May 24, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Being First or Being Exalted

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Being First or Being Exalted

Matthew 23:1-12 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Who was Jesus speaking to (verse 1)?

Where do the teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit (verse 2)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “so you must be careful to do everything they tell you” (verse 3)?

What are the crowds and Jesus disciples not to do (verse 3)?

In your opinion, how do the teachers of the law and the Pharisees “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders” (verse 4)?

Why do the teachers of the law and Pharisees do things (verse 5)?

What do the teachers of the law and Pharisees love (verses 6 and 7)?

Who is not to be called Rabbi (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus tell the crowds and the disciples no to “call anyone on earth ‘father’” (verse 9)?

Who is our one Instructor (verse 10)?

Who is the greatest (verse 11)?

What will happen to those who exalt themselves (verse 12)?

In your opinion, how do those who will be exalted humble themselves (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 23:1-12 show us about the Great Commission?

Deuteronomy 11:13-21 - New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴ then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. ¹⁷ Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”

What commands is Moses asking the people to “faithfully obey” (verse 13)?

Why will the Lord send “rain on your land in its season” (verse 14)?

How will people be after they eat (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why would people who “love the Lord your God” and “serve him with all your heart and with all your soul” “be enticed to turn away and worship other gods” (verse 16)?

How will the Lord respond if people worship other gods (verse 17)?

What is God’s recommendation on how to avoid turning away (verse 18)?

When should the children be taught (verse 19)?

In your opinion, why should the words be written on the door frames and the gates (verse 20)?

How many days will the people and their children be in the land if they “fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds” (verses 18 and 21)?

In your opinion, are the phylacteries that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 23:1-12 an appropriate response to the commands of God in Deuteronomy 11:13-21?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Deuteronomy 11 show us about the Great Commission?

1 Timothy 4:7-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. ⁸ For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ⁹ This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. ¹⁰ That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”

In your opinion, what are “godless myths and old wives’ tales” (verse 7)?

Where should we focus instead of “godless myths and old wives’ tales” (verse 7)?

What has “value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (verse 8)?

Why do “we labor and strive” (verse 10)?

Who is the “living God” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the instruction of Deuteronomy 11:13-21 to “faithfully obey the commands I am giving you” and the message in 1 Timothy 4:7-10 to “train yourself to be godly”?

In your opinion, what are the similarities between the wide phylacteries and long tassels that Jesus talked about in Matthew 23:1-1-12 and the “godless myths and old wives’ tales” that Paul warns Timothy of in 1 Timothy 4:7-10?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 Timothy show us about the Great Commission?

3 John  – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

² Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. ³ It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. ⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

⁵ Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. ⁶ They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. ⁷ It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. ⁸ We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

⁹ I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. ¹⁰ So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

¹¹ Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. ¹² Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

¹³ I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.”

Who does John describe Gaius (verse 1)?

What does John pray for (verse 2)?

How did John find out about the faithfulness to the truth of Gaius (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why would John have “no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (verse 4)?

Who is Gaius “doing for” (verse 5)?

How should he “send them on their way” (verse 6)?

Why did they go out (verse 7)?

Why should we “show hospitality to such people” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what can we learn about Diotrephes by reading that he “loves to be first” (verse 9)?

What does Diotrephes do to those who want to welcome other believers (verse 10)?

Where is “anyone who does what is good” from (verse 11)?

Who is “well spoken of by everyone” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, why would John not want to write Gaius “with pen and ink” (verse 13)?

What blessing does John bestow on Gaius (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what are the similarities between the “godless myths and old wives’ tales” that Paul told Timothy to avoid in 1 Timothy 4:7-10 and the “malicious nonsense” that Diotrephes was spreading in 3 John?

In your opinion, how does the command in Deuteronomy 11:13-21 to “be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them” possibly help us understand the actions of Diotrephes in 3 John?

In your opinion, how are the actions and the indictment of Diotrephes in 3 John an example of the statement of Jesus in Matthew 23:1-12 “those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted”?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 3 John show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 23:13 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 17, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – The Son of David and the One Who Knocks

  

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Son of David and the One Who Knocks

Matthew 22:41-46 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴¹ “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

⁴⁴ “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

⁴⁵ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶ No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

Who was gathered together (verse 41)?

What question did Jesus ask them (verse 42)?

How did they answer (verse 42)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say that David was “speaking by the Spirit” (verse 43)?

What does “the Lord” say that “my Lord” should do until He will “put your enemies under your feet” (verse 44)?

In your opinion, why does the question Jesus asks, “If then David calls him ‘Lord’ how can he be his son” confound the Pharisees (verse 45)?

Who could “say a word in reply” (verse 46)?

In your opinion, why didn’t anyone dare ask Jesus more questions (verse 46)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 22:41-46 show us about the Great Commission?

Psalm 110 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”

² The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
    “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
³ Your troops will be willing
    on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
    your young men will come to you
    like dew from the morning’s womb.

⁴ The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
    and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
⁷ He will drink from a brook along the way,
    and so he will lift his head high.”

Who said to “my lord” to “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (verse 1)?

Where will the Lord “extend your mighty scepter” from (verse 2)?

How will “your young men” be arrayed (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does David say “you are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (verse 4)?

Who will crush kings on the “day of his wrath” (verse 5)?

Who will He judge (verse 6)?

What will He do when He drinks from “a brook along the way” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, how does knowing that the quote that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:41-46 came from Psalm 110, in which it was followed by discussion about the scepter extending from Zion and the crushing of nations help you understand what the Pharisees thought when they heard it from Jesus?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Psalm 110 show us about the Great Commission?

Hebrews 1:5-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ “For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father”?

Or again,

“I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son”?

⁶ And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

⁷ In speaking of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels spirits,
    and his servants flames of fire.”

⁸ But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
    by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

¹⁰ He also says,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
¹¹ They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
¹² You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”

¹³ To which of the angels did God ever say,

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet”?

¹⁴ Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

In your opinion, to whom did God say, “You are my Son” (verse 5)?

What does God say when He brings “his firstborn into the world” (verse 6)?

Who does God make into spirits (verse)?

Who does God make into flames of fire (verse 7)?

How is the scepter of God’s Son described (verse 8)?

With what is the Son anointed (verse 9)?

Who “laid the foundations of the earth” (verse 10)?

What will perish but the Son remain (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the foundations of the earth and the heavens will be rolled up like a garment by the Son, but the Son will remain the same (verses 11 and 12)?

To whom does God say “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (verse 13)?

What are angels (verse 14)?

In your opinion, how does the understanding of the person that David was talking about when he said “The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” in Psalm 110 change when you get to the passage in Hebrews 1:5-14 where Paul quotes the passage of David and continues to talk about the Father and the Son?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Hebrews 1:5-14 answer the question that Jesus ask the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Hebrews show us about the Great Commission?

Revelation 3:14-22 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Who was John supposed to write to (verse 14)?

How did Jesus describe Himself to the people of Laodicea (verse 14)?

What does Jesus know about the Christians in Laodicea (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say He will “spit you out of my mouth” to the Christians in Laodicea (verse 16)?

How are the Christians of Laodicea deceived (verse 17)?

What kind of gold are the Christians of Laodicea to purchase from Jesus (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus rebuke and discipline those whom He loves (verse 19)?

Where does Jesus say He is (verse 20)?

What will Jesus do for anyone who “hears my voice and opens the door” (verse 20)?

Where is the one who is victorious going to have the right to sit (verse 21)?

Who did Jesus sit down with when He was victorious (verse 21)?

Who should hear what the Spirit says to the churches (verse 22)?

In your opinion, how does it change your understanding of the statement in Hebrews 1:5-14 that Jesus, who God said to “your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom” is the one who tells John in Revelation 3:14-22 that he “stands at the door and knocks”?

In your opinion, how does your understanding of the crushing of kings and the judgment of nations in Psalm 110 expand when you know that the Son of God may want to “spit” the lukewarm from His mouth in Revelation 3:14-22 but that He is knocking at the door and will “come in and eat” with the one who hears His voice and lets Him in?

In your opinion, why might the statement in Revelation 3:14-22 that “those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” change the way we think about how Jesus might have felt about the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Revelation show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 23:1 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 10, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Love God and Love Neighbor

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Love God and Love Neighbor

Matthew 22:34-40 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Who got together after Jesus “silenced the Sadducees” (verse 34)?

How is the one who tested Jesus described (verse 35)?

What question did he ask to test Jesus (verse 36)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (verse 37)?

How does Jesus describe this commandment (verse 38)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say that “love your neighbor as yourself” is like the first commandment (verse 39)?

What hangs on these two commandments (verse 40)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 22:34-40 show us about the Great Commission?

Deuteronomy 6:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ³ Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, ¹¹ houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Where were the “commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed” Moses to teach the Israelite people to be observed (verse 1)?

Who is to “fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you” (verse 2)?

How will it go if Israel hears and is “careful to obey” (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does Moses say “the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (verse 4)?

How should our God be loved (verse 5)?

Where are the commandments to be (verse 6)?

How should the commandments be presented to our children (verse 7)?

When should we talk about the commandments (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to tie them “as symbols” on your hands (verse 8)?

What land is the Lord bringing Israel to (verse 10)?

Who did not build the cities, fill the houses with good things, dig the wells or plant the vineyards and olive groves (verses 10 and 11)?

When are the people of Israel not to forget “the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (verses 11 and 12)?

In your opinion, how does the emphasis on impressing the children with the commandments and talking about them “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” in Deuteronomy 6:1-12 add richness to the commandments that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:34-40?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Deuteronomy show us about the Great Commission?

Leviticus 19:9-18 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ “‘Do not steal.

“‘Do not lie.

“‘Do not deceive one another.

¹² “‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

¹³ “‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.

¹⁴ “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.

¹⁵ “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

¹⁶ “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.

“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.

¹⁷ “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

¹⁸ “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Where should you not reap (verse 9)?

Who should the grapes that have fallen be left for (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why does it say both “do not lie” and “do not deceive one another” in verse 11?

Why should we not “swear falsely by my name” (verse 12)?

What should not be done to the hired worker (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why should we not “curse the deaf” who would not be able to hear the cursing (verse 14)?

What does showing partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great do to justice (verse 15)?

What is the similarity between “spreading slander” and doing “anything that endangers your neighbor’s life” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why does the commandment say “rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in guilt” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, how does the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” put a stronger emphasis on all the commands in verses 9-18a (verse 18)?

In your opinion, how do you think Jesus reading and understanding the different emphasis that framing the two great commands in Deuteronomy 6:1-12 and Leviticus 19:9-18 in a positive sense helped shape the way that he related to people?

In your opinion, how does having all the commandments listed that are listed in Leviticus 19:9-18 made more complete and full by the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” help us understand why Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40 that “all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments” ?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Leviticus show us about the Great Commission?

1 John 4:7-21 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 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.”

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

How do we know that “whoever does not love does not know God” (verse 8)?

Why did God send His one and only Son into the world (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why does John say “this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (verse 10)?

Why should we love each other (verse 11)?

How is God’s love made complete in us (verse 12)?

How do we know that we live in God and that God lives in us (verse 13)?

What happens to anyone who “acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 15)?

In your opinion, how can we “know and rely on the love God has for us” (verse 16)?

What can we have on the “day of judgment” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why is there “no fear in love” (verse 18)?

Why do we love God (verse 19)?

Who is a liar (verse 20)?

What command is given (verse 21)?

In your opinion, how is the command of Leviticus 19:9-18 to “love your neighbor as yourself” expanded by the instruction in 1 John 4:7-21 that “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another”?

In your opinion, how does it enrich your understanding of both our relationship with God when you think that the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” was given in Deuteronomy 6:1-12 by the God who makes it possible for us to love Him as shown by the discussion of love in 1 John 4:7-21 which makes it clear that the love begins with God, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”?

In your opinion, how does the command in 1 John 4:7-21 that “anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” link the two great commands that Jesus gives in Matthew 22:34-40?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 John show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 22:41 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)