Bible Reading Plans for the New Year

The New Year is almost upon us! You may be thinking about starting up a Bible reading plan, which is a great idea. Though I sometimes chafe at a scheduled reading plan, I do know that I read more, and more often, when I have a plan of some kind.

I've written about Bible reading plans before (here and here), but these are a couple of quick links to get you started:

Bible Reading Plans at Discipleship Journal

Bible Reading Plans at ESV Online (see "devotions tab)

For the Love of God (an excellent devotional to go along with a Reading Plan)

Stephen Witmer gives some tips along with his Two-Year Plan:

If at all possible, read through the Bible using this plan together with other people. The fruit of reading through the Bible together as a church over the last couple years has been immense.

There will be some passages that you find boring and difficult. Remember 2 Timothy 3.16-17 as you read these passages: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be equipped for every good work.” Ask yourself why God breathed out this particular passage, and how it is profitable for you.

Do the whole reading for each day, but look for a “best thought” for each day—something you can meditate on throughout the rest of the day, perhaps a verse you can memorize, something that is particularly memorable. This way, you are left with more than a vague feeling of what you read in the morning.

As you come to the Word each morning, ask God to open your eyes to its splendor. Psalm 119.18: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119.36: “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” Psalm 90.14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

Let your prayers for others emerge out of what you read. Don’t choose between praying and reading Scripture—do both! After you read a passage, pray that passage for yourself and for those you love.

Some readings will be longer and others will be shorter. Take advantage of the shorter readings. Read them more carefully and meditatively. Don’t just read; reflect, ask questions, pray for answers, engage. In Psalm 119.48, the psalmist says that he meditates on the Lord’s statutes.

Look for ways in which you can practically live out what you’re reading. James 1.22: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

Because God Is God

Leon Morris:

In the last resort forgiveness is always due to God’s being what he is, and not to anything that man may do. Because God is God, he must react in the strongest manner to man’s sin, and thus we reach the concept of the divine wrath. But because God is God, wrath cannot be the last word. ‘The Lord is good; his mercy endureth forever’ (Ps. 100:5).

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Eagerly Waiting

Did you notice this from this past Sunday’s closing hymn “Angels from the Realms of Glory”?

Saints before the altar bending,

Watching long in hope and fear,

Suddenly the Lord, descending

In His temple shall appear:

Come and worship, Come and worship;

Worship Christ, the newborn King.

I asked Lance to sing this because it’s the only carol I know that references Simeon and Anna directly (though “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” which I quoted at the end, is also deeply connected to their stories/words). But stop and think of what’s going on here. We hear lines 1 and 2 and can be comfortably located entirely within Luke 2, but though lines 3 and 4 speaks of his appearance in the temple, it uses words (“suddenly” and “descending”) that yank us out of Luke 2 and into Jesus’ second coming. Furthermore, it would not be incorrect to say that Jesus “appeared” to Simeon and Anna (remember the emphasis on seeing in 2:26, 30), but “appear” has so much greater eschatological resonance. For example:

Titus 2:13
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

2 Timothy 4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Hebrews 9:28
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Were not Simeon and Anna and their “tribe”(“she began… to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem”) showing us what eagerly waiting for his appearing looks like? This song compels us to place ourselves in lines 1 and 2 of this carol’s verse, because we are to be like Simeon and Anna in this respect. Does the Bible ever tell us explicitly to emulate Simeon and Anna? Some would say no. We would say yes: not only because Luke and the Holy Spirit meant the narrative to be taken that way, but that this is corroborated by the fact that the rest of the NT tells us to be eager, faithful waiters, the kind of people who could sing/pray “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.”

We are more familiar with connections to the second coming being made with another “first arrival” to the temple—Jesus’ triumphal entry—but this carol brilliantly bookends his very first arrival in the temple with his last.

Christmas Isn't Ever Over

Elyse Fitzpatrick:

The incarnation tells us that Christmas isn’t ever over. When we’ve packed up all the decorations and taken back all the mistaken gifts, he’ll still be the God/Man, interceding for us, bearing our flesh. Christmas will never end for Jesus: He’s eternally transformed.

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In the First Light

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Sad News

Please pray for the president of Trinity International University, our denomination's college and seminary (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) in Deerfield, Illinois.

Update from the TIU communications team:

Trinity International University President Craig Williford and his wife Carolyn are grieving the death of their son Robb, who died unexpectedly from a rare and deadly strain of the flu on the morning of December 23, 2010. He was 35. Please join the Trinity community in prayer for the entire family, including Robb’s wife Tricia and their two young sons, Tucker (5) and Tyler (3). Craig and Carolyn are with their family in Colorado as they grieve this tragedy.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, December 30, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at South Fellowship Church, 6560 South Broadway, Littleton, Colorado 80121

Christmas and Easter

John Wilson, editor of Books & Culture, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

Christmas brings us face-to-face with the mystery of the Incarnation—the preposterous claim that the creator of the universe sent his son (but how could he have a "son"?) to be born of a virgin (what?), both fully man and fully God: "Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness," as we read in Paul's letter to the Philippians.

This claim we call the Incarnation—and celebrate at Christmas—can't be separated from "the paschal mystery of death and resurrection." The babe in swaddling clothes comes with a mission to fulfill. And as we sing carols for his birth, we see him taken down from the cross, wrapped in "a clean linen cloth," and laid in the tomb of a friend. That's the cloth that is left behind in the empty tomb on Resurrection morning.

Easter is implicit in Christmas, and Christmas is implicit in Easter. When we celebrate the one, we celebrate the other, looking forward to the restoration of all things.

Total Commitment

Revelation 3:15-16

¹⁵ I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

John Stott:

The idea of being on fire for Christ will strike some people as dangerous emotionalism. ‘Surely,’ they will say, ‘we are not meant to go to extremes? You are not asking us to become hot-gospel fanatics?’ Well, wait a minute. It depends what you mean. If by ‘fanaticism’ you really mean ‘wholeheartedness,’ then Christianity is a fanatical religion and every Christian should be a fanatic. But fanaticism is not wholeheartedness, nor is wholeheartedness fanaticism. Fanaticism is an unreasoning and unintelligent wholeheartedness. It is the running away of the heart with the head. At the end of a statement prepared for a conference on science, philosophy and religion at Princeton University in 1940 came these words: ‘Commitment without reflection is fanaticism in action; but reflection without commitment is the paralysis of all action.’ What Jesus Christ desires and deserves is the reflection which leads to commitment and the commitment which is born of reflection. This is the meaning of wholeheartedness, of being aflame for God.

One longs today to see robust and virile men and women bringing to Jesus Christ their thoughtful and their total commitment. Jesus Christ asks for this. He even says that if we will not be hot, he would prefer us cold to lukewarm. Better be frigid than tepid, he implies. His meaning is not far to seek. If he is true, if he is the Son of God who died for the sins of men, if Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Day are more than meaningless anniversaries, then nothing less than our wholehearted commitment to Christ will do. I must put him first in my private and public life, seeking his glory and obeying his will. Better be icy in my indifference or go into active opposition to him than insult him with an insipid compromise which nauseates him!

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Upgrading Your Christianity?

Colin Smith:

In our time, the Gospel has widely been repackaged and redefined as simply a decision to accept Jesus as Savior, but somehow it is disconnected from any meaningful change in a person’s life…

Rush Hour from The Orchard Evangelical Free Chu on Vimeo.

Music: Gift or God?

Bob Kauflin:

Music turns from a gift to a god when we look to it for the joy, comfort, power & satisfaction only God can give. Here are 5 indicators that might be happening.

1. We choose to attend a church or a meeting based on the music rather than the preaching of the gospel and God’s word.
Nowhere in the Bible are we told that the church is to gather around music. We gather around the crucified and risen Savior, Jesus Christ. We gather to hear God’s Word in the Spirit’s power. Eph. 2:13-14 says the blood of Christ unites us, not music.

2. We can’t worship in song apart from a particular song, style, leader, or sound.
Anytime I say, I can’t worship unless X happens, or X is present, unless X is the death of our Savior on the cross for our sins or the power of his Spirit, we are engaging in idolatry. At that moment, X is more important to us than God’s command to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. That doesn’t mean that there are no bad songs, lousy leaders, or inappropriate styles. But being discerning is different from being unable to worship God at all.

3. We think music leads us into or brings God’s presence.
Here’s what music can do. It can affect us emotionally. Create a mood. Soften our hearts so that we listen more intently. Help us hear words differently. Distract us from what’s going on. Help us focus on what’s going on. Help us remember words. And more.

Here’s what music can’t do. Make God more present. Bring God’s presence down. Bring us into God’s presence. Manipulate God. (Heb. 10:19-22; 1 Tim. 2:5). There is only one mediator, and it’s not a song, style, leader, or sound. It’s Jesus Christ.

4. Poor musical performance leads us to sin against other band members or the musicians leading us.
We’re hardly representing God’s heart when we get angry, frustrated, or impatient with musicians who don’t play up to our standards. God’s standards are perfection, and they’ve been met in Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life in our place and died as our substitute, enduring the wrath of God in our place. ALL our offerings, no matter how well or poorly offered, are perfected through the once and for all offering of the Savior. We can strive for excellence to serve others, while extended to others the same grace we’ve received.

5. A love for music has replaced a love for the things of God.
It’s possible to listen to music that’s destroying your soul and be completely dull to it. To become enslaved by an idol and you feel like you’re breaking free. In his confessions, Augustine said “For he loves thee too little who loves along with thee anything else that he does not love for thy sake.” I have no doubt we love music. But do we love music for God’s sake or for ours?

To sum up:
Music is useful, but not necessary.
Music is good. But Jesus is better.
Music is a gift, but not a god.
Music isn’t my life. Christ is.

The gifts of God are meant to deepen our relationship with God and create fresh affection for him. Not replace him.

May we enjoy and make music to the fullest of our abilities, all for the glory of the one who gave it to us to enjoy in the first place.

The Wonder of All Wonders

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

No priest, no theologian stood at the manger of Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of all wonders: that God became human. Holy theology arises from knees bent before the mystery of the divine child in the stable.

Without the holy night, there is no theology. "God is revealed in flesh," the God-human Jesus Christ—that is the holy mystery that theology came into being to protect and preserve. How we fail to understand when we think that the task of theology is to solve the mystery of God, to drag it down to the flat, ordinary wisdom of human experience and reason! Its sole office is to preserve the miracle as miracle, to comprehend, defend, and glorify God's mystery precisely as mystery. This and nothing else, therefore, is what the early church meant when, with never flagging zeal, it dealt with the mystery of the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ … . If Christmas time cannot ignite within us again something like a love for holy theology, so that we—captured and compelled by the wonder of the manger of the Son of God—must reverently reflect on the mysteries of God, then it must be that the glow of the divine mysteries has also been extinguished in our heart and has died out.

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Christmas Isn't Just for the Healthy and Happy

In this past Sunday's sermon on Mary's song in Luke 1:46-55, I made the point that Christmas is for those who, like Mary, are servants of God in humble circumstances. It's not a holiday only for the prominent and prosperous.

Here's an article that makes the same point at greater length. Here's a portion, but you can click through the link to read it all.

Matt Redmond:

Not too long ago, I heard from someone about how difficult Christmas would be because of some heartbreak in their family. There was utter hopelessness and devastation. Christmas would be impossible to enjoy because of the freshness of this pain. It’s been a story very hard to forget.

I get it. I mean, it makes sense on the level of Christmas being a time in which there is a lot of heavily concentrated family time. The holidays can be tense in even the best of circumstances. Maneuvering through the landmines of various personalities can be hard even if there is no cancer, divorce or empty seat at the table. What makes it the most wonderful time of the year is also what makes it the most brutal time of the year. My own family has not been immune to this phenomenon.

But allow me to push back against this idea a little. Gently. I think we have it all backwards. We have it sunk deep into our collective cultural consciousness that Christmas is for the happy people. You know, those with idyllic family situations enjoyed around stocking-strewn hearth dreams. Christmas is for healthy people who laugh easily and at all the right times, right? The successful and the beautiful, who live in suburban bliss, can easily enjoy the holidays. They have not gotten lost on the way because of the GPS they got last year. They are beaming after watching a Christmas classic curled up on the couch as a family in front of their ginormous flat-screen. We live and act as if this is who should be enjoying Christmas.

But this is backwards. Christmas—the great story of the incarnation of the Rescuer—is for everyone, especially those who need a rescue. Jesus was born as a baby to know the pain and sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus was made to be like us so that in his resurrection we can be made like him; free from the fear of death and the pain of loss.

Not Just Shoeboxes

We participate in the Operation Christmas Child project through Samaritan's Purse, but did you know that it's about much more than gifts? There is a significant dimension of evangelism and discipleship in this ministry. You can read more here, and watch the video below.

A Different Nativity Scene

Tomorrow our church will take part in a "Living Nativity" in our town square during its second annual Christmas festival.

Here's a thought-provoking alternative:

The baby Jesus is in the manger to the left, but everyone else is huddled to the right-- around a TV. This was done by a Christian, not to mock the biblical story, but to make a point about how eagerly we ignore Jesus Christ at this time of year (or any other, for that matter).

I think we'll stick with the original, but I like the message here.

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A Gift Idea

C. J. Mahaney:

By using words that are carefully and skillfully chosen, we can give the gift of grace to others. And Christmas provides us with many opportunities for conversations with a variety of friends and family. But are you prepared?

The Apostle Paul writes, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

This promise is stunning! By carefully choosing my words I can give grace to those I care for.

*****

So what words fit a particular occasion? Consideration for one we are conversing with must inform our words. So before I speak I must observe and listen. I must ask questions. I must take an interest in them.

• If they are Christians, are there evidences of grace I can draw their attention to?
• If they are not Christians, are there evidences of common grace in their life?
• Is this person experiencing prosperity?
• Or is this person experiencing adversity?
• If they are suffering I want to give them comforting grace through my words.
• If they are weary, I want to give them sustaining grace through my words.
• And to all, when and where appropriate, I want to share the gospel, for that is the most effective way to give grace through my words.

So here is my point. Buying the appropriate Christmas gift for someone requires that we know and study them. But this is no less true of our conversations.

So as you consider certain individuals, and seek to buy meaningful gifts for them, also consider how you can give them grace through your words.

Preparing the Soil, Preparing the Soul

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Richard Sibbes:

Glory follows afflictions, not as the day follows the night but as the spring follows the winter; for the winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.

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Affliction

I spent some time in Psalm 119 this morning, and it was interesting to me to put together the verses that talk about affliction. I’ve assembled them in a sort of chronology of suffering.

In the middle of suffering, a cry for help

¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted;

give me life, O Lord, according to your word!

Our instinctive appeal for deliverance

¹⁵³ Look on my affliction and deliver me,

for I do not forget your law.

Reflecting on the sovereign goodness of God

⁷⁵ I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous,

and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Finding comfort even as suffering continues

⁵⁰ This is my comfort in my affliction,

that your promise gives me life.

Looking back at how God’s Word kept you going

⁹² If your law had not been my delight,

I would have perished in my affliction.

In hindsight, a learning experience

⁷¹ It is good for me that I was afflicted,

that I might learn your statutes.

Going forward, a new level of obedience and devotion

⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,

but now I keep your word.

An Irreconcilable War

William Gurnall:

The Christian is to proclaim and initiate an irreconcilable war against his choice sins. Those nearest his heart must now be trampled under his feet. This takes great courage and resolution. O how a lust will plead for itself! Satan pleads: ‘Is it not just a little one, O spare it!’ He will flatter the soul with the secrecy of it: ‘You can have it, and your honour also.’ If this does not work, Satan will try to get you to wait just a little while for its execution. Do not be deceived by this strategy. Most lusts that have received a delay in execution will eventually obtain a full pardon and regain full favor with your soul. It takes great resolution to break through such violent pleading and bring your lust to full execution. We must walk with a single purpose, without an eye on the world’s glitter. We must stand fixed to heaven’s principles and so prove our citizenship in heaven by our faithfulness to the truth.

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You Can Change #37 (Chapter 4)

From page 69 of You Can Change:

Human beings are always interpreters and always worshipers. We're interpreters who form explanations for what's happening to us. And we were made by God to worship him; so worship is hard-wired into our being.

There is a two-fold problem in the heart: what we think or trust and what we desire or worship. Sin happens when we don't trust God above everything (when we interpret in the wrong way) and when we don't desire God above everything (when we worship the wrong thing). Sin happens when we believe lies about God instead of God's Word and when we worship idols instead of worshiping God.

I love it when you can cover this much territory with a just a couple of simple categories. This really gets at a lot of what goes on in our heads and hearts that ends up as sin in our lives.

This can become a helpful diagnostic for when we are confused, perplexed, or even angry with God. How am I interpreting my circumstances? Am I making assumptions or jumping to conclusions about God and his purposes that are inconsistent with what he has revealed and promised in Scripture?

Or try this when you are fighting a particular temptation or struggling with contentment. What am I desiring here? What is it that I really want? The friction is probably the result of God's holy standard going against the grain of my sinful desires.

As Tim Chester concludes the chapter, he says the answer to the problem of bad interpretation is faith, and the answer to bad worship is repentance. Though he is going to elaborate on these in coming chapters, I think it will be practical for us to apply these right away.

Can you give an example of when you interpreted your circumstances poorly (not according to God's Word, his promises)?

Can you give an example of identifying an idols in your life by tracing in through your desires?

How can we help each other be better interpreters and worshipers?

Note: I'll be taking a break from blogging on You Can Change until mid-January, since our last small group meeting for this calendar year is this Sunday, December 5, with our next meeting with discussion on You Can Change being on January 30.

In the meantime the blog itself will continue with its regular irregularity.

Repentance Is Worship

Graham Kendrick:

We do not always think of repentance as worship, but it can be much easier to sing a rousing hymn than to turn away from our favorite sin. A sinful act involves worship of the wrong kind, submitting ourselves at that moment to serve the appetites of our pride or lust, and so repentance is literally a transfer of our worship back to the One who rightfully owns it. . . . . Worship has been misunderstood as something that arises from a feeling which “comes upon you,” but it is vital that we understand that it is rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ. The feelings, the joy of having been forgiven, follow on as a consequence of our reunion with him.

Note that Kendrick is not saying that love is a merely rational choice. When he says worship is "rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ," he is saying that worship is deeply connected to discipleship. We cannot say we adore him if we have ignored his call to leave everything else to come and follow him.

Source

You Can Change #36 (Chapter 4)

Tim Chester, in You Can Change:

I used to think of myself as that calm, gentle person-- the 7:30 [devotional time] me-- and concluded I was pretty godly! If I'm provoked to sin, then the problem must be whatever provoked me. But I've come to realize that the real me is the person who is revealed when the sinful desires of my heart are exposed by trying circumstances and annoying people. The real me is revealed when I'm too tired to keep up the pretense. (68)

This section of chapter four is called "My Circumstances Trigger My Heart." That's a good way to put it. We need to recognize the factors that lead us into sin, but the bottom line is whether or not we respond in obedience and faith, or in disobedience and disbelief.

We'd much rather point to the external factors ("The woman you gave me..."), than point to our own responsibility and failure. We even convince ourselves that person who is a sinner is not the real me.

What are we afraid of? Facing the ugliness of our own hearts? The sad reality of our daily sins and shortcomings? Why should this be daunting if we have the gospel?

Ignoring the facts will not help us grow. Committing to daily habits of confession, repentance, and faith, all grounded in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ-- that makes it possible for us to be honest with ourselves and not go crazy.

What are the circumstances or times of day that reveal the best and worst of your heart?

Are there certain people that bring out the worst in you?

Can you identify what's wrong with you, not just with them?

Are these attitudes and responses the kinds of things that Jesus died for?

Bridge to Nowhere

From The Big Picture:

A partially illuminated bridge to nowhere sits in the middle of the the Yalu River, which separates the North Korean border town of Siniuju (opposite bank, in darkness) from Dandong in northeast China's Liaoning province on November 24, 2010 in Dandong. The Yalu River bridge, also known as the no-name bridge, remains standing reaching only halfway across the river after it was bombed by the U.S. in 1950 during the Korean War and eventually dismantled from its own side by North Korea shortly after the Korean War armistice.

What an illustration of broken relationships! One party damages the relationship in a fight, and then the other party just detaches themselves, leaving a partial structure that goes nowhere. The marriage, the family, the congregation is in ruins. Nice lights, though.

Matthew 5:23-24

²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

You Can Change #35 (Chapter 4)

We're continuing in chapter 4 of You Can Change, called "When Do You Struggle?" The point is to consider how our circumstances affect us in as we try to live like Christ.

Before we go any further, Tim Chester wants to make sure that we understand that the root of all our actions is our own hearts, not outside circumstances. Thus, the next two sections (pp. 65-66) are "Our Struggles Reveal Our Hearts" and "My Behavior Comes from My Heart."

Chester:

Heart is shorthand for our thinking and desires. The root cause of my behavior is always my heart. What we see is behavior and emotions, and it's easy to focus on changing behavior and emotions. But lasting change is achieved only by tackling their source-- the heart. (66)

Now, if I had a problem yelling at my wife, it might do some good to work on my volume. I could come up with some techniques for moderating my response (count to 10, take a deep breath, etc.), but the noise level is only a symptom of the sickness in my heart.

In fact, if I were to figure out how to sweeten my tone of voice while remaining argumentative and/or manipulative, I'm not sure that I haven't taken a step backward.

I need to recognize what my thoughts and desires are that make me respond so violently. I need to own up to my selfishness and stubbornness. Later on, we'll talk about redirecting those desires.

How are you tempted to focus on behavior and emotions rather than thoughts and desires?

Can you give an example of trying to change the outward instead of the inward?