Is having a system of Bible reading legalistic?

I believe that the answer to this is NO!

That is of course, unless you apply it legalistically! ;-)

I think there is way to much confusion these days between Godly order (or having a disciplined life that releases us into blessing)and legalism. It seems that anything with a degree of systematisation to it is automatically seen as being legalistic by many. This is absurd and unhelpful.

Legalism is that which seeks to displace the Gospel of Grace with a Law based, moralistic approach to EARN God's favour and approval and our subsequent identity. The book of Galatians is the most helpful study in the dangers of legalism. You cannot and do not earn God's love and position as a son - this is the gift of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We receive Him and this gift by faith as an act of mercy and grace.

Back to Bible study/reading.

Having some method to reading is not a bad thing, it is a good thing. I do believe though that we should allow such methods or tools to be our servant and not our master. Many of us are less disciplined these days and probably need a certain degree of planning and structure in our lives though in order to stay 'full of the Word'

If you have any thoughts on this issue do leave a comment. I am leaving you though with a link to a suggested Bible reading program for 2012 and some advise form Bible teacher Michael Eaton
BIBLE READING SUGGESTED FORMAT

Happy New Year!

Jason

Mary revisited

Thank God for Mary, the mother to Jesus, who conceived Him by the Spirit and carried Him to birth, brought Him up, fed Him, clothed Him and no doubt performed so many normal motherly functions for Him...God chose to incarnate the Son of God as a man and to have Him born in the normal way, conceived in no ordinary way...So today, I want to honour Mary, to remember her and to thank God for her and for how she endured scorn, shame and the loss of a son on the cross...all for the Kingdom of God, quite a load to carry and from what we know she carried it well!

What a pity though that myths about Mary have been allowed to develop through church tradition that elevate her to a superhuman level and actually rob her and us of the true story of this humble servant - somehow in this there has been a sad loss of 'proper focus'. Mary is not God nor a deity of any form, nor can Mary answer prayers - according to Scripture. The Bible teaches that 'there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ' (1 Timothy 2v5) Mary should be respected but the Bible gives us NO indication that we should ever pray to her or put our trust in her to help us out through interventions while we are alive. Repetition of 'Hail Marys', according to the Bible, are a waste of time and would surely cause Mary great distress if she were not enjoying the perfection of Heaven too much at this time!
Another myth about Mary, apart from her supposed ability to 'answer prayer' is the proposition regarding her 'perpetual virginity', even as a married woman! This is surely a complete myth developed on the back of dogmas developed under Plato's influence centuries ago by 'theologians'. The notion of Mary ever having had sexual relations with her husband has been rejected by a sector of the church because of philosophical reasons. This is the same logic and dogma that has left priests unable to marry in one major denomination and see what effect that illogical and unnatural imposition of philosophical belief upon God's divine order has brought about! Enough said. Mary was a normal woman, a normal wife, who went on to have other children. She was created as a sexual being and was a normal married woman no doubt in this regard. There is NO need to believe otherwise! Just because Jesus was immaculately conceived should not in any way presuppose that Mary had a restraining order from above imposed upon her to make her chaste. Oh what unnecessary foolishness. The final part of the 'dirty lens' that needs wiping regarding Mary is the dogma regarding her own immaculate conception. No! The very point Jesus chose to belong to a family of no great social standing or means, and to a teenage unmarried virgin - was that He is a God of GRACE! He chooses the weak and ignoble things of this world and kisses us with His favour inspite of these traits! One of Jesus' ancestors was a harlot called Rahab, David was complicit in murder, Abraham had betrayed his wife on fear of his life...should I go on? It is WRONG to think that Jesus had to belong to a 'perfect' mother, who is some super-sanitised otherworldly demi-God. The whole point of God's redemptive plan was to visit a guilty world in love. To visit the poor with the riches of His glory, and Mary was an ordinary young lady who was chosen, in no small measure for her 'ordinariness' I believe. She was chosen because she was chosen not because she was 'worthy' of being chosen.

Why pick a fight on this you may be asking? Well, this folks is important on a few levels. Twisting Scripture is never clever, creating your own dogmas and church tradition as authoritative on a par with Scripture is toxic and warned against by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. My main point here though is simply this. Mary was chosen by God to carry the Lord of Glory in her womb because she was chosen, and because she was a normal 'imperfect' sinner. Yes, Mary too was a sinner. This only elevates my admiration of her. Imperfection rather than perfection seemed to qualify her to carry the Lord of Glory!
Lets see Mary through the lens of what is historically accurate and theologically sound. Lets admire her for her ordinariness and yet outstanding qualities of character. Lets resist the faulty premise that Mary needs to be 'elevated' to some other-worldly status and assigned the qualities of a deity type figure. She does not. Grace means we get what we DON'T DESERVE not what we do deserve, Mary must be longing for this to be revealed in relation to her own story.

The same is true for you and I. Resist the false teaching that claims you have to 'clean up your own life' in order to be saved by God. Resist the lie that you have to 'prove yourself' in order for God to accept you. No, the cross of Christ is the proving ground! Even our righteous acts are like 'filty rags' before God, in light of His holiness and glory. No. Accept your ordinariness. Accept your ignoble lineage. Accept your sinfulness and need of a Saviour. When you have done this, you are ready to believe upon Jesus in a new way, in a way that makes you desperate for His Grace, His blood for your sin, His life for your death, His eternity for your lostness.

Thank God for Mary, today I celebrate and honour her - mother to Jesus, and am so grateful for her life and example and thank God that He uses and accepts the weak and ordinary people of this world for His extraordinary and powerful purposes!
JS

posting comments

In this all new era of learning how to use technology, I have amended this site to allow easy application of comments

JS

The lady of my dreams

Just a small tribute to my best friend and the love of my life Ali. This photo was taken to celebrate our 10th Anniversary as a church here in Dublin, since we began back in 2001

Ali has been an unbelievable support and encouragement to me and many others, a pioneer with a worshippers heart, great tenacity and the best story-teller I know....!

Thank you Ali, xoxxo

Jason

A JOYFUL noise!

South City Church making a JOYFUL noise at our local Stillorgan Shopping centre....

for Christmas....

connecting with our community...

and having great FUN in the process...

Releasing JOY!

JS