Gospel in Life (Timothy Keller). Session Six: Work - Cultivating the garden.
Welcome, opening prayer and worship. (5–15 minutes). Pray as you begin,
asking ...
Gospel in Life (Timothy Keller) Session Six: Work - Cultivating the garden Welcome, opening prayer and worship
(5–15 minutes)
(5 minutes)
Pray as you begin, asking God to be at work in your group.
Summary of the previous session
[Read the paragraphs below aloud to summarise the main points of the previous session.] Last session we saw that our community is to be a “city on a hill” (Ma?. 5:14). The world must see in our community what life can be in all its beauty under the kingship of Jesus Christ. We also saw that it is important to have gospel-‐speaking, neighborhood-‐loving, community-‐transformed congregaLons everywhere. Only the gospel enables us to build an alternate city together This session’s theme is the gospel and our work.
Bible study
(20 minutes)
[Read aloud Ma:hew 6:19-‐21 and then work through the quesCons below.] 1. Why does Jesus tell us to store up “treasures in heaven” (v.20) rather than “treasures on earth” (v.19)? What does Jesus mean when he says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”? 2. How do most people you know tend to spend their Lme, energy, and money? What do you spend money on most effortlessly and joyfully? 3. How might you and your group go about storing up “treasures in heaven”? 4. One way to ensure that we store up treasures in heaven is to celebrate, reflect on, and give thanks for our treasures on earth. This is part of what we do on the Sabbath. In an arLcle called “Bring Back the Sabbath” in The New York Times Magazine we read, “There is ample evidence that our relaLonship to work is out of whack. Let me argue on behalf of an insLtuLon that has kept workaholism in reasonable check over thousands of years. Most people mistakenly believe that all you have to do to stop working is not work. The inventors of the Sabbath understood that it was a much more complicated undertaking. You cannot downshi_ casually and easily. This is why the Puritan and Jewish Sabbaths were so exacLngly intenLonal. The rules did not exist to torture the faithful. InterrupLng the ceaseless round of striving requires a surprisingly strenuous act of will, one that has to be bolstered by habit as well as by social sancLon.” This quote explains that scheduled rest will not work without a great deal of intenLonality and discipline. Brainstorm the kind of pracLcal habits and useful pracLces that can help us to observe the Sabbath.
DVD presentation
(10 minutes)
Questions and discussion
(30 minutes)
1. Was there anything from the DVD that was new to you, or had an effect on you? Did you hear anything that raised more quesLons in your mind? 2. What are some of the pracLcal implicaLons of the biblical teachings that work is good and has dignity? 3. What are some of the pracLcal implicaLons of the biblical teachings that we must not separate God from work? 4. Besides telling your coworkers about Christ, what does it mean to “bring the gospel into your work”? Brainstorm some ways that you can work with ChrisLan disLncLveness in your workplace. 5. In Ma?hew 11, Jesus promises to “give us rest” (v.28). How can the deep rest Jesus gives in the gospel change our relaLonship to our work? 6. “Do you see your workplace as a place to share the gospel as well as a place to let the gospel shape how you work”? What can you bring into your profession that is uniquely helpful.
Prayer ministry and closing prayer
(15 minutes)
Thank God, that “…there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” Ask God to show you way in which you don’t represent Christ as you should in your relaLonships, in your workplace, in your family life, in your habits and ajtudes, and in your relaLonships within the church. Pray also that you would be able, again within the community, to learn be?er how to “bring the gospel into your work.”
Notes
