April 27, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Sinners and Sorrow and Repentance

April 27, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Sinners and Sorrow and Repentance

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.”

Sinners and Sorrow and Repentance

Matthew 9:9-13 – New International Version (NIV)

“⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Where was Matthew sitting when Jesus saw him (verse 9)?

What did Jesus say to Matthew (verse 9)?

How did Matthew respond to Jesus’s request (verse 9)?

Who came to the dinner at Matthew’s house (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what does it say about Jesus and his disciples that they would eat with tax collectors and sinners (verse 10)?

What was the Pharisees question to Jesus’s disciples when they saw the people at Matthew’s house for the meal (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what does this indicate that Jesus knew about why He was here (verse 12)?

What did Jesus ask the Pharisees to do (verse 13)?

Who did Jesus come to call (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus not come to call the righteous (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 9:9-13 show us about the Great Commission?

Micah 6:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

“Listen to what the Lord says:

“Stand up, plead my case before the mountains;
    let the hills hear what you have to say.

² “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation;
    listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
    he is lodging a charge against Israel.

³ “My people, what have I done to you?
    How have I burdened you? Answer me.
⁴ I brought you up out of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you,
    also Aaron and Miriam.
⁵ My people, remember
    what Balak king of Moab plotted
    and what Balaam son of Beor answered.
Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.”

Who does Micah say is speaking (verse 1)?

To whom will the Lord’s case be plead (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why would the Lord’s accusation and the case He is lodging be stated to the mountains, the “everlasting foundations of the earth” (verse 2)?

What question does the Lord ask (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the Lord’s comments in verses 4 and 5?

In your opinion, what should the questions that Micah ask prompt us to ask today (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what point is Micah making in the questions in verse 7?

What has the Lord shown us, as mortals (verse 8)?

What does the Lord require of us (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what does Micah’s statements about offerings and what God requires help us understand about Jesus’s response to the Pharisees in Matthew 9:9-13?

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

2 Corinthians 7:8-12 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ “Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— ⁹ yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. ¹⁰ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. ¹¹ See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. ¹² So even though I wrote to you, it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are.”

What does Paul not regret (verse 8)?

How long did Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians hurt them (verse 8)?

Why is Paul happy now (verse 9)?

In your opinion, how could the sorrow of the Corinthians led to their repentance (verse 9)?

What had God intended for the Corinthians (verse 9)?

What does Godly sorrow bring (verse 10)?

What does worldly sorrow bring (verse 10)?

In your opinion, how does Godly sorrow producing earnestness, eagerness to clear, indignation, alarm, longing, concern and readiness to see justice done prove innocence (verse 11)?

Why did Paul write the Corinthians (verse 12)?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s discussion of Godly sorrow help us understand the instructions that Micah gave regarding the command to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

In your opinion, how does Paul’s instruction about Godly sorrow teach us about Jesus’s response to the tax collectors and with the Pharisees in Matthew 9:9-13?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 2 Corinthians 2:8-12 show us about the Great Commission?

2 Peter 3:3-13 – New International Version (NIV)

³ “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ⁵ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶ By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷ By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”

When will the scoffers come (verse 3)?

What will the scoffers be following (verse 3)?

What will the scoffers say (verse 4)?

In your opinion, why did Peter say that the scoffers “deliberately forget” that “by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed” (verse 5)?

By what was the world deluged and destroyed (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why does Peter say that “by the same word” the heavens and the earth are reserved for fire (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why would the present heavens and earth be kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly (verse 7)?

What does Peter say not to forget (verse 8)?

Why does Peter say the Lord is not slow, but is patient instead (verse 9)?

How will the day of the Lord come (verse10)?

What will happen when the day of the Lord comes (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why does Peter say that as we “live holy and godly lives” that we should “look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (verses 11 and 12)?

What dwells in the new heaven and new earth that we are looking forward to (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how does it help us understand God’s patient waiting of 2 Peter 3:3-13 by thinking of the godly sorrow that leads to repentance that Paul discusses in 2 Corinthians 7:8-12?

In your opinion, what similarities do the scoffers of the last days that 2 Peter 3:3-13 discuss and the people that God is making a case to the mountains against in Micah 6:1-8?

In your opinion, how do we combine the fact that Jesus said in Matthew 9:9-13 that he was not calling the righteous but sinners, but Micah says that God wants us to walk humbly with Him, and 2 Peter instructs us to “live holy and godly lives”?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 2 Peter show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 9:14 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)