July 7, 2019 – Learning from James – Mist to Meaning

Mist to Meaning


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 was “Meaningless” (verse 8)?

Who “imparted knowledge to the people” (verse 9)?

What did the Teacher search for (verse 10)?

What are ”the words of the wise” like (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why should we be warned of “anything in addition to them” (verse 12)?

What is the “duty of all mankind” (verse 13)?

Who will “bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing” (verse 14)?

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

Mark 2:13-17 - New International Version (NIV)                

¹³ Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Who came to Jesus that “he began to teach” (verse 13)?

What did Jesus tell Levi son of Alphaeus (verse 14)?

What did Levi do (verse 14)?

Who was with Jesus at the dinner in Levi’s house (verse 15)?

In your opinion, were the teachers of the law eating with Jesus also (verse 16)?

What did the “teachers of the law who were Pharisees” ask the disciples (verse 16)?


How did Jesus answer the question (verse 17)?


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


In your opinion, who, in the events portrayed in Mark 2:13-17, do you think was being obedient to the instruction of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes 12:8-14 to “fear God and keep his commandments”?


Romans 14:1-13 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. ² One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

How are we to “accept the one whose faith is weak” (verse 1)?

How must the “one who eats everything” not treat the “one who does not” (verses 2 and 3)?

What must the “one who does not eat everything” not do to “the one who does” (verses 2 and 3)?

Why will they stand (verse 4)?

In your opinion, why should the one who considers one day special and the one who considers all days alike both “be fully convinced in their own minds” (verses 5 and 6)?

What do none of us do for “ourselves alone” (verse 7)?

Who do we belong to “whether we live or die” (verse 8)?

Why did Christ die and return to life (verse 9)?

Where will we all stand (verse 10)?

What will every tongue do (verse 11)?

What will each give to God (verse 12)?

What should each of us make up our minds to not do (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between fearing God and keeping His commandments as instructed by Ecclesiastes 12:8-14 and eating meat to the Lord or abstaining from eating meat to the Lord as Paul discusses in Romans 14:1-13?

In your opinion, what part of Paul’s instruction in Romans 14:1-13 are the “teachers of the law who were Pharisees” in Mark 2:13-17 violating? 


James 4:11-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

What does someone who “speaks against a brother or sister or judges them” speak against (verse 11)?

How many can “save and destroy” (verse 12)?


In your opinion, why is it wrong to say “today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money” (verses 13 and 14)?


What should we say instead (verse 15)?


What kind of boasting is evil (verse 16)?


What is it if anyone “knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it” (verse 17)?


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


In your opinion, how is the Teacher in Ecclesiastes 12:8-14 saying that “everything is meaningless” but then saying that fearing God and keeping His commands is our duty similar to James saying that we “are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” but then adding that we should say “if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” in James 4:11-17?  How are they different?


In your opinion, how can we who recognize our sinfulness be comforted by the fact that the one that James 4:11-17 says is the only “Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy” is the one who says in Mark 2:13-17 that ”I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”?


In your opinion, how does Paul’s progression from condemning contempt or judging others to recognizing that “Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living” in Romans 14:1-13 and James’ shift from condemning judging and boasting to saying “if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” in James 4:11-17 give us examples of the transformation we should make in ourselves today?


In your opinion, what do these passages from Ecclesiastes, Mark, Romans and James teach us about the parts of our lives that are meaningless and how to move on from meaningless to belonging to the Lord whether we live or die?


In your opinion, how can we move from the mist to a life of meaning?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)