Lean In // 5 minutes
What is your favorite Super Bowl commercial?
Leader Note: Transitional statement could be… much of advertising has to do with selling us stuff we crave but don’t need. Advertisers play on what we want, when we want it and how we want it. This is the essence of lust and lies at the heart of what Jesus is getting at in this passage.
Look Down // 10 minutes
What do you learn about adultery and divorce?
Sample answers may include…
- Adultery doesn’t just apply to a married couple.
- Adultery starts in the heart.
- Jesus re-frames adultery.
- There is a cost and severity to adultery.
- The grounds for divorce are limited.
Commentary: As with anger in the previous passage, Jesus is not simply drawing an new “line in the sand”. Rather he is drawing a circle around all of us. We all find ourselves unable to stand on our own righteousness as Jesus is defining it. We need Him and His grace. With regard to divorce, the Pharisees had manipulated the law to the point where people -mostly men- could divorce their spouse for any reason. Jesus is not only limiting how divorce is to be applied, he is also attending to an issue of social justice.
Look Out // 10 minutes
Where do you see lust woven into the fabric of society?
Sample answers may include…
- Fashion
- Marketing (Madison Avenue)
- Sex industry (pornography, literature, movies)
- Consumerism
How does lust unravel the fabric of society?
Sample answers may include..
- Broken marriages
- Addiction
- Sex trade
- Violence
- Financial hardship (overspending)
- Misuse of others
Leader Note:
Look In // 20 minutes
Leader Note: Due to the subject matter and the nature of the questions below this may be an opportunity to break out into same gender groups.
Where have you let lust creep into your heart?
Sample answers:
- My struggle with sex.
- Pornography and masturbation.
- For the way I’ve used others.
- My divorce.
- Fantasies I get stuck in.
- Forgiving my spouse for divorcing me.
What steps can you can take to set boundaries around these places?
Where do you need to receive God’s grace?
Leader Note: These questions lead to a natural time of confession. We know that confession is not only freeing it is healing (James 5). This is a time to receive, hold and release one another. If group members express a desire to set a boundary by walking out healing in a care or recovery environment, you can point them to http://www.marinerschurch.org/irvine/ministries/care-and-recovery/about-care-recovery/
Live it Out // 5 minutes
What if we extended grace to others where you need it most?
Key Verse(s): “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:17-18
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Learn More About Flow Questions: Check out Kenton Beshore’s book Ask in the Irvine Campus Bookstore for more on the Flow Question model.