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M P C C Care C G B D Q: "The Call & The Cost of Following Christ"
M P C C Care C G B D Q: "The Call & The Cost of Following Christ"
1. As believers we are called to “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith
of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). What is “the faith of the gospel”?
2. Jesus said that the most important of God’s commandments is this: “Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength” (NIV, Mark 12:30). Loving Him in this way means loving the things that He
loves. So what is it that Jesus loves the most? In regards to Jesus’ call to us as believers,
what implications does “what Jesus loves the most” have for us, knowing that Jesus lives
within us by His Spirit?
3. The Apostle Paul had paid the price for loving as Christ loves and for sharing the
Good News with those who were lost. Now the believers in Philippi were starting to pay
the price for their commitment to the things of Christ (see Philippians 1:30). So why is
there suffering and persecution for the things that Christ loves and for having a passion for
sharing the Good News with others?
4. From whom, and in what ways, can we as believers have opposition and persecution?
Notes: See Matthew 10:34-38; Acts 9:1, 2; 16:19-24
God’s Word says that persistent opposition to Christ and to believers who are
committed to doing the things that Christ did is a sure sign of eventual destruction,
since it involves the rejection of the only way of salvation. But by the same token,
when Christian believers are persecuted for their faith, this is also a sign of the
genuineness of their salvation (see Philippians 1:28).
5. How, or in what ways, can God turn opposition and persecution around for His own glory?
6. What might be the personal implications of the price—the cost for us as believers in being
followers of Jesus Christ in regards to:
a) making Jesus Christ the first love of our lives—not allowing anything else to take His
place?
b) persecution and suffering from others—government, family, people in the workplace, in
the neighbourhood?
c) the cost of unconditionally loving others, even loving our enemies, and “turning the
other cheek” for the sake of loving those who are lost?
d) the cost of personal sacrifice as well as sacrificing together with others—such as in our
CARE cell groups—getting involved in the lives of hurting and sometimes “difficult to
love” people?
7. Why is it worth paying the price—the cost of commitment to following Jesus Christ?
Why is it worth it now? Why is it worth it in regards to the future in eternity?