July 6, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – The Sabbath Rest

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 Sabbath Rest

Matthew 12:9-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰ and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

¹¹ He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.”

Where did Jesus go (verse 9)?

Who was there (verse 10)?

What were they (the Pharisees) looking for (verse 10)?

Why did they ask Jesus “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus respond by talking about rescuing a sheep from a pit (verse 11)?

How does the value of a person and a sheep compare (verse 12)?

What does Jesus say it is lawful to do on the Sabbath (verse 12)?

How did the man respond to Jesus command to “Stretch out your hand” (verse 13)?

What happened to the man’s hand (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why would the Pharisees respond to the act of healing by plotting to kill Jesus (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 12:9-14 show us about the Great Commission?

Exodus 16:21–30 New International Version (NIV)

²¹ “Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

²⁴ So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵ “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. ²⁶ Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

²⁷ Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? ²⁹ Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.”

When did they the manna (verse 21)?

What happened to the manna when the sun grew hot (verse 21)?

When did they gather twice as much manna (verse 22)?

What is the seventh day to be (verse 23)?

In your opinion, what is a Sabbath rest (verse 23)?

How was the manna that was saved for the Sabbath protected (verse 24)?

What were the Israelites to do for six says and not on the seventh (verse 26)?

What did some of the people do on the seventh day (verse 27)?

In your opinion, why does the Lord say to Moses “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions” for something that seems as minor as going out to pick up the manna on the seventh day (verse 28)?

What did the people do on the seventh day (verse 30)?

In your opinion, how does this early command to rest on the Sabbath in Exodus 16:21-30 help us to understand the Pharisee’s attitude in Matthew 12:9-14?  

In your opinion, does God’s reaction to the violation of the Sabbath rest in Exodus justify the Pharisee’s reaction to Jesus healing on the Sabbath in Matthew?

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

Ezekiel 20:10-20 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ “Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹ I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, by which the person who obeys them will live. ¹² Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.

¹³ “‘Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws—by which the person who obeys them will live—and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the wilderness. ¹⁴ But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. ¹⁵ Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands— ¹⁶ because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols. ¹⁷ Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the wilderness. ¹⁸ I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁰ Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

Who lead the Israelites out of Egypt (verse 10)?

Where were the Israelites led to (verse 10)?

What did God give to the Israelites (verse 11)?

How will the person who obeys the decrees and laws be blessed (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why would the Sabbaths be considered a sign between God and the Israelites (verse 12)?

How did the “people of Israel” behave to God in the wilderness (verse 13)?

What did the Israelites do to the laws “by which the person who obeys them will live” (verse 13)?

What did God say He would pour out and destroy the Israelites in the wilderness (verse 13)?

In the eyes of who did God want to keep His name from being profaned (verse 14)?

Where did God swear that he would keep the Israelites from (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why did the Israelites reject Gods laws and desecrate the Sabbaths (verse 16)?

How did God look on the Israelites (verse 17)?

Who did God tell the “children in the wilderness” not to follow the statutes of or follow the laws of (verse 18)?

How were the children in the wilderness to respond to God (verse 19)?

What will the Sabbaths be kept as if they are to be a sign between the Israelites and God (verse 20)?

In your opinion, how does this passage from Ezekiel 12:10-20 help us to understand about the keeping of the Sabbath with the manna in Exodus 16:21-30?

In your opinion, how does the passage from Ezekiel what Jesus said about it being “lawful” to do good on the Sabbath in Matthew 12:9-14?

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

Hebrews 4:1-13 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ³ Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” ⁵ And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

⁶ Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, ⁷ God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

What still stands (verse 1)?

Why was the message “of no value” to them (the Israelites that Moses led out Egypt) (verse 2)?

Where have “we who have believed” entered (verse 3)?

What did God do on the seventh day (verse 4)?

In your opinion, who is the “they” who will “never enter my rest” (verse 5)?

Why did those “who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them” not go into the rest (verse 6)?

What are we commanded “Today, if you hear his voice” (verse 7)?

Who does “a Sabbath-rest” remain for (verse 9)?

How will the people who enter “God’s rest” be like God (verse 10)?

What does Paul instruct us to do (verse 11)?

How is the “word of God” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what is the “word of God” considered to be “sharper than any double-edged sword” (verse 12)?

Where do the “thoughts and attitudes” that the “word of God” judges originate (verse 12)?

What is hidden from God’s sight (verse 13)?

What is “uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how does the command in Hebrews 4:1-13 to “do not harden your hearts” help us to understand the command of Ezekiel 12:10-20 to the children in the wilderness to “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols”?

In your opinion, how does the discussion of the first Sabbath rest in Exodus 16:21-30 help us to understand better the Sabbath rest that is still promised to the “people of God” in Hebrews 4?

In your opinion, how does the command to “do not harden your hearts” in Hebrews 4 help us to understand the Pharisees in Matthew 12:9-14?

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

Next, back to Matthew 12:14 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

June 29, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Old Covenant vs New Covenant

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.”

Old Covenant vs New Covenant

Matthew 12:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. ⁵ Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Where was Jesus (verse 1)?

What were His disciples doing (verse 1)?

Who protested that what the disciples were doing were unlawful (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus mention David in His response (verse 3)?

What did David do (verse 4)?

Why was what David did wrong (verse 4)?

How did priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath (verse 5)?

What is here that is greater than the temple (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is meant by “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (verse 7)?

Who is the Lord of the Sabbath (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 12:1-8 show us about the Great Commission?

1 Samuel 21:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

² David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. ³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

⁴ But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

⁵ David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” ⁶ So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.”

Who did David go to see (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why did the person ask David “Why are you alone?” (verse 1)?

How did David answer the question (verse 2)?

What does David ask for (verse 3)?

How was the bread that was on hand special (verse 4)?

What was required of the men before the bread could be given to them (verse 4)?

How does David indicate that the men are okay (verse 5)?

Why was David given the consecrated bread (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does David getting the consecrated bread help us understand why it was okay for the disciples to pluck grains and eat them on the Sabbath in Matthew 12:1-8?

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

Leviticus 24:1-9 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “The Lord said to Moses, ² “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. ³ Outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. ⁴ The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord must be tended continually.

⁵ “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf. ⁶ Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. ⁷ By each stack put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the Lord. ⁸ This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. ⁹ It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in the sanctuary area, because it is a most holy part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord.”

Who spoke to Moses (verse 1)?

Why were the Israelites to bring “clear oil of pressed olives” (verse 2)?

Where are the lamps that Aaron is to tend “from evening till morning, continually” (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why are the “lamps on the pure gold lampstand” considered to be “before the Lord” (verse 4)?

What kind of flour is to be used to bake the twelve loaves of bread (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why is the table that they set on made of pure gold (verse 6)?

What is to be put by each stack of bread as a memorial portion (verse 7)?

What does the bread that is set out before the Lord represent (verse 8)?

Who does the bread belong to (verse 9)?

Where is the bread to be eaten (verse 9)?

In your opinion, how does this passage from Leviticus 24:1-9 help us to understand about what David and the priest did in 1 Samuel 21:1-6?

In your opinion, how does the passage from Leviticus 24:1-9 help us understand what Jesus said in Matthew 12:1-8 about what David?

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

   

Hebrews 8 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

³ Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. ⁴ If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵ They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
⁹ It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
¹⁰ This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”

Where did our “high priest” sit (verse 1)?

Who set up the “true tabernacle” (verse 2)?

What is every high priest “appointed to offer” (verse 3)?

Why would He not be a priest on earth (verse 4)?

How is the sanctuary that the earthly priests serve in described (verse 5)?

How does the covenant of which Jesus is the mediator compare with the old covenant (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why would God find “fault with the people” (verse 8)?

Why will the new covenant be different from the old covenant (verse 9)?

Where will God put the laws (verse 10)?

What will God be to the people (verse 11)?

Why will people no longer teach their neighbor or say “Know the Lord” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why will God be able to “remember their sins no more” (verse 12)?

What will happen to the obsolete and outdated covenant (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how does the discussion of the new and old covenants in this passage from Hebrews help us understand the lasting ordinance of Leviticus 24:1-9?

In your opinion, how does the promise in Hebrews 8 “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” compare with the holiness of 1Samuel 21:1-6 where the priest says “provided the men have kept themselves from women”?

In your opinion, what does Paul’s comparison of our High Priest and the high priests under the old covenant in Hebrews 8 help us understand what Jesus said in Matthew 12:1-8 “that something greater than the temple is here”?

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

Next, back to Matthew 12:9 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

June 22, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Hiding and Revealing

June 22, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Hiding and Revealing

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.”

Hiding and Revealing

Matthew 11:25-30 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Who did Jesus praise (verse 25)?

In your opinion, why would something be hidden from “the wise and learned” and yet be revealed to “little children” (verse 25)?

What has been committed to Jesus by the Father (verse 27)?

Who knows the Son (verse 27)?

Who knows the Father (verse 27)?

Where are the weary and burdened to go to receive rest (verse 28)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus talk about finding rest in one sentence and taking His yoke in the next sentence (verses 28 and 29)?

How does Jesus describe Himself (verse 29)?

What will the weary and burdened find in Jesus (verse 29)?

In your opinion, how will the yoke of Jesus be easy and the burden of Jesus be light (verse 30)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 11:25-30 show us about the Great Commission?

Psalm 135:13-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “Your name, Lord, endures forever,
    your renown, Lord, through all generations.
¹⁴ For the Lord will vindicate his people
    and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
    made by human hands.
¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
    eyes, but cannot see.
¹⁷ They have ears, but cannot hear,
    nor is there breath in their mouths.
¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
    and so will all who trust in them.

¹⁹ All you Israelites, praise the Lord;
    house of Aaron, praise the Lord;
²⁰ house of Levi, praise the Lord;
    you who fear him, praise the Lord.
²¹ Praise be to the Lord from Zion,
    to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.”

Whose name “endures forever” (verse 13)?

What will the Lord have “on his servants” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, why do people worship idols that other people, “human hands”, make (verse 15)?

Why do the idols of the nations have mouths but can’t speak and have eyes but can’t see (verse 16)?

What does it mean to say “nor is there breath in their mouths” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why will those who make them and those who trust in them “be like them” (verse 18)?

How are the Israelites, those of the house of Aaron, and those of the house of Levi to respond to the Lord (verses 19 and 20)?

How are those who fear the Lord to respond to the Lord (verse 20)?

In your opinion, why does this Psalm that deals with idols and their ineffectiveness end with the simple statement to “Praise the Lord” (verse 21)?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 135 that says that all who make or trust in idols will become like them help us understand why the Lord of heaven and earth has “hidden these things from the wise and learned” in Matthew 11:25-30?

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

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶ “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. ¹⁴ The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.”

What kind of message does Paul say is being spoken (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why does God destine a mystery that has been hidden for our glory (verse 7)?

How many rulers of the time that Paul lived understood the mystery (verse 8)?

Has any human mind conceived the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (verse 9)?

In your opinion, how can the Spirit of God reveal things that the mind can not conceive (verse 10)?

Who knows the thoughts of God (verse 11)?

Why do we receive the Spirit of God (verse 12)?

How are spiritual realities explained (verse 13)?

Who considers the things that come from the Spirit of God as foolishness (verse 14)?

What does the person with the Spirit make about all things (verse 15)?

What do we, as Christians, have (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 help us to understand about the people of Psalm 135 who become like the idols they worship?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 Corinthians help us to understand about the Jesus said in Matthew 11:25-30 who the Son would reveal the Father to?

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

Galatian 5:1 & 13-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Why does Christ set us free (verse 1)?

How do we avoid letting ourselves “be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (verse 1)?

What were we called to be (verse 13)?

What should we avoid using our freedom for (verse 13)?

How should we serve each other (verse 13)?

What command fulfills the entire law (verse 14)?

In your opinion, how does biting and devouring each other get us closer to destroying each other (verse 15)?

Where should we walk (verse 16)?

How are the flesh and the Spirit related (verse 17)?

Where are we in the law if we are led by the Spirit (verse 18)?

In your opinion, how does comparing Paul’s discussion of being led by the Spirit in Galatians 5 and his discussion about revelation in 1 Corinthians 2 help us understand both being led and revelation?

In your opinion, what does the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit in Galatians 5 help us to understand about the difference between the idols and God in Psalm 135?

In your opinion, what does Paul’s instructions about freedom in Galatians 5 help us to understand about the yoke and burden that Jesus talked about in Matthew 11:25-30?

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

Next, back to Matthew 12 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)