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)

November 19, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Beginning or End

Beginning or End

Isaiah 28:14-18 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
    who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
    with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
    and falsehood our hiding place.”

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
    will never be stricken with panic.
¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line
    and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
    and water will overflow your hiding place.
¹⁸ Your covenant with death will be annulled;
    your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    you will be beaten down by it.

What are the “scoffers” to hear (verse 14)?

Why will the “overwhelming scourge” not be able to touch them (verse 15)?

What will the Sovereign Lord lay in Zion (verse 16)?

How will those who rely on it be protected (verse 16)?

What will the “plumb line” be (verse 17)?

Where will the water overflow (verse 17)?

What will be annulled (verse 18)?

How will the “overwhelming scourge” affect them (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

Matthew 21:33-46 – New International Version (NIV)

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

What did the landowner do with the vineyard he planted and prepared (verse 33)?

When did he send his servants to the tenants (verse 34)?

Who did the landowner send after the servants he sent were beaten, killed and stoned (verses 35 through 37)?

How did the tenants respond (verses 38 and 39)?

How did chief priests and Pharisees respond when Jesus ask “when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants” (verses 40 and 41)?

What has become the cornerstone (verse 42)?

Who will the kingdom of God be given to (verse 43)?

What happens to “anyone who falls on the stone” (verse 44)?

What did the chief priests and Pharisees know (verse 45)?

Who were they afraid of (verse 46)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

In your opinion, how can the “precious cornerstone” from Isaiah 28:14-18 that protects those who rely on it by making sure they “will never be stricken with panic” also be the same stone that breaks and crushes people in Matthew 21:33-46?

Romans 9:30-10:4 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

¹ Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

What did the Gentiles not pursue (verse 30)?

What did the Gentiles obtain “by faith” (verse 30)?

What did the people of Israel pursue “as a way of righteousness” (verse 31)?

Why did the people of Israel not attain their goal (verses 31 and 32)?

What did they stumble over (verse 32)?

Who will never be put to shame (verse 33)?

What is Paul’s “heart’s desire and prayer to God” (verse 1)?

How is the zeal of the people of Israel misplaced (verse 2)?

Why did they “not submit to God’s righteousness” (verse 3)?

How may there “be righteousness for everyone who believes” (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

In your opinion, how are the scoffers and those who rely on the stone in Isaiah 28:14-18 transformed in Romans 9:30-10:4?

In your opinion, how does Romans 9:30-10:4 help us understand the motives of the chief priests and Pharisees in Matthew 21:33-46?

1 Peter 2:4-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Who is “rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him” (verse 4)?

What are Christians being built into (verse 5)?

What are Christians to offer to God (verse 5)?

Who will “never be put to shame” (verse 6)?

What has “the stone the builders rejected” become (verse 7)?

Why do they stumble (verse 8)?

Why are Christians “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (verse 9)?

What have Christians, the “people of God” received (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

In your opinion, how does the “covenant with death” of Isaiah 28:14-18 contrast with “God’s special possession” of 1 Peter 2:4-10?

In your opinion, how do the two sets of tenants of Matthew 21:33-46 become the choice of 1 Peter 2:4-10?

In your opinion, how can the misdirected zeal of the Israelites in Romans 9:30-10:4 become the “spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God” in 1 Peter 2:4-10? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and 1 Peter teach us about how Jesus is either the end, or the begining?

In your opinion, what praises of God can we declare today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 12, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Like a Child

Like a Child

Isaiah 28:7-16 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ And these also stagger from wine
    and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer
    and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
    they stagger when seeing visions,
    they stumble when rendering decisions.
⁸ All the tables are covered with vomit
    and there is not a spot without filth.

⁹ “Who is it he is trying to teach?
    To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
    to those just taken from the breast?
¹⁰ For it is:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there.”

¹¹ Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
    God will speak to this people,
¹² to whom he said,
    “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
    but they would not listen.
¹³ So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
    they will be injured and snared and captured.

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
    who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
    with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
    and falsehood our hiding place.”

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
    will never be stricken with panic.

Who will “stumble when rendering decisions” (verse 7)?

What are the tables covered with (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to, “Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there” (verse 10)?

How will God speak to this people (verse 11)?

How did “this people” respond when God said “this is a place of repose” (verses 11 and 12)?

What will the word of the Lord become to them (verse 13)?

What will happen to the people (verse 13)?

Who is to “hear the word of the Lord” (verse 14)?

Why do the rulers of Jerusalem say “when an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us” (verse 15)?

Who “will never be stricken with panic” (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

Luke 18:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹⁵ People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Who did Jesus tell “this parable” to (verse 9)?

What did the Pharisee and the tax collector do (verse 10)?

What was the Pharisee thankful for (verse 11)?

When did the Pharisee fast (verse 12)?

Where would the tax collector not look (verse 13)?

What did the tax collector pray (verse 13)?

Who “went home justified before God” (verse 14)?

Who will be humbled (verse 14)?

Who will be exalted (verse 14)?

How did the disciples react to the people “bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them” (verse 15)?

What did Jesus say when He “called the children to him” (verses 16 and 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

In your opinion, who is Luke 18:9-17 is most like the “priests and prophets” of Isaiah 28:7-16?

1 Corinthians 14:20-26 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. ²¹ In the Law it is written:

“With other tongues
    and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
    but even then they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”

²² Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³ So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? ²⁴ But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, ²⁵ as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

²⁶ What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

What does Paul tell the “brothers and sisters” to stop doing (verse 20)?

Where is it written, “With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord” (verse 21)?

Who are tongues a sign for (verse 22)?

Who is prophecy for (verse 22)?

What will “inquirers or unbelievers” say if they come in and everyone is speaking in tongues (verse 23)?

How will “an unbeliever or an inquirer” be affected if everyone is prophesying (verses 24 and 25)?

Why must “everything” be done (verse 26)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

In your opinion, what does Isaiah 28:7-16 help us understand about Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 14:20-26 that “tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers”?

In your opinion, how is receiving “the kingdom of God like a little child” which Jesus encourages in Luke 18:9-17 different from “thinking like little children” which Paul instructs us to stop doing in 1 Corinthians 14:20-26?

Philippians 2:5-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Where are we to have “the same mindset and Christ Jesus” (verse 5)?

What did Jesus not consider as “something to be used to his own advantage” (verse 6)?

What nature did Jesus take (verse 7)?

How did Jesus “humble himself” (verse 8)?

Where did God exalt Jesus to (verse 9)?

What will “every knee” do (verse 10)?

What will “every tongue acknowledge” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

In your opinion, how is the mindset of the “priests and prophets” in Isaiah 28:7-16 different from the mindset of Christ that Paul describes in Philippians 2:5-11?

In your opinion, what do both Luke 18:9-17 and Philippians 2:5-11 help us understand about who God exalts?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 2:5-11 help us understand what our tongues can do to fulfill the instruction of 1 Corinthians 14:20-26 that “Everything must be done so that the church may be built up”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, 1 Corinthians, and Philippians teach us about how we can “receive the kingdom of God like a little child”?

In your opinion, once we are in the kingdom, how do avoid the pitfalls of the world so that we can bring “glory to God the Father”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)