JANUARY 25
Today's Reading in the ESV One-Year Bible
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to print.
Today's Reading in the ESV One-Year Bible
Genesis 50
Congratulations! You are about to
finish your first book of the Bible this year. Sixty-five to go!
Vs. 1-14 So, what are your impressions,
observations, and feelings reading this section? The one thing that is
interesting to me is that there were times that both Isaac and Jacob had conflicts
with the locals regarding their wells and their bought land. They had now been
out of the land for 17 years. It could have been that the Canaanites thought to
repossess the burial land that Abe bought, but seeing this procession of
Egyptians with an armed escort would have made the Canaanites think twice.
Vs. 15-21 I wonder if Jacob really told
them to say this to Joseph. Joseph's statement, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, is famous. If
you've been following these reading notes, you understand a little more of the
process God used to bring Joseph to this point of maturity and understanding.
If you see this process, and hadn't seen it before this year, then praise God. That
kind of spiritual growth in understanding is what this is all about. God uses
His Word to form our hearts so that as we enter situations, or when events
happen to us, these truths, observations and confirmations from the Spirit give
us perspective and hope. As these truths enter our hearts we make a decision here,
or we are patient there, where we wouldn't have been before. This is the Spirit
working to mature us in the Word. Without the Spirit and the Word, we'd be
sunk. With the Spirit working in the Word, though we are slow in learning and
we keep on falling, He lifts us up, shows us the way, and leads us on in hope. This
is what makes being a disciple a joy, and the only way to fly.
Vs. 22-26 Joseph's life had a happy
end…just like a Disney movie. Joe was 17 when sold to the Midianites, 30 when
he was brought out of prison and set over Egypt, 39 when he was reunited with
his father, 56 when Jacob died and 110 when he died. All of that is in the text
and easy to figure out. What is more important is for you to be able to see
this and how God worked with him during different periods in his life. His life
looks much different than Jacob's. Following the Lord, being Jesus' disciple,
hearing and doing His Word makes the difference in a life. Circumstances do not
dictate our joy, wisdom, and peace. Our closeness to the Lord does.
V. 25 Joseph knew the Exodus was coming
and reminded Israel that God would fulfill His promise. In all, from the moment
Jacob set foot in Egypt, Israel would be there 430 years to the day. At Joe's
death, Israel had been in Egypt for 54 years.
Exodus 1:1-2:10
As you'll see, this is a very
interesting book. It begins like an action movie and ends with God laying the
foundation of a nation. We'll have the plagues of Egypt at the beginning and
the Ten Commandments and the building of the tabernacle at the end. A lot takes
place in Exodus.
Exodus 1
Vs. 1-7 Actually, the Hebrew name for
Exodus is "Names." This is a summary of the growth of Israel in
Egypt.
Vs. 8-22 These verses contain two acts
that seem to have occurred at the same time. First, the people of Israel were made
slaves and forced into hard labor. Second, at the same time, the Egyptians
tried to stop the growth of Israel by killing the male infants. It appears that
this happened shortly before Moses was born since the parents seemed to be
under no threat when Aaron, Moses' older brother (three years), was born. It
must have been in the next three years that parents were required to kill or
throw their male sons into the Nile. If the slavery began, say, 20 years before
his birth and Moses led Israel out of Egypt when he was 80, they would have
been forced into slavery the last 100 years of their 430-year stay.
God used the slavery. What a funny way
to prepare Israel to build a new nation. When you read what they went through,
think about what that might have "positively" built into the people. Also,
the slavery gave them the "need to leave" Egypt, which for some
people had been heaven on earth. As disciples, we need to understand that God
can use all sorts of things in our lives and in the lives of those we are
reaching out to or leading as disciples. It might be uncomfortable, but we need
to be slow to judge God's allowance of difficulties in our lives. Not only was
God preparing a nation, but we'll see 80 years of preparation in Moses' life,
40 of which were lived in defeat in the wilderness.
The hardest thing for a very energetic
disciple is waiting on the Lord when He is slowly preparing things, and most
often us, for the work He has in mind.
V. 19 There must have been truth to
what these women said. Pharaoh didn't punish them.
Exodus 2:1-10
There is a lot to observe and think
about here.
Vs. 1-2 I wonder if Moses
"glowed" or something. Apparently God did something in the hearts of
the parents to move them to dare to break the law. There was something about
that baby. I'm glad I wasn't born then. I don't think I glowed. I wonder if I
would have gotten thrown in? Just a random thought.
Vs. 3-10 You see all of this human
planning, but you know that the only reason this worked was God, totally. Actually
though, I think if the princess had opened the basket and seen me in it she
would have saved me too. She would have handed me over to a servant and said,
"Give it a banana and take it to the zoo."
Matthew 16:13-17:9
Matthew 16:13-28
These are very important verses in
following Christ. Jesus has watched the progress of the Twelve and knew that
the coming year would lead to His sacrifice. Now He needed to prepare them
further, but were they ready?
Your observations here are more
important than anything I have to say. Imagine that Jesus is talking to you. Where
do you need to be more focused on Him and live more sacrificially?
Vs. 13-20 This confession by Peter was
not just verbal acknowledgment. The Twelve had been with Jesus through some
pretty hard battles. Now, they were still with Him as the people were beginning
to drift away from Jesus and as the aggression from the scribes and Pharisees
was increasing.
V.
17 This confirms what Jesus told the Pharisees and His doubting followers in
John 6:44, No one can come to Me unless
the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. The
recognition of Jesus' identity was granted by the Father based on some
microscopic response of faith and submission. The Father only allowed those
with true faith and submission to know the Son.
V.
18 This church is built on what Peter just said, not on Peter the little stone.
The Rock is Christ, the Son of the Living God.
The
gates of hell, or Hades, could mean a
couple of things. The gates were where the rulers of a city sat and conducted
business and made judgments. If so this would mean the "government of
hell" shall not prevail against the church. On the other hand, Hades was the
place of death and the gate of Hades was like a mouth that swallowed up
mankind. In this case the gates of hell
meant, "the power and fear of death."
I
know it is more dramatic and adventurous to think of the demonic government of
hell. That also preaches good. But, hell has no government. Hell has no social
life. The devil doesn't rule there or in Hades, and he never will. Biblically,
the final enemy is not the devil. The enemy of mankind, given power by sin, is
death. Death will be the final enemy defeated by Christ. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:26)
The
church and the saints of the Tribulation will defeat the devil because they
will work in the harvest without fear of death. And they have conquered him by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation
12:11)
V.
19 The church has authority and Jesus will spell this out in another place. It
will be specific to the harvest.
V.
20 So why do you think Jesus commanded this?
Vs. 21-23 Here Peter goes from
"hero" to "zero" in nothing flat. First, notice the
progression. Verse 21 shows you that until this point, having known Jesus for
over two years, He hadn't told them about the crucifixion. Why do you think
Jesus waited until now to reveal this?
Second, although Peter was just trying
to help the "poor depressed Messiah" to see the glass as "half
full," Jesus rebukes "the stone," who does not yet have the
maturity to see the plan according to God's wisdom. We disciples get in trouble
on this one all the time, assuming we know God's plan as if we were God, and
then we try to get Him to approve our plan as His. We can actually hinder, not
help, the work of God.
Notice that the word "Satan"
means adversary. Jesus wasn't saying Peter was Satan or that Satan was there,
but it was a very hard rebuke. Also, the issue here was not a satanic plan, but
a human plan and the furtherance of the things of man. Humanly speaking, the
plan of man was that Jesus should have "shot to the top" and
instantly become king. That's what everyone wanted. The plan of God was to
provide a sacrifice and substitute for sinful man.
One interesting note of trivia here is
that when Jesus rebukes Peter, He turns away from him. The rebuke wasn't given
face to face. I'm not sure if that was cultural, but it was far less aggressive
than how we do it, face to face, nose to nose, bad breath to bad breath. Notice
in Luke 9:55 that Jesus rebukes James and John the same way. There is something
to learn here.
Vs. 24-28 The charge to His disciples
was to give everything in following Him. We spiritualize and devotionalize
taking up one's cross, but in that culture it only meant one thing. If a person
was carrying a cross, they were walking to their death. That is fairly ultimate
and supersedes bearing the scars of an abusive background. It is the
willingness to follow Christ to death. That path to death defines what it means
to "deny" oneself. It is denying the desire to live and to fulfill
our expectations and desires. Following Christ in the harvest, to the death, to
bring the testimony of Christ and His offer of salvation to a dying world
becomes our ultimate desire.
V. 25 This is said to the disciples who
believe. To the lost this means that to gain eternal life, they have to be
willing to give up their "life" for belief in Jesus as their Savior. For
a believer, and this is the main context, it is the rule of investment and
protection walking on this planet. If we give Him little, we get little. If we
try to forge a nice life for ourselves here ignoring Him, chances are that our
faith, our hearts and our lives will be damaged. To be fully protected by His
care, we need to be fully submitted to Him. Paul taught "salvation"
from damage in his letters (i.e., 1 Tim. 4:16). Look around at believers who
follow half-heartedly, and you will see the results of damage on earth.
V. 26 One note of trivia is that the
Greek word for soul in this verse and
the word for life in the previous
verse is the same word. It can mean "life" or "soul."
V. 27 Jesus' teaching on discipleship
has introduced the concept of "salvation from damage" on earth as a
believer. And now He is introducing the idea of rewards in following.
V. 28 This took place literally in the
next chapter as Jesus' glory was revealed. And if that wasn't the event Jesus
was referring to, the apostle John would see and tell of this event in
Revelation. Needless to say, Jesus hasn't come yet and taken an earthly throne
in His kingdom. That is still to come.
Matthew 17:1-9
Jesus only takes the three with Him. He
apparently discerned in them, a deeper faith, commitment and understanding. They
all became key leaders in the early church in Jerusalem.
Notice that Jesus took Peter in spite
of Peter's mistake six days earlier. Jesus didn't shun his disciples when they
made mistakes. He was a Good Shepherd and Teacher and kept nurturing their
faith.
Psalm 21
I think for us as followers, vs. 5-7
say it all. This is a great psalm. Highlight or underline all the occurrences
of you, your and Lord.
Vs.
1-7 This psalm was apparently written after all of David's running from Saul,
and after he was the king of the entire nation. He had a lot of years and tears
to look back over. Because he says "forever," it seems that God had
already made the promise to David that one of his children would sit on the
throne of Israel forever.
Vs.
8-12 In the ten years David ran from Saul, many men expressed their arrogance
against both David and God's plan for David to be king. Then came the seven
years of civil war and again men opposed God's plan and vented their anger at
David. Now David was the king and those men were gone.
V.
13 David knew that God, and only God, had done all of this.
Proverbs 5:1-6
Just speaking to the guys here, if God
has thought to address this issue, it must be a big one. None of us are
"supermen" and it would be better, if you know you can't handle it,
to have somewhat distant and awkward relationships with women than be stupid
and think you can be the friend of all. Many men in ministry have messed around
here and gone down. Obviously, the women in church are not these women, you'd
hope; but this is really saying more about the weakness of the man and his
temptability. This is very tricky, especially if you realize that both David
and Solomon (the guy writing this) became victims. So, you should pay
attention. Those great men slipped and were never the same again. I'm sure that
we're no better.
For most men following Christ, the
problem will not be physical adultery, but visual adultery. Jesus says visual
adultery is basically the same thing, and it will kill your heart. It never
delivers what it promises and it messes up your relationship with your Lord and
your wife.
The answer? Turn the TV off, turn in
early, and focus everything on "the wife of your youth." God's
advice. Remember, like in Genesis, the true desire and need, deeper than
anything sexual, is completeness and connection. You can't charge a battery by
only connecting it for 10 minutes. It usually takes 40 minutes to an hour to
charge a battery properly. Anything less, and the things don't fill up properly
and they run out quickly. The man has to lead in this. God made it that way, so
quit complaining. If you don't think your wife takes enough interest, blame
God, not her. That's how He made her so that you would have to initiate,
develop warmth and lead. God's way is always the best way.
For women, I would just say to
"try" to understand that your husband is probably 90% OK, but always
vulnerable. Never forget that. All the stuff of life beats on him so that even
the best and most godly get down and fatigued and sink into themselves. This,
more than lust, draws them to escape and pornography.
A man likes to know that if he really
were in trouble emotionally, and on the verge of "death" emotionally,
someone would be interested in reaching in and saving him. I know it's
self-piteous and silly, but you just have to go with it. Men need respect and
attention, not some wild woman that Hollywood tells them they need, who,
incidentally, is mentioned in this proverb. Mostly, godly men following Christ
are solid; but where they fall is in thinking, rightly or wrongly, in stress
and emotional fatigue, that they are really alone. Know your husband, because
he probably won't tell you. In his weakness, he'll quietly test you to confirm
that he really is alone. What he needs is the safety and security of being home
and accepted and complete.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.” I'm writing these comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to print.
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