Christian (3) – Insiders Outsiders

We are in the third installment of our series Christian and we have been challenging you in the past two weeks to love; love the people that God have placed around you. How has your experience been? Are you loving the experience? Or are you finding out that it’s not that easy to love others? Isn’t it interesting the last thing Jesus said to his closest disciples is to command them to love? It was not an option, it wasn’t like “Peter, feel free to love people whenever you feel like it. And if you don’t, that’s ok too.” It simply was a commandment, to love, so that people recognize that we are Jesus’ disciples. How often we forget that as His followers.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, “The Juice goes out of Christianity when it becomes too based on faith rather than on living like Jesus or seeing the world as Jesus saw it.” If you are a follower of Jesus, nonbelievers expect you to act like Jesus. They expect you to care about and value the things that Jesus cared about and valued. They judge your likeness to Jesus often times based on the way you react and respond to people outside the faith. And you know what? They are right to do so. Then what does the Bible say about how the followers of Jesus should treat nonbelievers?

Moving Forward

When we judge nonbelievers, we lose our influence. What would it be like if we never abandon love as

our primary influence? Let’s decide together that we’re going to work to love one another better and

we’re going to stop judging outsiders.

Discussion Questions

1. Talk about a time when someone at work, in your family, or at church held you accountable. How did it help you grow?

2. Read 1 Corinthians 5:12. How does this passage challenge your assumptions about what the Bible says regarding judging others? How does it compare with Matthew 7:1–2?

3. If you’re a follower of Jesus, why is it so difficult to not judge nonbelievers?

4. What is most uncomfortable about holding other followers of Jesus accountable for their behavior? How do you know when it’s your duty to do so?

5. Is there a nonbeliever whose behavior you tend to judge? What can you do to put aside judgment and love that person the way Jesus commands?