2-9-20 Connect Group Discussion Guide
Upside-Down, Inside-Out, Backwards-to-go-Forwards
Weekly Readings Discussion and Sharing Time
1. Allow time for anyone in the group who wants to share any insights, thoughts, observations, or questions they have from the previous week’s readings:
a. Feb. 2 – Mark 11 – Sunday
b. Feb. 3 – Mark 12 – Monday
c. Feb. 4 – Mark 13 – Tuesday
d. Feb. 5 – Mark 14 – Wednesday
e. Feb. 6 – Mark 15 – Thursday
f. Feb. 7 – Mark 16 – Friday
g. Feb. 8 – John 17:20-23 (Catch up on Memorizing) – Saturday
The Text Discussion
2. Over the next few weeks, we will spend time studying Luke 6:20-49. Take a few minutes to have one person (or a few readers) read through this entire sermon.
3. Then ask what their thoughts or concerns are about this sermon?
4. If you are familiar with the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. Ch. 5-7), how does the Sermon on the Plain differ? How is it similar?
a. built on four blocks of similar material in the same relative order.
• Matt. 5:2-12/Luke 6:20-23
• Matt. 5:38-48/Luke 6:27-36
• Matt. 7:1-5/Luke 6:37-38, 41-42
• Matt. 7:15-27/Luke 6:44-49
Upside-Down/Backwards-to-go-Forward Discussion
5. If you have access to watch a video, watch this neat 7-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0&t=322s
• Or Youtube.com – search for: The Backwards Brain Bicycle – Smarter Every Day 133 or Destin Sandlin Backwards Bike
6. Do you think you could ride the backwards bike? Why do you think it was so hard (if not Impossible) for people to grasp this?
7. In what ways are the blessings and the woes backwards or upside down? (Compare Luke 6:20-26 with Matt. 5:2-12). What do you think they mean and why did Jesus teach this?
8. Are they prescriptions or descriptions? Is Jesus commanding us to go out and live like this, or is he just painting a picture of what the Kingdom looks like and of those who are receptive of it?
9. How do these blessings and woes stand in contrast to what we normally value as humans?
10. What else is “backwards” or “upside-down” in the sermon in Luke 6?
11. If Jesus’ teachings are similar to the backwards bike, do you think it’s possible that living like this will eventually become normal to us? How so?
12. Pray as a group