Mosaic Study Guide

For Smaller Groups or Personal Reflection
Week of 5 October 08

Our Mission
The mission of Mosaic is to gather and equip a diverse community in Washington DC to know, love, and serve God in the way of Jesus as His Spirit enables us.

Questions for Everyone: Have you ever had a reoccurring dream?  What is it? and/or  Do you have a useless yet unique talent?  and/or Would you rather be really hot or really cold? Why?

Reflection on Matthew 4.17-5.23:

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (4.17)

It was explained that the word “repent” comes from the Greek work metanoia which would be translated literally “to think differently after” or more assertively “change the way you think about everything!”  

Question: How is this definition different from what you may have learned in the past? What does thinking differently have to do with the nearness of the kingdom of heaven?

²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. ²⁵And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. (4.23-25).

On Sunday it was pointed out that Jesus’ reputation for being a healer led to him having a celebrity status.  Crowds began to gather around Jesus.  And yet it seems clear from Matthew’s account that these crowds were not yet disciples.   They were following Jesus and yet they were not living in the Way of Jesus.  Think about that for a minute.

Question: What might this look like today?

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them . . . . (5.1,2).
It is likely that Matthew mentions the mountain so that the Hebrew Christians in his community would begin to understand that Jesus’ interpretation of Torah and Torah living comes with at least the authority of Moses.  However, there are some differences between Moses’ trek up to the summit of Mount Sinai and Jesus blessing the people from the mountain.  For example, Jesus doesn’t receive stone tablets from God.  Jesus opens his mouth and speaks from the mountain.  And, not only are the disciples able to ascend the mountain with Jesus, the crowds are there as well. 

Question: We talk a lot about Mosaic being the kind of Christian community in which anyone can belong long before they believe.  But what sort of tension might loving inclusion involve?  It has been said of churches like Mosaic that we are attempting to be accepting like “liberal” mainline churches while remaining deeply commitment to the historic Christian faith and a high view of Scripture. What do you think about this observation?  Do you think this is true of Mosaic? Is this a good thing?
Finally, Rob suggested that the beatitudes (You’ll need to look them up.) are more descriptive than prescriptive.  That is to say, the beatitudes describe the kind of Christian community that receives the blessing of the kingdom rather than a “to do” list for those who want to enter the kingdom. 

Question: What do you think?  Does this suggestion help you hear the beatitudes in a different way?

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