Righteousness from the Heart

Discussion Questions

Sermon Overview 

Pursue a God-pleasing righteousness from the heart, including in your marriage

I. The righteousness God seeks is from the heart (vv. 14-15)

II. The kingdom Jesus brings fulfills the law but does not relax righteousness (vv. 16-17)

III. God's enduring desire for righteousness is shown in his enduring instruction about marriage (v. 18)

Digging Deeper    

Read Luke 16:14-18

1. In the sermon, righteousness is “being right, doing right, before God.” The righteousness God is seeking is righteousness from the heart. What’s the difference between being righteous just on the outside (like the Pharisees) and being righteous from the heart?

2. Have you ever found yourself resisting a teaching in the Bible, only to later realize (or experience a sense of conviction from the Holy Spirit) that it is a truth that was pressing on something you were loving as a rival to God?  Please share.

3. If you were to be honest, is there an area of your life where you are settling for outward conformity (a merely external righteousness)?  What might be a good step toward pursuing change in this area of your life?

4. After hearing this sermon, how might you respond to someone who thinks they can live however they want because Jesus counts us as righteous through trust in him?

5. Jesus didn’t come to make righteousness unnecessary, but rather to make it possible.  What does that mean?  Do you find this truth encouraging?  How so? 

MARRIAGE

In our culture, the starting point for thinking about marriage is often self-fulfillment: my wants, my needs, my goals. It’s easy to miss God’s design for marriage, which is a covenant to which we must be faithful, a union that is only broken with great trauma, and a picture of God’s love and faithfulness. It is, therefore, not surprising that so many fail to see the grievousness of divorce as God does. 

6. How can we speak and act about marriage so that those around us are pointed toward God’s good design of marriage?

7. This passage urges us to “Pursue a God-pleasing righteousness from the heart, including in (our) marriages.”  If you’re married, what would this practically look like?

8. Given your marital situation and background, what was one takeaway from this sermon God might want you to remember in the days ahead? 

Prayer