Restoring Saltiness
Leviticus
21:16-24 - New International Version (NIV)
16 The Lord said
to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come
none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food
of his God. 18 No man who has any defect may come
near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no
man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback
or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or
damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest
who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to
the Lord. He has a
defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He
may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 yet
because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the
altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’”
24 So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the
Israelites.
Who gave the instructions to Moses (verse 16)?
What could the generations of Aaron’s
descendants who had defects not do (verse 17)?
What are some of the defects that are listed (verses
18, 19 and 20)?
What may the descendant of Aaron who has a
defect not do (verse 21)?
In
your opinion, why could the descendants with defects “eat the most holy
food” even though they can’t present food offerings to the Lord (verse 22)?
What
would someone with a defect approaching the curtain or approaching the alter do
to the sanctuary (verse 23)?
Who
makes the curtain, alter and sanctuary holy (verse 23)?
Who
did Moses give these instructions to (verse 24)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 9:42-50 - New
International Version (NIV)
42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in
me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung
around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43 If
your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter
life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes
out. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut
it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and
be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you
to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God
with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
49 Everyone will be salted with fire.
50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it
salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each
other.”
What is better
than causing “one of these little ones – those who believe in me” to
stumble (verse 42)?
Why should a
hand that causes you to stumble be cut off (verse 43)?
What should
you do if your foot causes you to stumble (verse 45)?
In your
opinion, plucking out an eye keep a person from stumbling (verse 47)?
How does Jesus
describe hell (verse 48)?
Who will be
salted with fire (verse 49)?
What is good
(verse 50)?
In your
opinion, how can you make salt that has lost its saltiness salty again (verse
50)?
What are the
disciples, and others who believe in Christ, to have (verse 50)?
How are
Christians to be with each other (verse 50)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, why would Jesus in Mark
9:42-50 tell the disciples, and through the disciples us, to make ourselves defective
and therefore, according to Leviticus 21:16-24 unable to “come near to offer
the food of his God”?
Acts
3:1-10 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at
the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man
who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called
Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple
courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he
asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as
did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave
them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have
I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking
him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and
ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to
walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and
jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the
people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they
recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate
called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what
had happened to him.
When were Peter and John “going up to the temple”
(verse 1)?
Who was “being carried to the temple gate called
Beautiful” (verse 2)?
What did he ask Peter and John for (verse 3)?
Who
said “Look at us” (verse 4)?
What
did the man expect (verse 5)?
In
your opinion, what would the man have felt when Peter said “silver or gold I
do not have” (verse 6)?
How
did Peter issue the command for the man to walk (verse 6)?
What
did Peter do in addition to commanding the man to walk (verse 7)?
Who
did the man go with after “he jumped to his feet and began to walk” (verse
8)?
What
did people see him doing (verse 9)?
Why
were the people “filled with wonder and amazement” (verse 10)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that the
man of Acts 3:1-10 was forbidden by Leviticus 21:16-24 from coming near “to
offer the food of his God” but after receiving the command from Peter to, “in
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” ended up entering the temple
courts “walking and jumping, and praising God”?
In your opinion, does what happened in Acts 3:1-10 begin to
teach us the answer to the question Jesus ask in Mark 9:42-50, “salt is
good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again”?
2 Corinthians 2:12-17
– New
International Version (NIV)
12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of
Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I
still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother
Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in
Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the
knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the
pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are
perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings
death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a
task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God
for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with
sincerity, as those sent from God.
What did Paul
find when he “went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ” (verse 12)?
Why did Paul
not have peace of mind in Troas (verse 13)?
What does Paul
thank God for (verse 14)?
In your
opinion, what is “the aroma of the knowledge of him” (verse 14)?
What two
groups does Paul say he is “the pleasing aroma of Christ” among (verse
15)?
In your
opinion, to which of the two groups is Paul the “aroma that brings death” and
which is Paul the “aroma that brings life” (verse 16)?
How does Paul
speak in Christ and “before God” (verse 17)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, is there an answer in 2 Corinthians 2:12-17
to the question that Jesus ask in Mark 9:42-50 “salt is good, but if it
loses its saltiness, how do you make it salty again”?
In your
opinion, which is a greater miracle, the healing of the man who was lame from
birth in Acts 3:1-10 or accepting the “pleasing aroma of Christ” that
brings life in 2 Corinthians 2:12-17?
In your
opinion, what do these passages from Leviticus, Mark, Acts and 2 Corinthians teach
us about the defects of people and how Jesus can transform them and restore
saltiness, so that they are welcome into God’s holy presence?
In your
opinion, how can we, individually and as a church, have “salt” among
ourselves and be the “aroma that brings life” to others?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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