Andy Pittman

Disciples Go

2012-01-29T14:02:00.002-06:00

Disciples Go

Matthew 10: 1 – 10.

Introduction

Ihave often heard that the Christian faith is always one generation away fromextinction. The point is that if we failto share our faith, Christianity will end with our generation. This is one reason why it is important for usto live up to Jesus’ words in the Great Commission—make disciples by going, bybaptizing and by teaching.

Severalweeks ago, our ministers were in a meeting and were asked to guess the topthree excuses Christians give for not doing the work of evangelism. We were able to guess the number two answerand the number three answer. But, we didnot guess the number one answer. Numberthree is, “I am afraid of rejection.” Number two is, “I don’t know how to share my faith.” The number one answer surprised us. It is, “It’s not my job to evangelize.”

Thatnumber one answer doesn’t sound like Baptists. I have been a part of Baptist churches since I was an infant. And, I have heard preachers and Sunday Schoolteachers tell me all my life that Christians are supposed to tell others aboutJesus. Jesus has left us withinstructions to spread the Gospel around the world. If we don’t do it, who will?

Oneof the places where Jesus tells us to do the work of evangelism is in Matthew10. This is the second of five longdiscourses spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. The first one is known as the Sermon on theMount. This one could just as easily becalled the Sermon on Mission.

Matthew 10: 1 – 10.

1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.

6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.

7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.'

8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts;

10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

(NIV)

Theword “disciple” is a very interesting word. Most of the time, we automatically associate “disciple” with the twelvemen who accompanied Jesus during his earthly ministry. However, Jesus didn’t invent the word“disciple,” and “disciple” is not a word reserved only for Christian men andwomen.

“Disciples”were very common in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Scholars have found references to manydifferent types of “disciples.” Writingsoutside of the New Testament use the term “disciple” to refer to religiousdisciples—like the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of John the Baptistthat we read about in the New Testament. There were also disciples of philosophy and one reference to a discipleof music (learning how to play the flute.) In each of these cases, disciples were students.

“Disciples”in the ancient world were a little different from students in our worldtoday. Students today usually sit in aclassroom of 30 or more students, change classes to learn different subjects,and go home at the end of the school day. Ancient “disciples” associated themselves with only one teacher. “Disciples” left their homes and lived dailywith their teacher. They didn’t simplylearn a subject from their teacher. Theylearned how to live life. They didn’tlearn by receiving information and taking tests over the material. They learned by imitating theirmaster-teacher. They observed themaster-teacher performing his craft. Then, they were allowed to practice the same craft under the watchfuleye of their master-teacher.

Diversity

Ithink we could learn a lot by observing the diversity of Jesus’ twelvedisciples. The disciples did not comefrom the families of preachers and rabbis. They came from all walks of life.

Forexample, at least four of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen. Peter and Andrew, James and John were allfishermen. They probably were expectedto follow in their fathers’ footsteps. Their fathers were business owners and even owned their own boats. Yet, each of these men walked away from theirfamily businesses to follow Jesus as his disciples.

Anotherdisciple (Matthew) had worked as a tax collector. The nation of Israelhad lost their identity as a sovereign nation when they became part of the Roman Empire. The Romans provided military security andan elaborate system of roads. Thesekinds of services required money. As aresult, the Romans taxed almost every aspect of life. Some tax collectors sat in roadsidetollbooths, collecting taxes from people as they traveled. Other tax collectors sat on the banks of the Lake of Galilee, assessing taxes on the fishthat fishermen caught from the lake. (IfMatthew collected taxes from fishermen, I find it remarkable that he was ableto get along with Peter, Andrew, James and John. Nobody likes the tax man.)

Oneof Jesus’ disciples was a “Zealot.” While this term could be used to describe religious zeal, it was alsoused in a technical sense. It referredto a group of Jewish men who were so opposed to the Roman government that theywould do whatever was necessary to drive the Romans out of the land of Israel. (Again, if Matthew worked for the government as a tax collector, andSimon was a member of the Zealots, it is remarkable that they were able to worshipand serve together as Jesus’ disciples.)

And,then there was Judas Iscariot. Perhapsthere is nothing more to say about Judas than what we read in verse 4…he was atraitor.

Justas Jesus called a diverse group of disciples in the First Century, Jesus hasalso called a diverse group of disciples in the Twenty-First Century. He calls teachers and nurses, doctors andlawyers, businessmen and businesswomen, people from all walks of life. Jesus calls each of us to enter into a dailyrelationship with himself, to observe the way he lived his life and then toimitate him.

A Subtle Shift

Livingwith Jesus and imitating Jesus is not all he calls us to do as hisdisciples. We see this in a subtle shiftbetween verse one and verse two. Inverse one, the twelve were referred to as “disciples,” or students. In verse two, they are called “apostles.”

Wetypically think of disciple and apostle as meaning the same thing. After all we use both words to describe thetwelve disciples or the twelve apostles. But there is a difference between the two. Disciple means “student” or“apprentice.” Apostle means “someone whohas been sent.”

Anapostle is sent on behalf of someone else, and they have the authority of theperson who sent them. In my mind, thisis similar to the job of the Secretary of State of the United States of America. The current Secretary of State is HillaryClinton. She is sent around the world bythe President of the United States. She does not speak by her own authority. She speaks by the authority of the President and by the authority of thecitizens of the United States. She does not work for herself. She works for someone else.

Inthe same way, Jesus did not send out his apostles on their own authority. They carried the authority of Jesus and hisFather. They did not work forthemselves. They worked for Jesus andhis Father.

Matthewtells us that Jesus gave them authority to perform three jobs on theirmission. They had the authority to driveout evil (or unclean) spirits. They hadthe authority to heal all kinds of sickness. They had the authority to preach the same message Jesus preached, “TheKingdom of Heaven is near.”

Somepeople believe the apostles drove out evil (or unclean) spirits and healed thesick as a demonstration of power. Theybelieve that when people saw they had the power to perform miracles, thosepeople would become more receptive to the Gospel message they werepreaching. Of course, that raises aproblem for me. I have never cast outdemons or healed the sick. Yet, I preachthe same message of the same Gospel today.

Othersbelieve the apostles drove out evil (or unclean) spirits and healed the sick toshow people that they cared about them before they preached the Gospel. And this makes a lot of sense for us in theTwenty-First Century. Missionagencies don’t usually send out only preachers. They send out medical missionaries, agricultural missionaries,educational missionaries and disaster relief missionaries. We show people that we care about themfirst. That opens the door for us toshare the message of the Gospel. Thesame is true for us locally. People aremore inclined to listen to our message once we have met their immediate needs.

Theremay be something else at work here. Jesus sent the apostles to do the same kinds of ministry they had seenJesus doing in the early part of his earthly ministry. He cast out evil (or unclean) spirits and hehealed all kinds of sicknesses.

Eachof the people Jesus healed had something in common. They had many different kinds of symptoms,but they had one common problem. Theywere considered “unclean” by the Templeand the Jewish Law. As long as they weresick or possessed by a demon, they were excluded from the people of God. When Jesus healed them, he was bringing themto a place where they could be included in the people of God. In other words, Jesus was doing what neitherthe Temple northe Law could do. Temple and Law were very good at excludingpeople. Jesus is very good at includingpeople.

Thesame is true for us. We have been giventhe assignment to be students of Jesus. But, we are not supposed to stay among people just like us. We are to engage the people of theworld. Many of the people we engage aresuffering. We must be willing to meetgenuine needs and preach the message of the Gospel. And, we are to be inclusive in ourmission. We are not to leave anyone out.

Location, Location, Location

Insome ways, it does sound like Jesus was being exclusive in his instructions tohis apostles. In Matthew 10: 5 – 6, Jesus said, “Do not go among the Gentiles or enterany town of the Samaritans. Go rather tothe lost sheep of Israel.”

Thisverse raises at least two problems that we have to address before we canunderstand what Jesus is saying. On onehand, we need to figure out who are the “lost sheep of Israel.” On the other hand, we have to figure out ifJesus is only concerned about the Jewish people.

Wecan figure out who are the “lost sheep of Israel” by looking back to the wayMatthew introduced this passage. In Matthew 9: 36, we read: “When (Jesus) sawthe crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless,like sheep without a shepherd.”

“Sheepwithout a shepherd” is a reference to an Old Testament image of the people of Israel whentheir leaders had abandoned them. Oneexample is Ezekiel 34. God said thepeople were without shepherds, because the ones who were supposed to take careof the people were only taking care of themselves. Therefore, God said he would send the Messiahto become shepherd of Israel.

Inthis context, it seems obvious that Jesus is referring to the entire nation of Israel. Their leaders have refused to do their jobs. As a result, Jesus has come to be theirshepherd. He does this by sending hisapostles to all the lost sheep of Israel that they might recognizeJesus as their true Shepherd.

However,Jesus has not come only for Israel. Jesus came for all the world. That is hard to see in these instructions tothe apostles. It is hard to see, becausethe time is not right.

Atthis point in history, Jesus had a particular ministry to a particularpeople. In the person of Jesus, God hasfulfilled his promises to Israel. Jesus is the Son of David, who came to gatherthe true Israel and help Israel tofulfill her God-given mission to be the Light for all nations. But, the time was not right until thecrucifixion and resurrection.

Thisis not the only time Jesus sent out his apostles. He sent them out again before theascension. Matthew 28: 19, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…”

Now. The time is right. God sent Jesus to Israelto restore Israel and toredeem Israel and to help Israel fulfillher God-given mission to be a Light for all nations. The True Israel has been saved through God’splan of salvation—Jesus the Messiah.

Conclusion: Answer to Prayer

Ifit is true that the Christian faith is always one generation away fromextinction, then what are we supposed to do about it? I guess we could pray about it. I suppose we could pray that God would sendsome modern day apostles to preach the Gospel to the community around us. And prayer is always a good idea. But, be careful what you pray for…

Matthew 9: 37 – 10: 2,“Then (Jesus) said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workersare few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest,therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’

(Jesus) called his twelvedisciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to healevery disease and sickness.

These are the names ofthe twelve apostles…”

Didyou see what happened there? Jesus toldthe disciples to pray that God would send someone. They prayed. Then, Jesus sent them to do the work. They were the answer to their own prayer.

Idon’t want you to think I’m saying you should answer your own prayers. Instead, I am saying that if you pray for Godto send someone to do the work of evangelism…God is going to send you.

Hesent fishermen, tax collectors, Zealots and traitors. Today, he sends teachers and nurses,students, doctors and lawyers, businessmen and businesswomen. He sends people like you and me.

Sharing Jesus

2012-01-08T12:52:00.000-06:00

Sharing Jesus

John 4: 1 – 26.

Introduction.

How are you doing on your New Year’sResolutions? It’s only been oneweek. Surely you have been faithful forone week?!

Over the past week, I have seen several articles onthe Internet about how important it is to make realistic New Year’sResolutions. Here is a list of realisticresolutions:

· Dear God, we will talk more this year.

· I will think before I eat.

· I will do some form of exercise or physical activity every week.

· I will open my Bible every day.

· I will improve at least one relationship.

· I will organize one closet (or even one drawer).

· I will learn one new skill.

· I will attempt to be a better listener.

· I will smile more.

· I will remind myself of one thing I’m thankful for every day.[1]

These resolutions don’t really sound like they couldchange the world…Or, could they. Sincethese are resolutions we might actually keep, they could make your lifebetter. Sometimes it takes a smallvictory—like organizing a closet or smiling more or spending a little more timewith God—to make us realize that our lives can change for the better.

Individual people are not the only ones who make NewYear’s Resolutions. A church can make aNew Year’s Resolution. In fact, youmight not know it, but our church has made a New Year’s Resolution. We made this decision when we adopted our2012 annual budget.

The bottom line of our 2012 budget doesn’t look muchdifferent from the bottom line of our 2011 budget. It is roughly the same amount of money. The difference between the two budgets is theway we have reduced the amount of money we budgeted on ourselves and added$30,000 for Evangelism and Outreach.

If we want to be the church God is calling us to be,we have to make Evangelism and Outreach our priorities in 2012. This is not an unrealistic goal. After all, we are not saying that we aregoing to win the entire population of Angelina Countyto Christ or even that we are going to baptize 1,000 people in 2012. We are being realistic by saying that we aregoing to prioritize evangelism in our budget, in our calendar and in the way wedo church.

Let’s kick off our emphasis on evangelism by lookingat one of the stories about how Jesus shared his faith.

ReadJohn 4: 1 – 26.

1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John,

2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.

3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria.

5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"

8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?

12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,

14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband.

18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

(NIV)

JesusWas Alert to Every Opportunity.

The story begins as Jesus and his disciples learnthat the Pharisees are interested in Jesus’ ministry. They are not interested in becomingdisciples, but in running Jesus out of town or killing him…So, Jesus and hisdisciples have to travel in a hurry from Judea to Galilee.

The quickest route from Judea (in the South) toGalilee (in the North) is to travel directly through the central region of Palestine, known as Samaria. This was not the normal route for Jewishpeople—including Jesus and the disciples. They normally went miles and miles out of their way to avoid Samaria so they would nothave any contact with any Samaritans.

On this particular occasion, Jesus and the disciplestraveled on a straight line directly through Samaria…Andit just so happened that they were passing through Samaria during dinner time. Therefore, Jesus sent the disciples into thenearest town to buy some food.

While the disciples were gone, Jesus waited at thelocal well to rest. There at the well…inthe middle of the day…at the hottest point of the day…Jesus had an encounterwith a Samaritan woman.

The way John tells this story, it seems that Jesusjust “happened to be there at the same time” as the Samaritan woman. But Jesus did not think of this encounter asa chance or a random event. Jesus sawthis as a God-given encounter…And used it for God’s purposes…

This has a theological significance for us today…Godis at work in EVERY circumstance of our lives…God moves us and directs us intothe places he wants us to go…God moves the right people into our lives at justthe right times…

Think of your family members…Friends…Co-Workers…Classmates… God has placed these people in your life fora specific reason…

JesusWas Willing to Cross Boundaries.

After meeting the woman for the very first time atthe well, Jesus began to speak to the woman. It is important to note that Jesus took the initiative in theconversation. He asked her for adrink…If Jesus had not initiated the conversation, they would not havespoken. Given the circumstances of thewoman’s life…I am almost certain that she would NEVER have spoken to Jesusfirst.

Just initiating the conversation was a big step forJesus to take. And Jewish men and womenof that day would have seen this as a really big deal. In fact, I usually like to imagine thedisciples as they walked back up and saw Jesus speaking to this Samaritan womanat the well in the middle of broad daylight, out where everyone could seehim…I’m sure they thought, “What has Jesus gotten us into this time?”

The disciples would have been shocked to see Jesusspeaking to this woman, because none of them would have spoken to her…Jesusdidn’t have to speak to this woman…The disciples would NOT have spoken toher…And no one would have questioned why the disciples were silent…

When Jesus spoke to the Woman at the Well, heovercame at least three boundaries.

She was a Samaritan…Jews did not speak withSamaritans…They were considered an unclean race…You will remember from OldTestament history that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was completely destroyedby the Assyrians, but the Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken captive (orExiled) by the Babylonians…When the Babylonians invaded Judah, they capturedthe strongest, the bravest and the best looking people and took them to Babylonas slaves…But they left the weak, the ugly and the disabled behind…These peoplewho were “left behind” intermarried among the foreign peoples who lived in thatregion and established their own nation… When the Israelites finally returnedto their land, they found it was already populated by these interracialpeople…These were the Samaritans…And the Jews wanted nothing to do theSamaritans…Even in Jesus’ day

She was a Woman…In Ancient Jewish culture, women were devaluedas nothing more than just property belonging to a man…Daughters were propertyof Fathers…And Wives were property of Husbands…A woman had no identity of herown…Her purpose was to serve the needs of her man—either husband or father—therewas no self-respecting man who would endeavor to have a relationship with awoman…

She was a Sinful Woman…We read that this woman had avery bad reputation in her town…She was known as a very promiscuous woman…Shehad been married five times and was now living with a man who was not herhusband…Jesus could get a bad reputation just by associating with this woman…

This has theological significance for us today…God’sredemptive plan is intended for all the world and all people… For God soloved the WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes inhim will not perish but have everlasting life…It is never for us to decidewho can and who cannot be saved…

JesusWas Sensitive to Genuine Human Needs.

Notice that Jesus did not begin the conversation byforcing the woman to listen to the Four Spiritual Laws or the Roman Road toSalvation. The first thing Jesus did wasto LISTEN. He listened to her as sheexpressed what she was worried about and as she expressed her deepest feltneeds.

Jesus listened to her needs, because Jesus came tomeet her needs…He spoke the Gospel Message—the Good News—to her specific needsand concerns. He did not try to take acookie-cutter approach to presenting the Good News, as if every person wereexactly the same person.

Jesus knew this woman was different and took thetime to get to know her and build a relationship with her. Then he was able to touch her life at thepoint of her greatest need…By listening, Jesus got to know two things aboutthis woman…

She was involved in a Sinful Lifestyle…As I mentioned earlier, shewas a promiscuous person…She had been married to five different men and was nowliving with a man who was not her husband…I can remember a time when wereferred to this as “Living in Sin”…Now couples may choose this as a way tosave money or to see if they have what it takes to get married…Did you knowthat recent research and census data indicate that the divorce rate is actuallysignificantly higher for couples who marry after first living together?

Jesus was very aware of this woman’s sinfullifestyle, yet notice how he addressed her…Jesus did not condemn her or makeher feel guilty even though we know that he did not approve…He addressed herproblem as a search for satisfaction… Read vv. 13 – 14…Nothing else inthis world can satisfy the cravings and desires of life like Jesus…Only Jesuscan satisfy…

She was involved in a False Religion…Samaritans and Jews sharedthe same history and roots…Therefore, they held similar beliefs…However, theSamaritans rejected the Jewish understanding of God’s revelation—They had adifferent Scripture with different books…The Samaritans rejected the Jewishworship—They worshipped in a different Temple on a different site…

Again, this is a search for satisfaction in thewrong direction…Jesus looked beyond these issues and realized that her searchfor satisfaction could only be fulfilled in a Right Relationship with God.

This has a theological significance for ustoday…God’s redemptive plan meets all human needs. Ultimately, the greatest human need is to bein a Right Relationship with God. Thisrelationship is only possible through Jesus Christ as Lord

Conclusion.

More than likely, you have heard me say thisbefore. There are three ways for achurch to grow. Grow through Birth—moreand more babies being born…Grow through Transfer—people moving to town lookingfor a church, or a church split across town…Grow through Conversion—witnessingto the lost and baptizing new converts into the church…

Only one of those growth strategies appears in theNew Testament. The Bible does not tellus to grow our church through Birth or Transfer. The Bible tells us to grow our church byleading people to faith in Christ.

The Woman at the Well was no different from thepeople living in Angelina County, Texas. She was a sinner searching for satisfaction in all the wrong places.

Our community is filled with hundreds and thousandsof men and women just like that—sinners who are searching for something thatwill satisfy.

Are you willing to share your faith like Jesus did?

Are you willing to look for God’s hand leading youto witnessing opportunities? Are youwilling to listen to the aches and pains and hurts of your friends and familymembers? Are you willing to tell othersthat the only thing that can truly satisfy every longing of the human heart isa Right Relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord?

Maybe you are here this morning searching…Maybe youwould like to take a sip of the Living Water that will quench your thirst and satisfyall your needs…

[1] http://www.faithvillage.com/2012/01/10-easy-new-year-resolutions-that-you-can-actually-keep-ron-edmondson/

Give God the First

2012-01-01T14:04:00.004-06:00

Give God the First

Matthew 6: 25 – 34.

Introduction.

Ablank piece of paper. What would you dowith a blank piece of paper? I know someof you might use it to take sermon notes. (I am flattered by the people who take notes during the sermon, but Irecognize it is the most effective way to stay awake during church.) Some people would use a blank piece of paperto draw a picture or doodles during the sermon. (That is perhaps the most effective way of distracting yourself fromwhat is going on around you.) Otherpeople would use a blank piece of paper to make a list.

Isuppose there are at least two different kinds lists you could make on thefirst Sunday of 2012. You could write,“eggs, milk, bread, take down the Christmas tree…” Or, you could write a list of the things youintend to do (or do better) in 2012.

Onthe first Sunday of the year, God has given each of us a blank piece ofpaper. We can draw on it; take notes onit; or make a list of what we intend to do with our lives in the next 365 daysof 2012. (It’s leap year, so there are366 days in 2012.)

Thereis a popular expression people use when they are facing a new challenge. “Let’s make history.”

Onthe first Sunday of a new year, we have an opportunity to do something evenbetter than “make history.” We can makea new future. What do you want thefuture to look like? This is our chanceto do something new…something that has never been done before…perhaps somethingthat has never been attempted before.

Somepeople face the future with excitement and anticipation. Others face the future with fear andworry. You know…The Bible has somethingto say about worrying about the future…Don’t worry. Put your future in God’s hands.

Read Matthew 6: 25 – 34.

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

(NIV)

Thefirst word Jesus said in this passage is the word “therefore.” Usually, the word “therefore” tells us tolook back at the passage that came before. In this case, Jesus is calling our attention to his teaching aboutstoring up treasures in heaven rather than treasures on earth. Treasures on earth is the biblical phrase for“stuff.” Jesus teaches us that “stuff”we accumulate on earth cannot satisfy our desires. It does not satisfy, because it is onlytemporary and it can never be secure. Themore “stuff” we accumulate on earth, the more likely we are to worry about our“stuff.” We worry about thieves, rust ormarket fluctuation. In this case, wedon’t have “stuff.” Our “stuff” hasus. It controls our lives through worryand anxiety. Therefore, do not worry.

Onone hand, there is a difference between worry and fear. Fear is real. Worry is imagined. On the otherhand, there is also a difference between worry and faith. Worry is obsessed with the future. Faith places the future in God’s hands.

Worry Cannot Provide Security

Sometimes we worry about security because we can’t seeany good options. We run out of weekbefore we run out of work to do. We runout of money before we run out of month. We never know week to week or month to month how it is going to workout, but it always works out.

Jesus tells us that worrying over security is adistinctive human characteristic. Theplants and the animals don’t worry about their security.

For example…Birds do not plant crops, harvest crops orhoard crops in barns. Yet, the birdshave plenty of food to eat.

Wildflowers do not labor and spin. I used to imagine flowers in the fieldspinning around in circles when I read Jesus’ words. That is not what “spin” means. It refers to the act of spinning wool intothread. In other words, flowers do notlabor over making their own clothes. And, they don’t go to the mall or drive to Tyler and The Woodlandstrying to find something to wear.

Worrying is something only humans do. And worrying is silly when we compareourselves to the rest of God’s created order. Human beings are the only created beings that were created in the imageof God. Human beings were the only createdbeings with whom God desired an eternal relationship. Therefore, if God can provide for the birdsand the flowers, God must also be capable of providing for those he loves.

Food and clothing are two of the three basic humanneeds: food, shelter and clothing. Jesusis not talking about something that is insignificant. Yet, we once had an even greater need. Sin separated us from God. Our sin condemned us to eternal death inhell. So, God took the initiative tosend his only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross and to rise again. If God can be trusted in eternal matters,then God can be trusted with temporary matters like food and clothing.

Worry Cannot Make Life Better or Longer

Matthew 6: 27, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life

(NIV)?"

Verse27 demonstrates the true futility of worry. Life is in God’s hands, not ours. Worrying does nothing to improve life.

Thereare two ways to translate verse 27. Literally, it reads: “Who of you by worrying can add a single cubit tohis height?” Symbolically, we cantranslate it: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Believeme…If I could worry myself about 4 inches taller, I would have done it 20 yearsago. And, if I could make myselfyounger…Well, I did turn 40 last year, but I hear that 40 is the new 20. No one can make themselves taller or youngerthrough worry. This is in God’s hands.

Thisverse contains a hint of irony as well. Worry cannot make life longer, it makes life shorter. Worry does not make life better, it makeslife worse.

Sincenone of us can make our lives longer, the only choice we can make deals withthe kind of life we will live. We cannotcontrol the quantity of life, but we can control the quality of life. Since we cannot add days to our lives, weought to add life to our days! The bestquality of life is a life lived with Jesus in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Godis the place where God is the King…The place where God is in control of all ourdecisions and all our steps.

Worry Cannot Honor God

Matthew 6: 30, "If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith (NIV)?"

Jesusmakes two statements about how worry does not honor God.

Inverse 30, Jesus makes a connection between worry and a lack of faith. Obsessing about food, shelter and clothingdenies God’s ability to provide for all our needs. It is a confession that we trust more in ourown ability to provide for ourselves than God’s ability to provide for us.

Ofcourse, this does not mean that Christians are not supposed to earn a living orto plan for the future. In the context,it teaches just the opposite. Jesuspraised the birds and the flowers for their ability to live life withoutworry. Yet, notice that the birds arevery industrious creatures. Robins digfor worms…Woodpeckers burrow holes in trees for insects…Buzzards fly in circlesfor hours searching for dead animals…Hawks hunt and stalk live prey. Also notice that plants develop buds andflowers as a result of an internal process of growth and development. Both birds and flowers are good examples ofthe ways we are to work and trust in God. Do what you can do to provide for your needs, but recognize that onlyGod provides. Do what you can do, andleave the rest in God’s hands.

Inverses 31 and 32, Jesus compares our worried activity with a paganlifestyle. The pagans were notatheists. Pagans believe in a wholepantheon of gods. If you have ever readthe stories of ancient Roman and Greek mythology, you will remember how thesefalse gods were preoccupied with their own needs and desires. The false gods could not be trusted. They were unreliable and constantly changingtheir minds.

Whenwe worry, we confess to the world that we do not believe our God istrustworthy. Yet, Jesus teaches us thatGod is like a Heavenly Father who knows us, loves us, and places our needsabove all else. He knows what we needeven before we ask. He wants to bless usand provide for all our needs…Just as an earthly father desires to give goodgifts to his own child.

Worry Cannot Make Tomorrow a Better Day

Matthew 6: 33 - 34, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (NIV)."

Jesusends his teaching about worry with a confusing statement about tomorrow. I think we can interpret this by sayingsomething like: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow there will besomething entirely different to worry about.” Face tomorrow when tomorrow comes. Don’t obsess about something that may never happen. How many of your worries have actuallyhappened? Most of the time we worryabout the “worst-case-scenario,” only to face problems that are not asdifficult as we first imagined them.

Somepeople live in the past, nostalgic for the “good ole days.” Living in the past guarantees that we do nothave a present or a future.

Otherpeople worry about the future, exchanging life today for the worries oftomorrow. Living in the“worst-case-scenario” guarantees that the past does not matter and the presentis irrelevant.

Jesusdid not tell us to stop worrying, because the future will be better than thepast or present. He actually told us thattomorrow will be filled with “trouble.” Literally, Jesus said, “Each day has enough EVIL of its own.” Yet, he did promise to be with us… The sameyesterday, today and tomorrow. As longas it is today, live in the presence and provision and protection ofJesus. Tomorrow will bring its ownproblems, but Jesus is already there.

Conclusion.

Since today is the first--the first day of 2012--I want to challenge you to "Give God the First."

· GiveGod the First Part of Every Day.

I’mnot a morning person. Shauna wakes up inthe morning happy and smiling. I wake upgrumpy and need a few hours before I can even function properly. If you are like me, maybe we need to findanother time to spend with God in reading / listening to his word andpraying. But, whatever time we choose tospend with God, it needs to be our best time. Don’t give your best time to your job and your family, while giving Godyour leftovers. God doesn’t want ourleftovers.

· GiveGod the First Day of Every Week.

Churchis important. I am not saying this toboost our annual attendance numbers. Iam saying this, because something very important takes place at church. In the first place, church is where weworship God. The Bible tells us thatpublic worship is an important part of our Christian lives. In the second place, church is a place fortrue community with other believers. Weshare our joys and struggles. We sharelife together. And we were created tohave community with others.

· GiveGod the First Placein Every Relationship.

Wewere created for community: to have relationships with others. But not all relationships are pleasing toGod. Some relationships are destructiveto ourselves or destructive to our relationship with God. In every relationship, we need to evaluatewhat that other person is doing to our relationship with God. If another person is coming between you andGod, you need to make a switch. Put Godin the first place. Make God yourpriority, not another human person.

· GiveGod the First Dime of Every Dollar.

Thereis no better time than the first Sunday of the year to make a financialcommitment to support. Some of you madea commitment to give ten percent to the church a long time ago. Some people don’t think they can afford togive ten percent to the church. Godpromises to take care of us in every area of life, including our finances. I don’t subscribe to the view that if yougive ten percent, God will give you more money. But, I do believe that if we give ten percent, God will be faithful tomeet your needs with 90% of your income even better than you could do with 100%of your income. In 2012, set a goal togive ten percent. Start with 5% andincrease 1% per month. By the middle ofthe year, you have reached a tithe.

· GiveGod the First Consideration in Every Decision.

If welisten to Oprah Winfrey, we will put ourselves first and make decisions thatwill make ourselves happy. But, that isnot a Christian perspective. AsChristians, we believe God has placed us here to serve him and accomplish hisgoals in the world. Therefore, everydecision we make should honor God first. We should ask ourselves, Will this decision honor God?

As we begin the year 2012, I want us all to focus onMatthew 6: 33, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these thingswill be added to you.”

All these things = food, shelter, clothing mentionedin passage… However, this is not apromise that God will make you wealthy. Itis a promise that God will take care of you…And that no amount of worry canchange that.

There is a story that has made its way around theInternet several times in the form of an email. Most of those emails that people forward to 40 – 50 of their friends andsimply not true. But this one actuallyhas a kernel of truth.

Many of you may remember the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, byStephen R. Covey. Stephen Covey became ahousehold name as a result of this book and extended his influence through aseries of conferences.

One of Stephen Covey’s favorite illustrations tointroduce his conference involved a clear glass jar. Covey would hold the jar high and tell theclass that he would attempt to fill the jar. Then he would dump large rocks into the jar and ask how many peoplethought the jar was full. After shiftingthe rocks around, and perhaps carefully fitting in an extra rock or two most wouldagree that the jar was full. Then hewould begin to fill the gaps and spaces with tiny pebbles. Again asking the question, Is the jarfull? Then he would fill the spacesbetween the pebbles with sand. And askthe question, Is the jar full? Andfinally he would pour water into the jar and announce that the jar was finallyfull.

The point of the illustration = In order to fill thejar with all of the materials, the big rocks must go in first. If you start with water or sand, you willNEVER fit the big rocks into the jar…We have infinite choices…But finite resources…

OR…There are more good things to do than you canpossibly do…It is impossible to do everything that is good or worthy. We have only enough time to do the things wemake time to do.

And Jesus said…You must start with God…His kingdomand his righteousness…If you don’t start with God, you will fill your life withnothing but sand.

Advent 4: A New Message

2011-12-18T13:38:00.004-06:00

A New Message

Luke 2: 1 – 20.

I. Introduction.

December is probably the busiest month of my year. Christmas shopping. Christmas parties. Family—Lufkinfamily, Texas family and Mississippi family. Church programs. Church budget. Sometimes I can really relate to the title ofthe Merle Haggard song, “If We Make It through December—We’ll Be Fine.”

I have quoted Merle Haggard before. But let me quote him once again:

Got laid offdown at the factory
Their timings not the greatest in the world
Heaven knows I been workin' hard
Wanted Christmas to be right for daddy's girl
Now I don't mean to hate December
It's meant to be the happy time of year
But my little girl don't understand
Why daddy can't afford no Christmas here

But If we make it through December
Everything’s gonna be alright I know
It's the coldest time of winter
And I shiver when I see the fallin' snow

If we make it through December
Got plans to be in a warmer town come summer time
Maybe even California
If we make it through December we'll be fine

(For some of you, it changes the way you think aboutyour pastor to hear me quote Merle Haggard. For others, you are thinking, “This is my kind of church.”)

Traditionally, there are four themes for the fourSundays of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love

Hope is believing that the future will be better thanthe past and the present. It isbelieving that we have not yet experienced the best that life has tooffer. There are only two ways to livewith Hope. Some people find Hope inbelieving that the world is becoming a better place to live every day. If you don’t believe the world is becoming abetter place to live, then you can live with the Hope of Heaven and eternallife. God sent his Son, Jesus, that wemight have eternal life…true Hope.

Peace is what we think of as living withoutconflict. But, I think it meanssomething more than that. To live inPeace is to live without any fear. Nofear of retaliation from other people, and no fear of the wrath of God. The only way to live without fear of God isto be in a right relationship with God. This relationship is not possible through the Law. If anything, the Law shows us that it isimpossible for us to live up to God’s expectations. So, God sent his Son, Jesus. Jesus lived up to God’s expectations and wastherefore qualified to be our perfect sacrifice…making it possible for us tohave relationship and Peace with God.

Joy is often mistaken for happiness. However, happiness depends on ourcircumstances. Joy is living above thecircumstances. The Joyful life is a lifethat cannot be controlled or deflated by difficulties or struggles. This Joy is only possible when we live in thepresence of God. God sent his Son,Jesus, that we might live daily in the presence of God. Jesus is Immanuel—or, God is with us.

Love is more than a feeling. Of course, feelings and emotions have a lotto do with Love. However, Love isactually giving your life away for another person. If you Love someone, you will sacrifice yourown needs and desires so that their needs and desires can be met. This is why God sent his Son, Jesus. God loved us so much that he provided the wayour needs could be met.

I have beenthinking about our Advent themes over the past week and have made a couple ofobservations.

In the first place, true Hope, true Peace, true Joy andtrue Love are things which we cannot achieve for ourselves. Ultimately, Hope, Peace, Joy and Love aregifts of God’s Grace. We cannot achievethem, and we cannot earn them. All wecan do is receive them from God. Andthat is why Christmas was necessary.

In the second place, we live in a world that issearching for Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Some of us recognize that Hope, Peace, Joy and Love are gifts we receivefrom God. Yet, most of the world is engagedin a fruitless search for an elusive kind of life. For example, you only have to watch the TVnews for about 10 minutes to discover how many people in our world do not haveHope, Peace, Joy and Love. But they aretrying to achieve it through humanitarian efforts, politics and religion.

Read Luke 2: 1 – 20.

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3 And everyone went to his own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
(NIV)

Thisis the traditional Christmas story. Weread it in church and in our homes every year. It tells the historical details of the day when the Christ child wasborn.

Sometimes,we read this story and focus our attention on Mary and Joseph. Other times, we read the story and focus onthe shepherds. But how often do we focuson the angels?

Inthe Bible, angels were messengers. Infact, the Hebrew word for angel in the Old Testament is the word for messenger;and the Greek word for angel in the New Testament is the word formessenger. That is an importanttheological truth. We are not supposedto bow down and worship angels. We areto think of angels as messengers from God. Therefore, we should listen to what they say. The messages angels bring us do not come fromthe angels themselves. Angels bring us amessage from God.

Luke 2: 10, “But the angel said to them,‘Do not be afraid. I bring you goodnewsof great joy that will be for all the people.’”

II. Good News.

Theangels’ announcement used an important Greek word (euaggelion) that we translate into two English words. This wordcomes directly into Eng. as “Evangelism” or “Evangelize” and other forms of theword…It is a compound of 2 Greek words…Good + Message…In other places, the NTtranslates it “Gospel”…

Recentarchaeological finds have discovered that evangelion (euaggelion) was not just a Christian word…It was a common word inthe 1^st Century Roman world…It was often used to announce the birthor the ascension of a new king…

Forexample, this inscription can be dated around 9BC, announcing a new RomanEmperor…

The providence which has ordered the whole ofour life, showing concern and zeal, has ordained the most perfect consummationfor human life by giving to it Augustus, by filling him with virtue for doingthe work of a benefactor among men, and by sending in him, as it were, a saviorfor us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create ordereverywhere…; the birthday of the god (Augustus) was the beginning for the worldof the good news that has come to men through him…(N.T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said. [Grand Rapids:William B. Eerdmans, 1997.], p. 43.)

Inother words, Romans placed all their Hope in the government…The Emperor wasgod…savior…the prince who could establish peace…the one who could take away allgrief and make life Joyful…

Butthe problem was that it never exactly worked that way…No Roman Emperor actuallybrought more Joy to the people…So each time a new Emperor was either born orascended to the throne, the people announced the Good News, that maybe this onewould be different…

III. Great Joy.

Andthe angels announced…This one WILL be different! This is certainly a new king, but thistime…God himself has come…And Jesus is the only one who can make thingsdifferent…He can change things…He can give you Joy!

Andthat is the difference…Joy does not depend on you…Joy does not come from yourown efforts or attempts to make the world a better place…Joy is a gift—or aGrace of God…

It islike a story that Jesus once told…Found in Matthew 25…We know it as the Parableof the Talents… (Tell the story of the master and the 3 servants…)

Inthe story, the 3^rd servant sought Joy in his own happiness…He lookedfor the easy way, trying to avoid discipline by his master…He looked forcomfort, trying to avoid conflict with his master…

Butit was the 1^st & 2^nd servants who found Joy…It’s notthat they looked for Joy or for happiness…They were concerned with only onething, pleasing their master…And when the master was pleased by what they haddone…The master said, “Well done good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I willput you in charge of many things; enter into the Joy of your master (Matthew25: 21 and 23).”

Theydidn’t look for Joy…They didn’t earn Joy…They were given Joy…They were invitedcome into Joy with their master…

Ifind it significant that Joy is listed as one of the Fruit of the Spirit… Thisillustrates that Joy should never be the goal of our lives, but the Fruit—orthe produce, or the harvest, or the result—of a life controlled by the Spiritof God…

That’sthe same thing that happened with the shepherds on the 1^st Christmasnight…The angels announced the Good News that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem…And theshepherds traveled to see the Son of God…

(Luke 2: 20)… “The shepherds went back,glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as hadbeen told them.”

Theshepherds looked for Jesus, and the shepherds found Joy.

IV. All People.

Yes,the Good News of Great Joy was for the shepherds…But it doesn’t stop there…ThisJoy is for All People…Luke told us what the shepherds did when they heard theGood News…

(Luke 2: 16 – 18)… “So they came in ahurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in themanger. When they had seen this, theymade known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the thingswhich were told them by the shepherds.”

Wecan’t keep this to ourselves…Let’s be like the shepherds…We’ve heard the GoodNews…We’ve received the Great Joy…We ought to tell somebody…

(John 3: 16)… “For God so loved the world, that He gave His onlybegotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternallife.”

V. Conclusion.

Did you notice a shift in theway the message was delivered? In verse10, the message was delivered by angels. In verse 18, the message was delivered by the shepherds.

This is where we enter intothe Christmas story. Once we have heardthe Good News, it becomes our job to be the messengers. The Good News is for all the people. The Good News is not supposed to stop withus.

On Wednesday, our ministerssat down with another minister to dream about the future of our church. He quoted some frightening statistics onevangelism.

Some surveys claim that only2% of Christians share their faith with others. (I can find numerous websites that quote this same number, but they allrefer to “recent surveys” without citing the actual surveys.) If this is true, the reverse is also true—98%of Christians never share their faith with others.

He asked us to guess the topthree reasons why Christians do not share their faith. We were able to guess numbers 2 and 3. Number 2—“I am afraid of failure.” Number 3—“No one has ever taught me how towitness.” But we could not guess thenumber one answer. Number 1—“It’s not myjob.”

It wouldn’t surprise me if wediscovered that only 2% of our church members share the Good News withothers. But, I would be shocked todiscover that you don’t think it is your job.

The Good News is not supposedto stop with us as American, Baptist, Christians. The Good News is for all the people. We have received the Good News so that we canspread the message to all people.

You are a messenger. God has given you a message. Don’t let the Good News stop with us.

Advent 3: A New Presence

2011-12-11T13:52:00.002-06:00

A New Presence

Matthew 1: 18 – 25

Introduction

If you are like me, you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your own name. Names are very interesting. We usually don’t have any control over our names. Someone else gave us our names before we were old enough to decide for ourselves. Then, we spend our entire lives “stuck” with what other people call us. A name is so much a part of our identity that we can’t even imagine having any other name.

But, when I think about it, I am actually glad my parents named me “Andy.” After all, everybody calls me “Andy,” so it would be somewhat awkward if that wasn’t my name.

Are you happy with your name? How do you feel when you hear someone speak your name for the first time? Do you feel proud of your name? Or, do you have to explain what your name means or why your parents stuck you with such an unusual name?

In our culture, names don’t really carry a lot of significance. It’s just a name. It doesn’t say anything about the kind of person we are deep down.

That was not the case in the world of the Bible. In the Bible, names were significant, because they revealed something about a person’s character. In fact, there are several Bible stories about God changing a person’s name because that person’s character changed.

The name Abram means “father.” When God called Abram to become the father of the Jewish people, God changed his name to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.” The name Jacob means “trickster, or deceiver.” When God called Jacob to become the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, God changed his name to Israel, which means “one who strives with God, or God prevails.” The name Simon means “flat-nosed.” When Simon confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus changed his name to Peter, which means “rock”—and Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church.”

Since names actually mean something in the Bible, it should not surprise us that Matthew told us the story of how Jesus got his name. Like most newborn boys, Jesus was named by his father, Joseph. And, while Joseph might have been tempted to name this baby Joseph Junior, he didn’t. Joseph was instructed by an angel from God to name the baby Jesus.

Matthew 1: 18 – 25.

18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-- which means, "God with us."

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

(NIV)

Families usually celebrate when they discover that a baby is on the way. It is supposed to be a joyous event. However, this was not the case with Joseph. This birth did not take place in the normal progression of things. Joseph and Mary were supposed to get engaged, then get married, and only then have their first born child. That is not the way things happened for Joseph and Mary.

Joseph discovered that his fiancée was pregnant before they were married. We know that this was a miracle. God had selected Mary to be the virgin mother of God’s Son. But, Joseph didn’t know this. He assumed this baby was conceived humanly, and this could only mean one thing. Mary was guilty of adultery.

Even though Joseph and Mary were not yet married, their culture afforded them many of the rights and responsibilities of a married couple. For example, a woman whose fiancé died before their wedding day was considered a widow. And a woman who had intimate relations with another man was considered an adulteress.

Matthew tells us that Joseph was a righteous man. This probably means that Joseph took the Old Testament Law very seriously. He tried to live up to the standards of the Law, and he tried to fulfill all the requirements of the Law. As a result, Joseph had a very difficult decision to make. On one hand, he could follow the letter of the Law and make a public spectacle out of Mary. He could publicly accuse her of unfaithfulness and allow the legal process to run its course. The end of that process would have been the death penalty by stoning. On the other hand, Joseph could have taken a more private action. He could bring two witnesses with him to Mary’s house, accuse her in their presence and demand a divorce.

Fortunately Joseph was visited by an angel in the middle of the night. An angel is a messenger, and this particular angel delivered two messages to Joseph. The angel told Joseph that it was God’s will for him to go ahead with his plans to marry. The baby was the result of God’s activity and not the result of human sinfulness. This baby was a part of God’s plan to enter into human history and accomplish salvation.

The angel also told Joseph to name the baby Jesus. (I’m sure this was a relief for Joseph, since naming the baby was the farthest thing from his mind. He had much bigger things to worry about than coming up with a name!)

Given Name

In some ways, there is nothing really special about the name Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of the English name Joshua or the Hebrew name Yeshua. Yet, the name Jesus is significant because of what it means. It literally means, “Yahweh saves.”

It was a fairly common for Jewish people in the First Century world to name their sons Jesus. There was a Jesus in the Old Testament—Joshua, who succeeded Moses as the leader who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. There is even a reference to another Jesus in the New Testament, in Colossians 4. More than likely, this Jesus was named after Joshua in the Old Testament. His name was a reminder of all Yahweh had done in the past to bring salvation to the Israelites and to bring them into the Promised Land.

But, that is not how Jesus got his name. Jesus was not named to remind us of what God had done in the past. Jesus was named to point us toward the future.

Matthew 1: 21, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

The name Jesus reminds us of Jesus’ miraculous birth and foreshadows Jesus’ divine mission. Jesus is God’s plan for salvatiom.

Matthew goes to great lengths to show us from Jesus’ ancestry that he is a legitimate “son of Abraham” and “son of David.” As a son of Abraham, Jesus is a legitimate Jew. As a son of David, Jesus is a royal heir to the throne.

Matthew makes us wait before he gives us insight into Jesus’ nature as the Son of God. He holds this until the story of Jesus’ baptism. After the baptism, a voice from Heaven declares that Jesus is “my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” But, Jesus did not become the Son of God at his baptism. We know this, because of the miraculous virgin birth.

The birth of Jesus was something that had never happened before. A baby was conceived in the womb of a virgin young woman.

The life of Jesus would be something that had never happened before either. Jesus lived a sinless and perfect life. He fulfilled the entire Law of the Old Testament and lived up to all of God’s expectations.

And, of course, the death of Jesus was something that had never happened before. Jesus was the virgin-born Son of God. Jesus lived a sinless and perfect life. And, he was crucified as a perfect and final sacrifice for all our sins.

The name Jesus tells us who this baby will become. The fact that God named the baby Jesus tells us this is God’s plan. All of God’s plans for salvation are fulfilled in the life and the eventual death and resurrection of this baby. God’s plans are no longer tied to a person’s biological race or to a national entity. God’s plans are tied to Jesus.

As a result, everyone must decide for themselves what to do with Jesus. This is a baby who demands a decision. Either, we will reject this baby as God’s plan for salvation, or we will accept him through faith. His life is to be our example. His death was a sacrifice for our sins. His resurrection is our assurance of eternal life.

Symbolic Name

Matthew tells us this baby actually has two names. On one hand, his given name is to be Jesus. On the other hand, he has a symbolic name that comes directly from the prophecy of Isaiah 7.

Matthew 1: 22 – 23, “All this took place to fulfill 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.’’”

As far as I know, this is the only time Jesus is referred to as Immanuel. No one in the Bible ever addressed him as Immanuel. They called him Jesus or Lord. But never Immanuel. This is a symbolic name. It symbolizes Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and God’s plans for our lives.

The name Immanuel—much like the name Jesus—reminds us of Jesus’ miraculous birth and Jesus’ divine mission. God’s plan for our lives includes two things. God wants to save us from our sins, AND God wants us to be in relationship with himself. God wants to be with us…to be the most important relationship in our lives…the relationship which controls everything we do and every decision we make.

God with Us

God’s plan for our salvation is much like what we have been reading in the Book of Exodus. When God’s people were slaves in Egypt, God rescued them from slavery. But, God told his people that he had two objectives for them. First, God wanted to rescue them from slavery. Second, God wanted to be with his people.

We can see this in the overall story of the Book of Exodus. The Book can be divided into three sections: the Israelites in Egypt, the Israelites at Mount Sinai, and the Israelites in the wilderness. At Mount Sinai, God gave his people specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was the place where God met with his people. It was built as a tent so that it would be portable. Wherever God led his people, they would always have access to the presence of God.

Eventually, the people were settled in the Promised Land. They no longer needed a portable Tabernacle to carry the presence of God with them. Therefore, God gave King Solomon instructions to build a more permanent Temple. This Temple was a constant reminder that God was present with his people. It was fixed in one location in the center of the religious and political capitol city, Jerusalem.

But what are we supposed to do today? There is no Temple in Jerusalem. We don’t have a Tabernacle. Instead, we have Jesus, who is Immanuel—God with us.

John 1: 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John does not tell us anything about the birth of Jesus. Instead, he wrote a theological description of who Jesus is. Jesus is the Word of God who reveals God to us. And, in the Incarnation, the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Interestingly, there is only one Greek word that gets translated “made his dwelling among us.” It is the word “tabernacle.” Jesus is the “tabernacle” that reveals the glory and presence of God among us.

John 2: 18 – 22, “Then the Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’

The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

These are the words of Jesus, no less. John makes an obvious connection that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Tabernacle which reveals the glory and presence of God. Then, Jesus himself tells us that he is our Temple

1 Corinthians 3: 16 – 17, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”

The pronoun “you” is a plural pronoun in this passage. In East Texas, we would translate, “Don’t ya’ll know that ya’ll are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in ya’ll?”

According to Paul’s theology, the church is the temple of God. The Holy Spirit lives in the church. We experience the presence of God in the church. This should be our primary reason for not causing problems in church.

1 Corinthians 6: 19 – 20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

This passage sounds a whole lot like 1 Corinthians 3. The difference is that Paul has shifted from the plural to the singular for of the pronoun “you.” The Holy Spirit lives in you, individually, as a man or woman saved by Jesus.

Here, we can trace a thread through the entire narrative of Scripture. God gave his people a Tabernacle in which they could experience the presence of God. When they were settled in the Promised Land, God gave them a Temple. Then, God sent his Son, Jesus, to be the fulfillment of both the Tabernacle and the Temple. Then, God placed his Holy Spirit in the lives of individual Christians and in the corporate body of the church.

Conclusion

Are you searching for God today? There is good news. God is right here. God is present in the life of the church. God is present in the life of men and women who have placed their faith in Jesus.

It’s like searching for your car keys before you leave the house. You look in your pockets. You look in your dresser. You look in the refrigerator. And then you feel kind of silly, because the keys are right there in your hand. God sent Jesus so that we no longer have to search for God. God is searching for us.

The Good News of Christmas is not that God is everywhere. God is right here. The Good News is not that God can be accessed from anywhere. God can be accessed where we are. God is with us.

Advent 2: A New Hope

2011-12-04T13:56:00.002-06:00

A New Hope

Matthew 3: 1 – 17.

Introduction

It may look like Christmas, but it’s not Christmas yet. The stores in town and the commercials on TV want us to think of Christmas as a season. But, Christmas is a day of the year. Advent is a season.

During the season of Advent, we focus our attention on the coming of Christ. That is what Advent means…Approaching or coming. On one hand, we focus on the first coming of Christ, which happened on Christmas Day. On the other hand, we focus on the second coming of Christ, which can happen at any time.

The first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ are important components of the Gospel (or Good News) message. This is the Gospel. God loved us and pursued us by sending his only Son, Jesus. Jesus lived his life in fulfillment of the entire Old Testament Law and gave his life as a sacrifice to fulfill the Old Testament sacrifices. After the crucifixion, Jesus rose again to claim victory over Satan and death. Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into Heaven and promised that he would come back to take us to be with him in Heaven.

During Advent, we celebrate the fact that this Gospel story promises us true Hope, true Peace, true Joy and true Love.

The Hope that God offers us in Christ is more than “wishful thinking.” Hope is the assurance that God has kept all his promises in the past and will keep his promises in the future. Since Christ rose from the grave, all who have faith in Christ will experience the same kind of resurrection life. The Presence of God in our lives is just a little taste—a deposit guaranteeing—that will keep his promises.

The Peace that God offers us in Christ is more than the “absence of conflict.” The biblical idea of Peace comes from the Hebrew word “Shalom,” which means “whole” or “complete.” Peace which is wholeness is only possible when our lives are “made complete” by the Presence of God. Jesus was born to be Immanuel—God with us. There is no peace without the Presence of God.

The Joy we celebrate is the Joy of Christ. It does not depend on the circumstances of our lives. The world tells us the secret to happiness is to put difficult circumstances behind you—make plenty of money, get along with other people, and live a healthy life. The Joy of Christ is a product of the Presence of God. He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. We won’t avoid the valleys. But we experience Joy in God’s companionship—to rise above the difficult circumstances of life.

The Love of God was demonstrated in the Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection. God loved us and did not leave us to figure things out for ourselves. First, he gave us his Law. When we could not live up to God’s expectations, God sent Jesus to show us how to live according to the Law. By fulfilling the Law, Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sins…so that we might live in perfect relationship with God.

The Scripture we read this morning is one of anticipation. We know who Jesus is, because we have heard the story before. We know who Jesus is, because we have the advantage of 2,000 years of Christian history and theology to interpret Jesus for us. But in the Gospel of Matthew, we read about a time when John the Baptist was preparing the people to discover who Jesus is. The unique Son of God and the Promised Christ / Messiah.

Matthew 3: 1 – 17.

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea

2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"

4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.

6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.

17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

(NIV)

A New Baptism.

John got his name from the act of baptism. We know him as “John the Baptist,” but he could also be known as “John the Baptizer.” He got this name, because he practiced baptism and not because he invented baptism.

More than likely, baptism was something the Jews already knew about. It was something required of Gentile people who converted to the Jewish religion. These new converts would commit themselves to the teachings of the Old Testament, the Jewish dietary laws, the Jewish forms of worship and, then, they would be baptized. Baptism marked the end of their conversion and the beginning of their new life as a Jew. However, John was not baptizing Gentiles who wanted to become Jews. John was teaching something new by demanding that Jews needed to be baptized!

We can understand a little about what John’s baptism meant by looking at the ways Matthew describes it for us.

First, Matthew tells us in Matthew 3: 5 – 6, “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.”

It was the Jewish people who were coming from Jerusalem and Judea to be baptized. And, they submitted to baptism AFTER confessing their sins. The baptism was not intended to wash away their sins. Baptism came after confession of sin.

Second, Matthew quotes John in Matthew 3: 11, “I baptize you with water for repentance.”

This is confusing. It sounds like baptism is necessary for repentance. Jesus didn’t need to repent, but he indicated that it was important for him to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Since Jesus did not sin, he didn’t need his sins washed away. Since Jesus was and is the Unique Son of God, he didn’t need to repent. Repent means “to turn around.” It is turning away from our previous life of sin and turning toward the life God wants us to live.

The best way to understand baptism in general—and the baptism of Jesus specifically—is to think of baptism as an outward sign of an internal reality. Baptism symbolizes that the person being baptized has ALREADY entered into a proper relationship with God.

Jesus already had that relationship. Therefore, he was baptized to symbolize it to the rest of the world. You and I don’t have that relationship until we have placed our faith in God’s plan for our salvation—the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Baptism does not wash away our sins. Baptism is not an act of repentance. It’s actually the other way around. Forgiveness of sins is necessary for baptism, and repentance is necessary for baptism. Baptism is an outward sign that a person has ALREADY confessed their sins and repented.

The Apostle Paul takes this a step farther and explains in Romans 6 the reason why we baptize.

Romans 6: 1 – 4, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life.”

According to Paul, the act of baptism symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. On one hand, we can say that our baptism is a way that we participate in the death, burial and resurrection. We are dead to sin and its effects. Our old self is buried in the waters of baptism. We are raised to live a new and resurrected life. On the other hand, we can say that the baptism of Jesus was an important symbol at the beginning of his ministry. It was a foreshadowing of what Jesus—the Unique Son of God and Promised Christ / Messiah—would do. He would die; he would be buried; and he would rise again.

A New Message.

Since John had a role to play in God’s plan, all of John’s preaching fit into that plan. He basically preached one message, “Get ready, because the Messiah is coming.”

On one hand, John told us what would happen when the Messiah came. John told us that the Messiah would have a similar ministry to his own. John preached and baptized. The Messiah would preach and baptize. The difference between John and the Messiah was in the way they baptized. John baptized with water. The Messiah would baptize with Holy Spirit and fire.

The two images of Spirit and fire are intended to remind us of God’s judgment. John was warning the Jews about the coming of God’s judgment. We might not like to talk about the judgment of God. We prefer to talk about the love of God. But you can’t have one without the other.

God is holy and righteous. He does not sin. He does not commit evil deeds. Human beings are not holy, not righteous, and we are plagued with sin. If God enters into a relationship with sinful human beings, something must be done about our sin problem. If God accepts us as sinners, then we have every right to question his holiness and righteousness.

This is where judgment becomes necessary. In order for God to maintain his character as holy and righteous, God must hate sin. God must do everything to eradicate sin from human beings with whom he has relationship.

John tells us that the judgment of God is an all-consuming fire. God’s judgment destroys sin. In this sense, we can think of God’s judgment as a purifying fire. It burns away all the sin and the evil in our lives. Yet, that is not true for those who do not repent. The unrepentant will be consumed—along with their sins—by the purifying fire of God’s judgment.

The crowds of people from Jerusalem and Judea came out to hear John preach about God’s judgment and our need for repentance. Matthew tells us that the crowds were not the only ones who came. The Pharisees and Sadducees came as well. The Pharisees were the group of men who had devoted their lives to the written Law and the oral interpretations of the Law. The Sadducees were the men who had devoted their lives to the priesthood and the integrity of Temple worship.

Interestingly, John told the Pharisees and the Sadducees that they needed to repent as well. No one in ancient Jerusalem thought the Pharisees and Sadducees needed to repent. They represented the very best that Judaism had to offer in the first century. They were devoted to the Law and the Temple… But, John told them that wasn’t enough.

John even told them not to appeal to their biological connection to Abraham. John said, “Sure. You really are children of Abraham. But if God wanted to turn these stones into children of Abraham, he could do that.”

If God can turn stones into children of Abraham, then God can turn Gentiles into children of Abraham. If God can cause stones to turn into the people of God, then none of us can tell God whom he can save and whom he cannot save. John understood that the work of the Messiah included the people of Israel, but was not limited to the people of Israel.

A New Kingdom

Matthew, more than any other biblical author, makes a point to use the Old Testament to prove that all aspects of Jesus’ life fulfill the hopes of Israel. In Matthew’s day, the Jewish people were hoping that the Messiah would come.

The Hebrew word “Messiah” means “the anointed one.” Its Greek equivalent is the word “Christ.” When we confess that Jesus is the Christ, we confess that Jesus is the One God promised in the Old Testament to be the savior of Israel. But we also confess that God’s salvation extends beyond the geopolitical boundaries of the nation of Israel and beyond the race of people we know as the Jews. In fact, this is what Matthew was showing us in his Gospel.

Matthew 2: 15, “…And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my Son.’”

Matthew 3: 17, “And a voice from Heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”

In the Book of Exodus, God refers to Israel as his son. When God’s son was held in Egyptian slavery, God rescued his son. Now, Matthew makes a clear connection between Israel as God’s son and Jesus as God’s Son. God protected Jesus from Herod—who wanted to kill Jesus—by sending him into Egypt and leading him back to Nazareth when the coast was clear. If this was not clear enough, Matthew tells us about a voice from Heaven which unambiguously identifies Jesus as the Son of God.

Matthew 3: 13, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.”

Matthew 4: 1, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”

In the Book of Exodus, we read the details of how God rescued the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery and formed them into the Nation of Israel. God parted the waters of the Red Sea and led his people through the water on dry ground. After crossing through the Red Sea, the Israelites entered into the desert, where they were tempted. In the same way, Jesus walked out of the waters of baptism and went into the desert to be tempted. The difference between Israel and Jesus is the fact that Jesus faced temptation and resisted. He remained faithful, while Israel failed over and over again.

Matthew 4: 23, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”

There are a couple of important points to note about this Scripture. First, Jesus began his preaching ministry in Galilee. Because of its location in northern Israel, Galilee was home to many Gentiles. It was often referred to as “Galilee of the Gentiles.” Jesus did not begin his ministry in the city of Jerusalem, in the religious and political capitol. Jesus went to the place where Gentiles lived. Second, notice that Jesus began by preaching to Jews in their synagogues. Jesus preached to the Jews about the Kingdom of God. In other words, the Jews were not already a part of God’s Kingdom by virtue of their race or their politics. God’s Kingdom cannot be defined by race or politics

This ought to remind us of what John the Baptist told the Jews in Matthew 3: 9, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children of Abraham.”

Conclusion

Jesus is the Promised Messiah for Israel. But, Jesus is much more than that. Jesus is a New Hope for all the peoples of the world. Jesus did not come to establish a political kingdom of Israel or a racial kingdom of Jewish people. Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God—a spiritual Kingdom which includes people of all races and politics, who place their faith in Jesus as Lord and Christ.

Advent 1: A New Exodus

2011-11-27T13:29:00.003-06:00

A New Exodus

Matthew 2: 13 – 23.

Introduction

I can think of several reasons why I am glad we observe Advent in our church.

First, Advent is a time for us to slow down and anticipate—or even prepare ourselves—for the coming of Christmas. We are different from the rest of the world. We observe Christmas as one of our holiest days on the Christian calendar. However, we don’t rush into Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over. We take the next four weeks to anticipate the coming of the Christ child. Christmas is not yet here, but we anticipate that Christmas is coming. Therefore, we will prepare ourselves while we wait on the coming of Christ.

Second, Advent reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. For the world, Christmas is about Santa Claus, snowmen, spending too much money, stressful relationships with friends and family, and the hustle and bustle of trying to get everything ready. While many of us will experience these aspects of Christmas, Advent reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is the coming of the Christ child. God loved us so much that he became one of us. God entered into human history as a helpless child. This child was named Jesus, or “Yahweh saves.” He was called Immanuel, or “God is with us.”

Third, Advent helps us to step out of the noise of Christmas. Just consider some of the noisy things that happened on the first official day of Christmas shopping. A man in California was shot in a Wal-Mart parking lot when he refused to give his shopping bags to thieves. At another Wal-Mart in California, customers waited in line for discounts on Xbox games. When the employees brought out the discounted games, a woman in line sprayed pepper spray so she could jump to the front of the line.[1]

Apparently, Christmas shopping brings out the worst in some people. It brings out competition, jealousy, ambition, and ultimately greed.

Advent helps us to get out of the competition, jealousy, ambition and greed of Christmas to focus on the Hope, Peace, Joy and Love that only Christ can bring.

Of course, there is nothing really new about competition, jealousy, ambition and greed. These terms describe the world we live in, the world we grew up and the world in which Jesus was born.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us that when Jesus was born, Wise Men from the East came to Judea to see the One born King of the Jews. Since they were looking for a new King, they went to the capitol city. After all, it makes sense that a King would be found in the capitol city. The Wise Men first inquired about the new King in the palace of the old king, Herod. But, Jesus was not to be found in either the capitol city or in the king’s palace. He was born in the out-of-the-way, insignificant city of Bethlehem.

The Wise men were innocent. All they wanted to do was to find the One born King of the Jews. However, their visit enraged Herod and brought out his competition, jealousy, ambition and greed.

Matthew 2: 13 – 23.

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,

15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

(NIV)

Over the past few weeks, I have been preaching from the Book of Exodus. When I first started studying Exodus, I read a statement by an Old Testament scholar that shaped the way I approached the Book of Exodus. He reminded me that when Christian preachers preach from the Old Testament, we ought to ask ourselves if we can preach the same sermon in a Jewish synagogue. If my sermons can be preached in a Jewish Synagogue, then I am not preaching a Christian message.

That one statement has helped me to discover the ways that the Book of Exodus anticipates the coming of Jesus Christ and helps us to understand exactly who Jesus is. In fact, this is what Matthew had in mind when he wrote his gospel. Matthew wrote the story of Jesus to Jewish people living in the First Century World.

In the First Century, the faithful Jews were living in hope and expectation. They were hoping for the coming Messiah. They expected this coming Messiah to be their deliverer, their king, and their savior. And Matthew wrote his Gospel to these hopeful, expectant Jews.

Matthew wrote with one purpose in mind. He wanted to show the faithful Jews of the First Century that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the legitimate Messiah. In order to prove Jesus was and is the legitimate Messiah, Matthew had to demonstrate how Jesus could be the King without holding political office. He also had to prove from the Jewish Scriptures that Jesus is the One the Jews had been hoping for.

Out of Egypt I Called My Son.

Matthew spends more time than any of the other Gospel writers quoting from the Old Testament. He does this to serve his purpose. Again, he is writing to Jews and trying to prove that Jesus is the legitimate Messiah. The best way to accomplish this is to show how the life of Jesus—beginning with his birth—actually fulfills Old Testament prophecy.

We find a good example here in Matthew 2. Herod is jealous of the One born King of the Jews. He will go to any lengths to protect his kingdom. History tells us that Herod even went so far as to kill his own wife and two of his sons to stop a coup. It should come as no surprise that Herod would kill the baby boys under the age of two.

The surprise is that God steps in to protect Jesus. God spoke to Joseph in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt. From a historical point of view, this is not unusual. Many Jews sought refuge in Egypt in the ancient world. In the Book of Genesis, we read about Abraham going to Egypt to escape a famine, and later Jacob took his family to Egypt for the same reason. For Matthew, the escape to Egypt had a theological purpose. It fulfilled the prophecy in Hosea 11.

Hosea 11: 1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

Hosea’s words remind us of what God said to Pharaoh in Exodus 4: 22 – 23, “Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

Hosea is writing about God’s love for Israel and reminding us how God rescued his people out of slavery in Egypt. God took a people who had no identity—they were slaves and nothing more than property of the King of Egypt—and made them into his own people.

Hosea is not writing about Jesus, the future Son of God. But, for some reason Matthew finds this to be a prophecy about Jesus.

Matthew knows that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people. Jesus fulfills the specific prophecies of the Old Testament, AND Jesus fulfills the general trajectory of Scripture.

We need to be careful here, because Matthew can do things with the Old Testament that you and I cannot. Matthew can find Jesus in Old Testament passages where the Old Testament authors were not writing about Jesus, because Matthew was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew can look back at the Jewish Scriptures and claim that Jesus fulfills all the hopes of Israel.

God brought Israel out of Egypt to establish them as a nation and to enact his covenant with his people. Then, God brought Jesus out of Egypt to establish a new people (the Kingdom of God) and to fulfill the hopes of Israel.

Rachel Weeping for Her Children

Matthew used the same type of interpretation when he described the weeping and mourning that resulted from Herod’s command to kill the baby boys. He quoted the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31: 15, “This is what the LORD says: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.’”

Jeremiah was predicting the Babylonian Exile. He was telling the people of Judah that their sons would be carried off as slaves to a foreign land. They would be led out of the city of Jerusalem through the small town of Ramah. Ramah is the place where Jacob’s wife Rachel was buried. Therefore, as the Israelite young men were led out as slaves, the people would hear the sounds of weeping coming from Rachel’s grave.

Matthew’s first Scripture was a related to the Exodus. This Scripture is related to the Exile. Both the Exodus and the Exile threatened to put an end to God’s people. And, in both the Exodus and the Exile we see the providence of God and God’s salvation. Matthew associates Jesus with the two most significant acts of salvation in the Old Testament.

In the Exile, there was weeping because the situation seemed hopeless. However, God was at work—even in the midst of Exile. God brought his people back from Exile. In Herod’s massacre of the babies, there was weeping because the situation seemed hopeless. Mothers wept and mourned because their futures were lost when the sons were killed. However, God was at work—even in the midst of a massacre. God rescued his Son, Jesus, the true hope and the true future.

A New Israel

By associating Jesus with the two most significant salvation events in the Old Testament, he has given us a fuller understanding of who Jesus is. Jesus is the focus of God’s salvation plan.

God’s salvation began by focusing on the entire nation of Israel. God rescued them and established them as a nation governed by God and his Law. Eventually the nation of Israel divided into two kingdoms. One kingdom strayed from God’s Law. One kingdom remained faithful. God’s plan of salvation focused on the faithful of Israel. When the Kingdom of Judah was carried off into Exile, God promised to work with a remnant of those who were faithful.

The entire trajectory of God’s salvation—moving from the nation of Israel to the Kingdom of Judah to the remnant who returned from Exile—now comes to fulfillment in the Person of Jesus. Jesus was faithful to God as Israel never was.

Perhaps Matthew wants us to read the entire context of Hosea 11: 1.

Hosea 11: 1 – 11.

1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

2 But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.

3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.

4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.

5 "Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?

6 Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans.

7 My people are determined to turn from me. Even if they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them.

8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.

9 I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man-- the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.

10 They will follow the LORD; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.

11 They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes," declares the LORD.

(NIV)

God never gave up on Israel. He kept pursuing Israel. And Israel kept turning away from God. The birth of Jesus is God’s continuing to use Israel in his plans for salvation. The birth of Jesus represents a New Exodus.

Conclusion: A New Exodus

In the first Exodus, God accomplished two things. He rescued his people from slavery, AND he established his people as the Nation of Israel.

In the New Exodus, God accomplished the same two things. He rescued his people from slavery, AND he established his people as the Kingdom of God.

Slavery…Sin…Evil…Death. The Christ Child grew to become Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus lived a sinless and perfect life. He was faithful in a way that Israel was not. He gave his life as a sacrifice of blood to rescue us from slavery to sin. He rose again to rescue us from slavery to evil and death.

Kingdom of God. Jesus did not come to establish an earthly kingdom defined by geopolitical boundaries. Instead, Jesus established a Kingdom with no boundaries.

[1] http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-11-26/black-friday-pepper-spraying/51410606/1?csp=34news

Revelation and Response

2011-11-20T14:17:00.002-06:00

Revelation and Response

Exodus 24: 1 – 11.

Introduction.

Why do you come to church on Sunday mornings? I suppose there are several reasons.

Some people come to church, because they are in the habit of coming to church. Maybe you have come to church for the past five years of your life, and it is your habit. Of course, some of us have come to church longer than five years—ten, twenty, forty, or even eighty years. Long habits are hard to break.

Some people come to church for Bible study. We know that the Bible is God’s word to us. Therefore, you are involved in Sunday School to hear God’s word and apply it to your life. And in the Baptist tradition, the Bible is an important part of the worship service. We read the Bible and we interpret the Bible in all of our gatherings.

Some people come to church to worship God. In our tradition, public worship includes singing songs, hymns and spiritual songs; praying together; reading and interpreting the Bible; and two church ordinances—baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Every aspect of our worship can be described as a “dialog” with God. God reveals himself, and we respond. God reveals himself as our savior, and we respond by singing our reverence for God as well as our joy for what God has done for us. Prayer is a response to God. God reveals himself as our provider, and we respond by placing all our needs in God’s hands. The offering is our response to God. God reveals himself as the source of all good gifts—including our finances, and we respond by giving a portion of our income back to God who first gave to us.

In Exodus 24, we see a picture of worship as dialog of revelation and response. God revealed himself as savior by rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt. God revealed himself as provider by giving his people food and water in the desert. God revealed himself as the giver of all good gifts by giving his people gold, silver, flocks of animals, and his Law.

I have already pointed out the relationship between Grace and Law in the Book of Exodus. Grace came before the Law. God redeemed his people then gave them the Law. Therefore, the Law is what God expects from redeemed people. It is not the prerequisite for redemption. Grace comes before the Law.

Since Grace comes before the Law, we can also say that the Law is a gift from God. When God gave his Law, he revealed something about his character. When God gave his Law, he answered all questions about how redeemed people are supposed to live. We don’t have to wonder what God expects from us. God told us. We don’t have to grope around in darkness to figure out life on our own. God told us how we are supposed to live as his redeemed people.

It is also important to note that the Law describes worship. God told us who we are supposed to worship. God told us how we are supposed to worship. Worship is an important part of obedience. In fact, we should not separate worship and obedience. Worship is one way we demonstrate our obedience. Worship is something redeemed people do.

Read Exodus 24: 1 – 11.

1 Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance,

2 but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."

3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do."

4 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.

6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar.

7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey."

8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up

10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.

11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

(NIV)

According to verse 3, Moses told the people all of the LORD’s “words and laws.” The significance of the phrase “words and laws” probably comes from Exodus 20: 1 and Exodus 21: 1.

In Exodus 20, we read the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20: 1 introduced the Ten Commandments by saying, “And God spoke all these words.”

In Exodus 21 – 23, we read the application of the Ten Commandments. God took individual commandments and showed his people how they were to be applied—or lived out—in the day-to-day life of Israel. Exodus 21: 1 introduced these case laws by saying, “These are the laws you are to set before them.”

This leads me to believe that Moses has just read the entire law to the people. He read God’s direct commandments and God’s case law application of those commandments.

This is important because we recognize God as the source of both the commandments and the case laws. God’s Law reveals the character of God. It shows his love for his people. It shows his nature as the God who saved them. It demonstrates his holiness by demanding that God’s redeemed people will live out the same kind of holiness.

The Law tells us that God wants our lives to be lived in a spiritual context, not separating the sacred from the secular. It tells us that God’s word addresses every aspect of our lives, everything from our worship to our every day relationships with family. It tells us that God expects his people to be distinct from the rest of the world, to be holy as God himself is holy—set apart to be used in God’s service.

When God revealed himself to his people, they respond in worship. The first thing they do is to answer enthusiastically, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.”

Sacrifice / Shedding of Blood.

The people’s response leads Moses to build altars and offer sacrifices. Verse 5 describes two different types of sacrifices—burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

We ought to note how costly these sacrifices were. They were very costly for the Israelites, because they sacrificed young bulls from their herds. The sacrifices were costly to the bulls, because it cost them their lives.

After sacrificing the bulls on the altars, Moses divided the blood in half. He placed half of the blood on the altar as an offering to God and sprinkled half of the blood on the people. This demonstrates the two functions of the two different types of offerings. The blood on the altar was offered to God as atonement for the sins of the people. The blood on the people was to make them right in God’s sight.

Through the shedding of blood, the people received two gifts from God. First, they received forgiveness of sins. Second, they received fellowship / relationship with God.

Shedding of blood is an important concept throughout the entire Bible. In the Old Testament, we read about an elaborate sacrificial system. Certain sins require certain sacrifices. In different contexts, God asked his people to sacrifice different animals—doves, lambs, goats, bulls, etc… In the New Testament, there is no mention of animal sacrifice. This is because the crucifixion of Jesus was the final—once and for all—sacrifice for our sins.

The New Testament Book of Hebrews goes to great lengths to demonstrate the supremacy of Jesus and how the crucifixion took the place of the Old Testament sacrificial system. In fact, Hebrews 9 interprets Exodus 24 for us in light of the crucifixion.

Hebrews 9: 19 – 22, “When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (NIV).”

The Book of Hebrews tells us that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus has accomplished once and for all everything the animal sacrifices accomplished. Through the crucifixion and resurrection, we can have forgiveness of sin and fellowship with God.

Relationship / Seeing God.

After Moses offered sacrifices, we read a remarkable thing in verses 9 and 10. Four men went up Mount Sinai and actually saw God.

Exodus 24: 9 – 10, “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself (NIV).”

We know who Moses is, because he has been one of the central characters throughout the Book of Exodus. We know who Aaron is, because he is Moses’ brother whom God sent to help Moses. But, who are Nadab and Abihu? They are Aaron’s sons who were mentioned in Aaron’s genealogy in Exodus 6. As descendants of Aaron, they are also priests. But, perhaps more importantly, they got to see God in Exodus 24.

Moses and the priests got to see God, because of the effectiveness of the sacrifices. Their sins were forgiven, and they were made right in God’s eyes.

Since we believe that Jesus has already fulfilled the sacrificial system through his crucifixion and resurrection, does this mean it is possible for you and me to see God? YES.

John 14: 5 – 10, “Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (NIV).”

1 John 4: 7 – 12, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us (NIV).”

There are two ways we can see God.

First, we see God through Jesus. He is one with God. He speaks the word of God. He lived the character of God by fulfilling all of God’s words and laws.

Second, we see God through the love of God’s people. When God’s people love each other, God is real and visible in our world.

I know you can probably relate to this. You are not feeling very close to God, because you are facing a difficult time in your life. Maybe you were experiencing doubts. Or, maybe you were suffering through health problems or the death of someone you love. Then, unexpectedly, you get a contact from a Christian friend. They pray for you and demonstrate the love of God. All of a sudden, God is real and present.

Some people think the best way to make God real for other people is to engage in theological debate or to boycott. That’s not what 1 John says. First John tells us that God becomes real and visible through our love.

Covenant / Eating and Drinking.

Exodus 24 is about worship and demonstrates how worship is a dialog with God. God reveals himself. God’s people respond.

Moses read the words and laws to the people. The people responded with a commitment to obey God and by offering sacrifices.

God allowed Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu to see God. When they saw God, they responded by eating and drinking.

Exodus 24: 9 – 11, “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank (NIV).”

In the Old Testament, it was common for people to confirm a covenant between two parties by sharing a meal together. We see this in Exodus 18, when Moses and Jethro met. But, it was also a common way to confirm a covenant between God and his people. We see this in the story of the Passover. The people sacrificed a lamb, painted the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, and ate a meal together.

We see the same kind of imagery in the New Testament. For example, this is the meaning of the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples.

On one hand, we believe Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples was the Passover meal. We can recognize the symbolism and the connections between the Passover and the Last Supper. The Passover commemorates God’s salvation for his people in Egypt. The Last Supper commemorates God’s salvation through the crucifixion and resurrection.

On the other hand, Jesus instituted his Last Supper as something that was to continue until the day of his return.

Luke 22: 14 – 16, “When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God (NIV).”

Jesus’ words tell me that the Lord’s Supper is something that helps us look back at the past and forward to the future. We look back to the connection between Passover and the crucifixion of Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. We look forward to a heavenly meal we will share together in the presence of Jesus.

Conclusion.

Revelation and response…

Worship is the response of the redeemed…

It is an act of obedience. We cannot separate our worship and obedience…

Grace and Law

2011-11-13T14:16:00.001-06:00

Grace and Law

Exodus 20: 1 – 21.

Introduction

For the past few weeks, we have been reading from the Book of Exodus. As the name of the book suggests, it tells the story of how God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. The word “exodus” means a “sudden escape of a large group of people.” And that is what happened. God sent Moses to redeem God’s people from slavery. God used Moses to confront Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, and to announce the ten plagues.

However, I want you to notice something about the format of the Book of Exodus. Yes, the book does describe an exodus. But, all of the events leading up to the Exodus happen before chapter 12. That is less than half of the Book of Exodus. The majority of the Book of Exodus doesn’t describe an exodus at all. The majority of the book describes what God’s people did after they were rescued from Egypt.

With that in mind, I want you to notice that we are reading from Exodus 20 today. It contains the story of what happened when God’s people gathered at Mount Sinai. God fulfilled his promise to Moses. God spoke to his people gathered at the foot of the mountain. And, God gave the Ten Commandments. This is significant, because it happens in chapter 20 of a book with 40 chapters. The events of Mount Sinai stand at the center of the Book of Exodus. These events are a kind of focal point.

Another way to say this is to say, the Book of Exodus can be divided into three sections. 1) The events leading up to Mount Sinai. 2) What happened on Mount Sinai—the Ten Commandments. 3) The way God’s people lived in response to the Ten Commandments.

I can think of two reasons why the Ten Commandments occupy such a prominent place in the Book of Exodus. On one hand, this is the moment when the Hebrew people became the nation of Israel. God took a people who had no identity of their own—they were slaves / property of the nation of Egypt—and formed them into his own people. On the other hand, this is the moment when God revealed himself to his people. Before Mount Sinai, the people knew about God through what Moses had told them about God. They also knew God as the God who had heard their cries for help and had redeemed them from slavery. But, now God tells them something about his character.

We should not think about the Ten Commandments as merely rules to govern our lives. We should think of this as rules which reflect the character of God.

Exodus 20: 1 – 21.

1 And God spoke all these words:

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

6 but showing love to a thousand of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

13 "You shall not murder.

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance

19 and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."

20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."

21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

(NIV)

The Bible tells us that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he was carrying two tablets. Traditionally, we believe there were four commandments written on the first tablet and six commandments written on the second tablet. The Bible doesn’t tell us how the commandments were divided into two tablets. This is just what we think, because the Ten Commandments can be divided into two sections—our relationship with God and our relationship with other people.

The first four commandments describe how we are supposed to relate to God. The last six commandments describe how we are supposed to relate to other people.

Do not worship other gods… This commandment is significant in the fact that God’s people have just left the land of Egypt where the people worshipped many false gods. Now, they were getting ready to enter the land of Canaan where the people worshipped other false gods. God has demonstrated his power over the false gods of Egypt and will demonstrate his power over the false gods of Canaan.

But this raises a question for our modern minds. If these false gods are false and powerless, doesn’t that mean false gods don’t really exist? Yes, false gods do not exist. But, the worship of false gods is very real. There is no such thing as Baal. But, Baalism is very real. In our modern world, we can make the same point about various world religions. Their gods don’t exist, but the temptation to worship false gods is very real. Or, we can say that money and wealth are not real gods; yet, materialism is a powerful force and temptation even for many Christian people.

Do not make idols… Since ancient people used idols to worship their false gods, it is tempting to read this commandment as the same as the first commandment. But if this is a separate commandment, it will have a separate meaning.

I think the difference between the first and second commandment can be described as the “who” of worship and the “how” of worship. The first commandment tells us to worship the God of salvation. The God who rescued his people from slavery is the only God worthy of worship. The second commandment tells us how we ought to worship the One, True God.

Our worship is to be distinct from the worship of other people. They use idols. We do not use idols. Instead, we worship God in the way God has revealed himself to us. Since God did not appear to Moses at the burning bush and God did not appear to his people at Mount Sinai, we do not worship an image of God. God revealed himself to Moses through his word and revealed himself at Mount Sinai through his word. Therefore, we worship God by hearing his word and living in obedience to what God has said.

Do not take the LORD’s name in vain… Name in the Bible is very closely associated with character. An example of this is found when God gave his name to Moses. Moses asked God, “What is your name?” God answered, “I am who I am.”

The name of God reflects the faithfulness of God. God is unchanging. He was the same God to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. He was the same God to Peter, Andrew, James and John. He was the same God to Barnabas, Paul, Timothy and Titus. He is the same God to us today. He is the only God who can save us from our slavery to sin, death and evil. He is the only God who is perfect in righteousness and holiness.

To use the name of God in a vain (or empty) way is to disparage the character of God. We are to speak of God only in the context of adoration and worship. Anything else would take for granted God’s holiness and his salvation.

Remember the Sabbath day… In many ways, this is a commandment for us to imitate God in the ways we live our lives. Since God did his work of creation in six days and rested on the seventh day, God’s people are to imitate God by working six days and resting one day.

But the most important way to interpret this is that we are to order our lives around God. Don’t order your life around your work week. Don’t order your life around your husband or wife. Don’t order your life around your children (or their soccer games, baseball games, softball games, dance recitals…). Order your life around God by spending a day in worship and service to God every week.

Honor your father and mother… At this point, the commandments shift from our relationship to God to our relationships with other people. For the ancient Hebrews, the home was the primary human relationship. If you can’t get along with your parents, you won’t be able to get along with anyone else.

Honor was an important part of ancient culture. To honor your parents means more than “children obey your parents.” Children bring dishonor on their parents by disobeying them or rebelling against parental authority. But children also bring dishonor on their parents by abandoning them when they are older.

Do not murder… This is a fairly obvious commandment. It doesn’t need much explanation, and the Bible does not even try to explain it.

Murder only refers to human life. It does not refer to animal or plant life. You cannot use this commandment to rationalize a vegetarian lifestyle.

But I want you to notice that this is one of God’s commands. To break this command is not a sin against society. This is a sin against God. It is contrary to the character of God. God is the giver of all life. We are not to take what God has given.

Do not commit adultery… Again, this is another obvious commandment. The Bible does not take time to explain what adultery is or even why adultery is wrong.

It seems that we can make a similar point to the fifth commandment. The family is instrumental in forming God’s people. Therefore, the family is to be protected.

Or, we can make the same point as the sixth commandment. This is not given in a civil context—as if adultery is contrary to societal norms. Instead, this is given in a religious context. Adultery, like murder, is a sin against God. It is contrary to the character of God. The husband and wife relationship is used in both Old Testament and New Testament to describe the faithfulness of God to God’s people (the nation of Israel and the church). Therefore, we are to be faithful as God himself is faithful.

Do not steal… This is another obvious commandment. While we are tempted to interpret this in light of capitalism, we need to remember this is another religious commandment. Stealing does violate the rights of others. But, it is ultimately a sin against God. It is contrary to the character of God. God is the God of grace, who gives good gifts to his people. Everything comes to us as a gift from God. Therefore, we are to reflect the character of God by being givers and not takers.

Do not bear false witness… This commandment contains several technical words which can lead to a narrow interpretation. It is possible to interpret this to mean “do not falsely testify under oath against another member of God’s people.”

I prefer to read it in the broadest possible interpretation, “do not lie.” Once again, this reflects the character of God. God is true, and God is truthful. As God’s people, we are to be people committed to telling the truth and living the truth in all aspects of our lives. We should not have to be under oath to be trustworthy.

Do not covet… A remarkable fact about this commandment is the way it focuses on the heart and mind, not on our actions. Sin does not have to be an external action. It is possible to have sinful thoughts and sinful desires. God is concerned that our internal lives match our external actions. Refusing to steal while desiring to have someone else’s stuff is still a sin. Refusing to commit adultery while lusting after another man’s wife is still a sin.

Interpreted in this way, we can think of the tenth commandment as a summary statement. God wants us to control the internal thoughts and desires which eventually lead to sinful, external actions.

Progression of Commandments.

It is important to note the order of the Ten Commandments. Traditionally, we have placed a dividing line between the fourth commandment and the fifth commandment. The first four commands describe how we are to relate to God. The final six commandments describe the way we relate to other people. However, it is also possible to divide the commandments into three sections by holding out the fifth commandment as separate from all others.

Separating the fifth commandment reminds us that the way most of us first understood God was through the influence of our parents. We come to know God through our parents, and we learn how to relate to other people by the way we relate to our closest family members.

It also demonstrates the way God wants us to prioritize out lives. Your relationship to God must come before all other relationships. Your relationship to your family is more important than any other relationship—other than your relationship with God. If you love other people and demonstrate kindness and compassion to others, but your relationship with God is not your first priority…You are a humanitarian, but your life is not a godly life.

Character of God.

One way to interpret the Ten Commandments is to think of them as rules for living. If everyone would live out the Ten Commandments, the world would be a better place to live. I cannot argue with that, because it is certainly true.

However, we need to keep in mind that God always has a purpose for his words. As Christians, we believe that God reveals himself in his word. And that is what we see in the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20: 2, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Notice that God used his name when he addressed his people. “LORD” in all capital letters always translates the Hebrew name Yahweh. God is reminding the people who he is, “I am who I am,” before he gives them the Ten Commandments. In other words, God is saying to his people, “I am who I am so that you can be who you are.” God wants his people to reflect God’s own character in the ways they live.

Since we know God created humanity in the Image of God, and that Image was marred when sin entered into creation; then we can interpret the Ten Commandments as God’s plan to recover the Image of God in humanity. We live out the Ten Commandments, not because they will create a better society. We live this way so we can reflect the character of the God who has redeemed us from slavery.

Purpose of the Ten Commandments.

If the Ten Commandments describe the character of God, then we need to pay special attention to people who received the Ten Commandments. God’s word was not given in a vacuum. These commandments are not to be understood in the abstract. We need to pay close attention to the context. Who gave these commandments? When were they given? To whom were they given?

Exodus 20: 2 answers all these questions. The Ten Commandments were given by the One, True God who had demonstrated his worthiness by redeeming his people from slavery. The Ten Commandments were given AFTER God had already redeemed his people. The Ten Commandments were given to redeemed people.

Notice that God did not say, “If you want to be saved, this is the way you need to live your life.” God had already saved his people. God never intended the Ten Commandments to be the way of salvation. Grace always comes before the Law. The Law is the way we respond (in gratitude) to the God who has already saved us.

Conclusion

This continues to be the purpose of the Ten Commandments. When we have been redeemed, we respond by following God’s rules for the redeemed life. The redeemed life is different from the world around us. The redeemed life reflects the character of the One who has redeemed us. Grace always precedes the Law.

As Christians, we have been redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Law does not save us. God is the one who saves. But he changes our desires that we want to live the redeemed life that pleases God.

We are not surprised when non-Christians do not follow the Ten Commandments. People who have not been redeemed do not live the redeemed life. To expect non-Christians to live the Ten Commandments is discounting the work of Christ on the cross. It is placing Law in the place of Grace.

Know It All

2011-11-06T13:33:00.002-06:00

Know It All

Exodus 18: 1 – 27.

Introduction

Nobody is perfect. It is only human to make mistakes. If your name is not google, then you don’t know everything.

This is a wonderful time to be alive. Anything you want to know is at the tip of your fingers. When I was a kid, the best way for me to satisfy my curiosity or to work on a school project was to look it up in the World Book Encyclopedia. Any time I had to write a paper, I used the World Book. Any time I asked my dad a question that he didn’t know the answer, he told me to look it up in World Book. When my kids ask me questions that I don’t know the answer, I usually say, “Now that is a question for google.”

A few weeks ago, Collin and I were watching a football game together. He asked me a question that I did not know the answer, so I pulled out my phone and googled it. Months ago, we were watching the football movie, We Are Marshall, on TV. I wondered how accurate the movie was, so I pulled out my phone and googled it. Surprisingly, the movie stayed very close to the true story. And, every week, I use google to help me write my Sunday morning sermons.

I don’t know how I could answer my children’s questions, watch a movie on TV, or preach a sermon without google.

Now you probably already know this…But you can’t believe EVERYTHING you read on the Internet. There are some crazy people out there with some crazy ideas. And all the crazy people have their own websites. It’s important to remember the words of President Abraham Lincoln, who said, “You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.” (I found that quote on the Internet.)

Nobody is perfect. It is only human to make mistakes. If your name is not google, then you don’t know everything.

This was even true about Moses. Of course, Moses had a lot going for him. He was God’s chosen man to redeem God’s people from slavery. Moses spoke to God directly, and God spoke to Moses directly. God gave Moses the words to say to Pharaoh, and God gave Moses specific instructions on where and how to find water and food in the desert. But, Moses wasn’t perfect…And, Moses didn’t know everything. There was a time when Moses needed advice from his father-in-law, of all people.

So far, in our study of the Book of Exodus, we have experienced one theme—God came to his people when they were in need. They were slaves in Egypt and cried out to God for help. God heard their cries for help and came to them in Egypt.

At this point in the Book of Exodus, we are witnessing the beginning of a new theme—God went with his people on their journey. Another way to describe this shift in themes is to say that the same God who saved his people is the same God who sustains them on their journey.

Perhaps that is a message you need to hear this morning. The same God who saved you is the same God who will sustain you and provide for all of your needs on your faith journey. God did not give up on the Hebrew people after he saved them from slavery. He led them into the desert. In the desert, they met with many difficulties—they had no food, they had no water, and they faced hostilities from other nations. In each of these trials, the God who saved them also provided for their needs. God did not give up on his people after he saved them, and God does not give up on us either.

Salvation is only part of what God promised to do for the Hebrew people. He promised to save them and to make them his people. He saved them by sending the plagues and parting the Red Sea. He made them his people by demonstrating his faithfulness to meet all their needs in the desert. In the same way, God saved us by sending his Son, Jesus, to live as our example, die as our sacrifice and to rise again as our hope of eternal life. Then, God makes us his own people by demonstrating his faithfulness to meet all our needs.

Exodus 18 illustrates both sides of what God does for his people. It begins by describing God’s salvation. It ends by describing God’s on going provision.

Good News Travels Far and Wide--Exodus 18: 1 – 12.

1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

2 After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her

3 and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, "I have become an alien in a foreign land";

4 and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh."

5 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, together with Moses' sons and wife, came to him in the desert, where he was camped near the mountain of God.

6 Jethro had sent word to him, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons."

7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent.

8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them.

9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians.

10 He said, "Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians.

11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly."

12 Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.

(NIV)

It is remarkable that Jethro had already heard about the Exodus. Jethro was not with Moses and the Hebrew people when they escaped from Egypt. Jethro didn’t even live in the nation of Egypt. Instead, he lived in the desert of Midian.

Moses met Jethro during the period of time when Moses was in exile in the desert. Moses protected Jethro’s daughters from some unscrupulous shepherds at a well. So, Jethro gave Moses his daughter to become Moses’ wife. AND, Jethro gave Moses a job as shepherd of Jethro’s sheep.

This was not Jethro’s only job. He was a sheep owner, and he was a priest of Midian. This is a revealing fact about Jethro. He was not a member of God’s people. He lived in a foreign land and, more than likely, worshipped a foreign god—not Yahweh, the One True God.

There was no email in the ancient world. Moses didn’t have a cell phone to call his father-in-law when he was in the neighborhood. So, how did Jethro find out?

Exodus 12: 37 tells us that there were 600,000 Hebrew men who left Egypt. More than likely, this number represents the number of men who were of military age. Some scholars estimate that there were as many as 3,000,000 people, including all men, women and children. It would be extremely difficult for 3,000,000 people to travel anywhere unnoticed. Therefore, I think this can explain how Jethro knew Moses was in the Midian desert—near Mount Horeb, where Moses had once shepherded Jethro’s sheep.

Verse 1 tells us that not only did Jethro know that Moses was in the neighborhood. He also knew that Moses was there because of God’s work of salvation. He knew about God by reputation only. But that didn’t last for long. Jethro asked Moses to tell him the whole story of what God had done for Moses and the Hebrew people.

The Bible doesn’t give us the details of what Moses told his father-in-law. But, I believe it is safe to assume that Moses did two things. First, he told his father-in-law the details. Second, he talked about God’s salvation in very personal terms.

This encounter with Jethro is no accident. It’s not even serendipity. This is what God has intended from the very beginning. God described this in his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. God chose Abraham so that all nations of the earth could be blessed through Abraham and his relationship with God. This is what God predicted in his words to Pharaoh in Exodus 9: 16, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

God does not work in secret. He performs miracles; works salvation; and provides for his people in ways that can be seen and known by all people. All people can know God by his reputation. They know him as the all powerful creator; a lover of beauty, who has built beauty into his creation; the savior, who demonstrated his love for all humanity through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; and as the sustainer, who provides for all who will trust him. But, it is not enough to know God by reputation.

This is where we ought to follow in the example Moses set for us. When we meet someone who knows about God through his reputation, we need to share with them the details of God’s story and how that story is personal to us. The most powerful witness you have is to talk about what God has done for you.

You don’t have to know everything about theology. You don’t have to have an answer for every question—relationship between science and religion; the origin of evil; why bad things happen to good people. What you need is a personal experience with God. All you need to know is that you once were a sinner who could not solve your own sin problem; Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins; Jesus rose from the dead to give you the hope of eternal life; and when you placed your faith in Jesus as the Lord of your life, God changed your life.

When Jethro heard Moses’ personal testimony, he placed his faith in the One True God. Exodus 18: 9 – 12 tells us that Jethro 1) Delighted to hear; 2) Worshipped God; 3) Acknowledged God as the One True God; and 4) Offered a sacrifice. Jethro became the first Gentile convert!

The rest of Exodus 18 tells us that Jethro also became a full member of the community. He immediately made a contribution to God’s people.

Division of Labor, Or Something Else?--Exodus 18: 13 – 27.

13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening.

14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?"

15 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will.

16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws."

17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good.

18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.

19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him.

20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform.

21 But select capable men from all the people-- men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain-- and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.

23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."

24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.

(NIV)

There are some good things and some bad things we can say about the way God’s people were functioning as a community.

On the good side, we can say that the people were very concerned about doing God’s will. On the bad side, Moses was trying to do everything by himself.

Every day, people would come to Moses to find out what God wanted them to do with their lives. This is very commendable. They recognized that God loved them and wanted the best for their lives. They recognized that they were God’s people and ought to live up to God’s expectations for their lives. But they had no way of discerning God’s will for their lives. They also didn’t fully understand what God’s expectations were for the way they lived their lives. So, they took all their questions and disputes to Moses.

Imagine what Moses’ father-in-law must have seen that next morning. Moses sat down as a counselor and judge. The people lined up early in the morning to wait their turn to talk to Moses and learn God’s will for their lives. With 3,000,000 people in the community, the lines had to have been worse than the lines at Disney World! (The people were probably wishing they could have access to a Disney Fast Pass.)

There is one basic problem with the way Moses dealt with this. But we can describe it in two ways. Since Moses was trying to do everything on his own, he was wearing himself out quickly. Also, since Moses was trying to do everything on his own, he wasn’t doing a very good job of teaching the people how to discern God’s will for themselves.

With that in mind, I really don’t want to think about this in terms of “division of labor.” Of course, Jethro’s advice was a division of labor on the surface. However, there is something even bigger and better taking place here. Jethro encourages Moses to teach God’s word to the people and to teach them how to incorporate God’s will in their lives.

The 3,000,000 people were divided into smaller groups. There were divisions of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. I suppose we could over think this and do the math to determine how many division leaders Moses had to appoint (3,000 leaders of thousands; 30,000 leaders of hundreds; 60,000 leaders of fifties; and 300,000 leaders of tens). But the best way to interpret this is to focus on the smallest divisions.

Perhaps it would be attractive to interpret the divisions of tens as a Sunday School class or a small group / discipleship group. But the Hebrews didn’t think about discipleship the way we do. More than likely these divisions were family units. The basic building block for discipleship and discerning God’s will is your family.

I can think of two ways this is significant. Moses has placed God’s word in the hands of the people. They no longer have to think of Moses as their priest—the only person qualified to speak to God on behalf of the people and the only person qualified to interpret God’s word to the people. God’s word is in the hands of the people, and specifically God’s word is in the hands of the families.

Parents, you are responsible for the discipleship of your children. Grandparents, you are responsible for the discipleship of your grandchildren.

Conclusion

Jethro’s advice did not save Moses from Egypt, Pharaoh or Pharaoh’s army. He saved him from a different kind of enemy. He saved Moses from himself, because Moses was trying to do everything all by himself.

A lot of people might be tempted to interpret this passage from Moses’ point of view. To do that, we would walk away saying something like, “I need to be better organized in the way I do my work. I need to delegate some responsibilities to other people. I have to get some help, or else I’m going to burn out.”

That’s probably not the best way to read this. Instead, we ought to interpret this from Jethro’s point of view and the people’s point of view.

In the beginning of the chapter, Jethro converted. He left his faith in the false gods of Midian and became a believer in Yahweh, the One True God. Then, Jethro immediately made a contribution to the community of faith.

The people expected Moses to represent them before God and to interpret God’s word and will for them. Then, Moses placed God’s word in the hands of the people. He asked the people to become responsible for discerning God’s will for their lives. He asked them to make a contribution to the life of the community.

This Scripture does not tell you that you are doing too much. It tells you that you are not doing enough.

Every member of the church has a contribution to make to the community of faith. If you are not making a contribution to the church, then you are not doing enough. If you are not making a contribution, then you are expecting someone else to take up your responsibilities.

Our church is really not that different from other churches. In a typical church, twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work (and twenty percent of the people give eighty percent of the money).

Only you can answer this question. Which percentage are you in? Are you a member of the twenty percent who support the church through financial support and work? Or, are you a part of the eighty percent who account for a minority of the work and finances?

It doesn’t matter who you are or how long you have been a part of this church, you have a contribution to make. God has given you gifts, experiences and wisdom that no one else has. Perhaps you have gifts to contribute to a ministry that already exists. If so, get to work. Or, maybe you have a passion to start something new in our church. If so, go for it. (This is the way our women’s ministry began, and I am waiting for a man to have the same passion to start a men’s ministry.)

I can promise you this…God wants you to contribute to the work and the finances of our church…And I will not hold you back. I will help you find the resources and the volunteers to accomplish what God has placed on your heart.

Moving On

2011-10-30T12:09:00.001-06:00

Moving On

Exodus 14: 5 – 18

Introduction

Do you wonder why we worship on Sundays? In the Old Testament, we read God’s commandment to remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. This commandment is based on the story of creation. God spent six days creating the universe, then rested on the seventh day. In our Western calendar, that points to Saturday as the seventh day and the day we should keep holy. There are some churches which continue to honor the seventh day by holding their worship services on Saturday.

Jewish people mark time differently than we do in the Western world. We think of a day beginning at midnight. They think of a day beginning at sunset. Therefore, the Sabbath Day begins on Friday night at sunset and ends on Saturday at sunset. So, Jewish synagogues hold Sabbath worship on Friday nights, after dark.

This raises the question of why we have worship services on Sundays. The best answer I have ever found is that Sunday is the day of the resurrection. When Jesus died on the cross as sacrifice for our sins and rose again as our hope of eternal life, it changed the world and changed the way we worship.

We worship on Sundays, because the resurrection is the single most important event in our history. We worship on Sundays to remember the resurrection. AND, we celebrate Easter as our most important holy day. The resurrection is the most important event for us, because this is how God has saved us. The resurrection changed the world. It changed our lives. It changed the way we worship and relate to God. It changed everything.

Jewish people continue to worship on Friday nights, because they do not acknowledge the resurrection. For the Jews, the single most important event in their history is the Exodus. The Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. They cried out to God for help. God answered their prayers and sent Moses to be their redeemer. God saved his people from slavery and established them as a nation in their own land.

However, the Exodus did not happen exactly the way the Hebrew people expected it to happen. In their minds, God was supposed to do two things for them. (Their expectations sound a whole lot like our expectations.) They expected God to save them and give them an easy life of luxury and continual blessings. They expected all their sufferings to be behind them…But that is not exactly how things worked out.

Exodus 14: 5 – 18.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, "What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!"

6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.

7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.

9 The Egyptians-- all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops-- pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.

11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"

13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.

18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen."

(NIV)

Since this is not the first time for us to hear this story, we knew how it was going to end. We knew that God led his people to the Red Sea. We knew that God completed his salvation by miraculously parting the waters. The Hebrews walked across the sea on dry ground. Pharaoh and the Egyptian army were drowned in the sea.

We knew this was going to happen. The Hebrews didn’t know the end of the story. They had to live it out one moment at a time.

It seems there were two ways out of Egypt. The short way and the long way…The smart way and God’s way. God did not lead the Hebrews on the short or the smart way out of Egypt. In fact, that is one of the reasons why Pharaoh chased after them. He thought they were confused and it would be easy to recapture them.

For the Hebrews, this was an unexpected twist in the story. They thought God had saved them to live a comfortable and happy life. But, that’s not what they experienced. They expected to be free from slavery and free from suffering. In reality, they were trapped.

A Third Way

Do you know what it feels like to be trapped? To be trapped means that you only have two choices…and you don’t like either choice.

Exodus 14: 11, “(The people) said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?’”

The Hebrews thought death was certain. If they turned around, Pharaoh would either kill them or return them to slavery. If they pressed forward, they would drown in the Red Sea. These were the only choices.

The Hebrews were making a very common human mistake. We all tend to look at our circumstances through a human perspective instead of God’s perspectives.

Humanly speaking, there were only two choices—death by Pharaoh or death by the Red Sea.

From God’s perspective, there was a third way. God told Moses to hold out his staff over the water. God sent a strong east wind that blew all night long and parted the waters. The people walked across the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians were drowned when the waters closed over them.

When God’s people faced a hopeless situation, God did the unexpected. When God’s people had only two options, God created a third way. The Hebrew people didn’t expect this third option, because the third option was IMPOSSIBLE. And, God did the impossible.

We don’t need to be so critical about the way the Hebrew people thought about their circumstances. They were only able to think through the possibilities. They didn’t expect the impossible. Yet, that is the way God works. He doesn’t always give us what we expect. He gives us what is best for us.

The Nature of Salvation

God did the impossible when his people had nothing. They didn’t have an army to fight against Pharaoh. They didn’t have a boat or a bridge to cross the Sea. All they had was the power and presence of the God who had led them to the Sea.

Notice how Moses answers the objections of the people…

Exodus 14: 14, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

This is a story of salvation. It is the single most important salvation event in the history of the Jews. Just as we have ordered our weekly worship and Christian calendar around the resurrection of Jesus, the Jews have ordered their worship and calendar around the Exodus. God stepped into their story and saved them.

God did not save the Hebrews because they deserved to be saved. God did not save them because they were better than any other people group. God saved them because of his Grace and the promises he had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Moses’ words to the people tell us a couple of things about salvation.

First, salvation is a work of God. God is the only one who can save us. We don’t contribute anything to salvation. God does it on our behalf and extends it to us as a gift of his Grace. Our only role in salvation is to accept what God offers us. (If we have the opportunity to accept God’s Grace, then the opposite must also be true. We have the opportunity to reject God’s offer of salvation.)

Second, Moses’ words tell us that God doesn’t stop saving us. God planned salvation for his people, and God accomplished their salvation.

The Book of Exodus goes to great lengths to describe how God planned to save his people. In each of the ten plagues, God announced his intentions ahead of time. Even before the plagues, God told Moses that the first nine plagues would not bring about their salvation. It would take the death of the Egyptian firstborns to accomplish salvation.

After the death of the firstborns, Pharaoh expelled the Hebrew people. In many respects, this was the way God accomplished their salvation. Then, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his best chariots, best horses and best soldiers to chase down God’s people and bring them back into slavery. Their salvation was now in jeopardy.

But, God never stops saving his people. God has a plan for salvation. God accomplishes salvation. And, God continues to keep his people safe.

When Pharaoh chased after the Hebrew people, he was trying to undo what God had done. This is the nature of evil. God saves his people from the clutches of evil. But evil does not give up easily. Evil continues to pursue those whom God has saved.

The same thing is true for us as Christians. Salvation is the work of God. God is the one who planned the way of salvation. God’s plan was to use the nation of Israel to bring about the birth of Jesus, the unique Son of God. Jesus lived as our example, died as our sacrifice and rose again as God’s promise that we would have eternal salvation. God accomplished our salvation through the cross and resurrection. We don’t have anything to contribute to this salvation. It offered to us as a gift of God’s Grace. All we can do is accept God’s Grace or reject God’s Grace.

When we accept God’s Grace, we have been set free from all kinds of slavery. We are no longer slaves to sin, death, evil, or even Satan himself. Yet, salvation is not the last time we have to deal with sin, death, evil and Satan. Sin, death, evil and Satan pursue us in the same way Pharaoh continued to pursue the Hebrew people. And like the Hebrew people, we feel trapped. We are not strong enough to fight. We are not good enough to resist. God saved us and will continue to save us when we are being pursued.

Compare Moses’ words to the words of Jesus…

Exodus 14: 14, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

John 10: 27 – 30, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the father are one.”

God plans our salvation. God accomplishes our salvation. God continues to keep his people safe.

Who has the right to claim the Hebrew people as his possession? Pharaoh thinks he has a right to claim them as his slaves. But that is no longer the case. God has saved them and claimed them as his own people. No one can snatch them out of God’s hand.

Who has a right to claim you as his possession? Satan is pursuing you, because he remembers a time when you were his slave. But if you have accepted God’s offer of Grace, God has claimed you as his possession…And no one can snatch you from God’s hand.

The Nature of Faith

If we believe that salvation is an act of God and that we make no contribution to our own salvation, then there is a temptation for us to “do nothing.” Of course, the Book of Exodus does not tell us to “do nothing.”

Notice the contrast between Exodus 14: 14 and 14: 15…

Exodus 14: 14, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Exodus 14: 15, “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.’”

This seems like a contradiction. On one hand, God tells his people to stand still. On the other hand, God tells his people to move on. And to make matters more complicated, these two verses appear back to back. Do we have to make a choice between standing still and moving on?

Perhaps the answer can be found in the context. In the context, God parted the Red Sea, and the people had to walk through. God did all the hard work by doing the impossible. All the people had to do was to walk across on dry ground.

God planned salvation, accomplished salvation and continues to save. Yet, there was a task for God’s people to do. They had to walk. They had to move on. They had to follow where God was leading them to go.

This is the nature of faith. Once God has saved us, there is a task for us to do. We are not called to do nothing…to continue standing still…to stand as spectators of all the impossible things God has accomplished. We are to step out in faith.

Another way to describe this is to talk about salvation as both objective and subjective. To describe salvation as objective, we must describe it as an accomplished fact—something God has already done without any contribution from us. To describe salvation as subjective, we must describe it as something that happens inside of us—in our hearts, in our minds, in our bodies.

For the Hebrews, salvation was objective in that God had sent the plagues which led to their release from slavery and God had parted the waters of the Red Sea. However, salvation was subjective in that they still had to leave the nation of Egypt and to walk across the Sea on dry ground.

For Christians, salvation is objective in that God accomplished our salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. God acted on our behalf. However, salvation is subjective in that every person must receive this salvation through faith, AND we must live out our faith.

The life of faith always involves risk. It is stepping into unknown territory. If we knew ahead of time what was going to happen, we wouldn’t need faith. We would be walking by sight or living by our own wisdom.

Conclusion

One of the truths about faith is the fact that there is no such thing as an untried faith. If you have faith, God will allow you to be in situations where your faith will be tested. It will look like there are only two possibilities. It will feel like you are trapped. And the only way out is faith…to trust God completely to do what we cannot do…to move on by stepping into the unknown.

Remember and Respond

2011-10-23T12:08:00.001-05:00

Remember and Respond

Exodus 13: 1 – 16.

Introduction

One of the first things I did before moving to Lufkin was to read the book, A Light in the East Texas Forest—the history of the first one hundred years of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. By the way, we recently discovered a case full of the books. So, if you want your very own copy, call the church and negotiate a price.

The book tells the story of how the city of Lufkin grew up around the railroad. In July of 1883, nine men and women got together and formed the First Baptist Church on land donated by the railroad. They started with nine people, but only two years later in 1885, they had declined to only seven members.

I am a little disappointed that our history book doesn’t tell the story of “why” these nine men and women wanted to start a Baptist church in Lufkin. We are left to assume that they had been Baptists in other towns and saw the need for a Baptist witness in Lufkin. Of course that says a lot in itself. A Baptist church is a church committed to the Lordship of Jesus; the authority of Scripture; the importance of a personal faith; the priesthood of all believers; and the importance of worldwide evangelism and missions.

Two remarkable facts about our history are (1) the way LFBC has impacted the city of Lufkin through starting new churches and (2) the way LFBC has impacted the world by sending out ministers and missionaries.

For example, did you know that there are 15 churches in Lufkin who got their start as missions of LFBC? Three of those churches are still missions of LFBC—Cross Timbers Cowboy Church; New Beginnings Baptist Church; and La Casa del Alfarero. (At this very moment, there are 190 people worshipping at Cross Timbers; 100 worshipping at New Beginnings; and 100 worshipping at La Casa—That is at least 390 people who have been reached with the Gospel over the past 5 years but are not in our worship service this morning.)

Another example is the story of Rick Warren and the Saddleback Church in Southern California. Today, Saddleback is one of the largest churches in North America…and they got their start right here in this sanctuary. In 1979, Rick Warren graduated from seminary and started preaching in churches all over Texas. He shared his vision of planting a new kind of church in California. He preached here at LFBC, and we were the first church to support him in his ministry. We sent him $250 per month for five years (1980 to 1984). He even names our church and a church in California as the two churches that sponsored him financially in his first book, The Purpose Driven Church.[1] (I also heard him speak to the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo in 2008. He told the convention that he is grateful for LFBC and the way we believed in him and supported him.)

There was even a time when the executive director of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention came from our church—Baker James Cauthen. When he died in 1985, Billy Graham said he was “one of the greatest missionary statesmen in all American church life.”[2]

Two more examples even closer to home…Lawanda Bright came from our church and served as a Foreign Mission Board missionary to Nigeria. Jerry Merriman grew up in our youth ministry and went on to become the director of collegiate ministry for the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

Of course, you may be wondering what any of this has to do with the Book of Exodus…

So far in the Book of Exodus, we have read about how God’s people were held as slaves in the nation of Egypt. They cried out to God to help them, and God answered their cries. God sent Moses to be a kind of human mediator between God and the people. Then, God sent ten plagues on the nation and people of Egypt. After the tenth plague, Pharaoh had all he could take and sent them out of Egypt.

Pharaoh didn’t wait until the light of day. He sent for Moses in the middle of the night and told him to get out and get out now. The story of salvation has reached its crescendo. The action is taking place at a fevered pitch. But… all of a sudden… in the middle of the action… the Book of Exodus slows down. It slows down to tell God’s people how important it is for them to remember what God is doing for them.

Exodus 13: 1 – 16.

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 "Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal."

3 Then Moses said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.

4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.

5 When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites-- the land he swore to your forefathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey-- you are to observe this ceremony in this month:

6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD.

7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.

8 On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'

9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.

10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

11 "After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your forefathers,

12 you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD.

13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

14 "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.'

16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."

(NIV)

The Bible has a lot to say about remembering. In fact, you could even make a case that this is one of the reasons why the Bible was written. It was written so that we would remember and never forget what God has done.

In the same way, we need to remember all God has done in our church. We remember what God did in the people of Israel. We remember what God did through the first twelve disciples. We remember what God did in the early church. We remember what God has done in LFBC. However, it is not enough to remember.

Sure, one of the reasons the Bible was written was to help us remember. But, the purpose of remembering is not to dwell in the past. Dwelling in the past almost guarantees that we don’t have a future. It’s like saying God is through with us. He did all he could do with us in the past. All we can do now is waste our present and future by thinking about the past. The Bible has a lot to say about remembering, but the Bible also tells us to rejoice in hope and to live with joyful expectation of what God will do in the future.

Remember the Future

In Exodus 13, God tells the people to remember the past. But notice how God tells them to remember…

Exodus 13: 5, “When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites…”

Exodus 13: 10, “You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.”

Exodus 13: 11, “After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites…”

God tells us to remember with an eye toward the future. We can’t see the future. But we can see the past…usually with 20/20 vision.

No one knows what the future holds. Most of us have a difficult time explaining or even understanding the present. But, that is not the case with the past.

We can remember the past and in remembering, we can see the ways God was at work. Sometimes God works in miraculous ways. But, most of the time, God has been working behind the scenes. When God is working behind the scenes, we can only see him when we look back at the ways he has protected us and prepared us for what we are doing right now.

Biblical Way of Remembering

In this section of Exodus, God gives his people three ways to remember their salvation. He told them to remember by observing the Passover; to remember by observing a seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread; and to remember by consecrating their firstborns.

All three of these remembrances come from the tenth plague. After nine plagues in which God used the created order to accomplish his purposes, God himself entered into the land of Egypt. In the tenth plague, God fulfilled his promise from Exodus 4: 22 – 23. Since Egypt held God’s firstborn son as a slave, God killed the firstborn sons of Egypt.

This plague did not affect the Hebrew people. They were told to sacrifice a lamb (one lamb for every household); roast the meat over fire; eat the entire lamb (served in a meal with unleavened bread); and to paint the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes.

The Passover meal was instituted as an annual meal to remember the night that God passed over the homes that had the blood of the lamb painted on their doorposts.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was instituted to remember that the Egyptians forced the Hebrews to leave the land of Egypt so quickly that they didn’t have time for the bread to rise.

The consecration of the firstborn was instituted to remember that the Hebrew firstborns lived when the Egyptian firstborns died.

Notice that all three of these remembrances can be described as “rituals.”

For some reason, we Baptists don’t really like ritual. We don’t like it, because we think ritual is the same thing as “dead ritual.” Of course, there is always a danger that ritual can become dead ritual. But they don’t have to be the same thing.

Dead ritual is what happens when we are simply “going through the motions.” Or, dead ritual is what happens when all we do is remember the past.

Remember and Interpret

Ritual can be a good thing when it accomplishes what God had in mind when he instituted the rituals. Ritual points us backward toward history. History, when properly understood, tells us something about God and the future God intends for us. When we understand God properly, he shapes the way we live our lives!

Ritual => History

History => Theology

Theology => A Different Kind of Life

It is not enough for us to remember. We must remember and interpret.

Take the consecration of the firstborn as an example. In Exodus 13: 2, God said, “Consecrate to me every firstborn make. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.”

Since babies can be born at any time of the year, this is not an annual event. This is something that happens whenever the first son, the first lamb, the first calf or the first donkey is born. This was a continual observance.

The firstborn lamb was to be offered to God as a sacrifice. The firstborn donkey was to be killed. However, God did not ask the Israelites to sacrifice their children. Instead, they could redeem their firstborn sons by substituting a lamb as a sacrifice.

The sacrifice is a ritual God instituted. The ritual points God’s people backward to their history. The firstborn sons of the Hebrew people were “saved” by the blood of the Passover lamb.

Their history reminds them that God is the God of salvation. God has been faithful to his people in the past. AND, God will always be faithful to his people in the future.

They are to order their lives around who God is and what God has done for them. In some ways, this is a lesson in stewardship. Since God is the one who saved the Hebrew people and established them as a nation, everything they have came as a gift from God. Therefore, the first of everything belongs to God. The firstborn sons belong to God. The firstborn lambs, calves and donkeys belong to God. The first fruits of the harvest belong to God. The first 10% of their income belongs to God.

Conclusion

In other ways, this points forward to the story of the Gospel. In the Old Testament, the firstborn son was redeemed or bought back by a sacrifice. In the New Testament, God’s firstborn son, Jesus, became the means of our redemption.

As Christians, you and I are not firstborn sons and daughters. We were not even sons and daughters of God until we BECAME sons and daughters of God through union with Christ. Jesus was the firstborn son and the sacrifice who brought us into relationship with God. We became sons and daughters of God through an act of Grace.

THIS is what we are supposed to remember. But, remembering is not enough. We must remember and respond.

Before we had faith in Jesus, we were slaves. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus redeemed us from slavery. Everything we are and everything we have came to us as a gift of God’s Grace. Therefore, we give God the first of everything we have. We give God the first and not the leftovers…The first of our finances, the first of our week, the first of our day…

[1] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), p. 37.

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/16/us/baker-james-cauthen.html

God's Power and Purpose

2011-10-16T13:28:00.001-05:00

God’s Power and Purpose

Exodus 9: 13 – 35

Introduction

For the past few weeks, I have been preaching the Book of Exodus on Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. I think the Book of Exodus speaks to our individual Christian lives and to our corporate Christian life as a church.

For example, God had a plan for Moses. God wanted to use Moses to be the one to rescue God’s people out of Egyptian slavery. However, Moses thought he was a failure.

Moses had tried to liberate the Hebrew slaves through force. He could not bear to watch as an Egyptian slave master was beating Hebrew slave. So, Moses stepped in. He fought off the Egyptian and killed him. But, the Hebrews didn’t appreciate what Moses was willing to do for them. He eventually had to run away into the desert to escape Pharaoh…Because Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses.

Moses settled into a desert life. He married a girl named Zipporah and went to work for her father. Moses named their first born son, Gershom—which means stranger. Moses had accepted the fact that he was a failure and would have to live the rest of his life as a stranger in a strange land.

When you and I feel like we are failures, we have a tendency to do exactly what Moses did. We settle. We settle for being a failure. And, we accept the fact that we will never experience the very best of life. Instead, we think we will get what we deserve…not the best in life, but the second best. Other people and other churches might experience the best. We just need to get comfortable with second best.

Fortunately for us, Moses’ life did not end in the desert. Moses was willing to settle for second best. But, that wasn’t God’s plan for Moses. It’s not God’s plan for your life either. AND…Second best is not God’s plan for our church.

Most of us are very familiar with the rest of Moses’ story. We know that God sent him back to Egypt. Moses confronted Pharaoh and demanded that Pharaoh let God’s people go. Pharaoh didn’t let God’s people go…at least, not at first. God sent a series of ten plagues on Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.

The tenth and final plague convinced Pharaoh to let God’s people go. The tenth plague was the death of every firstborn in the nation of Egypt. After this plague, Pharaoh couldn’t get rid of the Hebrews fast enough. But, the first nine plagues weren’t like this.

During the first nine plagues, Pharaoh was a “flip flopper.” Several times, he told Moses to take God’s people and leave Egypt, only to change his mind. This makes me wonder why God sent ten plagues.

Was God toying with Pharaoh? Were the first nine plagues necessary to wear Pharaoh down, so that God could accomplish what he wanted in the tenth plague?

If we look back to the first time Moses confronted Pharaoh, we see that God announced the death of the firstborns in the very beginning.

Exodus 4: 22 – 23, “Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

If God knew what he was doing, why were the first nine plagues even necessary? In my understanding, the first nine plagues had a purpose. They were intended to show Pharaoh, the people of Egypt and the Hebrew people something about God. They served a theological purpose.

Read Exodus 9: 13 – 35.

13 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me,

14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.

16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

17 You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go.

18 Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.

19 Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.'"

20 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside.

21 But those who ignored the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the field.

22 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt-- on men and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt."

23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt;

24 hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

25 Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields-- both men and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.

26 The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.

28 Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don't have to stay any longer."

29 Moses replied, "When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD's.

30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God."

31 (The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom.

32 The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)

33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the LORD; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.

34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.

35 So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

(NIV)

This is the story of the seventh plague. The Book of Exodus spends more time describing this plague than any of the first nine plagues. In some ways, this description has a lot in common with the descriptions of the earlier plagues. Moses came to Pharaoh early in the morning and announced exactly what Pharaoh could expect God to do if he refused to let God’s people go. In other ways, this description contains some new elements. For example, verses 16 gives us an understanding of God’s purpose for sending the plagues.

Exodus 9: 16, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

I think this is supposed to remind us of the first time Moses spoke to Pharaoh. I think it certainly reminded Pharaoh.

Exodus 5: 2, “Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.’”

This is one of the theological purposes for the first nine plagues. Pharaoh did not know the LORD. So, God used the plagues to introduce himself to Pharaoh. God showed Pharaoh his power and therefore showed him the true nature of who God is.

Yahweh Is God

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at several names for God. God revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, or El Shaddai. But, God revealed himself to Moses as the LORD, or the Hebrew name Yahweh. Most English translations translate the Hebrew name Yahweh as LORD, in all capital letters.

Any time we encounter the word LORD (in all capital letters) in the Old Testament, we know it is a reference to the One, True God of Israel. It never refers to a human being or to any other god.

Yahweh is the only God we should worship, because Yahweh is the only God who has revealed himself to our spiritual ancestors. He revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.

Yahweh is the only God we should worship, because Yahweh is the God who created. We see this in the first nine plagues.

There are several ways God could have dealt with Pharaoh. God could have sent an angel from Heaven—dressed in shining armor and wielding a sword—to destroy Pharaoh. God has done that and could have done that with Pharaoh. God could have used a foreign army to destroy Egypt and let God’s people go. God has done that. God could have used Moses to rally the Hebrew people to form their own army and force Pharaoh to let the go.

Instead, God used a weapon that only God could use. He turned creation against Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Only God created the universe. And, only God can use creation to accomplish his purposes.

Of course, there are some scholars who look at the plagues and explain them away as natural occurrences. Perhaps, the Nile didn’t really turn to blood. Perhaps, it was something like “red tide.” Red algae bloomed and emitted toxins into the water that killed all the fish and made it undrinkable. This “red tide” caused the frogs to leave the water and look for other homes. When the frogs died, their decaying bodies provided a perfect breeding ground for gnats and flies. These biting flies infected the livestock with a fatal disease and caused boils on the people.

I suppose this can be an attractive explanation. But it fails to take into consideration the fact that God was in control of BOTH the beginning of the plagues and the end of the plagues. In each plague, God announced ahead of time what he was going to do in creation; and God announced when the plagues would end. Therefore, God used his power over creation to prove who he really is—the one who created the universe is the only one who can use creation to accomplish his purposes.

Yahweh Is the ONLY God

Another thing the natural explanation does not take into consideration is the way the ten plagues were an attack on the false gods the Egyptians worshipped.

The Egyptians had one of the most stable economies in the ancient world, because of the dependability of the Nile River. The Nile flooded every year and brought fresh topsoil to the fertile Nile delta. Egyptian crops had rich soil and a dependable source of water. This led many Egyptians to worship the Nile River as the personification of the god Hapi. When God turned the river into blood, it was not an attack on the Egyptian people as much as it was an attack on one of their false gods.

We can make the same point about the infestation of frogs. One of the Egyptian goddesses was depicted as a human with the head of a frog. And God filled their houses with the stench of dead frogs.

The Egyptians prayed to several gods to protect their crops from insects. And God sent gnats and flies and locusts. Their false gods were powerless to protect them from the God of creation.

The Egyptians held an annual worship service at harvest time. They brought the crops in from the field and gave thanks to Isis and Min for the change in the seasons and the bountiful harvest. And, God destroyed their crops with a hailstorm and a swarm of locusts.

One of the most famous gods of Egypt goes by the name Re, or Ra. He was the sun god. Notice what happened in the eighth plague. The sun was darkened for three straight days. It was dark everywhere in Egypt…Except in Goshen, the place where the Hebrew slaves lived.

The plagues were not a contest between Moses and Pharaoh. They were not even a contest between God and Pharaoh. Instead, they were a contest between the One, True God and the many, false gods of Egypt.

In the end, the Egyptian gods could not stand up to the power of Yahweh, the God of creation and the One, True God.

This is one of those places where the Bible makes an exclusive claim about God. Our God is not one choice among many. Our God is not one expression of a universal reality. No. God does not reveal himself to different people in different ways. There is only one true God. He has revealed himself as Yahweh. He is the God who created the universe and uses creation to accomplish his purposes. He is the God who redeemed the Hebrew people from slavery, established them as the Nation of Israel, and used Israel to bring his only Son, Jesus, into the world.

The One, True God is the God of creation and the God of salvation.

Yahweh Is the ONLY God for ALL the Earth

I suppose there are a couple of ways we could interpret God’s power in the plagues. It’s possible to read the plagues and come to the conclusion that Egypt had its own gods, therefore God needed his people to leave the land of Egypt and go live in a region where Yahweh was Lord. But that view fails to take into account that Yahweh was exercising his power and authority in the land of Egypt.

The plagues prove that Yahweh is God, even in the land of Egypt. Therefore, God is not limited by geographical boundaries. Yahweh is the God of Egypt just as much as he is the God of Israel.

Notice that this is exactly what God tells Pharaoh in Exodus 9: 16, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

God’s purpose is bigger than the Nation of Israel. God’s purpose includes the Nation of Egypt…But only because Egypt is a part of “all the earth.” God used the plagues to prove that Yahweh is the ONLY God in all the earth.

The plagues show us the power of God. But, we need to keep in mind…God didn’t show his power in secret. He did it in a way that all the world may know. Therefore, we are not supposed to think of God’s power as a secret to keep from others.

Just as the Hebrew people were to tell their children, we are supposed to tell our children. Just as the Nation of Israel was to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, so we are to tell the world about the God of creation and the God of salvation.

We should not think of the plagues as a local phenomenon. Instead, we should recognize the plagues as a part of God’s worldwide purpose. In the plagues, God proved he is the ONLY God for all the earth. He used these plagues to establish the Nation of Israel, who would one day bring about the birth of Jesus—the Savior for people of all races.

Conclusion

If we were to go through each of the plagues individually, we would probably have a hard time trying to find application for our Twenty-First Century lives. After all, I have never lived through an infestation of frogs or a swarm of locusts.

However, when we look at all the plagues together, we can stand back and say “WOW! Look at what God can do.”

This is the first step of worship. We stand in awe of God’s power and God’s purpose. He has power over all creation. His purpose is to be known in all the earth—not just in Israel…not just in Lufkin, Texas. My salvation is only a part of what God is doing throughout all the earth.

And if my salvation is only a part of what God is doing in all the earth, then maybe God has a plan to use me. Maybe I am not such a failure after all.

If God’s plans are for all the earth, then God’s plans are bigger than our church. Our church is only part of what God is doing. Maybe our church is not a failure…God has a plan for us…A plan to reach the city of Lufkin, the state of Texas, the United States of America and all the earth.