Sermon Questions – March 29, 2026

Series: Vice and Virtue (Lent 2026)
Text: Luke 19:28-40, Luke 23:50-53
Title: Envy and Kindness

Invited: What is something you enjoy doing with others that is not competitive?

Loved: Competition comes up so easily in our world. Is all competition bad? Talk about where you’ve experienced competition in appropriate and inappropriate ways, and how it connects to Envy.

Shaped:

• Henry Fairlie describes Envy as “the nastiest, the most grim, the meanest” vice. “It has the ugliness of a trapped rat that has gnawed its own feet in its efforts to escape” (61). What is Envy, and why is this Fairlie’s assessment?
• Pastor Cara talks about the Pharisees in Luke 19 as an example of Envy. Make a list of other Scriptural examples of Envy, and use them to discuss how Envy can ruin relationships (love of self, others, God). (For example, how does the theme of envy show up at the end of Jesus’ Prodigal Son story in Luke 15:28-32?)
• Discuss, with reference to your own experience of Envy: “The envious long to be superior, for their self-esteem depends on outranking others in the relevant field of comparison.[…] If we reflect on those we envy, we are likely to discover how we define our own identity and where we see that identity as most vulnerable.” (Rebecca Koningdyk DeYoung, Glittering Vices 76-77)
• What is the virtue of Kindness, and how is it the antidote to Envy? Point to examples of Kindness from Scripture and/or from our world.
• At its best, Kindness is rooted in the belief that we have inherent worth from God, not from anything we have or have done. What helps you to believe in your belovedness and avoid the comparison game?

Sent: How can you cultivate the virtue of Kindness in your life during this Lent? Share one step you will take, and invite your group to support you. Pray for one another.