How to Make Known God’s Manifold Wisdom
I. The FOUNDATION: God has GIVEN what we NEED. (v.3-4)
A. The BEAUTY of the past TENSE. (v.3-4)
B. The importance of KNOWING in RELATIONSHIP . (v.3)
C. Describing God: GLORY and GOODNESS. (v.3)
Last week we saw that God’s intention for the church was to make known to the powers in the Spiritual Realm the “Manifest Wisdom of God.” This week we start at the foundation of that task. What God has done first…and how that positions us to live out God’s intention.
1. Kid’s Question: If you could ask God to give you one thing, what would that be?
2. On a scale of 1-10, how hard is it for you to truly believe the claims of verses 3 and 4. If it’s a challenge, what specifically makes it difficult?
II. The GOAL: “GOD-LIFE” living in US. (v.3-4)
A. “PARTICIPATE in the DIVINE nature.” (v.4; John 17:20-23)
B. BREAKING the CHAINS of sin. (v.4; Rom. 6:11-14)
2 Peter 2:3-4 are some other verses like Eph. 3:10 that should blow your mind. They remind us that what God is offering us is to become flesh and blood containers of the divine life of the Trinity. This becomes the power source for life change that enables us to leave our past patterns of sin and move into the freedom and joy of the righteousness of the Kingdom of God.
3. How aware are you of God’s constant presence within you? What helps you to live more aware of that? What seems to make it challenging?
4. The Bible seems to be clear that we can live in a way that helps us to escape the corrupting impact of sin in our lives. What are your thoughts on this? Does it sound too good to be true?
III. The CALLING: PARTICIPATION in TRANSFORMATION. (v.5-11)
A. It STARTS with full SURRENDER. (v.5)
B. It CONTINUES in COMMUNITY. (v.7)
C. There are LAYERS of LEARNING. (v.5-7)
D. It all MAKES up our MISSION. (v.8-11; Gal. 5:6; Eph. 3:10)
E. WHERE am I? What is NEXT? (v.5,10; James 1:22)
So how does it all work on a practical level? It’s great to talk about participating in the divine nature, but what does that mean on a Tuesday afternoon? How do I learn to live out what that divine life that God is placing inside of me? I love the idea, but how does it actually look in real life?
5. Does the GBC Discipleship Pathway make sense to you? Are there things that are missing in this simple diagram?
6. How does the idea of “layers of learning” challenge what you might have seen to be living as a Christian in the past?
7. Where do you find yourself presently, and what might be the next step(s) you should take?
8. How will you set up some way to keep you accountable to move forward along this pathway in order to be shaped by the Spirit to be more like Jesus?