Easter 05: Pleasure and Enjoyment

Today, Tim set up his discussion of Jesus’ new command (John 13:34) by sharing about the concept of pleasure v. enjoyment. This slide outlines what he shared: In light of this concept, Tim taught that the reason the original 613 commands of the law couldn’t transform the Israelite people was that they worked against human nature. We’re wired to seek continual opportunities for enjoyment, often found by transgressing the “commands” in our lives. Spend some time with this dichotomy. Think of ways in which you’ve experienced pleasure, as it’s conceived of here. Think of some ways in which you’ve experienced enjoyment. Share some examples of each with your group. Which of these experiences feels more familiar? More appealing? What do you think it is about your personality that leads you to answer in the way you are?

Tim also taught about the opportunity for enjoyment that’s provided by exclusion. He said, “any kind of exclusion makes our sense of belonging so much better.” Where do you see/have you seen this principle at work in yourself? What groups/categories have you seen engage in frequent exclusion? How/when have you been excluded? How did you respond to that exclusion? How did it make you feel about the crowd/people from which you were excluded?

Tim taught that Jesus’ new command (from John 13:34) leads to enjoyment in a new and different way; rather than finding enjoyment through transgressing commands, we find it through transgressing the self. This process of loving sacrificially leads to both pleasure and pain. It also provides opportunities for endless enjoyment. Tim said that, as the church, our only real command is love and inclusion. When you think of your life in and as a part of the church, how do you feel about this sole command? What thoughts, ideas, and feelings arise for you as you take a moment to consider this command as the command for the church? Are there [other] “commands” that you have embraced in the past hoping in their ability to create transformation in your life? How has that worked for you? Do you have commands (other than Jesus’ new command to love) that you embrace now, hoping for them to produce transformation? What fruit, if any have you seen from those efforts? What experiences do you have that speak to the power of sacrificial love’s ability to create transformation when it’s embraced or enacted as a command? See if you can think of experiences in which you’ve been the one loving actively and experiences in which you’ve been loved in this way. Share some examples as a group. If you can see transformation that has resulted, share about that with the group.