Archives for July 2022

This is The Living Word Bible Study for Small Groups and Individual for Sunday, July 31 (TLW30C)

Lessons on how not to miss God’s best

Hosea 11:1-7 — The more they were called, the more they strayed

Psalm 107:1-9, 43

Luke 12:13-21 — Jesus teaches the folly of relying on possessions

Colossians 3:1-11 — The danger of falling back into the old life

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Read also this week’s linked article Three Common Pitfalls to Avoid

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Psalm 107:1-9, 43

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

2-3 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story — those He redeemed from the hand of the foe, those He gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

4-5 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

6-7 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

43 Let the one who is wise heed these things

 and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.

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Hosea 11:1-7 — The more they were called, the more they strayed

While paying lip-service to God, in their attitudes the people rejected Him

1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.

“Israel… a child” — tender words which recall God’s intense love for His people, shown especially in the deliverance from Egypt, Exodus 4:22-23.

2 “But the more they were called, the more they went away from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.

“They were called… they went away from Me” — continually called back to God by the prophets, they rejected His love by turning to pagan worship. 

3 “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realise it was I who healed them.

“Taking them by the arms” — like a father guiding a toddler. Hosea particularly brings out how Israel “did not realise” the grace of God working in their lives and attributed the good to other things.

4 “I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

“I led them… with ties of love” — the roots of Israel’s rebellion could not stem from God’s lack of care of the nation.

5-6 “Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans.

“A sword will flash” — starting with war, they will return to bondage under foreign control (represented by Egypt) and be ruled by Assyria.

7 My people are determined to turn from Me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.

“God Most High” — Israel paid lip service with the honorific title, but foolishly paid more attention to false prophets (v.6)

Reflection

SUMMARY Hosea was a prophet who was called to speak God’s truth to the rebellious northern kingdom of Israel. His words over many years were not heeded, and the kingdom became more and more godless until it was overrun by Assyria.

APPLICATION One of the hardest things to recognise is that our self-management has been poor. Independence always justifies itself.

QUESTION Can you recall a situation in life when you wished you had listened?

Luke 12:13:21 — Jesus teaches the folly of relying on possessions

How the wealthy farmer who failed to trust in God finished with nothing

13 Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

“Divide the inheritance” — Jewish law allowed the eldest son to inherit a double share, Deut. 21:17, but was often challenged, as here.

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbiter between you?”

Who appointed Me… an arbiter?” — a materialistic request, not a relational one, and it ignored the teaching Jesus had just given (Luke 12:1-12) on being sincere in recognising God and trusting Him. Jesus avoided what was not to do with His earthly work and ministry.

15 Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

“Be on your guard” — Jesus goes on to tell a story about the deception of greed.

• For further study on the OT background, see Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21; Job 31:24-25; Ps 49; Eccles. 2:1-11.

16-17 And He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“He thought to himself” —it’s a story full of self-references. This man never considered God, or with his abundance of crops, his moral responsibility to the needy. 

• For further study, read James 4:13-17.

18-19 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘

“Store my surplus grain” — poor farmers needed to sell their harvest at the time, but excavation show that landowners had buildings, and large silos to store grain.

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“You fool!” — being rich is not in itself wrong but the trap is the deception that wealth provides security apart from God. Complacency that trusts in earned resources and not God, results in an eternal destiny separated from God.

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

“Not rich toward God” — the bottom line of both the inheritance question and the parable of the self-sufficient farmer. Independence from God is the starting point for all sin.

Reflection

SUMMARY Jesus’ story was about someone of the wealthy landowner class, but he was not being rich towards God. His trust was in what he had created and amassed in the physical world — and he’d lost sight of the spiritual dimension.

APPLICATION The more we have in possessions and in financial reserves, the more opportunities we have to live independently from God – and that’s a problem. Independence from God is at the root of all sin, and it is a fair definition for sin itself.

QUESTION How does insurance and prudent financial management affect our need to pray for God’s provision and protection for each day?

Colossians 3:1-11 — The danger of falling back into the old life

Those renewed in Christ are empowered to say ‘no’ to the former ways

1-2 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

“Since, then” – a shift from the earlier doctrinal teaching, to its practice in Christian living.

“You have been raised” – literally ‘co-resurrected with Christ’. At the moment we put our trust in Christ as our Saviour, and ask Him to be Lord of our lives, we spiritually enter His death, and His resurrection. In this new life we see the “things above”, spiritual realities and blessings, and God’s kingdom will and purpose, in a way we couldn’t before.

3-4 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

“Hidden with Christ in God” – the new, reborn life is not dictated by the world, but secure in a common spiritual life with Father and Son, 1 Cor. 6:17, 2 Peter 1:4, a dimension of life the world cannot understand, 1 Cor. 2:14, 1 John 3:2.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

 “Put to death… your earthly nature” – having died to the old life by choosing new life in Christ, we are empowered to think and live differently, and to say ‘no’ to old patterns of behaviour when they try to kick in.

6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

“The wrath of God is coming” – wrath is a reflection of God’s holiness and justice. Being utterly opposed to sin, He must see that it is punished in a just way, at the final judgment but also with consequences starting now.

7-8 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

“Anger… malice, slander” – the old life was selfish, the new life in Christ is relational, about loving God and loving others. Here are listed five common but relationship-damaging behaviours.

“Rid yourselves” – or “put aside”, like taking off dirty clothes at the end of the working day.

9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

“Taken off the old self…put on the new self, which is being renewed”– the old selfish nature has been exchanged for a new Spirit-led nature, with new behaviour evident to all. This is a call to choose to live in continuous renewal according to the new nature, under the lordship of Christ.

• For further study, read 2 Cor. 4:16, Eph. 4:20-25, Gal. 3:27.

11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

“No Gentile or… barbarian” – Jews looked down on Gentiles, and in the Roman Empire those unable to speak Greek well were mocked as barbarians. Black Sea coast Scythians were especially ostracised. The point is, all who turn to Jesus as Lord are accepted equally in His kingdom.

Reflection

SUMMARY This sets out the contrast between the old unspiritual, selfish life, and new life in Christ which has a heavenly focus and inspiration for our attitudes and relationships. Believers will show Christ in their lives by the opposite of the five toxic traits, and five destructive attitudes given as examples. 

APPLICATION Having a life hidden with Christ in God is a description of our new identity as those belonging to God – elsewhere in the Bible described as having the rights of adopted children of God. Knowing this new identity is crucial to how we live. If we see ourselves as we were, in the old nature and unchanged, that’s how we will live, and our attitudes and actions will reflect that. But if we know that we belong to Christ and have His nature within us, we will live up to that new nature – with the help of His Spirit. God urges us through this Scripture not to live our old man-centred lives with a bit of ‘Sunday’ church adornment, but to be continually spiritually renewed in the new self, as new creations in Jesus, always growing in our relationship with God.

QUESTION We want to rid ourselves of those ugly attitudes — but should we see that as a command and a duty, or growing into the new person we are, because we can?

PRAYER  Father God, with so many conflicting pressures and expectations in the world, how do we find Your way?
Forgive us for giving in to that desire to find our own way and for trying to create our own security.
As You have chosen us, so we choose to follow Your way and rely on Your eternal security.
Help us to keep receiving Your Spirit to teach, guide and enable. Help us to grow in hearing Him, in living for You – and avoiding the foolish pitfalls, through Jesus.
Amen.

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• He wants to work with you and me, and us with Him

This is The Living Word Bible Study for small groups and individuals, for Sunday, July 24 (TLW29C)

Hosea 1:2-10 — A time when the covenant with God was withdrawn

Psalm 85

Luke 11:1-13 — Jesus teaches the fundamentals of kingdom prayer

Colossians 2:6-19 — How to live a full spiritual life in Christ

Theme: God’s covenant is an assurance to those who are His

• Read this week’s linked article Spiritual Confidence is Yours with a Little Practice

• And watch this week’s video which uses a storytelling approach woven through all the Bible readings (excerpted) touring the message

Psalm 85 excerpt vv. 4-9, 13

4 Restore us again, God our Saviour, and put away Your displeasure toward us.

5-6 Will You be angry with us forever? Will you prolong Your anger through all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

7 Show us Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

8-9 I will listen to what God the Lord says; He promises peace to His people, His faithful servants — but let them not turn to folly. Surely His salvation is near those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land.

13 Righteousness goes before Him and prepares the way for His steps.

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Hosea 1:2-10 — A time when the covenant with God was withdrawn

Foretelling God reversing His compassion for Israel owing to their errant ways

2-3 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

“When the Lord began to speak through Hosea” — a contemporary of Isaiah, Amos and Micah. Hosea prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel during the reigns of its last seven kings.

4-5 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”

“Call him Jezreel” — the name “God scatters,” speaks of judgment on the ruling dynasty.

• For further study, Jehu’s actions at Jezreel, 2 Kings 9-10.

“In that day” — fulfilled in 733 BC when Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser III captured the Valley of Jezreel.

6-7 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”

“Lo-Ruhamah” — Hosea’s message through the names of his children foretells a reversal of the compassion that God had earlier shown to Israel, Exodus 33:19; Deut. 7:6-8.

“Yet…show love to Judah” — saw the Lord’s continuing protection from Assyria in 722–721 BC and again in 701, 2 Kings 19:32–36.

8-9 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not My people, and I am not your God.

Lo-Ammi — harshest judgment of all, withdrawing Israel’s covenant relationship with the Lord owing to their unfaithfulness.

I am not their God — lit. “I am not ‘I AM’ for you”, see Exodus 3:14.

10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’

“Yet” — the threatened punishment would be for a time with blessing to follow. Also applied to the mission to the Gentiles in Romans 9:26, 1 Peter 2:10.

“They will be called” — here Hosea’s prophecy moves abruptly from judgment to hope.

Reflection

SUMMARY Hosea foretells a time when God will withhold His covenant with the northern kingdom of Israel owing to their persistent rebellion. Lacking divine protection, they were conquered at Jezreel, a place of historic sin by the ruling dynasty.

APPLICATION God revealed Himself to Moses as a partner, provider and protector of those who showed themselves to be His by unswerving loyalty and devotion. His ancient intention has not changed, but our way of relating to Him has.

QUESTION How do we now show ourselves to belong to God?

Luke 11:1-13 — Jesus teaches the fundamentals of kingdom prayer

An outline for talking to God in a personal and relational way of supplication

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

“One day Jesus was praying” – His lifestyle practice, Luke 5:16, Matt. 14:23, Mark 1:35.

“Lord, teach us to pray” – a revision of the teaching given as part of the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 6:9-13 about praying in a relational way to ‘Father’ rather than reciting wordy phrases.

2-3 He said to them, “When you pray, say:

‘Father, hallowed be Your name…

“Father” – there was precedent for addressing God as Father in Isaiah but it was not usual, Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 64:8.

“Hallowed be Your name” – reflecting God’s reputation and character while exhorting approaching God in faith for who He is.

…’Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread.

“Your kingdom come” – Matthew’s version of the model explains this with “Your will be done”. Praying down the kingdom is inaugurating God’s righteous, fair order for our world now, to come fully at the end time.

4 ‘Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.'”

“Forgive us… we also forgive” – reading this (or Matt. 6:12) in a religious way where God forgives us, rewarding our forgiveness of others, is mistaken. Rather, repentant of our own failings, we extend grace to others.

5-6 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’

“No food to offer” – a story of shameless boldness, starting with a householder unwilling to share food with a traveller, which would bring the whole village into disrepute.

7 “And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’

“Don’t bother me” – a parable of contrasts. How much more mighty is the Father, yet always approachable and generous.

8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

“Because of your shameless audacity” – anaideia, lacking sensitivity to what is proper.

9 “So I say to you: ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 

“Ask… seek…knock” — present imperatives, encouraging petition prayer as something we do continuously.

• For further study, see Deut. 4:29, Isa. 55:6; 65:1; Luke 11:5-8, Matt. 7:7-11; 1 Thess. 5:17.

10 “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

11-12 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

“Asks for a fish… an egg” – a father would prioritise feeding his children. Snakes and scorpions were common dangers.

13 “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

“You, though you are evil” – exaggeration to draw out the comparison with the Father’s goodness, and generosity.

“Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask” – looks ahead to Pentecost and Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4, Acts 2:33 and the incomparable gift of new life through the Holy Spirit’s empowering of a believer.

• For further study, read Matt. 12:28; Luke 4:1, 14; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:13-14, 26; 1 Cor. 12:11; Gal. 5:18.

Reflection

SUMMARY Jesus teaches His disciples a new way of relating to God and of praying to Him. Now the covenant assurance is about knowing and trusting God as Father, who wants the best for His children.

APPLICATION God’s character is such that He cannot disregard a sincere request for a need to be met. Our confidence in who He is and His gracious provision leads us to persist in petition while trusting Him for His answer.

QUESTION What is the relevance to this teaching of asking for the Holy Spirit? How were the first disciples changed following Pentecost?

Colossians 2:6-19 — How to live a full spiritual life in Christ

Why a wholehearted submission to Jesus as Lord gives us all we need

6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

“In Him, rooted and built up in Him” – spiritual confidence comes from knowing our new identity “in Him”.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

“See… that no one takes you captive” —false teaching in Colossae was literally plundering the gospel from the church.

“Philosophy” – the Colossians’ heresy had tried to complicate the plain Christ-centred gospel truth into a religion of rules and action.

9-10 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 

“All the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” – for Greeks, who divided spirit and matter into good and evil, God taking on a human body was unthinkable. But Christ, Paul explains, is the full revelation of God in human form.

11-12 In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

“Buried with Him in baptism” – a new believer shares how Jesus became Lord of their life before submerging in the water of baptism, a symbolic death and ‘burial’ of the old flesh-led life; then rises out of the water, symbolising new life in Christ.

13-14 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the Cross.

“Dead in… uncircumcision of the flesh” – as circumcision was a sign of the Jewish Covenant, baptism was the sign of entering into the New Covenant in Christ, with debt paid in full.

15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the Cross.

“Triumphing over them by the Cross” – like a Roman victory parade leading the humiliated enemy.

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

“A shadow” – the OT rituals, which foreshadowed the reality of Christ, were now a distraction. 

18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.

“False humility” – any attempt to gain spiritual credibility by one’s own effort is false.

19 They have lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

“Lost connection with the Head” – failing to teach Christ Jesus loses the vital connection, and growth.

Reflection

SUMMARY This reminds us that in Christ Jesus, we have everything. We can’t add to that — to turn to religious works and rituals is to cease to rely on faith in the relationship.

APPLICATION Once we receive Jesus Christ as Lord, we are forgiven and accepted and made new in Him. Religious-minded people may seek to complicate what is a plain and simple faith; we should not let them.

QUESTION Where in our worship and discipleship has it become more about church than Jesus?

PRAYER Father God, we rejoice that we can know you personally through Jesus.
We are held and sustained by You in a new covenant.
We have Your promise to hear our intercession.
May we grow in confidence to declare Your kingdom over our lives and communities because we are Yours in Christ Jesus.
Amen.