The Friend of Sinners

November 25, 2018 Speaker: Jordan Gowing Series: Mark | The King and the Cross

Topic: Sunday Morning Teaching Passage: Mark 2:13–17

Join us this Sunday at CrossWinds Church in Spencer as we look at who is welcome at Jesus's table.

Sermon Discussion Questions

  1. This Sunday’s text covered the story of Jesus’s fellowship with tax collectors and sinners. What are some possible modern-day “equivalents” of “tax collectors and sinners”?
  2. What is one highlight from the sermon and one question that you had after hearing the sermon?
  3. Why were tax collectors despised? What did Jesus do that was upsetting that the scribes of the Pharisees? Why did he do it? What can we learn from Levi about the importance of making time to be with non-Christians?
  4. Read Luke 15:1–7. What is more pleasing to Jesus, a great worship service or a simple worship service where someone hears the gospel and repents of their sin? In your opinion, how should this guide the way a church structures their worship services?
  5. Read Luke 15:8–10. Describe something you lost, how you searched for it, and how you felt when you finally found it. This parable is intended to help us understand God’s heart for the lost. What does it teach us about God’s heart for the lost? How should our heart feel toward those who don’t know Jesus?
  6. Read Luke 15:11–32. This is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In truth, it is just as much about the heart of the son that never left. When the parable finishes, which son is truly lost? What does this teach us about our cold, calloused hearts? In what way is God calling you to change the way you live?
  7. Read Mark 2:13–17; Isaiah 25:6–8; Luke 14:15–24. How does Jesus’s interaction with Levi inform our understanding of the parable Jesus tells in Luke 14? What is the warning of these passages for those like the scribes of the Pharisees?
  8. In this week’s sermon, Jordan mentioned five different groups and how they each interact with Jesus a little differently. What are the five groups? With which one can you most relate? What would it look like for you to live out the implications of this text this week?

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