February 29* – Day 60 – Joshua 7-9; John 7 Day 335 – 2 Corinthians 1-3; Matthew 22

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 335 – 2 Corinthians 1-3 Matthew 22 summary!]

[*ADDITIONAL NOTE:  No, there is no February 29 in 2019, but there will be one every four years, and the 1 Year Prayer and Bible Reading Guide is an annual guide, so please read an extra day today-both February 29 and March 1.  Thank you!]

Joshua 7 shows us the consequences of disobedience in the clearest terms. God had promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. He had pronounced that reality over and over again through Moses. Yet, Achan decided to disobey God’s command not to keep any of the spoils from the battle of Jericho. As a result, the Israelites lost their first battle against Ai. Thirty-six of their soldiers died. When Joshua heard about it, his response was reasonable: He fell on his face before the LORD, thinking they needed the LORD’s help to win the fight. But the LORD said, “Get up!” In other words, “Joshua, I’m not the one responsible for this situation. The people are. They have sinned, and I have responded to it.” God always responds to sin.  The response to Achan’s sin was clear, immediate, and severe.  God cannot be in the presence of sin. That’s why Jesus came, but that’s getting way ahead of the story. In the case of Achan, the consequences of the sin were thirty-six dead soldiers, a defeat at the hands of a people who God had given over to the Israelites, and Achan and his family were destroyed. The lesson is clear: trust God and obey Him.

Joshua 8 shows us the difference between obedience and disobedience. After Achan’s sin had been exposed and judged, God sent the Israelites against Ai again. This time the result was the utter destruction of Ai. Afterwards, Joshua set up an altar and read the Law of the LORD. Joshua wanted to make certain the people saw the cause and effect relationship between obedience and blessing, and disobedience and cursing. That relationship stands throughout history, but sometimes the results of our obedience or disobedience aren’t as immediately obvious as in this situation.

Joshua 9 shows us the lengths to which people will go to save their lives. The people of Gibeon heard about the exploits of the Israelites and carried out an elaborate ruse to save themselves. They wore old clothes and packed spoiled food and “travelled” to the Israelites. They told the Israelites they were from a distant country and wanted to make a treaty with them. Without consulting the Lord, the leaders of Israel entered into an agreement to spare the Gibeonites. When they found out the Gibeonites had deceived them, they agreed not to kill them, because of their oath, but condemned them to be woodcutters for Israel. What do we learn from this account? Proverbs 5:6 comes to mind: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.  We find it so easy to rely on our own understanding. From all outward appearances the Gibeonites were from a distant land, but had the Israelites consulted the LORD, He would have revealed the deceitful plan to them. The lesson for us is to turn to God first, not after we have relied on our own understanding.

As we return to John 7, let’s look at one, specific verse John 7:18:18The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. The principle Jesus offered here remains valid and helpful for us 2,000 years later. When a person champions his or her own standing, situation, glory, or honor we rightly suspect the motivation. If anyone ever had the right to push His own agenda and His own glory it was Jesus. After all, He is the God of the universe! Yet, Jesus didn’t come to put Himself in the limelight or to be served. He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for us. Every time I reflect on that truth, I am amazed. I ask, “Why?  Why would the God of the universe put Himself in the position of dying for you and me?” We know He had to do it to satisfy God’s justice, and to quiet God’s righteous wrath. But, still, God could have wiped us out and started over. Instead, He put Himself on the cross, paid the penalty for our sins, rose again to show us His ability to follow through on His promises to us, returned to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to live victoriously until He returns. Wow! As so many worship songs have put it over the years, “What a Savior!”

Day 335 – 2 Corinthians 1-3 Matthew 22

Today, we move to 2 Corinthians. While we would assume the letter follows 1 Corinthians, most biblical scholars believe Paul wrote another letter to the Corinthian believers that we no longer have. I would fit between the first and second letters. Their reasoning is Paul seems to address matters that go beyond what we would assume from a reading of 1 Corinthians if 2 Corinthians were, indeed, the second letter. In this “second” letter, Paul invests much time defending his apostleship and his ministry, which has come into question by the Corinthian believers. While we often assume the first century church was purer than the church in our day, people have always been people. The “flesh” continues to struggle with the Holy Spirit for leadership in our lives. The Corinthian believers show us even with a leader such as the Apostle Paul, we can still assume we know better than our leaders. That ought not surprise us, because the disciples sometimes thought they knew better than Jesus, and He is God!

In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul’s salutation reminds the Corinthian believers of the hardships he has faced for the gospel, and that they have shared in his sufferings. After this “pleasant” introduction, Paul moves to engage the Corinthians over the reason he did not come to visit them as he had planned originally. He points out that his “Yes,” is not “Yes and no,” but “Yes.” This is the same for Timothy. This defense of himself continues as we move to chapter 2.

In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul becomes more direct in defending himself by saying he didn’t come when he planned, because he didn’t want to grieve them, or be grieved by them. He goes on to tell the Corinthians it is time to forgive one of the brothers, because he had suffered enough. Paul reminded them when they forgave anyone in Christ’s name they received His forgiveness, and the same was true when Paul forgave someone. In the closing part of the chapter Paul reminded the Corinthians they were the “aroma” of Christ. This is a powerful image, and particularly so, because Paul told them that aroma was either an aroma of life or a stench of death, depending on whether the person breathing it in was following Jesus or perishing.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul offers a reminder that he didn’t commend himself to the believers there, but his commendation is the Holy Spirit. He also pointed out the surpassing glory of the Spirit’s presence and power. He compares it to the glory of God demonstrated in Moses’ life when his face radiated after meeting with God. He said the present glory would be much greater, because it comes from the power of the New Covenant, not the covenant of Moses that had passed away. What a crucial reminder for us. We must always remember we live on the resurrection side of Easter. God has done a new thing in and through Jesus. Therefore, we must always live in that resurrection power through the Holy Spirit.

As we return to Matthew 22, Jesus tells the Parable of the Wedding Feast, followed by the religious leaders offering three “tests” to Jesus. The chapter ends with Jesus raising a question for them about the Messiah’s relationship to King David. In the Parable of the Wedding Feast, the master invites guests to come to his wedding, but no one will come. The excuses offered by the invited guests are ridiculous. In anger, the master invites those no one would expect, so his wedding party will be full. Jesus’ point is clear: Those one might expect to be part of His kingdom might not be, while many no one would expect to be there will. The first “test” Jesus faced dealt with the relationship between our commitment to follow God and Caesar. In that test Jesus responded we must give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. This wasn’t an answer in basic sense of the word, because it left open for all to interpret what Jesus meant. What it did, though, was show the religious leaders, they had their hands full.

The second “test” came from the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in the resurrection. They offered a scenario where one woman was married to eight brothers, one at a time. Each of the brothers died, and finally the woman died. The Sadducees question was, “Whose wife will she be in the resurrection, because each of the men were married to her?” Jesus’ response clears up some matters for us. He said the Sadducees were wrong, because in heaven we are neither married or given in marriage but are “like” the angels. He also reminded the Sadducees when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush He told them, “I amthe God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” meaning those patriarchs were alive, because God is the God of the living not the dead.

In the final “test,” Jesus was asked which commandment in the Law of Moses was greatest. He responded quickly: to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. This would have been expected. Jesus added a second commandment, which He said was like the first: Love your neighbor as yourself. This would have surprised the religious leaders, but they couldn’t argue with it.

Finally, Jesus asked the religious leaders how the Messiah could be the descendant of David, when David wrote in the Psalms that the Messiah was his Lord? No one had an answer for the question, and the religious leaders decided not to ask Jesus any more questions.

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