direction and guidance as you seek to live out the truths of this passage in your everyday life.

5. Spend 1-2 minutes in silence before God. Confess any judgment of others. Ask God to fill you with his love and discernment. Open your heart to him and ask for him to meet you and speak to you.

Don’t be afraid of the silence. We want to learn to be comfortable before God in silence.

6. How did you sense (or not sense) God meeting you? What was your experience like with Him in the silence?

This is not a time to give advice, but rather, to listen, process together, and encourage.

7. Close by praying for peace and unity in our community and for each other.

Virtual groups: Use the chat feature to share prayer requests. Share your screen to play the song Nothing Else. As the song is playing, ask the group to share prayer requests in the chat (ideally personal requests, not requests for other people). Then, as the requests come in, ask the group to silently pray for them as the song plays. The facilitator can close the group in prayer once the song ends.