Study/Review Questions for Mark 10:46-52...

1-What similarities and differences do you notice between the healing of the anonymous blind man in Mark 8:22-26 and the healing of Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52? Based on what happens between these two stories, what lesson(s) do you think Mark is intending to teach us?

2-Mark 10:46-48 demonstrates Bartimaeus’ example that a true disciple cries out to Jesus. How have you cried out to the Son of David? In what situations in your life do you need to continue to cry out to him?

3-Do you have any “beggars” in your life? How can you interact with them in a way that brings the love and truth of Christ to their lives?

4-Read Ephesians 2:1-3 and Romans 10:13. How do you apply these truths to your life?

5-Why is what Jesus says in Mark 4:24-25 so important related to our attentiveness to the teachings of God’s Word?

6-Mark 10:49-52 demonstrates Bartimaeus’ example that a true disciple is healed by Jesus. How has “Jesus stopped” and healed you? In what other ways do you desire him to heal you?

7-What are some ways you have answered Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:35-37, 51)

8-How has the reality of who Jesus is affected the way you think, speak, act, and live? How would you like to follow him more closely?

Study/review questions for this week:

1-What very real reasons did the disciples have for being fearful? What very real reasons cause us to be fearful?

2-Jesus’ three predictions of his death in Mark 8-10 each had a different emphasis (its necessity, its certainty, and its immediacy). Why was each of these important?

3-How else was the prediction in 10:32-34 different from the previous two (8:31 & 9:31)? What can we deduce from this?

4-What seems to be the motivation behind James’ and John’s request? What is especially ironic about this? Do you think they are different from the other disciples in their mindset?

5-How does truly believing the words of the 23rd Psalm (“The Lord is my shepherd…”) combat fear and self-centeredness and free us up to live Christ-like lives?

6-In 1 John 3:2 we read, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Since transformation comes through seeing Christ Jesus as he is, how can we “see him as he is” even now?

This week's study/review questions:

1-Jesus elevates the place of children amongst his people by not only receiving them into his arms and blessing them, but by explicitly saying (v. 14) “to such belongs the kingdom of God,” and (v. 15) “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” How exactly is it that we must become like little children? How is the mindset of the Rich Young Ruler very different from this?

2-Jesus seems to approach the questions of the Rich Young Ruler very differently than he does the similar questions that the scribes and Pharisees brought him. Why do you think he responds so differently?

3-In verse 21, Mark tells us that Jesus “looking at him, loved him.” How exactly did Jesus love the Rich Young Ruler here, and how is it similar to how he loved his disciples when “Jesus looked at them” in verse 27?

4-Why did Jesus tell the Rich Young Ruler to give away all he has when he doesn’t always require this of his followers? What should be our attitude toward wealth? (See Matthew 6:19, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:10 & Luke 16:13.)

5-At times, people have in various ways tried to explain away the impossibility of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. What is the problem in doing this?

Study/Review Questions:

1. When the Pharisees ask Jesus a question about divorce, are they actually looking to learn from his instruction? What is it that they are looking to accomplish?

2. Jesus responds by making the discussion primarily about marriage instead of divorce. He is essentially making the point that marriage as God intended is a good thing, not to be taken lightly, but rather held in the highest esteem. In short, it is to be lived out to the glory of God. What are some ways that we can do this?

3. When we consider what Christ has to say about marriage, should we be more concerned with how the culture at large falls short of his design, or should we be more concerned about the church? Consider how 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 might apply.

4. Look back at these verses specifically to review the six distinctives of God’s design for marriage listed in this week’s text:

Mark 10:6

Mark 10:7b

Mark 10:7a

Mark 10:8

Mark 10:9a

Mark 10:9b

5. We also covered a seventh distinctive of God’s design for marriage, namely that it is “Symbolic.” In what ways does marriage serve as a picture of the gospel (as Paul suggests in Ephesians 5:32)? Why is it important for Christians to remember the gospel daily?

6. In a culture that offered far more considerations, rights & freedoms to men than women, what Jesus teaches in Mark 10:1-12 specifically offers added protections for wives. How so? What does this say about his views about women, especially as compared to the wider culture?

Study/Review Questions:

1) In his classic work, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said that pride is “the essential vice, the utmost evil,” and that “unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison.” Why did he say this? Do you think he was right?

2) What are some times in your life when pride has casued you to be too concerned with appearances? What did this end up costing you in the end?

3) How is the mindset of Christ different than the world’s in terms of who is most important?

4) Why is a child such a perfect illustration of the point that Jesus is making in this passage?

5) In what ways do we act as “glory hogs” in our lives?

6) There have been those in Christian history who have taken the words of Christ in verses 43-47 literally, plucking out eyes and cutting off hands. How is this to miss the point of what he is saying and why would it fail to keep us from sinning anyway?

7) How do the world’s standards of importance tend to influence our own? How can we guard against this?

Study/review questions for this week:

1) True faith is focused on Jesus. What other things can we be tempted to focus on instead of Jesus, and what steps can we take to resist the temptation to have our focus diverted from our Lord?

2) How does the compassion of Jesus encourage us to stay focused on him? Consider Hebrews 12:2 as you think through this.

3) Why do you think the disciples were unable to deliver the boy from the demon when they had been succesful with such efforts in the past? What were they depending on?

4) Compare and contrast the father’s request with that of the leper who came to Jesus for healing in Mark 1:40. How are their requests similar? How are they different?

5) The man suggests that if Jesus has both the power and the compassion, his son might be delivered. What was the one other element that Mark (and Jesus!) highlights here?

6) In what ways do we fail to exercise faith? In other words, what are the times when we too could say, “I believe; help my unbelief!” just like the father here (Mark 9:24)?

7) If my prayer isn’t answered immediately in the way I desire, does that mean that I don’t have enough faith? What other things could be in play?

8) How is prayer, by definition, an act of dependence?

Study/review questions for this week (and remember to join us Wednesday night when we cover these!):

1) This week we looked at how the Kingdom of God comes in power through holiness, through the word of God, through love, and through Christ’s substitution. In considering these, how does God use his power, and how does it differ from how we use whatever power we have? How might we use our power differently, and thus be more like him?

2) In what ways does the presence of Moses & Elijah with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration inform what his mission is?

3) At some level, we all hunger for glory, because we were created for glory. What do we learn from this passage about the path to glory?

4) Rev. Scribner made the point that we need to regain a fear of the Lord…and have that fear calmed by the loving touch of Jesus. What would it look like to regain a fear of the Lord, and how does it differ from other fears we have?

5) There is power in love. What are some examples of times (either in your life or the live of others) where love empowered someone to do something they might not have been able to otherwise do?

6) Peter, James & John ask Jesus about the teaching that Elijah must come before the Day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5). Who does Jesus identify with Elijah in saying that this has already happened, and what are the implications of this?

7) How does the Gospel empower us in the midst of very real difficulties and burdens (e.g., suffering, illness, or even death)?

Study/review questions for this week's sermon on Mark 8:22-38...

1) Rev. Scribner suggested that perhaps the healing of the blind man was not primarily for the sake of the blind man, but actually to teach a lesson to the disciples (and to us). What are some ways that God might work in your life that are not primarily for or about you?

2) The two-step healing of the blind man reminds us that Christian growth is ongoing and staggered, not an “all-at-once” proposition. How should this knowledge direct us toward humility, and how might that humility play itself out in our interactions with others?

3) Jesus says to Peter, “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” What types of things is he talking about, and in what ways are we prone to setting our minds on the things of man instead of the things of God?

4) In his sermon Sunday, Rev. Scribner mentioned that we tend to have a well-developed theology of glory, but we don’t always have a well-developed theology of the cross. What did he mean by a “theology of the cross?”

5) What specifically has it cost you to follow Christ?

6) Rev. Scribner mentioned the famous Jim Elliot quote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” What exactly was Elliot referring to that cannot be kept? What about what cannot be lost? In what ways are you willing/unwilling to make this exchange?

Study/review questions for Mark 8:1-21...

1) Some find it unbelievable that the disciples could be so dense as they seem to be in Mark 8. This ignores the fact that they repeatedly act in such dense ways (and so do we!). What causes such things?

2) Much like the disciples, we are at times guilty of sinful forgetfulness. What things has Christ done for you that ought to encourage you to trust and faithfulness, but you sometimes fail to apply to your life?

3) In out passage Mark 8, Jesus is moved by compassion to feed the crowd. Do you think of Jesus as being “compassionate?” How would it change your faith to spend more time meditating specifically on the compassion of Christ?

4) The miracles of Jesus are not just magic tricks, but are signs pointing to certain truths about him and his kingdom. What is it that he was demonstrating through the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand?

5) Jesus warns the disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. If indeed this “leaven” is hard-hearted unbelief, what is he saying the danger is of tolerating unbelief in our own lives?

6) If the disciples (and we) are really as clueless as this passage suggests, then what is our only hope?