Bible Reading Plans

We're just a few days from Christmas, and then the New Year is just around the corner.  Have you ever started a new year with the resolution to read through the whole Bible that year?  Have you ever failed at such a resolution?  If you have, that's just one more reason to be thankful for God's grace.  As important as it is to read & know God's Word, nowhere does He command us to read through the Bible in a year.  (Although Psalm 1 would seem to encourage us to meditate on it day & night.)

Whether or not you read the Bible consistently, or have read through the whole Bible in a year, I want to encourage you to do what you can to making reading the Bible a consistent pattern of your life.  In a moment I'll share a few different types of reading plans that may fit your personality & schedule.  But first I wanted to share the following.  I've used a few different reading plans, and with each one I have had times where I was just reading to get it done, and paid little attention to what I actually read.  (Although even those times have helped build it into my schedule, providing many opportunities where I did indeed have fruitful times of reading.)  A few years ago, somebody shared with me some advice from John Piper about praying before reading:

In chapter nine of When I Don’t Desire God, John Piper introduces a memorable and helpful acronym for what to pray before reading Scripture — I. O. U. S.

• Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive. (Psalm 119:36)

• Open my eyes to behold wonderful things in your Word. (Psalm 119:18)

• Unite my heart to fear your name. (Psalm 86:11)

• Satisfy me with your steadfast love. (Psalm 90:14)

An unfortunate side effect of repeatedly praying the same prayer is that, over a period of time, it can lose its sense of pertinence. One way to keep it fresh is to unpack the content with language that expresses what you mean in a new way. 

For example, here’s an amplification of the I. O. U. S. prayer:

• Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive. That is, focus my affections and desires upon you, and eradicate everything in me that would oppose such a focus.

• Open my eyes to behold wonderful things in your Word. That is, let your light shine and show me what you have willed to communicate through the biblical authors.

• Unite my heart to fear your name. That is, enthrall me with who you are.

• Satisfy me with your steadfast love. That is, fulfill me with the fact that your covenant love has been poured out on me through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

On to the reading plans.  First, some I've used:

• The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan from NavPress.  I really like this one, because there are only 25 readings for each month, giving you extra days to catch up or go back and read/study things again.
• A reading program for Slackers and Shirkers.  This one's not actually a "read through the Bible in a year" plan, so if you find yourself getting discouraged when you can't keep to a strict plan, you may want to check this plan out.  Pastor Andy Perry explains the plan and why he recommends it here.
• D.A. Carson's For the Love of God (volumes 1 and 2).  This is what I've done this year and will probably do again next year.  Carson slightly modified Robert Murray M'Cheyne's plan, and offers comments & reflections on the passages for each day, generally on one passage in Volume 1, and another passage in Volume 2.  The reading plan takes you through the New Testament and Psalms twice in the year, and the rest of the Old Testament once.  Each days readings can generally be done in 15-20 minutes.  There are PDF versions of Carson's books available for FREE: Volume 1 and Volume 2.  (And if you have an e-reader like a Kindle or Nook, you can use Calibre to convert the PDF to the native format for your reader.)  Carson's writings have really helped me to read carefully and thoughtfully.
• I've also used The Daily Bible, which takes you through a chronological/historical reading of the whole Bible, with some notes & comments along the way.  There are plenty of different kinds of daily/one year Bibles.

And some more plans that I haven't tried for myself:

• A Chronological Bible Reading Plan by George Guthrie.
• A Two-Year Reading Plan by Stephen Witmer, who writes about the plan and expresses some potential weaknesses of some traditional one-year plans here.
• Crossway has a whole list of different reading plans and different formats in which to get them.
• A For the Love of God blog.  This blog features a daily reading from the previously mentioned books by D.A. Carson.  You can subscribe to the blog and get a daily email with a reference to the Biblical passages along with Carson's writing.

There are plans all over the place.  I got some of these from looking at prior year's posts from Justin Taylor.  He and the other guys at the Gospel Coalition blogs are bound to be posting similar recommendations in the next week or so.  And I'm sure there will be countless other places to find a reading plan that fits you.

One more idea that I found may be great for those of you who have done the daily reading plans before and for whom it may have become tedious or repetitive or if you're just looking for a different way to read and get to know your Bible and the God who gave us His Word.  This isn't a yearly plan at all, but a method taken from James Gray's How to Master the English Bible.  Joe Carter and Fred Sanders both write about Gray and share this basic method.  From Carter:

...for the one or two people who will find this useful, the four steps that will transform your worldview are: 

1. Choose a book of the Bible.
2. Read it in its entirety.
3. Repeat step #2 twenty times.
4. Repeat this process for all books of the Bible.

Carter also shares some suggestions (& expands on each of these) for putting this method into practice:

1. Choose shorter books and work up to longer ones.
2. Read at your normal pace.
3. Skip the commentaries.
4. Stick with the process.
5. Choose an appropriate version.
6. Pray.
7. Begin today.

Sanders shares some extended quotes from Gray as well as this set of pointers:

1. Begin at the Beginning.
2. Read the Book.
3. Read it Continuously.
4. Read it Repeatedly.
5. Read it Independently.
6. Read it Prayerfully.

I hope & pray that you all have a very blessed Christmas, and that you will take advantage of every opportunity to worship Christ and glorify Him in your celebrations.

There's Something About That Name

Kevin DeYoung has a good reflection on "The Name of Jesus," which begins as follows:

Over the past 2000 years, more people on planet earth have known the name of Jesus than any other name. Since 33 AD, over 8 billion people, by one estimate, have claimed to be followers of this Jesus—or Jésus or Isus or whatever the Christ is called in your language. Billions more have heard of his name. Presently, the name of Jesus can be found in over 6000 languages and more are being added every year.

On the one hand, it’s strange that this single name has dominated the last 2000 years of world history, especially Western history. For most of us, Jesus has a sacred ring to it; it sounds holy and divine. But this wasn’t the case when Mary and Joseph followed the angel’s instructions and gave their baby his name. Granted, it had a special meaning, but it was not an unusual name. The first century Jewish historian Josephus mentions at least twelve different people he knew with the name Jesus, including four High Priests. In Acts 9 we read of the Jewish false prophet, Bar-Jesus. In Colossians 4, Paul mentions one of his fellow workers, Jesus, called Justus. And some ancient manuscripts of the gospel of Matthew call the robber released by Pilate, Jesus Barabbas, which can be translated, ironically enough, “Jesus Son of the Father.”

Read the whole thing and take some time to meditate on and worship the Name above all names.

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens, the atheist (or "antitheist" as he called himself) journalist, author of the book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, died Thursday night of pneumonia after an 18-month battle with esophageal cancer.  I wanted to share links to a couple of pieces about Hitchens that are worth reading.  Even if you don't know anything about Hitchens, I think these are beneficial for Christians to read and think about.

• Doug Wilson (whose debates with Hitchens were recorded in the documentary Collision) wrote an obituary for Christianity Today.
• Russell Moore also writes about Hitchens.  Here's how he begins:

Christopher Hitchens, the world’s most famously caustic atheist, is now dead.

Hitchens expected this moment, of course, but he anticipated, wrongly, a blackness, a going out of consciousness forever. Many Christians today are sadly remarking on what it is like for Christopher Hitchens to be now opening his eyes in hell.

We might be wrong.

Welcome to Our World

Today as I was thinking back over the lesson from Malachi, I was reminded that despite God's promise that "the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple," it was some 400 years before Christ was born. Try to imagine how hard it was for the people of Israel to wait and wait and not see the promise fulfilled. But I'm reminded that the coming of Christ was promised first to Adam & Eve back in the garden of Eden. And I'm reminded of 2 Peter 3:9-10, where it says:

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

I love this song, written by Chris Rice, and how it would fit so well into the longing of the Jews, perhaps those shepherds out watching their sheep that night, waiting for their Messiah to come, and then to be able to see their baby Savior:

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God.
You've been promised, we've been waiting.
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child. 

Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known.
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home.
Please make Yourself at home. 

Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled.
Word now breaking Heaven's silence.
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world. 

Fragile finger sent to heal us.
Tender brow prepared for thorn.
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born. 

So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod.
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God.
Welcome to our world.

Thinking of those 400 years of silence between Malachi and the birth of Christ, I realized that the Church has been waiting nearly 2000 years for the second advent, Christ's return. And I consider these words from Revelation 22:20:

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

A Look at Advent Through Malachi

Yesterday was our second week in our brief series, "A Look at Advent Through the Old Testament." We normally don't have Life Group the weekend of Christmas with Friends, but since Josh Denhart shared his Intentionally Parenting material with us the prior week, we decided to use yesterday as a make-up day of sorts.

The lesson was from Malachi 2:17-3:5 about "The Refining Love of God".  We had some really good discussion, and I thought I'd share my teaching notes:

Icebreaker Question:

Think back to when you were a kid. What are some of the presents you most wanted to see under the tree, but didn't receive?

Background:

The first lesson in this series came from the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah prophesied that God would send His rebellious people into exile. The Babylonians indeed came and conquered Jerusalem, destroying the temple and killing or capturing most of the people of Judah. A few generations later, the people, as God promised, started going back home. And their first order of business was to rebuild the temple. After some opposition and stops & starts, they finally finished the second temple about 70 years after the fall of Jerusalem.

Now we come to Malachi's time. About another 70-80 years has passed since the temple was finished. But the optimism of the exiles has waned, worship of God has dwindled, with symptoms of sinful rebellion and flawed & inadequate sacrifices. God's people were once again becoming restless and bored. They didn't seek Him in worship, and - big shocker - they didn't find Him. They began to question things, and even question Him.

Malachi 2:17-3:5:

You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Teaching point 1: You are loved.

Teaching point 2: The love of God refines us.

Let's walk through this, and as we go, I hope you'll see the truth of these two points.

2:17 – The people have wearied the Lord by saying that “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord” and by asking “Where is the God of justice?”

Since the return from exile, the people have not experienced the prosperity they were expecting. Since the rebuilding of the temple, they have not experienced God's presence like they were expecting.

Q: Do you remember what preceded the temple?

When Moses was on Mount Sinai, he not only received the 10 Commandments and the Law, he received instructions to build the tabernacle. When the tabernacle was finished, we read this in Exodus 40:34-35:

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”

Years later, after the kingdom was instituted in Israel, and after temple was built in Jerusalem, we read this in 1 Kings 8:10-11:

“And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.”

So you can understand if the people in Malachi's day expected a similar experience of the glory of the Lord upon rebuilding the temple. But it didn't happen. And in the years since, they have fallen back into the sinful patterns of their ancestors, assuming that God is absent. Hence the question, “Where is the God of justice?”

And now, God answers the people.

Q: Who do we see in Malachi 3:1? (hints: more than one actor, more than one messenger)

1.      The LORD - “I” - the One who sends the messenger. - YAHWEH

2.      The Lord's messenger – the one who will prepare the way for another.

1.      Who is this messenger?

2.      Here's a little Bible trivia: Who was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist? (2 Kings 1:8) - Elijah

3.      Look @ 4:5 - “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” - this messenger will be a prophet like Elijah

4.      Matthew 17 – after the Transfiguration, Jesus tells Peter, James, & John that Elijah “has already come”

5.      So who is the “Elijah” that has already come?

                                                        i.            Mark 1:6 – clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist

                                                      ii.            Matthew, Mark, & Luke, two quoting Jesus, refer to Malachi 3:1 as a prophecy of John the Baptist.

3.      So who did this messenger, this prophet, John the Baptist, prepare the way for?

1.      “The Lord whom you seek” = “the messenger of the covenant” = “me” in the first sentence

2.      For Christ the Lord, for God Himself. He is coming as a person.

4.      And where is this prepared way leading? To where is the Christ coming?

1.      To the temple. The second temple which was built by the returning exiles.

2.      Have any of you been to Jerusalem? Can you tell us about the temple – what it looks like, where it sits, how you felt when you stood in the very place that Christ stood & taught & healed people? Why not? The temple, the so-called second temple, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Christ has already come to His temple, the very temple Malachi knew.

So the people have asked “Where is the God of justice?” And now they're told, just wait, He's coming.

Don't we ask this question today? We all want justice to be done, right? We don't want to see spouses cheat on each other, we don't want to see workers oppressed, we don't want to see widows & orphans with nobody to care for them. We don't want to see the guilty go free. We want to see justice done. But do we want justice for ourselves? Do we want God's justice for our sins? Of course not. In a certain sense, this is a case of “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.”

3:2 - “Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”

We're told several places throughout the Bible that God is a consuming fire. Here in Malachi, He is described as a refiner's fire.

Q: What's the difference between a refiner's fire and an incinerator's fire?

None of us could survive God's consuming fire. And none of us could stand in His presence without His purifying fire.

How can we experience God's fire as refining and not consuming? One thing it cannot be – the answer cannot be “get rid of your own sin.” For then you would need no refining. Refining is for sinners – refining burns up your sin! So if that's not the answer, what is? How indeed can we experience God's fire as refining and not consuming?

In verse 5, it says that God is coming in judgment, and sums up the list of sinners by saying they “do not fear me.” This takes us back to a repeated theme in our study of Ecclesiastes – to fear the Lord. It takes us back throughout the Old Testament. This idea of "the fear of the Lord" can be a confusing idea – does this mean we should be afraid of God, or that we should respect & revere Him? Or both?

One place that captures this is Exodus 20. God has appeared on Mt. Sinai, descending on it in fire, enveloping it in smoke, causing the mountain to tremble. God speaks to His people the 10 Commandments, and the people are understandably frightened. They tell Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19)

And Moses responds, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:20) Did you hear that? “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” Don't fear God, but fear God. Clarifying, isn't it?

Here are some words of explanation and illustration from John Piper (from this sermon):

O how we need to meditate on such perplexing texts. "Do not fear. You are being tested." You pass the test only if you don't fear. Yet God desires that the fear of him be always before your eyes. You pass the test by fearing the Lord. The text provides the distinctions necessary to make sense out of this. The fear that Moses was telling them to get rid of was the fear of coming close to God and hearing his voice. The fear that Moses wanted them to keep before their eyes was that God is fearfully powerful and opposed to sin. The fear of kindling God's powerful wrath against sin ought not to drive us away from God but to God for mercy.

[My wife] Noël and the boys and I went out to [our friends] Dick and Irene Tiegen's place last week. They have a big dog as tall as [our son] Benjamin which greeted us with barks and growls from where he was chained. But after we were there and in the house with the dog, he was friendly. Then we went outside again and Irene gave the warning: Don't run from him. But as [our son] Karsten was heading out to the car, the dog came trotting up behind, and instead of slowing down and petting the dog, Karsten started to run, and immediately the dog barked and growled. What a lesson in the fear of God. Irene was Moses and she says to us Israelites, the Piper family, "Do not fear to draw near, but keep the fear of the dog (the fear of the Lord) before your eyes, lest you try to run away (lest you start to fall into sin)." God is a joy to be near and a terror to those who flee. The comparison breaks down, however: Irene put the dog in the basement, but nobody puts God in the basement.

If you are running from God because you are afraid of him, then you are not yet as afraid as you ought to be. In fact, your very flight is a mockery of God, presuming to think that you could outrun this German shepherd. If you really fear him and love your own life, stop running, turn around, and hug his neck for dear life, and he will lick your face. The fear of the Lord is fear of fleeing out of his fellowship into the way of sin. Therefore the fear of the Lord is full of peace and security and hope. It keeps us near to the merciful heart of God, our fortress, our refuge, our sanctuary, our shield, our sun. Isaiah 8:13 says, "The Lord of Hosts, ... let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he will become a sanctuary." A proper fear of the Lord keeps us under the shadow of his wings where we need not be afraid.

Praise God that He sent us a Refiner the first Christmas. Praise God that He is our sanctuary, that while He comes to save us in our sin, He doesn't leave us in our sin. I pray that you would embrace God as a Refiner, and trust that the suffering and trials we face are ultimately for our good, as God is chipping away at our sin as He conforms us to the image of Christ. And I pray that we would come to rejoice and seek for Christ's glory to be revealed in us (1 Peter 4:12-19).

Christmas Cards

The previous post suggests that "this is the best time of year to talk about Jesus." I think it's probably the easiest time to do so.  And I think one of the easiest, most non-threatening ways to do so is with Christmas cards.  Who doesn't like to get Christmas cards?  I love getting the mail and opening the cards, reading various cards & letters and seeing lots of family pictures.  What I love most is reading good messages that point me to Christ and the gospel.  Whether it's a letter from one of my college friends who is now a pastor, or a brief line in a card or on a picture, I love how they help me worship the Savior.  I also love the opportunity to get this message in the hands of people who may have never heard it or embraced it before.

If you're planning on sending out some form of card this year, and haven't yet, I'd recommend that you consider including some sort of message that keeps the focus on Christ.  (Or keep this in mind for next year.)  It doesn't have to be long or filled with Bible verses.  Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason shares some messages, encouraging people to pick one to include in their card.  Or maybe these suggestions will get your mind rolling to think of something on your own.  Here are two from Koukl that I particularly liked:

Christmas Blessings…

…with a prayer that you come to a quiet place of reflection on the simplicity of Jesus’ birth and the magnitude of His purpose.

---

From the cradle to the cross:
What the Child has done for those who receive His pardon…

Free Download: Bringing the Gospel Home

From Crossway:

The holiday season is upon us! For some, this means more days off work and more time with family. And if you have unbelieving family members, the joy of celebrating Christmas can be mixed with anxiety and hopeful expectation—this is perhaps the best time of year to talk about Jesus.

After all, there are songs on mainstream radio proclaiming the birth of a King, whom people are coming to adore, a savior who can save us all from Satan’s power. This is the time of year when people are most open to going to a church service or watching your kids sing in a Christmas program. Yet, even during this special time of year, sharing the gospel with family can be difficult. 

Crossway is offering a free download (in PDF, Mobi, or Epub format) of Bringing the Gospel Home: Witnessing to Family Members, Close Friends, and Others Who Know You Well.