Session 10: Matthew 23-25

Session 10: Chapters 23-25

 Introduction

Share the last time you were honored or celebrated. What was the occasion and how did you feel?

How would your closest friends and family describe you? List three of your strongest character traits.

Read Matthew Chapters 23-25.

Reading Questions

1.       In Chapter 23: 7-8, describe the relationship that Jesus tells the disciples they should have with others.

2.       Summarize each of the seven woes, Chapter 23, verses

a.       13-14

b.       15

c.       16-22

d.       23-24

e.       25-26

f.        27-28

g.       29-32

3.       In Chapter 24:1-35, Jesus discusses the signs and destruction of the temple and signs of the end times.

a.       List at least five signs that he describes in verses 4-14 and 23-35.

b.       List at least three of the instructions he gives believers in verses 15-22 and 32-35.

4.       Chapter 24:36-51 instruct believers in the end times as well. What are three instructions to remember?

5.       Jesus tells the Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Parable of the Bags of Gold in chapter 25. Which lessons do they seem to illustrate from chapter 24?

6.       In Matthew 25: 24-25, the servant entrusted one bag of gold came to settle accounts. What do these verses tell us of how the servant viewed the master?

7.       What characteristics of the sheep are rewarded in Matthew 25: 31-45? Which are cursed in the goats?

Old Testament Links

1.       Read Exodus 13:1-16 and Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21. Compare these descriptions to the Pharisees as Jesus described in Chapter 23: 2-7.

2.       Matthew 24: 15 refers to the book of Daniel directly. The phrase ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ is found four times in Daniel: verses 8:13, 9:27, 11:31, 12:11. Read Daniel 9: 25-27 and 12:1-13 and compare to Jesus’s teachings in chapter 24.

3.       Joel 2:10-17 include similar references to the sun and moon as Matthew 24:29-31. Compare the mood and tone of the passages.

4.       Consider Isaiah 40:8 and Matthew 24:35. What does Jesus reveal in the reference?

5.       Matthew 25:35-36 list the work that the sheep did for the King. Read 3 or 4 of the following verses from the Old Testament to form an idea of the Old Testament teachings on these works. How does Jesus’s lesson assist in the understanding of these laws?

a.       Genesis 18: 1-15

b.       Exodus 22: 21-27

c.       Leviticus 13: 46

d.       Leviticus 19: 9-10, 34

e.       Leviticus 24: 22

f.        Deuteronomy 10: 17-21

g.       Proverbs 19: 17

h.       Proverbs 25: 21

Application

1.       Jesus described the Pharisees as desiring the place of honor and greetings of respect in Chapter 23:2-7. What kinds of things do modern Pharisees desire? Give specific examples.

2.       How can we actively keep our hearts from growing cold (Matthew 24:12)?

3.       The master throws the servant that had been entrusted one bag of gold out into the darkness. Consider the characteristics of God that you listed in Reading Question 6. To what extent do you agree with the servant about God’s character?

4.       How can we be more like the sheep of Matthew 25:31-46?