Free to Stop Pretending

Conversation Starters

╬James and Peter and Paul were all working out the implications of the gospel of grace for their lives and contexts. They made mistakes and they needed each other to help them remember and to make meaning of Christ’s life and example. Where do you see parallels in our world, our church, and our families today? Dialogue about how we can increasingly and more fully live out the gospel of God’s grace in our contexts today.

╬The freedom of the gospel of grace can be distorted too. As Christ-followers, to claim that “I can do whatever I want” is another distortion. We are not our own, we belong to Christ. Paul says, “*I am crucified in Christ and I no longer live. . . The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.*” Utterly surrendered to Christ, Paul’s ‘yes’ and his ‘no’ are not his own whims, desires, or preferences. Invite God the Spirit to examine the extent and the contours of your own surrender to Christ. With Christ, pray for “*your will to be done!*”