Weekly Discussion Questions

ICE BREAKER: 
What are (humorous or serious) mistakes that you made once in your life and immediately concluded that you would never do again? (Ex. Touching hot stove or electric fence)

• This question ties into this passage and sermon by highlighting that we are often careful how we act based on wisdom gained from experience.
  

 
READ Ephesians 5:15-17
 
SERMON DIGESTION: Your chance to give any personal input on the sermon.

• How did the sermon personally impact you?
  
• How were you encouraged, convicted, challenged, inspired?
  
• What questions did it leave you with?
  

 
DISCUSS:
 

• Restate/Summarize 5:15-17 in your own words.
• How is 5:15-17 a natural next step if a person understands the truths in 5:5-14?
  

 
Pastor Thomas paralleled the word ‘wisdom’ with the term “God-centered.” Wise living is God-centered living. It is living with Jesus at the center of your concerns and choices.

• What does this imply about a foolish or unwise person?
  
• What is the significance of this for being “wise” with our finances, relationships, leisure time, family schedule, etc.?
  

 

1. What would be some helpful methods to “look carefully at how you walk” currently? 
   
2. What questions could you discuss with yourself and others to help you evaluate the God-centeredness of your lifestyle and choices?
   

 
Verse 16 declares that wise living is making the best use of your time.

• Where does your daily routine tend towards self-centeredness rather than God-centeredness?
  
• What would a God-centered weekday look like for you?
  
• What would a God-centered day off look like for you?
  

 
Verse 17 declares that wise living is living out “the will of the Lord.”

• How do Ephesians 1:5,9,11 help us understand what Paul means here by the phrase “the will of the Lord”?
  
• Pastor Thomas summarized “the will of the Lord” in this context (based on chapter 1) as: God’s purposeful work of redeeming people to Himself and into a radical new community called the church.
  
• If this is accurate what is it that Paul wants us to ‘understand’ in 5:17 and incorporate into our wise living?
  

 
Are you deliberate about linking your small life story with God’s larger story going on around you every day?

• How are you prone to shrinking the direction of your life down to only the size of your life?
  
• How can we help one another break out of that cycle and into a cycle of wise, redemptive living?