In this final message about the nature of gratitude, youth pastor Jason Turner raises the question, “can gratitude and worry coexist?”
Lifegroup discussion questions below the fold!
If you are the discussion leader for your group, have everyone open to this page on their devices. Take turns reading, asking questions, and discussing. These questions are intended as a guide. Your group may need to go in a somewhat different direction.
BEFORE you get started, how are preparations for your Hope Tree Family going? What details do you need to discuss?
Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, can your group still name a few things that you are grateful for?
Can you name a thing or two that you worry about?
Can you name a thing or two that you are BOTH grateful for, AND that you worry about?
Proportionality
Don’t we show gratitude proportionally? Let’s say that someone holds the door open for you as you enter a restaurant. How do you express gratitude?
What would be a disproportionate way to express gratitude in that instance?
Okay.. Let’s say someone buys you a new Mercedes S-Class Maybach for Christmas this year. How might you express gratitude?
What would be a disproportionate way to express gratitude in that instance?
So, can we agree that gratitude has proportionality?
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that they should not worry, but pray… That they should “thank him for all he has done.” So, how does our proportion of worry affect our proportion of gratitude?
He says to “Tell God what you need.” In the service I attended on Sunday, our group sort of struggled to come up with the difference between “needs,” and “wants.” Is it easy or difficult for us to differentiate between the two? (especially when looking at that car picture above?) What are some of the physical needs that we each have? What are some of the emotional needs that we each have?
When it all comes down to it, we all have needs, right? But NONE of them… Not a single one that you could list… Can compare to the one single need that we all have had. Look in Ephesians to determine what that is.
Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Read that last sentence again. How does that define my one greatest need? What does it mean for me to be “subject to God’s anger,” “by my very nature?”
How does that status compare to being sick, broke, depressed, and victimized? Which is worse?
So, what is my one, simple, greatest need?
And, what did God do about it?
Ephesians 2:4–7 NLT
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
How incredible is that gift? How can you describe, or even imagine the blessing of that wonderful gift?
What does this incredible gift demonstrate to me about my value to God?
How do I, therefore, show gratitude proportionally?
How does this thought shed light on what Paul says later, in Ephesians 4:
Ephesians 4:1 NLT
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
Isaac Watts wrote what is now a classic hymn which really illustrates this idea well. Once he sees, or “surveys” the incredible gift of the cross, the author responds proportionally.
- When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride. - Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood. - See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown? - Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
When I Survey The Wondrous Cross by Isaac Watts
My favorite lines are in verse 4. What does that say to you?
The author’s proportionate response of gratitude clearly comes after a “survey…” A new, fresh view of the cross and it’s affect on his life. It is seeing and understanding the amazing gift of God that produces the proportionate response in us. How can I keep a fresh view of the cross in my life?
How can my life be a more proportionate response to what God has done for me?