Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
Opening Questions
In what contexts do people use the phrase, “Bless his/her/their heart?”
Can you think of different ways in which we use the words “bless,” “blessed,” or “blessing(s)”?
Scripture Reading
“8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. 11 They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.– 1 Peter 3: 8-14
Blessing’s Call
“I was very blessed to have family and friends, but particularly family, who told me I was not only all right, I was just right, so I believe that my brain is a good one, and it’s lasting me very well.”
– Maya Angelou
In the sermon, we learned that the word “blessing” in English is translated from the Greek word “eulogeo,” which means “to speak a good word.”
In the Maya Angelou quote above, what do we see that her family’s “speaking a good word’ into her life did for her?”
How does (or did) your family do the same for you? Or did it do this at all?
In Peter’s world, Christians were seen as alternately uneducated, atheist, cannibalistic (they ate communion, the body and blood of Christ), or immoral (they had “love feasts”) and the cause of social decay. Still, he called Christian people to repay evil with a “eulogeo.” In our modern context, what does “speaking a good word” in the face of evil, misunderstanding, or wrongdoing look like?
How did Jesus do this in Peter’s own life?
Blessings’s Cost
“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing…”
– I Peter 3:9
“Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell.”
― Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid-Lothian
“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
Peter is directing Christ followers to not be caught up in cycles of revenge, or “negative repayment.”
What cycles of retaliation do you see at work in our world today?
What cycles of retaliation did you see at work in your family growing up?
What does it cost us to repay evil with blessing?
Blessing’s Power
“Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.”
– 1 Peter 3:13
This time, Peter switches things up and uses the word makarios where we read English word “blessed.” Makarios is the word used repeatedly by Jesus in the Beatitudes, and it has the connotation of “God’s true winners,” or, “those who will be congratulated.”
Why might Peter have used this word here? Might he be making a connection to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5?)
Why are those who suffer for righteousness’ sake “God’s true winners”?
How does that invert our culture’s view of who the “winners” are?
Closing Thought
Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!”
– Genesis 27:38
Esau’s heart was broken because his father’s blessing had gone to another. Thankfully, unlike ancient patriarchs, our Heavenly Father has a word of blessing for each of his children.
Spend some time praying over as many group members as you have space and time for with a “eulogeo,” a word of blessing.