Category: The Gospel

The Gospel

Motivation for Righteousness—A Christ Teaching on Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy Doesn’t Please God: Even if it Pleases People

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO
LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org My father is always at work
LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
My father is always at work

Christ rejects hypocrisy and rebuked people against hypocrisy on several occasions. He rebuked people that presented themselves as worshiping God but were more concerned about promoting their authority or self-interest, people that asked questions to show off their knowledge instead of seeking to improve understanding, or people that focused on condemning others. We discuss his teaching on hypocrisy and examine circumstances in which he rebuked people against hypocrisy.

 

 

LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org The law forbids you to carry your mat on the Sabbat
LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
The law forbids you to carry your mat on the Sabbat

Hypocrisy refers to a person’s motivation for an act of worship or righteousness. Is the action motivated by an understanding of God’s purpose in a given situation and desire to fulfill the purpose? Is one motivated by a desire to be recognized and admired or respected by other people? Hypocrisy could manifest in terms of a person professing a belief but their actions are inconsistent with what they profess. Also, hypocrisy could manifest in terms of self-righteousness, resulting in looking down on and judging others but failing to apply same rules and standards to self. Hypocrisy in worship often manifests as play acting, working behind a “mask,” and in general pretending to be something that the person really isn’t.

Christ’s teaching on hypocrisy could be summarized into a simple message: An act of worship or righteousness pleases God if it is motivated by a desire to worship him or serve people to fulfill his purpose. In contrast, an act of worship or righteousness does not please God if it is motivated by self-promotion, seeking human recognition, or any purpose other than serving God.

Continue reading “Motivation for Righteousness—A Christ Teaching on Hypocrisy” →

The Gospel

Value of Humility—Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

A Christ Teaching on Humility: the Greatest Virtue

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO

In this bible study, we discuss Christ’s teaching on humility through three interactions: first, an interaction with his disciples, when he presented a child as an exemplification of humility and declared that “whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 18:4, NKJV]; second, an interaction with fellow guests at a dinner, where he explained that people should refrain from assigning themselves to seats of honor, to avoid potential demotion by the host, for “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” [Luke 14:11, NKJV]; and third, an interaction with his disciples and a large audience during the Sermon on the Mount.

LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org

Humility conveys a message that a person is available and willing to provide or accept assistance as needed. It sets up an environment for fulfilling God’s purpose of mutual provider-receiver relationships among people, whereby every person is potentially a provider sometimes and receiver at other times. Humility conveys a person as predisposed to appreciate other people as potential providers of human service and willing to perform services to benefit others. Therefore, a person’s humility conveys Godliness to others and motivates them to do the same. God creates every person to be humble, expects and rewards humility, but punishes haughtiness.

Continue reading “Value of Humility—Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven” →

The Gospel

Sowed on Good Soil—Parable of the Sower

A Christ Teaching on Growing and Flourishing in God

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO

Christ uses the parable of the Sower to explain that God grants opportunities to every person to know him and grow, flourish, and bear fruit in him. Furthermore, he uses the parable to warn that a person may fail to accomplish the goal of flourishing and bearing fruit in God because of personal habits and environmental influence.

FreeBibleImages.org
FreeBibleImages.org

He identifies three potential causes of failure as poor understanding and assimilation of the message, inadequate connection to spiritual nourishment, and inability to withstand enemy competition. In this discussion of the parable of the Sower, we focus on the approach to guarding against and rising above the potential causes of failure. We discuss our understanding of the potential failures and identify various things we can do to avoid them, in order to attain maturity in God and live the life that he created in us. Also, we recall information from previous bible studies to discuss the meaning of bearing fruit in God.

Continue reading “Sowed on Good Soil—Parable of the Sower” →

The Gospel

Expanding Capabilities through Enterprise—Parable of the Talents

A Christ Teaching on Deployment and Expansion of Human Capabilities

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO

Through the parable of the Talents, Christ teaches that God grants every person a set of capabilities and expects us to deploy them toward fulfilling responsibilities to ourselves and others.

LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org

He expects each person to expand the capabilities, by increasing their value, effectiveness, and variety of deployment. He rewards people that deploy and expand their capabilities and punishes those that stagnate theirs. Furthermore, we learn through the parable that God accepts using commercial enterprise to respond to a call to compassion and extend our capabilities in the process. However, the commercial activities need to satisfy principles of Godliness based on fair value for goods and fair fee for services.

 

The parable is part of a series of teaching through which Christ explains God’s purpose and expectations for people and how he will judge our performance toward fulfilling the expectations. He uses the parable to explain that God creates every person with the capabilities to perform their functions as his provider assistant. This bible study focuses on Christ’s teaching in the parable of the Talents and tries to increase understanding of the teaching by examining information from other bible passages that point to the principles of Godliness in commercial enterprise.

Continue reading “Expanding Capabilities through Enterprise—Parable of the Talents” →

The Gospel

Call to Compassion—Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

A Christ Teaching on Earning Blessing through Human Service

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO
Dreamstime.com
Dreamstime.com

This is the second of a two-part bible study on Christ’s teaching on the call to compassion. As we discussed in previous bible studies, God creates every person to be his provider assistant and assigns responsibilities to each of us through a call to compassion. Through the parable of the Good Samaritan (first part of the study at This_Link), Christ illustrates the circumstances of a call to compassion and what is expected from the chosen provider assistant. This bible study focuses on the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, where he provides a more general teaching on God’s call to compassion.

A mutual provider-receiver relationship results from God creating every person as his provider assistant. Through calls to compassion, he provides opportunities for every person to be a provider sometimes and receiver at other times. Christ uses the parable of the Sheep and the Goats to describe the responsibilities of a provider assistant, rewards for accepting a call to compassion by performing the assigned service, and punishment for declining the call by denying a service.

LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org

HUMAN SERVICE God’s call to compassion is about human service. He assigns tasks to individuals to provide them opportunities to help others. A person earns blessing by providing the service or incurs punishment by declining. As we discussed previously at This_Link, earned blessing and incurred punishment accumulate and coexist as parallel promises from God, which he fulfills at his time, except that he will forgive a promise of punishment if the sinner repents and asks for forgiveness. Christ uses the parable of the Sheep and the Goats to explain that he will judge each of us based on our performance as his provider assistant. People that accept God’s call to compassion by providing services placed in their path will inherit eternal life. In contrast, people that decline the call by denying services placed in their path will inherit eternal punishment.

Continue reading “Call to Compassion—Parable of the Sheep and the Goats” →

The Gospel

Love through Compassion—Parable of the Good Samaritan

A Christ Teaching on Love, Compassion, and Neighbor

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO

Christ used the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach us about love, compassion, and neighbor. As we discussed in several previous bible studies such as at This_Link, God creates every person to be his provider assistant. He assigns responsibilities to each of us as his provider assistant through a call to compassion.

LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org

Christ uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to describe potential circumstances of a call to compassion and what is expected of the provider assistant. Also, he uses the parable to underscore our freedom of choice to respond to a call to compassion by providing the needed service or to disobey by declining the call. Of course, there are rewards for obedience and punishment for disobedience that we will discuss in a future bible study.

In this bible study, we focus on Christ’s teaching through the parable of the Good Samaritan. We learn the meaning of a call to compassion, what is expected of the chosen provider assistant, and who is a neighbor. We also learn about the manifestation of love through compassion. In fact, one could say that Christ defined love through the parable. At the very least, he defined compassion as an effective manifestation of love. We discuss the meaning of compassion and its relationship with love. A call to compassion is an opportunity to perform our function (fulfill the purpose of our creation) as a channel for God’s compassion. Although he can do things for people in a supernatural way, he often prefers to use a natural approach by channeling his compassion through a human provider assistant. The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates typical interactions between the service receiver and the provider assistant in a call to compassion.

Continue reading “Love through Compassion—Parable of the Good Samaritan” →

The Gospel

Sin—Opposite of Living in the Image of God

Sin—Opposite of Living in the Image of God
A Christ Teaching on Righteousness

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO

Christ uses parables to describe separation of people into two categories based on living in the image of God: the righteous and the wicked.

Final Judgment wikipedia.org
Final Judgment wikipedia.org

The righteous are people that live in the image of God, whereby each person is a channel for God’s compassion and conveyor of his image. As a channel for God’s compassion (i.e., God’s provider assistant), a person recognizes needs placed in their path, commits to providing for the need, and perseveres until they succeed: much like the Samaritan in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Being a conveyor of God’s image means providing reasonable opportunity for people to feel the hand of God through your interactions with them. In contrast, the category of the wicked consists of people that decline God’s call to compassion by denying services placed in their path: much like the chief priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Christ describes the categorization through the parables of the weeds [Matthew 13:24–29 and 37–43], the net [Matthew 13:47–50] and the sheep and the goats [Matthew 25:31–46].

ETERNAL LIFE FOR THE RIGHTEOUS He explained through the parables that the righteous will inherit eternal life in the kingdom of God. The wicked, in contrast, will be condemned to eternal punishment in a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Also, he explained through the parable of the weeds that God offers every person a persistent opportunity to repent from a life of wickedness to a life of righteousness. The opportunity persists until death or final judgment, whichever comes first [Matthew 13:40]. We examine the three parables in this study and use information contained in them and other related teachings of Christ to discuss the meaning of righteousness.

Continue reading “Sin—Opposite of Living in the Image of God” →

The Gospel

Sin Repentance and Forgiveness in Human Interaction

Seeking Reconciliation after Sin
A Christ Teaching on Dispute Resolution

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO

We discuss Christ’s teaching on sin, repentance, and forgiveness. He admonishes us to refrain from causing others to sin and to forgive people that sin against us. He talked about sin in terms of things a person may do against other persons, thereby defining principles applicable to dispute resolution.

theglobalgospel.org FreeBibleImages.org
theglobalgospel.org FreeBibleImages.org

The teaching focused on individual responsibilities in avoiding sin, seeking forgiveness of a sin committed against another person, and accepting repentance and forgiving a person that has sinned against them [Luke 17:1–4]. The responsibilities include rebuking a person for committing sin against another person and forgiving them if they repent, irrespective of the frequency of occurrence. In this study, we discuss the meaning of causing others to sin (being a channel for temptation to others), rebuking a person that sins against another, seeking forgiveness, and forgiving others. Christ emphasized repentance as necessary for forgiveness. We recall a previous study on the life of Joseph (eleventh son of Jacob) that illustrates the benefits of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Continue reading “Sin Repentance and Forgiveness in Human Interaction” →

The Gospel

Feeding Crowds of Thousands – Provider Assistant Example

Disciples Feed Crowds of Thousands:
A Christ Teaching on Compassion

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

CLICK PICTURE TO PLAY VIDEO

Jesus used two occasions of feeding a large crowd in a remote place to illustrate the responsibilities and expectations of a person called to provide goods or services to others as God’s provider assistant. God creates every person to be a potential provider (i.e., channel for his compassion) to others. He is the ultimate provider but often channels his providing through people by placing one or more persons in position to perform the needed service as his provider assistant. The chosen person is expected to recognize the need, assess how they could help, seek God’s direction, and proceed with providing for the need as they can.

Sweet Publishing/FreeBibleimages.org
Sweet Publishing/FreeBibleimages.org

PROVIDER ASSISTANT RESPONSIBILITIES Jesus used two occasions of feeding a large crowd as practical illustrations of what is expected of a person placed in position to provide for other people. In both cases, he was ministering to a crowd of several thousand that needed to be fed. His disciples took on the responsibility, realized feeding the crowd was beyond their means, sought direction from God (this time with them in person as Jesus), and he provided food for the crowd through his disciples. The disciples were the provider assistant and the people were the recipient. We examine interactions between Jesus and his disciples, him and the crowd, and the disciples and the crowd: to understand God’s expectations of a person that he calls to provide a service for other persons.

Continue reading “Feeding Crowds of Thousands – Provider Assistant Example” →

The Gospel

Value of Appreciation – Extending Long Term Benefit of Human Service

Extending Long Term Benefit of Human Service:
Christ’s Teaching on Appreciation

DOWNLOAD/PLAY AUDIO             DOWNLOAD PDF

PLAY VIDEO

We examine Christ’s teaching on appreciation based on his interactions with people that he healed. The interactions suggest he wanted to emphasize appreciation as an aspect of the healing process, as if the healing was incomplete without appreciation. We examine accounts regarding a woman he healed of long-term bleeding and a man that was the only one of ten that returned to thank him for healing them of leprosy. In both cases, he appeared to be telling them and us that their appreciation was necessary for them to receive full benefits of the healing. We know the physical healing was complete in each case before the recipient stepped forward to show appreciation. Therefore, his interactions with them lead us to understand that more than the physical healing was needed to complete the healing process.

theglobalgospel.org freebibleimages.org
theglobalgospel.org freebibleimages.org

BENEFITS OF HUMAN SERVICE Examination of these interactions lead us to understand that every human service offers two potential benefits to the recipient: a short-term benefit that arises from the service addressing an immediate need, such as physical healing; and a long-term benefit that arises because appreciation by the recipient motivates him/her to seek to be good to the provider and an expanding human community around the provider. We believe that this long-term benefit is more important than the short-term benefit and is the reason Christ wanted recipients of his favor to show appreciation and congratulated them after they did.

Continue reading “Value of Appreciation – Extending Long Term Benefit of Human Service” →