February 8, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Cups, Death and Life

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.”

Cups, Death and Life

Matthew 20:17-28 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ “Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, ¹⁸ “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

²¹ “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

²² “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

²³ Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

²⁴ When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Where was Jesus going (verse 17)?

Who did he take aside (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus go to Jerusalem if He knew that he was going to be delivered to the chief priests and teachers of the law (verse 18)?

Why would the chief priests and teachers of the law hand Him over to the Gentiles (verse 19)?

What was going to happen on the third day (verse 19)?

Who came to Jesus and knelt down and  requested a favor (verse 20)?

What favor was requested (verse 21)?

In your opinion, why was this favor requested right after Jesus had described His capture and death (verse 21)?

Did the brothers think they could “drink the cup” (verse 22)?

Did Jesus think that they could drink from His cup (verse 23)?

Who do the places on the left and the right belong to (verse 23)?

In your opinion, why are the other disciples indignant (verse 24)?

What do the rulers of the Gentiles do (verse 25)?

How should the disciples who want to be great act (verse 26)?

Who should “be your slave” (verse 27)?

Who came to serve and to “give his life as a ransom for many” (verse 28)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 20:17-28 show us about the Great Commission?

Isaiah 51:17-22 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ “Awake, awake!
    Rise up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
    the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs
    the goblet that makes people stagger.
¹⁸ Among all the children she bore
    there was none to guide her;
among all the children she reared
    there was none to take her by the hand.
¹⁹ These double calamities have come upon you—
    who can comfort you?—
ruin and destruction, famine and sword—
    who can console you?
²⁰ Your children have fainted;
    they lie at every street corner,
    like antelope caught in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the Lord,
    with the rebuke of your God.

²¹ Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,
    made drunk, but not with wine.
²² This is what your Sovereign Lord says,
    your God, who defends his people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
    the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
    you will never drink again.”

What has Jerusalem drunk from (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why was there “none to guide her” and “none to take her by the hand” (verse 18)?

How many calamities have come (verse 19)?

Who has fainted (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is it that has made them drunk “but not with wine” (verse 21)?

What has the Sovereign Lord, “who defends his people”, taken (verse 22)?

In your opinion, how does the statement that Jesus made in Matthew 20:17-28 that He has come “to give his life as a ransom for many” help us to understand how the Sovereign Lord “who defends his people” has taken the “cup of his wrath” from his people in Isaiah 51:17-22?

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

Philippians 1:27-30 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel ²⁸ without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. ²⁹ For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, ³⁰ since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”

How are God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi to conduct themselves “whatever happens” (verse 27)?

How are they to stand (verse 27)?

What are they supposed to “strive together” for (verse 27)?

In your opinion, why is not “being frightened” a sign to “they that will be destroyed” (verse 28)?

What two things have been granted to the Philippians (verse 29)?

What is Paul going through (verse 30)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the cup that the people of Jerusalem drank from that is discussed in Isaiah 51:17-22 and the cup that (is not mentioned but that) God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi are drinking from in Philippians 1:27-30?

In your opinion, is the call that Jesus makes in Matthew 20:17-28 that “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” being filled by the Philippians who “believe in him, but also . . . suffer for him” in Philippians 1:27-30?

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

   

Revelation 1:9-20 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ¹¹ which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

¹² I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

¹⁹ “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. ²⁰ The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

In what way is John a “brother and companion” (verse 9)?

Where was John (verse 9)?

When was John “in the Spirit” (verse 10)?

What was John supposed to do (verse 11)?

In your opinion, who is the one among the golden lampstands who is “dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest” (verse 13)?

What was His hair like (verse 14)?

Where was the “sharp, double-edged sword” (verse 16)?

How did John react (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is meant by “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever” (verse 18)?

What is John to write (verse 19)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to us today that Paul, who in Philippians 1:27-30 indicated that he was suffering and that the Philippians were suffering, and that John, who in Revelation  1:9-20 indicates that he and the recipients of his letter are suffering?

In your opinion, what would it mean to the ones who “have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath” in Isaiah 51:17-22 that the Lord can now say “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” in Revelation 1:9-20?

In your opinion, how does it give you hope that the one who said he would “give his life as a ransom for many” in Matthew 20:17-28 is now “alive for ever and ever” according to John in Revelation 1:9-20?

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

Next, back to Matthew 20:21 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)