Pluck it Out

Adultery

    27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'[e] 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

 
 

Pasted from <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%205&version=NIV>

 
 

• What is your initial reaction to this passage?
  

   
   

• Test yourself before you begin
  
  • What does Jesus mean here?
    
• Blind men are lucky.
  
• Most of us should have glass eyes and hooks for hands.
  
• When you go looking for trouble you will find it.
  
• Simply trying to avoid evil isn't enough, we have to do something about it.
  

   
   

• Our Context -
  
• Adultery was a sin that went strongly against the cultural mores of the time of Jesus. If anyone was found to be an adulterer, they were guilty of a crime punishable by death. It was a sin that was repugnant to the people of Jesus' day.
  

   
   

• Can you think of sins today that get a response like adultery did during Jesus time? Why these particular sins?
  

   
   

• How shocking would this have been to the average listener - consider the full weight of Jesus' words?
  

   
   

• What does it mean to "look lustfully"?
  

   
   

• Is there a difference between looking lustfully, and being tempted? If so, what is that difference?
  

   
   

• How is it that lust is sinful in and of itself?
  

   
   

• Have you or anyone you've ever known gone deliberately looking for trouble? Is it hard to find, usually?
  

   
   

• If one wants to look for trouble, will they?
  

   
   

• This word "stumbling block" is just about the same thing as a trip wire to a trap - what activities or behaviors do people trip themselves with?
  

   
   

• Have you ever attempted to deliberately not look at something? A scary scene of a movie, car accident, etc.? How successful were you?
  

   
   

• I decided for lent to give up negative thoughts, how successful do you believe I have been? (Thank God for His mercy!)
  

   
   

• In addiction counseling - an addict is often encouraged to find a substitute activity to their addiction, one that is healthy? Can you find a parallel to gouging an eye, or cutting off a hand?
  

   
   

• In addictions, people in counseling often refer to people, places and things that cause them to use or reoffend - can you think of Christian parallels here?
  

   
   

• In the Christian's life often it isn't good enough to try and just not do bad things, one has to engage in Christian activities, do you agree? What are these?
  

   
   

• Jesus also said that to find our lives we must lose them - what similarities do you find here?