October 12, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Compassion and Love

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.”

Compassion and Love

Matthew 15:29-39 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁹ “Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. ³⁰ Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. ³¹ The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

³² Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

³³ His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”

³⁴ “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵ He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. ³⁷ They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ³⁸ The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹ After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.”

What did Jesus do on the mountainside (verse 29)?

Who did the great crowds bring to Jesus (verse 30)?

Why were the people amazed (verse 31)?

Who did the people praise (verse 31)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus have compassion for the people (verse 32)?

How did the disciples respond to Jesus’s compassion (verse 33)?

What practical question did Jesus ask (verse 34)?

What did Jesus instruct the crowd to do (verse 35)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus not break the bread and the fish until after He had given thanks (verse 36)?

How much did the people eat (verse 37)?

What was left over when the people were fed (verse 37)?

How many ate (verse 38)?

What did Jesus do after He sent the crowd away (verse 39)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 15:29-39 show us about the Great Commission?

Hosea 2:13-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
    and went after her lovers,
    but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.

¹⁴ “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness
    and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵ There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

¹⁶ “In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “you will call me ‘my husband’;
    you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
¹⁷ I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
    no longer will their names be invoked.
¹⁸ In that day I will make a covenant for them
    with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
    I will abolish from the land,
    so that all may lie down in safety.
¹⁹ I will betroth you to me forever;
    I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
    in love and compassion.
²⁰ I will betroth you in faithfulness,
    and you will acknowledge the Lord.

²¹ “In that day I will respond,”
    declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
    and they will respond to the earth;
²² and the earth will respond to the grain,
    the new wine and the olive oil,
    and they will respond to Jezreel.
²³ I will plant her for myself in the land;
    I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
    and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

What did Israel do that she will be punished for (verse 13)?

Where will the Lord lead Israel and allure her and “speak tenderly to her” (verse 14)?

How will Israel respond to the Lord (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why will Israel call the Lord “my husband” instead of “my master” (verse 16)?

Whose names will be removed from Israel’s lips (verse 17)?

What will be abolished from the land (verse 18)?

How long will the betrothal last (verse 19)?

What will Israel be betrothed in (verse 19)?

How will Israel respond to the betrothal (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is the day on which the Lord will respond (verse 21)?

Who will the Lord plant (verse 23)?

What will the Lord show to the “one I called ‘Not my loved one’” (verse 23)?

How will those who were called “Not my people” that the Lord now says to “You are my people” respond to God (verse 23)?

In your opinion, how is the compassion that the Lord shows to the people of Israel in Hosea 2:13-23 similar to the compassion felt by Jesus for the people of Matthew 15:29-39?

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

James 2:14-26 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

What is James asking about “faith” for someone who “has no deeds” (verse 14)?

How does the “brother or sister” without clothes and daily food benefit from the statement “Go in peace, keep warm and well fed” (verses 15 and 16)?

In your opinion, why is faith without works dead (verse 17)?

How does James expect to show his faith (verse 18)?

Who does James say believes in one God “and shudder” (verse 19)?

When was Abraham considered righteous (verse 21)?

What made Abraham’s faith complete (verse 22)?

What was Abraham called (verse 23)?

In your opinion, why does James say “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone” (verse 24)?

Who was considered righteous for giving lodging to the spies and sending them off in a different direction (verse 25)?

What is the body without the spirit (verse 26)?

What is faith without deeds (verse 26)?

In your opinion, how are the people of James 2:14-26 who claim faith but do not have deeds like the Israel of Hosea 2:13-23 who went after other lovers and forgot about God?

In your opinion, would Jesus, who had compassion on those people who had been without food for several days in Matthew 15:29-39, also have compassion of those who recognize that their faith is dead in response to James 2:14-26?

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

1 John 3:16-24 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

How do we know what love is (verse 16)?

What should we do (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what does John mean by asking “how can the love of God be in that person” (verse 17)?

What kind of love are we to avoid (verse 18)?

How are we to love (verse 18)?

In your opinion, how is it comforting “if our hearts condemn us” to know that God is greater than our hearts (verse 20)?

What do we have if “our hearts do not condemn us” (verse 21)?

What is God’s command (verse 23)?

How do we know that God lives in us (verse 24)?

In your opinion, how does John’s discussion about loving “with actions and in truth” in 1 John 2:16-24 reinforce James’s statement about faith without works being dead in James 2:14-26?

In your opinion, how is the love demonstrated by God to a wandering Israel in Hosea 2:13-26 similar to the love demonstrated by Jesus when He “laid down his life for us” in 1 John 3:16-26?

In your opinion, how is the love that we are commanded to have “with actions and in truth” in 1 John 2:16-24 a reflection of the compassion that Jesus demonstrates in Matthew 15:29-39?

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

Next, back to Matthew 16:1 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)