Sermon and Worship Resources

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Deut 1:9-46

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... to him because of them. A third and final lesson from this episode, Moses tells the people, is this: arrogant presumption against God does not pay either (1:41–46), for the people of that generation took matters into their own hands when they learned that their disobedience would cost them thirty-nine more years of wandering and denial of their entrance into the promised land (1:41–45). The principle is that God’s people cannot accomplish spiritual things through the energy of the flesh. Without the ...

2. Failure to Learn from History

Jeremiah 44:1-30, Jeremiah 45:1-5

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Jeremiah’s warnings against apostasy and his messages of doom continue in Egypt. The reason is that those emigrating from Judah to Egypt reinstate idolatrous worship. They have failed to learn from history. Another catastrophe is in the offing (44:1–14). Some Jews who left Judah after Nebuchadnezzar’s capture of Jerusalem settled in Egypt. Their religion is anything but a pure Yahweh religion. Burning incense and worshiping other gods are violations of the first commandment. God’s fierce anger ...

3. Agur’s Message: Relying on God’s Word, Learning from His Work

Proverbs 30:1-33

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

30:1–31:31 Review · Although the final two chapters of Proverbs contain the wisdom of two more sages, from a thematic-theological standpoint they form an epilogue that corresponds to and serves to complete the prologue (Proverbs 1–9; parallels will be noted below). The words of Agur son of Jakeh and of King Lemuel are both called an “oracle,” a term otherwise applied to prophetic utterances (30:1; 31:1; cf. the opening verses of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Malachi), perhaps thereby claiming divine origin and ...

4. Manna and Quail

Exodus 16:1-36

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... The so-called “test” and point of the text here is to see if they could follow instructions and reap the benefits in relation to the Lord (16:4; 15:25b–26). They only made this mistake the first time. Each day they gathered the manna again, and learned to trust the Lord daily for their bread. The success of the training must be kept in view, since it brought them to the mountain of the Lord. 16:21–30 “Sabbath” or “rest” occur six times within eight verses (23–30; in vv. 23 [twice], 25, 26 ...

5. God Subjugates Judah under Babylon

Daniel 1:1-21

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... . 21:10–15). In summary, David extols, glorifies, and exalts the name of God (Ps. 34:1–3) and then recounts how the Lord is lovingly responsive to, and protective of, those who seek him in times of fear (34:4–7). David invites his audience to learn of God’s goodness from his experience, to turn from their sins and pursue goodness (34:8–14). He assures them that God is attentive to the cries of the righteous, hears them when hearts are broken, and is able to protect and rescue his faithful servants ...

6. Christian Success and Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... 18:1–3) makes it unlikely he did the work traditionally performed by slaves. He may have had the ungrateful job of dealing with customers in the marketplace, night and day (1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8). Theological Insights The church that learns more from Madison Avenue than from the Via Dolorosa has lost its footing and will ultimately lose its crown. When the desire for societal prominence and acceptance steals a church’s focus on self-giving and pursuit of Christlikeness, the church will ultimately ...

7. Paul's Charge to Timothy

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... s imprisonment and Timothy’s taking his share in suffering, fits the concerns of 1 Timothy—and in some ways looks very much like more of the same. But this paragraph, plus what follows in verses 9–18, throws everything into a different light. Here we learn for the first time that Paul expects his present imprisonment to result in death (v. 6); he is aware that his own ministry is now over (v. 7) and that the eschatological prize awaits him (v. 8). But as the situation in Ephesus has clearly indicated ...

8. Instructions on Worship

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... that they be taught, thus inaugurating a new era for women. The rest of the data in the NT makes it clear that that had already happened among most Christians. But she (the Greek text uses the singular from this verse until the middle of v. 15) is to learn not “in silence” (that is, without speaking), as some would have it (e.g., GNB), but “in a quiet demeanor” (cf. the same word in 2:2 and the evidence from 1 Corinthians 11). Since this is the first thing said about women here in verse 11, and the ...

9. Do Not Forget the Lord

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... God is the subject, it can mean to punish in discipline (1 Kgs. 11:39; Isa. 64:12) or for educational purposes, as here (cf. Ps. 119:71, 75). As a response to their rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, the wilderness was indeed punishment. But as a place of learning, it was an ideal classroom. The irony is that in that very classroom the Israelites thought they were testing God (cf. 6:16 and commentary), whereas in fact it was the other way around; it was God who was testing them. The meaning of test is the same ...

10. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... . But here I offer some background material from the New Testament to help the reader get a grasp on the possible structure of leadership in the early church, since Phoebe served in such a capacity in the church at Cenchreae. As I mentioned before, we learn from Philippians 1:2 and the Pastoral Epistles that there were mainly two offices of leadership in the early church: elder and deacon. (Apostles apparently were not confined to one church.) Of the first position, one may gather from texts such as Acts 20 ...

11. The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... best-laid plans in his grip—even the next breath we take! Keeping this truth before us can change the way we live and make us grateful for the gift of life itself. 3. The changing of kings and kingdoms. Belshazzar had only so much time to learn from the example of his grandfather and to choose sincere and lasting repentance before God instead of arrogance against him. Tragically, he came up light on the scales of justice, and his appointed days came to an end. These images remind us that we have only so ...

12. Elihu

Job 32:1--37:24

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... Job!) instruction as to the reason for the punishment he experiences. Like Job, the hypothetical penitent desires to know what he cannot see, what he has done wrong (6:24; 10:4–7; 13:23). Unlike Job, however, the repentant sinner of Elihu’s imagination expects to learn of his sin and is prepared to turn from it once it is revealed: if I have done wrong, I will not do so again. By contrast, Job (6:24; 13:23; 31:35–37) expects to be completely exonerated by divine scrutiny and so anticipates no reason ...

13. Daniel’s Training in Babylon

Daniel 1:1-21

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... s service. According to chapter 2, he is promoted over all the others in his second year of training. (For further discussion and possible harmonizations, see the commentary on 2:1.) As noted in the commentary on verse 17, Daniel and his friends excel in learning. The king himself examines them, and the outcome is that in every matter of wisdom and understanding, they are found to be ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom (1:20). We are reminded again of Joseph, who was ...

14. Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26

Matthew 9:9-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... time among the sick, not the well. Besides citing this truism, Jesus adds a directive, “Go and learn what this means.” “Learning” in the Jewish tradition is an active endeavor. Pious Jews spent hours in “learning” (NOT “studying”) Torah. “Learning is an activity which fully engages the individual. “Learning” is a discipline practiced in community. Torah is never “learned’ alone, only in partnership. Jesus joins this challenge to another comment, a condensed citation of Hosea 6 ...

15. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... to the attitudes and actions of those who live in darkness (5:8–12). Instead of prohibiting certain conduct and conversation, the believers are encouraged to express their spiritual joy with song and thanksgiving. In 5:15–17, they are reminded to be wise and learn God’s will; in 5:18–21 they are shown how that is accomplished. These verses are adapted from Colossians 3:16, but here the main emphasis is upon the Spirit rather than on Christ’s message (the word of Christ). The admonition—do not ...

16. Thanks for Their Gifts

Philippians 4:10-20

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... Dodd, “The Mind of Paul, I” in New Testament Studies, pp. 71–73. 4:12 A rhythmical pattern has been detected in vv. 12 and 13, but here at least it is not to be explained in terms of a quotation from some other source. I have learned the secret: Gk. memyēmai, “I have been initiated” (from the root my in this verb myein is derived mystērion, “mystery”). 4:13 Who gives me strength: lit., “in my strengthener (enabler)” (Gk. en tō endynamounti me), i.e., Christ. With this use of the present ...

17. The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... for a time (5:20). He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal, being forced to live with the wild donkeys and eat grass like cattle out in the field until he acknowledged the rule of God (5:21). But Belshazzar did not learn from his “father’s” example. Daniel catalogs Belshazzar’s sins: he did not humble himself (5:22) but set himself up against the Lord of heaven; he had the goblets from Yahweh’s temple brought to him, and he and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank ...

18. The High Priesthood of Jesus

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... “in the school of suffering” (as NEB appropriately translates). In this sense Jesus serves as a model for the readers. This achievement of faithfulness to the will of God in adverse circumstances is a kind of learning insofar as it means arriving at a new stage of experience. The final stage of that experience is being made perfect, that is, when he accomplished the greatest obedience at the cost of the greatest suffering, his death (cf. 2:10). For, as our author will argue eloquently in later ...

19. Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth 2:1-23

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... of verbs echoes Boaz’s string of verbs. 2:19 Whereas Boaz uses imperatives and Ruth uses declaratives (1:16–17), Naomi continues to rely on interrogatives. Questions bubble out of her pell-mell: Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Finally learning of Ruth’s meeting with Boaz, Naomi pronounces a blessing, the first of several in the book: Blessed be the man who took notice of you! Naomi’s Surprise 2:20 After Naomi finds out the identity of this “man” (well after the sneak preview ...

20. The Resurrected Jesus Is Vindicated by God and Given All Authority

Matthew 28:1-10, Matthew 28:11-15, Matthew 28:16-20

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... baptizing and teaching. Baptism is a sign of covenantal inclusion and so initiates a person into identification with the Messiah and into the messianic community. Teaching constitutes a central aspect of discipling, as understood in a Jewish context in which disciples would study and learn under a teacher or leader.[4] Teaching has also been an important aspect of Matthew’s Christology; Jesus is portrayed as the consummate teacher (e.g., 7:28–29). in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy ...

21. The Faithfulness of God and the Covenantal Curses on Israel

Romans 3:1-8

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... New Testament people of God. God is the originator of “tough love” when it comes to his children. Such discipline demonstrates God’s concern for us much like parents’ discipline of their sons and daughters shows their love for them. Third, from 3:5–8 we learn that the divine judge over the world is coming to execute his righteousness. It behooves us all therefore to prepare to meet our God. And the best way to prepare to meet God is to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, which is received ...

22. Job Considers a Legal Dispute with God

Job 9:1–10:22

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... but it is not the final answer for Job or for us today. To get to that answer, Job will have to endure his pain for a while longer, but at the end his faith in God will be renewed. Even though he feels hopeless at this time, he will learn that his hope in God will not be in vain. In that he serves as an example for Christians who are weighed down with adversity and questioning whether God still cares for them. Illustrating the Text We may question God’s goodness, even while we understand that he fashioned ...

23. God's Righteous Judgment

Romans 2:1-16

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... Lord of these things” (13:8–9). For these reasons they became “hateful to God” (14:9) because of their “confusion over what is good [and] forgetfulness of [God’s] favors’ (14:26). Their idolatry led to sexual perversion (14:12), and they were forced to “learn that one is punished by the very things by which he sins” (11:16). These quotations and ideas from the Wisdom of Solomon find a striking parallel in Paul’s exposé of Gentile guilt in 1:18–32. Jewish readers and perhaps even moral ...

24. Living Sacrifices

Romans 12:1-8

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... , pleasing and perfect will (v. 2). If Christian conduct were simply adhering to a legal code or moral principle, then there would be no need to test and approve what God’s will is. But Christian conduct grows only from discipleship, and discipleship from learning and following Christ. The renewed mind is thus the discipled mind, and the discipled mind must be a discerning mind which approves what is good, pleasing and perfect. The will of God is good because it is morally right, it is pleasing because it ...

25. Mark 5:21-43

Mark 5:21-43

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... crowd to doubt the miraculous event about to take place which appears to be Jesus' intent. Jesus' limited selection of witnesses emphasizes the need for his disciples to "be with him" if they are to learn and understand Jesus' special messages to them. Just as only those gathered about Jesus learned the full meaning of his parables (4:10-11), so only those gathered about him at this moment of miraculous restoration know Jairus' daughter was not awakened from sickness but was roused from death. The healing ...

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