Discussion Guide
Message Title: Tongue (from the series “Religious” in the
Book of James)
Presented by: Dan Davis
Date: Sunday
June 13th
Please use this discussion guide to facilitate the direction
for your life group meeting. This guide is designed as a conversation starter
and a platform to go deeper into the topics and issues brought from the weekend
message. Choose the questions or discussion points which you believe will best
serve the needs of your life group. Have a great time of fellowship.
CONNECT:
1)
Can you remember a time when you said something
you wish you hadn’t? Were there any consequences to you? Others?
2)
What is it about us as humans that seem to make
it so easy for us to speak gossip and rumor and so hard to control the words
that come out of our mouths?
3)
It has been said “Sticks and stones can break my
bones but words can never hurt me.” Based on the strong admonishment from the
book of James do you believe this to be true?
DISCUSS:
James 3:1-2 [The Message]
1-2 …. We get it wrong nearly every
time we open our mouths…
4)
This
scripture tells that those who are appointed teachers are often just as poor at
speaking as those who are not teachers. How do we judge their teaching and
respectfully challenge them when it appears their words may not be “perfect?”
James 3:3-6 [The Message]
3-5 …A
word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly
anything—or destroy it! … A careless or wrongly placed word out of
your mouth can do that …
5)
What would it look like to be a skilled
wordsmith? What could our relationships look like if we could carefully choose
our words even in the most passionate of discussions? So that when we spoke we
considered first the person to whom we were speaking and how our next words
would affect them?
James 3:7-12 [The Message]
7-10 This is scary: You can tame a
tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done …My
friends, this can’t go on...
6)
Dan admitted candidly
that he himself suffered from a “tongue control” issue. That he had been
accused of various things related to what he had said and to whom. How
important was it to you to hear Dan acknowledge and admit his fault. Then to
admonish us to do better as we examine ourselves and to follow Dan’s example of
being transparent and humble in our attitude toward our own verbal mistakes and
gossip?
CHALLENGE
James 3:1-2 [TNIV]
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my
brothers and sisters, because you know that we who teach will be judged more
strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Those
who are never at fault in what they say are perfect, able to keep their whole
body in check.
7)
Do you think about how you
stumble like the person you are judging when you speak negatively about them?
Do you think that forgiving them may be better than the harsh words you might
be repeating about them? Right now is there someone who needs your forgiveness
rather than continued slander or gossip?
Often we are deceived when we
think things like “Well ‘I’ would never say anything like
that… or “If someone ever said something like that about me I would (fill in
the blank)” We place ourselves in a position of superiority over other people
and decide we are better and not subject to the same temptations and sins. Do
you need to seek forgiveness for some attitudes and words right now and ask for
prayer to change for the better?
9)
The world has a concept that
says “to be great one must realize that to fall is only a test to see if you
will be able to rise again” Our faith and belief tells us that no one even gets
up from a fall on their own. This life group is here to be that support when
each of us needs a hand and a kind or encouraging and maybe even some
forgiveness to stand and try again. Offer this love and support now for anyone
seeking it. Pray together for God’s forgiveness and to follow his example to
show us how to do better next time.
