Small Group Discussion/Study Guide
Week 5: Becoming Kind
Reﬂecting on the Sermon
Share Your Story
Key Scriptures: Ephesians 4:32,
Proverbs 3:3-4, Luke 6:27-36, Titus 3:3-5
Where would you say you are at on Tim’s
Kindness Quotient Chart today? Which
direction do you think you are going—towards
a kindness deﬁcit, or towards Christlike
kindness? Or are you stuck?
Opening Questions:
•
What stood out to you from the sermon on
Being Human by Becoming Kind?
•
How do you see kindness in Jesus?
Kindness Quotient
We often talk about a person’s IQ, or
Intelligence Quotient, but pastor Tim talked
about your KQ–Kindness Quotient.
Shun
Tim said level 1 KQ is Shun, when we learn to
simply stop being a jerk to people.
•
Read EPhesians 4:32. Notice the
word after kindness: tenderhearted (or
compassionate in some translations). What
does having a tender heart have to do
with kindness? What are some situations
in which you find that your heart becomes
less tender and more hard and calloused?
•
Read Proverbs 14:10. This verse reminds
us that we don’t always know what’s going
on in someone else’s heart. At the Chickfil-a Hospitality training event at Frazer
earlier this year, Mark Cathy talked about
remembering that everyone you meet has
a story, and you never know what they are
going through. How can this help when
you are tempted to act like a jerk towards
someone?
Discussion Questions:
•
•
Why would you say that being kind is
fundamental to being human? What
happens to people when we stop showing
kindness? Are kindness and unkindness
habit forming? In other words, do unkind
people tend to become more and more
hardened, while kind people tend to
become more and more open?
Is kindness just as important as
intelligence? Do we value them equally in
our society? Do you value them equally
in your dealings with people? Why or why
not?
Share
Stun
Level 2 KQ is when we begin to share with
others, doing nice things.
According to Tim level 3 KQ is “stun,” when
you amaze people with acts of kindness that
are completely undeserved and unexpected.
• Read Proverbs 3:3-4. What does it mean
to tie kindness and truth around your neck?
(Note: “truth” in this context emphasizes
“being true,” showing faithfulness and
loyalty, rather than blunt honesty)
• The promise in verse 4 says that kindness
will win you favor with both God and
people. The book of Proverbs is practical
advice, not necessarily absolutes, so this
is not a guaranteed promise that if you
are kind people will like you. Rather, it is
a general principle that people will tend
to treat you the way you treat them. How
have you seen that work out in your own
experience?
• Read Acts 9:36-42. How is Dorcas
described? What did she do to win that
reputation? Obviously, part of the reason
people believed (v. 42) was because of
the miraculous healing, but what role
did Dorcas’s kindness play in helping to
prepare the way for the gospel?
• Read Luke 6:27-36. As followers of Jesus,
is level 2 KQ “good enough”? Is it truly
Christlike to merely be “nice”? If Christ-like
kindness is what makes us truly human,
why do we as Christians often act like this
level of kindness is impossible for anyone
except Mother Theresa or some other
super-saint?
• Read Luke 23:34, and then Acts 7:5560. Where did Stephen get the idea to
forgive those who were putting him to
death? Why is it significant that Stephen
was looking at the face of Jesus instead of
at the faces of his attackers when he said
this?
• Read Titus 3:2-6. On what basis did God
show kindness to us? On what basis must
we show kindness if the world is to see
Christ in us?
Share Your Story
Share Your Story
Have you known anyone like Dorcas, who
was remembered by everyone after death as
someone who was always kind? What steps
do you need to take so that you could leave
that kind of legacy?
How have you ever been stunned by
undeserved, unexpected kindness from
someone who could have had every right to
be unkind to you? Is God prompting you to any
act of kindness right now?
Next Week…
Being Human through the Virtue of Diligence
FRAZER UNITED METHODIST CHURCH • WWW.FRAZERUMC.ORG/HUMAN