Session 4: Matthew 6-7

Session Four: Matthew 6-7 (Sermon on the Mount, Part 2)

Introduction

Share the time you got the best gift ever. Who gave it to you and why?

We worry about the future, our kids, getting old, having low energy, dieting or losing weight, job security, debt, finances and retirement, whether we are good parents, bosses, spouses. What are the things you worry about? How often do you worry about them?

Read Matthew 6-7.

Reading Questions

1.       What do the instructions of Matthew 6:1-18, generally about giving, prayer, and fasting, tell the reader about the relationship God seeks with humans? What adjectives describe that relationship?

2.       Matthew 6, verses 4 and 18 mention rewards. What rewards is it talking about?

3.       Consider Matthew 6:22-23 and 7:1-5. How do the two portions of verse complement each other?

4.       Consider Matthew 6: 25-34 and 7:7-12. What do these passages have in common about our relationship with God?

5.       Matthew 7:1-2 instruct us not to judge, however verses 15-20 seem to indicate otherwise. How can these verses be reconciled?

Old Testament Links

1.       Compare Matthew 6:1-5 to Deuteronomy 15:7-11. How are the poor or needy addressed in each passage?

2.       Deuteronomy 7:17-8:9 remind the Israelites of their time in the wilderness and their entrance to the promised land. What characteristics of God are demonstrated in these verses? How do they relate to characteristics shown in verses 6:25-34?

3.       Read Deuteronomy 11:26-28 and Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and compare theses passages to Matthew 7:13-14 and 21-28. How does Jesus’s teaching differ from the Old Testament passages?

Application

1.       Matthew 7:6 is a warning to believers. Share your experiences of giving pearls to pigs.

2.       Ask, seek, knock. Sometimes we are caught in thinking like John, that we are not worthy to tie Jesus’s sandals and it holds us back. But here, Jesus says that the Father gives good gifts. What ‘good gifts’ have you hesitated to ask of God? Once you asked, what happened?

3.       Referring to Matthew 7:24-27, what types of things are the rock? What could be the wind and waters?

a.       Are there things that can be done to firm up the rock or to defend against these winds and waters?

b.       What is the foundation of those who build on the sand? At times, we feel like we are on shifting, sandy ground, even as believers. What can believers do to find the firm foundation again?

4. What are some actions you can take to follow the instruction ‘do not worry’?

5. Take time to consider the various areas of your live, work, children, marriage, service, church. hat is the foundation of each?