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Tim Bailey – Upsidedown

Freedom: Love (Bailey Book Study – Part 4)

Feb 18th, 2010
by Michael Krahn.
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These posts will be a series of study notes and questions for the book that our Life Group is studying together. The book is “Upsidedown” by Tim Bailey. You can read a review of the book and order it here. Feel free to read along and join the discussion in the comments section below.

The content for these questions is found on pages 33-50.

FREEDOM

“Freedom can be frightening after being in bondage for so long.” Can you talk about any examples of this, either from your own life or someone else’s?

“The deep human tragedy is that we are in bondage to ourselves – the freedom we need is freedom from ourselves. We are the most oppressive master we’ll ever know… demanding more than we can give – and never being satisfied.”

Why is it then that freedom is most often seen as “being able to do whatever you want to do?

When given the choice between choosing God or choosing self as master, we always seem to choose self?

Romans 6 talks about freedom and slavery. It is a passage that is packed with implications about to what and to whom we are to be enslaved. The point here is not escaping slavery but to be enslaved to the right thing.

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (verses 16-18)

What can it possibly mean to be a slave of righteousness?

LOVE

“Imagine living life as if you are loved -not for who you are, what you have done, or what you could do – but simply because of who it is that loves you.”

We often hear that “In order to love others, first you have to love yourself.” Is this really the way it works?

Vulnerable and Authentic (Bailey Book Study – Part 3)

Jan 28th, 2010
by Michael Krahn.
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These posts will be a series of study notes and questions for the book that our Life Group is studying together. The book is “Upsidedown” by Tim Bailey. You can read a review of the book and order it here. Feel free to read along and join the discussion in the comments section below. The content for these questions is found on pages 26-30.

Vulnerable and Authentic: Let’s Get Real…

In this section of the book, Bailey makes some challenging, and perhaps even frightening, statements about vulnerability:

“Vulnerability has not been known as a positive word in our culture. It is a battle word used to depict weakness. Yet in community, vulnerability becomes the essential catalyst.”

Have you had an experience in which you tried to be vulnerable and it backfired? How about when you tried to be vulnerable and it turned out well?

“Without vulnerability, you surrender yourself to a life of never being loved by anyone.” Rather than seeing vulnerability as something by which you will be taken advantage of, you must see it as the only way to being loved.

Is this statement true?

“Vulnerability is simply allowing others to ‘see’ the person you and God know. It is leaving the protection of yourself to someone else.” When we embrace vulnerability, we are give others power. They may take what we’ve told them and tell others, causing great damage to both our reputation and our confidence.

Examples anyone?

Authenticity:

“As we allow people to access who we really are and engage in the messiness of intimacy, we discover community.’

“Authenticity isn’t avoiding hypocrisy – it is admitting it.”

In order to be truly authentic, you have to admit that you are a hypocrite. “Authenticity is revealing the ‘you’ that God knows – mess and all.

How do you respond when someone accuses you of being a hypocrite? In what ways are we all hypocrites?

Intimacy (Bailey Book Study – Part 2)

Jan 2nd, 2010
by Michael Krahn.
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These posts will be a series of study notes and questions for the book that our Life Group is studying together. The book is “Upsidedown” by Tim Bailey. You can read a review of the book and order it here. Feel free to read along and join the discussion in the comments section below. The content for these questions is found on pages 18-26.

INTIMACY – Giving Up Your Privacy

I love the picture above. Have you ever sat in the same room as your spouse and chatted online or via text? I know Anne Marie and I have. It raises questions about intimacy and relationship.

“We know we have an intimate relationship with others when our ‘privacy’ includes them.” (p19) Bailey explores the contrast between ‘knowing’ and ‘being known’. We love to know things about others but when the situation is reversed, we say “That’s a private matter.”

Why do we accept this double standard? Why do magazines like People and US sell millions of copies every week? Are the people in those magazines really that interesting? Why?

Read Psalm 139.

What do you see in this Psalm that gives you comfort? What do you see that causes some fear? Considering how well the Psalmist says God knows us, does it make sense to attempt to hide anything from him?

“Loneliness is not about not knowing anyone – it’s about not being known by anyone. It’s the result of valuing privacy over all.” (p21)

What are some reasons people resist being known? When it comes down to it, how many people are you really known by?

How can a church become a community that embraces intimacy?


Community (Bailey Book Study – Part 1)

Dec 12th, 2009
by Michael Krahn.
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http://zope298.itcilo.org/delta/LLEL/LifeLongElearning/en/admin/images/community-712702.jpgThese posts will be a series of study notes and questions for the book that our Life Group is studying together. The book is “Upsidedown” by Tim Bailey. You can read a review of the book and order it here. Feel free to read along and join the discussion in the comments section below.

Bailey begins the book with the following statement:

“Jesus turns everything right side up. Responding to a world of individuals in bondage to self through Satan’s lie, God sent Jesus to initiate a community of freedom that worships him in Spirit and truth.”

What are some symptoms of being in bondage to self?

Where do you see evidence of this in our society?

If we are in bondage to self, why is so much time and effort spent trying to find our “true self”?

Bailey’s stated goal for the book is that it, “helps you fail miserably at being selfish.” An honorable goal.

Chapter 1(a) Community

“It seems we have bought into the lie that those who have really ‘made it’ in life never have to ask for help… We feel that if we can go through life without putting anyone out, we’ve done a great deed.” (p10)

Does this reflect the way you live your life?

What would change if you chose to believe that God intended for us to need each other and rely on each other?

The way we live is a testimony to how we feel about individualism: we embrace it. Evidence of this is found in our gated communities, fenced yards, the avoidance of eye contact, the lack of carpooling, and the fact that we would, “rather stare blankly at an ad for hemorrhoid cream than talk to someone sitting right next to us.” Yet it is difficult to deny that while we strive for the privacy of individualism, many people also have a profound sense of feeling alone.

Have you ever experienced the irony of life as Bailey describes it: “leave me alone, I’m lonely…”? (p11)

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We’ll leave it there for now…