J-Curve Session 19: (Pastor Matt Carter, Chapter 19)
Class Description: Session 19, Chapter 19
Chapter 19: The Four Steps of Love: Re-enacting Jesus’ Descent
For a number of weeks we’ve been using words like ‘incarnate’ and ‘embody’ to describe the kind of life Jesus has invited us into. In many ways we’ve been speaking in the abstract. This week, PM opens up a case study for us. We get to see in living color what incarnating love looks like.
Class Notes:
· In order to cue our discussion this week, it’ll be helpful to do a brief review. Let’s open to p. 150 and consider the four steps of incarnating. As we open chapter 19 together, these are the steps he’ll be illustrating through Jason’s story.
· P. 153 Let’s review the steps of engaging the will: See - Receive - Boast. This is the process we’ve been talking about all through this course of slowing down, recognizing where we are, and leveraging that understanding in order to embrace our J Curves.
1. Can someone tell the story? Where is Jason? What is he seeing, and how is he being prompted to respond to his situation?
2. What kind of J Curve is Jason entering here
3. What kinds of thought freeze him from stepping into that situation?
4. P. 157 read the top two paragraphs:
a. What unfreezes Jason? What is the role of the Holy Spirit here? Why was it critical for him to recognize ‘the safety of his current position’?
5. P. 157 ‘He doesn’t need a plan at this point - just a commitment’. Why is that true, and why is it a freeing reality? (Hint, look at the balance of that paragraph.
6. Why in this section, does PM describe prayer as the first move in a J Curve?
7. P. 158 ‘He no longer cares if he messes up, because he’s stopped thinking about himself; he’s entered the world of love.’ This comment should take us immediately back to Phil. 2:3-5 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...
a. We’ll come back to the question we asked earlier... How did Jason get here in his heart? How did he become gloriously self-forgetful?
b. Why is self-forgetfulness a critical component of Christ - incarnating love?
c. Let’s page back to p. 139. Read the two final paragraphs on that page re. the ‘vision of the good’.
8. Someone describe what happens when Jason gets to the family vehicle after engaging this mother and her son...
9. What kind of J Curve is Jason experiencing now? Do you recognize the double J Curve?
a. P. 158 pick up reading ‘Now Jason’s at Step 4...
b. How does Jason then incarnate with his wife, Sharon?
c. Read at top of p. 159 with ‘We’re used to multitasking...’
10. P. 159 ‘When Sharon denigrates him...’
a. Put yourself in Jason’s shoes. You’ve just done something you felt called into, something good, but you receive hardship instead of affirmation. Are you able to express what is actually going on when you walk by the Spirit in that moment? Can you express the kind of help you receive from Him in that moment?
11.P. 159 bottom ‘By becoming a Christ-bearer....’
a. Here is where discipleship is more caught than taught. Why is it okay for our families to need to sacrifice some of you? What do they stand to gain?