In verses 3 and 4, Paul states that Christians are destined for afflictions. What are some of the unexpected challenges you’ve had to face as a Christian? What are some afflictions Christians should be ready to face?
Consider Luke 14:25-33. If Jesus wants us all to follow him, why would he give this warning? Do you think that Jesus actually demands this from his followers? Do you find that Jesus’ words hold true in your life?
“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:25-33 ESV
Verse 5: Have you ever found yourself doing something, saying something, or thinking something that you told yourself or someone else that you never do, say, or think? Do you have really good intentions for your life, but maybe the direction that you’re going says you’re going to a different destination in terms of money, relationships, career, marriage?
Read Proverbs 7. What should the young man have seen coming but didn’t? In what ways did the woman provide temptation for the young man? What is the warning to us? How do we avoid the same fate?
“My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;
keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend,
to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.
For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,
passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;
now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner, she lies in wait.
She seizes him and kisses him, and with a bold face, she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;
so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon, he will come home.”
With much seductive speech, she persuades him; with her smooth talk, she compels him.
All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver;
as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
And now, O sons, listen to me and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.
Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.”
Proverbs 7:1-27 ESV
Verse 6-10: When you leave the group, do you want to be the person who encourages others through your faithfulness, or are you the person who becomes someone’s prayer request? Has your faith become infectious, or have you become feckless in your faith?
Why do you think the church in Thessalonica thrived when it should have died? What attitude did Paul have toward the church in Thessalonica? If the church was thriving, why would we say that he hoped to see them face to face to supply what is lacking in their faith?
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
Philippians 3:12-21 ESV
Verse 11-13: Of all of the things that Paul wanted the Thessalonians to be growing in, it’s love. Is your church known as the church that loves? What would it look like for a church to abound in love?