An Upside-Down World
Isaiah
29:13-16 - New International Version (NIV)
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their
mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”?
Where
are the hearts of the people (verse 13)?
What will perish (verse 14)?
In your opinion, why would people go to great
depths to “hide their plans from the Lord” (verse 15)?
How do people turn things upside down (verse 16)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 10:32-45 - New
International Version (NIV)
32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the
way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid.
Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to
him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he
said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests
and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand
him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on
him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,”
they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at
your left in your glory.”
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can
you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized
with?”
39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be
baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to
sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those
for whom they have been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James
and John. 42 Jesus called them together and
said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord
it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not
so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your
servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of
all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Who was leading “on their way up to
Jerusalem” (verse 32)?
Who will be “delivered over to the
chief priests and the teachers of the law” (verse 33)?
What will happen three days after He is
mocked, spit on flogged and killed (verse 34)?
Who wanted Jesus to “do for us
whatever we ask” (verse 35)?
What did they want (verse 37)?
In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “can
you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with”
(verse 38)?
How did they answer (verse 39)?
Who will sit at Jesus left or right (verse
40)?
In your opinion, why did the ten become
indignant (verse 41)?
Who lords it over the Gentiles (verse 42)?
What does the disciple who wants to be
great have to do (verse 43)?
Who “first must be slave of all” (verse
44)?
What did the Son of Man come to do (verse
45)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, who fulfills the statement of
Isaiah 29:13-16 that “you turn things upside down” in the interaction of
Jesus and the disciples in Mark 10:32-45?
What do you think is the most astounding thing that Jesus is saying He
will do?
Acts
2:25-32 –
New International Version (NIV)
25 David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the
patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to
this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had
promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his
throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the
resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the
dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this
Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
Where did David see the Lord (verse 25)?
How does David react to seeing the Lord (verse 26)?
Where will the Lord not abandon David to (verse 27)?
What
was made known to David (verse 28)?
What
happened to David (verse 29)?
Who
did God promise David would be on his throne (verse 30)?
What
did David speak of (verse 31)?
Who
was not “abandoned to the realm of the dead” (verse 31)?
What
has God done (verse 32)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does Peter show in Acts 2:25-32 that
God fulfilled the promise of Isaiah 29:13-16 to “astound these people”?
In your opinion, how does Peter in Acts 2:25-32 show both
the history of and the reality of Jesus rising from the dead as foretold in
Mark 10:32-45?
1 Corinthians
1:18-25 –
New International Version (NIV)
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of
God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the
teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made
foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the
wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was
pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who
believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for
wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a
stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but
to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the
foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of
God is stronger than human strength.
What is “foolishness to those who are perishing”
(verse 18)?
What is “the power of God” to those who are
being saved (verse 18)?
What will God destroy (verse 19)?
In your opinion, “where is the wise person” (verse
20)?
What was God pleased to do through foolishness (verse
21)?
Who will “look for wisdom” (verse 22)?
What does Paul preach (verse 23)?
For whom is “Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God” (verse 24)?
What is “wiser than human wisdom” (verse 25)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how do Paul’s words in 1
Corinthians 1:18-25 echo the contrast of the worldly view and the Godly view
that God shared in Isaiah 29:13-16?
In your opinion, how do
the contrasting views of Jesus and the disciples in Mark 10:32-45 illustrate
the difference between the wisdom and intelligence of the world and that of God
as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25?
In your
opinion, is the confidence David expresses because “the Lord is always
before me” in Acts 2:25-32 an example of worldly wisdom or Godly wisdom as
defined by 1 Corinthians 1:18-25? Why?
In your
opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Mark, Acts and 1 Corinthians teach
us about how the world turns things upside down?
In your
opinion, how do we turn ourselves right side up?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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