Sunday Fuel: March 10, 2024

Welcome to Sunday Fuel! This series of questions is designed to assist your personal reflection and fellowship with others about the sermon from this past Sunday.

Go to This Sunday’s Sermon

1. Explain the difference between the two different allegorical “mothers.” What do each represent and describe?
2. Pastor Wayne described two ways we shrink the gospel: by performing (legalism) or by pretending (licentiousness).
   • In what ways do you experience the nagging need to be justified or prove that you are enough? In what areas of your life do you experience these thoughts, fears, doubts, or worries? How have you tried to “fly your salvation airplane” by your own efforts, your own version of the law, or your own rules?
   • How have some of our culture’s “licentious” messages (e.g “let it go,” “I am enough just because,” etc.) crept into your thinking? How does this impact your obedience to God’s word?
3. Confess some of the ways you have been legalistic or licentious (from question 2). Be honest with the ways you have both tried to earn your salvation and the areas where you tend to excuse your sin or failure to obey. 
4. Take time to remember and meditate on how Christ has fully justified you through His death on the cross so that you are now rightly related to God and no longer need to earn your salvation by your own strength. Pause to embrace the gospel, to look upwards at our Savior, and declare your trust in His perfect life, death, and resurrection on our behalf. How might your meditation provide a different kind of motivation to work hard? How is this different from working hard to prove yourself?
5. How do you blame, fix, or withdraw from others when they fail? How might your freedom in Christ trickle down and impact your relationships with others instead? How might living in Gospel-motivated freedom change how you relate with others? As you become more aware of God’s holiness and your sinfulness, how might the miracle of your salvation— something that happened to you as a gift of God’s grace—help you respond differently the next time you encounter failure in another?