May 17, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – The Son of David and the One Who Knocks

  

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Son of David and the One Who Knocks

Matthew 22:41-46 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴¹ “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

⁴⁴ “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

⁴⁵ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶ No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

Who was gathered together (verse 41)?

What question did Jesus ask them (verse 42)?

How did they answer (verse 42)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say that David was “speaking by the Spirit” (verse 43)?

What does “the Lord” say that “my Lord” should do until He will “put your enemies under your feet” (verse 44)?

In your opinion, why does the question Jesus asks, “If then David calls him ‘Lord’ how can he be his son” confound the Pharisees (verse 45)?

Who could “say a word in reply” (verse 46)?

In your opinion, why didn’t anyone dare ask Jesus more questions (verse 46)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 22:41-46 show us about the Great Commission?

Psalm 110 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”

² The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
    “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
³ Your troops will be willing
    on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
    your young men will come to you
    like dew from the morning’s womb.

⁴ The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
    and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
⁷ He will drink from a brook along the way,
    and so he will lift his head high.”

Who said to “my lord” to “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (verse 1)?

Where will the Lord “extend your mighty scepter” from (verse 2)?

How will “your young men” be arrayed (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does David say “you are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (verse 4)?

Who will crush kings on the “day of his wrath” (verse 5)?

Who will He judge (verse 6)?

What will He do when He drinks from “a brook along the way” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, how does knowing that the quote that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:41-46 came from Psalm 110, in which it was followed by discussion about the scepter extending from Zion and the crushing of nations help you understand what the Pharisees thought when they heard it from Jesus?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Psalm 110 show us about the Great Commission?

Hebrews 1:5-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ “For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father”?

Or again,

“I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son”?

⁶ And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

⁷ In speaking of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels spirits,
    and his servants flames of fire.”

⁸ But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
    by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

¹⁰ He also says,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
¹¹ They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
¹² You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”

¹³ To which of the angels did God ever say,

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet”?

¹⁴ Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

In your opinion, to whom did God say, “You are my Son” (verse 5)?

What does God say when He brings “his firstborn into the world” (verse 6)?

Who does God make into spirits (verse)?

Who does God make into flames of fire (verse 7)?

How is the scepter of God’s Son described (verse 8)?

With what is the Son anointed (verse 9)?

Who “laid the foundations of the earth” (verse 10)?

What will perish but the Son remain (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the foundations of the earth and the heavens will be rolled up like a garment by the Son, but the Son will remain the same (verses 11 and 12)?

To whom does God say “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (verse 13)?

What are angels (verse 14)?

In your opinion, how does the understanding of the person that David was talking about when he said “The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” in Psalm 110 change when you get to the passage in Hebrews 1:5-14 where Paul quotes the passage of David and continues to talk about the Father and the Son?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Hebrews 1:5-14 answer the question that Jesus ask the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Hebrews show us about the Great Commission?

Revelation 3:14-22 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Who was John supposed to write to (verse 14)?

How did Jesus describe Himself to the people of Laodicea (verse 14)?

What does Jesus know about the Christians in Laodicea (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say He will “spit you out of my mouth” to the Christians in Laodicea (verse 16)?

How are the Christians of Laodicea deceived (verse 17)?

What kind of gold are the Christians of Laodicea to purchase from Jesus (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus rebuke and discipline those whom He loves (verse 19)?

Where does Jesus say He is (verse 20)?

What will Jesus do for anyone who “hears my voice and opens the door” (verse 20)?

Where is the one who is victorious going to have the right to sit (verse 21)?

Who did Jesus sit down with when He was victorious (verse 21)?

Who should hear what the Spirit says to the churches (verse 22)?

In your opinion, how does it change your understanding of the statement in Hebrews 1:5-14 that Jesus, who God said to “your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom” is the one who tells John in Revelation 3:14-22 that he “stands at the door and knocks”?

In your opinion, how does your understanding of the crushing of kings and the judgment of nations in Psalm 110 expand when you know that the Son of God may want to “spit” the lukewarm from His mouth in Revelation 3:14-22 but that He is knocking at the door and will “come in and eat” with the one who hears His voice and lets Him in?

In your opinion, why might the statement in Revelation 3:14-22 that “those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” change the way we think about how Jesus might have felt about the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Revelation show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 23:1 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 10, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Love God and Love Neighbor

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Love God and Love Neighbor

Matthew 22:34-40 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Who got together after Jesus “silenced the Sadducees” (verse 34)?

How is the one who tested Jesus described (verse 35)?

What question did he ask to test Jesus (verse 36)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (verse 37)?

How does Jesus describe this commandment (verse 38)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say that “love your neighbor as yourself” is like the first commandment (verse 39)?

What hangs on these two commandments (verse 40)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 22:34-40 show us about the Great Commission?

Deuteronomy 6:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ³ Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, ¹¹ houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Where were the “commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed” Moses to teach the Israelite people to be observed (verse 1)?

Who is to “fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you” (verse 2)?

How will it go if Israel hears and is “careful to obey” (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does Moses say “the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (verse 4)?

How should our God be loved (verse 5)?

Where are the commandments to be (verse 6)?

How should the commandments be presented to our children (verse 7)?

When should we talk about the commandments (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to tie them “as symbols” on your hands (verse 8)?

What land is the Lord bringing Israel to (verse 10)?

Who did not build the cities, fill the houses with good things, dig the wells or plant the vineyards and olive groves (verses 10 and 11)?

When are the people of Israel not to forget “the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (verses 11 and 12)?

In your opinion, how does the emphasis on impressing the children with the commandments and talking about them “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” in Deuteronomy 6:1-12 add richness to the commandments that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:34-40?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Deuteronomy show us about the Great Commission?

Leviticus 19:9-18 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ “‘Do not steal.

“‘Do not lie.

“‘Do not deceive one another.

¹² “‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

¹³ “‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.

¹⁴ “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.

¹⁵ “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

¹⁶ “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.

“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.

¹⁷ “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

¹⁸ “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Where should you not reap (verse 9)?

Who should the grapes that have fallen be left for (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why does it say both “do not lie” and “do not deceive one another” in verse 11?

Why should we not “swear falsely by my name” (verse 12)?

What should not be done to the hired worker (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why should we not “curse the deaf” who would not be able to hear the cursing (verse 14)?

What does showing partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great do to justice (verse 15)?

What is the similarity between “spreading slander” and doing “anything that endangers your neighbor’s life” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why does the commandment say “rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in guilt” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, how does the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” put a stronger emphasis on all the commands in verses 9-18a (verse 18)?

In your opinion, how do you think Jesus reading and understanding the different emphasis that framing the two great commands in Deuteronomy 6:1-12 and Leviticus 19:9-18 in a positive sense helped shape the way that he related to people?

In your opinion, how does having all the commandments listed that are listed in Leviticus 19:9-18 made more complete and full by the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” help us understand why Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40 that “all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments” ?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Leviticus show us about the Great Commission?

1 John 4:7-21 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

How do we know that “whoever does not love does not know God” (verse 8)?

Why did God send His one and only Son into the world (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why does John say “this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (verse 10)?

Why should we love each other (verse 11)?

How is God’s love made complete in us (verse 12)?

How do we know that we live in God and that God lives in us (verse 13)?

What happens to anyone who “acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 15)?

In your opinion, how can we “know and rely on the love God has for us” (verse 16)?

What can we have on the “day of judgment” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why is there “no fear in love” (verse 18)?

Why do we love God (verse 19)?

Who is a liar (verse 20)?

What command is given (verse 21)?

In your opinion, how is the command of Leviticus 19:9-18 to “love your neighbor as yourself” expanded by the instruction in 1 John 4:7-21 that “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another”?

In your opinion, how does it enrich your understanding of both our relationship with God when you think that the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” was given in Deuteronomy 6:1-12 by the God who makes it possible for us to love Him as shown by the discussion of love in 1 John 4:7-21 which makes it clear that the love begins with God, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”?

In your opinion, how does the command in 1 John 4:7-21 that “anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” link the two great commands that Jesus gives in Matthew 22:34-40?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 John show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 22:41 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 3, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – The Dead and the Living

  

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Dead and the Living

Matthew 22:23-33 – New International Version (NIV)

²³ “That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰ At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹ But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

³³ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.”

What do the Sadducees say (verse 23)?

Who do the Sadducees reference in asking Jesus their question (verse 24)?

Why is the brother of a man who dies without children supposed to marry his brother’s widow (verse 24)?

How many brothers was the widow in the question supposed to have married (verses 25 and 26)?

In your opinion, why did the Sadducees ask Jesus this question (verse 28)?

Why does Jesus say the Sadducees are in error (verse 29)?

Who will people be like at the resurrection (verse 30)?

Who said something about the “resurrection of the dead” (verse 31)?

In your opinion, why is Jesus able to say that God is “not the God of the dead but of the living” (verse 32)?

How did the crowds respond to the teaching of Jesus (verse 33)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 22:23-33 show us about the Great Commission?

Exodus 3:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

Where was Moses tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law (verse 1)?

How did the angel of the Lord appear to Moses (verse 2)?

Why did Moses go over to the bush (verse 3)?

How did Moses reply when God called “Moses! Moses!” (verse 4)?

In your opinion, why was the place where Moses was standing “holy ground” (verse 5)?

Why did Moses hide his face when God said “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (verse 6)?

What had God seen (verse 7)?

Where was God moving “his people” to (verse 8)?

How were the Egyptians treating the Israelites (verse 9)?

Why was God sending Moses to the Pharaoh (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why did the Sadducees who were trying to trap Jesus in Matthew 22:23-33 not remember the words of God in Exodus 3:1-10, which must have been one of their favorite stories?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Exodus show us about the Great Commission?

Philippians 3:15-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Who does Paul say should “take such a view of things” (verse 15)?

What will God do “if at some point you think differently” (verse 15)?

How should we live (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why should we follow Paul’s example and keep our “eyes on those who live as we do” (verse 17)?

Why does Paul have tears (verse 18)?

What is the destiny of the “enemies of the cross of Christ” (verse 19)?

In your opinion, why is the glory of the “enemies of the cross of Christ” “in their shame” (verse 19)?

Where is our citizenship (verse 20)?

How do we wait for “a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 20)?

What will Jesus do “by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control” (verse 21)?

In your opinion, how is knowledge that Jesus will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” from Philippians 3:15-21 help us to understand how God is able to be “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” as it states in Exodus 3:1-10?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s discussion about the “power that enables him to bring everything under his control” in Philippians 3:15-21 help us to not make the error of the Sadducees in Matthew 22:23-33 of not knowing “the Scriptures or the power of God”?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Philippians show us about the Great Commission?

1 John 3:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵ But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶ No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”

What are we (verse 1)?

What will be “when Christ appears” (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why do those “who have this hope in him purify themselves” (verse 3)?

Who breaks the law (verse 4)?

Why did Christ appear (verse 5)?

What does the “one who lives in him” not do (verse 6)?

What are we not to let anyone do (verse 7)?

Why did “the Son of God” appear (verse 8)?

Why does the “one who is born of God” not go on sinning (verse 9)?

How do we know who the “children of God are and who the children of the devil are” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what can we learn about our “citizenship” “in heaven” that Paul talks about in Philippians 3:15-21 from the discussion of John in 1 John 3:1-10 about the change to those “born of God” because “God’s seed remains in them”?

In your opinion, how is it reassuring to us today that the God who said “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” in Exodus 3:1-10 is also the one who 1 John 3:1-10 says children we are because Christ appeared to take away our sins?

In your opinion, how does it make you feel that the one who said in Matthew 22:23-33 “He is not the God of the dead but of the living” is also the one who when He appears “we shall be like him” according to 1 John 3:1-10?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 John show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 22:34 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)