Condemnation – The Clotting of the Kingdom Heart
- What are the two primary ways that “judging” is used in the New Testament? How do they differ? What does each look like in practice?
- Have you ever been condemned by another? What did it feel like? Have you ever condemned another? Why?
- How are you condemning towards others? What individuals or groups do you struggle not having a “condemning attitude toward?
- Why is condemning another wrong? What does it say about the one doing the condemning? Describe the kind of person he or she is. Why are appraising ideas and appraising actions vitally necessary to life?
- Why is condemnation in the home so destructive? Do you agree with C.S. Lewis’ quote when he says that he has “been far more impressed by the bad manners of parents to children than by those of children to parent?”
- Read through Galatians 6:1-5. How should a brother or sister in sin be dealt with? What principles of restoration do you glean from this text? How does the approach Paul suggests here differ from an attitude of condemnation?
- Read Matthew 10:11-16. Discuss the implications of Matthew 7:6 and the final point of the message in light of Mt. 10:11-16. How would we apply Mt. 7:6?
- Pray for each other and yourself to become the kind of person that is an appraiser of ideas and actions not a condemner of people.
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No Worries: the Consequence of a Kingdom Oriented Heart
- What do you worry about most? Why? How does it affect you?
- How do you see this text connected to last weeks (Matthew 6:19-24)? If you put both texts together how would you synthesize Jesus lesson down into a sentence?
- Talk about this statement: “Worry is practical atheism.”
- Read 1 Peter 5:1-7. What is the context for vs. 7? How does pride intersect with anxiety/worry? Why are we to “cast all our anxiety on him”? What does His care look like?
- What does it mean to “seek His kingdom”? What is necessary to do this in life?
- From vs. 34 we learn that trouble will befall us but we shouldn’t worry. Read Matthew 10:29. Sparrows only fall under the will of God. What does this mean? Does God cause all things? Is there a distinction to be made between God permitting/allowing and him provoking/causing? Talk about what that distinction looks like. What insight and comfort does this verse give us for or lives? Read John 16:33. How does the fact that Jesus “overcomes the world” impact you and your daily life? In what sense does he overcome the world?
- Pray for any anxieties within the group.
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Remembering Dr. Harold Hoehner
While working on my Master of Theology degree from Dallas Seminary I had the prvilege of sitting at the knee of Dr. Harold Hoehner. Dr. Hoehner and I had come from the same area of the country and had some contacts from the past in common. He went to be with the Lord yesterday after going out for a run. He was 74. At different points he held the chair of the New Testament department at Dallas and headed the PhD program. I took Exegesis of Romans from him. It was a rigorous Greek class on the book of Romans and was made all the more so because he was teaching it. He was a first rate scholar and an effective teacher. He will long be remembered for his extensive commentary on Ephesians which is truly one of the best and most extensive scholarly works on this little book in the history of the church. It took him something like 13 years to complete. In addition to his commentary much of his academic legacy is bound up in the amazing New Testament faculty he helped amass at Dallas. Under his watch that department became one of, if not the, premier New Testament department in the country.
Beyond his academic accomplishments, Dr. Hoehner was a joyous and kind man whose irenic spirit was a welcome compliment to his educational prowess. While I was in seminary a chapel was held in his honor and much of it was devoted to roasting him. His son-in-law and I were friends and classmates and I was asked to play Dr. Hoehner in a multi-scene skit poking fun at him. We had a blast and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to reconnect with him briefly at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in Providence back in Novermber, and it was delightful. Undoubtedly the Lord is honored by a life so lived with the kingdom in view. Dr. Hoehner leaves a legacy of faithful scholarship and dedicated equipping, as well children who are serving Christ in Russia and Afghanistan. I praise God that I could learn from his scholarship and be blessed by his heart. Bask in eternal rest Dr. Hoehner.