Big Idea

What changed when Jesus came? The lost were found.

Scripture

Luke 19:1-10, Luke 15:1-7

Ice Breaker & Opening Thought

1. Share a time when you were lost either as a kid or an adult? What was it like being found?
2. This season we are celebrating the incarnation of Jesus. The Incarnation can be defined by saying, “The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation affirms that the eternal Son of God took flesh from His human mother and that the historical Christ is at once both fully God and fully man.” This reality turned the world upside down 2,000, and it’s still happening today. In what ways has Jesus turned the world upside down today or in the past?

Bible Discussion

3. Read Luke 19:1-10. What do you notice in this story? What do you think about Jesus’ response to Zacchaeus?
4. Read Luke 15:1-7. What do you notice in these verses? How does this story confront the religious leaders in verses 1 & 2?
5. What does it mean to be lost? In this message series, we’re defining “lost” as those moving away from the person, priorities, and practices of Jesus? On the other hand, to be found is to be a person moving toward the person, priorities, and practices of Jesus. What do you think about this definition of being lost and found?

Life Application

6. We are found when we move toward the Person, Priorities, and Practices of Jesus. Look at the short statements below, and discuss how you would put those in your own words or what you would add to those bullet points.

• Person of Jesus – it starts with a clear declaration that you want to draw close and follow the person of Jesus. That begins at baptism and continues as we take communion together.
• Priorities of Jesus – and that means that you make his priorities, your priorities. When he says his priority is, “God’s Kingdom come, God’s will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven” you make that your priority – for “God’s Kingdom come, God’s will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven”
• Practices of Jesus – and daily you begin to put into practice what Jesus practiced (loving others, sabbath, solitude, generosity)

7. Sometimes the Christian faith is understood primarily in terms of who’s in or out with a heavy emphasis on making a one-time decision as the key moment in the life of faith. You are either inside the circle of believers or you are out. How have you seen this? What are some advantages and disadvantages of conceiving the Christian faith in this way?
8. While there is value in our initial decision to follow Jesus, the teaching of Jesus doesn’t lend itself to the in-or-out kind of thinking. The teaching of Jesus places a high value on one’s movement toward the person of Jesus. What would you say about yourself? Would you say you are near or far from Jesus? Would you say you are moving away from or toward Jesus? Elaborate.
9. In what ways do you want Jesus to turn your life upside down this season and in the coming year?