J-Curve Session 30: (Pastor Matt Carter, Chapter 30)
Class Description: Session 30, Chapter 30
Chapter 30: The Power of Weakness: How the J Curve Defeats Tribalism
These leaders knew and loved the gospel, but in this particular instance, it sat on the surface of their lives.... In order to form a community that embodies his life, we need dying leaders who embody a dying Savior.
Class Notes:
1. In order to set the context for this chapter, let’s describe the culture into which Paul is writing the letter of 1 Corinthians. What role did the failure/boasting chart play in that that culture? How was that dynamic expressed in the life of the church there?
a. How was the creation of celebrity apostles a reflection of the Corinthian culture?
2. P 249 In Corinth, justification by faith sit like a shroud over than essentially pagan power structure. The Corinthians don’t know that the normal Christian life is not about gaining power, but about losing power for the sake of love. In short, they don’t know the J Curve or the community it forms.
a. What does PM mean when he says that justification by faith sits like a shroud?
b. Discuss the danger of having right doctrinal understanding devoid of life/community change.
3. P 250 Paul goes after the Corinthians’ DNA, their allergy to the downward move of the J Curve. Paul’s opening salvo is “Look at the cross!” (1 Corinthians 1) He wants the church to see that the weakness and foolishness of the cross (dying) is the secret to power and knowledge (rising). Let’s open to 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.
a. To what extent do our lives prove that we actually believe that the way up is actually down?
b. How do we know if and when we actually believe this?
4. P 251 (1 Cor.2) I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
a. How does modeling J Curve living as leaders inoculate the church against tribalism?
b. P 253 Because Paul doesn’t grasp at eloquence in the same way Jesus didn’t grasp at the privileges of divinity, the congregation sinks its roots into the grace of God. So Paul’s weakness not only models Jesus’s dying and rising for others, but it also embeds the Corinthians in Jesus. (Discuss this dynamic - how does this work?)
5. P 253 read 1 Cor. 11 quote then p 254 The Roman solider went up the wall, boldly killing his enemies, while Paul went down the wall, hiding in a basket, fleeing his enemies. Paul is making fun of himself, boasting about his weakness. He mocks the failure/boasting chart just as the cross mocks our foolish boasts.
a. What is so freeing about a life that doesn’t need to be about me?
b. How does serving in this way as a church leader enable a congregation to be rightly embedded in Christ?
6. These leaders knew and loved the gospel, but in this particular instance, it sat on the surface of their lives.... In order to form a community that embodies his life, we need dying leaders who embody a dying Savior.
a. Why is following a leader who is doing this an easy thing to do - why should it be easier than following someone who makes it about them?