Week Four: “Family Feud” Matthew 18:15-18 Spend

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Week Four: “Family Feud” Matthew 18:15-18 Spend Fifteen – Day One 1. Read Matthew 18:12-20. Notice that Jesus prefaces his teaching on course-correction with a story about a lost sheep. Explain the importance of this context.

2. How do sheep get lost? How did this one get lost?

3. Does it seem reasonable that a shepherd would risk all that he has for the one that he lost?

4. According to this passage, whom should Christians make their biggest priority?

5. Do you think most Christians think too much or too little about the lost? Does your congregation?

6. Conclude your FIFTEEN by asking God to help you care for the “one” as much as He does.

Spend Fifteen - Day Two 7. Matthew 18:15-27 seems to detail the chronological progression of restoring a Christian who wanders away from the faith. What’s the first step?

8. Someone has observed that the process attempts to keep the situation from escalating. Do you agree? Why or why not?

9. In step two, a Christian is to take one or two others along to restore the lost Christian. How would you select those people: friends of yours, friends of the straying Christian, and experts in the Bible or someone else? Explain your selection.

10. What purpose are they supposed to serve according to Matthew 18:16?

11. If you and your friends fail to turn things around, Jesus says, “Tell it to the church.” What does that mean?

12. Is the last step in this process expulsion or restoration?

13. Close your FIFTEEN in prayer. Ask God to help you always strive for harmony when settling disputes with others.

Spend Fifteen – Day Three 14. Matthew 18:15-27. If the straying Christian rejects all attempts to restore him or her to the “fold,” what is the church supposed to do? See verse 17.

15. What does that mean?

16. How did Jesus treat the woman at the well (John 4:1-42)? How did He treat the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11)? How did Jesus treat the apostle Peter after his denial of Jesus when they met up on the shore after His resurrection (John 21)?

17. What does excommunication mean to you?

18. Can a person be “excommunicated” in a compassionate way that shows the love and concern the church has for his or her eternal life? Explain.

19. Whom do you know that has strayed from the faith? How could you personally begin the process of restoration?

20. Like the shepherd in these verses, Jesus never stops pursuing those outside the faith. As you conclude your FIFTEEN, ask God to help you have the same attitude of restoration with those who need Him most.

Spend Fifteen – Day Four 21. Read the story of The Forgiving Father, sometimes called The Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32.

22. How were the two sons different?

23. How did the Father feel toward both?

24. Why did the Father not pursue the straying son? Do you think he wanted to? According to Luke 15:20, what can we assume about the Father?

25. How important was it for the father to make sure the straying son was really, really sorry according to Luke 15:20-22.

26. How did the older brother feel about his father’s willingness to forgive? What point of comparison is made for the modern church?

27. As people who daily live with the amazing benefits of a relationship with Jesus, we, too, must not begrudge the attention God shows to those who are lost. As you finish your FIFTEEN in prayer, confess those times when you have, like the other son, been angry with God and others for their attention toward the lost.

Spend Fifteen – Day Five 28. Reread Matthew 18:12-14. When it comes to repentance, what’s the purpose? Is it to save the person from selfdestruction or to show honor and respect to God in heaven?

29. Do loving parents care more about the embarrassment a wayward child causes them or the consequence the child will suffer for his disobedience?

30. Do you think God cares more about the embarrassment a wayward Christian causes Him or the church) or the consequence of his disobedience?

31. Do you feel the Christian church is too judgmental or too lenient when it comes to wayward Christians?

32. Would wayward Christians feel welcomed or judged if they came to your church?

33. What take-away lesson can you apply from this study in the life of those you love? Conclude your FIFTEEN in prayer by asking God to help you to take action on this new understanding (or reminder.)