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.”
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)
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