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

Powered by Genesis

Archives for July 2022

July 31: Lessons on How Not To Miss God’s Best

July 28, 2022 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Wind farm                                                                                             on hills behind Borth                                                                                            on hills behind Borth
Wind farm on hills behind Borth

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

///////

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

///////

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.

///////

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.

///////

Filed Under: Pentecost to Advent, Year C

July 24: God’s Priority is Partnership

July 24, 2022 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

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

Sunshine on Borth beach with sailing dinghy and deep blue sea
Borth beach, Ceredigion, Wales and sailing dinghy

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.

///////

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.

Filed Under: Pentecost to Advent, Year C

July 17: Putting God (and His values) first

July 23, 2022 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Borth beach and monument, Ceredigion, Wales
Borth beach and monument, Ceredigion, Wales

This is The Living Word Bible Study for July 17, 2022.

Theme: Learning to live as covenant partners with God

Amos 8:1-12 — Dismissing God’s values in life incurs His wrath

Psalm 52

Luke 10:38-42 — Our greatest priority is being a disciple of Jesus

Colossians 1:15-28 — Jesus the image of God is Head of everything

///////

Psalm 52

1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?

Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

2 You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.

3 You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

4 You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue!

5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living.

6-7 The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at you, saying, “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!”

8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love

    for ever and ever.

9 For what You have done, I will always praise You in the presence of Your faithful people.

And I will hope in Your name, for Your name is good.


Amos 8:1-12 — Dismissing God’s values in life incurs His wrath

Dishonest trading and insincere worship bring consequences of God withdrawing

1-2 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.“What do you see, Amos?” He asked. 

“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered. 

Then the LORD said to me, “The time is ripe for My people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

“Ripe fruit… The time is ripe” — a word play. God’s patience has run out.

3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.  Many, many bodies — flung everywhere! Silence!”

“Silence!” — exuberant Jewish worship turns to silence at God’s judgment.

4-6 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

“When will… the Sabbath be ended” — merchants impatient to resume their dishonest trading,  enslaving those unable to pay, show insolence towards God.

7 The LORD has sworn by Himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.

“Sworn by Himself” — emphasising the seriousness of the charge.

“Pride of Jacob” —the true ‘pride’ of Israel is the Lord, not wealth and military strength, Amos 6:8. 

8 “Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.

“The… land will rise… and then sink” — the ground in an earthquake like like the Nile’s autumn rise and fall, Amos 1:1, 9:5, Zechariah 14:5.

9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

“Darken the earth” — solar eclipses were seen as signs of judgment.

10 I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

“The days are coming” — announces a judgment.

“A famine of hearing… words” — seeking a word of hope in a time of distress is met by God’s silence.

• For further study, read Ezekiel 7:26; 20:3; Micah 3:4,7.

12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

“Sea to sea” — throughout Israel from Mediterranean to the Transjordan.

Reflection

SUMMARY People overlooking God’s priorities in pursuing gains of their own would result in God withdrawing His presence, guidance – and joy.

APPLICATION God’s presence comes where God’s ways are followed. That is seen in community attitudes, and in the sincerity and faith of church practice.

QUESTION Could Amos’ appeal be God’s word for declining congregations today?


Luke 10:38-42 — Our greatest priority is being a disciple of Jesus

Hospitality is a proper concern but attending to the Lord comes first

38 As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him.

“A village” – Bethany, two miles east of Jerusalem, John 12:1-3.

“Martha opened her home” – sister of Mary and Lazarus with charge of the home.

39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said.

“Mary… sat… listening” – women could hear Torah taught in synagogues but were not taught by rabbis.

40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Distracted” – lit. “dragging all around”; needing to be a good host and expecting her sister’s help.

41-42 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

“What is better” – lit. “the good portion”. OT passages speak of closeness to the Lord being one’s “portion” and privilege in life.

• For further study, see Psalms 16:5, 27:4, 73:26, 119:57, and 142:5; also Joshua 18:7.

Reflection

SUMMARY The contrast between hospitality-conscious Martha and her sister, Mary, listening to Jesus with the men, challenged the culture of the time.

APPLICATION Martha’s sense of responsibility was commendable, but Jesus wanted her — and us — to see it in a different way: to trust the practicalities of life to come right by putting what He wants first.

QUESTION How do we focus on Jesus when other expectations vie for our attention?


Colossians 1:15-28 — Jesus the image of God is head of everything

Through His death He has reconciled us with God, free of accusation

Beginning with an early hymn of praise, this is a forthright statement about Christ as the exact likeness of God in human form. Jesus known as the Nazarene was at Creation, outranks every other power and holds everything together now.

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

“Image” – in Christ Jesus, the perfect representation of God, we see God’s likeness, the manifestation of God, fully God in every way.

16 For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.

“Thrones or powers or rulers or authorities” –  a local heresy overstated angelic hierarchy.

“All things have been created… for Him” – Christ is the appointed as “heir of all things”, Hebrews 1:2.

17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

“Before all things” — Christ stands before and above all the power structures, visible and invisible, of our world.

“All things hold together” – and apart from Christ, everything degenerates into chaos.

18 And He is the head of the body, the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.

“Head of the body” – The Church, assembly of all believers, is all about Jesus. It does not exist for its own ends or to maintain its survival. Where Jesus is no longer head, His organically living and growing body becomes lifeless institution, as church history has repeatedly demonstrated.

“Firstborn from among the dead” – resurrection to enduring life.  Others e.g. Lazarus were raised to live out their earthly lives.

19-20 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the Cross.

“All His fullness” – all the power and attributes. God has revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ. To know Jesus is how we know God.

“Through Him to reconcile” – Jesus dying on the Cross has enabled peace between God and mankind. It does not say that His death has saved all people. Scripture as a whole makes clear the need for a response of faith to be saved, and that unbelievers will suffer separation from God eternally.

• For further study, see Romans 10:9-10 (believe and declare “Jesus is Lord”), Luke 13:23-25 (the narrow door), John 17:9 (those You have given Me), Matt. 25:46 (eternal punishment or eternal life).

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.

“Alienated from God” – default position; no one is good enough to save themselves; any sin causes separation from God. All need to submit to Jesus for forgiveness, salvation and eternal life.

22-23 But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

“Free from accusation” – free from condemnation through faith in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1-2. This comes through trusting who He is, and what He has done, becoming a sacrifice for us — the essence of the good news.

24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the Church.

“Christ’s afflictions” – these are sufficient, and we can’t add anything of our own to secure salvation. However the advance of the gospel brings its own afflictions, so “still lacking” has the sense of “always more to come”.

25-26 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.

“Commission…to present… the word… in its fullness” – Paul had not visited Colossae but was called to teach the word that discloses the mystery, as in Isaiah 55:11.

27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

“Mystery”– always a revealed mystery in Scripture. What was previously hidden, in God’s plan is now “made known”, “made plain”, and “revelation”, Ephesians 1:9, Eph. 3:9, Romans 16:25, to the Lord’s people, who know the Spirit of Christ in them as Teacher and Helper.

Among the Gentiles” – a specific aspect of the mystery is Christ dwelling even “among the Gentiles” who trust Him, part of the church and on equal terms with, believing Jews.

28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

“Present everyone… mature in Christ” – a faith response to who Jesus is releases salvation and new life. Spiritual maturity and freedom come progressively through teaching Scripture.

Reflection

SUMMARY The new life and hope we have in Jesus is all about reconciliation. Reconciliation between an all-holy God and us doesn’t make sense, and that is the mystery that God reveals. He is God and He has decided to be gracious!

APPLICATION To say that Jesus Christ is Lord is to begin to acknowledge His indescribable supremacy over everything. With the new life of His spirit within us, we have a powerful motivation to live for Him – and make His values our priority.

QUESTION Expressive worship, talking to others about Jesus, or sharing a prompt of the Spirit — how much are we held back by what others might think or set on pleasing Jesus?

PRAYER  Lord, we confess that we have been Amos’ insincere worshippers and caught up in Martha’s preoccupation.
Yet You have  revealed Yourself to us in Jesus, and offered us His way to be made right with You.
Thank You for Jesus, for who He is and for what He has done for us, and help us make good our resolve to live Your way by putting Him first. Amen.

///////

Filed Under: Pentecost to Advent, Year C Tagged With: covenant, Holy Spirit, Jesus, partnership

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Search TLW

RECENT POSTS

  • March 19: Spiritual Discernment — What Is False, What Is True March 18, 2023
  • March 12: God’s sheer goodness to undeserving people March 12, 2023
  • March 5: Knowing God’s Good Promises — by Faith March 4, 2023
  • 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

PREVIOUS POSTS

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017

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.

 

 

 

 

Loading Comments...