ResponsiveReiding

Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 15

February 15th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 16:13-28; Acts 23:1-11; Psalm 37:23-40, Exodus 38-40.

Upon first gloss, the seeming tedious detail regarding the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus doesn’t seem to hold much for the New Covenant Believer. But contained throughout is the portrayal of a God who is involved in the building of His “Temple” Down to the smallest details.

A. There is nothing in your life or mine that escapes His notice or attention.

B. There is no accident in how we were wrought, and in what settings He has placed us as pleases Him best and optimizes us for His glory. Note that some materials needed to be cut, some polished, etched, shaped, spun, twilled, hammered, sewn, and otherwise formed. He does this all through the events of our lives.

Not only is there workmanship, but each material is also specially chosen with its unique characteristics.

Does the thread bemoan it is not the overlaying gold? Does the lampstand fret it is not the altar of incense? Do the curtains wish they were the laver? Father forgive us.

C. There are the many who all make their contributions, and there are the several gifted who are utilized to bring it all to pass.

Christ is building His Church today with no less care or attention to detail. If you are born again, it is no accident. Your self, your individual characteristics are part and parcel of how He has deigned to construct this perfect edifice for His glory. No one too small, too insignificant, too tall, too fat, too ugly, too talented, too smart, too uneducated, too broken, too old or too young. In His hand and with His skill, each chosen for their part, their role – and without a single one, the whole would not be complete. All assembled according to His perfect wisdom.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Pe 2:4–5.
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 14

February 14th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 16:1-12; Acts 22; Psalm 37:1-22, Exodus 35-37.

There is so much to be gleaned from these 12 verses in Matt. 16. Some background might help.

First, the Pharisees. They were Evangelical Fundamentalists of their day and had great sway among the masses. They were Legalists – but also held strongly to the oral tradition.

Second, the Sadducees. They were religious Liberals and the ruling Elite. They gave authority only to the Torah – the 1st 5 Books of Moses and recognized no other prophets, etc. They Rejected oral tradition but we’re steeped in ceremonial exactness. Josephus says they were boorish and vulgar. (A parallel to Hollywood – elite but vulgar) In league with the Romans. Acts 23:8 tells us they believed in no resurrection, no angels, no spirit. That body & soul dissolve @ death. God is not concerned with right or wrong doing.

Pharisees & Sadducees: Both opposed Christ AND each other. And here, both came to “test” Jesus by asking for a sign from heaven.

NOTE:

1. There will always be those who demand that God prove Himself to their satisfaction or they will not believe. This was central to the temptations of Jesus in the Wilderness, and it will be central to the temptations the Enemy still lays on the shoulder of the Church in our day. This betrays a fundamental upside down reasoning on their part. God as Creator has every right to demand what He will from the Creature. We have no right to demand anything of Him The one “sign” which transcends all the rest, is His rising from the dead. The sign of Jonah. But they will refuse to believe that.

2. There is no external proof that will suffice for those who do not want to believe who Christ is, and His Gospel. How many signs had they already seen and yet would not believe? Up to this point in the narrative: Visit of the Wise Men (Matt. 2); Response of Herod – butchering the children (Matt. 2); Preaching and ministry of John the Baptizer (Matt. 3); The voice from Heaven (Matt. 3:16-17); Preaching, healing, delivering (Matt. 4:23-25); Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7); Cleansing the Leper (Matt. 8:1-4); Healing the Centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13); Mass healings @ Peter’s house (Matt. 8:14-17); Calming the storm (Matt. 8:23-27); Curing the Gadarene demoniacs (Matt. 8:28-34); Healing and forgiving the sins of the paralytic at Jesus’ house (Matt. 9:1-8); Raising the little girl from the dead (Matt. 9:18-26); Healing 2 blind men (Matt. 9:27-31); Healing the demon oppressed mute (Matt. 9:32-34); John the Baptizer’s men (Matt. 11:5-6); Calling Himself Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-8); Restoring the withered hand (Matt. 12:9-14); Blind and mute demoniac healed (Matt. 12:22-23); Institution of the parables as judgment (Matt. 13); Feeding the 5K (Matt. 14:13-21); Walking on the Water (Matt. 14:22-33); Healing many sick @ Gennesaret (Matt. 14:34-36); Healing the Syro-Phoenecian woman’s daughter (Matt. 15:21-28); Jesus heals”many” (Matt. 15:29-31); Feeding the 4K (Matt. 15:32-39). No less than 26 public instances of miraculous power and preaching. Now Jesus says – WHAT MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED? If you will deny the obvious, what WILL work? Nothing. Luke 16:19-31 – If they will not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one comes back from the dead.

3. Such is the nature of spiritual blindness. That people possessed of great intellect, knowledge and even common sense will deny the plain truth about Jesus. Unless the Holy Spirit opens their eyes, they remain in their blindness. If someone can be intellectually convinced INTO the Kingdom, then they can be convinced OUT of it too. No argument can make them Christians.

4. WE must beware that we can have such ironclad ideas of how God MUST work, that in the interest of protecting our systems, we can ignore the obvious. I worry about those who have so precisely determined how last days prophecy must play out. That just like the Pharisees, Sadducees AND the Essenes rejected Jesus because He did not fit their pattern – some of these too will reject what is right before their eyes. “IF we don’t repent, America will be judged” they say. They ignore the fact America IS being judged. Look at The rapid moral revolution. The rise of secular religion and spirituality that has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity. The lack of common sense in government and Godless leadership. These are judgments. And what of us who have such minutely defined end-times schema? Will we refuse Him when He comes because He does not fit the paradigm we’ve invented? Such was the case with both the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Woe to us who cling to our constructs and schemes over clinging to Christ above all.

5. Unbelief is not something to be overcome by others, but repented of by the unbeliever. Note how Jesus holds them morally responsible. He calls them an evil and “adulterous” generation. Why adulterous? Because they claimed to be God’s people, but served themselves instead. They said they were God’s, but they really served their own opinions. Self was their god – not the God of the Bible.

6. Those who will not accept God’s testimony and proofs as given, will in the find themselves abandoned by God. He left them the text says – they did not leave Him. And He departed. The repetition in the text strengthens it. What a terrifying thought – that one can resist the truth to the extent that Christ Himself will withdraw, or as Gundry puts it – abandon them.
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 13

February 13th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 15:21-39; Acts 21:27-40; Psalm 36, Exodus 34.

Exodus 34 is an astounding chapter on a number of fronts. The grace of God in His restoring the writing on the tablets. His stunning revelation of Himself while hiding Moses in the cleft of the Rock. The renewal of His covenant. More actually like making an entirely new covenant after the first was shattered – a precursor of the New Covenant to come. And this almost off-handed comment in vs. 20: “None shall appear before me empty handed.”

Set in the context of God outlining certain sacrificial regulations, we might be tempted to run over it too quickly. But the phrase contains an absolutely critical element of true worship. No one is to approach God in worship “empty handed.” In other words, without a fitting sacrifice. And here is how that applies to you and me today in our present context: No worship of God is acceptable apart from the context of a sacrifice for sin. The sacrifice we bring, is the Lamb slain at Calvary. There can be no true worship of the living God apart from Christ. He is the one mediator between God and man, the one acceptable sacrifice for sin.

In a generation where we tend to think of worship only in terms of the music portion of a church service, this insight is vitally important. For if our worship is devoid of recognizing and depending wholly upon the she blood of Jesus Christ on our behalf – our worship is unacceptable drivel. Oh it may be pretty. It may appeal to our senses. But if the cross is absent from the lyrics and mindset in coming to worship, it is to come empty handed.

Those who worship God aright must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth – and as Jesus inserted Himself rightly into that equation – no one can come to the Father but through Him. That is not a platitude, that is a critical fact. If we would worship God acceptably, it cannot be apart from a recognition and celebration of the substitutionary death of Jesus on the Cross. Otherwise, it becomes mere religion.

How we need to make sure that Jesus and His redemptive work is always front and center. May we never appear before Him, “empty handed.”
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 12

February 12th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 15:1-20; Acts 21:1-26; Psalm 35, Exodus 32-33.

Make no mistake, seeking the Lord always requires some sort of “going out.” Of stepping aside from the ordinary in time, thought, and yes, at times even place.

It is true that God is with us everywhere. It is true that God is not found in a specific location. And yet, seeking God takes us beyond the mundane. You may live with your spouse or children, but you know full well that such day-to-day living is not the same as closeness and intimacy. For these, one must go out – step aside from the norm.

So let me ask, do you ever go out from your normal routine to seek God? Is there time set aside for just that? Is there effort made to be with His people for the purpose of seeking Him in worship and to hear His Word preached? Is there time for more than just passing chit-chat with God so that prayer is a true meeting, face to face?

As our text notes, everyone who sought the Lord, took time to break off from the norm – to go outside “the camp”, the regular, the routine? And it is so even today.

He is there. But you need to step aside in seeking Him. Or you will not know Him. Know His ways. Know His heart. Know the reality of another of today’s texts: When His Spirit says directly to your soul “I am your salvation.” Such assurance comes to those who step outside their day – to seek Him. If only for a few minutes.

Isaiah 55:6 (ESV) — “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 11

February 11th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 14:22-36; Acts 20:13-38; Psalm 34, Exodus 30-31.

One of the greatest causes of the breakdown in relationships is unspoken expectations. We assume another person holds a certain attitude, opinion or outlook, or we thought they would or should respond a certain way under certain conditions – and when they don’t, we feel betrayed. There isn’t an actual betray mind you, but our assumptions and expectations were contradicted, and it feels like betrayal. And this same dynamic can be at work in our relationship with God in Christ.

The Psalmist in Psalm 73 wrestles with this issue, and by his own admission, it almost derailed him. He saw the wicked prospering and the righteous suffering and he thought to himself: Psalm 73:13–14 “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.” I’m the one obeying God, and I am the one suffering, while those who scoff at Him seem to do better – then why serve Him? And there is the crisis of the unspoken expectation. The Psalmist assumed that serving God meant an easier life – one without the trials, temptations, sorrows and difficulties which those who do not serve God OUGHT to have instead. But of course, there is nothing in Scripture which intimates any such viewpoint. In fact, that is the viewpoint of the idolator, not the Believer. If I make my sacrifices, keep to my rituals, obey my list of duties – I will be “blessed” with the good life. That’s the contract. Only it isn’t.

And this could well have been the way it was with the Disciples that night Jesus sent them across the lake after feeding the 5,000. As they were soon to learn in this place obedience to Christ is no barrier to trial, danger and struggle. This scenario will be repeated in the lives of His disciples both in similar circumstances as well as in very different ones. There they were, doing what He had specifically asked, while facing inhuman and insurmountable opposition in the storm.

And they were also to learn, that it is in these hours we are to look for His visitation.

Perhaps this is you today. Perhaps you have imbibed the rubric of the idolator, rather than understanding the simple opposition of this fallen world – and expected your faith in Jesus to magically make the sorrows of this life disappear. When all along He has something greater in mind. His appearing in the very midst of the greatest danger. He IS drawing near to you in your trial. It doesn’t mean the wind and waves will automatically subside. But it does mean, if He is with you, you will not ultimately succumb. And before you know it, you will reach Heaven’s shore. Safe and sound. Trust Him, not some unspoken expectation.
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 10

February 10th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 14:1-21; Acts 20:1-12; Psalm 33, Exodus 27-29.

Psalm 33:1 (ESV): Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.

For those who are serious about following Christ, it is easy to slip into a legalistic mindset. To set up a list of dos and don’ts, culled from Scripture and/or personal convictions, and to rely on our performance for a sense of well-being. The first danger of course being that we subtly begin to lose a sense of need to rely wholly upon the righteousness of Christ for our right standing with God. We start to look to ourselves. Nevertheless we feel – rightly so – a compulsion to order our lives rightly before this God of goodness and grace who has saved us from our sins. And our text provides one means to help rescue us from performance anxiety, and yet still serve as a much needed help. What is it? It is found in that little word “befits.”

The more we grow in Christ, the question which ought to occupy our thoughts more in this regard is: am I living, deciding, thinking and acting in ways which befit – which are commensurate with who I am in Christ, and where He is taking me in His redemptive plan?

Is sexual immorality fitting for one redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Drunkenness? Combativeness? Carelessness? Harshness? Unforgiveness? Bitterness? Indolence? Selfishness? Lack of compassion toward the suffering? Greediness? Fear? Neglect of God’s means of grace: His Word, prayer, public worship, fellowship with the saints? The list could go on and on. And again, the idea here isn’t about ticking off the boxes, it is about considering who we are in light of what He has done and made us.

And our text itself sounds one powerful note for us, especially in the culture in which we live and the endless platforms for social media: “Praise befits the upright.” Crankiness doesn’t. Constant complaint doesn’t. Mud-slinging doesn’t. Praise does. Hearts and minds more occupied with the goodness of God than the wrongness of the World. Oh that the world around us might mark us out as characterized by this – that we are a people perpetually conscious of the goodness, grace, mercy, lovingkindness, faithfulness and praise worthiness of our great God.

If you ever wanted to be aggressively counter-cultural, here’s your chance. Spend less time grousing at fallenness, since such complaining will not change a thing, and more concentrating on the praise that befits the upright. And it will change you.
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 9

February 9th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 13:44-58; Acts 19:23-41; Psalm 32, Exodus 24-26.

Spurgeon said the parable of the hidden treasure speaks of Christ dying to purchase the whole world that He might have the treasure of those given to Him by the Father found in it. But it appears to be directed more to the Believer.

The lesson is simple but profound. You cannot have Christ truly, if you are not willing to let go of everything else you might value in order to gain Him? What is so valuable that time with Him is so cheaply sold by us? What of sin is so valuable that it is worth hanging on to rather than to Him? Pride? Social standing? Peer opinion? Drunkenness? Sex? Partying?

And it is in contemplating this that we come face to face with something truly astounding. In truth, what do we broken, defiled and convicted sinners have of any real value that to seel it might procure the riches of Christ? Nothing. And to add insult to injury, who would purchase our miserable trifles? No one. Except, this is where the miracle of God’s grace comes into full view.

He bids us come and He will buy our brokenness and give us wholeness in exchange. We sell Him our sin and He gives us holiness. Our we turn in our pride that we might possess the fruit of divine humility. Our lies for His truth. Our death for His life. Our defilements for His purity. We give up our degradation for His affirmation. Our blindness for sight, deafness for hearing, lameness for the ability to walk with Him.

We bring Him all we have, broken, defiled, corrupt and less than worthless, and He gives us the very Treasure of Heaven in return.

George MacDonald:

Lord, in thy spirit’s hurricane, I pray,

Strip my soul naked—dress it then thy way.

Change for me all my rags to cloth of gold.

Who would not poverty for riches yield?

A hovel sell to buy a treasure-field?

Who would a mess of porridge careful hold

Against the universe’s birthright old?
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 8

February 8th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 13:24-43; Acts 19:1-22; Psalm 31, Exodus 21-23.

I love the 7 parables Jesus gives in Matthew 13. Nowhere else in all of Scripture is there as clear and comprehensive a primer for Believers to understand what it means to be in Christ’s Kingdom, and what that looks like over time.

It is a handbook of the “mysteries of the Kingdom” for the Church in every generation.

1 – MYSTERY OF PROPAGATION / THE SOWER & THE SOILS / 3-9, 18-23. This is how the church grows, through preaching the Gospel. Let no one get us off that track for any reason.

2 – MYSTERY OF PROXIMITY / THE WHEAT & THE TARES / 24-30, 36-43. There never will be any fully Christian society. There will always be “takes” in the World until Jesus returns. Don’t try to create what cannot be.

3 – MYSTERY OF TRANSITION / THE MUSTARD SEED / 31, 32. The Kingdom will have but the smallest of beginnings in the earth. But one day it will reach its full bloom. It will weather its storms, survive its droughts, not be withered by blistering sun, nor be uprooted by violent winds. Christ’s Kingdom will reach maturity. Do not despise the day of small things.

4 – MYSTERY OF TRANSFORMATION / THE LEAVEN / 33. The Believer is gradually transformed into the image of Christ, it is not an instantaneous act. And this, through permeation. The Spirit inwardly makes His way into the deepest recesses of the heart and mind – bringing his Holy influences to every particle of our being. God does not fear time. He utilizes it to His highest glory and our best good. He that began the good work in us, WILL complete it until the day of Christ. He is patient with us, and we ought to be with one another.

5 – MYSTERY OF SUPREMACY / HIDDEN TREASURE / 44. What Christ offers in Himself is so supremely valuable as to make losing everything else to obtain Him – Worth it. No sin is worth clinging to if is hinders you from having Him in His fullness. “ That word above all earthly pow’rs,No thanks to them, abideth;The Spirit and the gifts are ours Thro’Him who with us sideth:Let goods and kindred go,This mortal life also;The body they may kill:God’s truth abideth still,His kingdom is forever.

6 – MYSTERY OF SUPERIORITY / PEARL / 45, 46. It is the explanation of Paul counting all things but dung in comparison to Christ. It is seeing the One Pearl that is infinitely higher than all other good things. There is truth all around us. And all sorts of good things given to us by God’s hand. But we have come to know there is one Gift that is transcendently superior to them all – Christ Jesus the Son. He is not “a” truth, He is THE Truth. He is not “a” gift, He is THE Gift of God. He is the highest of all God’s goodness. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. Every other “pearl” granted to us by the hand of God pales in comparison. They are but types and shadows of Him, samples of what finds its fullness in the King of Kings. And as real as all the other good things God has given to us -are, not one of those things – or all of them considered together – is to be compared to the Jewel of Heaven. The outshining of God’s own glory. Christ the Lord.

7 – MYSTERY OF THE CONSUMMATION / THE DRAG-NET / 47-50. The net of the Gospel is cast into the sea of humanity, and all sorts are gathered in indiscriminately. However, we need not fear. The day of sorting will come. There will be a separating of the goats and the sheep. The call of the Gospel is to go out to everyone, everywhere. Providence will certainly dictate some parameters. But that is God’s busines, not ours. Our ambassadorship is not to a few, but to the world. We are His representatives pleading as if the very voice of God were pleading through us “be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthains 5:20).

So:

A – Have confidence & comfort in the simple plan and program of God in evangelism – God’s Word is sufficient!

B – There is no need to fret of fear if the world seems to grow and progress along with us – the harvest will come!

C – Though the Kingdom may seem small and insignificant now –wait. The half has not been told!

D – Though you seem to make little progress in sanctification, you WILL be transformed into His likeness as the Kingdom grows within you and affects every part.

E – Though others have not seen what you have – you are not a fool to forsake that which you cannot keep to obtain that which you cannot lose!

F – Let no one dissuade you from the singular excellencies of Christ. Truth is all about us – But He is THE Truth, THE Life, and THE way!

G – Give the Gospel to all and draw them in, but give men no comfort in the MERE fact that they dwell among the saints simply because they found a drawing attraction in the Gospel – if they have not been changed, if they are spoiled or dead or unprofitable, they WILL be cast away!
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 7

February 7th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 13:1-23; Acts 18:18-28; Psalm 30, Exodus 19-20.

The 2nd half of Psalm 30:5 gets quoted often, even by those who may have no sense of its origin. ”weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” And by itself, it does form a nice little platitude – though not at all accurate in every circumstance.

The context here makes all the difference. For it is in the midst of David extolling how it is God remains faithful to those who are His. Faithful, even when we have sinned against Him. The first past of the verse brings it into clearer focus: “For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime” This would be a good place to mentally insert the word “therefore”. In other words, it is because the first part of the verse is true, that the second part is true. And this is meant to remind the Believer – not the World in general – that even on those times when we have failed our Savior gravely, wounded Him deeply by our sin and rebellion, grieved His Holy Spirit within us – so as to rouse His anger, it is not the kind of anger that casts off.

Unlike fickle human anger which often sacrifices love on the altar of anger – not so our God. When He has set His love on one, He may at times be angry with us, but it is only a momentary anger punctuating a lifetime of love.

Hear His Word Believer. Yes, we can anger Him at times. But in Christ and as Christ’s – bought with His blood, it is an anger within a context of love, and never, NEVER the withdrawal of love in anger. And so it is we might smart for a time under the hand of His righteous discipline – but there is never any reduction in His love. His anger is – when it is all said and done, never according to what we really deserve, but always tempered – is but for a moment. But His favor, ah, that Dear One, is for a lifetime.

What a wonderful Savior He is.
Through the Word in 2020 / Feb. 6

February 6th, 2020

We are reading the Bible through together this year, using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan published by the Navigators. You can download it free of charge from: https://www.navigators.org/resource/bible-reading-plans/

Today’s 4 readings are: Matthew 12:38-50; Acts 18:1-17; Psalm 29, Exodus 16-18.

As the Psalmist notes so powerfully, no other word will do at the sight of God. “Glory!” is the divine expression. Rolled into it are simulataneous exclamations of:

ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!

PROFOUNDEST MAJESTY!

INFINITE INDESCRIBABILITY!

UNSURPASSABLE TRANSCENDENCE!

FATHOMLESS FORGIVENESS!

UNBELIEVABLE HUMILITY!

INCOMPARABLE BEAUTY!

INDEFILABLE HOLINESS!

LIMITLESS, BOUNDLESS, MATCHLESS LOVE!

UNFATHOMABLE MERCY!

INCALCULABLE GRACE!

MIND-NUMBING, UNSPEAKABLE WONDER!

INVIOLABLE JUSTICE!

INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRIUNITY!

INDEFATIGABLE POWER!

INEXHAUSTIBLE PATIENCE!

IMMEASURABLE SWEETNESS!

And so very much more – GLORY!