Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 4:13-15, 5:16-17

  • What stands out to you from these verses?
  • When in your life and/or faith have you most needed a sense of hope?
  • Why is the resurrection of Jesus such an important part of our hope as followers of Jesus?
  • Reflecting from verse 14, as well as Ephesians 1:18-20, on the hope that we can know because of the resurrection power of Jesus, what difference can the resurrection power of Jesus make to

            – the day to day battles and challenges we face in life?

            – the future we face beyond life on this earth?

  • Reflecting also from verse 14, as well as Jude 24, on the hope that we can know because of the resurrection promises of Jesus, how do God’s promises make a difference

            – in our lives on this earth

             – in our lives beyond this earth?

  • Reflecting on the hope that comes from who we are in God from chapter 5 verse 17, to what extent does your identity in Christ define you? What does it mean for you to be a new creation?
Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, 18

  • What stands out to you from these verses?
  • Reflecting from verse 3 on the importance of being careful not to be stumbling blocks to others, can you recall a time when you have stumbled either in life or faith? What did you take away from that time?
  • Reflecting further from both verse 3 and Romans 14:13b, why are things such as our attitudes, character, words, responses, tone of voice, or actions, things that don’t simply affect us but have the potential to affect others in significant ways, including being a stumbling block to others in life or faith? What can help us be careful to not be a stumbling to others in any of these ways?
  • Reflecting on the areas that we are called by Paul to model such as resilience, character, authenticity, and reliance on God out of verses 4-10, which of these four areas are you doing OK in, and which is a growth area for you?
  • Reflecting further from verses 11-13 on the importance of opening wide our hearts to others even when they may not always reciprocate, what do you think could get in the way of us doing that? Refer also to the Parable of the Prodigal Son/Open Hearted Father from Luke chapter 15.

  • Reflecting from verse 18 on how God is a complete and perfect Heavenly Father in whom we can find a sense of identity and security, what does it mean for you to be a child of God? Refer also to 1 John 3:1-6.
Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21

  • What stands out to you from these verses?
  • Reflecting on Paul’s words in verse 14 about how Christ’s love compels us as followers of Jesus, what kind of things do you think compels, drives, or motivates most people in our culture?
  • What difference does it make to instead be compelled by Christ’s love instead as followers of Jesus?
  • When and how has the extraordinary nature of God’s love through Jesus, as verses 14-15 describe, changed you?
  • Reflecting from verses 16-18 on how we see others, how does being compelled by Christ’s love change the way we see others?
  • Why do you think we can have a tendency to ‘label’ people instead of responding to them with the love of Christ?
  • Reflecting on verses 18-21, where and how can you be an ambassador who represents Christ and His message of reconciling love?
Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

  • What stands out to you from these verses?
  • Reflecting on Paul’s words ‘Do not lose heart’ in verse 16, what are some of the struggles and setbacks in life that can easily cause followers of Jesus to lose heart?
  • Reflecting further into verses 16-18, what can help us to not lose heart, but instead view our struggles and setbacks in life on this earth from an eternal perspective?
  • Reflecting on verse 18 and where our focus lies, how can we fix our eyes in a greater way not on what is seen or temporary but on what is unseen and eternal? How does what Paul says later in verse 7 of chapter 5 about living by faith, not by sight, link in to this?
  • Reflecting on verses 1-5 from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, what kind of struggles are the greatest one for you in your earthly body, or in the brokenness of life on this earth? How does what Paul says in verses 4-5 encourage you to look beyond the ‘here and now’ to God’s bigger picture better future?
  • Reflecting on verse 8, what does the description of heaven as ‘at home with the Lord’ convey to you about our heavenly reward?
Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-4

  • Pastor Kat described ministry “doing something God wants done in the world”. Frederick Buechner has a saying “The Place God calls you to, is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s hunger, meet.”. What place of hunger in the world does God want you to DO something about?
  • Pastor Kat described the god of this age as “all the things that we worship without realising it, all the things the world tells as are good that blind us to what is REALLY GOOD”. A great way to figure out what gods of this age you are following is to ask yourself: Who’s or what content do you consume in a week? How is this shaping your values and how you live?

Read 2 Corinthians 4:5-9.

  • Can you think of time in your life when you were aware of your fragility or felt particularly hard pressed, how did you see the light of Christ within you at that time? How did others see the light of Christ in you at that time?
  • What do you think Jesus meant when he said to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”(2 Corinthians 12:9a)?

 

Further Resources/References used in Ps. Kat’s Beauty Out of Brokenness Sermon:

Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 2:12-3:6

  • What stands out to you from these verses?
  • Reflecting on verses 14-17, what do you think the victorious Christian life or the Christ like life looks like?
  • Reflecting further on these verses, as well as verses 4 and 5 in chapter 3, how do you respond to the victorious Christian life actually coming out of a place of vulnerability?
  • What might it look like for you to be more vulnerable before God or others?
  • Reflecting on verses 1-3 of chapter 2, and the reality that many people will never read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, but will read the gospel of your or my life, what is the gospel according to you?
  • What might it look like to be a living letter from Christ in day to day life at home, at work, amongst everyone we do life with, as the Spirit of God is at work in an ongoing way in our hearts and lives?
Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 1:12-22

  • What stands out to you from these verses? 
  • Reflecting on verses 12-14, when and how have the uncertainty of perceptions that can be clouded led to you being misrepresented, or to you misrepresenting someone or a situation, as was the case with Paul and the church at Corinth?  
  • How can focusing on being real help in those situations? 
  • Reflecting on verses 15-17, when and how have the uncertainty of plans you’ve made been evident? 
  • How might focusing on being open to God’s pathway turning out to be different to what we might plan for be helpful in times of uncertainty? (refer also to Acts 18:21, James 4:14-15) 
  • Reflecting from verses 18-20 on the certainty of God’s faithfulness, how has God been faithful to you up to this point in your life and faith journey?  
  • Reflecting on verses 21-22, how can the certainty of God’s promises to strengthen, assure, and secure us, hold you into the days ahead in your life and faith journey? 
  • What promise of God might you need to especially hold on to at this point in your walk of life and faith? 
Reflection & Discussion Questions

Read 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

  • What stands out to you from these verses?
  • Reflecting on verse 8, what’s stretching you in your pressure cooker experience of life and faith?
  • How might God be at work even and especially in that when it comes to your spiritual formation?
  • Reflecting on verse 9, what are you lacking in when it comes to your pressure cooker experience of life and faith?
  • How might God be at work even and especially in that causing you to rely on God rather than yourself?
  • Reflecting on verses 9b-10, how does God having raised the dead make a difference in our times of challenge?
  • Reflecting on verse 11, how does prayer make a difference in our times of challenge?
Reflection & Discussion Questions
  • Read 2 Corinthians 1:1-7
  • What stands out to you from these verses at the start of 2 Corinthians?
  • Reflecting on verse 2, why are grace and peace two things that we need a never-ending supply of in the midst of the messiness of real life?
  • Reflecting on verse 4, what do you grieve in life or faith? What thorns of life or faith are impacting you? How might remembering what God went through for you be helpful?
  • Reflecting on verses 3-5, what comfort do you need in life or faith? In what ways might you need the father of compassion and the God of all comfort to minister to you, or remembering what God is to you be helpful?
  • Reflecting on verses 4b, 6-7, in what ways can you relieve, by coming alongside someone else with the burdens that they carry, or allowing someone else to come alongside you? How might remembering what God does through you be helpful in this?