Bible Reading Challenge Blog

Do you find that every time that you read Scripture you see something new and potentially even something that helps you on your daily walk? Sometimes you see something new that isn’t life changing, just a fun fact. Other times you see something that actually provides you with a new way in which to live your life which is life giving. So, today’s readings contain a little of both. Methuselah is considered the oldest person in the Bible, he lived to be 969 years old. But did you notice that Noah didn’t start having kids until he was 500 years old? He and his kids got onto the ark when he was 600 and they were 100 years old. We can’t help but imagine what we would look like when we were that age. Interestingly enough it is in our readings today when God basically says, okay, enough of these super old people, let’s set the age to 120. These are fun facts, but not life changing, but fun.

When we get to Jesus and the woman at the well, there we see something that maybe wasn’t noticed before but has incredible significance. Look at vs.42 in chapter 4. Remember, Jesus passes through Samaria because he is making his way back from the Jordan where he and his disciples were baptizing (although the Scripture says his disciples were baptizing and he really wasn’t, another fun fact!) toward the Sea of Galilee, back to where he changed the water to wine. Samaria was a lot like passing through a different country. It would be like having to go from Texas to California and on the way you had to pass through Mexico. But it was even more than that because the people of Samaria not only were of a different nationality, and different ethnically, but also religiously they believed in a different God than the Jews did.

Jesus engages a Samaritan woman who has had a bad rap over history. I bet when you think of this Samaritan woman in the back of your mind you see someone who is a sinner because she has 5 different husbands and is living with someone who is not even her husband now. What if, and this is my approach to her, she has had husbands who have died and she is currently living with a brother of one of the husbands who had died just like the law commands her to do? Then we move from seeing her as a sinner, a harlot, someone who was loose and would be with anyone who was available, to being very sympathetic to her because of the tragedy that she has had to experience in life losing so many husbands. That’s my approach to her.

The life changing portion of this Scripture is what the Samaritans say about Jesus, a group of foreigners, that at times we have a hard time seeing and saying: “This man really is the Savior of the world.” This is why we do what we do because Jesus really is the Savior of the world. How would our life look differently if we could proclaim day after day this same truth that became a reality to those who were considered outside of the norms of life, those who were considered unclean to the church. We often think it is only the church and its leaders who are able to lead the way forward and who somehow carry the truth with them. Not so, it is the Samaritans of this world whose eyes have been opened by the presence and the power of Jesus. It is a good wake up call for people like us.

We find in both Genesis and John the stories of creation. Genesis gives us the literal creation of all that we see in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the sky. In John we see us being created as children of God, that takes root from the prompt that we find in Genesis that we are made in the image of God. This concept of being made in the image of God is not an appearance thing. Remember what God says to Samuel when he is trying to find the next king: “Do not look upon his appearance for people look on the outside, but God look upon the heart.” We are made in the image God in that we strive to be in relationship that gives life. Jesus gives life and we ought to desire to be in relationship with him.

We find in John the primary difference between the Old and the New Testament, which is in reality the difference between the Old and the New Covenant. Look at vs.17 where we read: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth were given by Jesus.” That is the difference. We no longer are relegated to following rules which dictate our lives and which bind us to inevitable sin. Instead, we find ourselves pursuing grace and truth in the person of Jesus Christ through a relationship that is completely unbound.

There are so many details in the creation story that I would love to touch on. Some see two creation stories, one in chapter 1 and the other in chapter 2. That is not my approach. I tend to harmonize the stories into one. What we find in chapter 1 is a general overview of creation. Chapter 2 gives us the specifics that we hear mentioned in chapter 1, specifically in relationship to the creation of man and woman. Woman being described as a helper is also a key concept we would do well to understand. The term helper is ezer and it is used in a few other places in Scripture. But here is the kicker, each time that it is used it is used to describe God as our helper, someone who was necessary for us to pursue and continue on in our lives. The helper that God creates is just as equally made in God’s image as the man that God creates in chapter 1.

John begins his Gospel with his own account of creation. Notice the theological truth that he begins with which is necessary to our understanding of the Trinity. The Son, the Word of God, is present in creation. Without the Word, without Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the Son, creation would not and did not occur. We often misunderstand the Trinity in a modalist perspective. The Son is relegated to the first century and never seen or heard from again. That is not our belief. The Son was present from the very beginning. The Son, Jesus, was God fully and completely and without any hesitation. Anything less than that is heresy. This includes the presence of the Son in creation itself.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my path and light unto my feet.” Psalm 119:5

What a great way to start our Bible reading challenge. We will be together now for the next 9 months reading through Scripture and trying to figure out together how what we consider and believe to be the Word of God actually has the ability to impact and change our life for the good forever.

It is a great Psalm to start off our challenge for a number of reasons. I get to teach some of you a new word today: acrostic. That means simply that each section of the Psalm, so about every 8 verses or so, begin with the next letter of the alphabet. Now, as you are reading it you are probably saying to yourself that no, it doesn’t begin with A and then the 9th verse begins with B. Well, just in case we forget, the Old Testament, and so the Psalms as a whole, were originally written in Hebrew and not in English.

Psalm 119 also happens to be the longest of all the Psalms and yet it maintains the most consistent them: I love the law of the Lord. If you remember in the New Testament Jesus while he is in a jam packed house is told by those around him that his family is waiting for him outside. He responds by saying: “Who is my family but those who keep my commandments?” Matthew 12:48-50. Keepings the commandments of the Lord is mandatory for those who want to be followers of Jesus.

Now, let’s be clear, being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not meant to be a legalistic endeavor. I remember when I was a senior in high school and not wanting to have anything to do with Jesus. I was a clear cut atheist. I thought it was all made up. The main reason why I was fighting a personal relationship with Jesus was because I thought that it was a list of rules. Following the commandments of the Lord was to me a prison into which I did not want to put myself. On January 14, 1986 the Word of God came to me, yes literally, and told me: stop living for yourself.

It was then that I realized the freedom that I had in following Jesus’ commandments. It led me not to a life of slavery to sin, but rather to freedom in Christ. That was when I took upon myself my favorite Bible verse found in John 8:32 where Jesus tells those who doubted him: You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Reading the Word of God reminds us of the new life that we have in Christ when we accept him as personal savior and as we live our lives in freedom.

I am so looking forward to taking this journey with you over these next 9 months as we dive into the God’s Word.