Last updated on July 14th, 2019 at 05:46 pm
What are some notable sacrifices your parents made for you? Why did they do it?
Why is Paul having to address food sacrificed to idols?
What behaviors have you seen in our church body that witness to truth and love in Christ? What behaviors have you seen that turn people away from Christ? How should we determine what is acceptable behavior versus what’s unacceptable behavior within the church? Are Christians known more for “who we are for”, or “what we are against”?
Verse 1: Is the pursuit of knowledge a bad thing? How does a Christian view the pursuit of knowledge?
What does “love” and “building up” have to do with eating food sacrificed to idols?
Verse 2: Charles Spurgeon quote: “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”
“I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 ESV
Google’s corporate mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” In what ways can the world become better through the collection and dissemination of knowledge? What will we miss if we pursue knowledge without God?
Verse 3: What are you known for in your circles of influence? What do you think you are known for in God’s eyes? Do they differ?
Verse 4-6: What are the things that please God? What are church things we do or don’t do that may not necessarily please God but are there to please our version of God? What would God say about our building? Music? Liturgy? Sunday service? ABFs? Programs? Spending?
Verse 7: How would you describe a weak conscience? What’s the difference between a weak conscience and establishing healthy guardrails for your life?
Verse 8: Read Matthew 15:1-20 below.
What is the core of the Pharisees question that makes Jesus upset?
From the Pharisees’ perspective, what about Jesus’ response could come across as threatening to their way of life?
What is the Pharisee’s perspective on how to be holy?
How would you summarize what Jesus is trying to get across?
“Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'”
And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.””
Matthew 15:1-20 ESV
Verse 9-11: How can our lifestyle be a stumbling block for others? Has your attitude or behavior ever been a stumbling block to others? What are we supposed to do about it? What is our responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Verse 12: How is wounding the conscience of a brother a sin against Christ? How has this act hurt Christ at all?
Verse 13: What would you like to sacrifice this week for the sake of a fellow brother in Christ? For your wife? For the unbelievers around you?