Developing Sermonic Content:

Here is another great example of the value of asking questions, a worthy practice advocated and taught by Bob Tiede!

Matthew 6:19-34:  In verses 19-21, Jesus tells his audience not to “treasure up treasure” on earth, but rather in heaven.

• What do we think it means to treasure up or lay up treasure “in heaven”?
• What would be an example or two of that?
• What gives us that idea?
• What do we mean by “treasure”?
• How do our examples connect with Jesus’s observation about “where your heart is”?
• How would or could the light within a person be darkness?
• [More personal] How confident are we that the light within us is light rather than darkness? — Why?
• What does it mean to “strive first for the kingdom [of God] and its/his righteousness”?
• What would be an example or two of doing that? — What gives us that idea?
• Jesus uses birds and flowers as examples of not being anxious about the future. In what ways are people similar to birds and flowers?
• In what ways are they different?
• Do these similarities and differences have anything to do with humans’ anxieties, do we think? — How?
• Why do we think Jesus thinks we do not need to be anxious about food, drink, and clothing?
• What does Jesus’s attitude tell us about how he understands reality?
• [More personal] Do we share Jesus’s perception of reality?
• Why is that? — Could we? — What would need to change?
• How would or could that happen? [1]

1. Questions, by Heather Anne Thiessen