ST NICOLAS, NEWBURY

HOME GROUP QUESTIONS

WEEK BEGINNING 29 MAY 2005

1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-23

For home groups that would like them, here are some questions based on the talk at Sunday's 6:30 pm service. There's no need to answer them all - just tackle the ones you have time for. You don't need to stick to the areas mentioned here - feel free to discuss any other issues that arise for you.

 1. 1 Corinthians 2 ends with the intriguing phrase: 'But we have the mind of Christ'. What do you think this means? How do you respond to the suggestion that this is a good way of summarising what Paul is wanting to get across to his Christian friends in Corinth?

 2. Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. What two types of Christian does Paul identify here? How do we know which sort we are? What steps do you think we can take to move from the not so good to the better?

 3. Here's a quote from the talk: "To be merely human is to let our thinking be governed by the limits of our human understanding - where God, if he is on the screen at all, is right at the edge. But to have the mind of Christ is to think in a way which keeps God in the centre of the picture all the time." Read verses 4-7. How does Paul bring out the difference between worldly thinking and spiritual thinking in this passage?

 4. Now read verses 8-17. How does Paul underline God's enthusiasm for the church? Why is God so keen on us?

 5. What is both challenging and encouraging about the idea that we are 'God's fellow-workers' (verse 9)?

 6. In what ways are you (personally and as a group) 'building' the church? How do you know what you are building with? Gold, silver and costly stones? Or wood, hay and straw?

 7. I suggested that "building the church is about helping people to become more closely aligned with Jesus". How exactly do we do this?

 8. What is a temple? In what sense are we as the church 'God's temple'? Why is verse 17 so severe?

 9. Read verses 18-23. In what ways does Paul think that his readers are in danger of being deceived?

10. Can you think of any specific examples of 'the wisdom of this world' which 'is foolishness in God's sight'?

11. Here's my closing summary: "Being a Christian is about becoming more than a mere human being. It's about developing a way of thinking like Jesus. A way of thinking that has God at the centre. A God who is building a community of people among whom he can feel at home and make himself known. It's up to us to choose. We can let God drift to the edge or even off the screen completely. Or we can seek to put him at the centre of the way we think. We can become people who achieve nothing of any lasting value. Or we can become people who work alongside God himself and so achieve all that he intends us to." How can we develop a way of thinking that has God at the centre? Be ruthlessly practical!

12. Take some time to pray together in the light of what Paul writes in this chapter.

David Stone
29 May 2005