Soul Food series (part four)
“Right vs. Wrong: the art of discernment”
Small group devotion
The purpose of this discussion is to get your group thinking critically about discerning right from wrong in our everyday interactions. In the context of peer pressure, or social expectations, it can be hard for a Christian to know how to act or who to be around friends.
Draw up three columns labelled “Right” “It Depends” “Wrong”. Get a discussion going about what goes into each column e.g. murder would go under wrong. But not everything is so black and white. Why have you put certain things in certain columns?
Share together stories of peer pressure to do something that seemed contrary to your faith. How did you work through it?
Read Acts 22:3-5.
Paul is describing what he was like before he encountered the risen Christ. Where would you put his actions and behaviour on your chart of “right/wrong/grey”? Why? (Leaders might want to play devil’s advocate and take a contrary position, for instance surely being “zealous for God” is a good thing?!)
How does the passage speak to us today? (Leaders might like to ask whether Christians today can be like Saul in this passage. What does a “Saul” Christian look like?)
Continue the story and read Acts 22:6-15. Focus on what changes for Paul.
How do you personally decide what is right or wrong?
What Christian “rules” do you react against? Why? Add them to your chart e.g. no sex before marriage, drinking alcohol, going to church on Sunday, not swearing etc.
The clip below might help to get conversation flowing particularly around how Christians “should” behave i.e. “not swearing”. WARNING: CONTAINS COARSE LANGUAGE.
How do Christians discern right from wrong? Reflect on the Acts passage or on Luke 18:18-22 (Leaders see notes below as to how you might like to guide this discussion).
Discuss practical ways that you become less like a “Saul” Christian (cf. Acts 22:3-5) and more like a “Paul” Christian (cf. Acts 22:6-15). i.e. how do we move beyond merely obeying the rules and the laws and being zealous? How do you move towards becoming a Christian that encounters the risen Christ in every aspect of our lives?
(You might like to come up with certain objectives e.g. pray when I have a big decision to make, talk about “black&white” Christian rules that I find hard to follow etc.)
Pray together that you might learn to discern the will of God and to be witnesses to Jesus Christ in your life.
Leader’s notes:
The aim of this discussion should be to lead your group away from a black & white, rules-based Christianity into a living faith with the living Christ. Both the Acts passage and the Luke passage describe someone who obeys all the rules and does all the “right” things. Even though Saul persecuted Christians, he did so out of zeal for God and because he genuinely believed it to be the right thing to do. But in both these stories the rich young ruler and Saul encountered the risen Christ and were challenged in their assumptions of right and wrong. An encounter with Christ asks us to give up everything for the sake of our faith. The rich ruler went away sad while Paul was blinded (and later awakened).
Christians can definitely behave like Saul or like the rich ruler. We obey all the right rules, but our faith becomes very stale, very black & white, very dogmatic. It leads to judgementalism — or if you can’t keep the rules, it leads to feeling unworthy. Is it any wonder so many young people leave the church because they feel judged or constricted by rules and expectations?! “Rules” — like not having sex before marriage, or not swearing — need to be challenged, not because they’re wrong per se, but because they often become lifeless rules. They do not arise out of a relationship with the living Christ.
“Right” and “wrong” is not the first consideration for Christians. This is the primary truth for Christians: Jesus Christ is forming a new reality in our midst. And as we learn to take part in that, we learn to discern the will of God. What is “right” is responding to the will of God which is a living will, not a static set of rules.
That being said, there are certain ways of life that we commit to as Christians. This arises out of scripture. And young people often need clear direction and guidance. The aim is not to remove “rules” altogether, but to challenge them to ask questions and begin a journey from obeying rules to faithfully living in Jesus Christ.