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Opening Prayer
Begin with a prayer that sets the tone for the study, asking for openness and understanding as participants delve into the themes of light, darkness, and the Holy Spirit's guidance.
Sample Prayer:
God, thank You for giving us freedom through grace. Help us recognize the places where fear, rules, or our desire to be right keep us from loving people well. Teach us to trust You instead of trying to control everything ourselves. Give us open minds, humble hearts, and the courage to choose love. Amen.
Prep Questions
Have you ever watched The Executioner and Her Way of Life? What did you think of it?
If you were transported into an isekai world, what special power would you want?
Are you naturally more comfortable with clear rules or with situations that require flexibility?
Have you ever seen a rule that started with good intentions but eventually caused harm?
Why do you think people sometimes become afraid when something unfamiliar enters their community?
Link to Video
Shortened Transcript
The Executioner and Her Way of Life is set in a world where people from Japan, called Lost Ones, arrive with powerful abilities. After some of those powers caused massive disasters, the Church created Executioners like Menou to kill Lost Ones before they become dangerous.
Menou has been raised to believe this is necessary. But when she meets Akari, a Lost One who cannot easily be killed, that certainty starts to crack.
The sermon connects this to Galatians 5. Paul is angry because Christians are being told that following Jesus is not enough and that they must also follow religious requirements like circumcision.
Paul pushes back hard. Our righteousness does not come from keeping the law perfectly. What matters is “faith working through love,” and the law is summed up in one command: love your neighbor as yourself.
The danger is that fear can turn into rules, and rules can turn into systems that hurt people. The challenge for the Church is to make sure our desire to be right or safe does not get in the way of loving our neighbor.
Guided Questions
Why do you think the people in The Executioner and Her Way of Life became afraid of the Lost Ones?
Do you think the Faust could believe they are doing something good while still causing harm? Why?
Menou has been taught since childhood that killing Lost Ones is necessary. Why can it be difficult to question something we have always been taught?
In Galatians 5, why is Paul so upset about Christians being told they must be circumcised?
Paul says that “the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” What do you think that means?
What is the difference between following Jesus and trying to prove that we are righteous?
Why can adding more religious rules sometimes feel safer than trusting God?
What are some ways a church or Christian community can become reactionary when culture changes?
How can something that begins with good intentions eventually become harmful?
Paul says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” How can that command help us evaluate our rules, traditions, or responses to people?
What do you think it looks like to “get out of the way” and allow Jesus to work in someone’s life?
How can a community hold strong beliefs while still being loving and welcoming toward people who are different?
Activity
The Reaction Test
Give everyone a piece of paper, a notes app, or divide the group into smaller teams.
Present a few imaginary situations where something new or uncomfortable enters a church community.
Examples:
Someone comes to church who knows almost nothing about Christianity.
A teenager asks a difficult question that makes people uncomfortable.
Someone has a lifestyle, background, or story that most of the group does not understand.
A new ministry idea does not look like anything the church has done before.
Someone disagrees with the group about an issue everyone assumed was settled.
For each situation, ask participants to write down their first reaction.
Then ask them to examine that reaction using three questions:
Does this response do good?
Could this response cause harm?
Does this response help us love this person as our neighbor?
After everyone has had time to think, invite participants to discuss what they noticed.
Remind the group that the goal is not to pretend every decision is easy. The goal is to notice how quickly fear or discomfort can push us toward controlling people rather than loving them.
After Questions
Use these at the end or as take-home reflection.
Was your first reaction different from your response after thinking about love and harm?
b. Why do we often create rules when we are afraid?
c. Can a rule have good intentions and still produce harmful results?
d. How can we tell the difference between healthy boundaries and legalism?
e. When have you seen Christians become more focused on being right than loving their neighbor?
f. What does “faith working through love” look like in an actual relationship?
g. Is there a person or group you find especially difficult to understand? What could loving them as your neighbor look like?
h. Where might you need to trust Jesus more instead of trying to control the outcome?
Spiritual Practice
Faith Working Through Love
This week, notice one moment when fear, frustration, or judgment shapes your reaction to someone.
Pause and ask:
What would love look like here?
Then do that.
Pray:
“Jesus, help my faith work through love.”
Closing Prayer
Conclude with a prayer that acknowledges the Holy Spirit's presence and asks for continued guidance and protection in the journey of faith.
Sample Prayer:
Jesus, thank You that our hope is found in You and not in our ability to make ourselves righteous. Forgive us for the times when fear has made us controlling, when rules have become more important than people, or when being right has mattered more to us than loving our neighbor.
Teach us to do good. Help us do no harm. Draw us closer to You and closer to one another.
Give us wisdom when situations are complicated, humility when we do not understand, and courage to love people we might otherwise avoid. Help our faith work through love, and when we are tempted to take Your place, remind us to get out of the way and trust You.
Amen.
Notes From The Nerd Pastor:
The Executioner and Her Way of Life shows how fear can become a system.
The Lost Ones caused real harm, but the Faust responded by building a system where people like Menou are trained to kill them automatically.
Galatians gives us a similar warning. Paul sees Christians adding religious requirements to the gospel and reminds them that righteousness comes through Christ, not through proving ourselves with rules.
The center of Paul’s argument is simple: faith should work through love.
The question for us is not just, “Am I right?” It is, “Am I loving my neighbor?”
Resource Notes:
Find basic information about The Executioner and Her Way of Life through the anime or light novel’s reference materials.
Read Galatians 5:2–15 before leading the study. Pay special attention to verses 6, 13–15 and Paul’s contrast between legalism, freedom, and love.
Helpful Nerd Terms:
The Executioner and Her Way of Life – A fantasy story set in a world where people from Japan can suddenly appear with extraordinary powers.
Isekai – A genre of Japanese storytelling where a character is transported or reborn into another world.
Lost Ones – People who arrive in the story’s fantasy world from Japan.
Pure Concepts – Extraordinary powers possessed by Lost Ones.
Human Errors – Massive disasters caused when Lost Ones lost control of their Pure Concepts.
Faust – The Church class responsible for managing the threat posed by Lost Ones.
Executioners – Members of the Faust who secretly kill Lost Ones to prevent future disasters.
Menou – The protagonist, an Executioner raised by the Church and trained to eliminate Lost Ones.
Akari Tokitō – A Lost One whose Pure Concept of Time allows her to reverse her own death.
Noblesse – The noble class within the world of the story.
Legalism – In the context of this study, relying on religious rules or requirements as the measure of righteousness rather than trusting God’s grace.
Theological Themes:
Grace, legalism, Christian freedom, faith working through love, loving your neighbor, fear, religious rules, self-righteousness, harm, community, welcome, freedom in Christ, reactionary faith, trust, humility, discipleship, grace versus works, religious systems, belonging, Christian ethics, doing good, doing no harm, spiritual growth.
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