I Have A Question: If God Is Love, Why Are Some Christians Jerks?

1. When was the last time you were a jerk? What happened?

2. If you’re not a Christian, how did this message affect the way you view Christians who are sometimes jerks?

3. If you are a Christian, how did this message affect the way you see yourself as a Christian that sometimes acts like a jerk?

4. If making the initial decision to follow Jesus is the short surrender, there are daily and ongoing things that are the long surrender. What’s one of those long surrender items for you?

5. If God is love, then Christians ought to be lovers (maybe not the kind of “lovers” that first comes to mind, but lovers of people). You can revisit those bible verses here:

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. - 1 John 4:7-12

6. The challenge from this message to the Jesus-followers is: Try not to be a jerk. So how can you avoid being a jerk this week?

7. You can listen to the song “The Long Surrender” by NEEDTOBREATHE on YouTube.