Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions

Forgiveness Week 4
• Have you ever thought God was unfair? If so, what was the situation?
• How far do you think God’s mercy extends? Is anything unforgivable?
• What situation needs to experience God’s extravagant mercy? How can your family help?

Forgiveness Week 4

There are several scripture readings this week.

The question for the week is: "Is Anything Unforgivable?"

Matthew 20: 1-15; Jonah 3:5, 10; 4: 1-11

Matthew 20:1-15 (New International Version)
Matthew 20
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
1"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5So they went.

"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

7" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

8"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'

9"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

13"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

Jonah 3:5 New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica
5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.


Jonah 3:1010 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 4:1-11 (New International Version)

Jonah 4
Jonah's Anger at the Lord 's Compassion
1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

David and Bathsheba

Have you read the story??? What do you think? What does this story tell us about sin and forgiveness? Things to think about:
Are there consequences for sin?
Can we stray from God's grace?
How do we receive the newness of life that is ours in Christ?
Don't forget to also read Romans 6: 1-4.

Biblegateway link

Oops, the link is on the left. Once you get to Bible Gateway you must type in the book with chapter and verses that you are searching for as well as the version in which you wish to read it. You might want to try New International, New Living, or Contemporary English.



Good luck and let me know how it goes. This is the story of David and Bathsheeba - it's pretty racey stuff!



Grace

Question for the week & Bible readings

If we are all so bad,why doesn't God just start over in another world?
2 Samuel 11:1 - 12:14
Romans 6: 1-4

Try the Bible Gateway link on the right to find the Bible verses!

Forgiveness, Bible reading

Here is an additional Bible reading for the week. It is Psalm 51. I will post it in Today's English Version. See what you think. I personally love the Psalms. Somehow they always "speak to me".


Psalm 51
(For the music leader. A psalm by David when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had been with Bathsheba.)
A Prayer for Forgiveness
1You are kind, God!
Please have pity on me.

You are always merciful!

Please wipe away my sins.

2Wash me clean from all

of my sin and guilt.

3I know about my sins,

and I cannot forget

my terrible guilt.

4You are really the one

I have sinned against;

I have disobeyed you

and have done wrong.

So it is right and fair for you

to correct and punish me.

5I have sinned and done wrong

since the day I was born.

6But you want complete honesty,

so teach me true wisdom.

7Wash me with hyssop [a] until I am clean

and whiter than snow.

8Let me be happy and joyful!

You crushed my bones,

now let them celebrate.

9Turn your eyes from my sin

and cover my guilt.

10Create pure thoughts in me

and make me faithful again.

11Don't chase me away from you

or take your Holy Spirit

away from me.

12Make me as happy as you did

when you saved me;

make me want to obey!

13I will teach sinners your Law,

and they will return to you.

14Keep me from any deadly sin.

Only you can save me!

Then I will shout and sing

about your power to save.

15Help me to speak,

and I will praise you, Lord.

16Offerings and sacrifices

are not what you want.

17The way to please you

is to feel sorrow

deep in our hearts.

This is the kind of sacrifice

you won't refuse.

18Please be willing, Lord,

to help the city of Zion

and to rebuild its walls.

19Then you will be pleased

with the proper sacrifices,

and we will offer bulls

on your altar once again.




Footnotes:
a.Psalm 51:7 hyssop: A small bush with bunches of small, white flowers. It was sometimes used as a symbol for making a person clean from sin.
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

Family Connections

Here are some discussion questions for you and your family. After you read the Bible selections in Genesis and Ephesians maybe you can discuss these - or perhaps just meditate upon them by yourself!

• What would the world be like if there was no sin and therefore forgiveness wasn’t necessary?
• What do you wish you’d never done? How can you release it into God’s mercy and forgive yourself?
• Is forgiveness—by God, or of one another—dependent on repentance?
• What impact does our salvation in Christ have on the earth and its inhabitants?

Why did God make humanity so sinful?

Bible verses for the week are Ephesians2: 1-10; Genesis 2: 15- 18; 3:1-13
Ephesians 2:1-10 (New International Version)

Ephesians 2Made Alive in Christ
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.


Footnotes:
a.Ephesians 2:3 Or our flesh

Genesis 2:15-18 (New International Version)

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 3
The Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Psalm 103

What is your favorite verses in this Psalm? I like the last verse 22 Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

This psalm could be divided into 4 sections(as per The New Interpreters Study Bible).
section 1 vs 1-5 soliloquy on God's goodness and mercy
section 2 vs 6-14 recital of God's demonstrated love protection and forgiveness
section 3 vs 15-18 a meditation contrasting human fraity to God's steadfastness
section 4 vs 19-22 summons to the entire universe to join in praise to God.

Anybody out there?

I keep thinking that I will open up this blog one morning and see that someone else has written a comment. Maybe someone can join the "conversation". How about it high school students????

Questions for the week

Session 1
• Why does God love? What motivates God to continue loving us?
• How have you experienced God’s steadfast love and mercy?
• How have you experienced God’s forgiveness?
• How would we, in our own family, treat each other if we viewed each other through God’s eyes?

What motivates God to keep loving us?

This week starts a new quarter and also a new set of questions. The topic is "Forgiveness" and this week's question is "What motivates God to keep loving us?"
The Bible verses for this week's study are listed below.


Psalm 103 (New International Version)

Psalm 103
Of David.
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-

18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.

21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.

22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.


John 3:16-17 (New International Version)

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.


Footnotes:
a.John 3:16 Or his only begotten Son

Grocery Bags

I ordered re-recyclable grocery bags this morning. I am not 100% sure this is a good use of resources because it takes so much to make these bags, but I am going to give them a try. The idea is to keep them in your car and take them into the store and then you don't need those "paper or plastic" ones. We shall see if they work for me........as long as I remember to take them into the store with me.

What can you recycle this week?

I think Jesus would want us to recycle. he might even prefer us to buy used clothes. But wow! That would be hard to do. This week I am washing out those bi-metal cans. I guess I'll start doing that again until I get cut. What are you doing this week to conserve?