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
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
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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.
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