Discussion Questions
The speaker says Jesus is “the true human” whose way of life is “truth” and “what’s real,” and that it “never stops” and “never has to be corrected”; what does that claim suggest about God’s intention for normal human life, and how does it confront the assumption that Christianity is mainly about getting forgiven rather than becoming truly human? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Jesus shows what “real” human life is supposed to be, what does that say God wanted normal human life to look like? How does that challenge the idea that Christianity is mostly just about being forgiven, not becoming truly human?
The speaker frames Ephesians as God revealing a “secret purpose” to display His “manifold…many-forked, all-covering-everything…wisdom” “to every being through us, His church”; what picture of God (and of the church’s cosmic role) emerges from that, and what parts of modern church life seem too small to match that purpose? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Ephesians says God is showing His big, wide wisdom to the whole universe through the church, what does that say about God and the church’s role? What parts of church life today feel too small for that kind of purpose?
Using the Artemis temple in Ephesus, the speaker says temples give outsiders an “impression” of what the god is like and invite them into what matters to that god; if your local church were a “temple” that made God visible, what “impression” would your shared life currently give, and what would need to change for people to honestly say, “Jesus has the answer to our problems”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If your church life showed people what God is like, what “impression” would it give right now? What would need to change for people to honestly say, “Jesus has the answer to our problems”?
The speaker insists God ultimately didn’t “need a house to live in” but wanted “people to live among,” and he corrects the childhood assumption that “building the temple” might mean fixing the church building; what practices or spending priorities in your church culture subtly reveal you still think in “building/maintenance” categories rather than “God living among a people” categories? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does your church spend time and money on that shows you still think mostly about buildings and upkeep? What would it look like to act more like God wants to live among a people, not just in a place?
When addressing “putting away lying,” the speaker broadens it from blatant lies to “falseness” and “giving a false impression” (evading, twisting, repositioning to avoid responsibility); in what specific church situations does this kind of respectable dishonesty show up most, and what would it cost (relationally and reputationally) to become genuinely straightforward? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where in church do people most often give a false impression—like dodging, twisting words, or avoiding responsibility? What would it cost you in relationships and reputation to be truly straightforward?
The speaker cites Chrysostom’s body analogies (eye/foot/pit, eye/serpent, nose/food, tongue/stomach) to argue that withholding truth harms the whole body and ultimately yourself; what truths are you most tempted to withhold “for peace,” and how do you discern the difference between loving discretion and self-protective falseness? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What truth are you most tempted to keep quiet “to keep the peace”? How can you tell the difference between being wisely careful and hiding the truth to protect yourself?
The speaker’s “Tootle Principle” says God’s “don’ts” are red flags meant to turn you back onto a good path, and that Christians get trapped when they only hear “you better not”; where have you personally built your spirituality around avoidance (red flags) instead of pursuit (green flags), and how would your daily habits change if you always looked for the “do” and the “new way of thinking” in each command? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where have you built your faith more around what you must avoid than what you should go after? If you looked for the “do” and the “new way to think” in each command, what would change in your daily habits?
On “Be angry and do not sin,” the speaker calls anger a defense mechanism triggered by a *perceived* injustice and warns our sense of justice is often “selfish” and “twisted”; what recent examples show your anger was more about defending yourself than defending what is truly right, and how would a church culture of admitting that undermine pride and defensiveness? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What’s a recent time you got angry mostly to defend yourself, not to defend what was truly right? How would it change a church if people admitted that kind of anger instead of acting proud and defensive?
Chrysostom’s counsel—“Would you have your fill of anger?…One hour or two or three is enough…Don’t let the sun depart…lest the night…kindle up a fire”—treats unresolved anger as spiritually dangerous; how would early Christians’ apparent urgency to reconcile before nightfall challenge modern patterns of avoidance, silence, or “I need space,” and what concrete steps could you take to practice same-day peacemaking? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does the call to make peace before the day ends challenge how we avoid conflict, stay silent, or say “I need space”? What steps could you take to work toward peace the same day you’re hurt or angry?
The speaker says the way to “attack the devil” is not revenge against a brother but active love (“love is something you do”), illustrated by buying Mountain Dew for difficult students as “sweet revenge”; what would “doing something loving” look like in your hardest current relationship (something concrete, slightly costly, and observable), and how might that expose whether you actually believe your real enemy is Satan’s division rather than the other person? JumpstartAnother way to ask: In your hardest relationship right now, what is one loving thing you could do that is real, visible, and costs you something? How would doing that show whether you see Satan’s division as the real enemy, not the other person?