4.28.19 - Lives of Wholeness (Kenny Camacho)
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 26:39; John 10:14-18; John 15:1-5; Psalm 46:10-11
If the miracle of Easter is the discovery that death is powerless over the kind of life Jesus brings, what can we learn from the way Jesus lives his life about how to best imitate him? Put more simply: how can we live...like Jesus? The answer, according to Jesus himself, is that we live wholly when we surrender completely. This week, we want to explore the apparent paradox of what Jesus says about surrender and do our best to uncover what a “life of surrender” might look like for us.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Why do you think Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is included in the Gospel stories about his arrest? What does it show us about him?
How do you feel about the concept of “surrender”? What is appealing about it? What makes you nervous?
Talk through the metaphor Jesus uses in John 10 about being the “good shepherd.” What does this metaphor teach us about Jesus? About ourselves? Why is “laying down [your] life” an important part of “shepherding”?
How does the metaphor of the “vine and branches” in John 15 connect to this idea of surrender? What does it mean to “be a good branch”? How can we do this well?
The Bible repeatedly insists that wholeness isn’t something we can create; instead, it’s a gift God gives. What does this teach us about God?
Read Psalm 46:10-11. Where are you being challenged to “be still” in your life? What do you think it means to “know” that God is God?