These questions are from Palm Sunday’s message, “For A Season.” You can find the message at our podcast link here. If you’re the lifegroup discussion leader, read through these questions and pick the ones that are a best fit for your group. Have your group members open this page on their smartphone or tablet to follow along. They can click straight to the listed verses at Bible.com.
Have you ever been unexpectedly stuck somewhere for an extended period of time without a phone, book, or the project you’re working on? Nothing for you to do except sit and wait? How does this feel? What does it stir in you?
What about the same scenario on the eve of a large, important project that is due? You know… The kind of project that your business or your job depends on? How do you feel then? How do you respond?
We are creatures practically defined by time. When we’re gone, there will be a stone in a cemetary somewhere that defines us by two numbers, right? What are those two numbers?
We are really bound by time in a big way. Always late, running from one thing to another. Is God that way?
What does God tell us about his relationship to time? 2 Peter 3:8
God created the universe. This includes space, and TIME. God made time, so He exists outside of it. If that is true, then is God concerned about how we use our time?
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. -Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV
How did Jesus spend his time? Mark 1 :14-15 Jesus took no moments for granted. He used every available moment of his time for the sake of the Good News.
Jesus took no moments for granted.
In Ephesians 5, the word for “days” is “kairos.” It is a different word than you often find for “time” in the NT. Often the word for “time” is “hora,” which means “hour.” It is a specific, appointed moment or short, immediate span of time. (think “lunch hour,” or “The Walking Dead starts at 10:00 on the hour.”
“Kairos,” used here, means “season.” it means a longer, indefinite span of time. You can think of “harvest season.” or “puberty.” Kairos is a very specific span of time that we don’t have an exact end date for. It is a definite period, but we don’t have the exact dates on our calendar. What does Jesus say about this in Mark 13:31-33?
So… How do you think Jesus feels for us to be idle, not producing anything just before the big project is due? How does Jesus describe it in this parable?
So, we are to “redeem the time,” or literally, to “buy back the season.” To make the best use of it as possible. How can we redeem the time in our homes? What about at work? How can we use Easter to redeem the time? How are you leveraging Easter for the sake of the Good News?