Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022
This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT.
Bible Readings: Amos 1-5
Background:
As we move through the Major Prophets we will also intersperse the 12 minor prophets among them. Amos was an early prophet who spoke to the northern 10 tribes, Israel.
Daily Devotional: Other People's Sins
Amos 1 and 2 is a brilliant sermon, one that illustrates a point about sermons that appeal to the flesh as opposed to those that speak to the spirit.
Amos begins the sermon by addressing the sins of Israel's pagan neighbors, their enemies. I can only imagine the joy of Amos' hearers as he began by addressing Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre. Then he looked across the Jordan River and the Dead Sea to the Edomites and Ammonites and Moabites, confronting their wickedness in the eyes of God. Prophets were often unpopular, but this time and at this moment Amos was everyone's favorite.
You can always be popular preaching against OPS - Other People's Sins. People love to hear about how awful "they" are - those liberals, those homosexuals, those druggies and drunkards, those Hollywood lowlifes. It gives people a sense of moral superiority to hear how awful other people are - it feeds the flesh, our innate self-righteousness fed by pride.
But Amos had saved the best for last. In Amos 2:4, he confronted the sins of Judah, Israel's rival to the south. Israel was the 10 northern tribes that had split from the tribe of Judah (Jerusalem). At best there was jealousy and rivalry, and often there was a war. When Amos confronted the sins of Judah, the chorus of amens must have rung throughout the audience.
But then things changed. Amos stopped preaching and started meddling. In Amos 2:6, the prophet turns his attention away from OPS and begins to address TPS - This People's Sins.
Amos begins the sermon by addressing the sins of Israel's pagan neighbors, their enemies. I can only imagine the joy of Amos' hearers as he began by addressing Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre. Then he looked across the Jordan River and the Dead Sea to the Edomites and Ammonites and Moabites, confronting their wickedness in the eyes of God. Prophets were often unpopular, but this time and at this moment Amos was everyone's favorite.
You can always be popular preaching against OPS - Other People's Sins. People love to hear about how awful "they" are - those liberals, those homosexuals, those druggies and drunkards, those Hollywood lowlifes. It gives people a sense of moral superiority to hear how awful other people are - it feeds the flesh, our innate self-righteousness fed by pride.
But Amos had saved the best for last. In Amos 2:4, he confronted the sins of Judah, Israel's rival to the south. Israel was the 10 northern tribes that had split from the tribe of Judah (Jerusalem). At best there was jealousy and rivalry, and often there was a war. When Amos confronted the sins of Judah, the chorus of amens must have rung throughout the audience.
But then things changed. Amos stopped preaching and started meddling. In Amos 2:6, the prophet turns his attention away from OPS and begins to address TPS - This People's Sins.
I will not relent from punishing Israel for three crimes, even four...
All of a sudden, the amens ceased and the Amos' popularity dwindled. People love to hear about the sins of others but are much less interested in hearing about what might be wrong in their own hearts. Amos' brilliant message set up the hearers by pointing the finger to the north and to the east and to the south and drawing them in, before he pointed the finger right at them and told them that they had their own sins to deal with.
Self-righteousness causes us to look at the faults and sins of others and to ignore the failings of our own hearts. When God's Spirit begins to work within us, we cease to look down in judgment on others and face up to our own sins. The focus turns from OPS to my own sins and when that happens, there is true cleansing and renewal through the blood of Christ.
Our flesh loves the outward focus on other's failings, on the blame game, on passing the buck, on OPS; but there is no spiritual victory, no growth, no healing or renewal in that. Those only come as we allow the Spirit of God to confront us, as the prophet Amos did Israel, with our sins and bring us to repentance.
Father, may your Spirit show me my heart. Expose every dark place in which the flesh reigns in rebellion to the Lordship of your Son. May he rule me body, soul and spirit.
Consider God's Word:
Do you find yourself pointing the finger rather than dealing with your own sin?
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