March 9, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – The Testimony of Love

The Testimony of Love

Leviticus 24:13-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses: ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. ¹⁵ Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; ¹⁶ anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.

¹⁷ “‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. ¹⁸ Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. ¹⁹ Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. ²¹ Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. ²² You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.’”

²³ Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Who spoke to Moses (verse 13)?

What are “all those who heard him” to do (verse 14)?

Who will “be held responsible” (verse 15)?

What must the “entire assembly” do to the one who blasphemes (verse 16)?

How should the person who “takes the life of a human being” be treated (verse 17)?

What should happen to someone who “injures their neighbor” (verse 19)?

What is the person who kills an animal to do (verse 21)?

How are the laws different “for the foreigner and the native-born” (verse 22)?

Who took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between reacting to evil and reacting to one another?

Matthew 5:38-48 - 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.

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

What “have you heard” was said (verse 38)?

Who does Jesus say not to resist (verse 39)?

What should be given to the one who “wants to sue you” (verse 40)?

How far should the one who is forced to “go one mile” go (verse 41)?

Who should not be turned away (verse 42)?

What else “have you heard that it was said” (verse 43)?

Who does Jesus instruct prayer for (verse 44)?

Who does our Father in heaven send rain on (verse 45)?

What do the tax collectors do (verse 46)?

Who is perfect that we should be like (verse 48)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between reacting to evil and reacting to one another?

In your opinion, why are the instructions in Matthew 5:38-48 so different from the instructions to Moses in Leviticus 24:13-23?

Romans 12:9-21 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

What must love be (verse 9)?

How should Christians “be devoted to one another” (verse 10)?

What should Christians do with “spiritual fervor” (verse 11)?

Who should Christians “share with” (verse 13)?

Who should Christians “bless and do not curse” (verse 14)?

What should the Christian do “with those who mourn” (verse 15)?

Who should Christians live in harmony with (verse 16)?

How should evil not be repaid (verse 17)?

What should Christians do “as far as it depends on you” (verse 18)?

What should we “leave room for” (verse 19)?

How should Christians overcome evil (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between reacting to evil and reacting to one another?

In your opinion, how does the instruction in Romans 12:9-21 to “leave room for God’s wrath” reveal a change from the instructions of Leviticus 24:13-23?

In your opinion, how are the instructions in Romans 12:9-21 a logical outcome of Jesus instructions in Matthew 5:38-48 to “be children of your Father in heaven”?

1 John 4:11-21- New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Why should Christians “love one another” (verse 11)?

When does God live in us and have His love “made complete in us” (verse 12)?

How do we know “that we live in him and he in us” (verse 13)?

What has John seen that he testifies to (verse 14)?

Who does God live in “and they in God” (verse 15)?

What is God (verse 16)?

What are Christians like “in this world” (verse 17)?

What does perfect love drive out (verse 18)?

Why do Christians love (verse 19)?

Who is a liar (verse 20)?

What is God’s command (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between reacting to evil and reacting to one another?

In your opinion, how is the contrast between starting with blaspheming God and starting with loving God shown in Leviticus 24:13-23 and 1 John 4:11-21?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 4:11-21 help us understand how it’s possible to follow the command of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-48 to “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 4:11-21 help us to follow the instruction of Paul in Romans 12:9-21 to “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Leviticus, Matthew, Romans and 1 John teach us about what it takes to hate “what is evil” and yet being able to love our “enemies and pray for those who persecute” us?

In your opinion, in what ways can we in love “testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 2, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Fickle or Faithful

Fickle or Faithful

Deuteronomy 23:21–24:5 – New International Version (NIV)

²¹ If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. ²² But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. ²³ Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

²⁴ If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. ²⁵ If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.

¹ If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, ² and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, ³ and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, ⁴ then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

What should you not do if “you make a vow to the Lord your God” (verse 21)?

When will you “not be guilty” (verse 22)?

What must you “be sure to do” (verse 23)?

How many of your neighbor’s grapes can you eat (verse 24)?

How many of your neighbor’s grapes can you put “in your basket” (verse 24)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between picking grain kernels by hand and using a sickle (verse 25)?

What is actually being forbidden in verses 1 through 4?

How long is a newly married man to be exempt from being “sent to war” (verse 5)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about selfish assumptions?

Matthew 5:31-37 - New International Version (NIV)

³¹ “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

What “has been said” (verse 31)?

Who makes the faithful wife “the victim of adultery” (verse 32)?

What “was said to the people long ago” (verse 33)?

What command does Jesus give about oaths (verse 34)?

Why should we not swear by our head (verse 36)?

What “comes from the evil one” (verse 37)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about selfish assumptions?

In your opinion, how are the guidelines that Moses gave in Deuteronomy 23:24-24:5 changed by Jesus in Matthew 5:31-37?

2 Corinthians 1:17-24 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

¹⁸ But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” ²⁰ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. ²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

²³ I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. ²⁴ Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

What manner would allow Paul in same breath to “say both “Yes,yes” and “No, no” (verse 17)?

In whom has it “always been “Yes”” (verse 19)?

Where are the promises God has made always “Yes” (verse 20)?

Who makes “both us and you stand firm in Christ” (verse 21)?

How does God provide us a guarantee (verse 22)?

Who does Paul call as his witness (verse 23)?

How do the Corinthian Christians “stand firm” (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about selfish assumptions?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s discussion about fickleness in 2 Corinthians 1:1-24 relate to the reason for the commands of Deuteronomy 23:24-24:5?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s description of Jesus as the “Yes” in 2 Corinthians 1:17-24 help us begin to understand why Jesus is adamant in Matthew 5:31-37 that we should not “swear an oath”?

James 4:7-17- New International Version (NIV)

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.

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.

Who should we submit ourselves to (verse 7)?

What will happen when Christians “Resist the devil” (verse 7)?

Who is to “purify your hearts” (verse 8)?

When will the Lord “lift you up” (verse 10)?

Who “speaks against the law and judges it” (verse 11)?

Who is the “one Lawgiver and Judge” (verse 12)?

What are we (verse 14)?

What should we say (verse 15)?

When is boasting evil (verse 16)?

What is the knowing of a good that ought to be done and not doing it (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about selfish assumptions?

In your opinion, how is making a vow to the Lord that is discouraged in Deuteronomy 23:24-24:5 different from submitting to God that is encouraged in James 4:7-17?

In your opinion, how much is the fact that we who are human have the ability that James 4:7-17 points out to be double-minded a part of the reason for Jesus to discourage oath taking in Matthew 5:31-37?

In your opinion, how often does our inability to know the future as James points out in James 4:7-17 cause us to look “fickle” as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 1:17-24 when he made plans but was unable to honor them?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Deuteronomy, Matthew, 2 Corinthians, and James teach us about the importance of considering how our view of ourselves guides our making vows, dealing with neighbors and spouses, and our attitude before God?

In your opinion, how might making living in the Lord’s will shape our words and actions?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)