The Living Word

Bible study on the set readings widely used by various churches and chapels and a weekly storytelling video. Also at www.medium.com/the-living-word and https://thelivingword.substack.com

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Archives for October 2017

Tuesday, October 31

October 31, 2017 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Separated? No, connected through worship

Psalm 43

Psalm 42 and 43 are part of the same prayer. The sense is of a priest or Levite who has been separated from the place of worship (perhaps captured, or exiled?) but is going to call on God’s light and truth to be His own ‘Temple presence’ as he will worship anyway. This psalm reminds us that the walk of faith in God always brings a spiritual battle – sometimes one that is painfully apparent. However, we are responsible for our walk: being spiritually discerning, trusting God, and being led by God’s light and truth.

1 Give judgement for me, O God,
and defend my cause against an ungodly people;
deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.
2 For you are the God of my refuge;
why have you cast me from you,
and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresses me?

  • The psalmist was referring to physical, and often armed, enemies. However our spiritual enemy, Satan, does much of his work through people he is able to deceive and use for his ends. There is also the oppression of negative and fearful thoughts he puts in our minds – the battle of the mind.

3 O send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me,
and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling,

  • *let them lead me… let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell (NIV rendering)

4 That I may go to the altar of God,
to the God of my joy and gladness;
and on the lyre I will give thanks to you, O God my God.

  • It is not just about the blessing of receiving light and truth from the Lord. it is also the release into praise despite circumstances which is powerful.

5 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul,
and why are you so disquieted within me?

6 O put your trust in God;
for I will yet give him thanks,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

  • As we look back to Christian saints and heroes of the past (The Bible uses the term ‘saint’ much more widely than those officially canonised by the Roman Catholic establishment) we see over and over again this quality of praising God for His goodness in the face of challenging circumstances. True saints know the light and truth and praise Him as the source of it.

Applying it

Imitate the saints – who held on to God’s light and truth in a foreign land (Psalm 43)

The songwriter who gave us Psalm 42-43 was hearing God as one removed from the worship centre, the Temple, and made to live in a foreign land. Rejected and exiled and having no influence and no position – another kind of outsider.

But that lack of self-reliance, that dependence on God when everything else has been stripped away, that is a heart God can speak into. We can imitate that by choosing not to place reliance on position or a comfortable sense of belonging and tradition. The saints of old knew they needed God, and He met them there.

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Monday, October 30

October 30, 2017 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

The saints are those who truly speak for God

Micah 3:5-12
False and true spokesmen for God contrasted.

5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
who lead my people astray,
who cry ‘Peace’ when they have something to eat,
but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths.

  • Religious leaders and godly leadership are not the same thing. These prophets are false because they lead the people astray contrary to sound doctrine. The test Micah’s hearers would have been familiar with is summarised in Deuteronomy 13:1–5 in which this is a key sentence: “The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you loved him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Then, as now, many in church rely on opinions without necessarily knowing and loving God and listening to Him.
  • The test for those who have spent time in God’s presence is usually the humility that results from that experience.

6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
and darkness to you, without revelation.
The sun shall go down upon the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;
7 the seers shall be disgraced,
and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,
for there is no answer from God.

  • Micah uses the “But as for me…” saying to good effect. He is not exalting himself – his task is an unenvious one. He is drawing a sharp contrast highlighting the source of what is said e.g. “without revelation (v.6), “there is no answer from God” v.7 with what he explains next.

8 But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Lord,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.

  • The Holy Spirit gives Micah a completely different perspective to the court prophets of his time (roughly the same time period as Isaiah and King Hezekiah).

9 Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice
and pervert all equity,
10 who build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with wrong!
11 Its rulers give judgement for a bribe,
its priests teach for a price,
its prophets give oracles for money;

  • The religious advisers at the royal court may have echoes for us with the early days of the House of Lords, and the early bishops who were also powerful lords in their own right. There was pressure to give a sense of spiritual affirmation to the official line. It was a secure and rewarded place of influence. It took a courageous man to speak out and speak for God.
  • Thomas Cantilupe was a Bishop of Hereford in the 1200s who resisted political pressures and his fellow bishops and was approachable by ordinary people at a time when this was frowned on. He was shunned and excommunicated, the only saint to be canonised (40 years after his death) while still officially banned.

…yet they lean upon the Lord and say,
‘Surely the Lord is with us!
No harm shall come upon us.’

  • But God is not one to be mocked. We read in the New Testament:
    “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Gal. 6:3, 7)

12 Therefore because of you
Zion shall be ploughed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the House a wooded height.

  • “Mountain of the House” is a metaphor for the Temple on Temple Mount.
  • The ‘mocking’ or blatant disregard of what God was saying and showing did lead to the eventual ruination of Jerusalem although at the time, there is evidence that King Hezekiah took notice, as seen in Jeremiah quoting this verse and commenting a century later (Jeremiah 26:18-19) near the (586 BC) when Jerusalem was destroyed. Jesus later gave a similar warning (Matthew 23-24) some of which we will read later.
  • The temple ruined and overgrown was a picture of the visible symbol of worship dramatically removed.

Applying it: Imitate the saints – who spoke for God as those who really knew Him

Micah 3:5-12

Nobody really knows who Micah was — the Bible doesn’t say, there is no mini-genealogy provided. So he was a bit of an outsider, like many true saints before and after, who loved God, listened to Him and spoke for Him at some cost to themselves. Jesus did have a long list of antecedents but He was born aa a nobody in unfashionable Galilee. Out of all the rabbis of His time, who was speaking God’s truth?

We like to follow the crowd, to go with what everybody is saying – even if we sense God speaking in a different way. It is hard to be that different voice, to stand up for truth. But in a world of very mixed up values, that is our call as Christians.

Are we content as we are, not prompted to change?

Or will we step up to be “But as for me” people who hear the still, quiet, loving voice of the Holy Spirit, and dare to be different?

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Filed Under: Pentecost to Advent

The holy tradition leads us in a holy commission

October 24, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

From the lectionary readings for Sunday, October 29, 2017

Theme of the week
Scripture is holy and lifegiving, leading to eternal life and given to us to trust — in the historic words of the collect prayer for the week, “to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest”. This vital Christian principle of becoming familiar with God”s revelation of Himself is for each generation to embrace — and for each generation to entrust to the next.

Monday reading: Deut. 34:1-12
Tuesday reading: Leviticus 19:1–2, 15–18
Wednesday reading: Psalm 1; Psalm 90:1–6,13–17
Thursday reading: Matthew 22:34–45
Friday reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:1–8

Message from the readings
To think about or group discussion starters

Monday 23

 

FIRST OLD TESTAMENT READING, Deuteronomy 34:1–12

Pass it on — it is God-given to give away Moses, aged 120, ascends Mount Nebo from the Plain of Moab from where the Lord shows him the distant promised land — Gilead, Judah and the Jericho valley — but this is the end of his journey; it is not to be his land. He dies and is buried in Moab.
Moses has laid hands on Joshua to be his successor, full of wisdom.

1 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho.
As the Lord had told him to Deut. 32:28–32. Nebo (range) and then to the top of Pisgah.

  • It is no mean ascent — like Pen-y-Fan (highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons) and then as much again, and in a hot climate.

There the Lord showed him the whole land — from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

  • That is describing a view north, north-west, west and then south.

4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, “I will give it to your descendants.”

  • A number of references in Genesis, the clearest being Gen. 12:7; 13:14–17

I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

  • The explanation has been made a little earlier, Deut. 32:48–52
    On that same day the Lord told Moses, 49 “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. 50 There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. 51 This is because both of you broke faith with Me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold My holiness among the Israelites. 52 Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”
  • ”Broke faith with Me”: These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarrelled with the Lord and where He was proved holy among them.
    Exodus 17:7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarrelled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
  • Numbers 20:12–13 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

  • The point of the passage is that the revelation of God is continually being passed on. The principle is always, what we have, we give away, remembering that God is continually giving, for us to give.

9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.

  • Laying on of hands was practised by Jesus e.g. Luke 4:40, in the early church e.g. 2 Tim. 1:6 and is done today, in the impartation of ordination as well as in healing and general prayer ministry. It is a sacramental action where we make a visible and outward sign in faith, as the means of an unseen blessing by the working of the Holy Spirit.

10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt — to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

  • Moses appeared (with Elijah) on the special occasion on a mountaintop we call the Transfiguration of Jesus, when Jesus” face and garments began to shine brilliantly. Matt. 17:3–4


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Tuesday 24

 

SECOND OLD TESTAMENT READING, Leviticus 19:1–2, 15–18

Pass it on — by living and relating by God”s standards
Moses sets out five key practicalities about how to maintain holy relationships. How we love God is surely demonstrated in how we do, or don”t, love one another. Jesus was later to teach that all the law and prophetic writings were predicated on this principle.

1–2 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ”Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

  • “Speak to the entire assembly” meant that it was for everyone to keep the covenant by living as those set apart for God and therefore living by His standards.
  • The character of God is behind His commandments. No other deity of ancient times could relate man’s moral duty to the deity’s holiness.

15–18 “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.

“Do not go about spreading slander among your people.

“Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord.

“Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.

  • A remarkably contemporary list of warnings about how relationships commonly founder and therefore how to be different as those loving the Lord and His ways.
  • From a longer list, the five key relational commandments. Jesus quoted the “love your neighbour as yourself” in His statement of the Great Commandment, Matt. 22:37–38 (see below).

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Wednesday 25

 

READING FROM THE PSALMS, Psalm 1; Psalm 90:1–6,13–17

Pass it on — use the time and opportunity we have profitably

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night.

  • Taking heed of God’s revelation of Himself, the “law of the Lord” or we might say, the Bible and the Gospel leads to choices — who we listen to — and blessings due to those who listen to God and choose for Him.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Psalm 90:1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
3 You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
4 A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet You sweep people away in the sleep of death — they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up but by evening it is dry and withered.

  • Generations and generations come and go, but God”s perspective is eternal. However the psalmist sets out how the Lord has been the security throughout all generations. How? Because one generation passed this relationship and this assurance on to the next.

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May Your deeds be shown to Your servants, Your splendour to their children.
17 May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us — yes, establish the work of our hands.

  • The psalmist asks that we might experience God’s love and Favour, so we can continue the cycle by relating our experience to our children and beyond.

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Thursday 26

 

NEW TESTAMENT GOSPEL READING, Matthew 22:34–45

Pass it on — show it, don’t just say it

Jesus outlines the principle of the Great Commandment

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
The Sadducees and Pharisees were rivals, holding different doctrinal positions. The Sadducees had apparently been silenced; the Pharisees, in their superiority, were not about to let that happen to them.

35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question:

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

  • This was probably a question that came up often for Jesus. The rabbis of His time spent a lot of time summarising the various commands of the law — and also putting them in order of perceived importance. His answer echoes the style, but with confrontationally different substance.

37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

  • Deuteronomy 6:5 was part of the Shema prayer which opened with a recitation of Deut 6:4–9. Observant Jews would recite this twice daily. So Jesus was starting with something very well known to His hearers — perhaps like quoting part of the Lord”s Prayer to a modern day congregation. He puts this verse together with Leviticus 19:18 (which we read earlier).
  • The two commandments stand together. The first without the second is a nonsense (cf. 1 John 4:20), and the second cannot stand without the first because a disciplined sense of duty to do good to others falls far short of love. Our love of others can only come from God”s love received by us. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
  • “Hang” is a more literal word for “depend”.

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is He?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

  • This was a conventionally-correct reply among those who studied and discussed the Scriptures — what we call the Old Testament. Jesus” implied challenge is that this answer didn’t go far enough.

43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls Him “Lord”?

  • “David speaking by the Spirit…”, in other words, David speaking prophetically.
  • David did speak prophetically in some of his psalm writings. The well-known example is the beginning of Psalm 22, quoted by Jesus in Aramaic as He was dying on the Cross, and verse 22 is quoted in Hebrews 2:12 as a Messianic prophecy.

For [David] says, 44 “The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”

  • Jesus is quoting from David’s Psalm 110, the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. It was a key Old Testament passage for early Christian understanding of the role of Jesus.

45 If then David calls him “Lord”, how can He be his son?”

  • The widely held view of the Jewish community was that the coming Messiah would be the son of David. Jesus shows that the OT itself (e.g. Ps 110) tells us that is not the whole story. But if Messiah is not David”s son, whose son is he?
  • The solution is given by the beginning section of Matthew (chapters 1–2) and by the voice of God himself Matt. 3:17; 17:5: Jesus is the Son of God. The title “Son of Man”, used by Jesus of Himself, has the double meaning of “human being” (as in Ps 8:4; Ps 80:17 for example) but also the meaning of a heavenly figure who at the end time brings the kingdom to the oppressed on earth Daniel 7:13–14. So there are two aspects to the Messiah. Matthew’s gospel, written with Jewish believers in mind, repeatedly recognises that Jesus the Messiah is Son of David — by title Matt. 1:1; 9:27, by genealogy Matt. 1:2–16, and by portraying Jesus as King of the Jews Matt 2:2; 27:11, 29. Therefore Jesus is both a human Messiah in David”s line but also a divine Messiah who transcends human limitations.

46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 

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NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLE READING, 1 Thessalonians 2:1–8

Pass it on — with urgency and despite opposition
Paul reminds the church in Thessaloniki how despite opposition with God’s help they dared to proclaim the Good News. The apostolic messengers spoke with God’s approval to be entrusted with the gospel, not for themselves but demonstrate in their lives and to give away.

1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you His gospel in the face of strong opposition.

  • There is both a cost and an urgency in sharing the gospel. It will bring opposition — overt or covert.

3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.

  • This is a question that could be asked of some high-profile and high-budget ministries today. There will always be the human tendency to dishonesty.

4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.

  • To be entrusted to do more than tell it — show it in holy lives.

We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed — God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7 Instead, we were like young children among you.

  • Amplifies the point of verse 4, above. The human nature, or flesh nature, wants something for itself, including recognition! If it doesn’t get it own way, it wants to manipulate or enforce. The apostles chose to be people who were learning and growing, just as their protégés were.

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

  • What is a mother’s instinct for her baby? To give of her best, sacrificially if necessary. This is a picture of “giving away” the Good News and also living the Good News so that we become Good News to others.

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The holy tradition leads us in a holy commission

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THIS LIVING WORD – THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE

Pass it on — it is God-given to give away

Deuteronomy 34:1–12

Moses was privileged to enter into God’s presence like no other man, and was entrusted with the ‘Ten Words’ or commandments which formed the basis of God’s instruction for His people. There was a lot of detail, a lot of how to live it out, which those ten words stood for. Through the most testing of circumstances — a chariot army behind and a large body of water in front, provision for a huge number of people an animals in a desert region, attacks by other tribes and more than his share of insurrection — Moses walked a good walk with God, but not perfectly. Not trusting the Lord earlier, at Meribah (v.4 note), was to keep him from realising the vision. He was to hand over the honour of actually entering the Promised Land to a much younger assistant. He died at the age of 120, perhaps symbolic of three periods of 40 years.

Moses had been given the Law; he had led the people in how to keep the Law; and his last challenge was to be willing and gracious in giving all that away, to the person he had particularly mentored — “Joshua son of Nun [who] was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him.” This is a picture of how we are given the word of God by hearing and seeing others, but charged with the responsibility to pass it on to successors.

Pass it on — by living and relating by God’s standards

Leviticus 19:1–2, 15–18

Jesus is the Word of God — the Living Word. Much of what we call the word of God is about Jesus and His teaching (the Gospels) or the Way of Jesus that the early church sought to practice (epistles). But without too much difficulty we can see Jesus in these Old Testament passages, like the detail of the Law in Leviticus. “Be holy… because I am holy”. What does this holy God look like? Jesus said in John 14, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father… I am in the Father, and… the Father is in Me.” Our human nature too easily veers off. We get into judgmental attitudes, say things about others which are not true and defamatory, and go for what we want without regard to consequences for others. Or something in a relationship has become strained — and we’d rather hold on to it than speak to the other person and try to put it right. That turns into a lasting and damaging grudge which is the opposite of love and forebearance.

Have you seen that in your family, workplace, neighbourhood (or even church)? What is different, and holy? Jesus made this accessible by demonstrating that He is the Way, a Way that we can pass on by daring to be like Him in a selfish world.

Pass it on — use the time and opportunity we have profitably

Psalm 1; Psalm 90:1–6,13–17

It really helps if we spend our time around the right people and not the wrong people. We become like those we hang out with. We’re all concerned that our children don’t “get in with the wrong set”. So we know the way it works. The choice not to “sit in the company of mockers” but delighting and meditating on the law of the Lord comes down to one thing. Where is our focus? What do we think about? There are plenty of people who want to assert their proud thoughts and opinions, but the blessing comes when we consider God”s thoughts. As often as we turn to God’s thoughts — turn to God’s word, practically speaking, we find His love that satisfies, the joy and gladness to make a difference. So much better than joining the circle of negativity. It’s a small investment of time that pays big dividends.

Pass it on — show it, don’t just say it

Matthew 22:34–45

You have heard the expression, “Use it or lose it!” Here’s a slightly different one that is just as compelling: “Show it or blow it!”. People are tired of speeches that don’t deliver, of “fake news” and every kind of insincerity. They do, however, recognise what is real when they see it. Rabbis at the time of Jesus were much occupied with finding snappy summaries of parts of the complex 600 clauses that the Law had become, and saying what was most important. They weren’t so good at equipping people to live holy lives that blessed others.
Jesus took a radically different approach, dressed up as something they would find familiar. In His teaching He used some very familiar words: two commandments which He said were essentially one commandment. We cannot truly claim to love God if we don”t love others. It’s true the other way round as well. Loving those around us (not always easy) draws on the love relationship with have with God: knowing His love, being free to return it.

For 2,000 years people have heard the message of God’s love and seen it in action. This has become the moral anchor for well over two billion people across the world.

Where it hasn’t been successful is where there has been a mixed message — people whose fundamental beliefs are actually the same, but losing sight of what it means in persecutions, conflicts and even wars.

This “Great Commandment” communicates to people, not needing a lot of words, where people can see what loving God and loving others is like, and that it works. Nobody would say they don’t want it; they just don’t trust the religiosity that we have too often made part of the package. What we pass on to others for Jesus’ glory, will look like what Jesus was doing.

Pass it on — with urgency and despite opposition

1 Thessalonians 2:1–8

There has never been a time in history when the Christian gospel did not attract opposition and persecution. It is said that there have been more Christian martyrs in recent decades, than in all of Christian history. At a lower level, political correctness makes sharing what is good and true in schools or libraries or even by long established Christian festivals more and more difficult. Christians are now being punished in the courts for taking a moral stand or preaching in the streets.

The first apostolic messengers found people stirring up riots. They were beaten, imprisoned and run out of town — but they pressed on with the message of life in Jesus that had been entrusted to them. Unlike other orators of their time, they were not seeking praise or profit, but handled their task and the rebukes that came with it, with humility. This was different!

Don’t think that we are a Christian country. That is long past, and our task is even more urgent and difficult, than if no one had ever seen a Bible or heard its message. But the message, shared in the power of the Holy Spirit, and demonstrated by the same Spirit, is different, lasting and life-changing. And we have been given it, to give away, as best and courageously as we can.

To think about/group discussion starters

1. Why is it up to us to pass on the Good News?

Think about how Moses addressed the people (Tuesday: Leviticus 19).

2. How do we pass it on?

We may not be great speakers or teachers, or even outward-going personalities. But think about the essence of what Jesus was teaching (Thursday: Matt. 22). How much is taught, how much is ‘caught’?

3. Holy living, by God’s standards? Sounds impossible. But how unrealistic is it to use the list in Leviticus 19 (Tuesday) as a starting point?

If you were to decide on a ‘code of conduct’ for your group, neighbourhood, church or organisation, what would it look like?

4. How do we set out to live God’s way in a world where all the values seem to be against this?

Think about Paul and his companions, the hostility they encountered and the help they relied on Friday: 1 Thessalonians 2). What was the experience of the early church of being empowered by the Holy Spirit? Could this be our experience?

5. Where do you need more courage to live for Jesus and share His life?

Ask God, who knows and will supply all your needs. In a group, you can agree this together in prayer – a powerful thing to do.

 

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  • Feb. 26: Jesus’ Integrity and Victory overcomes Adam’s Sin February 27, 2023
  • Feb. 19: Mountain-top encounters are a powerful testimony to others February 17, 2023
  • Feb. 12: Loving God is living a transformed life in Jesus February 11, 2023
  • Feb 5: What a True Worshipper and Disciple Looks Like January 31, 2023
  • Jan 29: What the Lord Really Requires from Us January 28, 2023
  • Jan 22: Light in a dark place — the kingdom of God revealed January 22, 2023
  • Jan.15: God’s Grace of Renewal in Jesus January 13, 2023

Categories

Pages

  • ‘Cancel culture’ has ancient roots
  • Jesus tells us to exercise our lazy faith
  • A short prayer to receive Jesus as Saviour and Lord
  • A story of three ‘opposites’
  • Apprentice — You’re chosen!
  • Are You a Disciple on Mission with Jesus — or a Church Club Devotee?
  • Be prepared! God’s plan of salvation is going ahead!
  • Be Real, Be Attentive, Be Ready In Faith…
  • Being Authentic — God loves relationships that are real
  • Blessing others with God’s wisdom, not our opinions
  • Bringers of God’s Glorious Presence
  • Called and then sent
  • Called to respect God’s way
  • Choose Life
  • Choosing God’s Way
  • Does God Really Have My Heart?
  • Don’t let spiritual pride become your downfall!
  • Encountering God for ourselves
  • Explaining… Salvation. Who chooses who?
  • Explaining…. How we experience God
  • Faith on Trial
  • Falsehood vs Faithfulness and How To Know The Difference
  • For All of us Trapped by Historic Sin, God Has a Way Out
  • From Mistakes to Mission
  • Getting Better at Faith — Learning to Live in Partnership with God
  • God Is Always Doing a New Thing
  • God Is Calling Others To Walk With Him
  • God Says Those Who Seek Me Find Me
  • God’s Gracious Exchange — New Life for Old
  • God’s heart and ours
  • God’s presence comes with heaven’s brilliance
  • God’s Word — Catalyst for Change
  • God’s Heart of Love for Those Who Are Distant from Him
  • God’s word comes through God’s words
  • Growing in Hearing and Trusting God
  • Having God’s Heart — the Heart of the Gospel
  • Help! Learning to trust God in sticky situations
  • Holy Dissatisfaction Gets Us Reaching for God’s Freedom
  • How big is your God?
  • How Can God Change My Life?
  • How Do we Understand God’s Grace?
  • How Does Revival Come? It’s Not About Us
  • How entering God’s kingdom is the way to find His righteousness
  • How faith comes: by hearing and believing what God says
  • How God calls the imperfect to achieve the impossible
  • How God Gave Us His Nature To Live His Way
  • How God Guides Us In His Way
  • How God helps us to know Him personally (May 17)
  • How God is glorified
  • How God lights up our dark places with His presence
  • How God Offers Us the Gift of Being Made Right with Him
  • How God Works His Purpose In Our Lives
  • How God’s repeated works of salvation give us confidence
  • How salvation comes
  • How the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit is gained — and lost
  • How the Holy Spirit Restores God’s Order
  • How to be in the flow of God’s love and compassion
  • How to Keep an Eternal Perspective Amid Life’s Urgencies
  • How to speak life into dry bones
  • How We See God’s Glory
  • Jesus — sight unseen
  • Jesus is Lord for all who turn to Him
  • Jesus, The Inclusive Saviour
  • Keeping a true course
  • Knowing Jesus and making Him known
  • Knowing the Good Shepherd — it’s personal
  • Learn What Being Spiritual Really Means
  • Learning to be impartial
  • Learning to honour God in His gifts to us
  • Love and joy that transforms
  • Loving God also means loving others
  • Made new and still being renewed
  • One thing that sets us apart
  • Our Faith in God Shines Through How We Live
  • Partners in Mission
  • Partnership, God and Us
  • Pictures of heaven’s future purpose
  • Removing three barriers to God in our lives
  • Renewal — How Jesus Enables Us to Live the Best Version of Ourselves
  • Renewed and restored
  • Right and wrong sources of power
  • Seeing through the Pain to the Promise
  • So, who is this Jesus?
  • Spiritual Confidence is Yours with a Little Practice
  • The Big Story
  • The call to kingdom life and values
  • The Grace and Glory of God Appear — and Our Part In It
  • The Great Realisation
  • The Jesus Prayer
  • The reality of Jesus’ lordship
  • The spiritual battle: truth and deception in the church
  • The tests of life and God’s justice
  • The Tests of the Heart
  • Three Common Pitfalls to Avoid
  • To know Jesus is to have fellowship in Him
  • Trust, believe and honour
  • Understanding God’s grace + our faith = new life in salvation 
  • Understanding God’s gracious generosity
  • Understanding the kingdom of God
  • Understanding the new covenant in Jesus
  • Understanding… How we learn to see where Jesus is present
  • Unexpected — The King Who Serves
  • Watchmen of God’s way
  • We Celebrate God Made Man — How Much Do We Trust Him?
  • What God speaks, endures
  • When Jesus Comes Near It Changes Everything
  • Who Has Your Heart?
  • Who is Jesus? Where is Jesus? How Mystery Leads Us to Revelation
  • Who Is The Jesus We Know?
  • Why as Christians We Never Get to Stand Down
  • Why God’s Grace Is Too Good To Be Untrue
  • Willing to change?
  • Wisdom with humility is the path to true greatness
  • About…
    • The pros and cons of the lectionary format
    • A personal guide through the maze of Bible versions
  • About TLW print edition
  • Explaining…
    • Explaining… Christmas: the call to worship
    • Explaining… God’s call to all
    • Explaining… How God works beyond our boundaries
    • Explaining… How God’s grace doesn’t work by our rules
    • Explaining… How to see ourselves as God sees us
    • Explaining… How too easily we can be frustrating God’s plan
    • Explaining… Our assurance in the kingdom of God
    • Explaining… Revitalisation — God’s kingdom vs our control
    • Explaining… the ‘review and renew’ that God is doing
    • Explaining… Why the good news is good
    • Understanding… The danger in our complacency
    • Explaining the kingdom of God 1
    • Explaining conflicts that arise as a result of our faith
    • Explaining Pentecost
    • Explaining the Trinity
    • Explaining our identity as Christians — royal priesthood
    • What Jesus’ mountain top encounter with God means for us
    • Explaining the covenant with Abraham
  • Understanding…
    • Understanding… Holiness and the Great Commandment
    • Understanding… how deception undermines God’s truth
    • Understanding… How we raise our expectation
    • Understanding… Revival
    • Understanding… Stepping out in faith
    • Understanding… the difference between reacting and responding to God
    • Understanding… The freedom that is ours in Christ
    • Understanding… the generosity of God
    • Understanding… The invitation we must respond to
    • Understanding… The need to be ready for the Lord’s return
    • Understanding… The way agreement and conflict play out in the kingdom of God
    • Understanding the Good News – God’s grace
    • Inexpressible and glorious joy
    • The need to be reborn from above
    • Understanding the Trinity of God
    • First-century gnosticism

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Download TLW in A4/A5 booklet form

TLW49A-Dec-11.final-Booklet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to The Living Word

You get a lot more out of the Sunday service readings if they are already speaking to you. TLW is about reading and re-reading these Scriptures with some commentary to bring out what is hidden and make connections with cross references. This is different from liturgy because it is a Bible study, putting the Bible passages in sequence from OT, through the NT gospel era, and then through the lens of the post-resurrection, early church in the power of the Spirit. Enabling this progressive revelation points to a theme.  The translation used is the readable and widely-used 2011 edition of the New International Version (NIV) Bible. Commentary is drawn from a wide range of sources and is Bible-centric and theologically neutral. As we read and reflect and allow the Holy Spirit to help us hear God through His word during the week, we prepare ourselves to hear afresh and receive the Sunday sermon in church or chapel.

For convenience, use the ‘Subscribe’ box below to receive a short email with the Bible passage and notes for each weekday (and that’s all!).

Unsubscribing is just as easy.

A little about me and my vision for The Living Word

I live in the Marches, a green and beautiful expanse of hills between England and Wales where churches and chapels share duty to the Christian faithful in every valley, and churchgoing is still part of the community life. However, there are few Bibles to be seen in these buildings, and home-based groups for fellowship and Bible study are rare.

I want to encourage Sunday worshippers in churches and chapels to enjoy reading the Bible during the week, to get used to hearing God for themselves through His word, and to be  spiritually prepared for the message they will hear on Sunday from the lectionary readings they all share. It is no substitute for meeting and worshipping together, nor for Holy Spirit-inspired preaching. It supports both by encouraging the personal growth of church and chapel members of any denomination. It offers faith encouragement for those no longer able to, or no longer wanting to take part in, formal physical church.

My background is not in churches that use the lectionary and I bring a breadth of tradition and spiritual understanding to the writing.  I have pastored a number of churches and been involved in a variety of other missional initiatives with a ‘kingdom of God’ agenda.

As well as The Living Word and its weekly video I also post regularly on www.freshbread.today and www.thelivingword.substack.com with a podcast as well as video and written content. There is also a Facebook page at fb.com/TLWbiblestudy

Revd Ian Greig BD (Hons), DPS

SEE ALSO other Living Word Publications

Substack newsletter and podcast (free subscription) — audio podcast, video and written content all in one place

Fresh Bread Today — the freshest bake, with a bit of a tang, unpackaged and uncut. His word to live by, today.

Believe the Good News – finding the good news and encouragement all through the Bible

GLOW – God’s Love Over Weobley, encouraging prayer and spiritual fellowship. With a local flavour for this NW Herefordshire village.