Sermon Study Guide | Series: Beyond the Ballot | Sermon: Week 2 — Posture for People, Policies, and the Polls | Scripture: Proverbs 27:6; James 1:19–24; Philippians 2:1–11; Matthew 5:9 | Date: October 25, 2026

CONNECT - “A Personal Reflection”

This section is designed to help you relate personally to the theme of the sermon. It encourages you to reflect on your own life experiences and how they connect to the message.

Most of us would describe our convictions by explaining what we believe and why it matters. But the people around us also experience our convictions through our conduct. They hear how we talk about someone who is not in the room. They notice what makes us defensive, whose failures we excuse, and what happens when we do not get our way. Sometimes those reactions reveal something we have not yet recognized about ourselves.

Think about a recent political headline or conversation that brought out a strong reaction in you. What happened before you had time to think—tension, anger, sarcasm, withdrawal, or the need to prove something? What might that reaction reveal about what has been forming you? Share with your group.

ENGAGE - “Exploring the Scripture”

This section invites you to dive into the biblical passage, discuss its meaning, and apply it to your life through thoughtful questions.

ENGAGE

• Read Proverbs 27:6. The message asks, “Are my beliefs being challenged or my behavior being confronted?” Why can it be difficult to recognize the difference? What helps you receive an honest observation without immediately defending yourself?
  
  
• Read James 1:19–20. Notice the order: quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Which part is hardest for you right now? How do the voices and platforms you spend time with encourage or undermine that order?
  
  
• James says human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. Think about something you are angry about that genuinely matters. What has your response been producing in you and in the people around you?
  
  
• Read James 1:22–24. James describes someone who looks in a mirror and then forgets what he saw. When you catch a glimpse of contempt, superiority, or cynicism in your own reactions, what explanations help you walk away from the mirror? What would responding to God’s word require instead?
  
  
• The message acknowledges that our posture can develop around real pain: fear for people we love, grief over what has been lost, or years of feeling dismissed. What might be underneath one of your recurring reactions? What would it look like to bring that honestly to God?
  
  
• Read Philippians 2:1–4. Before asking the church to change its conduct, Paul reminds them of the encouragement, love, and belonging they have received in Christ. Why does that starting point matter? How does being secure in God’s love make honest self-examination possible?
  
  
• Paul names selfish ambition and conceit as threats to life together. The message describes “empty glory” as the hunger to appear right or superior even when nothing good is being built. Where are you most tempted to win a moment at the expense of a relationship?
  
  
• Philippians 2:4 calls us to consider the interests of others. Whose interests are hardest for you to take seriously this election season? What would you need to learn about their lives before assuming you understand their concerns?
  
  
• Read Philippians 2:5–8. Jesus responds to his position and authority by taking the form of a servant. How does his example challenge the way we use influence in our homes, workplaces, churches, and political conversations?
  
  
• The message says, “We don’t fix our posture to earn our place.” How is receiving Christ’s forgiveness and growing from that belonging different from trying to become good enough for God? Where do you need that distinction right now?
  
  
• Read Philippians 2:9–11. The message reminds us that our responsibility is to bend our own knees before Jesus. Where might you be more interested in making someone else submit than allowing Jesus to challenge your own conduct?
  
  
• Read Matthew 5:9. The message distinguishes between peacebreakers who escalate, peacekeepers who avoid, and peacemakers who enter tension with truth and love. Which response comes most naturally to you? What might peacemaking ask of you in a real relationship?
  
  
• Could you describe a political view you disagree with so fairly that someone who holds it would say, “Yes, that’s what I believe, and that’s why”? What makes that difficult? How could listening that carefully strengthen the honesty of your own convictions?
  
  
• Imagine the morning after the election. Whether you feel relief, disappointment, fear, or hope, what kind of person do you want your neighbors and family to encounter? What could you begin practicing now so that your response bears a resemblance to Jesus?

APPLY - “Putting the Scriptures into Action”

This section challenges us to take what we’ve learned and implement it in practical ways in our daily lives.

• Continue the Headline Practice. Before reacting to a political headline, give it sixty seconds. Pause. Notice what is happening in your body. Name what you are feeling. Ask: “What is this story trying to form in me?” Pray for the people involved, including those you disagree with, by name when possible. Then decide how to engage.
  
  
• Return to the mirror each evening. Ask which headline or conversation brought out your strongest reaction that day. Write one honest sentence about what you noticed. Resist rushing to excuse it or promising an immediate fix. Bring what you saw to God and stay with it long enough to remember.
  
  
• Invite a faithful friend to speak. Ask someone you trust: “What have you noticed about how I respond when I disagree with people?” Listen without explaining every example. If no one comes to mind, take one step toward a group or relationship where you can become known.
  
  
• Practice a posture for people. Choose one person you tend to reduce to a political label. Pray for them by name. Speak about them as you would if they were sitting beside you. Look for one concrete way to treat them as a neighbor whose life and concerns matter.
  
  
• Practice a posture for policies. Choose one view you disagree with and learn to describe it accurately before responding. Ask a sincere question and listen to the answer. Then revisit the question from last week: “Where does following Jesus challenge my own side?”
  
  
• Practice a posture for the polls. Write down how you want to treat people after the election, whatever the outcome. Be specific about a relationship, conversation, or group chat. Consider what it would mean to remain present, speak honestly, and care for someone whose response differs from yours.

PRAY - “Seeking God’s Guidance”

This section offers a short prayer to help us center our hearts and invite God to work in our lives through his scripture.

Jesus, thank you that you came toward us as a servant and gave yourself for us before we could make ourselves whole. We do not have to earn a place with you by getting every response right. Help us trust your love enough to look honestly at what our responses reveal.

You know the fears beneath our defensiveness, the grief beneath our cynicism, and the wounds we have learned to protect. Give us words for what hurts. Forgive us for the times we have passed that hurt on to someone else through contempt, careless speech, or indifference.

Make us quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Help us notice what our anger is producing. Free us from the need to appear superior, and teach us to consider the interests of people we find difficult to understand.

Bring one person to mind whom you are inviting us to love more faithfully. Give us courage to receive correction, tell the truth with humility, and use our influence to serve. Whatever happens at the polls, keep forming your character in us so that our neighbors experience something of your peace. Amen.

If you have feedback on this guide or ideas that would help your group engage more deeply, we’d love to hear from you. 

Your insight helps us continue growing as a church that wrestles honestly and walks faithfully together. Contact msummers@menlo.church

FIVE DAY DEVOTIONAL

Beyond the Ballot // Week 2

Our convictions are only as deep as our character in Christ.

Read the Scripture first. Sit with it before you read anything else. Then, before you open the news, try the Headline Practice. Each evening, return briefly to the mirror: What did my reactions reveal today?

DAY ONE // QUICK AND SLOW

Read: James 1:19–20

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Notice the order.

Quick to listen. Slow to speak. Slow to become angry.

Many of our habits move in the other direction. We read enough to recognize which side a story belongs to, begin composing our response, and feel our anger rising before we have understood what happened.

James interrupts that rhythm.

Something may be genuinely wrong. Someone may need protection. A concern may deserve a clear response. But James asks us to pay attention to what human anger produces. Feeling certain about a problem does not guarantee that our response is helping.

Think about the last conversation that left you agitated. Did the other person feel heard? Did you learn anything? Did your words help anyone move toward what is good?

Today, give someone enough time to finish. Ask one question before explaining your position. Notice what happens inside you while you wait.

Reflect: Which is hardest for you right now: listening quickly, speaking slowly, or being slow to anger? What are you afraid might happen if you slow down?

Pray: God, you know how quickly I begin defending myself. When something matters deeply, I can mistake urgency for permission to stop listening. Help me hear the person in front of me. Give me patience to understand, courage to speak when needed, and wisdom to recognize whether my anger is helping produce what you desire. Amen.

DAY TWO // THE MIRROR

Read: James 1:22–24

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Sometimes we recognize ourselves in a reaction we wish we had not had.

The satisfaction when someone we dislike is embarrassed. The sarcastic comment that comes easily. The impatience with a person whose fear we do not share.

For a moment, the mirror is clear.

Then the explanations arrive.

I was tired. They started it. Anyone would have responded that way.

Some explanations contain truth. We do get tired. People do hurt us. But an explanation can also become a way to avoid responding to what God has shown us.

James invites us to let hearing become doing.

That may begin with admitting what happened without editing it. It may lead to an apology, a changed habit, or a conversation with someone who knows us well.

You do not have to understand everything about yourself today. You can stay present to one thing God is bringing into view.

Reflect: What have your recent reactions shown you that you would rather explain away? What would one honest response look like?

Pray: God, help me stay with what you show me. I am afraid that admitting what is wrong will become the whole story about who I am. Remind me that I am loved while I am being changed. Give me courage to name what happened, receive your mercy, and take the next faithful step. Amen.

DAY THREE // EMPTY GLORY

Read: Philippians 2:1–4

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Paul begins by reminding the church of what they have received: encouragement in Christ, comfort from love, fellowship in the Spirit.

They have a belonging from which to live.

Then he asks them to consider one another.

That sounds reasonable until the other person’s interests complicate our position. Their story introduces a cost we had not considered. Their fear makes an issue less simple. Their experience raises a question our preferred explanation does not answer.

We may feel an urge to dismiss them so we can return to certainty.

Paul calls us toward humility.

You can take another person’s concerns seriously while continuing to work through your disagreement. You can ask what they need without pretending to have every answer.

Today, think of someone whose perspective you regularly dismiss. What do you actually know about the life behind their opinion?

Reflect: Whose interests are hardest for you to consider? What might change if understanding their concerns became more important than appearing right?

Pray: Jesus, thank you for the comfort and belonging I have received in you. Let that security loosen my need to look superior. Show me where I have dismissed someone because their experience complicates my assumptions. Give me the humility to ask, the patience to listen, and the generosity to care about what matters to them. Amen.

DAY FOUR // HE CAME DOWN

Read: Philippians 2:5–11

“He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Paul gives us a picture of Jesus using his position to serve.

He takes the form of a servant. He enters human life. He becomes obedient all the way to the cross.

Stay with that movement for a moment.

We often reach for control when we feel threatened. We want the last word, the favorable outcome, the assurance that no one can take advantage of us. We can carry those habits into faith and ask Jesus to help us secure them.

But his life begins to reshape what we ask for.

What would it mean to use the influence we already have for someone else’s good? To admit a mistake when we could avoid it? To serve someone who cannot improve our standing?

Jesus has already come toward us in grace. We can bring him our clenched hands and ask him to teach us how to live from what we have received.

Reflect: Where are you grasping for control, recognition, or the last word? How might Jesus be inviting you to serve in that same place?

Pray: Jesus, you humbled yourself and gave your life for us. I confess how tightly I hold my reputation, my influence, and my preferred outcomes. Help me trust your care when obedience feels costly. Teach me to use what I have for another person’s good, and keep drawing me back to your grace as I learn. Amen.

DAY FIVE // FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

Read: Matthew 5:9; Proverbs 27:6

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

Peacemaking takes us into actual relationships.

There is someone to listen to, something truthful to say, an apology to make, or a concern that needs patient attention.

Some of us escalate quickly. Others keep everything pleasant while difficult things remain untouched. Jesus invites us to learn a way of being present that can hold both truth and love.

We need help learning it.

Proverbs describes the gift of a faithful friend who will tell us what we may struggle to see. That friendship gives us somewhere to bring an honest question: What is it like to disagree with me?

Let someone answer.

They may notice growth you have missed. They may name a habit that needs attention. Receiving either can become part of learning the family resemblance Jesus describes.

The next conversation is a place to practice.

Reflect: Who can speak honestly about your posture? What would make it easier for that person to tell you the truth?

Pray: Father, make me willing to be known. Give me a faithful friend, and help me receive their honesty without punishing them for it. Show me where peace requires an apology, a difficult truth, or patient listening. As I enter those conversations, form in me the humility and love people saw in Jesus. Amen.

The practice continues. Before you react to a political headline, give it sixty seconds. Pause. Notice. Name. Ask. Pray. Engage. At the end of the day, look back: What did my reactions reveal about what is forming me?

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