This week's Life Group Questions

1. Read John 13:34-35 and share how these verses resonate with you. Then read Matthew 5:43-45b. How do these verses change what you have just shared after reading only the first passage?

2. What roadblocks do you face in living out Jesus’ instruction to love people in your everyday life?

3. The most used Greek word to express love in the NT (more than 200 times) is agape, which means a willful, sacrificial love that intentionally desires someone else’s highest good. Jesus has set the perfect example of this love by laying down his life for us and we are called to do the same for each other (1 John 3:16).

a. What does laying down your life for someone else look like for you?

b. What have been some examples of times when you intentionally desired someone else’s highest good?

4. God is the source of love: He has poured His love out in our hearts (Romans 5:5) and He produces love in us (Galatians 5:22).

a. How have you experienced the reality of Romans 5:5 and Galatians 5:22 in your life?

b. How does experiencing God’s love for you help you in loving others?

5. Read 1 John 2:15-16. If you love the world, love for God is not in you and subsequently (as God is the source of love) love for people will have no place in your life. In what ways has this causal relationship between love for the world/love for God/love for people turned out to be true in your life? What have you done/are you doing to make God your first love again?
 
6. Prayer

a. Break out in groups of 2-3 and share any obstacles or reservations you find in yourself that keep you from loving others the way Jesus does.

b. Spend time in prayer for each other about what you have just shared.