Bible Challenge Archives - Page 4 of 15

Kirkers Read: Staying out of the Weeds of Heresy

Ben Zornes on September 24, 2018

“Really wish I hadn’t got into the habit of eating food almost everyday,” said no one ever. Daily Bible reading is a habit which no one ever regrets forming. Sure there’ll be days that are crazy, or you’re traveling, or some circumstance prevents you from eating, but sooner or later, all of us circle back around to getting a meal in…in some way shape or form. Spiritually speaking, this needs to be the way you approach Scripture. If circumstances cause you to miss a day…just make sure to get back to it the next day.

Often we think that we must have some pietistic euphoria glowing about us before we pick up the Good Book to read. It is dangerous to think you have to get in some angelic mood before reading Scripture, rather than coming to it like you come to the dinner table. You come to a meal with the underlying knowledge that you will be fed, nourished, and strengthened. During digestion you don’t go: ”Aha…I just felt those baby carrots improve my eyesight.” The nourishment from the food does its thing, often without our notice. In some sense, Scripture does the same thing through faithful reading and obedience to it. You should read intelligently and attentively. However, trust that the Holy Spirit is working in you to nourish you, convict you, and strengthen you, through the Word, often without your notice. This is all simply to say, don’t look at yourself during Bible reading, look to the Word. It is living and active and will perform what God sent it forth to do.

On a different note, in this Bible Reading Challenge, we are bouncing between the Old and New Testament each day. This is a vital practice. All too many modern evangelicals spend all their time in the NT, to the neglect of the OT. The problem with this is that, as the Westminster Confession teaches us, “The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself.” This means that in order to properly interpret and understand the NT you must have the context of the OT. The NT is replete with OT symbols, quotes, allusions, references, etc. A further lesson here is that when you come to tricky texts it is important to try to understand them in light of what Scripture says elsewhere. This is the best way to stay out of the weeds of heresy!

Kirkers Read: Shadows in Genesis, Full Glory in Matthew

Ben Zornes on September 18, 2018

As you read Genesis, you may notice that after the fall each new character which is introduced seems to be presented to raise our hopes that this one is the seed which God promised Eve. Cain, Seth, Noah, Abram, Ishamael, Isaac, Jacob and so on. The hope is raised that each one may be the deliverer which God promised, but each time, some way or another, they are revealed to be “not the one.”

Cain seems like the obvious answer to God’s promise, but turns out to be quite the opposite. Noah is like a new Adam, but in the end we see that though he was a righteous man, he was only a symbol of the true deliverer God had promised. On it goes, with either our hopes being disappointed by the sin of the man, or by God’s revelation that His promised Messiah would come through the seed of the elected person.

A very simple blessing of reading the OT and NT simultaneously is that as you read the stories of the patriarchs, you are reading the Gospel of He Who was indeed God’s Promised One. Matthew presents Jesus as the long-awaited King, and then shows how those to whom the promise of God’s kingdom had come reject the King He had sent to deliver them.

Finally, a big picture encouragement regarding reading the Scriptures. As the Westminster Confession teaches, the Scriptures make a “full discovery” of the “only way of man’s salvation (Chapter I.5).” This provides abundant evidence that it is in fact God’s Word. However, the only means of full persuasion of the Bible’s authority is a something the Holy Spirit gives. In essence, we don’t run a mental investigation and at the end go, “Well, logically I’ve concluded this is God’s Word.” This puts man in judgement over the Word of God. Rather, after the Holy Spirit miraculously vivifies our heart, we are given assurance that God has proclaimed salvation to us through His Word. The Bible isn’t an academic text, it is tidings of salvation for those who have ears to hear. Ears that have been miraculously opened by God’s Holy Spirit.

Kirkers Read 13: Enjoy the View

Ben Zornes on August 27, 2018

When you go for a hike it doesn’t work to take a step, turn around and enjoy the view. For one, the view doesn’t change that much with each step, and secondly, you’ll likely never make it to the top of the mountain if you spend all your day trying to appreciate how far you’ve come. It is far better to put your head down, plow forward, and at regular intervals take in the progress that’s been made. As you tackle the final week of the challenge, take a look back over the terrain we’ve covered from the vista of reading the whole New Testament. If you’ve never done something like this before, a special congrats are in order.

Hopefully this summer’s reading plan has helped spur you on in forming, cultivating, and maintaining the discipline of reading the Bible. Moving forward, remember that the Christian life isn’t defined by the number of pages turned, the number of days in a row, or the amount of verses you remember from that day’s reading. Your life, from top to bottom, is defined by Christ. He is what the Word proclaims. He is Who you are seeking by reading Scripture. It testifies of Him.

John tells us that, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (Jhn. 17:3).” Never swerve from that path. Tread it out day by day. There will be vistas of enjoyment where you can survey how far the Lord has brought you. There will be dark valleys, full of thickets, where it feels like your progress has slowed to a crawl. But He shall sustain you to the last. Here’s to many more treks through the forest of His Word, and to glorious views of our glorious Lord and Savior Jesus.

Kirkers Read 12: Generational Hand-Off

Ben Zornes on August 21, 2018

This week we wrap up the book of Hebrews and read through Paul’s pastoral letters to two young pastors (Timothy and Titus). Whenever I read the book of Hebrews, I’m reminded of that verse in Luke 24:27 which describes Jesus’ words to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” One of the big picture things going on in Hebrews is putting the glory of the Mosaic Law under the brighter light of Christ. There are some a pieces of art that once put under a black light the variegated colors become more vibrant and the whole painting comes alive in a way that it doesn’t under normal light. Hebrews is like that with the Law of Moses. It takes all those OT patriarchs, sacrifices, and types and shines the light of Christ upon them exposing that, all along, they were all intended to show forth His glory.

In Paul’s pastoral letters we see a profound picture of what it looks like to hand off the faith. He tells Timothy to “guard the deposit entrusted to you (1 Tim. 6:20).” In Titus 2, Paul commissions Titus to make sure that older women are teaching younger women to godly women, and for young men to be exhorted by older men to be godly men. In 2 Timothy 2:2 he instructs Timothy to commit the Gospel “to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” In essence, the sin of covenant presumption which often was the bane of the Israelites, must be hunted down and expelled from the Christian church. Notice in that last verse that Paul is telling Timothy to raise up men who can then raise up other men to be faithful to proclaim and teach the Gospel; that’s four generations of discipleship.

Finally, as we wrap up the Summer Bible Reading challenge over the next two weeks, remember Paul’s words and, by God’s grace, emulate them, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith (2 Tim. 4:7).” The best way to show forth Christ and impart Him to the next generation is to fight a good fight.

Kirkers Read 11: Distance Learning

Ben Zornes on August 14, 2018

We’re closing in on reading the entire New Testament in thirteen weeks. Finish strong, and continue to cultivate this discipline in your life. You will certainly never regret time in God’s Word. As we look at this week’s reading you’ll note that you’ll be blazing through four different epistles and get a third of the way through another one.

What is striking when you read through these shorter New Testament books is that these are letters written to real congregations and people. One thing to pay attention to as you read the epistle is to keep a keen eye out for what issue(s) Paul is addressing. Then remember, none of this is in a vacuum. There are current events and cultural influences which must be address and combatted and that is exactly what Paul––a master builder (1 Cor. 3:10)––sets out to do, time and time again. As he mentions in Philippians 3:1, it is “no problemo” to write the same things repeatedly.

God, in giving us His Word, wants us to learn and grow via distance learning. We are now 2,000 years removed from the writing of these letters, but still they exhort us, reprove us, and spur us onward in knowing Christ. Never forget that the whole goal of the Bible is that you would know Christ. Not just know about Christ, or know things about Christ. But know Him. Christ is the Sun of the Solar System of Christianity. Every revolves around Him. In Philippians 3:7-11 we have, what I like to call “the Mt. Everest of Paul’s writing.” For Paul, this is what it is all about: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”