Tragedy of the Unopened Gift

Get Out of the Boat
Leaders’ Guide / Lesson Plan


Get Out of the Boat: Session Two, “The Tragedy of the Unopened Gift”

Key Points of Session Two:

God has given each of us a great gift. Each gift is immensely valuable and unique to each of us. God gives us the choice of how to use it.

God intends for us to use our gift in his service. As the Lord of the Settled Account and the Lord of the Reward, he will hold us accountable for the choices we make --- Ortberg makes the point that Jesus’ parable also shows God as Lord of the Reward – rewarding us for the service we give. Anticipate that some in your groups might have questions about this point --- and we will talk more about this concept.

It is a tragedy to leave the gift unopened. That is, to refuse to step out of the boat in faith and use our gift to the best of our ability.


Reading and Materials:
After last week, you’ll know more about specific materials you might need --- for instance, did folks in your group bring their own bibles, paper and pencils/pens? Did your dvd/tv setup work appropriately? This is a good time to think about your experience from the week before and make necessary changes.

A Note About Reading ---- You may have noticed (hopefully) that this study is built in 6 sessions, but the book has 10 chapters. If your folks have read at least to Chapter 2 by this session, they’ll be ok. Encourage them to read ahead and start covering multiple chapters per week in their reading so that they finish the entire book by the last session. The sessions won’t always break into an easy chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, etc. style, but the sessions will move chronologically through the book.

I. -Introduce the topic for the week --- Gifts

-Welcome everybody and make any group announcements

-Prayer time --- invite joys and concerns and then offer an opening prayer. It’s great to let someone from the group say the prayer if you’ve talked about this with them beforehand. Don’t put anybody on the spot to pray.

-Starter Questions: Ask your group a couple of the following questions to get the conversation ball rolling:

1. What is the most valuable, irreplaceable gift that you’ve ever received?


2. What is the risk in using such a gift? What is the risk in keeping it safe and unused?

3. What system or standards do we use to value gifts?

II. Play the Video

Talk about the Video –

1. Talk about Ortberg’s grandmother’s china. How strongly do you believe that God has given each of us a gift?

2. What parallels do you see between Jesus’ parable of the servants and the ways that we choose to use our gifts?

3. Talk about Ortberg’s concept of God as “Lord of the Gift,” “Lord of the Settled Account,” and “Lord of the Reward.” Have group members define each of these as they understand them from the parable and the video presentation. Conversation may free-flow here a bit, and that’s ok.

If conversation needs to be stoked --- you could ask something like, “How accountable do you think God intends to hold us for the ways that we choose to use our gift?”

How does our understanding of God as “full of grace” coincide with his desire for accountability?

If you want to go deeper, ask --- how do you feel about the punishment of the “wicked, lazy” servant who is thrown into the darkness of “weeping and gnashing of teeth?” Again, anticipate that some may be very bothered by this image. Key, for me, is the idea that such punishment is the inevitable and largely self-inflicted reality of a life lived “partially” by those who refuse to use and share their gift in the world.

III. Bible Study

1. Divide into three groups, or perhaps even in pairs (split up the couples).

2. Read I Peter 4:10-11 to the group. God intends for us to use our gifts. Talk about how God describes the use of our gifts in each of these three passages.

3. One group should take “Our Minds,” and look at Romans 12:2, Philippians 4:8, and Colossians 3:2.

4. A second group should look at, “Our Bodies,” through Romans 6:12-13, 12:1, and I Corinthians 6:19-20

5. A third group should look at, “Our Money,” through Proverbs 3:9; Luke 12:15; 14:28 and James 2:14-18

6. Give the groups 5-7 minutes to read and discuss their passages, and then take another 5-7 with each group taking turns to tell their findings to the whole group.

IV. Final Questions for Discussion / Wrap –Up
1. Do you agree with John Ortberg that fear keeps people from using their gifts? What other factors can keep us from using our gifts. --- Note: anticipate that people may volunteer, “we don’t know what they are.”

2. How can followers of Christ discover their gifts and learn to use them? -- encourage participants to think about the things that they are naturally good at, and that they enjoy doing. These are more often the places that God has uniquely gifted us. What gifts have they felt confirmed by other people?

3. What is the danger of comparing the gifts that God has given us to the gifts he has given other people?

4. What is the relationship between using the gifts God has given us and “getting out of the boat?”

V. Prayer

Something like this might be appropriate --- a prayer that God will help us to discover our gifts, and then to have the courage to use them. A prayer of thanksgiving for the people who have attended the group and for the conversation that was shared. Thanks that we are all now a step closer to using our gifts than we were before the meeting began.