TLW11C for Sunday, March 20
Theme: Don’t slip spiritually, seek the Lord while He is near. See also this week’s linked article Don’t Let Spiritual Pride Become Your Downfall and video (10 min watch)
Verses from Psalm 63:1-8 — Setting the scene
Isaiah 55:1-9 — A call to come back to God while He may be found
Luke 13:1-9 — Now is the time to turn to God with a changed heart
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 — Return to living God’s way as His witness
Verses from Psalm 63:1-8 — Setting the scene
3-4 Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands…
7-8 Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings. I cling to You; Your right hand upholds me.
Isaiah 55:1-9 — A call to come back to God while He may be found
Don’t pay for what cannot sustain: God’s goodness is there for the asking
The imagery is of the water seller, prominent among other market vendors. It is an invitation to God’s people to “buy” His forgiveness — the point being, that it is free.
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
“Come… come… come” — expressed with urgency to all hearers. Water stands for spiritual refreshment, Prov. 9:5, wine and milk for abundance and nourishment.
“Buy… without cost” – it is all free, following on from the Suffering Servant whose death paid for the gift of life, Isaiah 53:5-9.
• For further study, Christ offering the water of life, John 4:14, 7:37; also Rev. 22:17.
2 “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?
“What is not bread” — the exiles were urged not to meet spiritual needs with empty pagan practices.
“Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 “Give ear and come to Me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, My faithful love promised to David.
“Everlasting covenant” — for the immediate hearers, a reminder that the broken covenant that resulted in exile, is on God’s side an enduring promise of faithful love (chesēd). The double meaning points to the new and better covenant through David’s descendant, Jesus Christ.
4 “See, I have made Him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 “Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendour.”
“Witness to the peoples” — the Messiah was, and is, a light to the nations, Isaiah 42:6, 49:6.
“Nations… will come” — the promises to David extend beyond the Jewish nation, to other nations, fulfilling the “all nations will be blessed by you” promise to Abraham, Genesis 12:3.
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
“Seek the Lord” – this is God’s offer for this time, and people should not delay, Psalm 32:6.
• For further study, the prophets’ frequent call to seek the Lord, e.g. Jer. 29:13-14, Hosea 3:5, Amos 5:4,6,14.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
“Let them turn” — or repent: the way of entering a saving relationship with God is to seek God’s ways, turn from what is unrighteous, and humbly look to His mercy and pardon.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“My thoughts… not your thoughts” – the man-made obstacle, wanting to reduce God’s work in our salvation to something we can understand and perform.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
“So are My ways higher” — Jesus came to make a way of undeserved favour and new life for us, commanding simply “Believe in Me”, John 11:25.
Reflection
SUMMARY Isaiah’s message is a follow-on from the Suffering Servant prophecy. The Servant in the earlier passage will enable people to do what the later passage urges. It is about coming back to God, calling on Him and listening.
APPLICATION His ways are higher, and He has a ‘higher’ way for us to approach Him — not labouring on what does not satisfy. Then as now, there’s a temptation to take the wrong path, the easier option of working to please God rather than discovering a relationship with someone holy and majestic. Yet the call to “Listen… give ear… come to Me” tells us that what God wants most is our response to His love. And Jesus, the Servant, makes that connection for us.
QUESTION In what ways do we “labour on what does not satisfy” and “spend money on what is not bread”?
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Luke 13:1-9 — Now is the time to turn to God with a changed heart
Jesus offers a new start to everyone and everyone needs to take it
Jesus continues to call people to repent and discern the times. In the context of two local calamities He emphasises that everyone needs to repent.
1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
“Galileans whose blood” — apparently Pilate killed Galileans offering sacrifices at a major festival. Like the Tower of Siloam collapse, this is not known outside this account.
2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
3 “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
4 “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
“Tower in Siloam” — probably part of the southern wall near the Pool of Siloam.
“More guilty?” — those unscathed by recent calamities were not to see themselves as innocent and immune from judgment. Suffering does not always correspond to God’s wrath, John 9:1-3.
5 “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
“Unless you repent” — every person has to come to their own personal decision to turn to Christ, and part of that is turning from independence to live for Him.
6 Then He told this parable: “A man had a fig-tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.
“In his vineyard” — God is the owner of the vineyard, which included some fig trees and represents the nation of Israel.
7 “So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
“Cut it down” — like God’s judgment in Psalm 105:33
“If it bears fruit” — there is a limited time of grace and opportunity for Israel to produce the fruit of repentance, in receiving Jesus’ miracles and message.
8-9 “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”
“I’ll dig round it” – sinfulness calls for judgment but in God’s mercy goodness may reach the roots and bring change… Jesus urges people to repent while there is time.
• For further study, Jesus urges repentance, Luke 10:13-16; 11:29-32; 12:13-21; 13:1-5, 31-35.
Reflection
SUMMARY Like us, the people Jesus addressed were too quick to find reasons why they did not need to repent. Being untouched by two local disasters was, for some, a sign of God’s favour and blessing. Jesus was forthright in demolishing their complacency, repeating the phrase, “…unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
APPLICATION “Repent” is often seen as a difficult word, implying a judgment that offends our pride. Yet turning from what offends God, is also a turning towards Him, and experiencing His love and gracious enabling. When we learn to see repentance as realignment with God’s purposes, and the way to connect with and receive the undeserved blessing He wants to give us, a ‘difficult’ word becomes an enabling one.
QUESTION How will you let Jesus be Lord in a deeper way in this Lent season?
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1 Corinthians 10:1-13 — Return to living God’s way as His witness
Those who think they are strong spiritually need to guard against falling
1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
“I do not want you…ignorant” — warning from Israel’s history: Paul uses the example of the judgment on God’s people in the desert for putting their trust other than in God.
2 They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
“Our ancestors” – Paul connects the mainly Gentile Corinthians with OT Israel, delivered from slavery in Egypt by a miraculous escape through the sea and the cloud’s leading in the wilderness, Exodus chapters 12-17.
3-5 They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
“Drank from the spiritual rock” – Paul sees Christ as being with them in the miracles of water from the rock, at the beginning and the end of the desert journey, Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:7-11.
“Not pleased” — their spiritual food and drink did not prevent bad choices and consequent judgment then, vv. 8-10. Spiritual food now does not absolve us from poor choices, vv. 6, 11.
6-7 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”
“Do not be idolaters” – as in the shameful golden calf incident, Exodus 32:5-6, 17-19. For the Corinthians it is continuing to attend pagan temple banquets, 1 Cor. 8-10.
8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did — and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
“Sexual immorality” — Paul compares Corinth’s immoral customs with the time Midianite women seduced Israelite men into idolatry, bringing the judgment of a plague, Numbers 25:1-9 and 31:16
9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did — and were killed by snakes.
“Should not test Christ” – again seeing Christ as spiritually present during the desert wanderings. Complaining about the manna brought the judgment of deadly snakes – but by gazing up at a bronze snake on a pole the repentant ones were miraculously delivered, Numbers 21:8-9.
10-11 And do not grumble, as some of them did — and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
“Culmination of the ages” — when Jesus came He fulfilled God’s promises and opened the final act, the last days, Hebrews 9:26.
• For further study, read 2 Cor. 5:1-5, 1 Thess. 5:4-8, Hebrews 1:2, 1 Peter 1:20.
“No temptation” — temptation is not sin but yielding to temptation, or to testing, is: Matt. 6:13.
12-13 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
“Be careful” – Corinthian believers in a society of temples and pagan functions needed to be reminded of God’s overarching grace and protection.
SUMMARY The Corinth church was richly blessed with the experience of Jesus through an openness to His Spirit, and the flow of all the spiritual gifts. However, Corinth was a cosmopolitan city with all sorts of temples and beliefs, and to belong to a trade guild or just participate in Corinthian society presented Christians with difficult choices. Some believers showed spiritual pride in considering themselves above the dangers of guild dinners in honour of a pagan deity. Paul reminds them how the Israelites in the desert lost sight of their pledge to worship the Lord God and Him only — and their fate.
APPLICATION To mock God is no light matter, as Paul told the Galatian church in a different letter. We can all make poor choices and slip into unholy compromises with the values of the world system around us. And when we think we are “standing firm” against temptation, that’s the time of greatest danger.
QUESTION In our world what common compromises are spiritually harmful?
PRAYER Father God, we come to you in Jesus and count Him our Lord.
We ask Your Holy Spirit to reveal to us where, in our thinking and practice, we have slipped into unholy ruts.
Help us in this preparation season to re-align with You in renewed commitment. Amen.
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The Living Word for March 20, 2022, 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 own 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. TLW11C
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PRINT EDITION There’s a PDF print edition produced as a convenient Bible-sized folder which downloads from the link below. Permission given to copy for your own use, home group, or discipling use in the church generally.
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