Sunday, January 7, 2024

January 28, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – The Mind of Christ

The Mind of Christ

Isaiah 40:12-17 - New International Version (NIV)

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
    or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
    or weighed the mountains on the scales
    and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
    or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
    and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
    or showed him the path of understanding?

15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
    they are regarded as dust on the scales;
    he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
    nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
    they are regarded by him as worthless
    and less than nothing.

In your opinion, who “with the breadth of his hand marked of the heavens” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, who might “instruct the Lord as his counselor” (verse 13)?

What are the nations like (verse 15)?

What are Lebanon’s animals “not enough for” (verse 16)?

Who is “as nothing” before Him (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us understand the mind of Christ?

Luke 24:44-49 – New International Version (NIV)

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

What had Jesus told them “must be fulfilled” (verse 44)?

How did Jesus change them (verse 45)?

Why did Jesus change them (verse 45)?

What is written that the Messiah will do (verse 46)?

Where will “repentance for the forgiveness of sins” be preached (verse 47)?

What were the disciples (verse 48)?

How long are the disciples to “stay in the city” (verse 48)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us understand the mind of Christ?

In your opinion, how does the One that Isaiah 40:12-17 says cannot be fathomed begin the transformation of the disciples in Luke 24:44-49?

Romans 11:33-12:2 - New International Version (NIV)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

12 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What does Paul say has depth (verse 33)?

In your opinion, “who has known the mind of the Lord” (verse 34)?

What is from and through God (verse 36)?

What does Paul urge be offered “as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (verse 1)?

What is “your true and proper worship” (verse 1)?

How should Christians be transformed (verse 2)?

What will Christians be able to do after being transformed (verse 2)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us understand the mind of Christ?

In your opinion, how does Romans 11:33-12:2 help us understand how to respond to the One that Isaiah 40:12-17 says that we cannot fathom?

In your opinion, how does the transformation that Jesus began by opening the minds of the disciples in Luke 24:44-49 continued by Paul’s instructions to Christians in Romans 11:33-12:1?

1 Corinthians 2:11-16 – New International Version (NIV)

11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

Who knows a person’s thoughts (verse 11)?

Who knows God’s thoughts (verse 11)?

What have Christians received “so that we may understand what God has freely given us” (verse 12)?

Where does what Paul speaks come from (verse 13)?

Who thinks that “the things that come from the Spirit of God” are foolishness (verse 14)?

How are “things that come from the Spirit of God” discerned (verse 14)?

What does the “person with the Spirit” make judgments about (verse 15)?

What do Christians have (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us understand the mind of Christ?

In your opinion, how is the chasm between people and God that Isaiah 40:12-17 indicates is caused at least in part by the vast difference in knowledge and understanding closed by God in 1 Corinthians 2:11-16?  Does that mean that the chasm has been eliminated for everybody?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 2:11-16 help us understand about being clothed “with power from on high” that Jesus instructed the disciples to for in Luke 24:44-49?

In your opinion, how is Paul’s instruction in Romans 11:33-12:2 to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” given more importance by his words in 1 Corinthians 2:11-16? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, Romans, and 1 Corinthians help us understand about the greatness of God?

In your opinion, how are Christians transformed by God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment