January 3

THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2013

Genesis 5:1–7:24

Matthew 3:7–4:11

Psalm 3:1–8

Proverbs 1:10–19

Welcome to our 2013 Bible Reading Group journey!  It is my great pleasure to walk alongside you in this effort and to share reflections on the readings.  My heart echoes Paul’s wish for the Ephesians:

 

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.  That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.  And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:17–23)

 

 

Thematic, not systematic.  In previous years, as we read through the Chronological Bible, the format afforded the opportunity to reflect systematically on the entire text for a given day, and I tried to link the specific passages’ insights to the greater unity of the Scriptures.  With this year’s format, I intend to take a more thematic approach and may link together common teachings across the four intra-day passages.  These blog entries cannot hope to tackle each controversial verse or every possible theme, however.  Should you have specific questions on any passage, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or any of the other blog writers.  Relying on the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation,” we will endeavor to encourage and guide the group in our Bible reading.

 

 

Technological progress but moral corruption.  In the Genesis genealogical account, we read about the extended lifespans of humanity’s forefathers.  Based on the corruption He finds, however, God in His wisdom decides to reduce human lifespans to 120 years.  Intriguingly, gerontologists have recently discovered the same truth that God declared more than 3,000 years ago.  Despite our temporal nature, our creative efforts often seek to build technologies, structures, organizations, or concepts that will outlive us.  This grasping for eternity hints at the eternal urge woven into each person:  “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

 

The aging process itself points to sin’s presence in the world.  Only after Adam and Eve’s willful disobedience of God’s commands regarding the tree in the Garden did death and decay arrive.  Just as physical aging points to physical decay within each person, God notes man’s moral decay after just a few generations:  “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” (Genesis 6:5,6)

 

 

Righteousness and grace.  Even in Genesis 6, God elects to bring judgment upon the earth:  “So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – men and animals, and creature that move along the ground, and birds of the air – for I am grieved that I have made them.’  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:7,8)  If we are honest concerning man’s sinful nature and God’s righteousness, His judgment appears completely justifiable.

 

Yet, even in the destructive flood, God initiates a pattern of providing grace to those who seek after Him and, more broadly, holding back His righteous judgment against humanity and its wickedness.  We learn from Paul that God’s purpose in creation has always included redemption:  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.   And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.   From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘we are his offspring.’”(Acts 17:24–28)

 

The Old Testament saints, such as Noah, who find favor in God’s eyes each heeded God and His Word and looked ahead to His effective grace through the Lord Jesus Christ:  “All these people were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.  And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13–16)

 

Yet, despite God’s manifest presence to the nation of Israel and the life and testimony of Jesus, both Old Testament and New Testament believers still struggle with their sinful natures.  Only in Christ do we find a perfectly righteous Person, and only due to His blameless perfection could He earn purchase redemption for His followers through His sacrifice on the cross.  God still seeks righteous servants but understands that we will fall short; like Abraham, God credits our faith to us as righteousness.  While no one may earn salvation through righteous living – because all will fall short of God’s perfect standard – God does desire our lives as a love offering to Him.  In fact, the author of Hebrews declares the righteous living shares an integral part in making disciples:  “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

 

 

Sources of truth and empowerment:  God Himself and His never-failing Word.  Both Noah and Jesus take God at His Word and live according to the spirit and letter of His standards.  We also read about Jesus’s baptism, in which all three Persons of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – demonstrate their unity and communion of love.  Jesus would receive power through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and filling of His life, and He would promise and grant this same power to His followers. (Acts 1:8)

 

Each person longs to receive this encourage vote of confidence from his parents:  “This is my child, whom we love; with him or her, I am well-pleased.”  While I have enjoyed the great blessing of having parents who offered these tender and loving words, many people haven’t.  This disconnect brings tremendous pain and striving, as we hungrily yearn for this acceptance.  As I watch young people, particularly young men without father figures in their lives, I witness their attempts to prove their worth to the world through acting tough, picking up girls, or otherwise looking cool.  Other people become hardened and driven to achieve great business success.  In the case of the late George Steinbrenner, many commentators noted that his father’s hardness compelled George to take on the ambitious persona that defined the New York Yankees organization from the 1970s through the 2000s.

 

As with Jesus, we may fight temptation and find encouragement from God’s presence within us and the testimony of His Word:

 

“Blessed is the man

    who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

    or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

    which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

    Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:1–3)

 

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13,14)

 

 

These realities undergird our daily walk and efforts to honor and serve God.

QUESTIONS

1. What does God’s grace mean for you today?
2. How are you looking for your faith to grow in 2013?  On what testimonies of faithfulness may you lean?

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