Archives for October 2021

Oct 31: Love God, Love Others

October 27, 2021 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

The Living Word for Sunday, October 31, 2021, is a non-denominational Bible study which relies on the Bible explaining the Bible, uninfluenced by any church’s traditions or preferences, and following the Bible’s sequence of progressive revelation. Read the whole passage first and let the Holy Spirit begin speaking to you through it, then go deeper with the verse by verse commentary and reflections. The week’s readings are as set by the Revised Common Lectionary, an inter-denominational resource shared by many different churches and chapels. The Bible version, widely used in contemporary churches, is the NIV © Biblica. Ref. TLW43B

///////

Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Ruth 1:1-18 — Putting God first and giving others His love and faithfulness is worship

Mark 12:28-34 — The Great Commandment, to love God and love others is the stand-out principle of the kingdom of God

Hebrews 9:11-14 — The power of Christ’s love is in His shed blood, a momentous sacrifice which changes us inwardly

And also read: Psalm 146

Theme: True worship is to love God and to love others

• See also this week’s linked article Loving God also means loving others which draws out the single teaching of the three passages.

///////

Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Ruth 1:18 —Choose to love God first and foremost

Putting God first and giving others His love and faithfulness is worship

1-2 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

“Fear the Lord your God” — includes the sense of ‘revere’ for His goodness. What follows is predicated on Israel’s covenanted relationship with “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love… and forgiving…”, Exodus 34:5-7.

3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

“Be careful to obey” — in terms of the heart and passion of v.5; see note to vv.6-8.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

“The Lord is one” — distinct from other nations whose worship involved placating various deities related to life’s threats. Scripture is progressive revelation, and “The Lord is one” remains a truth over God revealing Himself in His Son, and the Holy Spirit of God, guiding and empowering the Early Church and mission today.

5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

“Hear, O Israel” — recited by observant Jews daily and in the synagogue, this Shema (Hebrew for ‘hear’) passage is a foundational confession of faith.

“Love the Lord” — among a broad range of meanings, this has the sense of ‘adore, revere, be committed to’.

6-8 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

“0n your hearts… foreheads” — some Jewish sects missed the point and took this literally. Creating rules and routines is easier to maintain than a faith and heart relationship. But the Lord simply wants our hearts, and that will be evident enough.

9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Ruth and Naomi: a courageous choice to care and rely on God’s provision

1-2 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

“When the judges ruled” – after Joshua and before Saul and David.

“Ephrathites” – the area around Bethlehem. Micah foretold the Saviour’s birth in Bethlehem Ephratha.

“Mahlon and Kilion” – names descriptive of weak constitution.

3-5 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

“Married Moabite women” – although outsiders, not forbidden; marriage and continuation of the family line was socially essential.

“Naomi was left” – the story brings out the plight of Ruth’s mother-in-law, an unsupported widow.

6-7 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of His people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

“The Lord had come to the aid of His people” – in many places this story emphasises the Lord’s sovereignty over events.

8-9 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

“May the Lord show you kindness” – Naomi had blessed her daughters-in-law with hesēd, God’s covenant love, although the daughters-in-law were not Israelites and in a foreign country.

9-10 Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

11-13 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons — would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

“Turned against me” —Naomi sees her difficult circumstances in the wrong light, but this book brings out God’s gracious provision.

14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

“Clung to her” – dabaq, a strong word, also used of a man being joined to his wife, Genesis 2:24, or remaining faithful to the Lord, Deut 4:4, Joshua 10:20; Josh 22:5.

15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God, my God.

“Your God, my God” – Ruth had probably learned to worship the Moabite god Chemosh.

17-18 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

“May the Lord” – Ruth invokes the name of Yahweh for the first time, showing her commitment to Naomi and the Lord, with no other prospects. She is embracing uncertainty, to go where she has no family and friends, as an outsider.

Reflection

IN PRACTICE Ruth and Naomi faced an uncertain future as women in a man’s world, their menfolk having been taken from them. Do they blame God, or put Him first? Do they do what gives them most opportunity, or choose to do what honours God?

APPLICATION Life and its pressures hasn’t changed in three thousand years, except that we are used to having options, and unused to seeking God’s best and trusting Him in it. Rather than going for easy but low-value choices, we need to work up the skills for seeking high-value and lasting ones — loving God by trusting Him for His way.

QUESTION Trusting God in how we make choices is difficult. Who can share this with you, and encourage you?

Mark 12:28-34 – The Great Commandment, love God, love others

Unselfishness is a stand-out guiding principle of the kingdom of God

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“One of the teachers of the law” – generally hostile, this seems to have been a teachable one.

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

“The most important…” – having turned the law into a code of 613 statutes, rabbis argued over which were more or less ‘weighty’. Jesus starts with their debate, quoting the familiar ‘Shema’ passage which opens worship in synagogues today.

31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

“The second is this” – Jesus puts together two sayings widely separated in the law; combining them was unexpected. The first summarises commandments 1-4 about loving God wholeheartedly, the second commandments 5-10 about moral responsibility and how we treat others. His point is that they cannot be separated.

32-33 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but Him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

“You are right” – this particular scribe had seen that God required just and merciful behaviour, without which the ceremonial was meaningless.

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask Him any more questions.

“Not far from the kingdom” —the scribe had the right priorities, but to enter the kingdom would need to recognise and speak out the reality of the Son of God, who would shortly die in his place as a sacrifice for his sins.

• For further study of how the Great Commandment unfolds, Deut. 6:46; Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43; Matthew 22:36-40; Luke 10:27; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14.

Reflection

SUMMARY This man knew God’s priorities — a lack of moral compass and concern for others cancels out any performing of religious intentions. God expects us to return His love by putting Him first and loving others with His love. The second teaching here is about the spirit, rather than the letter, of the law — living by God’s love.

APPLICATION The Jewish teachers and scribes made much of the details of observance. But we can’t reduce the teaching of Jesus to a formula; that reduces it to head-knowledge. To change the world around us starts with our hearts being changed — we can’t give what we haven’t got.

QUESTION How can we, as God’s people, show God’s transforming love to the world more effectively?

Hebrews 9:11-14 – The power of Christ’s love is in His shed blood

Unlike the blood of calves and goats, Christ’s sacrifice changes us inwardly

11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.

“Greater… perfect tabernacle” — a comparison between the former tabernacle with its hammered gold seven-fold lamp and consecrated bread forming a ‘heavenly tent’ around God’s presence; and where Christ took up His high priestly seat.

12-13 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.

“Once for all” – comparing the Levitical priest’s repeated sacrifices, each a partial remedy for sin; with Christ’s sinless sacrifice, final, effective and unrepeatable.

14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

“How much more” – emphasising the power of remembering and declaring what Christ’s blood has done for us, shared by all Christian traditions.

Reflection

SUMMARY Coming to Christ and finding a personal relationship with God invites the Holy Spirit’s power to change our self-centred flesh nature on the basis of the work of the blood of Christ. This brings spiritual forgiveness for sin, and also emotional release from the effect of sin.

APPLICATION The flesh nature — how we behave naturally as human kind — is selfish and self protective. But now we can choose to think and act differently, with a generosity of spirit towards others. Reminded of how Christ’s blood has cleansed us, we can reflect God’s love and generous spirit to us, in the way we relate to others.

QUESTION Christ’s blood is all-powerful and effective, but how do we assert this?

PRAYER Father, we see selfishness, hatred and war all around us.
Yet You sent Jesus to be the embodiment of Your way of love, and the means to achieve it.
Fill us with Your love and empower us to use it — to bring change to the bit of the world we can influence. Amen.

///////

PRINT EDITION You can download a PDF of the print edition from the link below. It prints on A4 paper to produce a four-page Bible-size folder. Permission given to copy for your own use, for your Bible study or home group, or for inclusion with your church bulletin.

TLW43B-Oct-31-final-Booklet Download

///////

Oct 24: God and His purposes are good

October 18, 2021 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Golden sunrise, promise of God's goodness in the coming day

The Living Word for Sunday, October 24, 2021, is a non-denominational Bible study which relies on the Bible explaining the Bible, uninfluenced by any church’s traditions or preferences, and following the Bible’s sequence of progressive revelation. Read the whole passage first and let the Holy Spirit begin speaking to you through it, then go deeper with the verse by verse commentary and reflections. The week’s readings are as set by the Revised Common Lectionary, an inter-denominational resource shared by many different churches and chapels. The Bible version, widely used in contemporary churches, is the NIV © Biblica. Ref TLW42B

///////

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 —Job’s encounter with God opens his eyes

Mark 10:46-52 – Blind Bartimaeus implores Jesus to heal him

Hebrews 7:23-28 – Only Jesus can save from sins completely

And also read: Psalm 34:1-8, 19-22

Theme: God and His purposes are good, all the time

• See also the linked article, Encountering God for Ourselves

• And a short video Encountering God for Ourselves

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 – Job’s encounter with God opens his eyes

He repents of his earlier poor understanding of God and His ways

1-2 Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that You can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.

“I know…” Job has realised two things from what the Lord has said to all of them, in His summing-up speech: (1) how unlike God he is, and (2) the message that God is both loving and all-powerful.

For further study: read Gen. 18:14; Jer. 32:17; Matt. 19:26. Nothing can stop God’s plan, Job 23:13; Isaiah 14:27; 46:10.

3 “You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures My plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

“You asked…You said” —Job quotes, with humility, what God had said at the beginning of His first speech. He is seeing God in a new way.

“Things I did not understand” — Job has spoken about God with accuracy and integrity, even if his understanding was now shown to have been limited. His friends had not, and their spokesman Eliphaz, Job 4:12-16, 42:7, had implied that his advice came from prophetic insight. God affirmed Job but not Eliphaz and his friends in their superficial doctrine about God who they clearly did not know.

5 “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You.

“My eyes have seen You” — a deep encounter with God. Up until now, Job and his friends had heard about God but not seen or known God, Job 23:8, but now, like Isaiah, he had come to know God’s close presence and holiness, a massive leap in his relationship with God.

6 “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

“I despise myself…I repent…” — Job is saying that he recognises the ignorance behind his words earlier and he repents of having such a weak understanding of God; not as his friends had urged, of moral issues.

10-11 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

“The Lord restored… him” — the last words we heard from Job are repentance (v.6). Now we hear of Job’s restoration and the extent to which God blessed him. The two are linked.

12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.

13-15 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

“The Lord blessed…” — wealth was counted in head of livestock as much if not more than possession of silver. The daughters’ names are all descriptive of beauty. Job’s restitution is twice the number of animals, but not children – Job already had seven sons and three daughters waiting for him in heaven.

16-17 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

“Full of years” — ripe old age, like Abraham and Isaac, Gen. 25:8; 35:29, being a sign of God’s blessing.

Reflection

SUMMARY Job made mistakes in his attitude to God while he suffered. However, he was honest in his attempts to challenge God, while his counsellors gave him impressive-sounding statements that fell short of showing that they actually knew God. Job admitted that his relationship was more knowledge than heart, He was commended by God for this, while his opinionated counsellors were rebuked.

APPLICATION God wants us to go deeper with Him. He wants our hearts, not our lip-service, and sometimes He allows setbacks in which He gets our attention — and seeks to grow us through them. Job’s unpretentious honesty before God open the way to blessing, while the pompous statements of his friends who did not actually know God serve as a warning to us to teach others out of our personal relationship, not a theological viewpoint.

QUESTION What in this study suggests that God want our hearts more than our church attendance or money?

Mark 10:46-52 – Blind Bartimaeus implores Jesus to heal him

A man without sight perceives Jesus and His kingdom better than the disciples

46-47 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and His disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

“Jericho” — the new city built by Herod the Great, to the south of the ancient and abandoned one. Bartimaeus was “by the roadside begging” outside the city on the pilgrim route to Jerusalem, where Jesus and the crowd were going.

“Bartimaeus” — he was branded ‘son of impurity’, reflecting Jewish tradition that blindness resulted from sin, John 9:1-3.

“Jesus, Son of David” — prepares hearers or readers for the “Hosanna” shouts of the crowd at Jerusalem.

“Mercy” — undeserved kindness, which Scripture repeatedly shows to be God’s character. The unseeing Bartimaeus is seeing how Jesus is the Messiah and personifies God’s merciful character in bringing the kingdom to poor people with disabilities like him, Luke 4:18-19.

48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

“Many rebuked him” —regarding him of no status and no account, as they had earlier with children, Mark 10:13-14.

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”

50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

51 “What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

“What do you want…” — Jesus’ ‘unnecessary’ question drew out the blind man’s faith as he then spoke out his expectation. Jesus gives the blind man what he asks for in faith. Mark draws a parallel with the spiritual blindness and slow learning of James and John earlier, to whom He put the same question.

52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

“Your faith has healed you” – and this time without touch, unlike the previous occasion when a blind man was healed, Mark 8:22-26.

• For further study on faith and healing (sozo, literally ‘saved’) see Mark 5:23, 28, 34; Mark 6:56, Matt. 9:22, Luke 8:48.

Reflection

SUMMARY The blind man’s humble acclamation of who Jesus is — Son of David, the embodiment of God’s mercy without condition – leads to an astounding healing miracle. At the same time the disciples, who in another way were somewhat blind to who Jesus was and what His earthly life was about, start to see their world through God’s eyes.

APPLICATION God’s higher purpose starts to become reality with Jesus, who embodies God’s kingdom purpose and order. We view our world, wrongly, with us at the centre, God somewhere on the edge and a lack of overall perspective. God invites us to join Him by putting what He is doing at the centre of our picture, even if it continually challenges our understanding.

QUESTION How might God do this kind of saving today? What might He require of us?

Hebrews 7:23-28 – Only Jesus can save from sins completely

The old priesthood is obsolete with the Lord the only intermediary we need

22b-25 Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.

“Permanent priesthood” – the language is that of something which cannot be changed. Now people will (1) never be without a priest to represent them to God, and (2) one who lives forever and therefore saves forever, (3) in a way which is now fully effective, unlike the old order of priests, explained more in Hebrews 10:1-4;10-14.

26 Such a high priest truly meets our need — One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

“Holy, blameless, pure, set apart” — the high priesthood of Jesus, who had no sin nature, is incomparably superior to the former Levitical priesthood which was weak and earthly with the flaws of unredeemed human nature.

27 Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.

“He does not need to offer sacrifices” – from a different starting point, Jesus represents a completely different order of priesthood “unlike the other high priests” who sacrificed only animals, an imperfect substitute. Our high priest offered Himself.

28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

“The oath… after the law” – a verse which echoes Hebrews 5:1-3 and sums up the whole discussion of Hebr. 5:1-10; 7:1-28 of Christ’s appointment from perfect (complete) qualification, to a far superior high priesthood that the Levitical priesthood could never achieve. The oath refers to Psalm 110:4, a declaration of God’s promise of an eternal priest, over and above the earlier giving of the law and establishment of temporal priests and high priests.

Reflection

SUMMARY Jews who were now part of the Christian church, worshipping God through their own relationship with Jesus, were confused. Although rendered obsolete by Jesus’ death and resurrection, the temple priesthood carried on until the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD. But now they have become aware, as 1 Peter 2:9, Rev 1:6 teaches, that every believer is a priest with royal privileges, as sons and daughters of the king! The writer of Hebrews seeks to explain this transition in terms these Jewish believers, including many former priests, could relate to.

APPLICATION Like the superseded temple worship that carried on regardless, we are prone to keep doing in our own strength what God is no longer blessing. In some parts of the more formal Christian church there is more form than faith, in seeking to re-create something like the temple institution with its orders of priesthood. Hebrews makes the folly of this clear. The only intermediary any of us need is our Lord Jesus Christ. He has identified with our world and our sin, before paying the price for it and ascending into heaven to take up a role for which He, alone, is qualified. This is an important part of the Good News. We will never be qualified to have fellowship with the Father, but Jesus has, and He is the Way for every one of us.

QUESTION If you know Jesus, how confident are you about representing before God someone else with a need — especially the need of salvation and new life?

PRAYER Father God, so many things that we think we see clearly, turn out to have a greater purpose or heavenly timescale or a different way of working out than we know at first.

Help us to be of “earthly use by being heavenly minded” as we grow in faith.

Teach us this from Your word in these passages, where the story starts one way and ends — Your way! For the glory of Jesus, Amen.

///////

TLW42B-Oct-24-final-Booklet Download

///////

Oct 17: Jesus’ kingdom far exceeds any worldly status

October 10, 2021 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

We are held in awe of God, who is so much greater than our opinions and whose purpose and kingdom is of a higher order than anything we know

Bramble berries on the stalk showing all the colours from green to black

The Living Word for Sunday, October 17, 2021, is a non-denominational Bible study which relies on the Bible explaining the Bible, uninfluenced by any church’s traditions or preferences, and following the Bible’s sequence of progressive revelation. Read the whole passage first and let the Holy Spirit begin speaking to you through it, then go deeper with the verse by verse commentary and reflections. The week’s readings are as set by the Revised Common Lectionary, an inter-denominational resource shared by many different churches and chapels. The Bible version, widely used in contemporary churches, is the NIV © Biblica. Ref TLW41B

Job 38:1-7 —Now Job hears Yahweh, Lord God Almighty, whose higher perspectiveshows how limited are Job’s opinions

Mark 10:35-45 — The kingdom of God, with its value of greatness through serving, is a far higher order than any status in the world

Hebrews 5:1-10 — The Lord who suffered and bore our sins is uniquely qualified to represent us to God

And also read: Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c

• See also this week’s linked article The Call to Kingdom Life and Values

Job 38:1-7 — God’s perspective is far higher than Job’s opinions

Now Yahweh, Lord God Almighty, announces His presence and cross-examines Job

1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

“The the Lord spoke” — following Elihu’s speech, the Lord, Yahweh, spoke, the first mention of His name since the prologue, Job 1:8; 2:3. Significant because His covenant name is also His character and His promise, Exodus 34:5-7. Yahweh’s voice, unlike the long speeches, has the tone of truth, not speculation.

• For further study, Elihu’s speech, Job 32:6-37:24

“Out of the storm” — now God announces His presence in a covenantal gesture, not a destructive whirlwind as earlier, Job 1:18-19.

2 “Who is this that obscures My plans with words without knowledge?

“Words without knowledge” — Job’s complaining against God, from his human perspective, has shown up his inadequate knowledge of who God is. He is about to be lovingly ‘put right’ and helped to turn to repentance from his earlier assumptions.

3 “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell Me, if you understand.

“I will question you… where were you…” — rhetorical questions create tightening circles for Job, who must confess ignorance. God says nothing about Job’s suffering. The issue Job has about divine justice is left unanswered. But God does not put Job down or condemn him, as surely would have been the case if the counsellors in their earlier speeches were right.

“Tell Me” – whether rhetorical or demanding a response from Job, he is unable to answer.

5 “Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

6-7 “On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone — while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

“Who laid its cornerstone” — these two encounters with the Lord succeed in bringing Job to a better understanding and faith in God’s goodness and wisdom, while leaving his earlier questions hanging.

• For further study, Job’s encounters Job 38:1-40:2 and 40:6-41:34.

Reflection

SUMMARY Job was entitled to try to work out what was happening to him and defend himself from his friends well-meaning but flawed attempts to blame him for his downfall. Now at last he hears from God that God has a higher purpose for His creation including mankind. Who is Job to argue?

APPLICATION We take from this, two lessons of everyday life, (1) our need to hold our opinions lightly because God is likely to show how flawed they are, and (2) learning to see God’s higher purpose in the struggles we find ourselves in.

QUESTION Have you held an opinion which you sensed God challenging and then showing you it was unfounded?

Mark 10:35-45 — The kingdom of God is a higher order than any status

The lesson is repeated: who Jesus is and His example of greatness by serving

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”

“James and John” — following on from Peter’s outburst, Mark 8:32-33, the two other members of Jesus’ inner circle show that they still haven’t grasped Jesus’ essential teaching about who He is and His impending death, and what greatness and leadership in the kingdom of God is all about.

36 “What do you want Me to do for you?” He asked.

37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

“In Your glory” — the part they had understood is that Jesus was the Messiah; “sit at Your right…” — but they associated it, wrongly, with rank and status.

38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?”

“You don’t know” — the part they didn’t understand was about sharing in Jesus suffering, and the servant nature of leadership in His kingdom.

39-40 “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at My right or left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

“Not for Me to grant” — Jesus would not usurp His Father’s authority.

41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

“Indignant” – and not in a righteous way; they felt James and John had tried to steal a march on them, and wanted prestige and power for themselves. All the disciples needed a different understanding of what the leadership of God’s kingdom entails. Jesus now spells it out.

42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

43-44 “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

“Not so with you” — the values of the kingdom of God turn the values of the world upside down.

45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

“To serve, and… give His life” – a climax. This is one of the most important passages in Mark, emphasising that Jesus’ death as a suffering servant is central to the values of His kingdom.

Reflection

SUMMARY The path to sharing the spiritual authority of Jesus is to be a disciple of Jesus, with an emphasis on serving and an active disinterest in status. Like James and John, and the other ten who at this point were not grasping this vital lesson, this is the part we are prone to misunderstand. The values of the kingdom of God clash with the world and its concepts of merit and status.

APPLICATION The point is this: knowing Jesus, personally and intimately, brings a quite different kind of authority. What Jesus wants to share with us is a spiritual authority which can bring His light and presence into our sin-darkened world. So there is a sense that we do get what James and John asked for, but not in the way that they imagined.

QUESTION What for you is the hardest part of the “Not so for you” (verse 43)?

Hebrews 5:1-10 — Jesus is uniquely qualified to represent us to God

The Lord who suffered and bore our sins now fulfils the high priestly role

Context: the background text to this is Psalm 110:4 in which is God’s stated intention that His Son is to be a priest for ever in the order of Melchizedek. The author expands on this, showing points of comparison between the familiar priesthood of Aaron’s descendants (vv. 1-4) and Jesus, the ultimate high priest (vv. 5-10).

1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

“From among the people” — the high priest had first to be able to relate to people and their lives, in order to represent them before God.

2-3 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since He himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.

“Weakness… his own sins” — the high priest, subject to human sinfulness, sacrifices first for his own sins, Lev. 16:6,11. By contrast Christ, who was sinless, Hebrews 4:15; 7:27, exercises a unique high priesthood of a quite different order and extent.

4 And no one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

“Called by God” — the Aaronic high priest must not be self-appointed but has to have recognition of a call to the office. In Jesus’ lifetime the system had become corrupt and the high-priestly office – and the power and control that went with it – was in the hands of the family who had bought the privilege.

5 In the same way, Christ did not take on Himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to Him, “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.”

“You are My Son” – or “Today I reveal You as My Son”, quoted from Psalm 2:7. A turning point in the comparison.

For further study: read Psalm 2:7-9, Romans 1:4.

6 And He says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

“Priest… in the order of Melchizedek” — quoted from Psalm 110:4. This is the first of 10 times this verse is quoted in Hebrews.

• For further study, see Hebrews 5:6,10; 6:20; 7:3,11,15,17,21,24,28.

7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.

“Heard… because of His reverent submission” — Jesus did not shrink from the indescribable agony of bearing mankind’s sins in a suffering of spirit, soul and body. He asked that the ‘cup of suffering’ might be taken from Him, but He went through with it in full obedience to His Father.

“Save Him from death” — by resurrection.

8-10 Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

“Learned obedience… once made perfect” – or ‘complete, qualified’ from teleios meaning ‘having reached its end’. Christ was without sin, but proved His humanity through the cost of obedience, walking the path of human experience all the way to death on the Cross, in complete submission to the Father’s will. This finally qualified Christ to represent us by His unique and ultimate high priesthood.

Reflection

SUMMARY Jesus is the only person who, having lived our life with its trials and temptations — without sin— can represent us before the Father. This highest of high priests, who has conquered death, and broken the grip of everything which contends with God’s design and purpose for our lives, is the one who takes our supplication prayer.

APPLICATION This passage reminds us that we can positionally share His exalted place — in particular, His spiritual authority. This enables us to move from asking God through Him, to declaring in faith what He has done. With the backing of the great high priest, we can pray with authority —His authority.

QUESTION What in church or Christian life are we inclined to put our faith in, rather than going to the only person qualified to represent us?

PRAYER Father God, as I come to You in Jesus I am overwhelmed.

It is not just Your greatness and higher purpose that I revere, but I am held in awe of Your goodness and generosity beyond anything I could deserve.

Help me to hold on to this great truth, not just for myself, but also to share with others who need a touch from You.

Amen

Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c

1 Praise the Lord, my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; You are clothed with splendour and majesty.

2-3 The Lord wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent, and lays the beams of His upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds His chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

4 He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire His servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.

6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

7 But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of Your thunder they took to flight;

8 they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place You assigned for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.

24 How many are Your works, Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.

35c Praise the Lord, my soul.

///////

TLW41B-Oct-17-final-2-Booklet Download

///////