November 4, 2018 – Wisdom from Ecclesiastes and the Sermon on the Mount – Built for Action

Built for Action

Ecclesiastes 12:8-14 - New International Version (NIV)      

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
    “Everything is meaningless!”

⁹ Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. ¹⁰ The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. ¹² Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

¹³ Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.

What does the Teacher say is “meaningless” (verse 8)?

Who did the the Teacher impart knowledge to (verse 9)?

What did the Teacher search for (verse 10)?

In your opinion, how are the words of the wise “like goads” (verse 11)?

What does the Teacher say to “be warned” about (verse 12)?

What is the Teacher’s “conclusion of the matter” (verse 13)?

What will God do with every deed and every hidden thing (verse 14)?

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

Matthew 7:24-29 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Who is “like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (verse 24)?

Why did the house not fall even though “the rain come down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house” (verse 25)?

Who is “like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (verse 26)?

What happened to the foolish man’s house when “the rain come down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house” (verse 27)?

How did the crowds feel about Jesus teaching (verse 28)?

How did Jesus teach (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, how do the Teacher’s conclusion in Ecclesiastes 12:8-14 and the parable of Jesus recorded in Matthew 7:24-29 agree?

James 2:14-24 – 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.

Who does James ask the question “can such faith save them” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what changes if you say to someone “go in peace; keep warm and well fed” (verses 15 and 16)?

What is faith “if it is not accompanied by action” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between someone who says “you have faith; I have deeds” and James who says “I will show you my faith by my deeds” (verse 18)?

What do demons believe that causes them to shudder (verse 19)?

When was Abraham considered righteous (verse 20)?

What worked together to make Abraham’s faith complete (verse 22)?

When was it credited to Abraham “as righteousness” (verse 23)?

What must be added to faith so that someone is considered righteous (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, how are the deeds the Teacher says God will bring into judgment in Ecclesiates 12:8-14 and the deeds James encourages in James 2:14-24 different?

In your opinion, how are James’s  description of the one with faith and without deeds and the one with faith and deeds in James 2:14-24 similar to Jesus descriptions of the wise man and the foolish man in Matthew 7:24-29?

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 – New International Version (NIV)

² We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. ³ We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷ And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, ⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

When does Paul thank God for the Thessalonians (verse 2)?

What does Paul remember about the Thessalonians (verse 3)?

Who has God chosen (verse 4)?

How did the gospel come to the Thessolians (verse 5)?

In your opinion, how could the Thessalonian Christians have been able to welcome the message with joy when they were “in the midst of severe suffering” (verse 6)?

What did the Thessalonian Christians become (verse 7)?

What “rang out” from the Thessalonian Christians (verse 8)?

What did the Thessalonian Christians turn from idols to do (verse 9)?

Who rescues us from the coming wrath (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, how is the Teacher’s statement that “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” opposed by Paul’s message in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10?

In your opinion, how does 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 show us that Thessalonian Christians were wise and built their faith upon the rock as Jesus describes in Matthew 7:24-29?

In your opinion, how is the faith of Abraham that James described in James 2:14-24 similar to the faith of the Thessalonian Christians that Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ecclesiastes, Matthew, James and 1 Thessalonians teach us about the difference between actions that are meaningless and actions that prove our faith?

In your opinion, how can our actions show God’s love?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 14, 2018 – Wisdom from Ecclesiastes and the Sermon on the Mount – Leaving a Meaningless World Through the Narrow Gate

Leaving a Meaningless World Through the Narrow Gate

Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)        

¹ So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. ² All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
    so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
    so with those who are afraid to take them.

³ This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. ⁴ Anyone who is among the living has hope even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

⁵ For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
    and even their name is forgotten.
⁶ Their love, their hate
    and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
    in anything that happens under the sun.

⁷ Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. ⁸ Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. ⁹ Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

In whose hands are “the righteous and the wise” (verse 1)?

What do “the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not” share (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why does the Teacher think the fact that the “same destiny overtakes all” is “the evil in everything that happens under the sun” (verse 3)?

Who “has hope” (verse 4)?

What do the living know (verse 5)?

Who does the Teacher say “never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun” (verses 5 and 6)?

Why does the Teacher say to “eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does the Teacher mean by “always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil” (verse 8)?

How does the Teacher say we should live “all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun” (verse 9)?

What should we “do with all your might” (verse 10)?

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

Matthew 7:13-14 - New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

What are we to do “through the narrow gate” (verse 13)?

How does Jesus describe the gate that “leads to destruction” (verse 13)?

What do “many” do (verse 13)?

What “leads to life” (verse 14)?

How many find “life” (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, which part of the choice Jesus presents in Matthew 7:13-14 does the Teacher describe in Ecclesiastes 9:1-10?

Acts 4:8-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, ¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’

¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

¹³ When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.

What filled Peter (verse 8)?

How does Peter describe the act that they are “being called to account today for” (verse 9)?

How does the man stand “before you healed” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what does Peter mean by “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone” (verse 11)?

What is found in no one other than Jesus (verse 12)?

Why were the rulers and elders of the people astonished (verse 13)?

Why was there nothing the rulers and elders of the people could say (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what did Peter and John, as unschooled, ordinary men, know in Acts 4:8-14 that the Teacher of Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 did not know?

In your opinion, how is Matthew 7:13-14 explained by Peter in Acts 4:8-14?

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

¹ I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

Who does Paul urge Timothy to make “petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving” for (verse 1)?

Why does Paul urge Timothy topray for “kings and all those in authority” (verse 2)?

What does “God our Savior” want (verses 3 and 4)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “come to a knowledge of the truth” (verse 4)?

Who is the “mediator between God and mankind” (verse 5)?

What did the “mediator” do (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, how does Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 add hope to the despair the Teacher had in Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 when he said “the hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead”?

In your opinion, how does Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 lead us to the “narrow gate” that Jesus talked about in Matthew 7:13-14?

In your opinion, how do we reconcile the fact that Peter, “filled with the Holy Spirit” confronted the rulers and elders in Acts 4:8-14 and Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 urges “petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving” be made to “all those in authority”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ecclesiastes, Matthew, Acts and 1 Timothy help us understand about the difference “meaningless days” and “peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness”?

In your opinion, what can we do to continue the witness to “Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” and lead others to through the narrow gate?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 7, 2018 – Wisdom from Ecclesiastes and the Sermon on the Mount – Living as God’s Children

 Living as God’s Children

Ecclesiastes 8:9-17 - New International Version (NIV)        

⁹ All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. ¹⁰ Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

¹¹ When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. ¹² Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. ¹³ Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴ There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. ¹⁵ So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— ¹⁷ then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

What did the Teacher apply his mind to (verse 9)?

How did the Teacher define the wicked (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why does the Teacher think that “people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong” when a “sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out” (verse 11)?

Who will it go better for than a “wicked person who commits a hundred crimes” and lives a long time (verse 12)?

Why will it not go well with the wicked (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what does the Teacher mean by the righteous getting what the wicked deserve and the wicked getting what the righteous deserve (verse 14)?

When will joy accompany people in their “toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun” (verse 15)?

What did the Teacher see when he applied his “mind to know wisdom and to abserve the labor that is done on earth” (verses 16 and 17)?

What can the wise claim to know but not comprehend (verse 18)?

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

Matthew 5:38-42 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

What does Jesus say had been heard (verse 38)?

How should we respond if someone slaps the right cheek (verse 39)?

What should we give someone who sues for our shirt (verse 40)?

How far should we go if forced to go one mile (verse 41)?

Who should we give to (verse 42)?

Who should we not turn away from (verse 42)?

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

In your opinion, what is the basic change that would take place in the world the Teacher portrays in Ecclesiastes 8:9-17 where “the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve” if we followed the instructions Jesus gives in Matthew 5:38-42?

Romans 8:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

What realm are you in if the Spirit of God lives in you (verse 9)?

Who does not “belong to Christ” (verse 9)?

What does the Spirit give if Christ is in us (verse 10)?

Who will give life to our mortal bodies if the “Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in” us (verse 11)?

What do we not have an obligation to (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says “by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body” (verse 13)?

Who are the “children of God” (verse 14)?

What does receiving the Spirit not make us (verse 15)?

What did receiving the Spirit bring us (verse 15)?

Who testifies that “we are God’s children” (verse 16)?

If we are God’s children then what are we heirs of (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, how does Paul’s statement in Romans 8:9-17 that “if you live according to the flesh, you will die” challenge the Teacher’s statement in Ecclesiastes 8:9-17, “there is nothing better for a person under the sun that to eat and drink and be glad”?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s statement “we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh , to live according to it” in Romans 8:9-17 help us begin to understand the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-42?

James 4:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Where do the “fights and quarrels” come from (verse 1)?

Why do we not have (verse 2)?

Why do we not receive even when we ask (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does “friendship with the world” mean “enmity against God” (verse 4)?

What does the Scripture say that God “jealously longs for” (verse 5)?

Who does God show favor to (verse 6)?

Who should we submit ourselves to (verse 7)?

What happens when we “resist the devil” (verse 7)?

What happens when we “come near to God” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why does James tell us to “grieve, mourn and wail” (verse 9)?

When will the Lord lift us up (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, how does James’s discussion about desires and motives in James 4:1-10 reveal what the Teacher sees going “on under the sun” in Ecclesiates 8:9-17?

In your opinion, how does what we learn from James 4:1-10 that might help us understand how to implement what Jesus tells us to do in Matthew 5:38-42?

In your opinion, what do we learn when we combine the command of James to “submit yourselves, then, to God” in James 4:1-10 and Paul’s statement that “the Spirit you received does not make you slaves” in Romans 8:9-17?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ecclesiastes, Matthew, Romans and James help us understand about the differences between the things that are “under the sun” and those in the “realm of the Spirit”?

In your opinion, how do we move from the “desires that battle within you” to living as “God’s children” and heirs?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)