Exodus: Journey to Freedom (28:1-31:18)

• July 31, 2023
• Pastor
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Exodus 28:1 – 31:18

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 28. We’re drawing ever closer to the end of this series in the book of Exodus. In fact, next week, you’ll get another brief reprieve. I’m taking another short weekend break before starting my Ph.D., and another one of my friends, Steven Ragan, will be filling in for me. Steven serves on the staff at our local Baptist Association as a Senior Associate Mission Strategist.

Fancy title, I know. Basically, he works alongside churches to help them engage in mission-related work. But before that, he served for 20 years in various pastoral roles most recently serving as the Lead Pastor for Riverside Baptist Church across the street from Riverside High School in Greer. So, you’ll get another break from Exodus next week. Then, when I return, we’ll knock out the rest of this series and be finished by the end of August. Where are we headed after that? I don’t know, but it’s likely the New Testament. I can promise you that it won’t be Leviticus, Deuteronomy, or Numbers. Yes, they’re part of our Bible, and for that reason we ought to read them and know about them, but they’re tremendously hard books to preach. And that’s the perfect segue to today’s message.

Like last week, today will be more teaching than preaching. It’s just the nature of the text. If you’re wondering what the primary difference is between preaching and teaching – preaching is primarily geared toward life-change and teaching is primarily aimed at transferring knowledge. Clearly, these latter chapters of Exodus are more in the teaching category – the transferring of knowledge – than they are the preaching category, but we’ll still see if we can’t find some areas of application and life-change too.

Before we jump into the text let’s pause for a word of prayer:

“Our Father and our God, once again, we thank You and praise You for Your Word, and for the promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. We ask that You give us teachable spirits so that we might learn all that You have for us. Keep us, we pray, from falling into deceptive and false teaching.

Lord, we also pray that You would open our minds to the truth. Grant us the gift of discernment so that we are not tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Thank You for what You are teaching us. Give us a thirst to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest all the Scriptures – for they reveal to us a deeper understanding and greater appreciation for Jesus Christ and His work of redemption.

Guard us from pride, and may we walk humbly before You all the days of our lives. We offer this prayer to You, O God, in the name of Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”

Previously, we looked at the tabernacle and some of the items that made up this portable worship space. As we continue, we’re now introduced to those who worked IN the tabernacle (the priests) and those that worked ON it (the craftsmen). When we conclude this section, once again, we get a reminder of the Sabbath and its importance in the life of God’s people. (One more reminder, perhaps, is to consider reading/studying Exodus 28-31 alongside Exodus 35-40 – the former being the instruction on the tabernacle and priesthood, and the latter being the implementation of those instructions.) The first thing I want us to see is the…

Priest’s Work In the Tabernacle

A major theme of Exodus 25-40, basically the second half of the book, is worship. In fact, if you want a simplified way of looking at the book of Exodus, it’s this: part 1/act 1 is the exit from Egypt and part 2/act 2 is an entrance into worship. You exit from there (slavery in Egypt) to enter here (worship before God). There’s a sense in which we do that each week (hopefully, even daily). For an hour, perhaps a bit more, we exit from the halls of the world to enter the sanctuary of the Lord. We seek to put aside the cares and concerns of the flesh and enter worship and communion with the Spirit of God. That’s the simplest division of the book of Exodus – an exit from slavery and an entrance into worship. And chapters 28-29 reinforce this principle of worship.

The tabernacle was a portable sanctuary for the purposes of worship, and God went with His people. But the people could only worship God on His terms and that’s where the priests come in. The priests were unique. Notice that I didn’t say better and notice that the Bible doesn’t call them better or more spiritual or holier. They were unique. They were different. How were they different? Look at Exodus 28:1, “Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve Me as priests – Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.” They were different because God called them to this office. They didn’t “run for office” or appoint themselves – this was a “calling.” The priests worshipped God “in the splendor of [His] holiness” (Psalm 96:9), and their garments bore this out.

Look at verses 2-3, “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him for My priesthood.” We’re going to look at each of these pieces quickly but, like the tabernacle (from last week), the priests and their garments point us to Jesus. And just like these Old Testament priests, every Christian today is a priest.

1 Peter 2:5, 9 say, “[Y]ou yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Make no mistake about it; if you’ve responded, in faith, to the Lord Jesus Christ, then you’ve been set apart to walk in the beauty of holiness before God – not with clothing, but in the beauty of a life devoted to God. In a sense, you’re a priest. Maybe not the kind of priest that you remember from your childhood or some other church denomination, but all of us are called to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Now, let’s quickly look at the clothes of the priest. Verse 4 outlines six of the eight priestly items, “a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash.” If you jump down to verses 36-37, then you read, “You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the LORD.’ And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban.” And a little farther down (vs. 42), “You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh.” Those are the eight pieces of clothing that make up the priestly garments, and interestingly there’s no mention of footwear. That’s because when God called Moses at the burning bush, He told Moses to remove his shoes because the ground he was standing on was “holy.” Similarly, the ground of the tabernacle, and particularly the “holy place” and the “holy of holies” was, well, holy. So, no shoes.

The ephod was like an apron. It had two shoulder straps, and each strap had an onyx stone on it. One of the stones had six of the twelve tribes of Israel on it, and the other stone had the other six. Thus, the high priest bore the names of the people of Israel as a memorial before the Lord.

Verses 15-30 is the largest segment of verses, and it outlines the breastpiece. Basically, it was a pouch that was worn on the chest, and it had four rows of three gemstones. Again, each stone had one of the names of the tribes of Israel engraved upon it so that they would be represented before the Lord. There’s another fascinating connection with these stones, all of them are referred to in Ezekiel 28:13 as being present in the Garden of Eden, and then again in Revelation 21:19-20 in the New Jerusalem. Just another one of those glorious threads that ties the Old and New Testaments together.

The most mysterious part of the priest’s garments is the Urim and Thummim. These were stones, perhaps one dark and the other light since that’s what the words Urim and Thummim mean “light” and “dark.” We’re not exactly sure. Nor are we exactly sure how they worked. All the text indicates is that they aided the priest in discerning the will of God. Some commentators seem to suggest that they lit up, others say that there were words engraved on them and they were used similarly to dice. It appears these stones were only used in determining matters related to the entire nation, not matters of personal preference: “Whom should I marry?” or “Where shall we go to eat?”

And while we don’t have the specifics about these stones, it should be noted that this method was not their first resort. Earlier, we were introduced to the fact that God had delivered to Moses the Ten Commandments, and the people were called to obey God’s revealed Word, first, just as we’re encouraged to do today. Listen, there’s a great deal of answers and directions concerning how we’re supposed to live that is plain and simple in the Bible, and yet we walk around challenging God’s Word and twisting God’s Word, to justify ourselves. And then we wonder what God’s will is.

Now, that isn’t to say that the Bible offers specific answers to every major decision that you’ll face in life. Indeed, who you marry is a big deal. Should you accept this job offer over another, or simply remain with the company you’re with? In those instances, the Bible says that it’s wise to get counsel. Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” And Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” But it’s probably good that we don’t have more specifics on these stones, because we’d likely have someone selling them online or offering them at some 1-800 number.

Then there’s a blue robe that’s mentioned in verses 31-43. It had imitation pomegranates embroidered on it and little golden bells on the hem. The bells likely served as an audible reminder to the people that the priest was in the holy place or the most holy place.

The turban was made of fine linen and contained the golden plate with “Holy to the LORD” engraved on it. Verse 39 introduces us to some type of coat or tunic. Alabama fans always use this verse to prove that God blessed the Crimson Tide because some Bibles refer to this as “checkered work,” and they equate it with the houndstooth print. Tennessee fans argue it was a checkerboard pattern, like their end zone. Either way, it was held together by a sash and no Citadel cadet can deny that the “checkered work” is a reference to the tartan plaid and the burgundy sash worn by officers.

All jokes aside, the undergarments were the last piece mentioned and the Bible clearly says that it was “to cover their naked flesh” (vs. 42). Again, there’s a subtle reminder of Adam and Eve’s nakedness when they sinned, and how God provided garments to cover their shame. These undergarments pointed to the idea that the priest had to be righteous. The psalmist writes, “May Your priests be clothed with righteousness” (Psalm 132:9). Ultimately, we know, there was only one high priest that would be “Holy to the LORD” and would be clothed in perfect righteousness – Jesus. The Apostle Paul would put it this way, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). That’s the only way that we can stand before God – to have the righteousness of Christ freely given to us by faith.

Chapter 29 outlines the consecration of the priests. There’s a rather elaborate ceremony and process described for us, and again the connections with the New Testament are obvious. The priests began by being washed with water (Exodus 29:4), and when we commit our lives to Jesus we go through a “washing” of sorts, being washed in the waters of baptism. Next, Aaron was clothed with all these garments. We, too, according to Colossians 3:9-10, “have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Verse 7 goes on to say that Aaron would be anointed with oil by pouring it on his head. Again, the New Testament is filled with references (2 Corinthians 1:21, 1 John 2:20, 27) to our being anointed in and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And don’t forget the sacrifices. Sacrifices were everywhere in the Old Covenant: a bull and two rams – every day for seven days. And after the priests were ordained, the sacrifice of two lambs would take place daily: once in the morning and once at night. Just another reminder that no one can enter God’s presence apart from blood, and how Jesus’ blood was poured out once and for all to cover our sin. Hebrews 9:12 says it best, “[Jesus] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing [our] eternal redemption.”

And these offerings gave off an aroma that was pleasing to God. In a similar but greater fashion, Jesus’ sacrifice filled heaven with a holy perfume. Hear these words from Ephesians 5:1-2, “[B]e imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” As His people, we should imitate Him through the sacrifice of love to others.

Charitie Bancroft wrote a song in 1863 with these words:

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great High Priest whose name is “Love,”
Who, ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands;
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heav’n He stands,
No tongue can bid me thence depart;
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me;
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb!
My perfect, spotless Righteousness;
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!
One with Him I cannot die;
My soul is purchased with His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God;
With Christ my Savior and my God!

The priest’s work in the tabernacle reminds us that we need someone to represent us and work on our behalf, which points to Jesus. He’s a better prophet than Moses, and He’s a better priest than Aaron.

Craftsmen Work On the Tabernacle

The craftsmen work on the tabernacle, and they point us to the Holy Spirit who enables us to serve others for God’s glory. As before, there’s a little connection here with Genesis. Just as God did His work in creation by the power of the Spirit, so He did His work in the tabernacle, this little Eden, by that same Spirit.

If you still have your Bibles open, then look at Exodus 31:2-6, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.” These men, like the priests, were chosen by God, and their skills, talents and abilities were given to them by God. As I thought about this, there were two possibilities that came to mind.

The first is that these men (and others like them) had been born with these interests and skills and had been growing in their ability, much like people with hobbies get better as they practice their craft. Then, lo and behold, one day God made it clear to them why they had these seemingly natural interests – because He called them to use those gifts for His tabernacle.

The second possibility is the more direct reading of the text, which suggests that you have these two men who are just plain old country boys. They go to bed one night and haven’t a clue how to do these things, and the next morning they wake up and go into the garage and build a V-8 muscle car with the spare parts laying around. Like, it’s divine intervention. It’s not there one minute and the next minute all the knowledge and training and ability and intelligence is there.

(By the way, I’m praying that’s how my doctorate works – go to bed and haven’t the slightest clue what I’m going to write about, then wake up the next morning and spit out a 250-page dissertation – but something tells me it’s not quite like that. No, I tend to resonate with the words of author, Douglas Adams, who wrote, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” Anyway, I digress.)

The application from the craftsmen is clear. May we use our gifts, talents, abilities, knowledge, intellect, and whatever else we have for God’s glory. The irony behind all of this is that in Exodus 32 we’re going to see the people use their gifts to make a golden calf and worship and idol. And the question we must wrestle with is: Are we using what God has given us for His glory or for our own gratification?

But that’s not the only application, we also need the Spirit of God to accomplish the work of God. The late pastor and theologian, Timothy Keller, said, “Everyone will be forgotten, nothing we do will make any difference, and all good endeavors, even the best, will come to naught. Unless there is God. If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a true reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God’s calling, can matter forever.” We need the Holy Spirit working in our lives if we hope to do the work that God has for us. We may not consider our work for God as “sensational”, but if God has called us to it, then it’s most assuredly “important.”

Sabbath Worship At the Tabernacle

Let’s end with rest. After all, that’s how God ended. In Genesis, when God had completed all the work of creation He rested. Let that sink in for a minute. God doesn’t need rest. God doesn’t get tired. Of course, God doesn’t gain more strength or energy either. He’s simply eternally capable – yet He “rested.” Here’s another reminder that we, too, need rest. Without going into details about what is and isn’t permissible on the Sabbath, consider this: there’s a type of rest that can be found only in Jesus. We find our rest in the One who had done the work for us. Many Christians try to avoid serious work on the Lord’s Day, and yet they still fail to keep the Sabbath because they’re worry themselves into knots about all sorts of things. They’re not trusting Christ. Do you find yourself in the same situation? Rest in Christ.

I’ll end with this quote from Louie Giglio:

Sabbath is not so much about a day off as it is a “day up” – a day to remember that He is God and we are not. Without Sabbath, we forget who we are and lose sight of who He is, leaving us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. When there is no Sabbath in our lives, we become intoxicated by the lie that the sum of our lives depends on our effort alone.

We get to the place where we truly believe that the outcome of the Story fully depends on us. But in truth, we are tiny, limited beings. Our biggest and best efforts still accomplish far less than what God can do in us, through us – or without us – in one breath.

So how do we wrap this up? Well, while the priests worked in the tabernacle, we have a great high priest who worked for us and still works on our behalf. While the craftsmen worked on the tabernacle, we have the Holy Spirit of God working on us, molding us, shaping us into the people He’s called us to be. And when God reminds us to rest, let’s look to our true and eternal rest, which is only found in Christ.

Exodus: Journey to Freedom (25-27 & 35-40)

• July 24, 2023
• Pastor
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Exodus 25-27 & 35-40

As always, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 25. In his book Faith, Hope, and Hilarity, Dick Van Dyke talked about a Sunday school teacher who asked her class to tell her how they felt about church. There were the usual responses: some said silly things to get the rest of the class to laugh, and others tried to be more serious. One of the girls was new to the class, and she felt uncomfortable about sharing, so she never raised her hand or volunteered. However, that Sunday, she had an answer, and it was unforgettable. She said that going to church was “like walking into the heart of God.”

We’re about to walk into the heart of God by walking into a study of the tabernacle. I hadn’t originally planned on preaching through these chapters. In fact, as you can tell from the bulletin, I was going to skip over these seven chapters and jump straight to Exodus 32, which is the “golden calf” story. But there’s just too much here, and honestly; when 50 chapters of the Bible are devoted to a discussion of the tabernacle, it’s vital that we take a moment and gain a basic understanding of the place where God would dwell with His people. After all, according to the New Testament, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Thus, all the details that we’re getting ready to read about ultimately point us to Jesus.

But before we embark on this journey, let’s offer a word of prayer (shall we?):

“Father, we’re entirely dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit to speak, to listen, to understand, to believe, to trust, and to obey. So, in these moments, we seek to draw near to You, and we pray that we might not simply acquire information and knowledge, but that we might have an encounter with You, the living God, through the ministry of Your Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. For it’s in Christ’s name that we pray. Amen.”

As I did a few weeks ago, I’m going to be doing more teaching today than preaching. So, let me begin, if I may, by offering a little bit of an outline and some structural direction regarding these chapters. In chapters 25-31 God provided the instructions for building the tabernacle. In chapters 35-40 we see the actual construction of the project. So, it’s quite helpful to read these chapters together because so much of the content overlaps: (25-31) instruction, (35-40) construction.

There’s also a little change in the ordering of things when you get to 35-40, and the reason for this seems to be because the tabernacle was constructed in these chapters and thus the order was dictated by common sense and necessity. But in chapters 25-31, the objects seem to be arranged by the order of their importance and holiness, moving from the most sacred, which is the ark, to the least sacred or the courtyard perimeter.

We’re not going to be reading large sections of Scripture this morning, as we usually do, but you need to have your Bibles open so that you can follow along. Let’s look at the tabernacle and consider the awesome presence of God and how it points to Jesus,

Contributions for the Sanctuary

Worship always comes first. God didn’t wait until Israel was settled in the Promised Land to instruct them in proper worship. He saw it as a special priority, and He planned for it from the outset. This taught the Jews to always place God first in their lives and that no inconvenience should ever bar them from honoring Him. Thus, the instructions for the tabernacle began with a heart-check. He began by requesting a contribution from the people.

He didn’t demand compulsory giving. He wanted those who were “willing to give” (v. 2) to contribute. True to form, God doesn’t force our worship and giving, but He does call for it. Listen to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” God requested specific contributions, so the people denied themselves and responded accordingly.

Now watch this. You might remember, when we were leaving Egypt with the Israelites many weeks ago, God had instructed Moses to tell them to ask for silver and gold jewelry and clothing from the Egyptians, “And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians” (Exodus 12:36). That’s where the contributions for the tabernacle came from. God provided them. And now, the people would return a portion of what He had provided.

The same holds true of us. We give of our resources, but they’re ultimately from God. He owns it all. “For all the animals of the forest are Mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills,” declares the LORD (Psalm 50:10, NLT). He gives us the physical strength, the intellectual knowledge, the wisdom, the talent, the time, and the resources to make a living. He’s just entrusted them to us. We need to see ourselves as entrusted with blessings from our God. Then we would freely give as joyful worshipers of our Redeemer.

In verses 8-9 we find the purpose of the tabernacle, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” God called it a “sanctuary,” and the word that’s used there is the same word as “holy.” So, it’s a holy place. Here’s a question for you: What made it holy? Was it how it was made? Was it the cost of the materials? Was it the aesthetic beauty? No; none of those things is what made it holy. What made it holy was God Himself, His presence. The tabernacle became holy when God’s presence filled it. And once He made it holy, it was only to be used as God intended.

There’s a chorus in our hymnal called Sanctuary. I think it’s on page 655. The words go like this:

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary,
pure and holy, tried and true;
with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living
sanctuary for You.

That’s our calling – to allow the Holy Spirit freedom to work in our hearts and minds in such a way that we become a living, breathing, walking sanctuary for the glory of God.

The Tabernacle

I’m going to try to move rather quickly through each of these pieces, but you can read more details about them in Exodus 25-27.

The Ark of the Covenant
The first item mentioned, and the most important, was the ark of the covenant (also known as the ark of testimony). It’s here where God would meet with Moses and speak to him. It was the only piece of furniture in the most holy place, which was the innermost part of the tabernacle. The presence of God would dwell particularly powerfully in this one spot.

It required two transport poles that would run through golden rings on either side, to prevent any man from directly touching the ark. If no man can see God and live (Exodus 33:20), then certainly no man could touch the physical representation of His majesty and live. In fact, we have a story about one such man – a guy named Uzzah. He was one of the sons of Abinadab and king David was bringing the ark back to Jerusalem. It was on a cart that was being pulled by some oxen, which is not the way it was supposed to be transported, and one of the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out to steady the ark and took hold of it and God killed him (2 Samuel 6:5ff). Stiff penalty for what amounts to a good deed, but God was justified in His response against Uzzah. We can talk about that later, but the point is this box represented the absolute, pure, and unvarnished, majesty and glory of God.

The lid to the ark was called the mercy seat or the atonement cover. This lid/cover was where God’s mercy would be revealed.
(annually) on the Day of Atonement when the high priest made reparation for the people by sprinkling blood on it. Scripture later revealed that Christ’s work and provision of salvation was described like what happened at the mercy seat (Hebrews 2:17; Romans 3:25; 1 John 4:10).

The mercy seat or atonement cover also had two golden angels, two cherubim that faced one another and were bowed down – a tremendous reminder of the great reverence we should have for our majestic God. Again, there’s a wonderful story in 1 Samuel 4 about the Philistine god Dagon falling over as if to bow down to God. The Philistines set him back up and the next day the idol had fallen over again, and this time had broken his head and his hands.

There’s oh, so much more that could be said about the ark and its contents, but we must move on.

The Table for Bread
It was to be placed outside the most holy place in the holy place. Like so many items of the tabernacle, it was made of acacia wood, covered in gold like the ark, and it would hold 12 loaves of bread, symbolizing God’s people Israel. There was one loaf for each of the 12 tribes. The bread served as a reminder that every tribe played a role in God’s family, and each tribe had a seat at the table.

It was also a reminder of God’s provision. This was the Lord’s table and His bread. He provided it for them. The priests were later told to eat it, reminding them that God provided their daily bread. God was their sustainer, just as He is for us. In John 6, Jesus told us that God is the One who gives bread from heaven, and the true bread is Jesus Himself. He’s the bread of life. Those who come to Him will never hunger or thirst again.

The Golden Lamp Stand
This was no Rooms To Go lamp stand. It was positioned in the holy place directly across from the table. It was handcrafted from 75 pounds of pure gold (v. 39). Today, this would be most similar to a menorah. According to verse 37, “the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.” And what was in front of it? – the table of bread, representing the 12 tribes. Was this symbolic? You bet. We know, all throughout Scripture, that light symbolizes God’s presence and holiness. Israel was called to reflect God’s light to the nations. In fact, in Revelation 2:5, when Jesus is giving John the letter to the seven churches, He’s speaking to the church in Ephesus and He says this, “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

Likewise, we must fight to keep the light shining brightly. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” God’s light is intended to shine through us. The light from the lamp stand was to point us to God’s glory; today, it’s no longer light from a lamp stand, but the light of God’s people that should point others to Him.

The Tabernacle Structure
All of Exodus 26 is devoted to describing and laying out the specifications for the tabernacle (itself) and we can’t miss the parallels with the Garden of Eden. The whole point of God dwelling with them was this idea that they could return to Eden where they could commune with God as it was intended in the beginning. And there are six parallels that I want us to see:

1. There were 7 acts of speaking in the creation accounts. In Genesis it was “Then God said…” and in Exodus it’s “The LORD spoke/said to Moses…”

2. Both were places where God would dwell amid His people. God is present everywhere, of course, but He chooses to manifest His presence strongly in certain places.

3. When all was completed, there was a verbal observation made about the quality of the Garden and the tabernacle. For the tabernacle, Moses would say that the tabernacle was a blessed place (Exodus 39:43), and in Genesis God would say it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31)

4. Both narratives end with a focus on the Sabbath. On the seventh day, God instituted the Sabbath. At the end of Exodus 31, God once again drew Moses’ attention to the Sabbath rest.

5. A “fall” follows both narratives. Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, and the Jews built a golden calf. Man’s heart is always prone to substitute himself and his desires above God.

6. Both narratives have cherubim guarding the presence to God at the east entrance. Here, in Exodus, the cherubim are welcoming people back into Eden through blood at the atonement seat. Some even suggest that the lamp stand was a type of tree of life.

All of this is showing us the gospel. None of us can come into the presence of God on our own. We cannot make it back to Eden on our own. But God provided a way to have access back to Him by blood, through a sacrifice offered by a high priest.

The Bronze Altar
It stood in the outer courtyard and was the first thing people saw when they entered the courtyard. It stood 7 ½ feet long, 7 ½ feet wide, and 4 ½ feet high. It was made of wood and covered in bronze, as were its utensils. Gold was only used on the inside of the tabernacle.

Again, notice the emphasis on sacrifice. The massive size of the altar was also symbolic of the massive gap between the people and God. There had to be a sacrifice – always a sacrifice. Hebrews 9:22 says, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” The people were reminded of that as they entered the courtyard. And we know that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. He’s the only One to bridge the gap between man and God. The gospel reminds us of these truths, and the Lord’s Supper gives us a holy ordinance to remember them. We approach God only because of blood. Christ’s blood is that of the new covenant. His body was torn for us; His blood was poured out for us. It’s only through Him that we have access to God.

The Court of the Tabernacle
Although God would dwell in the middle of the Israelite encampment, it was clear that He was still separate from them. So, walls and curtains would guard and separate His presence from them.

Big picture: you had the tent that housed the holy place with its table of bread and lamp stand and altar of incense, and you also had the most holy place where the ark of the covenant was located. Outside this tent was a large courtyard that housed the bronze altar and various other items, and this large courtyard and the tent that housed the holy of holies was surrounded by a fence. There was one entrance to the entire facility, and it was on the east, just like in the Garden of Eden.

From all this, we see that there are limitations on interacting with God. For the people, they needed the high priest. For us, we have Jesus – the great high priest who works on our behalf and enables us to approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).

The Oil for the Lamp
The priests were responsible for collecting “pure oil from crushed olives” (Exodus 27:20) from the people for the lamps. The lamp stand burned continuously, even in the night, reminding people that God’s presence was among them. For those of us that trusted in Christ Jesus, it’s the Holy Spirit that is God’s light within us, reminding us of His presence.

He Dwelt Among Us

All of this, ultimately, drives us back to Jesus. He’s the greater and truer tabernacle. John’s gospel begins with these words, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). That phrase, “dwelt among us” is the Greek word skénoó. It means “to dwell as in a tent,” “to encamp,” or “tabernacle.” Jesus “tabernacled,” as it were, with us.

The English theologian of the 1600’s, John Owen said, “Everything Moses did in erecting the tabernacle and instituting all its services was intended to testify to the person and glory of Christ which would later be revealed” (Hebrews 3:5). And that’s precisely what we’ve seen this morning.

Jesus is the true light of the world – taking the place of the lamp stand that burned continuously. God’s presence, like the tabernacle, is portable in the person and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus is the mediator who shed His own blood to redeem us. Jesus is the better ark of the covenant. Like the ark in the story in 1 Samuel 4, He was taken captive by a foreign army and took the punishment that we deserved. Then, what seemed like defeat, ended with His triumphant victory. Like the showbread, He’s the “bread of life.” All who come to Him by faith will never perish. He’s the better altar, because His sacrifice is the source of our salvation and the source of grace by which our hearts are strengthened. We now enter through the torn veil, and the cherubim that once guarded the holy of holies now welcome us back into God’s presence. For us, God is building a new dwelling place.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’

And He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new… Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true… It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be My son’” (Revelation 21:3-7).

Do you want to be a part of His people? Do you want to dwell in God’s presence? Do you want to return to Eden? There is one way: His name is Jesus!

Exodus: Journey to Freedom (23:20-24:18)

• July 17, 2023
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Exodus 23:20-24:18

If you have your copy of God’s Word (and I hope you do), then let me invite you to take it and turn with me to Exodus 23-24. All of us are familiar with military rankings (yes?). Some more than others, for sure, but we all know that there’s some sort of pecking order in the military. Privates are on the bottom, followed by corporals, then there are sergeants. That’s the NCO ranks (non-commissioned officer positions), and of course, there are various levels and degrees of these privates, corporals and sergeants. And above NCO’s are the commissioned officer rankings: Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Colonels and Generals.

There are rows and rows of books about famous military leaders, and in our history some of those people include the generals and commanders of WWII and perhaps more recent wars in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. One of my personal favorites was a guy named Richard “Dick” Winters. He was the lead character in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, which aired back in 2001. He rose to the rank of Major, becoming the 2nd Battalion Commander of the 101st Airborne Division. His troops highly respected him and his leadership and character, and thus they would follow his commands – whether that was parachuting behind German lines on D-Day, attacking a battery of German 105mm howitzers at Brécourt Manor in France, or holding the line in the Ardennes during the famous Battle of the Bulge.

Likewise, we need to pay attention to God’s voice. We need to listen to Him and follow His instructions. He’s our ultimate Commander in Chief. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and follow Him, but they don’t listen to the voice of a stranger (John 10:4-5). Jesus led with holy character and unparalleled sacrifice, and those of us that follow Him should delight in His Word.

In today’s passage we’re going to see a number of important expressions related to obedience. We’re also going to find important truths related to trusting God, following Him, receiving His blessing, and living for His glory. As always, I’m going to break this down for us into three sections. But before we go any further, shall we pray:

“Father, we ask for the enabling of the Holy Spirit as we study these verses together. Grant, O Lord, that we might enter into all that You have for us as You instruct us from Your holy Word. And we offer this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

The first section is what many of your Bibles list as the conquest of Canaan. I’m calling it…

The Conquest Promised

Follow along beginning with verse 20, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites (and mosquito bites and termites), and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.”

There’s much debate about who this angel is, and to be fair the text doesn’t explicitly say, but I believe this is another one of those rare instances in the Old Testament where we get a glimpse of the pre-incarnate Christ. I believe this angel is Jesus. Now, I can’t prove that, so if you find it more helpful to view this angel as a human messenger like Moses or Joshua, or even an actual angel like Gabriel or Michael, then that’s fine. I think a strong argument could be made that this is Jesus, but the more important thing to notice is that God brings the victory.

Notice all of the first-person singular pronouns: I send an angel… the place I have prepared… all that I say… I will be an enemy… I blot them out… I will bless your bread and water… I will take sickness away… This is a work of God. The victory and glory belong to Him. He went before them. He drove out the enemy. He blesses their food and water and takes away their sickness. This is all about God. Just as it is in our lives as well.

When it comes to our salvation, God has done all of the work. He’s already won the victory. He’s gone before us. He’s conquered the dual enemy of death and the devil. Since He’s won the ultimate battle over sin, we can rest assured that He will be with us in our smaller battles. Yet, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a part to play. That doesn’t mean that we’re simply passive observers in our day-to-day sanctification. It just means that we don’t fight alone.

God made two essential demands on the Israelites. First, they were forbidden to worship the gods of the Canaanites. Second, God told them to destroy the idols and sacred stones of the Canaanites. The same is true of us. We should never compromise in giving God all our worship. We need to take inventory of the idols in our own hearts that seek to compete with our affections for the Lord. And remember, idols are not always innately bad things. We can make good things into “god things,” and when that happens, we need to remove them and destroy them.

I’ll grant to you that it’s not always easy recognizing the idols that we’ve allowed to take up residence in our lives, but here’s a good rule of thumb: when you sin to get it or sin when it’s taken away, then it’s likely an idol. These things, whether they be power and influence, sex and beauty, money and success, education and knowledge, or a million other things will trap us and draw us away from God. And the instruction, the demand, is not simply to avoid them, but to destroy them.

When we take the steps necessary to identify our idols and act to put them away, then God blesses us. That’s what He promised to the Israelites. He promised food and water, good health, large families, long life, and most of all the promised land, the inheritance He had prepared for them. Understand this word of caution: this doesn’t mean that if we obey the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law that we’ll never get sick, never starve, have lots of children, and live a long life. It also doesn’t mean that when Christians suffer it’s necessarily due to disobedience. Jesus suffered. He promised His disciples that they would suffer and be hated (John 15:18-20).

Nevertheless, God gave the people of Israel a promise and it was a good promise – a land of their own. For those of us that have placed our faith and trust in Jesus, we have an even better promise – an eternal land. Are you ready to see and experience our eternal home? Do you long for that? Do you savor the certainty that God keeps His promises and will lead you into Hs eternal promised land where there’s no more hunger or suffering or mourning – a place where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). I hope you do!

That leads us to the next thing that we see and that’s…

The Covenant Confirmed

Look at chapter 24, beginning with verse 1, “Then [God] said to Moses, ‘Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.’

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’”

When we talk about covenants, remember that for any covenant to be established it had to be confirmed by both parties and that’s what happens here. You’ve got this contingent of 70 elders, plus Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu – those are the two oldest sons of Aaron – and they come up to worship God. It appears to me that Moses is the only one that truly gets to come directly before God, but the others were also invited further up the mountain or perhaps closer to the mountain than the general population of Israel. In either case, we see the honor and respect and reverence and awe that God’s holiness demands.

And we also realize that we can only draw close to God and be in His presence (as it were) if we come on His terms, in the way that He’s appointed – through a mediator. In this case, it was Moses. Later, it would be the priests. Today, it’s only through Jesus Christ, the “one mediator between God and man” (1 Timothy 2:5). And after God set the terms, the people affirmed it (twice). They promised to do all that God had said. In fact, if you count their promise in chapter 19, verse 8, then they’ve confirmed the covenant three times. But in these verses, they confirm it twice. Why twice? Do you see a parallel between something that we do?

The first time was to declare their intent. The second was to so they could promise to obey – they took their vows (so to speak). What does that sound like (marriage)? First, we declare our intent (“I will” or “I do”); second, we say our vows. When you consider the confirmation of God’s covenant, are you determined to obey the word of God? Are you resolved to obey God no matter the circumstances, by His grace, for His glory? The Israelites weren’t too good at it, and I’m afraid we aren’t either. Like Israel, we all fail to obey. But when this happens, thankfully we can look to the One who did obey perfectly, the One who provides us with His righteousness.

There are some church denominations, when they celebrate the Lord’s Supper, they say to one another, “The blood of Christ, shed for you.” What a powerful statement and reminder of the work of the Lord Jesus. Do you dwell on this truth? That Jesus shed His blood to purchase your salvation. It’s such a common thing in churches and worship, that sometimes we have to stare long and hard at the cross or in our mind’s eye to see the beautiful blood that was poured out for us. Jesus ushered in a new covenant, sealed with His own blood. What an inexpressible joy to know that our ransom has been paid by the King of Kings.

Don’t you like some of these new praise and worship songs that Ray has introduced us to over the last year and a half? Today’s song, King of Kings, has this wonderful line that we all sang, “By His blood and in His name, In His freedom I am free, For the love of Jesus Christ, Who has resurrected me.” It’s all because of the blood of Jesus. And if you don’t know this Jesus and the provision of grace that He offers, then I pray you might find rest in the work of Christ today.

That brings us to the last point for today, which is…

The Glory of God Beheld

Pick up at verse 9, “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under His feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

12 The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’ 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, ‘Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.’

15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

When was the last time you went out to a fine dining restaurant? Do you recall a time that you had dinner with someone important? Maybe a boss. Maybe a guy/girl you were dating. Maybe the parents of the guy/girl you were dating. Perhaps you’re the parents of the guy/girl and you’re just as nervous as the kids. Perhaps it was a politician or a famous athlete. Several of you have had the privilege of sharing a meal with some pretty significant people.

Shoot, some of you were the significant people that I’m talking about. I remember meeting Paul Vidovich for the first time and being impressed that I was talking to a CEO of a large international corporation, then I met Kitty and she told me he wasn’t all that. The same was true of Bill Canata and his Pfizer career, Dave Schaub and his acquaintance with Édouard Michelin, great-grandson of the founder of Michelin, and several others. Then I met Martha and Linda, and they invited me behind the curtain. But seriously, imagine dining with God on His mountain!

Granted, they probably did not see or experience the fullness of God’s glory, after all, according to Exodus 33:20, “no one can see [God] and live.” And when you consider the fact that God didn’t raise His hand of judgment against them, then they probably only saw a general shape or a vague or partial vision of Him. What they likely saw was a view of God from below, since the description we have is of God’s feet and the pavement. Whatever that was like, God gave them a glimpse of His majesty and it got better because they actually ate and drank with Him. It demonstrated that they had fellowship with God, that He was a party to the covenant. And one day there’s coming another meal – a “marriage feast of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9) – where all who have trusted in Christ Jesus for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins will dine with the risen Lamb of God. In that moment, no longer will there be any veil, no longer will there be any cloud, no longer will there be a dim mirror. No, we will see Him face to face, just as He is.

Whatever wonder we’ve witnessed here on earth, heaven is guaranteed to be better. Whatever joyous news we’ve already heard, heaven’s news reaches far beyond. Even the most incredible wonders we can dream up fade before the realities God has planned for those who love Him and follow Him. We know it will be the most incredible experience of our lives to be with the Lord in heaven, but for now, we can only imagine how outstanding it will be.

You might recognize the name Bart Millard. He’s the lead singer of a Christian band named MercyMe. They had a little hit a few years back that made it into mainstream music called I Can Only Imagine. What you might not know is the backstory behind the song.

The band was trying to complete its first worship song album and they were a song short. Late at night on the band’s bus, Millard found an old notebook with the phrase “I can only imagine” written in it. He began to write a song, basing it on his personal feelings about his father Arthur’s death. Early in Bart’s life, Arthur had been physically and emotionally abusive towards his family, with Bart being beaten severely at points; Arthur and his wife Adele eventually divorced, and Bart was sent to live with his mother after an especially extreme whipping.

Bart kept in contact with his father, however, who was later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when Bart was 15. His father began to make amends for his actions and started becoming more religiously observant, reading the Bible and going to church regularly. As Arthur progressively became more ill, his relationship with his son improved dramatically; by the time Arthur died in 1991, when Bart was 18, the two were very close. Bart said that “I got a front row seat to see this guy go from being a monster to falling desperately in love with Jesus. By the time he passed away when I was a freshman in college, not only was he my best friend, but he was also like the godliest man I’d ever known.”

That’s the story of God’s instruction to Moses and the Israelites. The conquest has already been promised. The covenant has already been sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and all that’s left is to behold the glory of God. Like Arthur, all you need to do is accept this – by faith – and trust in the completed work of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Then, one day, when the Lord calls your name, you won’t have to imagine the eternal promised land – you’ll experience it, along with all of God’s glory.

Exodus: Journey to Freedom (21:1-23:19)

• July 10, 2023
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Exodus 21:1-23:19

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 21. Today, we’re going to attempt to cover three chapters in one sermon. For those of you that are members and regulars, you know how tall a task that’s going to be. In fact, I may do more teaching today than preaching. Nevertheless, that’s the goal. And part of the reason for that is because of the nature of the text.

You see, when we finish chapter 20 and the giving of the Ten Commandments, then the next several chapters are commentary, they’re expansions, they’re circumstances and scenarios, if you will, that illustrate how each of the Ten Commandments is supposed to govern their day-to-day living. God had redeemed Israel from Egyptian slavery, and in the process, He formed a people that would display His glory. But, in order to properly display God’s glory, they needed some guidelines for living.

Let me ask you; have you ever had a roommate? Perhaps you remember your college years? Maybe you and a friend rented a house or an apartment together before one of the two of you got married? Some of you can remember going to sports camps or church camps or some other form of camp and having a roommate. Whatever the situation, you know that proximity brings drama. Being in tight quarters for long periods of time can magnify difficulties and issues.

Therefore, what do we tend to do? We establish some guidelines. For that snoring friend, Isaiah, we ask him to go to sleep after us (if possible). For our friend Drew, we ask him not to play his music without headphones after 11pm. For our brother Jordan, we ask that he not lock us out of the room. If that’s the kind of thing we end up doing in our relationships, imagine what it must have been like for 600,000 men, plus women and children, living together for the first time outside of slavery. They needed some guidelines. They needed some instruction to help them get along and also glorify God in their daily lives.

At this point, I would normally read the text for us and pray, but since we’re trying to cover three entire chapters we’re not going to do that. Rather, I’ve taken these intriguing passages and tried to summarize them into three segments. To be sure, there are many more topics and issues that are dealt with in these chapters, but I’m trying to help us get a sense of the forest without examining each tree. So, would you join me in a brief prayer.

“God our Father, we thank You for the Bible, and as we seek to try and understand its broad scope, we pray for Your help, that our minds may be active, and our wills may be submissive, and our hearts may be ready to receive Your truth. To this end we seek Your help now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Let’s look at how God expected His people to love Him and love each other.

Human Life

Many of your Bibles have a heading above Exodus 21 that speaks about slavery or fair treatment of servants, or something to that effect. You might also have a heading about a third of the way down that speaks of personal injuries, or violent crimes, or something similar. I’m grouping all of that together under the heading of “human life.” If you’re in the habit of making notes in your Bible and you want to take away one thing from all of these laws and verses (in chapter 21), then just write down: People Matter to God. We were made in His image, and therefore we ought to honor and protect all human life.

Now, let me offer just a few quick comments regarding slavery. Because, in recent years, and in other decades, race relations in our country haven’t been handled correctly. The first thing that we need to understand when we come to Exodus 21 is that what is being outlined is NOT the slavery that we tend to associate with American history. In fact, involuntary slavery (the type that America embraced) is forbidden in this very chapter (21:16), where we read, “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” This is more in line with American slavery, where people of African descent were rounded up wholesale and taken by force from their native countries and sold into forced labor. That’s NOT what is being described in the first section of Exodus 21.

Rather, what we have before us is what we would call indentured servitude. Most Hebrews ran small family-owned businesses, and their “slaves” were really more like workers or employees in the business who lived at the owner’s residence. They would work in exchange for room, board and wages. Plus, it was temporary. It ended after six years. Regardless of how much you owed or the time agreed to on the original arrangement, after six years the Jewish servant was released. It was also neither oppressive or racially based, like the Egyptian’s enslavement of the Israelites.

And there’s another difference in this form of servitude and American chattel slavery – the service that’s described here sought to preserve the sanctity of the family. Remember: People Matter to God. American slavery often separated families, but not this system. We read (v. 3), “If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.” Preservation of the family was a hallmark of this kind of service.

If the slave was given a wife by his master, then the husband was free to leave after his term of service, but his wife and the children produced by that marriage belonged to the master. Now, it seems unfair, of course, but don’t forget that she too was likely a servant with her own terms of service and they weren’t changed just because her husband’s time was served. So, the husband had a few options: 1.) he could wait for his wife and children, 2.) he could get another job and save his money to purchase their freedom, or 3.) he could voluntarily commit to work permanently for the master. If he chose the latter, then there’s an ear-piercing described in verse 6 to mark the man accordingly. In fact, our modern term “earmarking” comes from this very practice.

Verses 7-11 describe the situation for female slaves, and again, notice that there’s emphasis on human dignity and value of life. If she doesn’t please the master she’s sold to, then he can’t turn around and sell her off to foreign people. She can be redeemed. She can be bought back from her own family. By the way, this gives rise to the concept of the kinsman-redeemer and there’s an entire book of the Bible (Ruth) that centers on this beautiful and loving portrait of a woman being bought by a family member. If the master gives the woman to one of his sons, then she’s treated as a daughter. And, if the master originally takes her as his wife and then acquires another wife, then she’s still due her food, clothing and marital rights. If the master does none of these things, then she’s free.

It’s so important that we understand the distinctions that exist here. We are not describing or condoning American slavery, as it was in the earliest years of our nation’s existence and as it exists in many parts of the world (still). God loves His sons and daughters and wanted them treated fairly and lovingly. Ladies, God cares about you physically and emotionally and He expects men to defend you and treat you lovingly and rightly.

Verses 12-32 deal with personal injuries to people and animals, and the underlying principle is that the punishment should fit the crime. The fact that it often doesn’t, isn’t an indictment against God, but rather an indication that sinful man is incapable of living righteously, and thus needs a Savior. Again, whatever your view is concerning the death penalty, which, interestingly, was instituted by God before He ever gave these laws to Moses – remember God’s words to Noah after the flood; “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image” (Genesis 9:6) – whatever your view, at least grab this principle: People Matter to God!

Listen to what Dr. Tony Merida, Dean of Grimke Seminary, says in his commentary on Exodus: “A perfectly just process in a fallen world will never exist; therefore, there will be times to oppose the death penalty, even if you agree with the principle of it. What we should not oppose is a severe punishment for those who do not honor the image of God in others.” Christians must have a heart of mercy. While we won’t manage to do it perfect, we ought to seek to imitate God’s own generosity and mercy in our relationships. Remember Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:32, “And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.”

Business Life

Now we move to what I’m calling business life, or the loss of animals and property. All of these laws have to do with the normal day in day out crimes that led to loss of income or “getting ripped off.” Notice that a “jail sentence” is never mentioned. Offenders had to generously compensate the victim face to face, and the amount required was related to the nature of the crime and it was also multiples of the value of the loss.

Look at Exodus 22:33ff, “When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to [the ox or donkey’s] owner, and the dead beast shall be his. When one man’s ox butts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his” (Exodus 22:33-36). This is all reasonable and understandable, but also notice that it’s general. It’s not intended to cover every detail of every possible scenario.

For example, these verses don’t outline what happens if the animal that falls into the pit is a sheep instead of an ox or a donkey. Or, what if a donkey kicks an ox instead of an ox butting another ox. That scenario isn’t spelled out explicitly, either, but the principle remains the same.

The first four verses of chapter 22 address theft. Verses 5-6 involve cases of negligence that lead to the loss of someone’s property. Verses 7-13 deal with giving someone property for safekeeping, but having that trust breached (remember, there were no banks in those days). Verses 14-15 deal with borrowed property like lawn mowers and wrenches and power tools. In each of these cases, the laws appear sensible. You had to respect one another’s property. Again, think about how practical these laws are. They’re wonderful gifts because they showed people how-to live-in community, loving their neighbors as themselves.

Let me ask you, can you think of a biblical character that went from a thief to a generous slave after experiencing salvation in Christ – who went to make things right with others? A wee little man comes to my mind: Zacchaeus. After encountering Jesus, he said, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord! And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much!” (Luke 19:8). He wanted to make things right. Why? Because the gospel – the Good News of Jesus’ salvation – changes us. It creates in us a new heart of love for God and others.

National Life

Finally, we turn to what I’m calling National Life. The end of Exodus 22 through the middle of Exodus 23 encourages a caring attitude toward the vulnerable and disadvantaged. As God’s people, not only are we’re called to obey the law, but to care for those in need.

And one of the first things we read about this is in Exodus 22:21, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Wouldn’t you know it. God called Israel to show the same kind of care they received from Him. And this fair and kind treatment extends to internationals that flood our city, either for school, for work, or as refugees. Now, I know that view and that position doesn’t sit well with many of you. And, to be honest, there’s a part of me that bristles at the thought of it too. And yet, when I consider my own plight and how Jesus has welcomed me, then I realize that it’s my job to be helpful and welcoming regardless.

(Now, just so you don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting, nor am I saying that weak immigration laws and insecure national borders are what we should be striving for. No! We need to enforce the laws that are currently on the books, and at the same time make room in our hearts for those that are genuinely seeking a better life for themselves or are seeking refuge from legitimate persecution. Do I have the “silver bullet” solution? No, and neither does any other politician, but we aren’t talking politics are we? We’re talking about loving God and loving others as ourselves. I’m afraid [in my own rhetoric] whether or not people see and hear Christ in me on this topic.)

But this matter of caring isn’t just limited to the international stranger, it also extends to the widow and the fatherless child. Why is there no mention of the motherless child? Because the primary provider of life, safety and prosperity was the father. If there was no father there was no family, there was no home, there was no security, there was no money. Again, just read the opening chapters of the book of Ruth, and you’ll get a picture of the widow and the fatherless child. And God expects us to care for those in need because He cared for us when we were in desperate need. When you were fatherless, He adopted you; when you were a widow, He became your groom; when you were a stranger to His grace, He welcomed you. Those of us who know this kind of love ought to be the very ones showing it to a broken world.

Throughout the entire Bible – Old and New Testaments – we are given consistent attention to these two groups: widows and orphans. The late Tim Keller, former pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, put it like this. He said,

When people ask me, “How do you want to be introduced?” I usually propose they say, “This is Tim Keller, minister of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.” Of course, I’m many other things, but that is the main thing I spend my time doing in public life. Realize, then, how significant it is that the Biblical writers introduce God as a “father to the fatherless, a defender of widows” (Psalm 68:4-5). This is one of the main things He does in the world. He identifies with the powerless, He takes up their cause.

As I said earlier, there are so many other laws and scenarios that are outlined in these three chapters, and we need to be careful not to skip over these verses just because it seems too arcane to us or that we spend too much time trying to execute every verse exactly as it’s written because legalism isn’t godly either. Rather, studying the law of the Lord drives us to the Lord of the law. It drives us to Jesus. We can’t keep God’s law any better than the Israelites could, but there’s One who lived the life we couldn’t live and died the death we should have died. Jesus obeyed for us and died in place of lawbreakers.

There’s a reason that our Call to Worship was taken directly from Psalm 19, and that’s because it says the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The conclusion of that same psalm says, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” We’ve been redeemed. We’ve been bought with the precious blood of the Lamb of God. May God grant His fresh strength through the Holy Spirit to love Him more passionately and love our neighbors more justly.

“Lord God, we thank You that you are a God who delivers us. And some of us today have been trying on our own for a long time to reform our characters, to change our lifestyle, to do our part. And, either because of pride or unbelief, we have never come to an end of ourselves and said, ‘O God, unless You deliver me from this entrapment, then I’m going to be overwhelmed and lost forever.’ And some of us just cry out from where we are, ‘O Lord God, deliver me from myself and from my sin because of what Jesus has done, because of the fact that He died in my place.’

Some of us are living very cavalier Christian lives. We’ve somehow or another come to believe that we can do whatever we want, when we want, for as long as we want, and nothing really matters. And we need to be reminded that You are a God who makes demands, and that we should love You with ‘all of our hearts and soul and mind and strength, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves’ (Luke 10:27). Help us, Lord, to this end, we pray. Amen.”

Exodus: Journey to Freedom (20:1-21)

• July 5, 2023
• Pastor
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Exodus 20:1-21

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 20. Hopefully, all of you will recognize this as the Ten Commandments. But I’m not going to preach on each of the commandments this morning. In fact, I did a sermon series back in the fall of 2021 where I preached an individual message on each of the Ten Commandments, and if you’re interested, then you can check those out on our church’s YouTube channel. No, this morning, I’m going to focus primarily on verses 1-3, but I want us to have the full context, so that’s why we’re reading down to verse 21.

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

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

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that 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 bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

“Our Father and our God, we thank You for the enduring quality and eternal nature of Your holy Word – a message that is authoritative for our lives and provides us with everything we need to know You (personally) and walk in obedience and faithfulness to Your will. This morning, we echo the prayer of Augustine, when he said, ‘Oh, Lord, Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.’ Bless us now, we pray, as we listen for Your voice, and Father, may I decrease in order that You may increase, for we Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

I enjoy studying history. I enjoy learning. So, I was surprised to learn that our Pledge of Allegiance is really a rather recent innovation. I don’t know how many of you may be familiar with this, but the earliest pledge to our nation’s flag was penned in 1887 by Captain George T. Balch, a Union Army officer of the Civil War. It read as follows: “We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!” Balch’s pledge was favored by many schools and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Five years later, in August 1892, a guy by the name Francis Bellamy composed a pledge for publication in a popular children’s magazine called The Youth’s Companion. His pledge went this way: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Sounds a little more familiar, but still not quite the pledge of today.

Now, the interesting thing to me is that Bellamy criticized Balch’s pledge for being “too juvenile and lacking in dignity.” The irony is that Bellamy was a Baptist minister, and yet his pledge didn’t include any mention of God like Balch’s pledge.

Fast forward to 1923. The National Flag Conference called for the words “my Flag” to be changed to “the Flag of the United States,” so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the US. The words “of America” were added a year later (1924). Finally, Congress officially recognized the Pledge for the first time, in the following form, on June 22, 1942: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The words “under God” wouldn’t make their way into the pledge until 1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhauer attended a worship service held at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and listened to a sermon by Rev. George MacPherson Docherty calling for the addition of “under God” to the Pledge. As a result of Docherty’s sermon, the next day President Eisenhower and his friends in Congress began to set the wheels in motion to amend the Pledge. And thus, on Flag Day (June 14, 1954), the pledge that we recite today was signed into law: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

“Well, pastor, thank you for the history lesson and a brief walk down memory lane, but what does any of that have to do with Moses and the Ten Commandments?” I’m glad you asked. See, there’s no denying that those of us who have gathered here this morning take great comfort and assurance in the idea that our nation would be under God’s providential care, protection and blessing. And yet, in just the span of 69 years, our country seems to be a nation without God.

Similarly, the Israelites had been rescued and redeemed from Egyptian slavery by the mighty power and hand of God. They had been delivered through the waters of the Red Sea. They had experienced God’s provision of water at Meribah and Marah. They had been nourished by manna from heaven and seen a great victory over the Amalekites at Rephidim. They finally arrived safely at the foot of Mount Sinai and responded to God with these words, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And just like America, the Jews would shortly forget about all that God had done for them, and as a result, they would spend 40 years wandering around in the desert.

Is it just me (this morning), or does it feel like America is wandering around in a desert? If so, it’s because we’ve forgotten God and His Word and all that He’s done for us. Like Israel, with our lips we’ve said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do,” but we’ve failed to believe it in our hearts. We’re no longer one Nation under God. We’re simply one Nation… So, this morning, in the time that we have left, I want to remind us of the God that we’ve so easily forgotten.

God’s Word Reveals Him To Be Personal

Look back at verse 2, “I am the LORD your God…” That’s a familiar phrase, isn’t it. For those of us that attend church, for those of us that read the Bible, for those of us that call ourselves Christians, we read it over and over in the Bible. “I am the LORD your God.” And I tell our Bible study groups (regularly) that one of the concerns that I have with our study of the Bible is that we read it so much and we’re so familiar with it, that many times we don’t really appreciate what’s being said.

Do you see the personal pronoun “your”? That’s the second person singular. It’s not the third person plural. You say, “Oh boy, the pastor has gone woke on us. He’s talking about preferred pronouns.” No, it lets me know that God isn’t addressing the entire congregation of Israel. He’s addressing each of them individually. It’s as if God came down from the mountain and walked over and pointed at each of you and said, “I’m YOUR God.” Whether God said that to the entire congregation or whether He said it to each Jew individually, nothing changed in principle, rather it’s the way that they received the message. The Jews would’ve understood that in the Hebrew.

It’s personal. It’s dramatic. No other god does that. You won’t find that in the Qur’an. In fact, one of the primary attributes and qualities of Allah in the Islamic religion is that He is transcendent. To make a claim that God is personal is akin to blasphemy. Buddha didn’t do that. Buddha didn’t want to be bothered with anybody. Zoroaster (Zoroastrianism) doesn’t believe that. None of the 330 million gods of Hinduism were personal. No other God is a personal God like our God. “I am the LORD your God.” It’s a personal word to each of us, and it means that God cares for us and knows us.

There was a study conducted not too long by the University of California, San Diego where they swapped participants cell phones and were able to produce accurate “lifestyle portraits”, predicting such facts as the owner’s diet, their preferred shampoos and soaps, their health and even places they recently visited. Listen to what the research paper said:

Medications detected on phones included anti-inflammatory and antifungal skin creams, hair loss treatments, antidepressants and eye drops. Foods included caffeine, citrus, herbs and spices. Even months after their application on skin, sunscreen ingredients and DEET mosquito repellant could be detected on phones.

Based on the molecular evidence found on cell phones, the researchers learned certain habits of each participant: their medications, their preferred cuisines and their use of either high-end or low-end cosmetics.

“All these little clues lead to a composite lifestyle sketch of the individual,” said Dr. Pieter Dorrestein, lead investigator and professor of the School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Let me tell you something – when God says, “I am the LORD your God” He knows you better than that. He doesn’t need to check out your molecular structure or your DNA, He put it all together in the first place. And even though He “knit us together in our mother’s womb” (as the psalmist says Psalm 139:13), He still comes to us in a personal way and tells us that He is our God.

God’s Word Reveals His Grace

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes we tend to think that grace is only found in the pages of the New Testament, but that’s not true. Look at the second half of verse 2, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” That’s grace. Time and time again, God is described in the pages of Scripture as the God who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and the reason is because it reminds the Jews of exactly how God did that.

Cast your mind back to the story of the Jews. They’re in Egypt, they’re in bondage, and God brings all of these plagues on the Egyptians and what was the last plague? (Death of the first-born.) The Lord struck down the first-born of every person and even the animals. And the only way to avoid that plague was to take a lamb and kill it and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and over the lentil, and the Lord would pass over that house. That’s where we get the Jewish festival of Passover. That’s the whole idea, right there. And it’s a perfect picture of what Jesus Christ has done for those who have trusted in Him by faith. When our time of death arrives and Satan reaches out to grab us, we are safe in the arms of God. Why? Because of the blood of Jesus. Because of Calvary. Because of the empty tomb. Because of what Jesus did – not what we did. That’s Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So, God saved them. He redeemed them. He brought them out of the house of slavery, and He set them free to do His will. In Deuteronomy 6, when Moses is talking to the next generation of Israelites, those that will eventually cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land, listen to what he says to them, “And [God] brought us out from there, that He might bring us in and give us the land that He swore to give to our fathers.” He brought us out in order to bring us in. He brought us out of sin and slavery and bondage, in order to bring us in to Him.

It’s grace before law. It’s grace before instructions. It’s grace before requirements. What if that was the other way around? What if God said, “Here are My commandments, and if you keep these things, then I’ll come back and save you, I’ll redeem you, I’ll rescue you, I’ll deliver you but not until then.” What would happen then? We’d end up in a devil’s hell. Why? Because we can’t keep God’s standard of perfection. God says, “I’m going to save you by My grace.”

God’s Word Reveals His Way Of Life

Look at verse 3, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” That’s the first of the Ten Commandments. By the way, the first four are vertical (having to do with our relationship with God) and the last six are horizontal (having to do with our relationships with other people). You might remember when the Pharisees tested Jesus saying, “‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And [Jesus] said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:36-40).

That’s what this chapter is all about – how to love God and love my neighbor. And right here, God kicks this whole thing off with Him at the top, Him in the position of authority and priority. Listen, if I’m out of fellowship with God, then it’s because I’ve taken God out of the position that He should rightfully occupy. Dr. Phil Ryken is the current President of Wheaton College, and he was responding to some research published by Princeton Seminary titled Religion is gaining ground, but morality is losing ground. This is what he wrote:

How can people be more interested in God and at the same time less willing to do what He says? The only explanation is that people do not know the God of the Bible, because if they did, they would recognize the absolute authority of His law. Respect for God always demands respect for His law, and wherever people have a low regard for God’s law, as they do in our culture, it is ultimately because they have a low regard for God.

There was a day and time when the Ten Commandments were posted in most schools and courthouses across the country. You could find monuments that had references to them, but we’ve grown up, haven’t we. We’ve realized that these instructions from God are for poor simpletons of a bygone era, and so we’ve taken them down. We don’t encourage our children to learn them, much less expect our teachers, educators and business leaders to know them and live by them. And aren’t we in such better shape now that the Ten Commandments are gone.

God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” and what have we done? We’ve just removed God and put ourselves in His place. We know better. We call the shots. We can handle society better. We can manage government better. We can educate children better. We don’t need God; we’ll just be the god and relegate His way of life to the rubbish bin. We stopped praying before meetings and reading scripture to our friends and colleagues. We stopped attending church on Sundays and started attended sporting instead. We’re just one Nation, no longer under God, because we’ve chosen to do it our way.

There was another nation like America. It too, had simply become on nation – no longer under God – but it had a king who desired to follow God. He built a house of worship to the Lord and prayed to God and sought God. And this was the Father’s response, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  May we, this Fourth of July, take time to humble ourselves in the presence of our mighty God, and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, that He will hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land.  Then, perhaps, we can once again recite our pledge with confidence and truly believe that we are one Nation under God. 

Exodus: Journey to Freedom (19:1-25)

• June 26, 2023
• Pastor
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Exodus 19:1-25

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 19. On September 22, 1967, Dr. Raymond Edmond was preaching at the chapel gathering at Wheaton College. He had been the president of the college for 25 years and the students loved to hear him preach. That morning, he was going to preach what would become a very famous sermon titled In the Presence of the King. As a college president, he’d had the opportunity to visit various dignitaries and even some kings. In fact, he had recently returned from Ethiopia, having visited Haile Selassie – the last Solomonic monarch to rule the country. And he began his sermon talking about his experience in the presence of this earthly king, and he transitioned into talking about meeting the King of kings – that is the Lord God Almighty. Listen to what he said in that sermon (true story):

I speak primarily of another king. This chapel is the house of the great King. Chapel at Wheaton is designed to be a meeting on your part with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Himself. To that end, chapel is designed for the purpose of worship, not a lecture. Come in, sit down, wait in silence before the Lord. In so doing, you will prepare your own hearts to hear the Lord. Your heart will learn to cultivate what the scripture says, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Over the years, I have learned the immense value of that deep inner silence as David – the earthly king – sat in God’s presence to hear from Him…

And with those as his last words, Dr. Edmond suffered a fatal heart attack and fell over dead in the pulpit. He had just spoken about standing in the presence of King Selassie, and then suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, he was literally in the presence of the King of kings. And when we come to Exodus 19, we come to something very much like that. From the time that the Israelites left Egypt they had witnessed the hand of God and the miracles of God, and they thought they had been in the presence of God. But it’s here, at Mount Sinai, that God will literally descend upon the mountain in the presence of the people and call Moses and Aaron up to deliver to them His law.

1 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, 10 the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments 11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

21 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.” 23 And Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’” 24 And the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

“Our Father and our God, we do honor You and bless You for the privilege we have, this day, to be Your children and to hear Your Word proclaimed. I ask, now, that You grant me clarity of mind, concision of speech, and conviction of heart, that I may tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth for Your glory and our good. It’s in Jesus’ name that I pray, amen.”

There are only two things that I want to share with you this morning, and these two things are in constant tension in the Scripture. And, what’s more, we experience this tension in our own lives – especially in our spiritual lives. The Bible tells us that God is holy, but the Bible also tells us that God is love. There’s the tension. And for most of us, we tend to fall more on one side than the other. We either tend to emphasize the holiness of God, or we to tend to relate more to the love of God. But, in reality, both of these aspects of God’s character and God’s nature are held in balance within the pages of Scripture. And I have to tell myself (regularly) to hold these two aspects of God in a proper balance.

Now, the first of these that we see is the love and the tenderness of God.

The Love of God

You would think that God would’ve led them out of Egypt and directly into the land flowing with milk and honey. But He doesn’t. He takes them out of Egypt and in three months He brings them to the foot of Mount Sinai, and look at the end of verse 3, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.” There is it; the tenderness and the love of God. I did all of this in order to bring you to Myself.

God’s purpose was not just to get them into the Promised Land; the purpose of God in bringing them out of Egypt was to bring them to Himself. God didn’t just save us to get us out of hell; although many of us decided to follow Jesus for that purpose. The reason that God saved you and me was to bring us to Himself. Avoiding an eternity in hell is an awesome byproduct of our salvation, but what God wants most is a personal relationship with us.

Think about it; the relationship that was originally established by God with Adam and Eve in the Garden is recorded in the Bible as being “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Those are God’s words, not ours. Eden was heaven on earth. It was perfect. It was what God intended from the beginning – a perfect world, a perfect creation, a perfect relationship. Yet, all of that was marred when Adam and Eve disobeyed. When they sinned, the relationship was broken. The consequence was eternal separation, but the thing that God wants most of all is that original relationship. Shoot, even the language that we use to describe our situation – separation – implies a relationship.

Listen to what Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). That’s the tenderness of God. That’s the love of God. He desires to be in relationship with us so much that His patience is often mistaken as slowness. God says to Moses, “Go tell the people that I brought you to Myself.”

We also see the love of God expressed in the covenant that He’s getting ready to establish with them in verse 5. Look at verse 5, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’” God didn’t establish the Law with them first and then tell them if they kept the Law then He would love them. That’s not how things went down. God delivered them. God redeemed them. God rescued them. God saved them and loved them and brought them to Himself, THEN He established His covenant.

That’s exactly what Paul says in the New Testament when it comes to grace and works. We often set grace against works against one another, or we put Paul against James, as if they’re fighting one another. That’s not the case. Paul and James aren’t saying opposite things, but rather complimenting one another’s position. When it comes to grace and the Law, the issue is that we get it in the right order.

Listen to Ephesians 2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast…” This is where we often stop, but that’s not the end of Paul’s thought. That’s not the end of the argument. He continues, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10). In other words, we don’t keep the Law in order to be saved, to be loved. We are loved, we are saved, and thus we obey and seek to keep the standards of that covenant.

Sir Jonathan Sacks put it this way, speaking at a general session of the Lambeth Conference, “A contract is a transaction. A covenant is a relationship. Or to put it slightly differently: a contract is about interests. A covenant is about identity. It is about you and me coming together to form an ‘us.’ That is why contracts benefit, but covenants transform.”

The love of God delivered and redeemed and rescued the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage, in order that they might be brought to Him, and then set apart by Him as a “treasured possession,” a “kingdom of priests,” and a “holy nation.” That’s the first aspect of God’s character that we see here – His love for us – which leads us to the second aspect of God’s character and that’s His holiness.

The Holiness of God

Remember that tension that I mentioned earlier; here it is. We just noticed how God brought the people out of Egypt to be with Himself, but now He’s going to set limits and boundaries around the mountain saying, “Keep your distance.” So, He brings the people near, but He keeps them at a distance. By the way, this kind of upside-down backward tension exists in Jesus’ teaching too: “the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16). See, it sounds like an oxymoron, “I’ve brought you here to be near me, but you keep your distance.” But that’s not the only odd thing about God’s holiness. Listen, He’s going to show them His presence, He’s going to reveal Himself to them, but He’s going to do it by wrapping Himself in clouds and smoke. So, you consider all of this and you begin to wonder what’s going on and it’s this other aspect of His character – it’s the holiness of God.

The word “holy” (qodesh, in Hebrew) is used 57 times in the book of Exodus and the first time that we encounter it is in Exodus 3 where God speaks to Moses from the burning bush and says, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” The last place that we encounter it is in Exodus 39 when Moses was instructed to make holy garments for Aaron to function as the priest. It’s a word that means “sacred” or “apartness.”

And, here, in this last section of Exodus 19 we see God giving instruction on how to enter His holy and sacred presence. In Psalm 69:18, David writes, “Draw near to my soul, redeem me.” That’s the picture here. James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, would put it this way “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” And so, the LORD give Moses these instructions beginning in verse 10, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.”

Listen to what David writes in Psalm 24:3, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.” So, we’re to cleanse our hands and our hearts. That means we’re to confess the things we’ve done (that’s the hands part) and the things we’ve thought or felt (that’s the heart), as we come into the presence of God.

And notice that this is a 3-day process. Certainly, we recognize the significance of the number three. All throughout the Bible three is a number that indicates holiness and purity and righteousness:

• Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
• The three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
• We think about the repeated word “holy, holy, holy” in the vision of Isaiah 6,
• Or God calling Samuel three times,
• Or Jesus restoring Peter three times with the command to “feed my sheep,” and of course,
• The most prominent is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the third day.

Part of the reason for this being a 3-day process was the shear amount of time and water that would be required to cleanse tens-of-thousands of people and garments. You simply couldn’t do it all at one time – at least not without a miracle from heaven. But, there’s also a practical application – a close focus upon God requires both time and prayer, and an attitude of special attention to God, as well as a denial of things that focus on the self so that we can focus on God.

That’s why so many of us struggle to have a time of daily devotion, because we have to put forth the effort to separate ourselves from the distractions and temptations of the moment. In short, we have to consecrate ourselves in order to enter into the presence of the King. Now, I know, there are some of you that are thinking, “But pastor, I can pray to God and worship God any time I want and in any place that I want. I don’t have to take 3 days to get ready.” And this’s true. We pray in our cars on the way to an appointment. We stop and pray over our meals at a restaurant. We pray with friends and family members over the phone when they’ve just gotten some bad news. We don’t stop and say, “Give me three days and meet me back here on the corner of Main and Washington, then I can pray with you.”

Likewise, we can worship in our homes when we’re washing the dishes and singing a song of praise to the Lord. We can worship as we take a nice peaceful walk in the park and give glory to God for His creation. We can worship in simple silence, as we close our eyes and fix our hearts on Him. Again, we don’t have to say, “Well, I’d love to worship You God, but it’s gonna take three days to get in the right frame of mind.”

But with this three days’ notice, the people could expect a special revelation of God. Sure, they had seen God regularly in the pillar of cloud and fire that went ahead of them during their wilderness travel thus far, but these instructions suggest there would be something especially awesome about God’s visible appearance in the sight of all the people. Think about making plans for a birthday or an anniversary or a holiday gathering, or any other special occasion. There’s anticipation. There’s special preparation. There may be special clothes purchased. There’s a sense of eagerness, and God is trying to encourage this same sense of awe and wonder as the people prepare to come into His presence for worship.

There’s another paradox here in the book of Exodus and that’s the word “exodus.” We get it from the Greek prefix ex “out of” and the word hodos “road” or “way.” Literally, exodus means the road out. But the book of Exodus isn’t just about the people of Israel leaving or “exiting” Egypt, it’s also about their entrance into the worship of God. You exit out of there in order to enter into here. They exit out of Egypt in order to enter into worship at Sinai. We’ve temporarily exited out of the world to enter into this sanctuary to do what? Hopefully not to just be entertained… Hopefully not to consume another sermon… Hopefully not to be tickled to death by something funny… Hopefully, we’ve come here to gather as the people of God to worship God.

And just like the Israelites, our view of a holy God is obscured. Paul said that “[w]e see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). But there’s coming a day when – with unveiled eyes – we will worship God in the fullness of His glory.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story of William Montague Dyke. His father, Sir William Dyke, was part of the British aristocracy. He had been a member of Parliament and was now a member of the House of Lords – a very influential man. His son, William Montague Dyke, suffered a tragic accident at the age of 10 and lost his sight. He grew up blind and finished school and wanted to attend university. He went to university and passed with the highest marks, and while he was there, he met a girl and fell in love. She was part of the aristocracy as well. Her father was an admiral in the British navy. He fell in love with her, and she fell in love with him.

Her father was not real sure how this was going to work out. He tried to discourage her from marrying a man that couldn’t provide for her or a growing family. Plus, he couldn’t see her and appreciate her. There would always be something missing. But she said, “He has my heart. I love him. I want to marry him.”

So, to do everything he could, William Montague Dyke decided to have experimental surgery. They had recently discovered an eye surgery that might help to restore his sight. He gets the surgery and they wrap his eyes up so that he couldn’t see any light, and told him he would have to remain that way for six weeks. At the end of the six weeks, they would remove the bandages but if he couldn’t see anything, then the surgery was a failure and there would be nothing else they could do. William had the surgery and his eyes were wrapped up for six weeks, but just before they were scheduled to take the bandages off, he said he wanted to keep them on a little longer.

See, William’s wedding was just around the corner and he wanted to walk down the aisle with the bandages on, and when his bride reached the altar, he wanted the surgeon to remove his bandages so that the first thing he saw was the face of the woman he loved. So, on his wedding day, Sir William Dyke stood on one side of his son and the surgeon stood on the other. When they had pledged their vows together, the surgeon slowly began to unwrap the bandages. And when the bandages were removed, he slowly opened his eyes and could see a little thin line of light. He continued to open his eyes – the vibrant colors of the stained glass flooding the darkness – until there before him was his bride.

The congregation of witnesses held their breath as they waited to find out if William could see the woman standing before him. As he stood face-to-face with his bride, William’s words echoed throughout the cathedral, “You’re more beautiful than I ever imagined!”

The Apostle Paul said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT). There’s coming a day when the veil of cloud and smoke and fire and mystery will be removed, and for those of us who – by faith – have trusted in Jesus Christ will behold the Lord’s face in all His holiness and glory.  Until then, may we recover a renewed sense of the love of God and the holiness of God.

A Father You Can Come Home To – Luke 15:11-32

• June 21, 2023
• Pastor
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Luke 15:11-32

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Luke 15. For the second week in a row, now, we’re departing from our study in Exodus. After all, it’s Father’s Day. So, I want us to go to the Gospel of Luke. It was 123 years ago, today, when Father’s Day was celebrated for the first time in our country. Depending on your research, it either started at a YMCA in Spokane, WA by Sonora Smart Dodd in an effort to compliment Mother’s Day or it was commemorated in a Sunday sermon given by Robert Thomas Webb, at the recommendation of one of his church members, Grace Golden Clayton, in Fairfield, WV at what is now the Central United Methodist Church. In either case, the intent of the day is to honor fathers, celebrate fatherhood, parental bonds, and the influence of fathers in society.

Somebody once said that, “[A] father is a person who carries pictures where his money used to be.” I’d like to modify that a little bit, and say that a father is a person who carries pictures where his money used to be, because his kids used his money to buy a Mother’s Day gift last month. As I was researching Father’s Day, I ran across a little piece titled A Dad’s Guide to Changing Baby Diapers, by Jimmy Piersall. Some of you might remember Jimmy Piersall, but for those that weren’t around in the 1950’s or didn’t tune into Major League Baseball, he played for the Boston Red Sox, and later for the Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, New York Mets and Los Angeles Angels.

Now, keep in mind that this little piece was written about the time that disposable diapers were being introduced to the market. So, Jimmy’s piece deals with the original reusable diaper. Here’s a professional baseball player giving dads instructions on how to change diapers.

“First, spread the diaper in the position of the diamond when you’re at bat. Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher’s mound. Put first base and third base together. Bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you’ve got to call the game and start all over again.” (Isn’t that great.)

In Luke 15, we have what’s probably the best-known and best-loved of all of Jesus’ parables. It’s the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Both Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson said it was the best short story ever written. Now, it’s called the Parable of the Prodigal Son. But many preachers and Bible teachers don’t like that title because that’s not the emphasis of the story. It’s really more about the gracious nature of the father. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to rename what is traditionally been called the Parable of the Prodigal Son to the Parable of the Merciful Father. That’s the emphasis here. Let’s read; shall we.

11 And He said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

“Our God in heaven, we’re so thankful that we can approach You as our heavenly Father. There’s an intimacy and a walk that we can have with You that only those who have a relationship with Jesus can ever fully know. We pray that others would come into that relationship. We pray that we might understand the attributes of fatherhood that You exhibit, so that we, as parents on earth, might exhibit them to those around us. Strengthen the ties of every family here today, and help us to change in areas where we need to change. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

If you’ve ever studied this chapter of Luke’s gospel, then you know there are three parables that Jesus shares and all three parables essentially tell the same principle: God is willing to seek and save the lost. It’s a trilogy. And the reason that Jesus offers these parables (the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son) is because of the accusation of the Pharisees and scribes in verse 2, “[they] grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” That’s what sets up these parables – more grumbling.

Now, before I give you the first of my five fatherly characteristics, I want you to notice one more thing about this trilogy of parables. Beginning in verse 3 we have the parable of the lost sheep. There are 100 sheep and one is lost. That leaves how many? (Ninety-nine, good.) So, we have a 1% loss. In the second story we have ten coins; one is lost and nine are left. That represents a 10% loss. But this third story shows the most significant loss. There are two sons, one is lost. That’s 50%. The most profound. So, as we progress in these parables we see the significance of lostness increase. That, too, helps us to see how much God wants to seek and save those that are lost.

This morning, I want to give you five characteristics of a father we can all come home to. And this is no ordinary father. Jesus specifically tells this parable to illustrate to the scribes and Pharisees just how loving and forgiving our heavenly Father truly is.

He Was Flexible

Here, we’re dealing with a father and two sons. Perhaps there were other children, or perhaps not. But we definitely know there were two sons. Why do I point this out? Well, according to Jewish laws of inheritance (Numbers 27:1-11), whenever you had multiple sons, the oldest son got a double portion. So, two-thirds went to the oldest son and one-third went to the youngest son. But here’s the kicker; when was the inheritance normally given? When the dad died, right. Hence, inheritance. You don’t get it while you’re alive. You get it when dad dies.

But here we have a son leveling the highest degree of dishonor against his father. To say, “I want my inheritance now,” was tantamount to saying, “Dad, I want you dead. I wish you were dead.” That’s what he’s saying. “I wish you were dead. I want you out of my life. I don’t want to be a part of this town. I don’t want to be a part of this family. I don’t want to be a part of you. Give me my inheritance now.”

We have to understand that in a culture imbued by and soaked in the Ten Commandments, one of which is, “Honor your father and your mother,” (Exodus 20:12) this was at the top of the list of disgraceful. And typically, if a son was this rebellious, then he was met by a couple of things. First, he was met by a public slap in the face by his father. Second, public scorn. Third, a funeral service because he’s considered dead now. He’s put out of the community. He’s put out of the family. (Mind you, there was never a funeral service, as such, in the parable but the father does say, “My son who was dead is alive again.” In other words, he’s come back home.) So, this is a high degree of dishonor.

Here’s what I want you to notice. Even though this son dishonors his father, the father honors the choice of his son. He divides his inheritance. He didn’t have to do it, but he did. Why did he do it? Well, number one, there was no law technically forbidding a father from doing it; but number two, and this is really the point of the entire story, you have a father giving the sinner freedom and honoring the choice of the son.

Now dads (and moms), you know how this works. You know that there comes a point in your child’s life, as they grow, where they reach a certain age. Suddenly, they know so much more than you ever hoped to know and they let you know it. You’re just ignorant. You just don’t have a clue. Suddenly, overnight you grew dumber and they grew enlightened. You’re standing in the way. You’re the barrier to their fun. You’re the barrier to their freedom. It’s called the teenage years. What’s a parent to do?

The great theologian Mark Twain said, “When a boy turns 13, put him in a barrel and feed him through a knot hole. When he turns 16, plug up the hole.” By the way, that’s not good advice nor is it what this father does. No, what this father does is he’s flexible. He honor’s the choice of his son. He doesn’t slap his son. He doesn’t publicly scorn his son. He doesn’t hold a funeral for his son. With love and acceptance, he’s flexible and he honors his son’s choice – something his son will never forget. Here’s a father who’s flexible.

He Was Reliable

Look back at Verse 17, “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!’” That little sentence shows that this father was diligent in business. This father must have been wealthy, if even the day laborers not only have enough to eat but “more than enough bread.” This father had land. He had animals. He had buildings. He hires day laborers. He hires musicians later on, and perhaps dancers too. He brings in a fatted calf. He gives a gold ring. He gives new clothes and new shoes. Clearly, he was a man of substance.

So, here’s a kid who gets a third of that estate, cashes out, and goes to another place. He has this wad of money. It drains and dries up very, very quickly and now he’s bankrupt, humiliated, and depressed. And as so often happens in situations like this, this young man’s thoughts immediately go back to a warm home provided for by a hardworking father.

It’s not only a story of a disrespectful son, but of a successful father. Here’s a son who doesn’t care at all about the fact that his dad had the kind of work ethic to provide for him an inheritance to begin with. But there’s an important point to be made out of that verse. To you dads who are hardworking and diligent in business like this one, I want to say to you, “thank you.” On behalf of heaven, “thank you,” if for no other reason that you work hard and you are navigating in this very difficult present economy a way to provide for your family.

I’ve quoted from Saint Augustine on many occasions. One of his most famous works is called Confessions, and this is one of the things he writes about his dad, “No one had anything but praise for my father who, despite his slender resources, was ready to provide his son with all that was needed to enable him to travel so far for the purpose of study. Many of our townsmen far richer than my father went to no such trouble for their children’s sake.” Saint Augustine thanking his father for working hard.

I do want to add a note of caution, however. While you are working hard to provide for your family, make sure that you learn how to balance the hard work with the time spent with family, the time spent with children. We can become over committed and so preoccupied with our position or our status or our work and we know how to get busy and we can neglect to nurture. So, he was reliable.

He Was Approachable

When the son comes to his senses – standing there in the pig pen (Jewish irony, for sure) – he begins to rehearse this scene over and over in his head. He plays this little soliloquy in his mind of what could be said. He has no one turn to; no one to talk to. He’s on skid row. The party is over, and who is the first person that comes to his mind? His dad.

He’s going to rehearse this little imaginary conversation with his dad, which tells you a lot about his father. He knows his father is going to be fair. He knows his father is going to be generous. He knows his father is going to be approachable. And so, he plans to go back. Never once does this son think his dad is going to refuse him. Never once does this son think his dad is going to turn him away. He knows his father.

Do you want your kids to know that there’s a God in heaven that they can approach at any time? Wouldn’t you love to raise children that are bold to enter the throne room of God to receive grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16); to ask, to seek, to knock (Matthew 7:7), to quickly repent of their sin, and be forgiven by a loving father? We’d love that, wouldn’t we? That’s approachability.

In order to teach our children or grandchildren that they can approach God that way, they have to be able to approach us the same way. We demonstrate God’s approachability by modeling it ourselves. And the reason that I say that is because a child’s first impression of God is typically what he/she sees in their father? Remember Jesus’ instruction on how to pray: “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Jesus taught us to approach the Father. We have a heavenly Father that’s approachable and the son in this story knew his dad was approachable. So, the question is how approachable are you?

Jobs can get hard. The week can go sour. We might be irritable. Things aren’t working out for us economically. And then, there are children at home wanting, craving, needing attention. How do we deal with that? It’s tough. I know. And more times than not, we probably don’t get it right. But thankfully, we have a heavenly Father that will hear our heartfelt cry for forgiveness, and give us the patience and strength and joy to be able to be approachable. The father in this story was approachable, and so is our God.

He Was Gentle

This is the best part of the story. This is how we know Jesus was a brilliant storyteller. And why wouldn’t He be – after all, He’s God in the flesh. But I want you to see how the scribes and Pharisees would’ve heard this. Remember, it’s the scribes and Pharisees that were grumbling against Jesus in the first place and it’s what gave rise to the story.

See, for a father to act like this after he was dishonored by his son . . . well, it just didn’t happen. The son dishonors his father by demanding an early inheritance. The son runs away, squanders and loses everything with reckless living. And now the son comes back home with another outrageous request – “I want back in.” It just didn’t happen. And even if it did, the typical return would mean:

1. being verbally scorned and rebuked by the community, as before,
2. the child was required to bow before the father and kiss his feet, and
3. the child would work, and there would be an evaluation time that the community would offer their opinion as to whether he had earned his way back into being a part of the community.

There wasn’t any grace. There wasn’t any sympathy. There wasn’t any compassion. Only work. You earn it. You get that respect back by hard work. That’s the secret beauty of the story. It’s why Jesus is the master storyteller. Because He tells it in a way that slaps the Pharisees in the face.

See the word “compassion” in verse 20 “his father saw him and felt compassion…”. It’s the strongest possible word for compassion (splagchnizomai, in the Greek). It literally means entrails: heart, lungs, liver, kidneys. The idea is that this kind of emotion is felt deep down in the gut. And the neat thing about the word is that it’s only used 12 times in the New Testament, and every single time that it’s used the person that’s displaying this emotion is Jesus. Not the disciples. Not the crowds. Not the scribes or Pharisees. Jesus. It’s just His nature to be compassionate. So, here’s the father, with deep emotion toward his son. No hesitation. No castigation. No inquisition. No, “I told you so. You should’ve listened to me.” None of that – only a deep sense of compassion. And that gives way to celebration.

But there are other signs of this father’s gentle spirit that I want you to see. Notice that he was looking for his son. He was regularly scanning the horizon for any sign of his son. Daily. Perhaps hourly, he was looking down the driveway. How do we know this, because verse 20 says “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him…” The son was still a long way off.

The second thing you’ll notice is that he ran toward his son. It’s the Greek word trechó, and it means he sprinted. It was a term used to describe athletes in the Greek games. He did the 100-yard dash. Here’s a question; why did he run? Why not wait to see if the son runs to him? Why not continue working and let the son find him doing what the son should’ve been doing. After all, the father had to pick up some of the leftover work ever since his son left. Why not let him see you picking up the loose ends? Here’s why I think the dad runs to his son, because he wanted to get to his son before his son could get to town. If his son ventured into town, then it would mean public rebuke and public scorn, but dad wanted to save his son from all of that. Isn’t it great to know that we have a heavenly Father that has run to the cross in order to save us from public shame.

And another sign that Jesus is the master storyteller is that the father is the one to embrace his son and kiss him. Remember, if this had truly happened, then the son would be expected to fall at his father’s feet and kiss him. But when Jesus tells the story it’s the other way around. It’s backwards from what the Pharisees expected. Finally, the father listened. No speech. No rebuke. He just let his son say what he felt like he needed to say and then, as if the father has been ignoring everything is this rehearsed speech, his father says, “Bring the ring, bring the robe, bring the calf, let’s have a party.”

Here’s the application. You may not approve of what your son or daughter is doing. That’s fair. You have that right. After all, you’re the parent. You can voice that. You might not like who they’re dating. Dads of girls, you may not approve of the guy’s earrings and long hair. Dads of guys, you may not approve of her tattoos or the seeming lack of clothing, but that’s your child. And if they come back home (in any capacity), then that’s a very strategic moment. Don’t waste it with some long overdue speech. Be gentle.

I know that advice runs counter to our sensitivities and the world’s opinion, but remember who told this story. And there’s a reason this dad responds this way. Jesus is showing us, through this fictitious earthly father, exactly what our heavenly Father is like. Be gentle.

He Was Impartial

Remember, there are two sons. We finally get a picture of the oldest son in verses 25-32, and he’s complaining. He’s grumbling. He’s being a loon. And yet there’s no impartiality in this father, but that’s exactly what he’s being accused of by his oldest son. Dad loved his younger son. He’s willing to forgive his younger son. But the dad also loved the older son and was giving the rest of the estate to his oldest son. “[A]ll that is mine is yours.” Remember, two thirds. The youngest has taken his third and squandered it. The rest of it, which is all of it, is yours. “Son, you are always with me…” He didn’t play favorites. In fact, the father came out of the house to plead with his older son to come in. Just like he had gone out to meet his younger son, dad goes out to meet the older son. He loves them equally. He wants both of them to feel loved. He wants both to feel special. He wants both to feel accepted. This is a dad you can come home to. This is the kind of dad the world needs more of. This is the kind of dad churches need more of.

Let me close with what William Buel Franklin wrote about the definition of a dad. “If he’s wealthy and prominent and you stand in awe of him, call him ‘Father.’ If he sits in his shirt sleeves and suspenders at a ball game and a picnic, call him ‘Pop.’ If he wheels the baby carriage and carries bundles meekly, call him ‘PApa’ (with the accent on the first syllable). If he belongs to a literary circle and writes cultured papers, call him ‘PaPA’ (with the accent on the last syllable). If, however, he makes a pal of you when you’re good, and too wise to let you pull the wool over his loving eyes when you are not; if, moreover, you’re quite sure no other fellow you know has quite so fine a father, you may call him ‘Dad.’”

“God in heaven, it’s so great that we have the opportunity to call You our Father. It would never be possible unless Your Son went to the cross and shed His blood that our sins might be forgiven, that we could have a relationship with You that is close and intimate. And so, we’re grateful for the gospel that we’ve heard – a gospel, a Good News message that transforms sinners into children of the King.

Lord, we pray that our appreciation of You on this Father’s Day would grow, and that our understanding of You would deepen. God, would we truly see You as a father we can come home to – and infinitely more so when sin abounds, grace overflows, where there is repentance, You are willing to forgive and to restore.

Father, I pray especially for dads and families today – for men who are fathers – that we might become, in some small measure, a reflection of this father. Lord, some of us don’t have dads to honor. We simply have a memory. And for some here, the memory is not a sweet one. Would You further the healing in that area, Lord? And would You let them know that You’re different. Indeed, You’re perfect.

We love You, Lord, and I offer this prayer in the name and power of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Raising Lazarus – John 11

• June 12, 2023
• Pastor
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Guest minister, Da’rryl Hall, fills in for Pastor Lee this week and brings a message from John 11 on the resurrection of Lazarus.