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Gigantic Jesus Study Guide

Gigantic Jesus Study Guide
February 12, 2022
February 6 – 20, 2022

Week 1: Gigantic Jesus: Cosmic Instruction from Colossians || The Cosmic Christ

Scripture Reference: Colossians 1:15-20

Group Practice

This week, you’ll practice lectio divina as a group. Your leader will have more information about this activity when you gather.

Identify three volunteers each to read the passage above (Colossians 1:15-20) one at a time as described below:

  1. First volunteer reads the passage. Pause a few minutes to allow everyone to write down (and share if they’re willing) a word or a phrase that stuck out to them from the passage.
  2. Second volunteer reads the passage. Pause a few minutes to allow everyone to write down (and share if they’re willing) how that word or phrase relates to their life today.
  3. Third volunteer reads the passage. Pause a few minutes to allow everyone to write down (and share if they’re willing) how God may be inviting them to act on this word or phrase from the passage.
  4. Prayer; invite the group to bow their heads, close their eyes, and sit in silence for a few moments, continuing to meditate on the reading. After a few moments, the leader can conclude this group practice in prayer.

Group Discussion

Once you have concluded lectio divina, your group can have a brief discussion on what you just did. The following questions may be helpful:

  1. Have you ever engaged with Scripture like that before? If so, is it something you do regularly?
  2. What was helpful about engaging with Scripture together in this way?
  3. What was challenging about engaging with Scripture together in this way?

Week 2: Gigantic Jesus: Cosmic Instruction from Colossians || A New Way to Be Human

Scripture Reference: Colossians 3:5-17

Group Discussion

  1. Josh pointed out that Paul’s two biggest concerns here seem to be 1) unbridled sexual license and 2) untamed angry/untruthful speech. How are these concerns still at work in our culture today?
  2. Rather than buying into the values of our culture, Paul exhorts us to live differently: lives marked by compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness. It seems like many people, including those who call themselves Christians, tend to scoff at these Christ-like virtues today. Why do you think that is?
  3. Think back to a time that choosing to live into one of these virtues (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness) cost you something. If you’re willing, share that experience with the group.at was challenging about engaging with Scripture together in this way?
  4. Paul is calling followers of Jesus to place Christ-like limits around their sexual freedom and their freedom of speech. We live in a culture that often values freedom of choice and expression above all else. How is freedom of choice and expression at odds with Paul’s call toward Christ-like self-limitation? Are there ways it is compatible with it?
  5. Read the following quote from New Testament scholar N.T. Wright: “As so often in Colossians, it seems that, contrary to what a lot of people today imagine, being a Christian means learning to think harder, not to leave your brain behind in the quest for new experiences. Thinking straight and knowing the truth are part of what it means to be a truly human being, the sort of human being the gospel is meant to create.” As you consider this idea, what are some ways that Christians may need to “think harder” to know “the truth” in a 21st century American context?

Week 3: Gigantic Jesus: Cosmic Instruction from Colossians || A Shock to the System

Scripture Reference: Colossians 3:18 – 4:1

Group Discussion

  1. Does the content of our passage this week make you uncomfortable as a 21st century American? Explain your answer.
  2. In our last series (How to Read the Bible), we said that one of the questions we should ask of a Biblical text is, “How would the original audience have heard this message?” Consider the Colossians text above, which gives instructions to wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters. This week we discussed the household codes that were at work in the first century and would have been the normal way of thinking about the roles of different members of the household. As you’ve thought through our sermon content this week, what are some of the ways that the context of this passage helps you understand the content of this passage? How does the context help you understand how the original audience would have heard this passage?
  3. What are some ways someone might use this passage to criticize Christianity?
  4. Now that you know the context of this passage and you’ve seen Paul’s argument unfold in this Colossian letter (from the cosmic Christ we discussed in week 1 to Paul’s call to holiness in week 2), what do you find helpful or challenging about this week’s passage?
  5. In this passage and in so many others, Paul is giving guidelines for what it means to orient our lives around Jesus. To do so will necessarily mean that we willingly choose to give up some things in order to pursue better things. What is there to be gained by setting aside some of our freedom of choice in order to pursue a life of Christlikeness?
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