Sending vs. Seating Bible Class Discussion Guide

A Note for the Teacher
This sermon lands a punch. The danger with a sermon like this is that the class agrees with every word, feels appropriately convicted, prays a sincere prayer, and then changes nothing. The whole point of this guide is to keep that from happening. The discussion questions are here to drive the truth home, but the application sections are where this class actually earns its keep. Don't rush them. If you only have time for half the discussion questions and all of the application, make that trade.

Opening Prayer
Ask God for honest hearts, and for the courage to leave this class with something to actually do — not just something to feel.

Opening Question
Wade opened with John Piper's story of the man who retired early, moved to Florida, perfected his golf swing, collected seashells, and stood before God with nothing else to show for his years. The hard part of the story isn't that the man did anything wrong — it's that none of it was wrong, and it still added up to a wasted life. What's the difference between a life that enjoys God's blessings and a life that's been spent on them? And how would a person know which one they're living before it's too late to change?

Part One: What Impresses Us, and What Impresses God
Read aloud: Matthew 24:1–2

Questions
1. The disciples were proud of the temple — the biggest, most impressive thing they'd ever pointed others to. Wade compared it to showing a master carpenter a birdhouse you built. Every congregation has its birdhouse — the thing we bring up first when we want to feel good about ourselves. When someone asks about our congregation, what's the first thing we tend to mention? Is it something that would impress God, or just something that impresses people?
2. Jesus looked at the most impressive building of His day and said, in effect, it's all coming down. Name something you've personally poured time, money, or effort into that, honestly, won't matter at all in a hundred years (or even ten). What would it take to pour that same energy into something that will?
3. Read Matthew 23:27–28 — the whitewashed tombs, beautiful outside, full of death inside. The Pharisees nailed the outward appearance. If an outsider judged our congregation only by what we put effort into — the building, the announcements, the programs, the technology — would they conclude we care most about how things look, or about who's being saved? What's the evidence either way?
4. Wade said the Pharisees were "majoring in minors and minoring in majors" — fastidious about tithing spices, careless about justice and mercy. Name one "minor" that churches commonly treat like a major. Now name one "major" — something Jesus actually emphasized — that we tend to treat like a minor. Why is it so much easier to obsess over the minor?

Part Two: The Sending Pattern
Read aloud: John 20:21

Questions
1. Wade traced an unbroken chain: God sent Jesus, Jesus sent the apostles, the apostles sent others, the church sends, we send. Every link only exists because someone refused to be the end of the line. You're in that chain right now — someone sent the gospel far enough to reach you. The question is whether it keeps moving past you or stops where you're standing. What does it look like, practically, to be a link that passes it on instead of a link where it ends?
2. Wade made this point: God could have spent His energy making new galaxies and stars, but He went into the sending business instead, because people didn't need more scenery — they needed a Savior. Apply that to how you spend your own energy. What are the "new galaxies" you tend to build — the impressive but ultimately optional things — that quietly crowd out the work of reaching people?
3. Read Acts 11:19–24. These Christians were scattered by persecution, hunted, driven from their homes — and they "went everywhere preaching the word" anyway. We have safety, freedom, money, and technology they couldn't dream of, and often do less. What's the one excuse you personally lean on most for not sharing the faith? Hold it up next to what those Christians faced — does it survive the comparison?
4. 2 Timothy 2:2 lays out the strategy in one verse: what Paul taught Timothy, Timothy was to commit to faithful men, who would teach others also. Four generations in a single sentence. Who poured the gospel into you? And — this is the harder question — who are you currently pouring it into? If the honest answer is no one, the chain stops with you.

Part Three: The Book Still Being Written
Read aloud: Acts 1:8

Questions
1. Wade shared an idea that stuck with him — that the book of Acts is God's unfinished book. Not unfinished in the sense that Scripture is incomplete, but in the sense that the history of the church is still being written, right now, by us. If someone wrote the chapter covering your congregation's last twelve months, what would it actually say?
2. The sermon imagined that chapter reading something like: they had the softest pews, the brightest projectors, the nicest buses. Or it might read: their building was plain, but they poured everything into reaching the lost. Be honest about which sentence describes us more right now — and what it would take to change which sentence gets written next year.
3. Wade preaches in Katy, Texas — he said one in four people there were born in another country. He then said, "I don't have to leave Katy to reach the world." Think about our own community. Who has God already brought to our doorstep — new neighbors, coworkers, immigrants, the lost family two streets over — that we've been treating as scenery instead of souls?

Part Four: The Stringer
Read aloud: Luke 19:10
Wade closed with the image of standing before the Lord and being asked to show your stringer of fish — the souls you were instrumental in reaching. An empty stringer. A few. Or so many they're lapping over each other.

Questions
1. The stringer image is uncomfortable on purpose. Think about it for a second before answering: if the Lord asked to see your stringer today, what would be on it? Not who you sat next to in church buildings — who you helped bring to Christ.
2. We have three options: go, send, or disobey. There's no fourth option, no neutral category, no exemption for being busy or shy or unsure. Which of the three best describes where you actually are right now — not where you wish you were?

Making It Practical: For the Individual
This is where the class stops talking and starts deciding. Work through these honestly. The goal is for every person to leave with at least one concrete commitment.

Name your one. "The lost" is too big to act on, but anyone can reach one specific person. Who is one person already in your life who isn't a Christian? Write down the actual name. It’s hard to honestly pray for a category or pursue an abstraction, but you can pray for, and go after, a name.

Audit your calendar and your bank statement. This sermon is about where our time and money actually go. Pull up your calendar from last month and your spending from last month. What percentage went toward eternal things versus temporary comfort? This isn't to guilt you — it's to make you think. Your calendar and your bank account already know what your priorities are. The question is whether you do.

Pick a next step with the name you wrote down. Vague intentions die. Specific ones get done. Choose one:
* Invite the prospect to a meal at your home this month
* Invite the person to a service or a Bible study
* Offer to study the Bible with him/her one-on-one
* Simply begin a spiritual conversation and see where it goes

Find the world at your doorstep. Identify one person or group already in your community that the congregation may be overlooking — a non-English-speaking family, an international student, a single mother, an ex-con, an elderly neighbor, a special needs family, a coworker no one talks to. What's one specific thing you could do this week to begin a relationship there?

Pour into someone (the 2 Timothy 2:2 step). Identify one younger or newer Christian you could intentionally invest in. Discipleship isn't a program; it's a decision to spend time with someone and pass on what you were given. Who is your Timothy?

Making It Practical: For the Congregation
These are for the class to discuss together and, ideally, to bring to the elders or ministers as concrete proposals — not just ideas that evaporate when class ends.

The honest ratio. As a congregation, roughly what portion of the budget goes toward our own comfort and facilities versus sending the gospel out — local outreach, foreign missions, supporting workers? You don't need exact numbers to know whether the ratio reflects a sending church or a seating church. What would a healthier ratio look like, and who needs to hear that question raised?

Adopt something together. Could this class commit, as a group, to a specific sending effort — a missionary to support and correspond with, a local outreach to staff, a benevolence effort that opens doors to the community? Pick something real before you leave, and assign one person to follow up.

Map our own Katy. Wade pointed out that we can reach the world without leaving our suburb. As a class, list an under-reached or overlooked group within a fifteen-minute drive of the church building. Then ask: is there a single, organized effort our congregation makes toward any of them? If not, what would a first step be?

Build a sending culture, not just a sending event. A mission trip once a year is an event. A congregation where members routinely invite, study, and bring people is a culture. What's one thing our congregation could do to make evangelism normal and expected rather than exceptional?

Personal Commitment
Before you leave, write down one thing — and put a date on it.
* The name of the one person I will pursue this month: ____________
* The first step I will take with them, and by when: ____________
* One temporary thing I will spend less on so I can invest more in eternal things: ____________
* The younger or newer Christian I will begin investing in: ____________

Closing Prayer
* Thank God that He chose to send a Savior rather than build us more scenery.
* Ask forgiveness for the times we've been more impressed by buildings, comfort, and numbers than by souls.
* Pray by name — silently — for the person each of us wrote down.
* Ask God for the courage to walk out our own front door and see the people there as He sees them.
* Ask that when we stand before Him one day, our stringers would not be empty.

Next Week
Open class by asking: did you take the step you wrote down? What happened with the name on your card? Don't skip this. A sending church follows up.

5-Day Devotional: Sent to Seek and Save

Day 1: Beyond Buildings to Souls
Reading: Matthew 24:1-2; 1 Samuel 16:7

Devotional: The disciples marveled at the magnificent temple stones, but Jesus saw their coming destruction. How often do we focus on impressive outward appearances while missing what truly matters? God looks beyond our buildings, programs, and visible accomplishments straight to the heart. The question isn't how impressive our facilities are, but how faithfully we're reaching souls. Today, ask yourself: Am I more concerned with what impresses people or what impacts eternity? The stones will crumble, the buildings will fade, but souls last forever. Let's shift our gaze from temporary structures to eternal treasures—the people around us who need Christ.

Day 2: God's Sending Business
Reading: John 3:16-17; John 17:18; John 20:21

Devotional: Notice the divine pattern: The Father sent Jesus. Jesus sent the apostles. The apostles sent faithful men. The church continues sending today. God could have spent eternity creating new galaxies, but instead He focused on sending His Son to save humanity. This reveals God's heart; He's in the sending business, not just the building business. We are expected to continue this mission. You may not be able to cross oceans, but you can cross streets, reach neighbors, and share truth with coworkers. Every Christian has a role: go, send, support, or do all three. Disobedience isn't an option. How are you participating in God's sending mission today?

Day 3: The Unfinished Book of Acts
Reading: Acts 11:19-24; 2 Timothy 2:2

Devotional: Luke finished writing Acts, but the church's history continues. What chapter are you writing with your life? The early Christians, though scattered by persecution, went everywhere preaching the Word. They faced threats we'll never encounter, yet they prioritized souls over safety. Today, we enjoy religious freedom, comfortable buildings, and abundant resources. What's our excuse for silence? The history of the church in our generation is being recorded. Will it say we had air-conditioned buildings with powerful projectors, or that we sacrificed comfort to reach the lost? Our daily choices, conversations, and priorities are writing this chapter. Make yours count for eternity.

Day 4: Fishers of Men
Reading: Luke 19:10; Matthew 4:19; Luke 5:10

Devotional: Jesus came to seek and save the lost, not to build impressive structures or establish comfortable communities, although He was a carpenter by trade. He tells us to pursue the same mission: "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." One day we'll stand before our Lord who left heaven's glory for a carpenter's cottage, who had nowhere to lay His head, who paid taxes with a coin from a fish's mouth. What will we show Him? Empty stringers or a full net of souls we've helped rescue? The world is at our doorstep—literally. In our diverse communities, we don't need to travel far to reach nations. Will you cast your net today?

Day 5: Don't Waste Your Life
Reading: 2 Peter 3:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

Devotional: Imagine standing before God and reporting how you spent your life: busy career, comfortable retirement, nice possessions, leisure activities. These aren't evil, but if they consumed your time and resources while souls perished, will God say, "You wasted your life?" Everything material will burn: the buildings, the buses, the comfortable pews. Only souls endure. The true greatness of a church isn't measured by seating capacity but sending capacity. Before it's too late, evaluate your priorities. Are you trading eternal souls for temporary seashells? Invest your remaining days in what lasts forever. Let your life count for something that will matter when everything else turns to ash.