Prodigal God, Chapter 1

Introduction:
1. Who is the author writing the book for? Why does he think long time church members need this?
2. Why is the traditional name of this parable not the best?
3. What does the word ‘prodigal’ mean? Describe what the concept of a prodigal God means to you personally.

Chapter 1: The People Around Jesus
4. Describe the two groups of people that Jesus is teaching and that are represented by the two brothers in the story.
5. How did each of these groups respond to Jesus?
6. Can you give examples of both groups in current society? How do both of these lifestyles lead to emptiness?
7. Consider these two author quotes about the older brother types:
“Jesus wants to show them their blindness, narrowness, self-righteousness and how these things are destroying both their own souls and the lives of the people around them” (p. 10).
“Religious moralism is a particularly deadly spiritual condition”(p. 14).
Comments? It might be easy to look at other people, let’s look at ourselves.
8. Why is it ‘ironic’ that Christianity has become mostly about religion and morality? (p. 14).
9. In Jesus’ ministry, over and over the outcasts were attracted to him and the religious were angered. As you skim through the gospels, give examples of this. Why were the religious so opposed?
10. Why do you think our Christianity of today is not attracting the broken and marginalized with Jesus’ message of grace?
11. What else did you underline or think about in these chaptaers?
12. What is God saying to your heart through this lesson?

Action Point: Group Challenge