Judgment

1 · Icebreaker · 7 min

Open the room

If your whole week were played on a screen for this group, what ten-second clip would you want to skip? You can pass, and you do not have to be heroic.

Leader. Light embarrassment is enough. Shut down oversharing. You are introducing exposure, not collecting sins. Say that passing is allowed, especially the first few weeks.

2 · The word · 8 min

See it, then say it

Definition, from the book

Judgment is God fairly judging every person’s life and giving what is due according to His holy and righteous standard. For those apart from Jesus the verdict is always guilty, resulting in eternal punishment.

In the original language

Greek krisis — a separating, a trial, a decision, a judgment.

Memory verse · Hebrews 9:27

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

Together, open the flashcard for Judgment. Say the word, the definition, and the verse once. Then put the phone away.

3 · Open the Bible · 15 min

Acts 17:30–31

Hebrews 4 was the devotion’s second question. Acts 17 puts the day of judgment in a sermon to people who were not Bible insiders, and it ties the date to a resurrection.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Have two readers if you can. Bibles open. The excerpt is only here so a forgotten Bible does not stop the night.

From the passage

1. 1.What has God fixed, whom has He appointed to do it, and what is the proof Paul offers?Core

   Leader. A day. A man, Jesus. The resurrection. Judgment is not a vibe. It is scheduled, personal, and public.

2. 2.Paul is speaking to philosophers, not to church people. What does “all people everywhere” do to the idea that judgment is only a religious topic?

   Leader. The bench has jurisdiction over the whole city, including people who find the idea embarrassing.

4 · Around the room · 20 min

A conversation this chapter did not assign

1. 3.Hebrews 9:27 puts death and judgment in one sentence, the way we put birthdays on a calendar. Why do we organize ordinary life as if the second half of that sentence were optional?

   Leader. Busyness, medicine, entertainment, even ministry can function as a way not to look at the chair.

2. 4.Read Hebrews 9:28 right after 9:27. Judgment is appointed — and so is a second appearing of Christ, “not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” What is the difference between those two futures?Core

   Leader. This is the gospel turn the devotion did not take. For the person in Christ, the Judge is also the Savior who already dealt with sin. Do not skip John 5:24 if fear fills the room: the believer does not come into condemnation.

3. 5.Romans 2:11: God shows no partiality. Whose sin do we grade on a curve, and whose do we not — in our church, our family, our news feed?

   Leader. The curve usually favors people like us. Let that land without turning the night into politics.

5 · Say it · 5 min

In one sentence

A real Judge is coming. His standard is His own righteousness, not our excuses.

Ask for two volunteers, not the whole circle. They may look at the sentence, then try it without looking. Clumsy and true is the goal.

6 · Pray · 8 min

Leave silence between these

1. Thank God that the empty chair means there is still time.
2. Pray for someone who is living as if the bench were a myth.
3. Thank Him that the appointed Judge is the same Jesus who bore sin. Ask for eagerness, not only relief.