Week 4 Sermon Questions For Groups

God is with us: God is with us in our brokenness.

Introduction:

Jesus did not come down to earth for a pleasant change of scenery. He left the glory of heaven to enter a broken world, darkened by sin. But He came for a reason, to turn something broken into something beautiful.

Something To Talk About:

The world is broken: Look around. Our world is broken. I’m talking about the “world” comprised of the people, structures, and systems that make up society–the moral patterns, beliefs, and behaviors that result in things like unfair business practices, racism, extreme poverty, family breakdown, cheating, stealing, and so many other things. It’s not right. It’s broken. And in homes and hospitals every day of the week, at courthouses and gravesides everywhere in the world, people suffer from living in a broken world. The brokenness of the world is on full display in the news and all around us. It is not just the world in general, it is us as individuals as well. This world is broken, we are broken and only God has the ultimate fix. Only God can take your brokenness and make something beautiful.
Hope in a broken world: “… keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” (Hebrews 12:2). Because of the joy awaiting Him. What do you suppose that joy entailed? It had very little to do with His personal happiness on earth. Certainly, Jesus was looking past the shame of the cross to fully restored fellowship at the right hand of the Father. But that joy before Him also included the prospect of relationships He would enjoy with those who put their trust in Him. And I think He also had in mind the joy that His suffering would make possible for you and for me. The joy of seeing broken lives made whole. The joy that God is with us regardless of life’s circumstances. If you are seeking happiness but instead are finding hardship and disappointment, don’t focus merely on a change of circumstances. Ask God to make something beautiful out of something broken.

Discussion Questions:

In what ways are we like the sea glass example Marty gave in the message?
How have you seen “brokenness” show up in your life? Can you describe for your group a recent encounter or exchange from which you walked away thinking things here aren’t as they are meant to be?
With whom is it hardest for you to show and to admit your brokenness?
How do we step toward and embrace our brokenness without being consumed by it?
Marty said that broken sea glass can be made beautiful over time. When have you seen brokenness become beautiful over time?
What role does Jesus play in the process of taking brokenness and making it beautiful?
Read Revelation 21:5: Jesus will make us better than new. Soak that in for a moment and explain what that means to you.
What is the role of grace in our brokenness?
What part of this message will stay with you in 2019? Why?
What part of this series will stay with you in 2019? Why?

Take one thing home with you:

God uses events that turn our world upside down to drive us to cling to Him. We don’t know how this will end, how He will solve it or fix it. You may be in some troubles right now that you don’t know how God is going to resolve. So what do you do? You cling to God, who is our refuge, our strength, and our help.

So, those hurricanes, those tornados, those storms remind us and drive us to Him, and they remind us that our only true security is found in Him. If you have placed your hope in the things or people of this broken world, then you are building your house on the sand. Because when your world gives way, all you have trusted and hoped in and found refuge in will be lost. It will be swept away.

But if you have placed your hope in the eternal God, though all else around you gives way, then when it is all said and done, you will have have God with you, a God that can turn brokenness into beauty.

— Nancy Leigh DeMoss