Pace: Service and Justice
Recordings, notes and application questions
Each week, we produce notes, discussion points and application questions for the Sunday talks — helping you go deeper into everything we’re looking at together and resourcing our Small Groups during the week. Our current series explores how we can build rhythms and disciplines into our daily lives that help us go deeper with God. Use the embedded players to listen to the talks, or click here to visit Soundcloud and download them on a PC.
Key Passages
- John 13:1–17 (Service)
- Genesis 1:31 (Justice)
- Revelation 21:3–7 (Justice)
Notes: Service
Foundation
- It’s the heart of God
- He first serves us, releasing us to serve others as imitators of Christ
Importance
- Serving is an act of worship — an offering to God
- It reveals Jesus to others
- It does us good — through serving we come to know Jesus more and become more fully image-bearers
Growth
- Know your identity — serving flows from security in who we are in Christ (not in proving ourself)
- Commit to serving within the church family
- Receive service from others
Notes: Justice
Justice is about the way God wants things to be. Engaging in justice therefore equals ‘putting the worlds to rights’ as determined by God. In Genesis we read God made the world to be very good. In Revelation we read that God will ultimately ‘put the world to rights.’ We currently live in the in-between period.
There is much injustice in world: 27 people die every 4 minutes from starvation; human trafficking (with 46 million people caught up in it) are treated as a commodity; Environmental crisis (we take more out of the planet than it can sustain by more than 1.5 times, all of which hits poorest first).
We are called to engage with working for justice not to make us feel good or to improve our reputation, but because it is in God’s heart.
5 ways to fight injustice:
- Prayer: the first and best step
- Scripture: engage with promises of God
- Community: we do more together than apart, so let’s support what is already happening
- Small steps: rather than giant leaps
- Keep your eyes on the future: Jesus will return and make all things new
Application Questions
- What struck you most from Sunday’s talks?
- What comes to mind when you think of serving? How about justice?
- Why is it so important that our serving flows from how God has served us, and our identity in Christ?
- What are your giftings? How can they be used to serve others?
- What does serving look like for you at home / at work / in community / at church?
- What do you understand of the concept of justice? What does it feel like to be living in the ‘in-between period’?
- How do stories and stats about injustice affect you?
- What steps can we take to engage with working for justice?
- What existing initiatives do you know of that could be supported?
- What might this small group do to get involved?
