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The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2016Sample
### New Year's Resolutions
I belong to a squash club that is also a gym. Each year on 1 January they
bring in extra gym equipment. The place is packed out. By about 7 January,
they move out all the extra equipment as most people have given up their New
Year's resolution and the club returns to normal!
* Get fit
* Lose weight
* Reduce drinking
* Stop smoking
* Get out of debt
There is nothing wrong with making these common New Year's resolutions. Of
course, all of us make resolutions that we fail to keep.
The good news is that each year is an *opportunity *for new beginnings and a
fresh start. But then so is each week. Every Sunday is the first day of the
week - a new beginning. Actually, every day is an opportunity for a new
beginning.
The first three words in the Bible are, 'In *the beginning*…' (Genesis 1:1).
Each of the passages for today tells us something about new beginnings and new
opportunities, and suggests some possible New Year's resolutions.
### Psalm 1:1-6
## 1\. Resolve to 'delight' in the Bible
If you are beginning the challenge to read the 'Bible in one year', this psalm
has encouraging words for you.
Make a regular habit of spending time with God, delighting, desiring and
meditating on his words.
The promise is that if you 'thrill to God's Word' and 'chew on Scripture day
and night' (v.2, MSG), your life will be blessed. *Happiness *comes from what
*happens *to you. *Blessing *is what happens to you through knowing God and
meditating on his words.
God promises you *fruitfulness *('which yields its fruit in season', v.3b),
*vitality *('whose leaves do not wither', v.3c) and *prosperity *(v.3d, not
necessarily material prosperity!). This message is backed up by a glance
across at the ultimate fate of 'the wicked'. The psalmist does not try and
pretend that the wicked don't sometimes prosper. He simply reminds us of the
transitory nature of that prosperity - 'they are like chaff that the wind
blows away… [they] will perish' (vv.4,6).
The key to lasting - and ultimately eternal - fruitfulness and vitality lies
in your relationship with God. If you seek to follow 'the way of the
righteous' that this psalm talks about, you are assured that the Lord himself
will watch over you (v.6).
> Lord, thank you for your wonderful promises as I resolve to delight in your
word and meditate on it. Thank you that you promise me eternal blessing,
fruitfulness, vitality, prosperity and your watchful eye upon me. Help me to
keep persevering in seeking you through your word.
### Matthew 1:1-25
## 2\. Resolve to focus on Jesus
The focus of our lives should be Jesus. The Bible is all about Jesus. The New
Testament opens with his family tree.
As we read the list of Jesus' ancestors it is encouraging to see that they
include the adulteress Tamar, the prostitute Rahab, Ruth (the non-Jewish
Moabite), Solomon 'whose mother had been Uriah's wife' (Solomon was conceived
after King David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba), as well as many others.
Thankfully, God uses sinful human beings and, therefore, can use us. Whatever
your past, however broken your life may seem right now, God can use you to do
something great with your life.
The very name 'Jesus' means, 'he will save his people from their sins' (v.21).
Every time we use the name Jesus it reminds us that our greatest need is not
for happiness or contentment (although these may both be by-products). Our
greatest need, as with Jesus' ancestors, is for forgiveness. Therefore, we
need a Saviour.
The beginning of Matthew shows us that Jesus is the completion of all that is
recorded in the Old Testament:
* Jesus is the climax of history
Matthew opens his Gospel by summarising the Old Testament story in terms of
Jesus' ancestry (vv.1-17). The Old Testament tells the story which Jesus
completes. Matthew sets out the history of the people of God in terms of three
equal periods: fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David
to the exile and fourteen from the exile to Christ (v.17).
In the genealogy, biological generations are skipped over (as was quite common
in Old Testament family trees). He was pointing out that Old Testament history
falls into three approximately equal spans of time between crucial events.
Jesus is the end of the line as far as the Old Testament story goes - the
climax has been reached.
* In Jesus, all the promises of God are fulfilled
Jesus is not only the completion of the Old Testament story at a historical
level, he is also the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies and all of
God's promises.
Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. Matthew concludes each of five
scenes from the conception, birth and early childhood of Jesus by quoting the
Hebrew Scriptures that have been 'fulfilled' by the events described (Matthew
1:22-23; 2:5-6,17,23; 4:14-16).
The first one is the fulfilment in the conception of Jesus: 'All this took
place to *fulfil *what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will
be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel"
(which means "God with us")' (1:22-23).
All of history, prophesy and promise is completed in Jesus. Your whole life is
completed in Jesus.
> Lord, thank you for this promise for the new year - that in Jesus, you are
with me. Help me to focus my life on you in the year ahead.
### Genesis 1:1-2:17
## 3\. Resolve to enjoy God's creation
You are not here by chance. This universe is God's creation. You are made in
his image.
Genesis gives an account of the beginning of the universe. It goes way beyond
the scientific theories of '*how?*' and '*when?*' this world began. It answers
the questions of '*why?*' and '*who?*' Scientific theories do not prove or
disprove this explanation. Rather, they are complementary.
Reading this passage through the lens of the New Testament we see the whole
Trinity involved in creation. The Hebrew noun for God (*Elohim*) is a plural
noun. The Holy Spirit was involved in creation (1:2). It was through Jesus
that creation came into being: 'And God said…' (v.3a). Jesus is 'the Word of
God' and without him nothing was made that has been made (see John 1:1-3).
In the midst of this account of the creation there is an amazing throwaway
line showing the immense power of God: '*He also made the stars*' (Genesis
1:16). We now know there are probably between 100 and 400 billion stars in our
galaxy alone, and our galaxy is but one of around 100 billion galaxies. He
made them all, *just like that*!
The pinnacle of his creation was human beings. You are made in the image of
God (v.27). If we want to know what God is like, it is men and women together
('male and female', v.27b) who reflect his image.
Every human being is created in his image and should be treated with dignity,
respect and love. Your ability to communicate with God is a reflection of the
fact that you are made in his image.
God approves of all that he created. He said, 'It is good'. Many people feel
worthless, insecure and of no value. But God did not create junk. God created
you. He loves you and approves of you. He may not approve of everything you
do, but he loves you unconditionally, wholeheartedly and continually.
We see in this passage that *work *is a *blessing*. 'The Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of Eden *to work it *and *take care of it*' (2:15).
Work is part of God's good creation - not a result of the fall. This passage
also reminds us that taking care of the environment is right at the heart of
God's plan for human beings.
Rest is not an optional extra. It is what God did ('he rested', v.2). These
days of rest (days off, holidays) are days of special blessing. 'God blessed
the seventh day and made it holy' (v.3). Holidays are holy days. They are a
time to recharge spiritually.
Don't work too hard. God took time to rest and enjoy what he had made. You are
not supposed to work constantly. You are created with a need for relaxation
and rest - taking the time to enjoy your work and the fruit of your work.
In Genesis 2:16-17 we see that God gave Adam and Eve far-reaching *permission
*('you are free to eat from any tree in the garden', v.16), with one
*prohibition *- 'but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil' (v.17a). He warned them of the *penalty *if they disobeyed ('when
you eat of it you will surely die', v.17b). You do not need to know and
experience evil. God wanted you to know only good.
> Lord, thank you for this universe that you have made. Help me to keep well
away from evil and to enjoy all the good things you have given us to enjoy.
### Pippa Adds
**Matthew 1:18-19**
How difficult this must have been for Mary, her parents and Joseph. They must
have felt embarrassed and ashamed. We see why Joseph was chosen to be Mary's
husband. He was very impressive - the girl he was about to marry was pregnant!
He would have been justified in being furious. Yet he didn't want to humiliate
her - he planned to 'divorce her quietly'. We see how he acts after an angel
appeared in a dream and told him to marry Mary (v.24). It must have taken
faith to put aside what people thought and raise a child that was not his own.
Eugene Peterson, The Message, ‘Introduction to Matthew’ (Colorado: Navpress, 2004) p. 1321
Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible,
New International Version Anglicised
Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society
Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company
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About this Plan
Start your day with the Bible in One Year, a free Bible reading plan with commentary by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel. Nicky Gumbel is the Vicar of HTB in London and pioneer of Alpha. This is an updated plan for 2016. ‘My fa...
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