Sessions Include:

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #1
The Peculiar Community
1 Peter 2.9 – 11

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #2
The Hopeful Community
1 Peter 2.9 –11; Matthew 5.14 – 16

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #3
The Serving Community
Luke 22.25 – 27

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #4
The Christ-Centered Community
Romans 14; John 17

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #5
The Reconciling Community
Matthew 6.12 – 15; Ephesians 4.15 – 16 

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #6
The Encouraging Community
Hebrews 10.24 - 25

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #7
The Generous Community
1 Timothy 6.10; 2 Corinthians 9.6 – 8

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #8
The Worshipping Community
Psalm 84; 1 Peter 2.9; Psalm 95

The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #9
Writing a Soul Training Plan
1 John 2.6

Why Study Books?

My church recently transitioned to using books as curriculum in our Sunday School. The reason is simple. My life has been profoundly influenced by the reading of books. I don’t think my life has ever been changed by any curriculum piece I have ever read. Ever.

I have actually surveyed a number of groups I have taught over the years, asking: Has your life ever been changed by any curriculum? The most common response is for people to laugh out loud.

Our first study was the Bless book by Dave and Jon Ferguson. It is a great study on relational lifestyle evangelism. About half-way through the the study, we did a survey to help determine what we would study next. No one wanted to go back to the curriculum. Not. One. Person.

The #1 choice for what to study next was a tie:

• John Ortberg’s The Me I Want to Be
• My recently released book, The 21 Laws of Discipleship

We will be studying these two books over the next year and a half or so. Here is what Amazon says about Ortberg’s book:

The Me I Want to Be will help you discover spiritual vitality like never before as you learn to "live in the flow of the spirit."

Why does spiritual growth seem so difficult?

God's vision for your life is not just that you are saved by grace, but that you also learn to live by grace, flourishing with the Spirit flowing through you. And this book will show how God's perfect vision for you starts with a powerful promise: All those who trust in God "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Pastor and best-selling author John Ortberg first helps gauge your spiritual health and measure the gap between where you are now and where God intends you to be. Then he provides detailed tasks and exercises to help you live in the flow of the Spirit, circumventing real-world barriers - pain and sorrow, temptations, self-doubt, sin - to flourish even in a dark and broken world.

As you start living in the flow, you will feel:

• A deeper connection with God
• A growing sense of joy
• An honest recognition of your brokenness
• Less fear and more trust
• A growing sense of being "rooted in love"
• And a deeper sense of purpose.

God invites you to join him in crafting an abundant and joy-filled life. The Me I Want to Be shows you how to graciously accept his invitation.

I have just completed a new, 22-week study of John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be that we will be using in my church. (I had previously done a 7-week study.)

I have always thought that using books as a curriculum would be a good idea, and I have written a lot of book studies over the years. One of the things that actually using books as curriculum caused me to realize has to do with cost. By writing a study on every chapter of this book, instead of my previous study that had a lesson for every section, the cost drops to below what we were paying for curriculum. Better curriculum. Cheaper cost. Win. Win.

I once asked the legendary basketball coach—and wise witness to Jesus—John Wooden what he thinks about as he begins each day. He said, “I have this one thought: Make today a masterpiece.” That is the opportunity each of us has each day. We can make this day a masterpiece, something beautiful, extraordinary, magnificent and certainly peculiar. What exactly would that look like? In Paul’s epistle to the Romans he lists a number of ways we can demonstrate our hope in our relationships with one another:

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:10–18 NIV)

This is one of my favorite sections in the Bible. It paints a picture of how we preach the gospel without words. What might that look like in a normal life? And what does it have to do with hope?

Today a friend of mine shared with me some difficult news. I listened carefully, and let him know that I am with him through this trial. He does the same for me, for we are “devoted to one another,” as Paul said. We don’t need to proclaim it; you could see it when we bowed our heads and prayed. We were able to laugh, even in the pain, because we are “joyful in hope.”

On Sunday our church invited people to stay after the service and fill boxes of food and clothing for the Haitian people, who had been devastated by a recent earthquake. They were “[sharing] with God’s people who are in need.” Two of my friends have begun befriending people at the homeless shelter. My friends have good jobs and good incomes and are highly educated, but in establishing these friendships they are “willing to associate with people of low position.” Not out of pity but out of love.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” How have you seen these signs of community at work in your church or fellowship group?

Remember the wisdom of Dallas Willard: “The true social activist is the person who lives as an apprentice of Jesus in his or her ordinary relationships.”

James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Formatio, 2010), 53–55.

If you would like to explore this new study, it is available on Amazon, as well as part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking