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
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