Saturday, September 20, 2014

September 28, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Defiled and Redeemed



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.”

Defiled and Redeemed

Matthew 15:1-20 – New International Version (NIV)
1 “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Who came to Jesus (verse 1)?

Why did they question the disciples actions (verse 2)?

How did Jesus respond (verse 3)?

What command did Jesus quote (verse 4)?

In your opinion, who benefited from the offering that was “devoted to God” (verse 5)?

Could something that was “devoted to God” have been given to “honor their father or mother” (verse 6)?

What did the Pharisees and teachers of the law tradition do to the word of God (verse 6)?

How did Jesus describe the Pharisees and teachers of the law (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what did Isaiah as quoted by Jesus mean when he said “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (verse 8)?

What does having hearts far from God do to the people Isaiah was talking about (verse 9)?

How are people defiled (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why were the Pharisees offended (verse 12)?

What is the destiny of those not planted by the Father (verse 13)?

Where will the blind guides lead the blind (verse 14)?

Who ask for the parable to be explained (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus ask “Are you still so dull” (verse 16)?

Why does something that enters at the mouth not defile the body (verse 17)?

Where do the things that defile come from (verse 18)?

What comes from the heart (verse 19)?
In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 15:1-20 show us about the Great Commission?

Isaiah 29:13-16 - New International Version (NIV)
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
    is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
    with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
    the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
    to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
    “Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 You turn things upside down,
    as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
    “You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
    “You know nothing”?
How do the people (of Jerusalem) come to the Lord (verse 13)?
In your opinion, why is there a contrast between what the lips say and where the heart is (verse 13)?
What is their worship of God based on (verse 13)?
How will the Lord astound the people (verse 14)?
What will happen to the “wisdom of the wise” and the “intelligence of the intelligent” (verse 14)?
In your opinion, why is there woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans and work from the Lord (verse 15)?
How do the people turn things (verse 16)?
In your opinion, why is it wrong for the pot to say to the potter “you know nothing” (verse 16)?
In your opinion, how are the people that Isaiah is talking about in Isaiah 29:13-16 and the people that Jesus is talking to in Matthew 15:1-20 similar?
In your opinion, what does this passage from Isaiah show us about the Great Commission?

Acts 10:9-28 – New International Version (NIV)
About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.”
Where did Peter go to pray (verse 9)?
What opened to let down the large sheet (verse 11)?
What was in the large sheet (verse 12)?
Who instructed Peter to “Kill and eat” (verse 13)?
In your opinion, why did Peter say “Surely not, Lord!” (verse 14)?
How was Peter answered (verse 15)?
In your opinion, why did it happen three times (verse 16)?
Who stopped at the gate while Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision (verse 17)?
Who told Peter that three men were looking for him (verse 19)?
In your opinion, why was Peter told not to hesitate to go with them (verse 20)?
Why did the men say they had come (verse 22)?
Where did Peter go (verse 24)?
Who had Cornelius called together (verse 24)?
How did Cornelius respond to Peter (verse 25)?
What did Peter tell Cornelius about himself (verse 26)?
Why was Peter’s visit to Cornelius wrong (verse 28)?
How did Peter explain that his visit with Cornelius was okay (verse 28)?
In your opinion, what is different about Cornelius and the people with him in Acts 10:9-28 that make it okay for Peter to visit them even though they are Gentiles when the people of Jerusalem in Isaiah 29:13-16 were going to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord and did their work in the darkness?
In your opinion, does Jesus saying that “eating with unwashed hands does not defile them” to Peter in Matthew 15:1-20 help Peter understand the message from heaven in Acts 10:9-28 that he “should not call anyone impure or unclean”?
In your opinion, what does this passage from Acts show us about the Great Commission?    

1 Peter 1:13-25 – New International Version (NIV)
13 “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.”
How should our minds be when we set our “hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed” (verse 13)?
What should we not conform to (verse 14)?
How should we be in all that we do (verse 15)?
Why should we be holy (verse 16)?
In your opinion, why should we live out our time “as foreigners here in reverent fear” (verse 17)?
What did not redeem us (verse 18)?
What did redeem us (verse 19)?
When was Christ chosen (verse 20)?
How do we believe in God (verse 21)?
In your opinion, why does Peter link obeying the truth with having a sincere love for each other (verse 22)?
Through what were we born of imperishable seed (verse 23)?
What happens to the grass that people are like (verse 24)?
What endures forever (verse 25)?
In your opinion, how does Peter’s message to “God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces . . .” that we read from 1 Peter 1:13-25 show his growing understanding of God’s acceptance of Gentiles that began in Acts 10:9-28 with the vision of the large sheet being lowered?
In your opinion, how are the people of Jerusalem portrayed in Isaiah 29:13-16 as those whose “hearts are far from me” a contrast to the “exiles” of 1 Peter 1:13-25 who “have sincere love for each other”?
In your opinion, does the growth of Peter from the one who Jesus asks “Are you still so dull” in Matthew 15:1-20 to the one who explains our redemption through the “precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” in 1 Peter 1:13-25 provide hope and encouragement to all of us?
In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 Peter show us about the Great Commission?


Next, back to Matthew 15:21 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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