Responding to the Lordship of Christ (series on "The Kingdom of God")

Here are the study questions to this morning's lesson and discussion in our series on the kingdom of God:

Kingdom. Lordship applied -- Matthew 4:17
Discussion/application questions

Lesson summary:
Rightly responding to the reality of the (coming) kingdom in the present means rightly responding to the reality of Christ’s total Lordship (Matt.28:18-20.; Rom.10:9).

This means that the Christian life is a life lived devoted to the glory of God, in obedience and service (spiritually, vocationally….). But it also means living a Spirit-empowered life – we do not obey and serve in our own strength, or in the flesh.

To actually live out this new allegiance, one must be baptized, join the church (the body of those already devoted) and progressively learn to live by all Christ has taught, applying that teaching (again, progressively) to every sphere of life.

Questions for discussion and application:

Discuss how this relates to key areas like… (use this underlined areas for this application)
--Worship
--Discipleship: holiness of character, in relationships (family, friendships, community)
--Service (use of your spiritual gift for the good of the rest of the Body [1 Cor. 12:4-11])
--Stewardship of your time, finances, resources, etc.
--Witness/evangelism
--Vocation (your work life)
--Recreation (re-creation) – for example, have you deliberately thought through how your allegiance to Christ as Lord applies to your recreational life (e.g, the place of sports in your life)?


Do your habits of choosing, valuing, doing demonstrate and principled allegiance to Christ as Lord? How is this different from being a ‘nominal’, “Laodicean” professing Christian? (Rev. 3:15-16ff.)

Why is presenting Christianity/the Gospel in a man-centered, self-centered way a fundamental contradiction of what Christianity essentially is?

What are the implications of this understanding of what it means to ‘get saved’ in relation to your kids? ….and in relation to our church’s ‘outreach’ and evangelism?

In what ways is Kingdom-focused living highly purposeful, intentional and rewarding?

What is the only alternative to living under the Lordship of Christ in the kingdom/reign of God? (Col. 1:13; Rom. 6:17, 22)