Connect
Because we’re talking about planks in our eye, how long could you do a plank for?

(Planking is a core exercise/workout where you balance on your forearms + feet, without touching your knees to ground. For reference, the world record for a plank is eight hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds. An average person usually can hold a plank for 30 seconds to 2 minutes but feel free to ask someone else in your family to represent you if you don’t feel up to it!)

View The After Party Video: https://youtu.be/AcnqCfC3Bp4
Feel free to share this link with your Life Group to watch ahead of time or watch together as a group.

Engage
Read Matthew 7:1-5. How do you hear this familiar passage differently today?

Read Romans 2:1, 3-4. What does it mean to you to “have no excuse” in your judgement?

When dealing with people, Jesus always showed the most compassion for those who didn’t put on any pretense; people who knew they had a log in their own eye, in effect. Compare that to the groups that Jesus was always calling out, the ultra religious Pharisees and the teachers of the law, who thought they were righteous just by their external actions, but were fundamentally misrepresenting the God they claimed to follow. As a group, discuss why you think Jesus was so harsh with this group (calling them a “brood of vipers” and “whitewashed tombs”, more in Matthew 23).
How can we as Christ-followers embody a posture of grace-filled humility over self-righteous Bible-beating?

Apply
Scotty established 3 steps towards “plank management”:
Confession: a way to not only name what we’re struggling with, but to have accountability with someone else to help us in getting that plank out of our own eye. Do you have anyone in your life now who you feel like you can confess what you’re struggling with to? How can this group lean into being a safe place for discussing hard topics?

Compassion: When we take what Jesus says seriously, we know that what pulls us away from God isn’t just the “big” sins, it’s gossiping and desiring what isn’t mine to have and being selfish with my time/finances. All of these things should remind us we are works in progress, all falling short of the people God has made us to be. How does this form of introspection lead you to compassion for others?

Advocacy: Jesus used advocacy for the downtrodden and those who knew they were on the wrong path to call them to be the people God had made them to be. They weren’t just sinners, as the teachers of the law had labeled them, that wasn’t their truest identity. They are God’s beloved, children of the most high King. Jesus is in essence giving them a call to remember what they had forgotten: that they are precious and loved and capable of so much more than what they thought. “Go and sin no more” means return home, prodigal son/daughter, your good Father is waiting with open arms. Through all of this, how can we increase grace and decrease a spirit of judgement within ourselves? How can we extend this corporately as Christ’s ambassadors to those around us?

Prayer
Lord, the world is not as you meant it to be. Pain, anger, and shame show up in every corner, it is clear we are far from Eden, from your presence. Our first instinct is to hold responsible everyone but ourselves, to find fault in everyone else. Help us to look inward, to see what is hindering us from being in your presence, from the path you want us to join you on. Guide us in our walk closer to your heart, give us compassion for those in different places of their journey. Teach us to step into relationships and conversations with humility first, and to be willing to walk besides our brothers and sisters, even those across the aisle from us, as holy and true advocates, remembering to drop the stones we thought we had the right to throw. Let us go and sin no more through your mercy and grace.

Bonus: Plank Management Accountability Groups
• Survey your group: what is the current ‘plank’ you’re specifically facing?
• Split into small groups (2-3) to have a space to share more openly (based on similar answers to ‘planks’ or other factors) for 5-10 minutes.
• Use this space to share more about where you’ve noticed the plank in your life and how you can lean on God to start the process of removing it. Put into practice confession through transparency and vulnerability in this safe space, compassionate listening with humility, and advocacy while remembering that safe and helpful relationships are grounded in seeing the other person’s needs and walking alongside their growth at their pace, not using the space to gain higher ground for yourself.
• Set up a few concrete ‘next steps’ within that small group to have accountability in this non-judgemental zone to start the hard work of growth, with support. Perhaps a daily or weekly text or email to check in or schedule a short biweekly video call to share growth that has occurred or meet weekly for a walk to help each other in our desire to grow closer to God - whatever works for the group, but lean into this opportunity. Remember, change does not happen overnight.