Of Wages and Gifts
June 09, 2019 | Mike Stancak
Most of us like to think we are beyond caring about status. Blame our stratified society on either big business or big government; we certainly aren’t caught up in the mess. But when we really examine our lives, our day-to-day encounters with other people in the workplace or among the church, in restaurants, coffee shops or bars, we begin to realize that deep down we are constantly sizing each other up. Am I as important as that person? Am I as beautiful, as talented, as charismatic? Am I as marketable, competitive, driven? It comes in many forms, but what we’re really asking is, “What am I worth?”
In this week’s passage Jesus describes how status works in the Kingdom, and as usually it is pretty upside down. What we are going to find is that when worth and importance are given as a gift, no one can boast, and the result is a culture in which all people are on level ground.
Join us Sunday to discover the way status operates in the Kingdom.
Discussion Questions:
- What were your impressions from the sermon?
- What makes you feel important? How does measuring yourself against other people effect you?
- In what parts of your life do you find yourself relating to the first workers? To the last?
- How does God’s grace change the way we think of our worth?
- In what way is status in the Kingdom different than in our other life contexts, such as the workplace or among our friends?
- How can we honor Jesus’ vision more fully in our community groups?
- Spend time in prayer repenting of ways that we have tried to grasp for status outside of God’s grace. Thank God for what Jesus has done, and pray that our church would be a place where the way of Jesus is embodied, not just on Sunday, but throughout the week as well.
Series Information
Matthew 12:22 - 20
In the next installment in our Matthew series as we see conflict heating up around Jesus. As his ministry continues, it becomes clear that the values of the Kingdom clash with the arrogance, pride, and apathy of his day, and people start to polarize around him. I'm sure the same will be true of us. At every step we'll find that Jesus' grace is sufficient for the journey, as we learn the way of the Upside-Down Kingdom.