September 19, 2021 Study Notes
Mark 9:33-37
Proverbs 31:10-31
Psalm 1
Jeremiah 11:18-20
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
- What is one childhood quality that you would like to recapture?
- Today we think of children as innocent, carefree, and the center of our society. They are so celebrated that some have said that children today are the only church-sanctioned form of idolatry. In Jesus’ day, however, that wasn’t the case. Children had no status at all, more of a nuisance than anything else, because they couldn’t produce anything, only take. How does that change your experience of Jesus’ charge to the disciples? What do you think he is trying to get at? What can we learn from that today?
- Henri Nouwen writes that there are three temptations for Christian leaders today (and all Christians, I would say): To be relevant, to be popular, and to be powerful. If you are honest with yourself (and your small group), which one of these temptations is strongest in you?
- What does it mean to be the greatest? How do you balance wanting to be the best “you” you can be and the temptation to have greatness define our worth?