Canada is known for its culture of tolerance. Is it good to be tolerant? Did Jesus call us
to tolerate people? What other options do we have? In this series we explore how
Jesus challenges us to engage others at a deeper level than mere tolerance. Jesus
challenges us to love.
Small Group Questions
Week 1 • November 6, 2016
1. Tolerance is the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or
behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with. Take some time to discuss the
definition of tolerance.
2. Is tolerance helpful? Do you think tolerance is a good thing or a bad thing?
3. Can you think of something you are currently tolerating? When you tolerate
something do you move closer to it or do you keep it at a distance?
4. Read Matthew 9:9-13 out loud. What words or phrases stand out to you? Read it
again and imagine you are one of the tax collectors. What do you hear Jesus saying
to you? Read it one more time and this time imagine you are one of the Pharisees.
What do you hear Jesus saying to you?
5. Take some time to discuss Jesus’ statement in verse 13. “But go and learn what this
means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners.”
6. Richard Beck talks about the tension between mercy and sacrifice in his book
Unclean. Beck says, “The Pharisees, seeking purity, pull away from the sinners.
Jesus, seeking fellowship, moves toward the sinners.” Share an example from your
More Than Tolerance
life when you pulled away from people and then share about a time when you
moved towards them. Which experience brought more life?
7. Read Romans 5:6-8 out loud. The heart of the gospel is Jesus moving towards
sinners (us) when we had nothing to offer Him in return. Take a moment to reflect
on the mercy of God. How does it show up in your life?
Week 2 • November 13, 2016
1. Take a moment to talk about our culture. What has changed? What changes
concern you the most?
2. Have you experienced people becoming fearful about the changes that are
happening in our culture? How?
3. Have you become fearful about the changes that are happening in our culture?
How?
4. Daniel was one of the young men who was taken from Israel to serve
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. Daniel was removed from his culture and
placed into a completely different culture. Read Daniel chapter one out loud. How
did Daniel engage in the culture that he was placed in?
5. Our concerns about culture often shift our focus. Our concerns often take us from a
place of faith and trust and they lead us to a place of fear. Daniel wasn’t driven by
fear. What was he driven by?
6. How does fear impact the way you treat the people around you? How does fear
impact the way you treat people who are different than you?
7. If Jesus was declared to be the mayor, or king, of Calgary, what do you think he
would do first? Do you think his first decision would require mercy or sacrifice?
8. If Jesus was declared to be the leader, or king, of your home, what do you think he
would do first? Do you think his first decision would require mercy or sacrifice?
Week 3 • November 20, 2016
1. Who is the wisest person you know? How does that person engage with people
who are not yet believers? What have you learned from their interactions?
2. Read Daniel chapter two out loud. How does Daniel serve the king?
3. In his book Thriving in Babylon, Larry Osborne says that “Biblical humility is simply
serving others by putting their needs and interests above your own.” How does
Daniel do that?
4. There is a tension that exists between serving someone who is different than you
and keeping some distance between you and someone who believes, acts, or
values different things than you do. Talk about that tension.
More Than Tolerance
5. Larry Osborne goes on to say, “Biblical humility offers respect to everyone. And it
goes much deeper than the hollow ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir’ of a Southern gentleman
(tolerance). It’s the real deal, a heartfelt deference that comes from the recognition
that everyone bears the image of God, no matter how marred that image might
be.” What is the most challenging thing about offering respect to someone who
disagrees with you on important life decisions?
6. To increase our level of influence in the culture around us we need to walk in
greater humility and offer more respect to the people around us. How have you
done that well?
7. Take some time to identify the different groups of people that make up the culture
of Calgary. Pray for each group of people.
Week 4 • November 27, 2016
1. If you were given the opportunity to influence any part of the culture around you,
would you take it? What would you do?
2. Read Matthew 9:9-13. When we are confronted with people who think differently,
behave differently, or live differently than we do, we can offer mercy or require
sacrifice. Talk about the difference.
3. Jesus transforms people. That is just what He does. As we follow Jesus closer our
behaviours will change. Our behaviours will be different than the behaviours of the
people around us. If Jesus is transforming us, a gap should exist between how we
behave and how the rest of our culture behaves. What does the Bible teach us to
do with that gap?
4. Take some time to identify individuals or groups of people who are different than
you. How do they bear the image of God? Take some time as a group to pray for
them.
5. Think of some creative ways that you could demonstrate humility and offer respect
to someone who is different than you are.
More Than Tolerance