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

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May 29: The gospel — personal cost, eternal reward

May 30, 2022 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Orange and pink poppies in a wildflower area of a garden
Poppies add their unwarranted colour in a wildflower area of a garden

Theme: Embracing the gospel brings eternal reward at some cost now

TLW21C for May 29, 2022

Psalm 97 — sets the scene

John 17:20-25 — Jesus prays His followers’ reward of seeing His glory

Acts 16:16-34 — Faithful obedience to the gospel brings its own fruit

Rev. 22:12-14,16-17, 20-21 — The reward in trusting Jesus’ sacrifice

• Read this week’s linked article (to follow)

• Watch this week’s video (delayed)

Psalm 97 excerpt

1 The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice… 

10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11 Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.

12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise His holy name.

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John 17:20-25 — Jesus prays His followers’ reward of seeing His glory

The Lord intercedes for us to be one in Him, our witness to the world

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message…

“Not for them alone” — Jesus moves from His close disciples to all who will respond to their proclamation.

21 “… that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent Me.

“May they also be (one) in us” — the Holy Spirit’s sanctification, a growing alignment with God and each other.

• For further study, see John 14:20, 23; 1 John 4:13

22 “I have given them the glory that you gave Me, that they may be one as We are one —

“The glory that You gave Me” — Jesus. humble in incarnation, noble in death, exalted in resurrection, showing God’s excellence. Believers grow to show others this character, as those who are “in Christ Jesus”, 1 Cor. 1:2, 30.

23 “I in them and You in Me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent Me and have loved them even as you have loved Me. 

“I in them and You in Me” — the empowering interactions of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in believers.

“May be brought to complete unity” — spiritual oneness in the shared spiritual experience of salvation and new life in Jesus, 1 Cor. 12:12-13, Eph. 2:14-22.

24 “Father, I want those you have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory you have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world.

“Before the creation of the world” — Father, Son and Holy Spirit pre-existed the material universe, showing Jesus’ love to have deep, eternal roots.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me.”

“Righteous Father” — betrayal and suffering are imminent but Jesus emphasises that God is righteous and just e.g. Ps. 116:5, 119:137, Jer. 12:1

Reflection

SUMMARY Jesus’ prayer gives us a picture of how Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always been distinct but in indivisible relationship and perfect harmony, in heaven’s glory.

APPLICATION God intends those who are in relationship with Him, to live in relationships which reflect the unity and glory of heaven, as Jesus’ prayer for all believers emphasises. He wants the world to know this heavenly unity and glory — through us.

QUESTION  How would you explain that we are in Christ Jesus, and that we also have Him in us?

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Acts 16:16-34 — Faithful obedience to the gospel brings its own fruit

Paul and Silas get a taste of rough justice but also gain a strategic convert

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.

“A spirit by which she predicted the future” — literally a ‘python’ spirit. She was a medium with a demonic spirits, deceiving people by speaking enough truth to appear plausible. See Deut. 18:10; 1 Sam. 28:8; 2 Kings 17:17; Micah 3:11

17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”

“Most High God” — El Elyon, a common title among both Jews and Greeks, also used by the man in the grip of an impure spirit, Mark 5:7.

18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

“Paul became so annoyed” — he could not let a fortune-teller masquerade as his partner in the gospel.

“I command you to come out” — like Jesus, Paul speaks directly to the demonic spirit, as Jesus instructed His disciples to do, Matt. 10:8, Luke 10:17.

19 When her owners realised that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

20-21 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

“Before the magistrates” — two magistrates in each Roman colony administered Roman law, but sometimes imperfectly, below.

 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.

“Beaten with rods” — before trial, a hasty and illegal punishment under pressure from the crowd. Paul later reflects on his outrageous treatment in Philippi, 1 Thess. 2:2.

23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.

“Guard them carefully” — extra severity with the torture of the stocks, a rash action against fellow citizens, vv. 37-39.

24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

“Praying and singing hymns:” — joy for the honour of suffering in the name of Jesus is a frequent theme in Acts, Acts 4:24-30. Despite imprisonment and pain they experienced a strong presence of the Holy Spirit giving them joy and praise, 1 Peter 2:19—21; 4:12-14.

26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.

“A violent earthquake” — tremors were common, but this was a miraculous intervention following Paul and Silas’ praise in the face of adversity.

27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.

“About to kill himself” — preferable to the penalty for losing a prisoner.

28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29-30 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

“What must I do to be saved” — the jailer knew Paul and Silas were preachers of salvation, verse 17, and had heard their praises about salvation through Jesus Christ.

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”

“Believe in the Lord Jesus” — a concise, true expression of the way of salvation, which comes in one simple way, through believing the Good News about Jesus Christ.

• For further study, see Acts 15:7; Mark 1:15; Rom 1:16; Acts 8:12, 11:17, 19:4, John 3:16, 36, Romans 3:22.

32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

 “Spoke the word of the Lord” — in coming to believe, he had questions.

33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptised. 

He… was baptised” — this followed his understanding of who Jesus was and (we can assume) declaring his own faith and trust. Others in the household made their own response, v.34 below, therefore none were infants.

34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God— he and his whole household.

“Filled with joy” — the NT word is agalliao, which describes deep spiritual joy, Matt. 5:12, Luke 1:46-47, 10:21, Acts 2:26, 1 Peter 4:13. Joy always accompanies genuine conversion.

Reflection

SUMMARY  After Lydia the Gentile cloth dealer had given her life to Jesus, Paul and Silas face the challenge of a slave girl with a demonic ‘familiar spirit’ following them and calling out as if she was with them. Paul, calling on Jesus’ name, cast the spirit out of her. Her owners, resenting their lost income complained and got Paul and Silas arrested. The magistrate took the law into his own hands, and had them them beaten and put in stocks in prison. Despite their pain, Paul and Silas praised God and gave glory to Him, whereupon an earthquake released them and the other prisoners. The jailer, amazed that they didn’t escape, asked what he should do to be saved, received the Good News of Jesus with his family — and all were baptized there and then as believers

APPLICATION  The devil, the prince of this world who holds people’s souls captive and blinded, doesn’t give them up to new life in Jesus without a fight. There is joy and peace in the assurance of eternal life — and there can be less welcome ‘rewards’, too. But note how God presences Himself through the praise of Paul and Silas to bring an unforeseen and glorious kingdom outcome.

QUESTION  What is your reflection about the cost of being a follower of Jesus?

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Rev. 22:12-14,16-17, 20-21 — The reward in trusting Jesus’ sacrifice

The water of life is freely available to all who choose to receive 

12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.

“I am coming soon” — in this epilogue, Jesus the Sovereign Lord is coming with two different rewards, for faithful believers and a different recompense for those who refuse Him.

“According to what they have done” — belief or unbelief. 

• For further study: only works tested by fire are worthy of reward, 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 4:1-5; 2 Cor 5:10.

13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

“Alpha and Omega” — this title of Jesus shows Him to be sovereign over history, Rev. 1:8.

14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

“Wash” — in the blood of the Lamb, Rev. 7:14.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

“Bright Morning Star — a name for the Messiah, who ends mankind’s night, Num. 24:17, 2 Peter 1:19.

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes, take the free gift of the water of life.

“Come…” — invitation repeated for emphasis. The bride is the Church, the believing people of God, those who are thirsty for the living water, see Rev 21:6 and 22:1; Ps 42:1, Isa 55:1; John 4:10-14.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” 

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

“Soon” — but with time for the Church to proclaim salvation in Jesus to an unbelieving world.

“Come Lord Jesus” — marana tha, “Our Lord, come”, 1 Cor. 16:22, an Aramaic prayer of the early church.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. 

“Grace… be with God’s people” — John’s desire that readers and hearers would be enabled to hear and obey.

Reflection

SUMMARY  The last word of the last book of the Bible holds out the prize for believers of the salvation promise, to all made right with God through trusting Jesus. Although the word “reward” is used it is expressed as the right to life and the free gift of the water of life — always God’s grace, never man’s achievement..

 APPLICATION  For us, this is more about attitudes than action — drawing near, believing, and receiving a glorious destiny!

QUESTION  How does it help us, to put an eternal timescale alongside everyday life?

PRAYER  (attributed to founder of the Jesuit order, Ignatius of Loyola)

Lord, teach me to be generous, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to look for any reward, save that of knowing that I do your holy will. Amen.

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The Living Word for May 29, 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. TLW21C

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PRINT EDITION  There’s also 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.

TLW21C-May-29-final-BookletDownload

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Filed Under: Easter, Year C

May 22: How Vision From God Guides Us In His Way

May 21, 2022 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Late spring meadow with trees behind and cow parsley brilliant white in foreground
Late spring meadow with fringed with brilliant white cow parsley

The Living Word for Sunday, May 22

Psalm 67 — Setting the scene

John 14:23-29 — Jesus gives future vision of the life of the Spirit

AActs 16:9-15 — In a vision, a man from Europe begs Paul for help

RevRev. 21:10, 22-27, 22:1-5 — View of a pure, holy heavenly community

• See also this week’s linked article and video How God Guides Us in His Way (about 11 minutes)

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Psalm 67 — Setting the scene

1-2 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on us — so that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

3 May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You.

4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.

5 May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You.

6 The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

7 May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

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John 14:23-29 — Jesus gives future vision of the life of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit coaches us in living devoted to Jesus and His way of love

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.”

“Loves me… obey” — reiterating earlier vv.15 and 21“If you love me, keep My commands”. How? With the help of the Holy Spirit, v.16.

“Make Our home with them” — as Stephen explained in Acts 7:45-48. Jesus is pointing ahead to Pentecost, Acts 2, when this happened.

24 “Anyone who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me. 

“Does not love me” — emphasis from the double negative.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you.

26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

“The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send” — the sending is by Father and Son together, John 15:26.

“Will teach you” — in the Greek, “He (not it) will teach you” conflicts with with the neuter Pneuma, Spirit (also in 15:26 and 16:13-14), emphasising that the Holy Spirit is a person.

27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

“Peace… My peace I give you” — Jesus gives the common greeting a special emphasis, repeating “My peace” or salvation, rest of spirit, fellowship with God; by contrast with the so-called Pax Romana.

28 “You heard Me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

“The Father is greater” — Jesus accepted a subordinate role in His incarnation, but returned to that first glory.

29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.”

“When it does happen” — His disciples would continue to be able to call on Jesus by the Spirit of Jesus.

Reflection

SUMMARY  ‘Obey’ might sound like blind obedience, but that is not the post-resurrection life Jesus is teaching here. The original word, tereo, has the primary meaning of keeping or guarding or practising. So “anyone who loves Me will keep on with and practise My teaching” encourages us to live by making informed choices.

APPLICATION  How do we do this against the world’s pressures? The Holy Spirit is the divine coach who reveals the Way of Jesus, reminds us — and enables us to exceed our limited capabilities.

QUESTION  Why does holding to Jesus’ new way of life require more than our own abilities?

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Acts 16:9-15 — In a vision, a man from Europe begs Paul for help

Paul crosses to Philippi and finds a Gentile woman who is open to the gospel

9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

“A man of Macedonia” — after being prevented by the Holy Spirit from completing their plan to take gospel west and north in Turkey, vv.6-8, they felt constrained to stay at Troas, with its frequent sailings to Macedonia. Then the vision came.

10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

“We got ready at once” — to go to this place of Greek Gentiles. The ‘man of Macedonia’ was not Luke, because at this point he joins Paul, Silas and Timothy and embarks with them.

11-12 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

“Samothrace” — a sheltered anchorage on route to the port for Philippi, Neapolis.

“Philippi, a Roman colony” — self-governing with tax exemptions and privileges which attracted many military veterans, but home to very few Jews.

13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 

“A place of prayer” — without enough Jewish men to form a synagogue, the few Jews or God-seeking non-Jewish women met for prayer on the banks of the river.

14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

“Woman from… Thyatira” — a city famous for its crimson dye, in the Hellenistic kingdom of Lydia, so her name could mean the ‘woman from Lydia’.

“The Lord opened her heart” — emphasising that however persuasive and true the preacher, it is the Holy Spirit who opens hearts and draws people to Christ.

15 When she and the members of her household were baptised, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

“She and her household” — clearly a woman of some means with servants and a house that eventually became a gathering place for Christians, v.40.

“If you consider me a believer” — suggests that she, and others of the household able to voice their own response to the gospel, would have been baptised.

Reflection

SUMMARY  Paul’s revelation — perhaps a dream — is extraordinarily vivid, leaving him in no doubt as to how he should respond.

Now, as after a check by the Holy Spirit against travelling west, or north into Bithynia, the port of Troas was the only way. Paul’s vision there prepared him for a historic turning point, a big step of faith for these Jewish Christians to take the Gospel into Gentile Europe. 

APPLICATION  Keeping on with the Way of Jesus and the help of the Helper requires vision, a sense of trajectory and target. Often God will give us specific direction — especially if we ask Him. We can assume that Paul and Silas and Timothy were doing just that, but they had never been to a place without a synagogue to share the truth about Jesus and His Good News being a light to Gentiles. 

QUESTION  Do you expect God to guide you? Has He ever given you a ‘signpost’ of something extraordinary?

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Rev. 21:10, 22-27, 22:1-5 — View of a pure, holy heavenly community

Those who have made Jesus their Lord will enjoy God’s presence as in Eden

10 And He carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

“Carried me away In the Spirit” — a vision of the Holy City, contrasted with unholy Babylon.

“Coming down out of heaven” — showing God’s life received as a gift, not by striving to reach up.

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

“I did not see a temple” — no temple needed: Jesus Himself is now the ‘temple’ in which God lives among His people, John 1:14, 2:19-21.

23-24 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.

“Glory of God gives it light” — language which echoes Isaiah 60:19-20. Ancient cities were poorly lit, but new Jerusalem is a community full of light because God promised that He would be their glory in the restoration.

“The nations” — God’s promise to Abraham fulfilled, Genesis 12:3. “Kings… will bring their splendour” — recalls Isaiah 60:3,5,11.

25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.

“No day… gates… shut” — cities of the Roman Empire shut their gates at night, but the New Jerusalem has open gates and no enemies.

26-27 The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

“Nothing impure will… enter” — only those whose names appear in the Book of Life showing that they belong to Jesus, Rev. 3:5.

22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

“Down the middle” — the tree of life was central in Eden, but after mankind’s fall into sin, access was lost; now the stream of blessings and joy flow through the people of the city.

• For further study on the river of life and the tree of life, compare Eden and the river seen by Ezekiel, Gen. 2:8-14, Ezek. 47:1-12; and “the water of life”, Rev. 7:17, John 4:10-15.

3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him.

4 They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

“See His face” — Moses and others knew they could not see God’s face and live, but made holy by the Spirit, God’s people will look on His face.

5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

“The Lord God will give them light” — because the glorious light of God’s presence marks the end of night, Rev. 21:25, Zech. 14:7. “And they will reign” — together with Jesus their king believers will all worship as priests and also reign over this new earth for ever, Rev. 5:10.

Reflection

SUMMARY  The third example of God revealing something of His eternal purpose comes from the end of John’s series of visions of heaven. This final picture of heaven reminds us to live for what will be very good, and lasting for eternity! 

APPLICATION  We can experience the kingdom of heaven now, as a foretaste of the order and peace of heaven. But how? The devil’s trick is to confuse us about God’s gift and deceive us into expending our spiritual energy by working for it. The truth is, we cannot earn by any good works, religious or other, what Jesus has secured for us to receive freely. We can, however, honour Jesus and trust Him with our lives — and receive assurance of our names being in the Book of Life.

QUESTION  One day we shall reign with Jesus — but how can we experience something of that, now?

PRAYER  Lord God Almighty, You promise us that by choosing to receive Jesus as Saviour and Lord, we can be assured of one day being in the light of Your glory.

I turn again to Your Son Jesus, recognise my pride and rebellion and agree that I am not able to make any kind of restitution.

I believe that Jesus, dying on the Cross, took my sin, past, present and future. I ask Him again to take my life, and rule and reign in it as Jesus my Lord.

Thank You so much for the offer of new life, and life eternal, through faith in Jesus alone. Amen.

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The Living Word for May 22, 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. TLW20C

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Download the Bible-sized print edition folder here

TLW20C-May-22-final-BookletDownload

Filed Under: Easter, Year C

May 15: The heart of the Gospel — the new rule of love

May 14, 2022 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Walkers and dogs in the woods set out to find the bluebell glades
Walking in the woods to find the bluebell glades

• How God’s love in us enables us to love others

Psalm 148

John 13:31-35 — Jesus urges continuing to live by sacrificial love

Acts 11:1-18 — Believers challenged to welcome those not like them

Revelation 21:1-6 — John sees a new order as a city-like community

• See this week’s linked article Having God’s Heart — the Heart of the Gospel

• Watch this week’s 12-min video God’s Love: Receiving It, Relating In It

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Psalm 148 — Setting the scene

1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights above.
2 Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
5-6 Let them praise the Name of the Lord, for at His command they were created, and He established them for ever and ever — He issued a decree that will never pass away.
7-8 Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do His bidding,
9-10 you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,
11-12 kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His splendour is above the earth and the heavens.
14 And He has raised up for His people a horn, the praise of all His faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to His heart. Praise the Lord.

John 13:31-35 — Jesus urges continuing to live by sacrificial love

The new command is for disciples to love others, the way Jesus loved

31-32 When [Judas] was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will glorify the Son in Himself, and will glorify Him at once.

“Now… at once” – a turning point in the Gospel as Judas heads out into the night, setting the arrest and trial and execution of Jesus in motion.

“When he was gone” – in The Passion translation: …Jesus said, “The time has come for the glory of God to surround the Son of Man, and God will be greatly glorified through what happens to Me…” Jesus sees past the Cross, anticipating the glory between Him and the Father to follow.

“Glorified” – the word for glory or honour, doxazo, is repeated five times, emphasising the exchange of glory between God and His Son through Jesus’ giving up of His life.

33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for Me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

“New command” – rooted in Moses’ commands to love the Lord and one’s neighbour as oneself, Deut. 6:5, Leviticus 19:18. What is new is Jesus’ insistence that we love “as I have loved you”, i.e. sacrificially. 

• For further study, loving our enemies, and loving sacrificially Matt. 5:43-48, John 15:13.

Reflection

SUMMARY  This incident preceded Jesus’ arrest but it was a recent memory and talking point among the disciples following the Resurrection — clear instruction from Jesus to His apprentices about how they were to carry on His work. They couldn’t come with Him, but they were to be the heart of a new kind of open community, growing by sharing Jesus’ unselfish and unconditional love.

APPLICATION  The disciples were to love one another but not in any exclusive way because they were to love “as I have loved you”. Jesus’ clear demonstration had been to love people who were different e.g. non-Jews and those rejected by society. They would have to discover the promised Holy Spirit’s enabling power to love beyond human affinities — something for them (and us) to grow into.

QUESTION  When we say God (or Jesus) is glorified, what does this mean in plain language?

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Acts 11:1-18 — Believers challenged to welcome those not like them

Peter answers his critics with the story of how God gave him new instruction

1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

“Believers throughout Judea heard” — a new and for some, controversial development. Some Jewish believers struggled to grasp that Jesus was Lord of every believer, regardless of background.

“The Gentiles had received” – how Roman centurion Cornelius and his household heard Peter’s testimony of Jesus’ death and resurrection and experienced the Holy Spirit giving them a praise language, just like the Jewish worshippers at Pentecost.

2-3 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticised him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

“The circumcised believers” — criticism arose, not from the other apostles and brothers, but from those referred to elsewhere as the “circumcision group” who were seeking to apply the religious rules of Judaism to the new believers.

• For further study, see Galatians 2:1-5, 12, 21, Colossians 2:8-12, Titus 1:10.

4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:

“From the beginning” — Peter explains how, following a dramatic instruction from God, he had stayed with the Gentiles, and saw how God blessed and accepted them. He was submitting to God by welcoming Gentiles into the church, v.17

5-7 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

9-10 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.

13-14 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

Peter recounts the story of Acts 10:1-33

15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as He had come on us at the beginning.

“As He had come on us” — convincing evidence that they had received the Holy Spirit in the same sense as those present at Pentecost, while outside the Jewish law. For Peter, that was God’s clear answer.

16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptised with [or in] water, but you will be baptised with [or in] the Holy Spirit.’

17 So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

“Stand in God’s way” — or withhold, kolyo, as in the earlier story of Cornelius’ conversion, Acts 10:47. Baptism in the Bible always follows repentance and belief and is a way of demonstrating dying to the old life, and rising up into the new life that comes when we put our trust in Christ.

18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles, God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

“Repentance that leads to life” — the choice to turn from sin and independence to God, resulting in new dimension of life, and eternal life. As with these Gentile believers, satisfying man-made laws and regulations is not how it works.

Reflection

SUMMARY  Jewish followers of Jesus believe that the apostle Peter has behaved inappropriately by accepting hospitality from Gentiles — and presumably, sharing meals with them. So Peter tells his story of how God presented a vision followed by a new experience which turned his presuppositions upside down. Peter, a careful, observant Jew, had his narrow understanding of who God loved shattered – but also renewed.

APPLICATION  We all have an understanding of how we relate to God within the framework that’s familiar to us. For some that will be based on the rules and practices of our church tradition. Others will seek to understand what the Bible, surely a higher authority, sets out. The Bible reveals God’s purpose progressively from the patriarchs, through the prophets and then Jesus’ earthly ministry, then post-resurrection, the new Christian church, learning to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are all comfortable with the understanding and experiences we know — then God does something new and turns it all upside down. God is always in the business of renewing us. We should let Him.

QUESTION  How have you been challenged about how God sees those you might have thought outside the scope of His love?

///////

Revelation 21:1-6 — John sees a new order as a city-like community

God is known by all the people and dwelling intimately with them

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

“Passed away” — the old, decaying order, Rom. 8:20-21, 2 Peter 3:7 and 10, finally fails at the approach of the judge on the great white throne, Rev. 20:13.

• For further study, contrast Genesis 1:1 with Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22.

2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

“The Holy City” — pictured in a way that combines the images of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Garden if Eden.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

“He will dwell with them” — showing the “Holy City” to be built of living stones, i.e. God’s redeemed people, Hebrews 12:19-24, 1 Peter 2:5. Since humanity’s lapse into sin, separation from God has been its greatest tension, requiring prophets to call people back to God, God’s Son Jesus to redeem them, and the Holy Spirit to enliven them.

• For further study, God’s heart for people to know Him: Gen. 17:8; Exodus 29:45-46; Ps. 46:4-5; 95:7; Jer. 7:23; 31:33; Ezekiel 34:14; 37:27; Zech. 8:8; John 14:2-3; 17:24.

4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

“No more… crying” – because the curse and brokenness of sin under the old order is overturned by God’s presence.

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

“Making everything new” – becoming a Christian by making a choice to recognise Jesus as Lord is a new spiritual birth as a new creation, 2 Cor. 5:17. But new life in Jesus is uncomfortably surrounded by the old and broken order. In the new heaven and earth the Lord makes everything new..

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

“Alpha and Omega” – God was before the beginning and will be beyond the end. The perspective of heaven is not constrained to fit our concept of time. 

Reflection

SUMMARY  God is always “doing a new thing” and renewing the way people relate to Him. The psalmists and prophets have done their best to put it into words, and Jesus carried out an amazing mission of showing what this looks like. The struggle between the old order and the old way, and the new life and new relationship, will continue – until the end time, which will be marked by the renewal of everything.

APPLICATION  We none of us like change at first, and renewal in church and Christian life can be an emotive subject. If renewal is difficult for us — being fought by our insecurities — it’s time to repent and change, because without a doubt, that is where we are all heading.

QUESTION  Why do we so often resist change and renewal? Why do we resent having our understanding changed (or upgraded) by God?

PRAYER  Thank you, God, that you never give up on us even when we show ourselves to be obstinate or unwilling to hear You afresh.
Help us to be willing to work with you for Your kingdom.
Enable us to learn to see the world with Your eyes, and to do our part to call people back to You and Your love.
Amen. 

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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!).

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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.

 

 

 

 

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