Full of It – Peace
Weekend Discussion Questions
April 27-28, 2013
Community:
1. Are you more of a “run towards conflict” person or more of a “run away from conflict”
person? How does this normally work itself out in your response to conflict?
2. Have you been involved in conflict during the last couple weeks? How did you respond to
it?
Core:
1. Jesus starts each of the beatitudes with the word “blessed”. What have we learned that
“blessed” means?
2. What are some of the different ways that Jesus says we can have a blessed/full life?
3. Read Matthew 5:9. Is there anyone in your life that you think of as a peacemaker? What do
they do that makes you think of them this way?
4. The definition of the word “peacemaker” in the original language is: “One who having
received the peace of God, brings peace to others…especially the good news of the peace of
God that he/she has experienced.” If you were to try to be a peacemaker to people in your
life according to this definition, what would you do?
5. When Jesus says that peacemakers would be called “sons of God” it means that they have
the characteristics of God—how do peacemakers have characteristics of God?
6. You’d think that if followers of Jesus bring peace to people, others would play nice with
them. But look what Jesus says in Matthew 5:10-12. Why do you think people would
persecute followers of Jesus when all they’re trying to do is to bring peace?
7. What reason could Jesus have for telling his followers to “rejoice” when they are being
persecuted?
8. What’s the difference between being “persecuted for righteousness” as opposed to being
persecuted for understandable reasons (like being mean, stupid, etc.)?
9. Jesus knew that his followers might be tempted to run away in light of persecution. So he
addresses that in Matthew 5:13-16. What does it mean to be salt and light?
Challenge:
1. When you look back through the eight beatitudes we covered the last four weeks, which
one resonated with you most? Why?
2. Of the eight beatitudes, which one do you find that you need to put into practice (whether
that’s actually being what the beatitude says we should be, or whether that’s looking at the
situation the way Jesus says we should look at it)?