Tag: god

LISTENING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

LISTENING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

1 Samuel 25:32-38 NET.

32 Then David said to Abigail, “Praised be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you this day to meet me! 33 Praised be your good judgment! May you yourself be rewarded for having prevented me this day from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands! 34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives — he who has prevented me from harming you — if you had not come so quickly to meet me, by morning’s light not even one male belonging to Nabal would have remained alive!” 35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him. He said to her, “Go back to your home in peace. Be assured that I have listened to you and responded favorably.” 36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing until morning’s light. 37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed. 38 After about ten days the LORD struck Nabal down and he died.

We have committed to reading through the Bible, two chapters a day. Our calendars have brought us to today’s text, in which David responds to Abigail’s appeal to him not to attack and destroy her husband and his men, even though he had acted foolishly and provoked David. Abigail listened to the Holy Spirit and saved her husband and David from making a rash decision. I’m going to approach today’s text by first looking at the background that helps explain what is going on. Then, I’m going to explore Abigail’s character by asking what made her such a wise person. Finally, I’m going to walk us all through the process of applying today’s lesson to our own lives by outlining how we should follow Abigail’s example of listening to the Holy Spirit when we face trouble.

The background to the story

In last week’s sermon, we learned that Samuel was an older man who promised to instruct the people in living God’s way. However, they wanted a king, and Samuel was allowed by God to give them one. The king’s name was Saul. Despite starting well, Saul proved to be a disappointment, both to Samuel and to God. So, God promised that he would tear the kingdom away from Saul, just like Saul accidentally tore Samuel’s robe.

In today’s chapter, Saul is still king, but Samuel had already anointed David and was biding his time before God’s promise would be fulfilled. At the beginning of this chapter, we learned that Samuel had died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. Having just experienced the death and funeral for Pope Francis, we have some idea what that would have been like. After this period of mourning, David went with his men to the open country. It was there that he started planning for the coming holiday. He had remembered that his men had protected the property of a wealthy man named Nabal while they were in Carmel.

David sent ten of his men to request that Nabal provide what they needed to celebrate the coming feast. This was not an unreasonable request since David’s men had protected his property in the past. Also, Nabal had thousands of animals, so meeting the request would not have harmed him. But Nabal was in a mood. He absolutely refused the request and spoke harshly about David. When David’s men returned and told him what Nabal had said, David was incensed. David decided to visit Nabal himself – fully armed – with four hundred of his men (to-thirds of his army)!

In the meantime, one of Abigail’s slaves had witnessed Nabal’s bad behavior and rushed to tell Abigail. The slave knew that Nabal had done something both foolish and dangerous. The slave did not appeal to Nabal’s sense of propriety. Apparently, Nabal did not have any common sense, and the slave knew it. Instead, the slave went to the one person in the household who could make a difference: her mistress, Abigail.

When Abigail heard about her husband’s insult, she assumed David would respond in anger. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep, five seahs of grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them onto donkeys. She determined to intervene to keep Nabal’s foolishness from destroying him. She took the gift and met David’s army on the road. She bowed to David and apologized, accepting all the responsibility and seeking to make reparation for the insult. What we read in today’s text is the result of that act of wisdom.

That day, Abigail saved two men who were acting on their emotions. Her actions demonstrated wisdom, and David rightly commended her for rescuing both her husband and David himself.

What made Abigail a wise person

Abigail showed that humility is wise. She was beautiful and intelligent, but she approached David with humility and wisdom, acknowledging his authority and the fact that he could rightly bring harm on her husband and his men. She used her intelligence not for pride but to discern the situation and act appropriately. Abigail’s story demonstrates that wisdom and humility are not weaknesses but powerful virtues that can be used to overcome adversity, bring peace, and ultimately glorify God.

Abigail gave the soft answer that the Bible says turns away wrath. All too often, we have been led to believe that the only way to fight fire is with fire. But ask a firefighter. A firefighter will tell you that the proper way to fight a fire is with water. It puts out the fire. Abigail teaches us that in a volatile situation, you don’t need to strap on your swords. Sometimes, what you need is to bring a present.

Abigail showed that peacemaking is wise. The first act of peacemaking was not to run to Nabal and explain to him how foolish he had been. Instead, she snuck out without going to Nabal because he had made a mess that had to be cleaned up. Later, there would be time to approach Nabal, not while he was still in a drunken rage.

Her gift to David and his men effectively diffused a potentially deadly situation by offering a peace offering and acknowledging her husband’s wrongdoings. Her words and actions prevented a bloody confrontation and spared her family and servants.

Later, Abigail showed constraint when she returned and found Nabal drunk. She waited until he was sober to reveal what she had done to save him and his men. Sometimes peacemaking means knowing when to wait for the right time to act.

Abigail showed that Intercession is wise. Some think that Abigail’s story prefigures Jesus’s sacrifice, as she placed herself between David and Nabal, just as Jesus placed himself between God and humanity.  Abigail showed wisdom by taking the blame for her husband’s actions and making reparation even though she knew he was wrong.

Even if Abigail’s story were not intended to teach about the coming Messiah, we can see him in her actions. He was a man of peace in a time of violence and anger. He taught his followers to be peacemakers. He came to die in our place to keep us all from receiving the punishment that we deserve.  

Abigail showed that following God’s will is wise. She could have told her slave to go away and mind her own business. She could have said that her husband was a fool and he deserved whatever would happen to him. But Abigail was wise enough to realize that what was happening was her prompt to get involved. God’s will would not work itself out without her involvement.

We need to realize that as well. God has a plan to make a difference in our community, our homes, and our church. But his plan requires that we get off our easy chairs and make things happen. The message came to Abigail, not somebody else. If Abigail had decided to pass the buck, the story would have ended badly for everyone.

Abigail’s actions are a powerful reminder of the importance of choosing righteousness and aligning oneself with God’s will, even when it’s difficult. She decided to align herself with David, the future king, and did not let her husband’s actions dictate her behavior.

How we can act as wise people.

We can take our debts seriously. Abigail realized that her family owed David for his protection. When she found out that her husband had offended David by not helping out his men, she took it on herself to pay that debt. Paying our debts is a spiritual matter. The Apostle Paul told the believers to owe nobody anything except the continuing debt of love. Wise people determine to live with integrity. That means never skipping one’s obligations.

We should never hide behind anyone else. Abigail could have left everything to her husband, but that was not the wise approach in this situation. Wise men know they sometimes make mistakes, and are grateful for wives who will not let those mistakes go uncorrected. We should be correctors of problems. Passing the buck and leaving the problems for others to fix is not wise.

We should think and act beyond ourselves. When she did what she did, Abigail undoubtedly acted outside the expectations of others. That does not make her a rebel; it makes her a hero. As a wise person, she looked outside the box when staying inside the box would have ended in disaster. She demonstrated insight when she was moved to action. She could not remain passive. She did not say, “It’s not my place.”

Abigail was the precursor to Queen Esther. Both women recognized that they were placed into their circumstances by God because God had a mission for them. If either of these women had not taken the initiative, innocent people would have died. Neither of them was a person of violence. But if they had not acted, violence would have been the result.

We don’t know whether Abigail was a mother, but she probably was. It would have made sense for her to intercede to try to prevent the deaths of some of her sons. Today happens to be Mother’s Day here in this country. Some of the most outstanding leaders the world has ever known owe their greatness to the wisdom they acquired by following their mothers. Those mothers might have had a reputation for being passive and unassuming. But watch out when their children are in trouble. As a hiker, I learned the most dangerous thing you can encounter on the trail is a mother bear with her cubs.

It will not be every day that you and I are called on to do such extraordinary things. When the time is right, we will know it. Then, it will be up to us to listen to the Holy Spirit and make the wise decision, like Abigail did. It will be a decision that we must make because God wants to use us to accomplish his will. When the people most capable of making peace choose to do nothing, that will be our prompt to do what must be done to make peace.

JOSHUA THE MISSIONARY       

JOSHUA THE MISSIONARY       

Joshua 1:1-9 NET.

1 After Moses the LORD’s servant died, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! Cross the Jordan River! Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them. 3 I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to resist you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone. 6   Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them. 7 Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. 8  This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful. 9 I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the LORD your God, am with you in all you do.”

We are still bunny-hopping our way through the Bible, stopping every Sunday at the place where we are in our reading—two chapters a day. This week, we finished Deuteronomy and began Joshua on Friday. Because I am planning two special messages for Palm Sunday and Easter, this will be our only message based on the book of Joshua. I am focusing on these introductory words from Joshua 1 as the text for my message.

It is essential at the outset that I establish the relevance of the study of Joshua. Some Christians find it difficult to study Old Testament books like Joshua because they fail to see what these ancient narratives have to do with them in their modern setting. We might remember some of the stories in Joshua from Sunday School lessons or past sermons, or cartoons. But aside from these little dips into the pool, we tend to shy away from Joshua because we might be tempted to think of it as a relatively shallow book. The truth is that Joshua is just as deep as the other biblical books we are studying. It had a purpose in the canon of Scripture, and that purpose is still as crucial today as it was when its words were first written.

But what is the purpose of the book of Joshua? Why are its words relevant for 21st-century Christians? The Bible teaches that every Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for us. But how can we profit from these old words and ancient stories?

The key to answering that question might be to come at the question from the other end first. Before asking what the old stories have to do with us, maybe we should take a closer look at what we are doing to see if there are some points of contact. There are lots of things we do today that are different than what God’s people were doing in the time of Joshua. What are some things that are the same?

One thing that is the same is that we are serving the same God that Joshua did. Marcion was wrong when he suggested that the God of the Old Testament was an evil, wrathful God and that a loving, compassionate God had replaced him. Remember, God does not change. He is immutable. Times change, circumstances change, but the God we believe in does not change.

When they asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, he indicated that loving God wholeheartedly is #1. The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Those two life priorities were valid and relevant in Joshua’s time, and they are still valid and applicable to us today.

So, what has changed? The simple answer is that the mission God has called us to is different than the mission God was calling Joshua to. Jesus calls us all to a mission of cross-cultural evangelism. He commanded us to disciple all the nations. God called Joshua to a different mission. We are going to examine that mission this morning. However, the thing that we need to keep in mind is that even though our mission is different from Joshua’s, there will be points of contact. Some of the things that Joshua learned about his mission are helpful for us to keep in mind as we seek to fulfill our mission.

Joshua’s Mission

Instead of outlining every task Joshua was to do, the Lord described Joshua’s mission by summarizing the first three steps of that mission. We find that summary in verse 2. The Lord said that Joshua was to “Get ready! Cross the Jordan River! Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them.” The first phase was to get ready. This involved Joshua getting himself ready. You cannot get your team prepared if you are not ready yourself.

The principle of personal preparation applies to us in our mission as well. We should not expect to step into the task of global evangelization without preparation. Jesus prepared his apostles for the task over several years of training. Then he challenged them to feed the sheep – to get the other disciples trained so that they could continue the mission by being disciplers.

Joshua was encouraged to be ready emotionally and physically for the task of leadership. He was commanded to be strong and brave. He was told to resist the temptation to be afraid and panic when things got rough. He had to build up the strength he needed because the mission he was called to would not be an easy one. He was expected to display the confidence that comes from knowing that God was with him.

The second phase of Joshua’s to-do list in today’s text is to cross over the Jordan river. He could not do that himself. The command to him (as leader) was a command to the whole people of Israel. It was going to be a miracle that only God could accomplish, but the people needed to be prepared for it. The leaders needed to prepare the people. That is part of the job for anyone called into ministry. Our task is not simply to maintain the status quo, but it also requires us to prepare the church for the next thing God is going to do among us.

The third phase for Joshua was to lead the people into the Promised Land. He was not to merely point in the direction and drive the people into it. He was to be a frontline leader. It is one thing to be an armchair general. It is another thing to strap on the sword and tell the soldiers to follow you into battle. As I said, these three commands do not encompass all of Joshua’s mission. God did not reveal everything to Joshua. We should not expect him to do that for us either. If we knew all the details, most of us would go hide in the woods. Our Lord is wise to only show us the next few steps in our path of following him.

Joshua’s Master

Notice how many times the word “I” shows up in today’s text. These words are God’s words. He is challenging Joshua to lead his people to where he wants them, but the emphasis is not entirely on Joshua. Joshua is challenged to be strong and brave, but notice what God says he will do:

  • God says he is ready to hand over the land to them. He promises to give them all the land that they set foot on.
  • God promises to be with Joshua the same way he was with his predecessor, Moses.
  • God reminds Joshua that he solemnly promised his ancestors to hand the land over to their descendants. Now was the time to fulfill that promise.
  • God promises to be with Joshua in all that he does.

There are two truths that every Christian should remember every day. These two things seem like diametrical opposites, but they are both true. The first truth is that we are slaves of God. He is our owner and our master. That may seem to be a depressing reality, but it is actually quite freeing.

The second truth is that our Master is Almighty God. He controls the universe. Nothing happens that he does not allow. We pray to him because only he can make the impossible possible. We can face any challenge—not because we are able, but because our Master is always able.

Joshua’s Manual

Note also how God stresses to Moses his absolute reliance upon the holy Scriptures. God tells him to obey all the laws his servant Moses carefully charged him to keep! He said that Joshua should not swerve from it to the right or to the left so that he may be successful in all he does. He said that the law scroll must not leave Joshua’s lips! He had to memorize it day and night so he could carefully obey all that is written in it. Then, he would prosper and be successful. God was sending Joshua on a mission, and the word of God was to be his mission manual. He did not have the whole Bible, but every word he had was the Holy Bible.

What Joshua the missionary had for his missionary work would help him accomplish that work. The same is true for you and me today. We read and study the Bible not to entertain us – not even to inform us. Our goal is not to learn the Bible as if it were an encyclopedia of religious trivia. It is our mission manual. It empowers us to do what God has called us to do.

As we read Joshua this month, let’s remember that its words do not describe a king or a military general. Joshua’s work was missionary work. May its words help us to be strong, brave, and faithful in the missionary work God has called us to do.

Holy Communion

1 John 2:14 NET.

“I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.”

As we consider the death of our Lord this morning, let us remember that what Jesus did for us on the cross is enough, no matter where we are in life’s journey.

If you are new to the faith – a mere child of God – you might wonder if you are going to survive the challenges of life and come out on the other end with a genuine faith. God’s word to you is that you have known the Father. That is all you need because your confidence is in Him, not yourself.

The same promise applies to the old-timers in the faith—the Fathers and Mothers who have fought most of their battles—their mission is almost accomplished. But their confidence is not in their own accomplishments. It is in the fact that they have come to know the Father because of the finished work of Christ on the cross.

And what about the young men and women? Those who are going to be first into the battle, claiming territory for God and his kingdom?  The manual tells them that they are strong, that the word of God resides in them, and that they have conquered the evil one. Their battle is fresh, and they are in the front of it, but from God’s perspective, they have already won. They are challenged to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly because it is the manual that will take them from the present battle to the future glory.

Lord, we thank you for your finished work of redemption. We pray for your power to take us to the finish of our mission for you. We ask that you make us strong and brave warriors and faithful slaves of our Almighty Master. Amen.

LOVE PRIORITIES

LOVE PRIORITIES

Deuteronomy 10:12-22 NET.

12 Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you except to revere him, to obey all his commandments, to love him, to serve him with all your mind and being, 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving you today for your own good? 14 The heavens — indeed the highest heavens — belong to the LORD your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 15 However, only to your ancestors did he show his loving favor, and he chose you, their descendants, from all peoples — as is apparent today. 16 Therefore, cleanse your heart and stop being so stubborn! 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 18      who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20 Revere the LORD your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name. 21 He is the one you should praise; he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen. 22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

The title of the book of Deuteronomy comes from the Latin for second Law. Moses is in the final phase of his life and ministry. He knows that he will not be going with the children of Israel when they cross over the Jordan and begin occupying the Promised Land. So, he writes Deuteronomy – not as a new Law for his people, but as a reflection on the basic principles of the Law God had given him at Sinai. He knows that if his people are to succeed, they will have to get over their stubborn selfishness and think and live God’s way. He searches for a way to summarize all that it means to live like the people who have been redeemed from slavery by a loving, compassionate God.

The big picture – the basic principles that Moses writes about in today’s text is the same message we get from Jesus in the New Testament. When the experts in the religious law came to Jesus to interrogate him, they asked him which commandment in the Law was the greatest. Jesus quickly answered that question by quoting from Deuteronomy. He said, “‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ – a quote from Deuteronomy 6:5. Before the lawyers had a chance to redirect, he went on to say, “This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ That is a quote from Leviticus 19:18, but the principle is taught again in today’s text from Deuteronomy. These two commands go together and constitute the gist of God’s requirements for his people. He wanted them to love him and others. Jesus condemned his generation of Israelites because they sought to love God by hating others. But what Moses taught in Deuteronomy and what Jesus taught in his parable of the Good Samaritan is that you cannot truly love God if you refuse to love all those around you – particularly those who need you.

Today, I want to break down the message of Deuteronomy 10:12-22 into its various parts and analyze each part. I want to do essentially what an appliance repair technician does. I realize I am dating myself by this illustration. Nowadays, when you have a toaster that does not work, you throw it away and get another toaster. But back in the old days, we had people that we called appliance repair technicians. What these people did was take apart the appliance and examine each part to find out which parts were working and which needed to be repaired or replaced. Once they repaired the damaged part, they put the toaster back together again, and now your old useless toaster was new and useful again.

What we want to do for today’s text is examine all the principles in the word carefully to see which ones are working and which ones need to be understood and applied correctly. The problem is not really like the problem in the toaster. There is no part of God’s word anywhere that is defective and needs to be replaced.  But it is entirely possible that – like the Israelites in Jesus’ day – we are incorrect in our application of God’s word. So, here we go. We will break down all the principles taught in today’s text to see which ones we need to refresh and apply more correctly.

Loving God must be the priority.

Moses taught the children of Israel that their first priority in life was to love their Creator and Savior, God. He also broke down that principle into its component parts, wanting his relatives to know precisely which God they were to prioritize.

So, he talks about God the way we sometimes do when we pray the simple prayer at meals: God is great, and God is good. He is great because there is no one higher than him. Everything and everyone belongs to him. The whole planet and everything above it also belong to him. He “ is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God.”

The theologians speak of this aspect of who God is when they define him by pointing out the three ways that he is different from all his creations.

We cannot measure up to God in terms of space because he is everywhere, and we are not. We are confined to one place and one time, while he lives in every place at all times.

Also, unlike us, God is unchangeable. His greatness and nature do not change. Nothing we do can change him into something else other than what he has always been.

The third way God is different from us is his life does not and cannot ever come to an end. He existed before anything or anyone ever lived. The Bible says that he alone possesses immortality (1 Timothy 6:16). The only way any creature can ever become immortal is by means of his grace. God has promised believers eternal life, but we should not be arrogant like those who claim that all people are born immortal. That is not what the Bible teaches.

In summary, God is great because he is unmeasurable, immutable, and immortal. We are challenged to love God with all our mind and being. We will find it difficult to obey that command because God is so different from us. But God makes it easier because of what he has done for us. He gave us life to begin with. He gave us forgiveness, restoration, and deliverance. God is great, but he is also good. We can love God by focusing on all the good things he has done for us and all of his internal goodness. This includes his holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, integrity, graciousness, loyalty to his covenant, and kindness toward those who believe and trust in him.

We have many reasons for loving God, but it still comes down to our choice. He has created us with the power to love freely, which means we also can reject him, be unfaithful to him, rebel against him, and disobey his commands.

Loving God requires a change of attitude and action.

Moses outlines all of the components of this toaster and identifies all the changes in our attitude that will be necessary if we are to love God truly.

We need to stop being indifferent about God and start revering him. Reverence is a kind of fear. It is not the fear a person might have of a rabid, snarling animal. That is fear, but it is not reverence. Reverence is like the attitude you might have toward your boss if you are starting work at a new job. If you have decided to work for this new boss, you want to please her. You want to say and do the things that will make your new boss happy. You want her to be grateful that you are working in her office. You might notice that your new boss’s desk is neat and orderly, so you will decide to tidy up your desk so she is not displeased with its appearance. You might notice that when you come to work, your boss is always there already. You will decide to be punctual so that your boss will approve. That is what reverence is. It is not fear of punishment. It is seeking to please someone to whom you are already committed. That is the first attitude change that Moses suggests in verse 12.

We need to determine to stop ignoring all of God’s commands and start obeying them. Obedience is an attitude that is expressed by actions. Human beings are created with the ability to follow commands. Unfortunately, we are also capable of resenting commands, rebelling against the ones who give commands, and demanding independence from any authority. God does not tell us to unthinkingly submit to anyone who wants us to do anything. He tells us to obey him. He requires that we follow all of his commandments. He does not say that we can make a list of his commandments and cross off all the ones that we cannot understand or that we do not want to obey. Obedience is the attitude that predisposes us to pay attention to what God wants and directs us away from the inclination only to do what we want.

God does not tell us to stop caring about ourselves. What he wants us to do is to care about him as well. He wants us to change our focus so that who we care about is not determined by our needs and desires. He wants us to love him first.

God does not want us to stop serving ourselves and others. He wants us to focus on serving him with all our mind and being. The Hebrew literally says all our hearts and throats. The heart is the symbol for the blood’s circulation, and the throat is the symbol for the breath’s circulation. He wants us to serve him as if our lives depend on serving him. That is not easy to do.

Loving God entails loving as God does.

The priest and the Levite in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan thought that loving God wholeheartedly meant staying focused on their religious traditions. Their lives centered around sacrifices and ceremonies and things they did for their congregations. It is very easy for 21st-century evangelical Christians to live like that, too. If we think that loving God means getting together for a special service every week and singing and praying together, we can become very much like that priest and Levite were.

But notice what Moses said about who God is and what he is focused on in verses 17-18:

“… God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing.”

If we revere our boss, we want to do things like she does, things that identify with what she focuses on. God is great, and God is good, and he demonstrates his goodness by internal integrity. He does not take bribes to pervert justice. He is unbiased. He does not treat some people with preferential treatment, nor does he ignore the needs of others. The priest and Levite in Jesus’ parable thought that they could ignore the man lying in a heap on the road because they had more important things to do rather than stop and help him. But God’s priority is helping the needy. If loving God is our priority, then we need to care for the needy too.

Loving others is loving as God loves.

God loves the orphan and the widow. He loves the resident foreigner, giving him food and clothing. Rahab and Ruth were resident foreigners. These were people who chose to live in the Israelite community even though they were not ethnically Jews.

When Jesus answered the lawyer’s question about the greatest commandments, he said the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself. Immediately, the lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?”  He was not thinking according to the Law in Deuteronomy 10, or he would not have asked that question. According to Deuteronomy 10, loving our neighbors is loving the dispossessed and the underprivileged. It is reaching out to people who are not in the same socio-economic category as we are.

The LORD told the Israelites that they must love the resident foreigner because they were resident foreigners in the land of Egypt. When they get into the Promised Land, they will be first-class citizens. The resident foreigners will be those who choose to submit to their laws and live in their communities. God wanted his people to love those people. He wanted them to draw those people to him by their actions and by their care and consideration. He wanted his people to be his witnesses. He wanted them to testify to his character by their character.

Jesus told his disciples the same thing. He said they were to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He wanted them to spread his love to every nation on the planet. Loving others had to be a priority for them, and it needs to be a priority for us.

TWO LAMBS

TWO LAMBS  

Exodus 29:38-46 NET.

38 “Now this is what you are to prepare on the altar every day continually: two lambs a year old. 39 The first lamb you are to prepare in the morning, and the second lamb you are to prepare around sundown. 40 With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 41 The second lamb you are to offer around sundown; you are to prepare for it the same meal offering as for the morning and the same drink offering, for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. 42 “This will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you to speak to you there. 43 There I will meet with the Israelites, and it will be set apart as holy by my glory. 44 “So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me. 45 I will reside among the Israelites, and I will be their God, 46 and they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the LORD their God.

We need to do some things regularly.

The Lord instructs the children of Israel here that when they set up the Tabernacle they are to prepare a particular offering to him every day, continually. Every morning they were to sacrifice a lamb and every evening another lamb. Most of us are creatures of habit. We have things that we do every day. Nobody has to check up on us and make sure we are doing those things. We get into the habit of doing those things perpetually so that they are instinctual.

For me, Bible study is like that. For years now, I have followed a regular ritual that begins with translating a biblical text each day, followed by a devotional from that text. I have gone through the Bible several times that way. People wonder how I can publish so many books every year, and that habit is the reason. Because I have studied and written so many articles, devotionals, and theological posts, it is relatively easy to put them together in book form.

I’m also methodical about the medicines I take. I know which meds to take in the morning and which to take in the evening. I take them first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I label my medicine bottles with a big “M” for my morning meds and a big “E” for my evening meds.

My sermon preparation follows a pattern as well. I usually do my research for the next week’s message on Monday, write the sermon presentation, and record the video on Tuesday. That leaves Wednesday for visitation, Thursday for Food Bank, and Friday and Saturday for my weekends. It’s all habitual. It’s how I function. The pattern helps me get everything accomplished that is important to me.

I’m not one of these “last minute” people. If I came to a Saturday night and had done no preparation for my sermon, I would be a basket case. In fact, if I had to wait until Wednesday to write my sermon, I would be nervous and anxious. I don’t mind deadlines, but I feel better if I can finish a project a month before the deadline.

Now, I am saying all this to clue you in on how I do things. But it seems to me from today’s text that God wanted to establish some habits for the children of Israel, too. He wanted them to get used to doing certain things at certain times every day, to doing the things that really matter on a regular schedule.

We need to worship God regularly.

According to today’s passage, the most important thing on God’s list for his people to do regularly was worship him. The offerings that he prescribed for them were the way they would show their appreciation for God, and he told them to sacrifice those offerings every morning and every evening at sundown. That is why he told them to offer two lambs every day. These were not family offerings. These were not for individuals. They were national offerings. The priests would offer them for the whole nation.

But notice the nature of these morning and evening sacrifices. They consisted of the meat of a lamb, oil, flour, wine… everything that would be part of a fine meal. Why did God want them to prepare a meal for him twice a day? He did not need to consume any food. That is not it. But in every tent, every family would prepare a meal for themselves every day. They did this to sustain themselves, but it was also a way of coming together and enjoying each other’s company. It was a time of fellowship for each family.

The sacrifices that God prescribed for his people were to take place at a place called the tent of meeting. They symbolized God’s desire to get together with his people regularly, consistently, and habitually. From the standpoint of what God wanted, he was prescribing a unique form of worship: a symbolic meal shared with the Almighty twice a day.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus tells the church in Laodicea, “Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me” (3:20). That is what God wants of his people. He wants them to worship him by showing their appreciation for him the same way they would do for a family member.

It makes sense if you remember that these are all former slaves. They were not used to being able to show their appreciation for anyone. The only way they knew how to commune with anyone was over a nice meal. That was the height of their gift-giving. Now, they have been rescued from Egypt, but they have not been automatically transformed culturally. They still have minimal experience with divine worship. But they do know how to show their appreciation by sharing a meal. That is what God asks of them.

He gave them their freedom. He could have asked for much more, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to stay close to them. When he smelled the aroma of those meals cooking, it was soothing for him. He could overlook many offenses as long as his people wanted to please him. Just two meals a day was all it took for that.

God will meet with us regularly.

Today’s passage also tells us about the other side of the bargain. It outlines what the Israelites are going to get for regularly communing with the LORD. He promises to meet with the people and speak with them at the entrance to the tent of the meeting. The pagans all around them had their rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices that they used to manipulate their gods. But the worship of the Israelites was not to be like that. They were not trying to appease an angry God. They were trying to stay close to a compassionate God. He was not just going to be there for the meal. He was going to be there for the people themselves. He was going to speak to them there.

He was also going to share himself. He would pass on his holiness to the place, to the priests, and to the people. They would become different people because God himself would transfer his holiness to them. He would be their God, and they would be his people. Ten chapters earlier, he told them that they were to him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (19:6).

That is what New Testament Christianity is supposed to be as well. Peter tells believers, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Just as the Israelites were called out of slavery into holiness, so we—the church—are called out of the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of God’s holiness.

Now, the point is not that we have to be holy in order to experience God’s presence. It is the other way around. We become holy as we experience God’s presence in our lives through regular, consistent, perpetual worship. We don’t change for him. We change by staying close to him. Once we are saved by grace through the shed blood of Christ, we can come into the presence of God and commune with him regularly. Nothing we can do for him comes close to what his regular presence can do for us.

Devotions from Exodus:

The book is 296 pages long and was released on May 17, 2024.

BLOODY TUNIC

BLOODY TUNIC

Genesis 37:31-35 NET.

31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a young goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they brought the special tunic to their father and said, “We found this. Determine now whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” 33 He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” So Joseph’s father wept for him.

Penny and I had the opportunity to drive up to Virginia this past week. We got to walk in the snow and visit some people we hadn’t seen in a while. But the excuse we used for traveling was that it was Tuesday, the birthday of one of our grandchildren. Tuesday morning came, and I witnessed a wonderful sight. I had woken up and was doing my devotions at the kitchen table. Suddenly, the quietness was broken by two very small children running downstairs together. They were playing together and just enjoying each other’s company. The older sister started singing to the birthday girl. It was the happy birthday song – the same song we sing each Sunday morning when we are celebrating with one of our members. At the end of the song, the older sister tacked on, “Happy birthday, Jesus bless you.” and my heart melted.

One of the joys of being a parent is when you have the chance to see and hear your children or grandchildren enjoying each other’s company. That was a joy that Jacob had lost. He was a profoundly unhappy man, and the things that happened, as recorded in today’s text, added even more sorrow to him. I’m not going to go over all the events of the story because I’m sure you all have read today’s chapters. Instead, I am going to focus my message on one object that is introduced in the story. The bloody tunic that Jacob’s sons showed their father.

the tunic was a symbol of love

It did not start out as evidence in a crime scene. It started as a precious gift given by a proud father to his favorite son. Jacob loved Joseph because he was the firstborn of Rachel – who was always his favorite. This chapter says that “Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was a son born to him late in life, and he made a special tunic for him. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated Joseph and were not able to speak to him kindly” (vv. 3-4).

So, you see that the Patriarchs continue to produce broken, dysfunctional families. What made matters worse was that Joseph had some interesting dreams—dreams that indicated that, at some point, all his family would bow down to him. That just made the ten brothers greener and more angry at him. Meanwhile, his father just “kept in mind” what he had said. Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, Jacob pondered these things in his heart. He loved Joseph so much that he would not dare rebuke him.

The tunic was a special gift. It signified a special standing among Jacob’s children. It was like an inheritance given beforehand. It symbolized a special relationship and set Joseph apart as a special blessing who would be blessed. It was how Jacob expressed his love for his favorite son.

the tunic was a symbol of envy

I mentioned that the older brothers were envious of young Joseph. Because that special garment set him apart from them, some of their hatred was focused on that blessing. They considered it a curse. The brothers were so envious that they saw an opportunity for sweet revenge when Joseph came to Dothan. They saw him coming, and before he even reached them, they had already plotted to kill him. They said, “Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!”

Two of the older brothers displayed a bit of constraint. Reuben, the oldest, suggested that they just throw him into a deep hole. Judah suggested that they sell him to some foreign traders who happened by. As soon as Joseph reached them, the brothers stripped him of that precious tunic and tossed him into the hole. When the foreign traders arrived, they fished him out and sold him to them for twenty silver coins. They got their revenge and some money to sweeten the deal.

the tunic was a symbol of treachery

It was a symbol of sibling rivalry to the extreme – like Cain, who waited until his brother was alone with him in the field and clobbered him to death. They cared so little for their own brother that when the opportunity presented itself – they took it. The wonderful colored tunic that had been a sign of their father’s love would now be evidence of Joseph’s supposed death by a wild animal. All it took was some goat’s blood.

No doubt these sons of Jacob had been told many times of their own father’s betrayal of his brother, Esau. He found Esau hungry and offered him a bargain – some stew for his birthright. Then he and Rachel cooked up a scheme where they would deceive his father, Isaac, by pretending to be Esau and getting his blessing as firstborn.

So, these sons of Jacob cooked up a plot of their own. They would present this tunic to their father as evidence that his favorite son was dead. How ironic that Jacob himself had used a goatskin to pass himself off as Esau. Now it would be goat’s blood that covered his precious garment.

the tunic was a symbol of deception

When the ten sons returned to their father, they came with a lie, and backed up their lie with a deception. They didn’t say it. The best lies are those you don’t say but force others to believe. They just “brought the special tunic to their father and said, “We found this. Determine now whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” Of course, Jacob had no problems identifying this sign of his love, now covered with evidence that he had met a sudden, violent death.

It was not just a lie; it was a false lie. Joseph had not died at all – though he probably often felt it would have been better if he did. At the time this incident is happening, Joseph is on the way to Egypt to be sold as a slave. He was on his way to his destiny. But his brothers had convinced Jacob that he was ended. They had their revenge against the dreamer and got rid of those pesky dreams – they thought.

the tunic was a symbol of mourning

When I was eleven years old, I had an older brother. His name was Gary.  He was 16. I remember a joyous day when Gary brought home his special prize. It was a green Honda 100 motorcycle. Gary loved that vehicle. He went everywhere with it. It was a symbol of his pride in being able to ride it and his joy that it was his very own.

But in June of that year, a terrible thing happened. I can still remember my mother getting a phone call. I don’t know who called her, but what I recall was that Mom was calm and collected on the phone. But as soon as she hung up, she called out to my Dad: “Come on, Buck, Gary’s been in a wreck.” The two of them left the house quickly, and my two sisters and I began praying and crying.

Gary died that day. Some well-meaning people took his broken and mangled motorcycle and brought it to all the nearby schools. They used it as evidence to teach young people to be extra cautious on motorcycles or don’t ride them at all. They also had his cracked helmet, with a blood smear still prominent on it. Sometime later, they brought that wrecked motorcycle back to our place and dumped it in a pile. From then on, every time we saw that pile, we grieved again.

The Bible does not say what Jacob did with that bloody tunic. It just says that “Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” So Joseph’s father wept for him.”

Actually, the Hebrew says something even more specific. Jacob said that he would go down (יָרַד) to Sheol (שְׁאוֹל) to his son mourning. Sheol is the state of being dead. Jacob planned to mourn himself to death and join his son in the state of death. The Bible tells us some very specific things about Sheol.

Sheol is always described as a place that is down there – a place you descend (יָרַד) to. When the biblical authors compare it to something, they always compare it to a pit or destruction. When Eric Lewis examined the 65 references to Sheol in the Old Testament, he concluded that the term specified “not the place of interment, nor a presumed locality of departed spirits, but the condition of death, the death-state.”[1]

Sheol is also described as a place of silence. When David was in threat of death, he cried out to God to deliver him because he said, “In death, there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” (Psalm 6:5). To David, there is no afterlife. There was merely silence and stillness – a waiting on God to perhaps rescue by resurrection. To the Old Testament saints, a residence in Sheol would not be considered a goal to attain. It was an inevitable consequence of their mortality – to be avoided at all costs.

Sheol is also described as a dark place where people sleep. It is a silent, dark state or condition in which everyone exists at death and can only live again by a resurrection from the LORD. It is always contrasted with heaven and never equated with it. It is not the hope of the saints; rescue from it is the hope of the saints. That is the Old Testament consensus. When Jacob said he was going to Sheol he was not anticipating a happy reunion there.

When Jacob saw that bloody tunic, he was convinced that all hope was lost. When we experience tragedy, we can start feeling that way, too. But we can learn from this story. Tragedy does not mean that everything is lost. As long as we have a God in heaven with a plan for our lives, we can trust him to carry out that plan. Jesus told us that in the world, we will have trouble. But he also told us that he has overcome the world. We can find our hope in him. He gives a hope of a life after death. It starts with a resurrection unto eternal life. That is a destiny we can cling to no matter what we face today.

[1] Eric Lewis, Christ, The First Fruits (Boston: Warren Press, 1949), 48

Here is a quote from Devotions from Exodus:

“Nuisance

The frog was also a deity in the Egyptian pantheon. Heqet was a goddess who represented fertility. To have the territory overrun by these creatures was more than an annoyance. It was another reminder to Pharaoh that his worldview was erroneous. It was an embarrassment. And even though his magicians were able to duplicate the same thing on a smaller scale (because they were illusionists) he was perturbed, so he appealed to Moses to have Yahveh stop the plague. He was starting to take Yahveh seriously. Moses even gives Pharaoh the honor of choosing the day for the pestilence to stop. But when the break came, Pharaoh still stubbornly refused to comply with Yahveh’s demand.

I wonder if we are any better than Pharaoh was. We regularly experience nuisances in our lives, and they sometimes are so bad that we appeal to Yahveh to rescue us. But do we ever stop to ask if Yahveh wants to change us? Maybe an annoying event might be his way of getting our attention. Perhaps we should not be so quick to return to business as usual when the nuisance is over.

LORD, forgive us for ignoring you when you remind us of our need to change. Help us to see the possible significance of the annoying interruptions in our lives. Keep us sensitive to your guidance” (p. 40);

The book is 296 pages long and was released on May 17, 2024.