Creekside Community Church
Escaping the Trap of Self-Righteousness
Confronting Complacency: The Book of Malachi, May 17th, 2020 Jeff Bruce, Lead Pastor
Locations & Times
Creekside Community Church
951 MacArthur Blvd, San Leandro, CA 94577, USA
Sunday 7:00 AM
1. Who am I judging?
2. What am I ignoring?
3. Who am I overlooking?
For Further Thought and Discussion
Getting Started
1. What was helpful to you in this week’s sermon? What didn’t you understand?
2. Can you think of a time you were grateful that you didn’t get what you asked for?
Going Deeper
3. Why is God “wearied” by Israel’s complaints (2:17)? Does God grow weary of hearing the cries of his people (see Exodus 3:7-8; Luke 18:1-8)? If not, then why are Israel’s complaints offensive to Him (see also Malachi 3:13-15)?
4. Why would the Israelites have been surprised by God’s response to their complaints? Who did they think God would judge on the “Day of Lord”? What does God do instead (see 3:2-4; Amos 5:18-20; see also 1 Peter 4:17)?
5. How do we see the prophecy of Malachi 3:1-5 fulfilled in the ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist (see Matthew 3:1-3f; 11:1-10)? How does Jesus draw near to purify Israel’s worship (Compare Malachi 3:1-4 with John 2:13-25)?
Application
6. Why, according to Jesus, must we be very careful when we judge or evaluate others (see Matthew 7:1-2)? What’s Jesus’ antidote to self-righteousness (Matthew 7:3-5)?
7. Jeff offered three questions to ask ourselves, to help us escape the trap of self-righteousness; (1) Who do I spend the majority of my time evaluating? (2) What sins am I minimizing? (3) Whose needs am I overlooking? How can we use these questions to diagnose self-righteousness in our lives? Which question was most helpful to you? Why?
8. What’s one thing you can do this week to apply this passage?
Getting Started
1. What was helpful to you in this week’s sermon? What didn’t you understand?
2. Can you think of a time you were grateful that you didn’t get what you asked for?
Going Deeper
3. Why is God “wearied” by Israel’s complaints (2:17)? Does God grow weary of hearing the cries of his people (see Exodus 3:7-8; Luke 18:1-8)? If not, then why are Israel’s complaints offensive to Him (see also Malachi 3:13-15)?
4. Why would the Israelites have been surprised by God’s response to their complaints? Who did they think God would judge on the “Day of Lord”? What does God do instead (see 3:2-4; Amos 5:18-20; see also 1 Peter 4:17)?
5. How do we see the prophecy of Malachi 3:1-5 fulfilled in the ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist (see Matthew 3:1-3f; 11:1-10)? How does Jesus draw near to purify Israel’s worship (Compare Malachi 3:1-4 with John 2:13-25)?
Application
6. Why, according to Jesus, must we be very careful when we judge or evaluate others (see Matthew 7:1-2)? What’s Jesus’ antidote to self-righteousness (Matthew 7:3-5)?
7. Jeff offered three questions to ask ourselves, to help us escape the trap of self-righteousness; (1) Who do I spend the majority of my time evaluating? (2) What sins am I minimizing? (3) Whose needs am I overlooking? How can we use these questions to diagnose self-righteousness in our lives? Which question was most helpful to you? Why?
8. What’s one thing you can do this week to apply this passage?