This is The Living Word Bible Study based on the Bible readings set in the interdenominational scheme used by many churches and chapels, for August 13, 2023.
Theme: Faith is learning to see with God’s eyes
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 — Jealous brothers get rid of righteous Joseph
Matthew 14:22-33 — Peter has a lesson about stepping out in faith
Romans 10:4-17 — How to find the righteousness that is by faith
• To see all the Bible readings together without commentary, see this page.
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Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22
1-2 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.
3-4 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.
5-6 Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He pronounced, you His servants, the descendants of Abraham, His chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
16-17 He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; and He sent a man before them — Joseph, sold as a slave.
18-19 They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what He foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.
20-21 He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.
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Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 — Jealous brothers get rid of righteous Joseph
• At first under threat of death, his reprieve was to be sold into slavery
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
“A bad report” — showing Joseph to be faithful in doing right, from the beginning.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
“They hated him” — inflamed by Jacob’s favouritism and the “ornate robe”.
12-13 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14-15 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
“Bring word back to me” — a risky mission but Joseph obeyed his father.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.
Dothan — half a day’s journey north.
18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
“Plotted to kill him” — following unjust killing in Shechem, now they turn on their brother out of envy.
19-20 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21-22 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
“To rescue him” — and get back into his father’s favour, Gen. 35:22, 37:29-30.
23-24 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing — and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
Cistern — where wells could not be dug, cisterns were constructed to store run-off water.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
“Ishmaelites” — descendants of the slave child cast out for mocking Isaac would now enslave Joseph.
26-27 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
Reflection
SUMMARY Joseph was gifted and favoured and the way his brothers plotted to get rid of him resonates with all whose ability gives rise to jealousy and bullying.
APPLICATION Some people, like Joseph, have an affinity for seeing things from God’s perspective, while others, like his brothers, do not.
QUESTION What was God seeing and doing while Joseph was at risk of his life and then captured?
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Matthew 14:22-33 — Peter has a lesson about stepping out in faith
• As he takes his eyes off Jesus and back to the waves, his faith falters
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd.
“Made the disciples… go on ahead” — surrounded by those who wanted to make Him king, John 6:15, Jesus compelled the disciples to take to a boat.
23-24 After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. Later that night, He was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
“Walking on the lake” — showing God’s sovereignty over stormy waters.
• For further study, see Job 9:8; Psalm 77:19; Isaiah 43:16.
26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.
“It’s a ghost” — thinking their eyes were deceiving them.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’
“It is I” — literally “I AM”. Jesus is revealing His divinity.
28 ‘Lord, if it’s You,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to You on the water.’
29 ‘Come,’ He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus.
“Out of the boat” — showing commendable faith.
“Walked on the water” — in the power of Christ, the disciples could do things ordinarily impossible.
30-31 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ He said, ‘why did you doubt?’
32-33 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’
“You are the Son of God” — they knew that only God could exert mastery over the created order, Job 9:8.
Reflection
SUMMARY Following their involvement in the miracle on the hillside the disciples, rowing against the wind, see the ghostly figure of Jesus calling Peter to walk out to Him.
APPLICATION We all have to learn to step out in faith. Our failures, in God’s perspective, become His growth points.
QUESTION Why does God let us experience trials of faith?
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Romans 10:4-17 — How to find the righteousness that is by faith
• Trying to be righteous by works and not faith will always fail
4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
“Culmination” — telos, end-point. Through Christ anyone who believes (see v. 13 below) can gain right standing before God.
5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”
The person who does these things…” — from Leviticus 18:5, is the path toward righteousness Israel was called to under the Moses covenant. Paul taught that life does not come this way because all violate the law, Romans 1:18-3:20.
6-7 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ “(that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the deep?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
“Do not say in your heart…” — three sayings about the law from Deut. 30:12-14 presented in a fresh way in the light of the Good News. There is no need to go up to heaven to find Christ; He has come to earth as man — nor to the place of the dead; He has been raised from the dead.
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:
“The word is near you” — continuing the quote above, Christ is where we are, when we simply believe the message. He goes on to explain more, summarised in v.17 below.
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
“Declare… and believe” — not mental assent that Jesus is Lord of the universe; even demons believe that, James 2:19, but a deep and unreserved declaration that Jesus is sovereign over one’s life — the usual precursor to entering the water of baptism.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
“For” — while the condition for being justified is heart faith, for salvation from the power of sin and God’s just judgment it is our spoken declaration.
11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
“As Scripture says” — from Isaiah, the essence of the New Covenant clearly foretold by Jeremiah.
• For further study, read Isaiah 28:16, Jer. 31:33-34, Romans 9:32-33
12-13 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
“Jew and Gentile” — who have the same access to the Lord by the same means of declared faith.
14 How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
“How can they call on” — rhetorical questions argue that the Jews (in particular) were able to hear the gospel, through preachers that are sent, the message proclaimed and heard — as well as (where the Jews fell down) believing it.
15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
“Faith comes from hearing” — while hope is a confident general expectation in God and His goodness, believing faith arises from what God is heard to say through His word, via spiritual gifts, or by the impartation of God’s truth by preacher, word and Spirit together.
Reflection
SUMMARY An important discourse that draws out the vital importance of right heart and right believing, not relying on right actions.
APPLICATION Believing faith is established in us by hearing and receiving the message about Christ. A process of spiritual transformation starts with hearing faithful proclamation.
QUESTION How difficult is it to let go of our good efforts and simply trust Christ?
PRAYER Lord, like those first disciples we ask, “Increase our faith” while heeding your instruction to exercise and grow the faith we have.
Help us to learn from Peter by keeping our focus on You.
And protect us from a presumed devotion that attempts to gain merit.
We are so grateful for what You, Jesus, have done for us; we cannot add to it. Amen.
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