DISCUSSION
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Category: Sermon Post
DISCUSSION
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DISCUSSION
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DISCUSSION
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QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
1. Read verse 5. What role do ministers of the gospel play in the conversion and growth of saints? Who is the one who “assigns” or “gives opportunity” to each? What does this mean?
2. Read verse 6. Who planted? Who watered? Who actually caused the growth? What does this teach you concerning how God saves and sanctifies His people?
3. Read verse 7. What does Paul say “he who plants” and “he who waters” is? Who gets the glory in salvation?
4. Read verse 8. What does Paul mean by “He who plants and he who waters are one”? According to the second part of verse 8, what will those who plant and water receive?
5. According to verse 9, what are Paul and Apollos, and what does he mean? What are the Corinthian saints, and what does he mean?
Big idea: The shame, cause, signs, and cure of Christians who are perpetual infants in Christ.
I. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR LIVING SAINTS TO ACT, FOR A TIME, LIKE DEAD SINNERS (v. 1a)
I) The true Christian, when he is backslidden, will be miserable at best (Proverbs 14:14)
II) If a backslider does not repent and turn again to faithfulness to Christ, he is simply revealing that He never did belong to Christ (1 John 2:19)
III) The hope for the backslider is not in his repentance but in the Lord’s mercy which will cause the backslider to repent (Jeremiah 14:7)
IV) The true Christian, though he may backslide, will renew his repentance in time because God will preserve him (1 Peter 1:5; Luke 22:32; Ephesians 1:13-14)
(I) The true Christian will renew his repentance in time because God the Father is guarding him (1 Peter 1:5)
(II) The true Christian will renew his repentance in time because Christ prays for him (Luke 22:31-32)
(III) The true Christian will renew his repentance in time because the Holy Spirit has sealed him (Ephesians 1:14)
II. IT IS SHAMEFUL FOR SAINTS TO BE PERPETUAL INFANTS (v. 1b)
I) It is shameful for saints to be perpetual infants because they ought to grow up to maturity and then be able to teach others (Hebrews 5:12a)
II) It is shameful for saints to be perpetual infants because they should not have to be repeatedly taught the basic principles of the Word of God (Hebrews 5:12b)
III) It is shameful for saints to be perpetual infants because adults are skilled in righteousness and children are skilled in sin (Hebrews 5:13)
IV) It is shameful for saints to be perpetual infants because adults are trained to discern good from evil and children cannot (Hebrews 5:14)
III. FLESHLINESS IS ONE OF THE MAIN CAUSES OF PERPETUAL INFANCY (vv. 2-3a)
I) Beloved, If you want to grow up to maturity in Christ, you must wage war against your flesh
II) If you would wage war on your sin, see the evil of it by looking at the price paid for it
IV. JEALOUSY AND STRIFE ARE SURE SIGNS OF FLESHLINESS AND INFANCY (vv. 3b-4)
V. APPLICATION AND EXHORTATION (Jude 20-21)
I) If you would grow up to maturity in Christ, you must build yourself up in the faith (Jude 20a)
II) If you would grow up to maturity in Christ, you must pray (Jude 20b)
III) If you would grow up to maturity in Christ, you must stand firm in the love of God by obeying Christ’s commandments (Jude 21a)
IV) If you would grow up to maturity in Christ, eagerly and confidently wait for Christ’s merciful second coming (Jude 21b)
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
1. Read verse 3. What could Paul not address these Corinthians as, and what does he mean? What could he, in fact, address them as, and what does he mean?
2. What did Paul feed the Corinthians with, according to verse 2? What did he not feed them with, and what does he mean? Why did he not feed them with solid food, according to the end of verse 2?
3. Read verse 3. What does Paul mean by “you are still of the flesh”?
According to the second half of verse 3, what does Paul specifically have in mind when he says the Corinthians are “behaving only in a human way”? How does verse 4 help clarify what Paul has in mind in verse 1-4?
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
1. Read verse 14. What does Paul mean by “natural person”? What does the “natural person…not accept”? What are “the things of the Spirit of God,” that Paul refers to? Why does the natural man not accept them, according to verse 14? How does this verse highlight the radical depravity of man? Do you praise God, believer, that you now freely accept God’s Law and Gospel?
2. Read verse 15. What does Paul mean by “the spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one”? How does the end of verse 16 help clarify?
3. Read verse 16. What passage of Scripture does Paul quote? Does “we have the mind of Christ” mean that saints already understand everything? Does it mean we do not need teachers? Does it mean Bible study is easy? How do Deuteronomy 29:29, Ephesians 4:11-12, and 2 Timothy 2:15 help clarify? How is Luke 24:45 an illustration of what Paul is really getting at in this verse?
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
1. Read verse 9. What passage of Scripture does Paul quote and why? How does verse 10 help clarify? How does God reveal the truth of the gospel to eyes, ears, and hearts?
2. Read verse 11. Who knows a person’s thoughts? Who knows God’s thoughts? How can a mere human being, then, come to understand God’s thoughts?
3. Read verse 12. What spirit have saints not received? What Spirit have saints received? Why have believers received “the Spirit that is from God,” according to the last part of verse 12? Do you praise God that you can understand the Bible?
4. Read verse 13 in the ESV, NASB, and KJV translations to compare. What do you think Paul is getting at here?
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
- Read verse 6. Who does Paul say he imparts wisdom to? What does it mean to be “mature”? Is this worldly wisdom or God’s wisdom that he is speaking of? What and who are doomed to pass away, according to verse 6?
- Read verse 7. What is this “secret and hidden wisdom of God”? What does Paul mean by “which God decreed before the ages for our glory”? How does Ephesians 3:3-6 help shine light on what Paul is getting at in verse 7?
- Read verse 8. How many “rulers of this age understood this”? What did they not understand—what is the “this”? What would they not have done if they would have understood the gospel? How is the sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners highlighted here in verse 8?
Big idea: God saves sinners by single-handedly uniting them to His Son. God gives them Christ’s priceless benefits, so that all the redeemed would boast alone in God alone.
I. HOW DOES GOD SAVE SINNERS? (v. 30a)
I) God saves sinners by single-handedly uniting them to His Son.
II. WHAT BENEFITS DOES GOD GIVE TO THOSE THAT HE UNITES TO HIS SON? (v. 30b)
I) God made Christ our wisdom (v. 30b)
II) God made Christ our righteousness (v. 30c)
III) God made Christ our sanctification (v. 30d)
IV) God made Christ our redemption (v. 30e)
III. WHY DOES GOD SAVE SINNERS BY SINGLE-HANDEDLY UNITING THEM TO HIS SON? (v. 31)
I) God saves sinners singlehandedly by uniting them to His Son so that we who are saved would boast only in the Lord.
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
I. According to verse 30, why are saints “in Christ Jesus”? What does it mean to be “in Christ Jesus”? What does Paul say Jesus “became to us”? What do each of these nouns mean that follow “who became to us” in verse 30?
II. According to verse 31, why does God sovereignly save sinners?