Mosaic Study Guide

For Smaller Groups or Personal Reflection
Week of 21 September 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.

Matthew 11.29, 30:  Matthew 11.29, 30:  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Jesus).

- Our Mosaic community begins a study of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel.  It must be said at the outset that our goal is not just to learn new things about the Bible.  Our goal is the live more fully in the story of Jesus. That is to say, our aim is to embody or live in the Way of Jesus. We offer this study guide as a way of helping us gather around our Holy Scriptures together. 

- Questions:

On Sunday Rob used a quote from the book “How to Read the Bible for all It’s Worth” by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.  Here’s the quote:

“We are convinced that the single most serious problem people have with the bible is not with a lack of understanding but with the fact that they understand most things too well!  For example, with such a text as “Do everything without grumbling for arguing” (Phil 2.14), the problem is not understanding it but obeying it – putting it into practice” (Fee/Stuart, 17).

Do you agree?  Do we really understand the Bible too well?  Are there instances in Scripture in which this quote is true but other instances in which this quote is not true? 

 

- Reality Check: On scale of 1 – 10 (1 being no knowledge and 10 being perfect knowledge) How would you rate your knowledge of Scripture?  What hinders you from having a better knowledge of the Bible?

- More Questions:

Another quote from the teaching on Sunday, “You can’t live in the Way of Jesus without His Spirit, the inspired Scriptures, and a listening and obedient community.”

Do you agree?  Most evangelical Christians would never question the importance of Scripture or the Holy Spirit sustaining one’s life in Christ.  But how much does an individual’s life in Christ rely on the Christian community?  What is the role of the Christian community in helping the Christ-follower understand the Bible?

- Readings for this Week:

Spend some time this week becoming acquainted with the Gospel according to Matthew. If you can, read the entire gospel in one sitting or just skim through the gospel with a sensitivity to key phrases and the construction of the gospel.  Keep asking yourself, why is this good news?

For a deeper more meditative reading you might want to immerse yourself in Matthew 5.3-11. 

 

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