Point One: What Is Righteousness?

Point Two: What Does It Mean To Be Lost?

Point Three: What Causes Joy In Heaven?

Discussion Questions:

Watch the past message, then choose questions to get your group thinking and create openness.

  1. What was something that stood out to you from this past Sunday’s message? Share what you learned and how it will impact your life.

  2. Read Luke 15:1-32. What part of this passage catches your attention most, and why?

  3. Why does Luke tell us that tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus while the Pharisees were complaining? How does this setting help us understand why Jesus told these three stories?

  4. Read Luke 15:1-32. The shepherd loses a sheep, the woman loses a coin, and the father loses a son. What do the three stories have in common, and what do they reveal about God's response to what is lost?

  5. Read Luke 15:1-10. The sheep is lost outside, while the coin is lost inside the house. How might this help us understand the idea that someone can be physically close to God or His people and yet spiritually lost?

  6. Read Luke 15:11-32. Compare the younger and older sons. How are they different, and how are they surprisingly alike? What does each son reveal about a different way of being lost?

  7. Read Ezekiel 34:11–16 and Luke 15:1-7. How does this passage help us understand God's heart as the Shepherd who seeks the lost? How does it connect with Luke 15?

  8. Read Luke 19:10 and Ephesians 2:8–9. What do these passages teach us about why Jesus came and why neither rebellion nor self-righteousness can earn our salvation?

  9. Read Luke 15:11-32. The father goes out to meet both sons – the rebellious younger son and the self-righteous older son. What does this reveal about God's grace, and what does it teach us about the heart of Jesus?

  10. Jesus says there is joy in heaven when one sinner repents. What does this teach us about what brings joy to God's heart? How should this affect the way we respond when someone comes back to God?

  11. Read Luke 15:11-32. Which son do you identify with more at this point in your life – the younger son who needs forgiveness or the older son who needs grace? What might Jesus be inviting you to do in response?

  12. Comment on this: The greatest evidence that we understand God's grace may not be how we respond when we are forgiven – it may be how we respond when God forgives someone else.

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