STUDY NOTES

We Are Family

A SERIES AT NEW CITY CHURCH

www.newcityphx.com/sermons

The following content is based on the message “Hospitality” spoken on 09/04/16 by Oye Waddell at New City Church in Phoenix, AZ.  The following is not meant to be a full synopsis of the message but rather a brief look at the main ideas.  To use this Study Guide effectively you must listen to the message found at https://newcityphx.com/sermons/.

Leaders using these Study Notes for group study and reflection should read the Biblical text thoroughly before beginning, using this resource as assistance and not relying solely on this material for insight. We encourage all leaders to pray and ask the Spirit for revelation as they lead their respective communities.

PRAYER

Pray and ask God to lead the discussion as everyone gets to share.

THE SCRIPTURE: LUKE 14:12-25

KEY WORD: HOSPITALITY

In the passage we see hospitality toward people at the margins of society. Jesus himself said that the hospitality  we show to the “least of these” (Matt 25:40) is the hospitality that we show to him. Hospitality can actually be a spiritual discipline.

• What do you think of when you hear the word “hospitality”?

• Who do you usually invite over to your house or go out to dinner with?

SHOWING HOSPITALITY THROUGH SERVICE

In this passage Jesus told the man who was hosting the banquet to invite the poor, rather than his friends and family, to his future dinners. We shouldn’t choose our friends based on what we can get back from them. We should choose friends based on what God has given, and will give, to us. The way we treat the poor and the marginalized has implications for eternity.

Our hospitality is distinct when we serve people who can’t return the favor.

• In Jesus’s day outside the city was considered the margins of society. Who do you see living at the margins of our society?

• What are your first thoughts and feelings about who Jesus said should be invited to dinner?

• Based on the friends that you have, how might someone on the outside say you choose your friends?

SHOWING HOSPITALITY THROUGH SACRIFICE

The man in the parable invites people to a banquet who declined to attend because they were distracted by different things—even good things (land, work, and family). From this Jesus is implying that our possessions can own us and take us away from him.

The things in the world are important, but not as important as life with God and others.

• Share about a time when you realized that something good distracted you from Jesus.

• What are some ways that you have found helpful to keep your possessions from owning you?

JESUS’S EXAMPLE OF HOSPITALITY

The host in the parable told his workers to actively “go” and invite people in from the margins of society. Jesus wants us to actively go and invite people in. He set the example of hospitality when he invited us in. We didn’t look like him, and we couldn’t repay him, but he served us and sacrificed for us anyway.

• In what ways have you been trying to explain away Jesus’s message in this parable?

• How is the Holy Spirit leading you to be more hospitable?

• How do you feel like God is calling you to sacrifice and serve?

• We also should be careful. Talk about the difference between being safe in what we do and living safely in our comfort zones.

• Pray that God leads our group to serve and sacrifice both collectively and individually.