Portrait of a Struggle Fallen World: What to Think, When to Resist By Paul David Tripp Michael E. Breece contributor Discussion Guide to be used with the conference on DVD (Ten 25 minute sessions on 3 DVDs) for Small Groups or Individuals This resource is a product of: Paul Tripp Ministries 7214 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19135 (800) 551 6595 www.paultrippministries.org 1
PORTRAIT OF A STRUGGLE Fallen World: What to Think, When to Resist Table of Contents Table of Contents & Introduction Page 2 Session 1 Page 3 Session 2 Page 6 Session 3 Page 8 Session 4 Page 11 Session 5 Page 14 Session 6 Page 16 Session 7 Page 19 Session 8 Page 22 Session 9 Page 24 Session 10 Page 26 Key Points Cross Illustration Page 29 INTRODUCTION The following pages provide practical discussion and application based on a biblical perspective of struggling and trials. There can be a tremendous benefit to using the guide within a small group setting. Discussion with others can stimulate ideas and questions you may not have otherwise considered. You may find in your discussions and answers that your trials are not unusual. You can find encouragement and accountability. If you do not have a small group to participate in, consider inviting others to join you in going through this material. Nonetheless, this material can be beneficial as an independent study. The study is designed for you to write down your answers and thoughts. It is useful to write out answers and not just think about them. Writing deepens and clarifies your thinking, and writing it down acts as a stronger form of commitment than just saying it in your thoughts. At the end of each session are suggested Scripture passages that can deepen your study and understanding of each topic. A time of prayer after answering the application questions can be a good way to reinforce them and to make further application. Prayer can be a way for you to make a commitment to God with what you want to apply and a good way to hear what God may be saying to you. As you share your thoughts, feelings, struggles, and accomplishments, speak humbly, honestly, and in love. We all have sin; we all have great value in God s sight; and we all are on a journey growing and becoming more like Christ. May God bless you greatly! 2
PORTRAIT OF A STRUGGLE SESSION 1 Opening Discussion: What makes something a struggle or a trial? Brainstorm ideas that complete this statement: Life is hard because.... When was an ideal time (a moment, year or stage of life) in your life? What made it ideal? NOTES: 3
Key Points: The stories of our lives involve struggle. We have forgotten shalom what we once had in the beginning. 4
Discussion Questions: 1. Why are we not always honest about the struggles we face? 2. Why should we be honest about our struggles? 3. As Christians, why should we be the most honest community on earth? Application: Identify three things in your life that, if you were honest, you think you should change but instead have allowed yourself to become satisfied with. What do you most look forward to when you will be like him (1 John 3:2)? Further Study: I John 2:28 3:3; Romans 8:18 25 2 Cor. 5:1 5 5
SESSION 2 Opening Discussion: Why do you think we can listen to sermons and participate in worship but not experience change in our lives? How do you define success? NOTES: Key points We were created to be a part of shalom. Life is hard because shalom is gone. Dissatisfaction should be a character quality in the life of a Christian. Discussion Question: 1. Why is dissatisfaction a character quality of a mature Christian? 6
Application Have you considered God s work in you to be a complete rebuilding or just tweaking? What effect can this difference of perspective have in your life? Consider and describe what shalom could look like in one or more of the following: your marriage, your church, within your family, among your friends, with your coworkers, and with your neighbors. Are you willing to seek more or will you remain satisfied? Last session you identified three things you thought you allowed yourself to become satisfied with. Identify three more things. Ask God for grace to keep this godly dissatisfaction in view and to be a part of his work in reestablishing shalom. Further Study: 2 Corinthians 5:17; Matthew 5:3 16 Romans 6:1 14; Revelation 21:1 8 7
SESSION 3 Opening Discussion: What symptoms do you see in our culture that show we seek independence from God? In our churches? In our personal lives? Scripture: Genesis 3:1 6; Romans 1:18 20 NOTES: 8
Key Points: The seeds of what took place in the garden are still part of the daily brokenness we experience today. Wisdom is found only in Christ. Brokenness is the result of seeking autonomy and self sufficiency. Because there is a Creator, human self sufficiency and autonomy are deceptions. Discussion Questions: 1. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, how do we lose shalom? 2. What was Eve seeking when she ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? 3. What is the difference between true wisdom and independent wisdom? 4. Why is autonomy and self sufficiency a lie? Application: 9
How will seeking dependency and sufficiency in Christ bring help and/or healing to your broken relationships? How will you seek this dependency and sufficiency in Christ? Look back at the key points from sessions 1-3. Select one that you think will be most helpful to remember as you face struggles. Write the point in one of the areas of the cross on page 29 of this discussion guide. Further Study: Psalm 24:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 15:4 5; Colossians 2:2 3 10
SESSION 4 Opening Discussion: Describe what you think the perfect relationship to God would look like. Describe what you think the perfect relationship with others would look like. NOTES: 11
Key points: The breaking of Shalom has shattered the relationship with God that we were created for. The breaking of Shalom has shattered our hearts. The breaking of Shalom has shattered the relationships between us. Discussion Questions: 1. What are some effects caused by: a) The brokenness in our relationship to God. b) The brokenness within us. c) The brokenness in our relationship to others? Application: What is the pain or the struggles you are faced with that you would ask God to heal in your life? 12
We all have broken hearts and, as a result, live with temptations and addictions. Identify addictions that tend to rule your heart (food, comfort, technology, pornography, money, stuff, drugs, etc). Is your relationship with God characterized as broken and in need of repair, or characterized as mended and improving? How might you mend and improve your relationship with God? How might God use you to help others mend and improve their relationship with God? Further Study: Psalm 46; Revelation 3:19 20; Ephesians 4:11 16; Luke 16:13 15 13
SESSION 5 Opening Discussion: What is it you most want and expect from life? From others? From God? NOTES: Key points: The place to begin a life that glorifies God is with biblical, realistic expectations. We live in the middle of the already and the not yet. God has purposely chosen to place us in the middle of a struggle and to walk with us there in order to make us like his Son, Jesus. God is working to bring you to the end of yourself. Discussion Questions: 1. What does it mean to say that we are living in the middle of the already and the not yet? 14
2. What is God s purpose in allowing us to have struggles? 3. How does expecting struggle and conflict in our lives bring hope? 4. What does it mean to be at the end of yourself? Application: If someone were to watch your life and listen to your words, what and whose agenda would be revealed? (Consider asking someone who knows you well, what he/she thinks is most important to you.) What could be practically done to ensure that you seek God s agenda in the midst of conflict? Write down ideas as to why God s agenda is better than your agenda. Look back at the key points from sessions 4-5. Select one that you think will be most helpful to remember as you face struggles. Write the point in one of the areas of the cross on page 29 of this discussion guide. Further Study: Hebrews 12; Colossians 3:1 19; Philippians 3:7 20 15
SESSION 6 Opening Discussion: Do you think it is really possible to rejoice in suffering? What could make it possible? Describe a time when you felt comforted by God in the midst of a trial. Scripture: Romans 5:1 5; James 1:2 12; 2 Corinthians 1: 3 11 NOTES: 16
Key points: The struggles of life are designed to expose your heart. God isn t working for you to improve the circumstances of your life; God is working on you through the circumstances of your life. God brings suffering so that we can experience and then share God s comfort. Discussion Questions: 1. If the full work of redemption involves pain and suffering, why would we want it? 17
Application: Do you tend to fight against the struggles or seek God s purpose in them? In what way has this session helped you seek God s purpose in your trials? Select one area of struggle or pain in your life. Pray and ask God to reveal to you what lesson he wants you to learn; what growth he has in store for you. Who has God placed in your life to provide comfort and compassion to? Further Study: Rom 8:18 21; 1 Peter 1:3 9 18
SESSION 7 Opening Discussion: Describe the difference between a Christian who is alive and thriving and one who is merely surviving. What can be the greatest difficulty for you to get along with someone? (Personality, culture, politics, theological beliefs, temperament, something else?) Scripture: Romans 8:1 11; John 17:20 23 NOTES: 19
Key points: Sin not only left us guilty but also weak and disabled. God s plan is not for us to survive our struggles, but to thrive in the midst of our struggles. There is God s grace for your struggle his Spirit! Discussion Questions: 1. Why is it always an error to say, I can t? 2. What does Jesus mean in John 17 when he says, I have given them the glory that you gave me? What does it mean in relation to our struggles? What does it mean in relation to God s expectation for us? Application: Place an X on the line for each continuum. My life feels mostly: Spiritually poor Spiritually rich My life is most characterized as: Surviving Thriving My walk with the Spirit is: Non existent Vibrant My relationships with those who are different from me Is mostly characterized by: Hostility/avoidance Unity/interaction If others saw my response to trials they would Think nothing of it Be drawn to the Savior Which of these areas will you ask God to work on in your life? 20
Look back at the key points from sessions 6-7. Select one that you feel will be most helpful to remember as you face struggles. Write the point in one of the areas of the cross on page 29 of this discussion guide. Further Study: Galatians 5: 16 26; Romans 15:13; Ephesians 3: 14 2 21
SESSION 8 Opening Discussion: Is the use of our time, money, and energy a fair measure of our hearts true desires? Explain. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:1 14; 1 Corinthians 15:12 19; I John 1:8 10 NOTES: 22
Key points: The greatest temptation which is common to us all is to allow someone or something else to rule the desires of our hearts other than Christ. Our greatest problem is ourselves. We have the power to flee from idolatry. Praise God there is coming a day when we will no longer struggle! Discussion Questions: 1. When does a natural or even healthy desire become idolatry? 2. When we fail in the midst of our struggles, what should be our response? 3. How can the story of our struggles, also be the story of God s grace? Application: If the greatest war is the war for desires within you, are you willing to fight the battle? Would you like to win that war? Think of a desire you would like to have victory over or a desire you would like to submit before the Lord. Share this with someone. Identify the steps you think will be necessary to win the battle. Further Study: 2 Corinthians 12: 7 10; Luke 12: 22 34; Ephesians 6:10 18; Romans 13:8 14 23
SESSION 9 Opening Discussion: What responses do you sometimes have when faced with struggles? What are some things you have learned in these sessions that will help you respond to struggles with hope, rejoicing, or courage? NOTES: 24
Key points: We must resist the temptation to numb ourselves as an effort to avoid or to make the struggles easier. We must resist the temptation to center our worlds around ourselves. We must resist forgetting who we are. We must resist forgetting what God s plan is. Praise the LORD we have the power to resist because the Lord Almighty dwells within us! Discussion Questions: 1. What are some things we will need to resist to benefit from our struggles? 2. What are some socially acceptable addictions we use to numb ourselves to the struggles? 3. How will remembering that this is God s world help us in our struggles? 4. How will remembering that we are God s children help us in our struggles? 5. How will remembering God s plan help us in our struggles? Application: What are some things you have used to take your mind off of or to avoid the struggles? (shopping, food, busyness, entertainment, etc.) There are three things we need to remember to help us in our struggles that this world belongs to God, that we are his children, and that struggles are part of God s plan. Which of these do you tend to forget most often? What could you do to help yourself remember these truths? Which of these truths could help you in a current trial you are facing? Further Study: Romans 13: 17 19; Luke 11: 9 13 25
SESSION 10 Opening Discussion: How has God shown himself to be good in your life? Scripture: James 1:19 20 NOTES: 26
Key points: The presence of sin will always require that I resist the pull toward self centeredness. Self centered anger gets in the way of the righteous purpose God has for trials. We must resist doubting God. We must resist Satan. Discussion Questions: 1. What is the difference between self centered anger and God centered anger? 2. How will resisting doubt help us in our struggles? 3. What is the difference between finding security in understanding and finding security in God as a person? Application: Anger can take a variety of forms: frustration, annoyance, impatience, irritation. What form does your anger often take? How much of this anger is a result of self centered desires? How has doubt added difficulty to your struggles? Which of the points of resistance do you struggle with most? 27
Think of a recent struggle or conflict in your life. If you responded righteously, what enabled you to do that? If you did not respond righteously, what hindered you? How could you have responded differently? Look back at the key points from sessions 8-10. Select one that you think will be helpful to remember as you face struggles. Write the point in one of the areas of the cross on page 29 of this discussion guide. Further Study: Romans 8 28
KEY POINTS FROM PORTRAIT OF A STRUGGLE 29 29