MPC Congregational Bible Experience 2026: 26 Jan - 1 Feb

Exodus 11-28

Matthew 18-21

 

Like a tourist on a whistle-stop coach tour of an historic city or on a quick cruise around the Mediterranean, as you hurriedly journey through the Bible in a year there will be many times you want to get off the relentless push forward to stop and soak up the breathtaking scenery, to think through and mediate upon what you've been reading… But there just isn't the time. The coach driver is already honking his horn telling you to get back on to the bus because a new sight to briefly behold awaits. Maybe, you should make a note of those Biblical highlights you would want to revisit at a later time and make a point of doing so, when the pressure to read the next 3 or 4 chapters eases… 

 

But for now, we're still only in Exodus and Matthew.  The journey's end is still far away.  And the next stage of the marathon trek is far from easy. In fact, it's an uphill 'yomp' for the next few weeks. The temptation to give up is understandably very real. But the Lord understands. So ask Him to help you hang in there and to persevere, and to help you understand the panoramic view of what you're reading. And ask for His help for this reason: blessing is assured (see Psalm 1: 2-3). And more than that: remember, all that you read was written with you mind (Romans 15:4)…

 

Exodus: we pick up the thread with what is undoubtedly one of the great high-points in all of the Old Testament: the Passover.  Pharaoh's repeated refusal to let God's people go and worship Him has led to this: the first-born of every family in the land (including the Israelites) will die as the Lord 'passes over' them in judgement for sin - unless - they shelter underneath the blood of a family lamb sprinkled on the door posts and lintel of their home. With the wails of grief of unprotected Egyptian families loud in their ears, the Israelites gather a few belongings and make their run for freedom.  By God's mercy, they have been 'redeemed' from their slavery, freed from their oppressive masters so that they can worship and serve the God who has saved them.  There is, of course, so much Gospel imagery here that it will take the rest of the Bible to explore and explain the depths of what God has done for them.  But note in passing, that 'Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us' (1 Cor 5:7); and 'in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the richness of His grace' (Eph 1:7), etc, etc, etc…

 

And how should God's redeemed people now live in their newly given freedom?  Especially as they journey through the wilderness, engaging with other unbelieving peoples, en route to the land God had promised to Abraham centuries beforehand? Simply, they are to live out their side of God's commitment to them:  He has graciously saved them, and in light of that, from the heart, they are to obey His word summarised in the 10 Commandments that reflect the holiness of His character (Exodus 20).  But again notice: they obey the Lord's law - not in order to be saved, to keep in with God and His favour. Rather, they obey the Lord because He has already saved them (Exo 20:1-3). And that's an elementary lesson as to what grace is about that we all must learn (see Ephesians 2:8-10). More about this next time…

 

Matthew: Matthew 18 is another block of teaching from Jesus, the implications of which spill over into the chapters that follow. If there is a unifying theme bringing it all together, it's possibly how living the Kingdom life should be expressed in community, in the living fellowship of the local church and the welcome we should show to outsiders. As disciples of Jesus, our relationship to Him will shape our relationships with others so as to become a loving and welcoming community with intentional humility, purity, accountability, mutual submission, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration.  A community, united around Jesus, that is so unlike every other gathering of individuals you can imagine.

 

But in these chapters, we read that confusion and misunderstanding regarding the nature of true discipleship lingers in the hearts and minds of even Jesus' closest companions.  Like the blind who, because of Jesus, can now see, will the disciples' eyes (will our eyes?) be opened to see more clearly what it means to follow Him, and will we still follow (20:29-34)?

MPC Congregational Bible Experience 2026: 19 - 25 January

Genesis 44 - Exodus 10

Matthew 14 - 18

 

Note:  even with the best of intentions of keeping up with the daily Bible reading schedule, it's still very easy to fall behind and then struggle to 'catch-up' if you miss a few days.  So, if you do miss a day or two's readings - don't panic, and don't give up!  If you can read an extra daily chapter a day for a time, great! However, if that's too big a burden, then just pick up reading again with the passages for 'today'.  It's much more important and helpful to keep on reading steadily than to rush through a host of chapters merely to keep pace with the calendar. Anyway, back to what you can expect this incoming week…

 

Genesis:  we said last time that Moses writing the book of Genesis was initially to help his fellow Israelites, now enslaved in Egypt, understand the back story of how and why they were where they were.  The stories about Joseph show him to be God's instrument to preserve Israel outside their Promised Land. Despite being abandoned by his brothers, the LORD - Israel's God - was with Joseph, blessing him in difficult circumstances and raising him up to a position of authority and responsibility. The turning point of the story is the 'great reveal' (Gen 45:4-8) where Joseph shows himself to his brothers. From this point onward, we read of family reconciliation, abundance and God's blessing. Israel's future is clearly under God's providential care - that's what Moses' first readers need to know.  While Joseph's brothers had sold Joseph into slavery "for evil, [ultimately] God had meant it for good" (Gen 50:20).  The present-day generation of Israelites are about to experience God's goodness despite the evil intent of Pharaoh and those around them.

 

Exodus:  we now jump forward 400 years (see Genesis 15:13-16). Moses recounts the events of more recent history. As the book begins, Israel is enslaved, weak and helpless - a lesson the Israelites will be repeatedly told to remember when, sometime in the future, God will expect them to treat any strangers in their company differently, with a mercy and compassion they did not receive from the Egyptians. The main plot-line of Exodus however, is first, how God prepares His people to dramatically escape their enslaved bondage, and secondly, how he prepares them to begin their march towards their Promised Land.  

As you will see, there are lightly veiled Gospel references throughout this book which both forecast and which are finally fulfilled in the great story of Christ's redeeming love. Exodus, which begins against the background of slavery and concludes with how God's redeemed people should worship Him, echoes the experience of every Christian life and provides a pattern for Christian living for believers of every age. The transition from slavery to worship is accomplished by means of the great redemption described at the centre of the book (next week's readings!). At the heart of Israel's later theology described as we move through the Old Testament, is the events described in this book.

 

Matthew:  There's a very good reason why the Gospel writers record so many of Jesus' clashes with the Pharisees, as Matthew does in chapters 15-16:  for as they hold up the mirror of the Bible to our hearts and lives, they expose the "Pharisee-mindset" in all of us.  Like the original hypocritical Pharisees of Jesus' time on earth, we too have a natural tendency to (1) become pre-occupied with highlighting the sins of others while minimising our own (15:2); (2) to think we can engage in sin-management by devising our own super-spiritual rules that we know we can keep and which make us look better than those around us (v5-6,9) rather than owning up to our spiritual struggles with the higher demands of God's Law (v3-4); and (3) emphasise the importance of observing specific, superficial, religious markers that sit on the surface of our lives (v2; see also Mark 7:3-4), all the while ignoring the deep, root problem of sin which is found in and arises from our unclean hearts (v16-20).  The cure for sin must address the core problem of our idol-making hearts.

Another block of teaching from Jesus in chapter 18, the implications of which spill over into next week's  passages.  If there is a unifying theme bringing it all together, it's possibly how living the Kingdom life should be expressed in community, in the living fellowship of the local church and the welcome it shows to outsiders. As disciples of Jesus, Matthew highlights that our relationship to Him will shape our relationships with others so as to become a loving community with intentional humility, purity, accountability, mutual submission, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration.

MPC: Congregational Bible Experience 2026: 12-18 January

Genesis 29-43

Matthew 10-13

 

 

Genesis: While the Bible was written for us (see for example: Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:6-7), it was not - in the first instance - written to us. It was written to others, and we're merely reading over their shoulders. Having this thought in mind will keep us from misreading the Bible's relevance to us, especially in these early chapters of the whole Book.
 

If we assume the traditional notion that Moses was the final writer or editor of Genesis (which means 'Beginnings') - why did he write it?  And, under the inspiration of the Spirit, who did he write it for?
 

In Moses' day, the Children of Israel had been living in Egypt for around 4 centuries. A very long time.  During those many years, their sense of who they were as a people, where they had come from, why they were enslaved, and the relationship that their celebrated ancestors had with (the only, true, living, creating and sustaining) God, and His promises to give them a land of their own and to bless them so that they would be the means of God's blessing to all the other nations round about - all these things had been lost in the mists of time.  They needed to know these truths for what lay ahead.

 

For now, God was once again on the move. Because of His overruling grace, Israel would soon be freed from the physical slavery that had imprisoned and demoralised them and from the spiritual idolatry that had captured their hearts. To encourage Israel to trust Moses and willingly leave Egypt, they needed to be reassured as to who this God was who was taking them away from their homes, what was He like and could He be trusted? Was He as strong and benevolent as the Egyptian gods that they had adopted as their own? (Wait for the book of Exodus to answer that question!) The stories of God's call and faithfulness to their forefathers in the past would encourage them to trust Him for the unknowns and challenges of the future. This is one of the primary reasons we have the book of Genesis.

 

 And so, the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the rest are not so much presented as moral examples for healthy living while they  continued to wait for the real Serpent-Crusher (Genesis 3) to turn up. Rather, Moses focused our attention on the God who graciously commits to His people and His promises, overriding the twistedness of sinful hearts (just like our own) to ensure His will is fulfilled.  These stories - full of family rivalries, jealousy, betrayal, deception - demonstrate that God will not walk away from those whose hearts and lives are naturally sinfully and selfishly centred on themselves, but will patiently and lovingly work with those He has called to Himself to bring them to a place of God-honouring faith.  Through such people - just like ourselves - the sovereign grace of God is displayed, enabling His people, in whatever era, to persevere through difficulties and hardships that they, that we, may be blessings to others as we testify to the goodness, the greatness and the mercy of the one and only glorious God.

 

Matthew: the assigned chapters assigned for this incoming week begin and end with extended teaching from Jesus on the importance of being mission-minded disciples (chapter 10) and being Kingdom-committed disciples (chapter 13), in the context of increasing doubt and suspicion and opposition arising against Jesus and all who follow Him (chapters 11-12). 

 

Jesus gives his disciples an opportunity to sense what the future will hold for them as Gospel-preaching evangelists when he is no longer with them.  For now, Jesus is still around to debrief their experiences and to offer support and encouragement.  His preparatory instructions underline the difficulties they will face, despite their intention to bless others in Jesus' name (12: 1,8). Ahead of them lies the insecurity of neither food nor shelter (v9-16); the probability of civic hostility, arrests and trials (v17-20); family divisions, betrayal, persecution, even death (v21-23, 28, 32-34); misunderstanding and shame (v35-37), and all the while - having to persevere against these push-backs with Christlike grace (v40-42).  Such loyalty and faithfulness to King Jesus is the pathway to life (v38-39) in which the love and protecting care of the Father are sensed (v28-31) in ways that could otherwise never be.  Do think about and pray for missionaries you know as you read these chapters.

Chapter 13 develops this theme. The emphasis here is in what we might call 'undercover discipleship': that is, how disciples live lives under the authority of King Jesus while the rest of the world doesn't see or acknowledge Him as King. And yet, for those who have discovered this Kingdom-life-with-Jesus, it is the most precious treasure of our day (13:44-46).

MPC: Congregational Bible Experience 2026 - January 5-11

Genesis 12-28

Matthew 5-9

 

If you're managing to keep pace with our 'read-the-Bible-in-a-year-timetable', this incoming week you will be reading Genesis 12-28 and Matthew 5-9.  So, over the next 7 days, what can you expect?

 

Genesis 12-28: by this stage, the Bible story is up and running.  The basic plot-line of the Bible has already been set by chapters 1-11: God has created and promises to lovingly sustain the universe. But His idyllic paradise prepared for Adam and Eve and the relationship that was to flourish and deepen with them there has been devastated by their refusal to trust in God's Word, preferring to listen to the Serpent (Satan).  From this point onward, the ramifications of this single act of defiant disobedience will be disastrously experienced by the whole of God's created order and in the life of every human being that will follow. But despite God's measured judgement against their sin, He graciously promises that someone, sometime, somehow will appear to crush the Serpent's head (3:15) and undo the effects of human sinfulness. But who is this Serpent-crusher? Cain? Abel? Enoch? Noah? No.  We have to read on to find out who can overcome Satan (although see below!)  However, in this week's chapters, the Bible's focus now centres upon Abraham and his relationship with God. The story of God's great redeeming reversal has begun…

 

In Genesis 12, God promises that through Abraham's offspring all the families of the earth will blessed.  But how will this promise be fulfilled? When will this promise be fulfilled?  In God's time and in His way - that's what these chapters are about.  Despite the age of Abram and Sara, despite their prolonged period of waiting for the child to come, despite the damage they cause by trying to fulfil God's promise their way (chapter 16), and despite God's unexpected command to sacrifice the promised son and heir, Isaac, we discover that nothing will prevent or hinder God's will to bless the world through Abraham's descendants.  But the twists and turns that Abraham and Sarah experience are designed to reveal more of God's loving and faithful character, as well as stimulating and stretching their faith in His trustworthy Word. This forms the basic pattern of how we are to relate to God: Abraham provides the model - 'the just will live by faith'.

 

Matthew 5-9:  Matthew arranges his Gospel into interweaving blocks of Jesus' teaching (such as chapters 5-7) followed by chapters that describe His miracles, ministry and engagement with His disciples and others. This pattern is followed throughout the Gospel. 

The opening chapters of the Gospel assured us that Jesus is the promised, long-expected King who would come to win people back to God and overcome the enemies of God and those who are faithful to Him (see above!).  From now on, faithfulness to God means submitting one's life to King Jesus and in faith following Him as His disciple. We cannot claim to know and serve God if we keep Jesus at arm's length (7:21-23).  But what does the King require of those who commit to Him? What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? That's what the Sermon on the Mount begins to answer.  There will be so much more to learn about discipleship in Matthew's Gospel, but this is where we start.

So much of what Jesus says in these chapters is not telling believers what to do as it is in describing what disciples become as they live under the Kingship of Christ. The Pharisees were known and, in measure, commended for their religious righteousness in their relentless pursuit of obeying God's Law (5:20).  But their 'obedience' was only on the surface of their lives; their hearts remained unchanged and harboured all sorts of internal sins such as anger, lust, revenge and hatred (5:21-48) which festered away unchallenged and untouched.  The righteousness that Jesus commends is an obedience to God's Law that flows from a repenting heart transformed by Jesus and which seeks to please Him because His blessing (5:3-10) is what our hearts desperately long for and delight in.  We do not obey God in order to be loved and blessed by God; we lovingly obey God because we know we are loved and blessed by Him.

Jesus is not teaching "a" way (one of many ways) to living a better or more satisfying life.  In fact to live like this - like Jesus, for Jesus - is to invite suspicion, opposition, even persecution (5:11-12). Rather, Jesus is saying, in light of eternity, there is only one way to live: His way, through trusting in Him.  To live life in any other way is lose one's life and will lead to disaster (7:13-14, 21-27).