Bible Reading Challenge Blog

Father Abraham, had many sons, but only one with Sarah. Isaac and Rebekah had Esau and Jacob, and what a story that is. The crux of it all is that the father loved Esau and the mom loved Jacob, so of course they were going to have problems. Jacob wins the birthright and the blessing and gets a dream of a stairway to heaven. Eventually, not now, but Jacob actually becomes Israel and he has the twelve children who are the twelve tribes of Israel. We will spend a little more time when we get to those chapters. But it all goes back to the conflict between Esau and Jacob and Jacob winning at just about everything, even though he is the youngest. That theme will continue as well as we see it with Joseph and King David and a number of others.

Did you notice that Isaac pulled the whole “she is my sister” trick and almost got all of them killed? I guess that happens when you have a wife who turns heads, but it still strikes me as kind of self-serving on the part of the husband. I guess I can take out the conditional. It is very much self-serving. I love the final story of Jacob’s ladder that was climging higher and higher. He calls the place Bethel, which in Hebrew means house of God. I would love to have a church that considered itself, if not named itself, Bethel. The house of God.

Now to John. There is no more important chapter in the Bible than John 14. I think I have said that for a few chapters already. But the understanding that Jesus tells us that God will send the counselor is in reality a promise that the Holy Spirit will be with us and is with us in this now and not yet time. This now and not yet time in which we find ourselves is the time that we are called to do the will of God and yet at the same time anticipate the second coming when we will all be drawn to Christ. Jesus’ answer to Thomas who questions where we are to follow Jesus because we do not know the way is our calling card. Look at vs.6 where Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”

There is only one thing that would cause me to be schismatic. Look that word up: schismatic

If at any point anyone higher up may mess with the truth that Jesus is the only way to the Father, that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that Jesus is the only one true God, then that will cause me to think twice about the associations I have at a religious level. Jesus is the one and the only one. I hope I have emphasized that enough. Don’t allow people to convince you that there are many ways to God. Not according to this verse. Don’t allow others to convince you that we all worship the same God, we do not. If you ask a person of another religious if they worship the same God that we worship, they would say no. For some reason we have a hesitancy to claim the exclusiveness of Jesus and insist on an inclusiveness that completely neuters our God. Maybe I’ve had too much coffee.

The birth of Isaac marks a pivotal moment in the nation of Israel’s history. That moment is almost taken away as Abraham follow’s God’s command to sacrifice him as a test of his faithfulness. Abraham passes the test. Where else in Scripture do we read about a Fathe who is willing to sacrifice his son? The sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross which results in the salvation of all humanity, finds its earliest example in Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice. The Old Testament is hard to read. There is so much killing which seems indiscriminate. God chooses whom he wants and the rest have a pretty difficult, if not impossible, hill to climb. But why do we insist on creating God in our image, in an image that we would want God to be like? Can’t God be kinder, gentler, more compassionate? He is, but in this setting in the Old Testament God is seen and revealed as something that we simply don’t like. But in the end, that is our problem, we can’t understand why God would need to be an Old Testament God. I’m okay in not knowing why.

When we jump to John we see Jesus enter triumphantly into Jerusalem and the crowds following him primarily because he raised Lazarus from the dead. I just noticed that the religious leaders conspire to kill Lazarus because he was the reason the people were going crazy for Jesus. But we have to rest a little bit of time on the washing of the feet. When we talk about sacraments we have a clear definition as to what we believe sacraments are. Literally the word means a holy act. We believe that they are things that we should do because Jesus commanded us to do them. We baptize because Jesus commanded us to baptize in Matthew 28. We take part in the Lord’s Supper because Jesus commanded us to do that in Matthew, Mark, Luke and in I Corinthians 11.

These are the only two sacraments that we recognize as Protestants. But doesn’t Jesus command us to wash each other’s feet. I know gross, but is that any more gross than eating someone’s body and drinking his blood? It is sad to me that the logistics and the practicality of washing feet has gotten in the way of some really good theology on why we ougth to wash one another’s feet. It serves to show us how we are servants one to each other, just as God has made us.

The promise of the covenant with Abraham is sealed with the sign of circumcision. This may not seem that important to us as Christians in the 21st century, but the link between circumcision in the OT and baptism in the NT is fundamental to understand. The covenant with God was seen between God and his people in the sign of circumcision, which obviously was only applicable to the Jewish males. Today, our sign and seal with God and his covenant is baptism, which has taken the place of circumcision for the follower of Jesus, allowing the covenant to extend to male and female alike. This is crucial, no longer is the sign of God’s promises seen in circumcision, but it is in baptism that the sign and seal of God is witnessed and carried into our Christian faith.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah has peaked the interest of many especially in light of the debate surrounding homosexuality. Let’s put this to bed once and forever. Sodom and Gomorrah was not destroyed because of the homosexual tendencies of its people, we don’t serve a God that is that small, but rather because of its evil that was clearly manifested in how they treated each other and all people who came into their presence, especially guests that were sacred. The sacredness of the guest in Jewish culture is known to the degree that you are to welcome them in a way that is unconditional. But their evil tendencies in all walks of life are clearly seen. This leads to their destruction, not just one sin, or one category of evil that sparks outrage. Let’s stop using this Scripture as a proof text for something it doesn’t prove.

This brings us to the very disturbing scene of incest with Lot and his daughters. Scripture doesn’t justify it, but it does record it. I kind of wish it hadn’t, but I guess it goes back to what they had experienced in Sodom and Gomorrah and so as a result they act according to what they know and were exposed to. Keep in mind that just because it is recorded in Scripture no place do we see this as being okay in God’s eyes.

Finally in John we find one of the most powerful Scriptures that defines who Jesus was in the story of the raising of Lazarus. Look at 11:25 where Jesus professes to all who would hear that he is: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will life, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Jesus then asks Martha the question that he asks us of this truth: “Do you believe this?” We need to believe the divinity of Christ and his desire to bring all of humanity, including us, to him.

We have to cover both the Old and the New Testament Scriptures because they both contain some of the most important stories of the Bible. Abraham is called in chapter 12 to leave his land and to follow God’s promise that he will make of him a great nation. He does, he leaves, he calls his wife his sister when they are in Egypt, he gets rich off of that scheme, and then they settle in Canaan where they way to have a child. But no child comes but God repeats the promise to Abraham, which is called the Abrahamic covenant that he will have a child through him this covenant will be realized.

Abram and Sarai decide they have waited long enough so it is time to take matters into their own hands and they have Abram sleep with a slave. Along comes Ishmael after Hagar runs away from Sarai and then returns. The historical importance of all of this is that all three of the modern people of the book, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, see Abraham as “father” Abraham. We even have a song about it. It is from Abraham through whom the people of God come for the Jew. It is through Ishmael that the people of faith come, according to the Muslim, and it is through Abraham that Jesus comes as the Savior of the world. Abraham is absolutely a pivotal and central figure in our salvation story. It bears saying it clearly.

On to the New Testament where Abraham is discussed and where the enemies of Jesus say that they have Abraham as a father so why would they need a Savior. It is in the midst of that context that truth is bandied about. In that setting my favorite Bible verse is spoken by Jesus. Look at John 8:36 and you can mark it in your Bible as Pastor Bob’s favorite Bible verse. But the truth matters, people. And we are not at liberty to make up the truth as we would like it simply because the actual truth doesn’t meet our needs or our desires. The fact that Jesus calls himself the way, the truth, and the life should remind us of how important it is not to try to make the truth after our own image. There is nothing more dangerous than that.

So yesterday I cut you all short one chapter. I had thought it was up untilGenesis 6, but it actually included 7 as well. Good thing, because what we find in Genesis is the continuation of the story of Noah. We cannot just see the story of Noah as a cute children’s message, because in it we find a clear covenant that God has made with us. God makes a covenant with us, this is something we need to spend some time on, because Jesus’ coming to the earth is also a covenant that God makes with us. Also, we find ourselves introduced to Abram in chapter 11 of Genesis with whom God is going to make a covenant that is remembered to this day.

The covenant with Noah is seen in Genesis 9:9 where God says to Noah: “I am establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you.” That’s pretty clear. But what is a covenant? Simply stated it is an agreement between two parties. In this covenant, which is an unconditional covenant, the agreement is the following as seen in vs.11: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood. It is an unconditional covenant because God does not say that only if you obey me, Noah, will I spare you and all humanity. No, God simply says, I will never cut you off again like I did in this flood.

When Abraham comes along we will see a conditional covenant where God says I will do this for you Abraham if you and your people will respond to me in a way that I want them to respond. Jesus’ act upon the cross is also an unconditional covenant. Jesus’ dying for our sins was not based upon our obedience. In fact, quite the opposite is true. In spite of our disobedience, “even while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8), God died for us and was raised again from the dead.

Let’s look at John where we find eucharistic language in regards to who Jesus is. We begin with Jesus feeding the 5,000 with elements that a child gives him. Look at John 6 where Jesus is given the elements and then in vs.11 we find this formula: Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, distributed them. This is the same formula that we find in Matthew, Mark, and Luke when Jesus is at the last supper and with his disciples and when he gives the bread out. When we use the term eucharistic it simply means in Greek, blessing. When Jesus “gives thanks” over the bread in vs.11 in the Greek it is the term eucharisteo. Our communion that we take part in together is a reflection of the thanksgiving that we have because Jesus is present in our midst.

Later in this chapter we have Jesus talk about him being the bread of life and how we must eat his flesh if we are to participate in his kingdom. While as Protestants we don’t believe that Jesus is physically present in the bread and in the juice, we do believe that he is truly present in a spiritual way. This is key, when we take commuion it is not just a memorial for all that Jesus has done. It is a time to recognize that Jesus is present in our midst during communion in a way that he is not present when communion is not being serve. Too many double negatives, but Jesus is present in a unique way during communion. Let’s leave it at that.

As I make my way through this challenge I once again realize that I cannot cover everything that is mentioned in all of the readings that we have. It is tempting to address that which is most common and what maybe you want me to cover. For this reading it might be Noah and the ark, or it could be Cain murdering Abel and the resulting banishment of one of Adam’s sons. The question of whether there were other people around the earth constantly comes up, and the answer in my mind is yes, of course. The Bible gives us the story of God among His people, it isn’t meant to be exhaustive of every little thing that had taken place on the face of the earth. While Adam and Eve were the first people that God created, it doesn’t mean that God stopped creating. Actually, quite the opposite is true. God is still creating today, putting life back into the earth in a way that is redeeming and inspiring.

Let’s focus on John 5:24 which is very easily a verse that you may have just read over on your way to the end of the chapter. In this verse we see a difference between believing “in” God and believing God. We can believe in God, and we would do well to believe (James 2:19) in God. But when we believe God, then it means that we believe that God is able. It means that we take on Jesus Christ as Lord and not merely a God who exists. When someone is Lord in our life than it means that they have ownership and have the power and the ability to dictate our steps in our life.

I say this not in a budensome way, but rather in a way that frees us. How are we to know the path of our life and how to live our life? We do know it, it is through the direction of Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not to be wandering pilgrims on the face of this earth, but rather we are to be people of God who live according to the desires of our Lord. When we hear God’s Word, which we are doing now in this challenge, we are then called to believe God and His promises. When that happens we receive eternal life. This eternal life is meant for all of us and it is meant to be a transformative element in nature and in society. I pray that this time together leads us to not a mere belief in God, but rather a conviction, a belief that Christ is able and is Lord.

When you read through the first three chapters of the Bible and the first three chapters of the Gospel of John there is more to address than what I am able in just one blog for one day. For example, in Genesis we could address the following because the Scripture addresses the following: Creation vs. evolution (I believe God created all things but not in 7 literal days, which allows for evolutionary processes to take place. There doesn’t have to be a conflict between creation and evolution, but there should be a marriage instead), created in God’s image (not a physical resemblance, but rather a spiritual desire to be in relationship, that is how we have been created and that is the affinity that we have with God’s image), original sin (which is not something that we inevitably bear and which makes us sinful from the time we were born, but rather which leads us inevitably to sin which is our sin and our responsibility, not Adam or Eve’s fault), God creating male and female (there is a certain order in Genesis that for me at least creates a sense of relief and blessing that God has this planned and we aren’t just winging it as we go), and more

The same can be said in the Gospel of John. Probably the most powerful of these verses is seen in John 1:14 where we read that the Word became flesh. It is here where we are told that Jesus is not just the Son of God, not just a good role model, not just someone that we can chose to follow or not, but rather is God himself. Jesus is God, there is no getting around that and it is a foundational belief. This is what we mean when we say we believe in the Trinity, that God is Jesus, God is the Father, God is the Holy Spirit. As we read the Gospel of John we are reading about the works of God in Jesus.

Also in our reading we find the well known verse of John 3:16 which reminds us that God so loved the world that he sent his only son. What a universal promise that anyone who believes in him will receive eternal life. Today just might be a highlight to underline in regards to some of the most important Scriptures, and some of the best known Scriptures, that we will ever see. I hope it sets the stage for you to continue on in your readings with enthusiasm.

Welcome to read through the Bible Challenge. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you have decided to take this spiritual discipline on of reading through the Bible. I promised you that if you took on the “S” of “PSA” (Prayer, Scripture, and Action) that your life would be changed. I truly believe it. Scripture is able to transform and direct our lives in a way that nothing else can aside from Prayer and Action. So, let’s get started with our first Scripture.

Psalm 119 is the perfect chapter in the Bible to begin a read through the Bible series. Look at vs. 105 which underscores the purpose for which this Psalm was written: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Christians in my generation can’t read this Scripture without thinking of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs-aiQ9NZ1g

Some important notes about this Psalm that you should know. This Psalm is called an acrostic which means that it follows a very specific pattern where each section of this Psalm begins with a new letter of the alphabet and it goes in order. In this Psalm every 8 verses begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Vs.1-8 begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph, vs.9-16 all begin with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, bet, and so on until all 22 letters are used up in its 176 verses. So why this format? To show how wonderful and beautiful the Word of God and how we must read it and follow it all the days of our life. I know, that sounds kinda mushy, but it really, really is.

This Psalm provides us the inspiration and the impetus to begin this journey together. I really do hope that you get a lot out of this time with God’s Word and if you are joining us on this journey on this blog as well, I look forward to seeing you every day.

Also, if you wanted to start a public dialogue on this Psalm or on any of the Scriptures that we address you can see a comment section at the end of every day’s blog. You have to click on the post itself before you can see the comment box. I pray that God will speak to you mightily through this time.

As we begin reading through the Bible on September 4 you are welcome to get a sneak peek of the brochure. Feel free to get a head start if you would like.