Daily Reading Week 10
Sunday
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Discover
The first-century Corinthians were spiritual people because they were converted through the Holy Spirit and the gospel, but they were not behaving spiritually. They were following worldly wisdom. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 3:4 where he says that their fighting over who was the best teacher showed they were acting like humans, not like believers.
Why do we divide into factions and use our connections to get ahead in the church? Because we’re putting our trust in human beings and their gifts instead of remembering that we all have the same God in common. And any success we have in ministry comes from Him, not from us. God gives different gifts to His people, and some, like the Apostles, have more prominent gifts than others. But that doesn’t mean the church’s growth and health depend on those people. The church’s growth and health come from God. That’s the main idea Paul is trying to get across in this passage.
Focusing on the gifted individual rather than the gift giver goes against God’s ways. It denies God’s sovereign power in the gospel to convert and build up the chosen ones. Believers, by God’s grace, can play a big role in the kingdom of God. But they don’t decide how big or successful it becomes. This is true even for famous Christian teachers like Apollos and the first apostles like Paul. Each believer is given a special gift by God and a task, like spreading the gospel through preaching or helping others grow in their faith and practice through teaching. But any growth that happens is from God, just like a farmer can only credit the growth of his crops to the Lord, even though he works hard. In the big picture, we’re just servants who do what God wants us to do, and He’s the one who makes spiritual growth happen, not us.
So, it’s silly to argue with one orthodox teacher or to split up into groups to stop others from doing a good job. We’re all on the same team, if we’re in Christ. God wants us to be together as we follow the Great Commission. The work is His work, and He’s the one who makes it happen.
Respond
1. How do you see yourself contributing to the spiritual growth of others?
2. In what ways can you trust God more with the growth process in your life?
3. How can you avoid comparing your spiritual journey with others?
Monday
Matthew 13:1-23 (Focus on verses 3-8)
Discover
We’re living in a time of incredible privilege. In fact, we’re the most privileged generation in history. Each generation builds on the successes and failures of the past, learning exponentially more from history’s lessons. We’re bombarded with knowledge from books, articles, commentaries, lectures, and sermons, all of which should connect and enrich each other. And we’ve learned from those who came before us, including heroes of faith and those who didn’t make it.
While we have all these amazing advantages, they pale in comparison to our greatest privilege. We’ve been given the incredible gift of knowing Christ and His saving sacrifice through God’s revealed Word. In the parable of the sower, we learn that from Christ (the sower) we’ve been given the seed (the Gospel) to share with the soil (the hearts of people). All of this has been given to us freely by God, who opened our hearts.
God Almighty, through the power of the Holy Spirit, has chosen to open our eyes and ears so we can see and hear the truths of His Word. We’re clearly shown that we’re not saved by anything we do on our own. The Lord Jesus has saved us by grace alone. This overwhelming and incomprehensible truth about our sinfulness and God’s grace should humble us to the point where we feel like Job and cover our mouths and shut up.
So, do you believe? If you do, do you understand the significance of this incredible privilege you’ve been given? Do you feel the weight of responsibility to share what’s been bestowed upon you?
We have the amazing opportunity to share Christ with a dying world. Let’s proclaim Christ boldly, knowing that even if we’re the least in the kingdom of God, we’re greater than all the prophets who came before us because we’ve been given the unspeakable privilege to point to Christ.
Respond
1. Which type of soil do you feel your heart resembles right now?
2. What steps can you take to become more like the good soil?
3. How do distractions or worries in your life affect your spiritual growth?
Tuesday
Mark 4:1-20 (Focus on verses 14-20)
Discover
In Jesus’ parable of the sower, we learn about four different groups of people who hear the Word of God. The first group ignores the gospel completely. They don’t show any interest in Scripture, not even on the surface. They’re so hardened to God’s Word that the devil can easily take it away from them.
The second group seems to respond really well to the gospel. They seem to love Christ a lot and might even seem to grow quickly, spreading the kingdom far and wide. But appearances can be deceiving. This rapid growth hides the shallowness of their faith until they face persecution. Under the intense pressure of opposition, this second group of listeners finally rejects Jesus.
Jesus compares the seed that gets pushed out by thorns and thistles to those who seem to have faith but are then buried by the worries and concerns of this life. Like those who respond with great enthusiasm but then fall away because of persecution, those who later succumb to thorns and thistles seem to start out well. It’s not too hard to imagine that this group is even stronger than the group that falls to persecution. Maybe they’ve even survived persecution without turning away from Jesus. Maybe they’ve started to produce what seems to be good fruit. But in the end, these people turn away from Jesus to “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things”. They get distracted, sometimes even by things that are actually good, and they abandon Christ for the lesser gods of power and prestige or fame and fortune. Their faith is proven to be false.
The fourth group is represented by the seed that lands on good soil. These folks welcome the Word of God with open arms, unlike the seed that fell on rocky soil or got pushed out by worldliness. These are the real disciples of Jesus, who trust Him completely for salvation and are rooted in the truth of His Word. They don’t care about earthly stuff because it’s all for Christ and His kingdom. Jesus uses them to spread His gospel.
We can’t predict how big the harvest will be when God’s Word meets good soil, but we can be sure that it will come. We won’t see the full results of the harvest that the Lord produces when He sows His Word in us during our lifetime, but He sees it and He’ll reward us. He gives us the increase and He blesses us with a reward for the fruit He produces in us.
Respond
1. What are some "rocks" or "thorns" in your life that hinder your spiritual growth?
2. How can you deepen your understanding of God’s Word?
3. What practical steps can you take to protect your faith from being choked by worldly concerns?
Wednesday
Luke 8:4-15 (Focus on verses 11-15)
Discover
When I think about the Parable of the Soils, I see two main reasons Jesus told it. First, it’s a reminder to seed-sowers. Sometimes, we think everyone who hears the Gospel will believe it and follow Jesus. But that’s not realistic, Jesus says. The Word of God needs a response of faith to grow, and not everyone comes with a strong, wholehearted faith. Don’t be discouraged, Jesus says. The Word won’t grow in everyone, but it will grow in those who receive it eagerly. Don’t be discouraged; sow the Word faithfully.
But there’s also a second reason for telling the parable, and that’s to help hearers understand how they’re hearing the Word. Wherever it’s been told for the past two thousand years, the Parable of the Soils has had this effect. The process of self-examination and trying to figure out how we’re doing helps us take our role as hearers and learners more seriously. Too many people call themselves disciples but are just pretenders, pretending to be interested in religious things. If Jesus can help us hear the tiny sound of wasted seed dropped on hard ground, let us judge the depth of soil over a rocky shelf, let our skin feel the prick and scratch of sharp thorns, and encourage us to run our fingers through rich, moist fertile soil that produces abundant crops, then he’s succeeded in helping us become serious disciples.
Sow the seed, and sow it faithfully. And make sure the same seed finds fertile soil in your own heart.
Respond
1. How do you actively retain and persevere in God’s Word?
2. What role does community play in helping you stay committed to your faith?
3. How can you encourage others to cultivate a fruitful spiritual life?
Thursday
Galatians 6:7-10
Discover
The beginning of the Christian life is often filled with a deep love for God and others. But as time passes, we can sometimes get tired of doing good. The long wait from when we first started to when we see the results can be discouraging, and we might lose interest in our spiritual growth. In this dissatisfaction, we might try to rush the process by imposing extra rules on ourselves and others, or we might give up and live without any standards of goodness. These tendencies towards strictness and laziness were present in Galatia, and Paul says that the answer to the despair that leads to these errors is patience. There’s a “right time” that God has set, a time when all our hard work in becoming holy will be rewarded. This time is our Savior’s return, when His holy people will inherit everything that has been prepared for them.
Just like a seed needs to be planted at the right time to get a good harvest, so too do we need to sow to the Spirit in the right season to reap the rewards of holiness. In general, the whole time from when we became Christians until we die is the right time to sow. But there will also be special opportunities that God gives us to love our neighbors and sow to the Spirit. When things come together so that we can help others, we should take advantage of those opportunities, because we don’t know if we’ll have another chance to serve our Creator and His people on Earth. Matthew Henry says, “Whenever God gives us a chance to be helpful to others, He expects us to take it, as much as we can.”
Respond
1. What are you currently sowing in your life, and what do you hope to reap?
2. How can you ensure that you are sowing to please the Spirit?
3. What motivates you to persevere in doing good, even when it’s challenging?
Friday
John 15:1-8
Discover
In John 15, Jesus reveals His true identity as the vine to emphasize spiritual growth, divine guidance, and other important aspects of the parable. The prophets often used the image of the vine to describe God’s covenant people, Israel. However, they also criticized Israel for being unfruitful and spiritually weak. By calling Himself the true vine, Jesus teaches that He is the true Israel of God, the fruitful servant who will fulfill God’s plans for Israel.
It’s not that God set Israel aside as the chosen people to bless the world when Jesus came or that Jesus is a replacement for Israel. Instead, in Jesus—who was an Israelite himself—the Lord rebuilds the people in whom He works to save the world. The true Israel of God is Jesus and all who are in Him by faith alone.
John 15:5 helps us understand this better. Jesus is the true vine, but He has branches, and we who love and serve Christ are those branches. So, we’re part of the true Israel of God. More than that, unlike the old covenant community that, as a whole, wasn’t spiritually fruitful (though some individual Israelites were faithful to God), the true Israel in Christ Jesus is fruitful (verse 2). In fact, our Creator keeps pruning this true vine to increase its yield. No human vinedresser is happy with a vine that’s unproductive or produces few grapes. Such a vine is useless to them. Similarly, God is unhappy with branches that yield nothing or very little, and He’ll do whatever it takes to make true branches bear fruit.
Branches can only produce fruit when they’re connected to and live in Christ, the vine. Augustine of Hippo reminds us that branches don’t give anything to the vine, but they get their life from it. Meanwhile, the vine gives the branches the food they need to live.
Jesus’ main message in this passage is that spiritual fruitfulness is impossible without Him. He’s the source of our fruitfulness, He gives us the power to be fruitful, and He shows us what spiritual fruit really looks like. We need to spend time with Jesus regularly through prayer and studying His Word or we won’t be fruitful.
Respond
1. How do you remain connected to Jesus in your daily life?
2. What fruit do you see being produced in your life as a result of your relationship with Christ?
3. How can you deepen your relationship with Jesus to bear more fruit?
Saturday
Psalm 1
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Psalm 1 uses the image of a tree planted by a stream of water to describe a person who loves God’s Word. This tree produces fruit when it’s in season and doesn’t worry about drought because it’s planted by an external stream. If we want a well-watered faith, we need God’s Word in our lives. Hearing the Word preached, reading it for ourselves, studying it carefully, and meditating on it day and night keeps our souls strong through life’s ups and downs. Without the nourishing effects of God’s Word, we quickly become dry, withered branches. But by staying close to Jesus through His Word, we bear much fruit.
Not only are we told to read and study God’s Word, we’re also told to do what He says. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells the story of two builders. He told His listeners that everyone who hears His words and follows them will be like a man who built his house on a rock. When the storms hit, the house stays strong. But the foolish man hears Jesus’ words and doesn’t do them. He’s described as a man who builds his house on sand. And when the storms come, his house will crumble. Obeying God is a key part of walking by faith. As we live by His Word, we start to realize that He means us good, not harm.
Just like a plant needs both water and sunlight, we need both spending time with God and spending time with other believers. Paul uses the image of a body to describe how believers are united. We need each other to work well. We need the love, care, spiritual wisdom, correction, and encouragement that other believers give us in the church. If we try to live a life of faith without the church, it’s like putting my plant in a dark room. It will quickly die. We need the light of Christ that shines from other believers so that we don’t lose hope.
The Spirit makes us alive and works in our lives through the Word, obedience, and the fellowship of the body. Just like a plant that reaches for the sun, let’s actively turn our hearts toward Christ, finding nourishment and strength as we stay close to Him.
Respond
1. How do you delight in and meditate on God’s Word?
2. What influences in your life might be leading you away from the path of righteousness?
3. How can you ensure that you are like the tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in season?