Final Events

What does Paul mean in the memory text –that believers are creatures of the daytime and should therefore be prepared for the second coming?  What if Jesus comes at night?

The Sides of the Judgement

1. How did God temper His “sentences” on Adam, Eve, and Cain with mercy in each case? Why do you think He did that?
2. How can you account for the fact that the psalmists invariably eagerly anticipate the judgement, while most Christians dread it?

Sudden and Unexpected

1. Why would God want to come unexpected?  Why not announce the time and have everybody ready?
2. How can the second coming be accompanied by shouts and trumpet calls and still be like a “thief in the night?”

The Believer’s Advantage

1. What is “darkness?”  Why is it a negative image? Did God create darkness?
2. Why is light a symbol of truth?

Constant Watchfulness

1. What makes “sleep” a negative image?  When is it right to sleep, and when is it wrong, and why?
2. Are some people more prone to wakefulness at night?  Should we examine prospective watchmen to check their ability to stay awake at night? To what extent can body clocks be reset?

Encourage One Another

1. How does belief in Christ change one’s attitude to the judgement?
2. Are unbelievers afraid of the judgement?  Why or why not?

The Dead in Christ

The Situation in Thessalonica

1. Is it better to die before the time of trouble or to live till the second coming?
2. What authority does Paul have to correct false doctrines?

Hopeless Grief

1. Would you rather go to heaven immediately after death or wait till the resurrection?  If you knew that your loved one had gone to heaven would you still grieve?
2. How much time is needed to teach new believers  all the doctrines necessary?
3. Why do we recall only the good things about a person at his/her death, and thus increase our grief?

Dying and Rising

1. How many Biblical words can you think of in the metaphor of sleep for death? (wake, rise, etc.) Would “coma” be a better metaphor?
2. How are the responses of the disciples, the priests, the Romans, to the reported resurrection of Jesus convincing of the event?

Rising in Christ

1. How can Paul know what Jesus taught if the gospels didn’t record it?
2. Why do you think Paul emphasizes the thunderous noise at the second advent – shout, voice of the archangel, trumpet— that no other Bible writer does?

Comfort One Another

1. When Paul asserts that we will be in the air forever with the Lord, does it conflict with what the other Bible writers teach?
2. Which would be more comforting (a) the Hindu doctrine of the transmigration of the soul, (b) the teaching of the immortality of the soul, or (c) the teaching of soul sleep till Jesus comes?

Living Holy Lives

Abounding More and More

1. What should be our motive for right living?
2. Can one please God with right living?

God’s Will: Holiness

1. What factors make sex immoral?
2. Why did God make sex so pleasurable?

Not like Gentiles

1. How does one’s view of God, or how does one’s relationship to Him affect the attitude to sex?  For example how would an atheist’s attitude to sex differ from a Christian’s or Hindu’s attitude, and why?
2. On what basis can Paul claim that passionate lust is equivalent to losing control of one’s body?

According to God’s Design

1. How far-reaching is the damage that extra-marital sex can wreak?
2. Are sexual urges controllable humanly speaking, or is divine help necessary?

Mind Your Own Business

1. What does brotherly love mean, and what does it include?
2. What do we mean by “Mind your own business?”

Friends Forever

What does Paul mean by stating that he expects the people to be blameless and holy at the second coming?

The Judean Example

1. Is persecution of every Christian (such as Paul experienced from the Jews) inevitable?  If we escape persecution is it an indication that we have not witnessed adequately?
2. Can we witness and by good judgement avoid persecution?  Are we justified by getting up and leaving if there is opposition, or should we still attempt to get through to the few who might respond? 

Paul’s Hope and Joy

1. How can the two sayings be reconciled: Out of sight, out of mind; and Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
2. What could Paul mean when he says that he is longing to boast about the Thessalonians before the Lord at the second coming? 

Timothy’s Substitute Visit

1. How well can one person substitute for another leader? How well is a substitute accepted?  How are representatives of government leaders to functions, which they cannot or wish not to attend themselves, received?
2. How should a substitute behave when on a mission as a representative?

The Result of Timothy’s Visit

1. What does Paul mean when he says that he prays night and day to see the Thessalonians in person?  Have you ever longed night and day to be with another person?  What does it indicate?
2. How can Paul on the one hand commend the “good news of the faith” of the Thessalonians and on the other hand refer to some deficiency in their faith?  Is he flattering to deceive?

Paul’s Renewed Prayers

1. What do you think the lesson author means when he says that Christian relationships do not have an expiration date?  When do other relationships expire?
2. Should congregations respond with amens during a sermon when they appreciate a point? Why do we end every prayer with amen? Is it necessary? 

The Apostolic Example

Is it easier to please God or humans?

Boldness in Suffering

1. Is persecution an inevitable result of witnessing or can it be avoided?
2. If we are not “bold for the gospel” is it an indication that we are not fully converted?

The Character of the Apostles

1. What are some of the causes for pastors inadvertently preaching error from the pulpit?
2. What are some reasons for pastors to become impure?
3. Why would some pastors deliberately mislead a member?

Pleasing God

1. Is it possible that we are trying to please humans without sensing it?  How can one know one’s motives?
2. What are some of the purposes of flattery?
3. Could there be some wrong ways to try to please God?  If so, what are some of these?

Caring Deeply

1. Paul claims to have taken care of members like a mother and nursing baby?  Is that how it should be? What do you think he meant?
2. Is a mother always gentle when dealing with her children?

To Not Be a Burden

1. Is it better or worse for a pastor to have a business so that he does not need support from the church?
2. Is it good or bad for a rich member or members to support the pastor financially?
3. Paul claims to have looked after his members like a father.  What is wrong with calling a pastor “father?” Should we call our pastors something like “uncle?”