New Hope High School – Lesson 7 - The Great Commission - A Study of Matthew – Blessed Are the Merciful

New Hope High School – Lesson 7 - The Great Commission - A Study of Matthew – Blessed Are the Merciful

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.”

Matthew 5:7 New International Version (NIV)

“Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.”

Who is blessed?

How will they be blessed?

In your opinion, why is this an appropriate blessing?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 5:7 show us about the Great Commission?

Exodus 33:12-23 New International Version (NIV)

^12” Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased             with you and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

What does Moses say the Lord is telling him to do (verse 12)?

What does Moses say that the Lord has said about him (verse 12)?

In your opinion, why does Moses say these things before he makes his request of God?

What does Moses want the Lord to teach him (verse 13)?

How does the Lord respond to Moses’ request (verse 14)?

In your opinion, why does Moses request not to be sent if the Lord’s Presence does not go with them (verse 16)?

How does the Lord respond to this request from Moses (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the connection between the statements “I am pleased with you” and “I know you by name”?

After this reassurance from the Lord, what does Moses ask for (verse 18)?

What does the Lord say that He will do instead (verse 19)?

In your opinion, if you heard the quote “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” out of context and standing alone would you think it was hostile or comforting?

In your opinion, what is this the actual meaning?

What did the Lord promise to do with His hand (verse 22)?

In your opinion, what does it mean for us today that God had mercy on Moses when Moses requested something that would have killed him?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Exodus teach us about Matthew 5:7?

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

James 2:1-13 New International Version (NIV)

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,                           ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy            triumphs over judgment.

What are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ not supposed to do (verse 1)?

Could the favoritism illustrated in verses 2 and 3 happen today?

In your opinion, what does it mean to be “poor in the eyes of the world”?

In your opinion, why would God choose those who are “poor in the eyes of the world” to be “rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom”?

Who did God promise the kingdom to (verse 5)?

In your opinion, is there a connection between being one of “those who love him” and being “poor in the eyes of the world”?

In your opinion, which is the worst of the things the rich do: 1) “exploiting you”, 2) “dragging you into court”, or 3) “blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong”?

In your opinion, why, in a discussion that bans favoritism, does the law, “Love your neighbor as yourself” get mentioned?

In your opinion, does verse 10 mean that those who show favoritism are as guilty of breaking the law as the adulterer or the murderer?

In your opinion, what is the “law that gives freedom” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”?

What will happen to those who are not merciful (verse 13)?

What does mercy triumph over (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from James teach us about Matthew 5:7?

In your opinion, what does this passage from James teach us about the Great Commission?

1 Peter 2:4-10 New International Version (NIV)

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Who is the living Stone (verse 4)?

How are we, “God’s elect” in 1 Peter 1:1 described in verse 5?

What is the promise in verse 6 for the one who trusts in the chosen and precious cornerstone?

What is the statement about that same chosen and precious cornerstone found in verse 8?

In verse 9 what is the “chosen people”, the “royal priesthood”, the “holy nation”, “God’s special possession” to do?

In your opinion, why is it significant that the “people of God” are described as those who “have received mercy” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 Peter teach us about Matthew 5:7?

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

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