How to use this guide

This guide is designed to take you deeper into the points of the Sunday morning message and the passage we’re studying each week. The guide is divided into two parts.

Read, Reflect, and Respond guides you through your own personal study of the message text, preferably before you arrive for the service on Sunday morning. This section uses the HEAR journaling method, which is an acronym for highlight, explain, apply, and respond.

Discuss With Others is designed to help you take the things you’ve learned in your personal study and the message and discuss them within the context of your small group.

READ, Reflect, AND Respond

Highlight: Begin your Bible reading time with prayer then highlight verses that stand out to you as you read the passage. Note any words or ideas you want to dive deeper into and pay attention to repeated or emphasized words and phrases. This is the “observation” process – looking at the who, what, when, where of the passage.

Explain: What is the context of the passage and the author’s intended meaning within that context? This is where you can consult a study Bible or commentary. What did the passage mean to the original listeners? Was there something in their context that was being addressed? This step is to understand what the meaning of the passage was then before you seek to understand what the applied principle is today.

Apply: What is the principle to live by today? This is when you turn the focus to your own life, setting, and culture. What is the principle that applies to your own context?

Respond: How will you respond to the application in your relationships and/or situations this week? This recognizes that the Bible is not just a set of truths to know, but is actually a guide to live by.

Discuss with Others

Use your community group time to have some conversation around the message. Start your discussion by inviting someone to read the passage aloud in its entirety.

This passage follows 3:1-17, which wonderfully unpacks our identity (i.e., you have died and been raised with Christ) and activity in Christ (i.e., put off…put on). How does the gospel transform your earthly relationships in whatever you do, in word or deed (v. 17)?

Read Philippians 2:5-8. How does Christ’s obedience for us and our salvation encourage, enable, and empower wives to submit to their husbands, as is fitting in the Lord?

What does it mean for wives to submit to their husbands as is fitting in the Lord? 

In the Greco-Roman world, husbands had absolute authority and power over the household and could easily become abusive in that role. While Paul upholds the husband’s leadership in the home, he clearly calls them to be Christ-like in it. What are some examples of this difference (e.g., “as is fitting in the Lord,” “do not be harsh”)? Why does this matter?

Husbands and fathers, is there sin to confess and repent of (e.g., being harsh, provoking)? How can you put on Christ and make this right?

What reason does Paul give as motivation for children to obey (v. 20 – “for/because”)? How does Paul’s instruction to “fathers” (and mothers) seek to ensure that the child’s obedience is not abused?

Although limited in applicability, how might Paul’s instruction to servants and earthly masters apply to employer/employee relationships today?

What are indicators that you are working for eye-service, as people-pleasers? How can you grow in working with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord (Remember: God gives new hearts in Christ!)?

As we strive to work in ways that please the Lord, why is it vital to remember that from the Lord we will receive the inheritance as our reward? What is our inheritance, and how does that motivate God-fearing work?

If you are in a position of authority, why is it important to remember that you have a Lord/Master in heaven?