October 1, 2017 – Moses and Jesus and Us – Growth in Grace and Knowledge

Growth in Grace and Knowledge

Exodus 2:11-15 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

Who did Moses go out to watch (verse 11)?

What did Moses see (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why did Moses look “this way and that” (verse 12)?

What did Moses do with the Egyptian that he killed (verse 12)?

Who did Moses ask “why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew” (verse 13)?

What made Moses afraid (verse 14)?

How did the Pharaoh react when he heard what Moses had done (verse 15)?

What did Moses do (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Luke 2:41-52 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴¹ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Where did Jesus’ parents go every year (verse 41)?

How old was Jesus when this event happened (verse 42)?

What did Jesus do when His parents “were returning home” (verse 43)?

How long did His parents travel without Him (verse 44)?

Where did his parents go when they could not find him (verse 45)?

What was Jesus doing when His parents found Him (verse 46)?

In your opinion, why was everyone who heard Him “amazed at his understanding and his answers” (verse 47)?

What did Jesus’ mother ask Him (verse 48)?

How did Jesus refer to the temple (verse 49)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus parents not understand “what he was saying to them” (verse 50)?

How did Jesus react to His parents (verse 51)?

What did Jesus do (verse 52)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does the behavior of Moses, who was called to free the Israelites and killed the Egyptian in Exodus 2:11-15, and the behavior of Jesus, who was called to free all people and amazed all who heard Him with “his understanding and his answers” in Luke 2:41-52, help us to understand about their differences?

Romans 3:10-22a – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
¹² All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”
¹³ “Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
¹⁴     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶     ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know.”
¹⁸     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

How many are righteous (verse 10)?

How many understand and seek God (verse 11)?

How many do good (verse 12)?

What do people’s tongues practice (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to say that people’s mouths are full of bitterness (verse 14)?

What marks people’s ways (verse 16)?

What do people not know (verse 17)?

Who is held accountable to God by the law (verse 19)?

How many will be declared “righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law” (verse 20)?

Who testifies to the “righteousness of God” (verse 21)?

Who is the “righteousness of God” given to “through faith in Jesus Christ” (verse 22)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does Jesus, at age 12 in Luke 2:41-52, prove that Paul is right with his quote in Romans 3:10-22, “there is no one who understands”?

In your opinion, how does the action of Moses, the privileged adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter, in Exodus 2:11-15 prove the accuracy of Paul’s quote in Romans 3:10-22, “”all have turned away, they have together become worthless”?

2 Peter 3:13-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

What are Christians looking forward to (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (verse 14)?

What does “our Lord’s patience” mean (verse 15)?

Who wrote “with the wisdom that God gave him” (verse 15)?

What is the result of “ignorant and unstable people” distorting Paul’s writings and other Scriptures (verse 16)?

What are we to do since we “have been forewarned” (verse 17)?

How should we grow (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what can we learn from Paul in Romans 3:10-22 and Peter in 2 Peter 3:13-18 about accountability and destruction but also about faith and righteousness?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that the instruction of Peter in 2 Peter 3:13-18 to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” echoes the reality of the life of Jesus portrayed by Luke in Luke 2:41-52 when He “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man”?

In your opinion, how does Moses, in his action to protect the Hebrew from the Egyptian in Exodus 2:11-15, demonstrate the importance of Peter’s warning in 2 Peter 3:13-18 to “be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Luke, Romans and 2 Peter show us about the differences between Moses and Jesus, who both came to lead people to freedom but who were opposites in their approach, and what do those differences help us understand about ourselves?

In your opinion, how can these passages provide us guidance in our growth as Christians today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)