September 7, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Taking Up Our Cross

Taking Up Our Cross

Micah 7:1-9 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What misery is mine!
I am like one who gathers summer fruit
    at the gleaning of the vineyard;
there is no cluster of grapes to eat,
    none of the early figs that I crave.
² The faithful have been swept from the land;
    not one upright person remains.
Everyone lies in wait to shed blood;
    they hunt each other with nets.
³ Both hands are skilled in doing evil;
    the ruler demands gifts,
the judge accepts bribes,
    the powerful dictate what they desire—
    they all conspire together.
⁴ The best of them is like a brier,
    the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day God visits you has come,
    the day your watchmen sound the alarm.
    Now is the time of your confusion.
⁵ Do not trust a neighbor;
    put no confidence in a friend.
Even with the woman who lies in your embrace
    guard the words of your lips.
⁶ For a son dishonors his father,
    a daughter rises up against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
    a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

⁷ But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
    I wait for God my Savior;
    my God will hear me.

⁸ Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
    Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be my light.
⁹ Because I have sinned against him,
    I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
    and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
    I will see his righteousness.

 

What doesn’t the gleaner of the vineyard find to eat (verse 1)?

Who has been “swept from the land” (verse 2)?

What are “both hands” skilled in (verse 3)?

What time has come (verse 4)?

Who should you “guard the words of your lips” with (verse 5)?

Who are “a man’s enemies” (verse 6)?

Who will the writer “wait for” (verse 7)?

What will the Lord be to the writer, sitting “in darkness” (verse 8)?

Why will the writer “bear the Lord’s wrath” (verse 9)?

Who will plead the writer’s case and uphold his cause (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about taking up our cross?

Matthew 10:34-42 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
³⁶     a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

 

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

⁴⁰ “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

What did Jesus “come to bring” to the earth (verse 34)?

Where will a man find enemies (verse 36)?

Who is not worthy of Jesus (verse 37)?

What does someone have to “take up” daily to be worthy of Jesus (verse 38)?

What will the person who “loses their life for” Jesus’s sake find (verse 39)?

Who welcomes Jesus (verse 40)?

What will the person who “welcomes a prophet as a prophet” receive (verse 41)?

Who will “certainly not lose their reward” (verse 42)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about taking up our cross?

In your opinion, how does Micah’s choice in verse 7 of Micah 7:1-9 help us understand the choice that Jesus demands us to make in Matthew 10:34-42?

Acts 17:22-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. ³⁰ In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. ³¹ For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”

What did Paul see about the “People of Athens” (verse 22)?

Why did Paul know they were “ignorant of the very thing you worship” (verse 23)?

Who “does not live in temples build by human hands” (verse 24)?

What does the one who “is not served  by human hands” give (verse 25)?

Why did He make “all the nations” (verse 26)?

Why did God mark out the nations “appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (verses 26 and 27)?

Where do we “live and move” (verse 28)?

What should we not think that God is like (verse 29)?

What does God now command “all people everywhere to” do (verse 30)?

How will God “judge the world” (verse 31)?

How did people react “when they heard about the resurrection of the dead” (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about taking up our cross?

In your opinion, why does Micah’s message to Israel in Micah 7:1-9 contain his confession of sin and Paul’s message to the Athenians in Acts 17:22-34 contain a command to repent?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s teaching to the Athenians help us understand Jesus saying  that He “did not come to bring peace, but a sword” in Matthew 10:34-42?

Philippians 3:3-14 - New International Version (NIV)

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴ though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Who puts “no confidence in the flesh” (verse 3)?

Who though, has “more” reasons for “confidence in the flesh” (verse 4)?

What was Paul “in regard to the law” (verse 5)?

What was Paul “as for righteousness based on the law” (verse 6)?

How does Paul consider “whatever were gains to me” (verse 7)?

Why does Paul “consider everything a loss” (verse 8)?

What righteousness had Paul found through faith in Christ” (verse 9)?

How does Paul want to “know Christ” (verse 10)?

What does Paul want to attain (verse 11)?

What does Paul “press on” to do (verse 12)?

What does Paul forget (verse 13)?

What does Paul “press on toward the goal to win” (verse 14)?

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

n your opinion, what does this passage teach us about taking up our cross?

In your opinion, how does Micah’s simple statement, “Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and upholds my cause” in Micah 7:1-9 help us understand why Paul considered “everything a loss” in Philippians 3:3-14?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 3:3-14 help us understand Jesus’s statement in Matthew 10:34-42 that “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it”?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 3:3-14 help us understand what Paul meant in Acts 17:22-34 when he told the Athenians that God “commands all people everywhere to repent”?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Micah, Matthew, Acts, and Philippians teach us about pressing on to win the prize?

In your opinion, how do we take up ours crosses and follow Jesus in our world today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 26, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – A Remnant Pressing On

 

A Remnant Pressing On

Isaiah 29:5-14 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵ But your many enemies will become like fine dust,
    the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant,
⁶     the Lord Almighty will come
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
    with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
⁷ Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
    that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream,
    with a vision in the night—
⁸ as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
    but awakens hungry still;
as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
    but awakens faint and thirsty still.
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
    that fight against Mount Zion.

⁹ Be stunned and amazed,
    blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not from wine,
    stagger, but not from beer.
¹⁰ The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:
    He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);
    he has covered your heads (the seers).

¹¹ For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” ¹² Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

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.”

What will happen to the “ruthless hoards” (verse 5)?

Who will come “with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire” (verse 6)?

For whom will it be “as it is with a dream” (verses 7 and 8)?

In your opinion, who is to, “Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer” (verse 9)?

Who has “sealed your eyes” and “covered your heads” (verse 10)?

What is the “whole vision” (verse 11)?

Where are the hearts of those who come near the Lord “with the mouth and honor me with their lips” (verse 13)?

What will happen to the “wisdom of the wise” (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people can react to God and His Word?

John 19:1-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ² The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³ and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

⁴ Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” ⁵ When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷ The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

¹³ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). ¹⁴ It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶ Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

What did Pilate have done to Jesus (verse 1)?

Who “twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head” (verse 2)?

What “basis for a charge” did Pilate find against Jesus (verses 4)?

How did the chief priests and officials respond when “Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” (verses 5 and 6)?

Why did the Jewish leaders say that Jesus must die (verse 7)?

How did Jesus respond when Pilate said “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you” (verses 10 and 11)?

What happened when Pilate tried to set Jesus free (verse 12)?

What did Pilate tell the Jews after he “brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat” (verses 13 and 14)?

How did the chief priests answer when Pilate ask “shall I crucify your king” (verse 15)?

What did Pilate do with Jesus (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people can react to God and His Word?

In your opinion, how is God’s statement through Isaiah in Isaiah 29:5-14 that “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” shown to be accurate by the words of the chief priests and Jewish leaders in John 19:1-16?

Romans 11:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? ⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷ What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, ⁸ as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that could not see
    and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”

⁹ And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent forever.”

“Did God reject his people” (verse 1)?

What did Elijah do (verse 2)?

How many prophets to God did Elijah think were left (verse 3)?

How did God answer Elijah (verse 4)?

How is the remnant chosen (verse 5)?

What is the choice not based on (verse 6)?

Who did obtain “what the people of Israel sought so earnestly” (verse 7)?

How long had God given them “a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear” (verse 8)?

What did David ask would “become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them” (verse 9)?

Why did David want “their eyes to be darkened” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people can react to God and His Word?

In your opinion, what is similar between the circumstances in Romans 11:1-10 and the circumstances in Isaiah 29:5-14 that make the quote about a spirit of stupor, eyes that can’t see, and ears that can’t hear applicable to both?

In your opinion, what does Paul in Romans 11:1-10 reveal about how the choices, words and decisions of the Jewish leaders about Jesus in John 19:1-16 bind or limit the choices, words and decisions of the Jewish people about Jesus?

Philippians 3:3-14 – New International Version (NIV)

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴ though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

What do those “who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus” not put confidence in (verse 3)?

What are the things Paul lists as reasons of confidence in (verse 5 and 6)?

How does Paul view those things that “were gains” (verse 7)?

Why does Paul “consider everything a loss” (verse 8)?

Where does the “righteousness” that Paul has come from (verse 9)?

Why does Paul want to know Christ (verse 10)?

What does Paul want to attain (verse 11)?

Why does Paul “press on” (verse 12)?

What does Paul forget (verse 13)?

Why does Paul “press on toward the goal” (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people can react to God and His Word?

In your opinion, what does Philippians 3:3-14 reveal about how those that the Lord has brought a “deep sleep” over in Isaiah 29:5-14 must change to wake up?

In your opinion, what does Philippians 3:3-14 reveal about the change in Paul to move him from being like the Jewish leaders persecuted Jesus in John 19:1-16 to the person who boasts “in Christ Jesus”?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Philippians 3:3-14 help us understand how confidence in the flesh could be part of the reason for the “spirit of stupor” that he says the Israelite people have in Romans 11:1-10? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Romans, and Philippians teach us about what it takes to move from being part of the majority with hearts far from God to the remnant who boasts in Christ Jesus?

In your opinion, how can each of us “press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 11, 2018 – Kingdom Planting – Called

-            The

Called

Joshua 5:2-12 - New International Version (NIV)             

² At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” ³ So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.

⁴ Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. ⁵ All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. ⁶ The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷ So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. ⁸ And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

⁹ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰ On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. ¹¹ The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹² The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

Why was Joshua to “make flint knives” (verse 2)?

Who had died in the wilderness (verse 4)?

What had not happened to all the people born in the wilderness “during the journey from Egypt” (verse 5)?

Who had promised to give the “land flowing with milk and honey” to their ancestors (verse 6)?

Why were the sons still uncircumcised (verse 7)?

How long did they remain “where they were” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what did the Lord mean by “today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” (verse 9)?

What did the Israelites do on the “evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal” (verse 10)?

When did the Israelites eat “some of the produce of the land” (verse 11)?

What changed after “they ate this food from the land” (verse 12)?

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

Mark 1:16-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ¹⁸ At once they left their nets and followed him.

¹⁹ When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. ²⁰ Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

What were “Simon and his brother Andrew” doing (verse 16)?

Who invited Simon and Andrew to follow (verse 17)?

What would Simon and Andrew be sent to do (verse 17)?

How did Simon and Andrew react to the invitation (verse 18)?

What were “James son of Zebedee and his brother John” doing (verse 19)?

How did James and John react when they were called (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, how is the circumcision of the Israelites in the promised land in Joshua 5:2-12 similar to the response of Simon, Andrew, James and John to Jesus in Mark 1:16-20?

Acts 2:37-41 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

How did the people respond to after feeling “cut to the heart” by the words of Peter (verse 37)?

What did Peter tell them to do (verse 38)?

What “gift” will they receive (verse 38)?

Who is the promise for (verse 39)?

How did Peter warn them (verse 40)?

What did Peter plead for them to do (verse 40)?

How many “accepted his message” that day (verse 41)?

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

In your opinion, how is the circumcision of the Israelites and God rolling “away the reproach of Egypt” in Joshua 5:2-12 similar to those who were escaping “from this corrupt generation” through repenting and being baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” in Acts 2:37-41?

In your opinion, how are Peter’s call to “repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins” in Acts 2:37-41 and Jesus’ call to Simon, Andrew, James and John to follow Him in Mark 1:16-20 the same?

Philippians 3:3-14 – New International Version (NIV)

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴ though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Who puts no confidence in the flesh (verse 3)?

How could Paul’s confidence in the flesh compare with other people’s (verse 4)?

What does Paul list that would give him confidence in the flesh (verses 5 and 6)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean by “whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” (verses 7 and 8)?

What “comes from God on the basis of faith” (verse 9)?

What does Paul want to attain through knowing Christ (verses 10 and 11)?

Why does Paul “press on” (verse 12)?

What “one thing” does Paul do (verse 13)?

Where has God called Paul (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, how are the Israelites, who celebrated their first Passover in the promised land and then started eating the food of the land instead of the manna in Joshua 5:2-12, similar to Paul who is “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” in Philippians 3:3-14?

In your opinion, how is the magnitude of what Simon, Andrew, James and John gave up when Jesus called them in Mark 1:16-20 illustrated for us by Paul as he lists the things that he could have had confidence in in Philippians 3:3-14?

In your opinion, how is Peter’s call to “save yourselves from this corrupt generation” by repenting and being baptized in Acts 2:37-41 echoed by Paul in Philippians 3:3-14?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua, Mark, Acts, and Philippians reveal to us about the difference between those who are of the “corrupt generation” and those who are pressing on to win the prize that God has called then heavenward in Jesus Christ for?

In your opinion, how do we react to God calling us today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)