Mere Christianity Leaders' Notes
A small group agreement form
Years ago, when I started my first discipleship small group, I found this small group commitment. It resulted in a more cohesive group that I have ever witnessed before. I dug it up this week while getting ready for an 8-week Sunday School class. I thought I'd make it available to anyone who wants to use it. I wish I had written down the source material that I pulled it from. If I can figure that out, I will update the file with attribution. I apologize for my shortsightedness.
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 11
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Chapter 11: "The New Men"
Do NOT get all bent out of shape over Lewis' use of Evolution as an illustration. He uses it to very, very good effect, regardless of anyone's personal view of Evolution.
In this chapter, Lewis uses the illustration of Evolutionary change. Of how man came to be (according to that theory), and the common views of "what's next" for humanity, according to Evolutionary extrapolation.
But what should we expect? We should expect something completely new, not something marginally new. Lewis makes the case that "the Next Step" is already upon us.... Christianity is the Next Step for humanity.
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 10
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Chapter 10: "Nice People or New Men"
Jesus is in the process of making Christians perfect, as He is perfect
- If so, can we expect all Christians to be nicer than all non-Christians?
- Not necessarily -- we have to start from where each Christian is
- A Christian should be becoming nicer than the person they were before they started following Christ (before He started his work in them)
- A tree is known by it's fruit
- When Christians fail to act Christian, we make Christianity unbelievable.
- Some people are just born with better dispositions than others...
- Christian is a process of transformation... some becoming more Christlike.... sadly, some becoming less... some confused and inconsistent
So, what of the individual?
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 9
Parent: Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes Series
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Chapter 9: "Counting the Cost"
Some people are bothered by the words, "Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Some think that maybe it means that if we're not perfect, we fail as Christians. On the contrary, Lewis points out Jesus is working in us to make us perfect -- and will accept nothing less, even though we would.
Example of the child's toothache:
- the child only wants something now to make the pain go away now
- if he goes to his mother he will get that but...
- he will also go to the dentist the next morning...
- then the dentist will go messing with every other tooth that has problems
- and all the child really wanted was for that one tooth to stop hurting
(An 'ell' is about 45 inches, "It was derived from the length of the arm from the shoulder (or the elbow) to the wrist." wikipedia.com)
Jesus is the same way:
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 8
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Chapter 8: "Is Christianity Hard or Easy?"
Putting on Christ is not just one job that Christians have, it is the one job that Christians have.
- It's not something only a special class of Christians do, it's what Christianity is all about.
- This is completely different from any other idea of 'morality' or 'being good.'
The ordinary idea for young Christians, or non-Christians is
- We start with ourselves
- We admit that there 'morality' or 'decent behavior' or 'the good of society' has some claim on our lives
- Those claims interfere with our own desires
- We try to do all of the 'right' things and not do all of the 'wrong' things and have something of ourselves left over to pursue our own interests.
- Lewis likens it to paying taxes, and hoping we have something left over to live on.
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 7
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Chapter 7: "Let's Pretend"
Two pictures:
- Beauty and the Beast
- A masked man
This is a discussion about practice, the things we do as Christians.
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 6
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Chapter 6: "Two Notes"
Lewis felt compelled to append, as it were, two notes following the previous chaper:
1) If God wanted many sons instead of toy soldiers, why didn't he just beget many sons? This would have skipped the difficult and painful process of transforming the 'toy soldiers' into sons.
- The first part of the answer is fairly easy - the transformation from creature to son would not have been painful had not mankind rebelled against God. The rebellion was the fruit of Free Will. Free Will was the only way to have creatures capable of infinite love and hapiness.
- The second part is complicated by the way we see things from within creation. Two identical pennies, which are identical, but not the same vs. two organs of a body which are not alike, but part of the same organ. In the same way, people are organs, part of the organism of humanity.
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 5
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Chapter 5: "The Obstinate Toy Soldiers"
The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 4
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Chapter 4: "Good Infection"
- Example of the books and the relations between, then removing time... so the relationships existed as they appear without a time when the relationships didn't exist.
- This is an introduction to thinking about things outside of time.
- Uses the example of a cube being made up of six squares, but remaining a cube...
Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes - Book 4-Chapter 3
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Chapter 3: "Time and Beyond Time"
This chapter discusses Time as it relates to Prayer.
We live through time. In this reality, we flow in one direction with time. All that is behind us is lost to us, except in our memory. All that is before us is unknown to us. What Lewis is attempting to address here is, "How can God listen to everyone in the world praying at the same time?"
- God created time
- God exists beyond time ("outside and above")
- God is not restricted to time
