Today’s passage: Matthew 18:15-20

Helpful thoughts:

• When a person is in sin:
  • Go to them and lovingly rebuke them privately
    • If they repent, praise the Lord!
  • If they continue in sin, take two or three others who are aware and confront them again.
    • If they repent, praise the Lord!
  • If they continue in sin, get the whole church involved and lovingly call on them to repent.
    • If they repent, praise the Lord!
  • If they continue in sin, they are to be seen as an unbeliever, and therefore removed from church membership.
• The purpose of this process (Church discipline) is repentance and reconciliation, not punishment.  It is to be exercised with care and compassion, not with anger and ridicule.  Often the reason why people have such a poor view of church discipline is because they have never seen it done in a biblical manner.
• The final verses of the paragraph (18-20) share God’s authoritative approval when the church follows His will.
  • So, when it says “when two or three are gathered together in my name” that doesn’t mean you are having “Church” whenever two or three people decide to meet together.  It means that God’s will and authority are being carried out when the church gathers together to pursue righteousness within its membership.

Questions to consider:

1. What is one reason why church membership is important given the content of this passage?  Is it good that you would be mutually accountable to a specific set of believers?
2. Why do you think discipline is so difficult?  Why do people struggle to pursue it?
3. How do followers of Jesus live?  What do they do?

Today’s passage: Matthew 18:7-14

Helpful thoughts:

• Please do not cut your hand off this morning…this principle Jesus explains in this passage has been referred to as radical amputation.  The idea is to be willing to do whatever it takes to avoid sin.
• In the first 14 verses of chapter 18, Jesus speaks about caring for other children of God, watching out for our own selves, and being eager and excited when God seeks out and returns a child who had gone astray.
•  It is not God’s will that any of His children should perish.  (See John 10:27-28)

Questions to consider:

1. How would you exercise radical amputation if you were continuing to struggle with sins like: Gluttony, gossip, pornography, laziness, etc.  What would be some things you could put into place or remove from your daily routine that would help you to defeat these sins.  Is there a sin that you need to defeat?  How could you go about it?
2. Why do you think we would ever be upset that another person repented?  What would that say about our view of grace and our own need of it?  How does this remind you of the parable of the Prodigal Son?
3.  Who does the finding of the sheep?  Who takes responsibility for our standing and security?  Why is this such a good thing?

Today’s passage: Matthew 18:1-6

Helpful thoughts:

• In Mark 9 and Luke 9, we learn that the disciples had argued which one of them was the greatest.  This was not a philosophical question. They wanted to know which one of them was best.
• The Greek word used for “child” in this passage refers to a very young child.  Probably a toddler.
• “Unless you turn”, refers to repentance/conversion.
• Remember for verses 5-6 that Jesus was using the toddler to represent the “child of God”.  This means the content of verses 5-6 can refer to any child of God, no matter how physically old they may be.

Questions to consider:

1. How much does a toddler expect to contribute to his/her own well being?  How is this a good picture of our salvation?  How does it help us to define and understand God’s grace?
2. How does child-like faith also help us to remain humble?
3. In what ways would seeing God as your father the same way a toddler would want to view their father help you to fight against sin (And fight for your brothers and sisters in Christ)?

Today’s passage: Matthew 17:22-27

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus again foretells what is to come in His death, burial and resurrection.  He was not hiding what was to come.  He spoke of His resurrection openly.
• The tax being taken in this passage is the Temple Tax.  This was not for Rome.
• Notice the collectors went to Peter specifically to ask/challenge the integrity of Jesus.  Peter didn’t even hesitate.  He knew that Jesus kept the laws.
• Even though Jesus certainly would have been the most legitimate person to be exempt from this tax, He paid it willingly.

Questions to consider:

1. Did Jesus have to ask Peter about the conversation he had with the collectors?  Which attribute of God is on display in this passage?
2. Given the context, what was wrong with the way the collectors asked Peter about Jesus’ payment?
3. How does Jesus’ desire to “not to give offense” help us to think about our duties and involvement today?

 

Today’s passage: Matthew 17:14-21

Helpful thoughts:

• You can read from Mark 9 and Luke 9 for parallel accounts of this narrative.
• This boy was demon-possessed.  Satan’s desire is to destroy.
• Remember that a mustard seed is small, but a large plant results from its growth.  The faith that starts out small as a mustard seed will grow and become powerful.

Questions to consider:

1. How does the context of this conversation help us to understand our own application?  To whom was Jesus talking?  What had He specifically gifted them and called them to do?  What was the purpose of the miracles they were doing?
2. How could this passage then rightly be applied in our prayer and walk with Christ?
3. When is the power/size of our faith revealed?

Today’s passage: Matthew 17:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• The Greek word for transfigured is the word from which we get metamorphosis.
• In suggesting the building of tabernacles for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter again mistakenly thinks there is a shortcut that avoids the cross.  But, let’s not be hard on him!  How bewildering and shocking would it be to see this?
• In 2 Peter 1, Peter rightly states that on this day they witnessed “Majestic Glory.”  And they were terrified.
• Jesus reaffirms that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Malachi.

Questions to consider:

1. How bright would something have to shine before you compared it to the sun?
2. How do you think you would have responded if you were on that mountain that day?  How does Peter’s response and subsequent life and ministry encourage you?
3. Why do you think the disciples fell on their faces, terrified?  How might their view of God changed after this day?
4. Why is it helpful for us to remember the “bigness” of God and the “smallness” of man?

Today’s passage: Matthew 16:21-28

Helpful thoughts:

• On the heels of telling His disciples not to spread the word about being the Messiah, Jesus tells them about His mission, to die on the cross.  His disciples give evidence to the difficulty it would have been for everyone to understand.
• Following Jesus includes putting off immediate worldly gain and looking forward to future glory.
• Jesus is coming again.
• The meaning of verse 28 seems tough to understand.  Jesus hasn’t come back yet and all the disciples are dead… So, either the phrase “some standing here” just means people on the earth and is not specifically referring to the disciples.  Or, this statement is fulfilled in the next chapter when Peter, James and John get a sneak preview of Jesus’ glory at the transfiguration.  This second option makes the most sense to me.

Questions to consider:

1. How was Peter setting his mind on things of man and not on the things of God?  What are some ways that we get stuck in the here and now, and forget about the Kingdom of God?
2. Who did Jesus blame for the worldly thinking of Peter?  How would this exchange of words coincide with Ephesians 6:12?
3. Is there anything in your life, in your heart that you treasure more than Jesus Christ?  Ask yourself the question from Jesus, “What will it profit a man…?”

Today’s Passage: Matthew 16:13-20

Helpful thoughts:

• In asking His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, Jesus was telling them who He was.  “Son of Man” is/was a well known name for the Messiah.  This was an open-book test of sorts.
• To say that Jesus is John the Baptist, Elijah, or anyone else is to say that Jesus is NOT the Christ.
• To say that Jesus is the Christ is believing He is the promised Messiah.  To call Jesus the Son of the living God is to believe in His divinity.  Peter was saying, “You are the promised Messiah. You are God.”
• Jesus, without question, without parable, tells them that the signs, teachings, their family backgrounds, etc. did not cause them to believe.  They believed in who Jesus was because God the Father revealed it to them.
• Peter’s new given name is in the Greek, “Little Stone”, then Jesus says, “Upon this rock”, which in the Greek refers to a large stone or a rocky mountain or peak.  The “rock” that the Church is built upon is the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
• The “keys” given represents authority in the church.  Which, when exercised correctly will always be in agreement with the Word of God.

Questions to consider:

1. Who is Jesus? (Every single soul on the face of the earth must answer this question.)
2. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, and you have put your faith and trust in Him, how did you come to that conclusion? (Hint: It wasn’t a different process than Peter’s.)
3. How would verse 19 be viewed/exercised today without the existence of the local church?
4. Why would Jesus tell His disciples not to tell anybody that He is the Christ?  How might people’s view of what they wanted the Christ to be for them negatively affected Jesus’ ministry and purpose?

Today’s passage: Matthew 16:1-12

Helpful thoughts:

• The Pharisees and Sadducees did not come to learn or sincerely ask questions.  They came to test Jesus.
• Signs are to be read, not revered.  Jesus is better than signs.
• The people did not want Jesus, they wanted what they thought the Messiah could give them.
• The disciples were not confused by Jesus’ warning because they were stupid, but because they were lacking in faith.

Questions to consider:

1. Why do you think the disciples were lacking in faith at that moment?  What was their focus?
2. What are some things you would be prone to love or desire that Jesus could give you MORE than Jesus Himself?  (Another way to ask this question: Have you ever been angry with God for not answering your prayer?)
3. What does the illustration of leaven remind us of when we think of the consequences of false teaching and sin?  Once you have spoken, can you choose how far the consequences will go?

Today’s passage: Matthew 15:32-39

Helpful thoughts:

• This is not the feeding of the five thousand!  Jesus did this miracle twice.
• Physical needs matter to Jesus.  He knows what it feels like to be hungry.
• The disciples would certainly have not forgotten the first miracle Jesus did to feed thousands of people. They were probably just acknowledging that they themselves were unable to feed the crowd.
• The word used for “basket” in this passage is different than in chapter 14 and would have been quite a bit larger.  So, even though there were fewer baskets left over, there was probably more food.

Questions to consider:

1. Was the feeding of these Gentiles the point of the passage, or does this passage read more like a conclusion to what we have been reading over the last few days?
2. What was the greatest thing that happened in the second half of chapter 15; Jesus doing miracles or Gentiles calling the God of Israel their Lord?
3. What is the purpose of miracles?  What is better than God doing a physical miracle in your life?