Philippians #12 – Living out life in Christ - Impact Groups

Philippians 4:4-9

Ready for Impact (10 minutes)

Catch up on how things have been over the past week. Then say to group members: Imagine you’ve just woken up feeling grumpy. How do you make yourself feel better?

Ask for a volunteer to read Philippians 4:4-9 to the group, praying that you’d be deeply impacted by God’s word and then impact others in Jesus’ name.

Watch

If you’re not gathered in person, the leader should project the video for the group through sharing their screen. If you’re using Zoom, make sure you have optimized your screen share for video.

Impacted by the Word (15 minutes)

Here are some suggested questions to help your discussion:

What are your initial responses to Philippians 4:4-9? What strikes you?
Paul calls us to rejoice in the Lord always. How is this possible even in hard times?
Paul also says our gentleness should be evident to all. Why should this be so?
Talk about your own experience of knowing peace as a result of praying. What brought this sense of peace?
In verses 8-9, Paul talks about our thought lives. Why do you think Paul has placed such an emphasis on the life of the mind through his letter? How do our minds relate to our ability to live lives worthy of the gospel?

Taking It Further

Paul refers to the mind throughout Philippians (see 1:27, 2:2, 2:5, 3:15, 3:19, 4:8). In Basics for Believers, D. A. Carson makes this comment:

From God’s perspective, the real measure of individuals lies in what they think: not in what they own, or in how well they deploy their gifts, or even in what they do, but in what they think…. There is no enduring sanctification apart from the truth of the gospel taking hold of our minds….

I know it is possible for people to gain a sort of mechanical knowledge of Scripture that is not characterised by repentance and faith, and therefore remains spiritually fruitless. But for most of us, that is not our current danger. Our current danger is that we make very little effort to think God’s thoughts after him, to hide his word in our heart that we might not sin against him (Psalm 119:11).

There’s more on the role of the mind in the life of the Christian in Basics for Believers. If you’ve not yet read it, why not take the time and pair up with someone else to talk over Chapter 4 in the week ahead?

Impacting Our Hearts (10 minutes)

Talk together about the sorts of things that tend to occupy your mind. You might like to reflect aloud on how these things affect your relationships, your joy in the Lord and sense of peace.

Share concerns for which you need prayer right now. You might like to describe the truths you’d like to replace the things that are currently preoccupying you.

Impacting the University (15 minutes)

Our minds matter – and not just in our Christian walk, but also in our witness. We must not be frightened to think – or to encourage our friends to think. Watch this four-minute video of Becky Pippert in conversation with Tim Keller.

Becky uses four types of questions (you can read about these in Stay Salt on pages 208-212):

Interest questions – around our friends’ passions, and activities that make them happy
Opinion questions – their views on a topic that relates to their interest
Issue questions – deeper questions about their area of interest, which cause them to reflect on what they believe and why
‘God’ questions – questions that get friends to engage with their own worldviews and to consider what difference God could make to the things they care about.

Think about your own friends. How might asking questions like these help you share your faith more authentically and effectively?

Try putting some of these types of questions into practice as you engage friends in conversation this week. For more examples, see Chapter 13 of Becky Pippert’s Stay Salt.

Confirm the time you’ll meet together next week, and close your time together in prayer.