10.2.21 - To Seek the Flourishing of the City (Kenny Camacho)

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 29, Philippians 2:5-11

“We need to seek our city’s flourishing for our city’s benefit rather than our own. We need to seek it because sharing love and kindness in our neighborhoods gives people reason and permission to have hope that there really is a God of Truth and Power and Justice in the universe. We simply cannot let our hopes for our own success or our own fame get in the way of that: we can’t insert ourselves between the hope we exist to share and the God whose goodness and glory can deliver it.”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What have your experiences been with serving your community at the church-event level? What has been really positive about those experiences? What questions do you also have about them? 

  2. Have you ever fallen victim to the temptation Kenny described this week to “look for the logic behind your blessings or privileges”? What makes this so tempting? What might be dangerous about it? 

  3. Read Philippians 2:5-11 together. What do you notice here? Why would this be a popular song in the early church? What is challenging or instructive about it? 

  4. What might it mean to love your neighbors or love your community for their own sake? What are some things that can make that difficult? 

  5. Do you ever struggle with a desire to feel useful or relevant in our culture? What problems does this create? What might help to relieve this burden?

  6. Andy Crouch might ask us, “what keeps you from choosing sainthood?” How would you answer that challenge?

  7. What are some practical ways you can participate in God’s love for your neighbors this week? What are one or two concrete things you could do?

Kenny Camacho