Chapter 24 of The Story March 15, 2015

Throughout the ages man has pursued a variety of ways to be made right in God’s sight. Religious expressions and experiences have tried to bridge the gap from man to God. Unfortunately, all of these attempts have failed.

When Jesus came on the scene, He did so among a very religious community. The Jews had no shortage of religious observances available to them. However, what they were not expecting was God to come to them, especially in the form of a man. But Jesus was no ordinary man.

Chapter 24

No Ordinary Man


Key Question

Who is Jesus and how ought we respond to Him?

Teller of Parables: Pages 335–337

Last week we saw Jesus’ introduction to the Jews brought hope that the Messiah had finally come. Yet He didn’t meet all expectations. This week we look at who Jesus is.

Jesus told many parables. These stories illustrated truths, but they often required careful consideration and a willingness to learn—what Jesus called “ears to hear.” The parable of the sower is one of His most well-known.

1. (a) Briefly describe the four kinds of soil in Jesus’ parable (Mark 4:14–20). (b) In your own spiritual journey, have you ever been like the hard path, the shallow soil, or the thorny soil? Explain. (c) What kinds of things can we do to improve the condition of our soil so that the seed of God’s message lands in deep soil cleared of thorns?

Jesus explained that the message hidden in a parable is meant to be disclosed.

2. (a) What did Jesus tell His disciples to do with what He says (Mark 4:24a)? (b) How would the effort they put into understanding His words affect how much they understood (4:24b)? (c) What will be given to those who start to understand spiritual things (4:25)? (d) What will happen to those who decide Jesus’ sayings are too hard and so ignore or reject them (4:25)? (e) What are practical ways we can consider Jesus’ words carefully? (f) What kind of soil are we when our thinking is shallow? 

Seeker of the Lost: Pages 337–340

Some of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders were bothered that Jesus spent so much time with “sinners.” Jesus told them some parables that showed where their attitudes were astray.

3. (a) What were the tax collectors and “sinners” doing that bothered some Pharisees and teachers (Luke 15:1)? (b) What did Jesus say a shepherd would do if he lost a sheep (15:4)? (c) What would he do if he found the sheep (15:5–6)? (d) What happens in heaven when a sinner repents (15:7)? (e) What, then, was Jesus—the Good Shepherd—doing by spending time with sinners?

4. (a) What attitude should the Jewish leaders have had towards what Jesus was doing (Luke 15:6–7)? (b) What did the fact that they muttered rather than rejoiced show? (c) How can we cultivate an attitude like Jesus’ towards the lost?

Jesus told a parable about a father and his two sons. The younger son asked for his inheritance early and then wasted it. Starving, he decided to return to his father as a hired man, knowing he wasn’t worthy of being treated as a son.

5. (a) What happened when his father saw him approaching (Luke 15:20)? (b) What was the father’s reaction (15:22–24)? (c) What does this teach us about God’s reaction when someone comes to him in humble repentance after living far astray? (d) Why was the elder son angry (15:28–30)? (e) What attitude should the elder son (and the Pharisees) have had (15:31–32)? 

Teacher of Truth: Pages 340–343

Matthew recorded a sermon Jesus gave while sitting on a mountainside.

6. (a) Why and how do hypocrites pray (Matthew 6:5)? (b) How should we pray instead (6:6)? (c) What will God do for those who pray in secret (6:6)? (d) Why does Jesus tell His followers that God rewards certain actions?

7. (a) Why did the pagans babble their prayers to their gods over and over (6:7)? (b) Why is that not necessary with our Father in heaven (6:8)? (c) What are some reasons God wants us to pray?

Jesus taught on how to keep our soil free from choking thorns.

8. (a) According to Jesus, what two masters can we not serve (Matthew 6:24)? (b) Give two examples of situations where we must make a choice between serving God and money. (c) What kind of soil are we when we put money before God?

9. (a) What does Jesus say not to worry about (Matthew 6:31)? (b) Why shouldn’t we worry about these (6:32)? (c) What should we do instead (6:33)? (d) What will be the result of doing this (6:33)? (e) What kind of soil are we when we put these cares before God’s kingdom? (f) What is a way you can seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first today?

10. Write a prayer that gives a concern to God and expresses thanks for His loving care.

Jesus ended his sermon with an analogy that enforced His message.

11. (a) What does the wise person do with Jesus’ words (Matthew 7:24)? (b) What is he like (7:24–25)? (c) What does the foolish person do with Jesus’ words (7:26)? (d) What is he like (7:27)? (e) Why is listening to Jesus without putting his words into practice silly? (f) What lesson from the Sermon on the Mount can you put into practice today? 

Master of Nature, Spirits & Life: Pages 343–348

After a long day of teaching, Jesus told the disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat.

12. (a) What do we learn about Jesus from Mark 4:37–41? (b) Why didn’t the disciples need to be afraid?

When they landed, a demon-possessed man came to meet Him.

13. What do we learn about Jesus from Mark 5:7–13?

Jairus, a synagogue ruler, asked Jesus to come heal his dying daughter. But before He arrived, news reached them that the child had died. Jesus insisted on going anyway.

14. What do we learn about Jesus from Mark 5:41–42?

Jesus tried to take the disciples someplace quiet where they could rest and eat, but crowds followed Him everywhere. Moved with compassion, Jesus asked His disciples to do something surprising: feed the 5,000 men and their families with five bread loaves and two fish.

15. What do we learn about Jesus from Mark 6:41–43? 

Bread of Life: Pages 348–351

Jesus sent the disciples off in a boat, and then went to pray alone until nearly dawn.

16. (a) What do we learn about Jesus from Matthew 14:25? (b) What caused Peter to begin to sink (14:29–31)? (c) What analogy can we make from this that can apply to things that frighten us when we’re doing what Christ has called us to do? (d) What did Jesus do when Peter cried out for help, and how can that encourage us when we don’t respond to something with as much faith as we would have liked (14:31–32)? (e) How did the disciples respond to all this (14:33)? (f) What does the fact that Jesus did not stop the disciples from responding this way teach us?

The people whom Jesus had miraculously fed searched for and found Him.

17. (a) What did Jesus say their real reason for looking for Him was (John 6:26)? (b) What did He tell them to do (6:27)? (c) When they asked Him to explain this work, what did Jesus reply (6:29)?

Still fixated on their desire to feed their physical bodies, they began to grumble and argue.

18. (a) What did Jesus say He was (John 6:48)? (b) What happens to those who eat of the Bread of Life (6:50)? (c) What did Jesus mean when He said, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (6:51)? (d) Many people found this teaching too hard and quit following Him (6:60, 66). What does this tell us about why they followed Jesus? (e) What kind of soil were they? (f) Why do you think Jesus refused to keep feeding the crowds, when that would have given him more followers?

19. According to Peter, why should people follow Jesus even if He doesn’t always give them what they want and sometimes says things that are hard to understand (John 6:68–69)?

20. Review what you’ve learned about who Jesus is. Then write a worshipful prayer, song, or poem.

The teachings and miracles of Jesus forever changed the people who personally encountered Him. Some walked away empty, but many others received the gift of eternal life. How do you respond to Jesus? Through His authoritative teaching and powerful miracles, Jesus showed He was not just any religious man.



Instead, He showed He is a personal God interested in a personal relationship. Jesus came to show that it was no longer necessary for man to try to somehow get to God through the empty practice of religion. God had made a relationship possible by sending His Son. This is the essence of The Story. 

This week we got to know more about who this amazing man Jesus was. Next week we’ll see what happens when Jesus speaks more plainly about His purpose for coming to earth.

AS YOU READ CHAPTER 24

Journal your answers to these questions as you read through the chapter this week. You may wish to read one day and journal the next, or spread the questions over the whole week.

1. Review the story of the soils (p. 335-336). At what points of your life has your faith been each kind of soil? Where is your faith right now? (And, no matter what, take heart, because God relentlessly sows into all types over and over.)

2. Who do the shepherd and the woman in the lost sheep and lost coin parables represent? What do they value (p. 337)? Compare what God values in these parables to what the Pharisees value (Luke 11:42-43, 16:14). Has your heart aligned more with God’s or with the Pharisees’ in the past week?

3. Jesus’ miracles were not random; they showed His power over different forces in this world. What forces did He conquer? What areas of your life do you need to surrender to Jesus’ care and victory?

4. Jews and Samaritans in Jesus’ day were NOT on friendly terms. What does Jesus do by using a Samaritan to demonstrate the ideal neighbor? What type of people are hard for you to imagine God using to demonstrate His love?

5. Jesus tells parable after parable to teach about the Kingdom of God and how participants in the Kingdom are supposed to live. Why does Jesus tell stories to teach instead of simply explaining in black-and-white terms? Which parable is most meaningful to you? What does it say to you?

6. What does The Lord’s Prayer mean to you?




Our Lesson on Sunday:

Hidden Treasure

Click Here to Watch

Neutrality is not an option; Jesus demands a response.

The Story: Throughout Jesus’ ministry His disciples often referred to Him as “Rabbi” or “Teacher,” perhaps the most apt portrayal to describe what Jesus did. And the topic of Jesus’ teaching was always the Kingdom of God.
Through His relationships, actions and miracles or stories, parables and didactic instruction Jesus revealed what the Kingdom of Heaven was like. Most of His followers were amazed and awed by the miracles and authoritative teaching and crowds gathered wherever He went; many were perplexed by the enigmatic parable of seed and soil, lost sheep and prodigals sons; and some outright rejected Jesus’ hard teachings of losing your life to keep it and or storing up treasure in heaven rather than on earth. No matter what you thought of what He taught, Jesus is the Master Teacher, and we, as followers of Christ, are His students. We must not only hear and learn His lessons; we must also apply them to our life, allowing them to transform us into Christ-likeness.

Think of a time you read a passage of scripture, heard a sermon, or had a Christian friend share a hard, biblical truth with you: Did you initially reject it? What brought you to acceptance? What are ways you can prepare your heart to not only hear, but accept and apply God’s truth?


There is a universal desire to see one’s life suddenly transformed into something wonderful.

• Anyone remember when they showed on TV Ed McMahon showing up at someone’s door announcing that they just won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. People would scream, faint, jump up and down, hug Ed – they were bursting with joy at what they had just received. Why? Because they immediately knew that their lives were going to be changed forever.
• Many believe it to be a winning lottery ticket, or maybe oil found on a property that’s for sale and no one knows about the treasure beneath the ground. Would you sell everything you had for that treasure?

Matthew 13:44

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (NIV)


I. Parables and the Kingdom of God - Why did Jesus teach in parables?

• Parables or stories were a common way to explain spiritual things that were hard to comprehend. Parables were used as comparisons between the natural and spiritual realms, Jesus was creating a series of doors through which His listeners could step and actually enter into new understandings about His Kingdom.

• It was common among Rabbis to teach in parables but they always explained the story, Jesus typically didn’t explain Himself. Why? Mark 4:10-12 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" (NIV)

• So Jesus says, I’m speaking in parables so they won’t easily understand…Why didn’t Jesus want the truth understood from so many of His hearers? And what was the “secret” He was referring to?

• There were strong opinions among His Jewish listeners to what the Kingdom of God was all about. There were strong opinions as to who the Messiah was as well. This was the secret as well – that the Kingdom of God had to do with understanding Who Jesus Christ was and why He was sent by the Father. Unless one understood that Jesus and His unique ministry were what the parables were talking about, then one could not understand His parables.

The Kingdom of God is our salvation experience of God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross.

II. A Question of Value - What does the parable Hidden Treasure teach us about the kingdom? (Or our salvation)

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field…

• Comparison: the Kingdom (our salvation) = treasure in a field. It is so valuable that it can transform the lives of those that possess it. Remember how it changed Paul.

• Central theme of Jesus’ teaching ministry was to explain the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, they mean the same. Matthew prefers to use it since he had a primarily Jewish audience. Luke and Mark use the phrase kingdom of God since their audience was primarily non-Jewish.

• Today people put their treasure in banks; in the first-century A.D., a field was much safer. (It maybe today) Sometimes people would die in wars leaving their treasures hidden and unknown.

III. Finders Keepers - Who finds the treasure?

When a man found it…

• The kind of man who digs in fields in the first-century: a laborer working in the field.

• Treasure reveals itself suddenly and so requires an immediate, life-changing decision.

IV. The Right Reaction - What does the man do with what he has found?

He hid it again…Why does he hide it again?

• Because he wants to keep it or to acquire it. This is a key point of the parable: the man chooses to act to acquire the treasure.

What does the parable tell us about the attitude of the man?

• Then in his joy…The man’s reaction should be our reaction to the Kingdom and our salvation. Our salvation is about radical life-change. Our emotions come from the knowledge that everything is going to be better because of what the Kingdom and our salvation make possible.

V. Selling Everything for the Buy of a Lifetime - But the man in his joy has to do something more, what is it?

Went and sold all he had and bought that field.

The kingdom pushes people to make a decision about it. Your salvation forces you to make a decision about it. You have a choice:

1. You can know about it.

2. You can possess it.

Which choice is life changing? (If you possess it)

So, are we called to sell everything to follow Christ? Luke 18:15-34; Mark 10:17-31; Matthew 6:33; Matthew 19:29

• Your salvation into the kingdom is not a light matter. It is not something we should haphazardly pursue. It is the greatest treasure. People get serious about a Carolina or Clemson football season. People beat themselves up for missed job opportunities. People lose sleep over changing stock value. Students get really upset over their grades. But are people really all that serious about the kingdom of heaven.

• Jesus wants us to put everything on the line, not that our selling everything or our level of seriousness about it somehow merits eternal life. God gives it to those who pursue it. But people pursue it the wrong way. They pursue it their own way, and not God’s way.

• Selling everything – to give up what’s worthless for something that is priceless? (example: Poker game with a winning hand – all the chips in front of you represent all you own – you push the stack to the center of the board and declare, “I’m All In!”)

• It is the ACTION of the man that must be the center of our thinking. The kingdom may be of infinite value, and it may cost us all that we have, but unless we take action to acquire it then its worth is irrelevant to us.

• Remember, unless he owns the field the treasure is not his. It’s interesting to think that while he knows about the treasure, he does not possess it. Knowledge is not enough for possession. Had Jeff not taken the action of convincing his wife, of selling everything, and of purchasing the field in spite of the advice of his friends, his life would have remained unchanged.

Have you bought that field? Is it a fair question to ask that if you’re not “sold out” or “All In” for Christ, then you don’t really possess the treasure?

What does it really take to possess the treasure?

• Every church preaches the kingdom but you will probably hear your dog bark ‘Just As I Am’ before they teach this verse for salvation.

• You do not inherit eternal life today for what you sacrifice; it is what Christ sacrificed on your behalf. Romans 3:25

• Eternal life is the gift of God. Romans 6:23

Prayer: Father God, we give thanks for all Your Son came to earth to give us: a fulfilled life now, and an eternity of unimaginable joy with You to come. Give us insight as we study the teachings of Jesus’ life. May we always hunger and thirst for Your Word. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

See you on Sunday!

In His Love,

David & Susan