Exodus 27; Furniture in God’s Tent – The Grill and The Courtyard

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04/01 Exodus 27 Furniture in God’s Tent: The Grill and The Courtyard

God told his people to “make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex.25:8). We have been studying God’s tent, the place where God taught his people what it means to have a holy God living with them. God started by describing the function and the inner beauty of his presence and worked backward, out away from the visible manifestation of his glory. The glory of his presence would be there above and between the golden cherubim, who served as his throne. These angelic creatures formed part of the lid that covered the documents of the covenant, which were contained in a box overlaid with gold. This cover is where sacrificial blood was applied once a year, on the Day of Atonement. This room was made by exquisitely decorated tapestry draped over a gold overlaid framework that provided the structure for the tent, and a curtain of the same tapestry separated this room from the rest of the tent. Outside the curtain, there was a gold table, piled high with an abundance of bread and wine, and there was a gold almond tree with seven olive oil lamps illuminating the room. Over the linen tapestry there were three more protective layers; goats hair, tanned ram’s skins, and the hides of the sea cow. There was another curtain, also ornate, but lacking the cherubim, that served to separate the tent itself from the outer courtyard. It is outside the main tent, to the altar and the courtyard that we turn our attention today. We will start by looking at the altar.

The Altar of Burnt Offering

Exodus 27:1 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. 2 And you shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net extends halfway down the altar. 6 And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8 You shall make it hollow, with boards. As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made.

And we read of the actual construction in chapter 38.

Exodus 38:1 He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. Five cubits was its length, and five cubits its breadth. It was square, and three cubits was its height. 2 He made horns for it on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its utensils of bronze. 4 And he made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down. 5 He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. 6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow, with boards.

God gives us a glimpse into the glory of his presence, and then describes how it is that we, sinners, are to be restored to a right relationship with him. The sacrificial altar is central to the worship of God. Without the altar of sacrifice, there is no way for a sinner to stand in the presence of the holy God. Functionally, it might help to think of the altar as a large barbeque grill. It was 7.5′ square with bronze sides standing 4.5′ tall, an open top and bottom, and a bronze grating suspended halfway down the inside. For a comparison, most large backyard bbq grills have about 300 – 600 square inches of grilling surface area; room to grill 24 – 30 burgers. The bronze altar would have 8,100 square inches of grilling surface; enough room to grill over 500 burgers at once. Along with the altar, the bronze utensils that would be used with it are described; ash pots, shovels, sprinkling basins, meat forks, and fire pans.

God’s Just Judgment

Bronze is a metal that withstands high temperatures well, which is why it is associated with judgment in the bible. In Revelation 20, we see God seated as the final judge.

Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Notice in this passage that people are judged according to what they have done, and everyone who is judged based on performance is condemned. Only those whose names are in the book of life are exempted from judgment. All who are judged on the basis of their works are thrown into the lake of fire, because as Isaiah tells us “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (64:6); and the author of Hebrews tell us we must repent of our dead works (6:1; 9:14). The Psalmist pleads for mercy rather than justice. In Psalm 143 he says:

Psalm 143:2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

And Paul tells us in Romans that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23); and that the law “speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight” (3:19-20).

Provision of a Substitute

There is no escape for sinners from the just wrath of a holy God; rebels who refuse to respect their Creator, wretches who prefer to run after their own desires rather than worship their God. There is no escape, unless God provides the sacrifice of a substitute. And this is exactly what God did.

Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

“The wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23), and God allowed the death of an innocent substitute in place of the offending sinner to bring reconciliation. The use of this altar is described in Leviticus 1.

Leviticus 1:3 “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. 4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, 7 and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 And Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9 but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

This is a graphic bloody scene, because our sin is a gruesome offense against the honor of our good God who loves us. I must acknowledge that I have offended a holy God, and that my sin warrants the fire of eternal death. I must lay my guilty hands on the head of the innocent substitute, and God accepts that substitute in my place.

A Perpetual Offering

This was an ongoing, perpetual offering, because I am a repeat offender. Continually, I refuse to love and honor God above all else. Continually, I am guilty before him of breaking his greatest commandment.

Leviticus 6:9 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. …12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

A Celebration

The whole burnt offering was the primary, foundational offering, the one that answered our sin problem. The whole animal went up in smoke to signify the severity of our sin and to satisfy God’s justice. But the whole burnt offering was not the only kind of offering to be placed on this altar. There was the gift offering – a gift of food, part of which was burnt on the altar to God, and the rest given as food to the priests. There was the fellowship offering, a response to the results of the burnt offering, celebrating peace with God. This fellowship offering could express a sacrifice of thanksgiving, a vow, or a freewill offering (Lev.7:11-21). These are some of the offerings listed in Deuteronomy 12.

Deuteronomy 12:6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

…11 then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. (cf. Deut.14:26; 27:7)

These offerings were to be characterized by rejoicing, celebrating the goodness of God in providing salvation and his abundant blessing. A portion of the animal sacrificed was left on the altar as an offering for the Lord, but much of the meat was grilled there and then eaten by the worshipers in the courtyard. Let’s look at the courtyard.

The Courtyard

Exodus 27:9 “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. 10 Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 11 And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. 13 The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 16 For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. 17 All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. 18 The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits, with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. 19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

And we read of the actual construction in Exodus 38.

Exodus 38:9 And he made the court. For the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits; 10 their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 11 And for the north side there were hangings of a hundred cubits, their twenty pillars, their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their ten pillars, and their ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 13 And for the front to the east, fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 And so for the other side. On both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three bases. 16 All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. 17 And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. The overlaying of their capitals was also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. 18 And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high in its breadth, corresponding to the hangings of the court. 19 And their pillars were four in number. Their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets of silver. 20 And all the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze.

This courtyard was created around God’s tent by 7.5′ tall linen curtains hung on silver hooks from pillars set in bronze bases. The courtyard would be 150′ long and 75′ wide, with one 30′ entrance in the center of the east wall. The screen for the gate was made to match the colorful embroidery of the front covering of God’s tent. This was a large courtyard, providing over 10,000 square feet of space for worshipers to come sacrifice and celebrate and eat in God’s presence. All who would come on God’s terms were welcome. Hundreds if not a thousand could gather at one time in God’s courtyard to enjoy his goodness. Outdoor cooking and eating would be the social norm for a tent community; cooking and meals would not happen inside a tent, so God would be perceived as a generous and hospitable king, welcoming all to come and eat with him in his courts. We can see from this that God enjoys his people gathering together to worship him and to celebrate his forgiveness.

Jesus

The first thing a worshiper would see as they enter the courtyard through the gate on the east end was the continual fire burning on the large altar, reminding of their sin and need for sacrifice. Jesus may have had this in mind when he said

John 10:7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. … 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

In 1 Corinthians 10, in warning us against participation in idolatry, Paul parallels Israel eating the Old Testament sacrifices with our taking the bread and the cup in communion.

1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?

All of Israel was to come to the one altar. There was one means of dealing with sin. There was only one method of forgiveness that they all had in common. The people of Israel were unified in that they all participated in the one altar, and that altar pointed toward Jesus. We, as God’s new covenant people, are united in that there is only one sacrifice that is sufficient to deal with all our sin; the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We who are many become one because we have one thing in common, we find full and free forgiveness in Jesus, the Lamb of God. We participate in the blood of Jesus as needy sinners who cling to nothing but the blood of Jesus for salvation. We participate in the broken body of Jesus as we feed on him and draw strength and sustenance from him.

The author of Hebrews points us to Jesus, who is so far superior to the Old Testament system, which was merely a shadow pointing us to him.

Hebrews 13:10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.

Jesus is our altar.

He goes on to point us to the kind of sacrifices that we, who have been forgiven by Jesus, should offer.

Hebrews 13:15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Exodus 25:23-30; Furniture in God’s Tent; The Table

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3/11 Exodus 25:23-30 Furniture in God’s Tent: The Table

Here in Exodus 25, God is giving his instructions for the construction of his tent. God desires to dwell with his people. Our God is not a distant God, an aloof God; our God is a God who desires fellowship with his people. He wants to make his home with us. That is what the tabernacle is all about. God is instructing his people what it means to have a holy God dwelling with them. God sets the terms of the relationship. God will dwell with his people as King. He is holy. He must be honored. So he gives instructions for building his tent, and instructions for the furniture that will go in his tent. He starts with the things that are closest to him, that are immediately in his presence, and he works out from there. Last time, we looked at the box containing the contract between God and his people, and the elaborate cover for this box. This was to be the only furniture for God’s throne room. This was where our sin was decisively dealt with. Now we move outside the most holy place to the holy place, and look at the next piece of furniture in God’s house; a table. Here are God’s instructions for this table.

The Table

Exodus 25:23 “You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. 25 And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 27 Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 28 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. 29 And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. 30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

And again in chapter 37 we see these instructions carried out exactly.

Exodus 37:10 He also made the table of acacia wood. Two cubits was its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made a molding of gold around it. 12 And he made a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and made a molding of gold around the rim. 13 He cast for it four rings of gold and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 14 Close to the frame were the rings, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 15 He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. 16 And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings.

This table was similar in construction to the box that contained the covenant. Both were the same height, both were made of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold; both had gold moldings; both had gold rings and poles they were to be carried with. But this table was smaller (half a cubit less in both length and breadth) the table top was about 18” x 36”. And this was a table, not a box. But this was not just a table. Included with this table were plates, dishes, bowls, flagons – this was a table for food. It was to have bread on it continually. We find the instructions for what is to be placed on this table in Leviticus 24.

Leviticus 24:5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. 6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. 7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the LORD. 8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the LORD regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the LORD’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”

Drink Offerings

Bread is not the only thing on this table. There were four types of gold vessels associated with this table; plates and dishes, flagons and bowls. The text tells us that the bowls and flagons were used to pour the drink offerings. There is not absolute clarity in the biblical text about the drink offerings, and why the vessels for the drink offerings are associated with this table. When offering a sacrificial animal, it was to be accompanied by the specified quantities of a grain offering and a drink offering (Num.15). This was intended to create ‘a pleasing aroma to the LORD’. Exactly how and where the drink offering was to be poured out is not clear. Tradition tells us (Sir.50:15; Josephus Antiquities 3:9:4) that the drink offering was poured out at the foot of the altar, but Numbers 28:7 tells us that the drink offering was to be poured out in the Holy Place.

Numbers 28:7 Its drink offering shall be a quarter of a hin for each lamb. In the Holy Place you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the LORD.

Exodus 30:9 tells us that no drink offering was to be poured on the other table in the Holy place, the table of incense. We don’t know for sure if the bowls and flagons were made and stored with this table but used at the altar, or if the wine was to be brought into the Holy place in these bowls and poured out or placed on this table. Whatever the practice, there is a close connection with this table that held the bread of the Presence, and the wine for the drink offering.

Incense

The other gold vessels associated with this table, plates and dishes, are said to be ‘for incense’. In the Leviticus passage we are told that the incense used on this table was frankincense.

Leviticus 24:7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the LORD.

Frankincense, or olibanum (Hebrew ‘lebonaw’) is an aromatic resin collected from the Boswellia tree. It can be burned as incense or eaten. It has soothing medicinal properties, and has been used to treat depression. Frankincense was used primarily in the tabernacle or temple rituals, and was associated with the service of the priests. Frankincense was one of the three gifts given in worship to Jesus by the Magi.

Matthew 2:11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Gold is a royal gift that pointed to Jesus who is our God and King. Frankincense pointed to Jesus who is our great High Priest. Myrrh, a bitter resin and strong antiseptic used in embalming, pointed to the reason Jesus came – to die for our sins.

Bread of Presence

So God’s table, placed in the Holy place in his tent, had aromatic incense placed on it, and it was associated with the drink offerings of wine, but the primary purpose of this table was a table for bread.

Exodus 25:30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

The bread of the presence, literally bread of the face, bread placed before the face of or in the presence of God. This bread was to be kept on the table continually. 12 loaves, probably representing the 12 tribes, together with sweet smelling frankincense, were to be continually before the face of God. Leviticus gives us more detail:

Leviticus 24:5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. 6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the LORD.

This table was to be continually piled up with bread. An ephah is about 3/5 of a bushel or 22 liters. So two tenths of an ephah is 4.4 liters or about 18.5 cups. For 12 loaves, that adds up to about 223 cups or almost 14 gallons of flour (about a bushel and a half) That’s a lot of bread! This was to be baked fresh and replenished every Saturday. Imagine the aroma of that much freshly baked bread. This was truly a feast fit for a King. But unlike other pagan deities, this was not intended to be food for God to eat. The common understanding of idols was that they could do everything but feed themselves. You feed the god and in return it will bless you with rain or fertility or whatever that god is responsible for. That is not what is going on here. God is not needy and hungry and waiting to be fed. God corrects this misunderstanding of sacrifice in Psalm 50

Psalm 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.

This bread is not for God to eat. It is a demonstration that he is the source of all good things; in his presence there is no lack. This bread was not to meet a need God had, but it was to be eaten; it was given to the priests who served in the tabernacle as their portion. Their supply came from God’s presence. God provides for his people. When David was fleeing for his life from Saul, he and his men came to the priest and asked for bread to eat.

1 Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

This bread was exclusively for the priests to eat. The priest bent the rules to meet David’s urgent need. Jesus brought up this incident when the Pharisees were picking on his hungry disciples.

Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

God values mercy, steadfast love, caring for those in genuine need, above a strict observance of religious rituals. God is a God who loves to overflow with compassion and kindness and give good gifts to his children.

Matthew 7:11 …how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Psalm 107:8 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

When the disciples were worried and wanted to send the people away to find food because they didn’t have enough, Jesus fed the huge crowd with a young boy’s lunch. It is interesting that when everyone was satisfied, the disciples gathered 12 baskets full of leftover bread. There is no lack in God. He is overflowing with goodness, and loves to give good gifts to those who don’t deserve it. But Jesus wants to go beyond simply satisfying a temporary hunger. After feeding the crowds, they began to follow him looking for another handout, so he confronted them and offended them in order to turn their attention to their deeper need.

John 6:26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

…35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. …47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. …50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Now this was offensive to them.

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

After this offensive speech, many who had been following Jesus turned back and stopped following him. Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb. God the Son became flesh so that he could offer that flesh as a sacrifice for our sin. As the Old Testament worshipers transferred their guilt to a lamb, and the lamb died in their place, and they applied the blood as a covering and ate the lamb to nourish their bodies, so Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree. His blood covers all our sin. Our souls feed on Jesus and receive strength and nourishment from him. He is the bread of life.

Application

What can we learn from all this? As the bread representing Israel was kept continually in the presence of God, so we too are continually before the face of God. We are constantly on his mind. And we are presented with the fragrant incense of our great High Priest.

Romans 8:33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We learn that God is the great provider. He is the one who meets our needs and satisfies our longings. And our most pressing needs may not be our most important needs. There are things we think we need; there are things we urgently feel we must have; and there are deeper needs we may as yet be unaware of. We hunger for food, but the deepest need of our heart is for relationship. We need to be forgiven by God, to be reconciled to God, to be loved by God, to enjoy a right relationship with our Creator. All these deepest human needs are satisfied in Jesus, who offered himself for us, paid our price in full, beckons us to come to him, satisfies the hunger and thirst of our souls, gives us the gift of eternal life, and comes to make his home in us. Sinner, do you have need? In God’s presence there is abundant supply. God delights to give good gifts to those who come with empty cup to him and ask.

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Exodus 23:13-19 – Invited To Celebrate

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20120129_exodus23_13-19.mp3

01/29 Exodus 23:13-19 Worship God and Celebrate in His Presence

We are going to jump back into Exodus right where we left off a little over two months ago. All scripture is God-breathed and useful for the New Testament believer to benefit by, so we are working our way through the book of Exodus to see what God has to say to us there. We are in Exodus chapter 23, at the tail end of what is know as ‘the book of the covenant’, a series of specific applications of God’s Ten Words to his people, describing to them what life lived in relationship with God should look like. The verses we will look at today, 23:13-19, reiterate the first command and then describe three annual pilgrimage feasts, feasts that all Israelites would be required to attend.

Exclusive Worship

13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

This is a reiteration of the first command that God gave his people: ‘You shall have no other Gods before me’ (Ex.20:3). God is a jealous God. When God wastes parchment by repeating something in his word, it is because it is important. We need to hear it. It is important that we get it. Here he is coming to the close of the book of the covenant, and he reminds us how important this is. ‘Pay attention!’ ‘Pay attention to all that I have said to you’. Remember the first commandment I gave to you. ‘Make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips’. God demands first place in our hearts. God demands an exclusive place in our lives. God will tolerate no rival affections. God is King of kings and Lord of lords, Lord over all. He is not one among many. He refuses to share his glory. God alone is to be worshiped, honored, obeyed, loved. We need to be told this multiple times, because our hearts are so inclined to worship so many other things.

To know the name of a deity was thought to grant access to that deity, and obligate that deity to answer your requests. To forbid even the mention of the name of another deity was to exclude the possibility of any association with any deity other than God alone. This is the strongest possible statement of monotheism, that there is only one God, and he alone is worth knowing. “Make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.” This is why it is so startling that Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in his name. If Jesus were a rival deity, this would be a direct violation of this command. Jesus suggests that we pray in his name to the Father, and he encourages us that this is a way of assuring that the Father will answer.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 16:23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. … 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

But Jesus even goes beyond praying in his name to the Father. He invites us to address our prayers to him personally.

John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Jesus invites us to ask him in his own name. This would indeed be blasphemous if Jesus were not God. Praying in Jesus’ name would fall under the condemnation of Exodus 23:13 if Jesus were claiming to be another God. But what Jesus claims is that he is one with the Father, one God. For Jesus’ command to make any sense at all, Jesus must be personally distinct from the Father; not the same person. We may ask the Father in Jesus’ name; or we may ask Jesus in his own name. Jesus is not the Father. Jesus is one God with the Father. This is exactly what Christianity has historically expressed as the teaching of the trinity. There is only, exclusively, uniquely one God. But this one God eternally exists in three distinct persons.

13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

three annual feasts

14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty–handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD. 18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. 19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Corporate Worship

God says ‘you shall keep a feast to me’. He says ‘None shall appear before me empty-handed’. He says ‘three times a year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD’. He tells us we must bring our best to him. Notice that all males were required to appear before the LORD God. This is corporate worship. I’ve heard some people say that they feel closer to God worshiping at home in their living room or out on the mountaintop than in church. I understand that sentiment. But worship is not about you or how you feel. God desires that all his people gather together to worship him. Worship is not about us, it’s about God. There were three times in the year, these three pilgrim-festivals, that every male in Israel was required to appear before the Lord. Although women were not required to be there, we learn from passages like 1 Samuel chapter 1 that they were welcome and that they did indeed come. God desires that we gather together to worship him. Listen to God’s ultimate purpose for our worship:

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The Pilgrim Feasts

Let’s look at each of these feasts that God required all his people to participate in. There are seven feasts listed in Leviticus 23. Here in Exodus, the three pilgrim festivals are highlighted.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover)

14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty–handed.

The feast of unleavened bread was closely connected with the feast of Passover. This fell at the time of the early barley harvest. Passover, as we have seen, celebrated God’s redemption of his people out of slavery. The passover lamb was killed as a substitute for the firstborn son, and brought protection from God’s wrath. John introduces Jesus by saying ‘behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (Jn.1:29). Paul tells us that ‘Christ our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed’ (1Cor.5:7). The feast of unleavened bread began at Passover and lasted for seven days. All leaven, a picture of sin, was to be removed, and only unleavened bread was to be eaten, symbolizing the perfect righteousness of Christ, the righteousness that he gives to us. As Israel was lead out of slavery in Egypt, so we are led out of our slavery to sin. The crucifixion of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God happened at Passover time.

The Feast of Harvest (Pentecost)

16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.

Three days after Passover, a sheaf of the first grain was to be brought and waved before the Lord. This was a recognition of God’s provision and of the promise of good things to come. This was the offering of firstfruits mentioned in Leviticus 23:10. Counting 7 weeks or 50 days from Passover and the firstfruits offering, the feast of Harvest was celebrated. This feast marked the end of the wheat harvest, and was the only feast that implemented leavened bread. Two loaves of leavened bread would be waved before the Lord – Jew and Gentile together in one body, forgiven but still battling indwelling sin. Jewish tradition marked this day as the day of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, fifty days after the departure from Egypt. This feast became known in the Greek-speaking world as ‘the fiftieth day’ or ‘Pentecost’.

Christ, our passover Lamb was sacrificed for us. On the third day, He was raised from the dead. Paul points to this in 1 Corinthians 15:

1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Fifty days later, we are told:

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians–we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

The harvest feast is being celebrated. People from every nation under heaven were gathering together at God’s command to celebrate the feast in Jerusalem. The promised and anticipated Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, and they preach the good news of Jesus crucified, resurrected, now Lord of all. God reverses the confusion of languages from the tower of Babel and the harvest begins.

… 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Jesus had told his disciples:

Luke 10:2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

God’s Holy Spirit was poured out, and three-thousand souls were harvested that day, and the church was born. And this was just a foretaste of the harvest that is to come! Jesus said:

Matthew 16:18 … I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The Feast of Ingathering (Booths; The Feast)

You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD. 18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. 19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The Feast of Ingathering celebrated the final fall harvest of second-crop grains, along with tree and vine crops such as olives and grapes. This was a massive celebration of the completion of the harvest, celebrating the goodness of God in his abundant provision. Remember, these instructions are being given in the wilderness of Sinai, in anticipation of entering the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. This festival was also known as the Feast of Booths, because the people lived in temporary booths to remind them of their time in the wilderness after God had delivered them from Egypt.

In Jesus’ day, part of the celebration of the Feast of Ingathering had come to include taking water from the pool of Siloam and pouring it out as an offering to the Lord. This is the context of Jesus’ statement in John 7.

John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

This feast, the Feast of Ingathering, when all of the harvest is complete and it is time to celebrate, has its ultimate fulfillment when God once again dwells or pitches his tent with his people. The prophet Zechariah points to its celebration at the time of Christ’s return.

Zechariah 14:4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, … 5 …Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. …8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. … 16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.

Invitation to Feast

God is inviting us to his feast. God knows how to host a magnificent celebration. God knows how to throw a party! The section just before this in Exodus laid out God’s requirement for rest. You must take time to cease from you labors, to seek refreshment and rest. Now God is demanding that we enjoy his feasts. These rules and commandments are so repressive and harsh! Rest. Be refreshed. Feast with me. It is sobering to see that this is one of God’s commands that his people failed to keep regularly. God invites us to a series of parties and we respectfully decline. This was the content of some of Jesus’ teaching; God throwing a feast.

Matthew 22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

God provides the feast. God invites us to come, enjoy, celebrate with him. God provides everything necessary for us to enjoy him forever! And yet we come up with excuses. We decline his invitation. We refuse to come. We despise his messengers. Or we reject his provision and attempt to come on our own merit. God invites us to everlasting joy in his presence, paid for by his own Son. Let all who are thirsty come!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Advent: Enjoy God Today!

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20111211_advent-enjoy_god_today.mp3

12/11 Advent – Enjoy God Today
Is the holiday season ever frustrating for you? Life is busy and the season snuck up on me once again. There were several projects I wanted to get done before the snow flew, and, well, here we are. The house is not as clean as it should be. I don’t have as many lights up as I would like to have, and the ones that are up are not as straight as I want them to be. And there must be one bad bulb somewhere that’s keeping half that string from lighting! I wanted to have all the shopping done by now. Half the kids have terrible coughs, and all the kids are half as obedient as they should be… For that matter, I’m not the person I wish I was. Things are not as they ought to be. Things are not the way I want them to be. Do you ever feel this way? Frustration. Dissatisfaction. Disappointment. Discouragement. Merry Christmas!

Is this what Christmas is really all about? For many of us, this is the unhappy reality. In a moment, we’ll turn to God’s word to see why this is such a common experience, and what to do about it. I want to pass along some very practical advice that has helped me out this week, and I pray it will be useful to you not just during the holiday season, but every day of your life.

[pray]

Our Problem

First, I want to ask the question ‘Why?’ Why is life so often not what we had hoped it would be? In the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts “Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” Why is life interspersed with frustration and disappointment?

The feeling we sometimes have that things are not the way they ought to be is one of the few times that your feelings are telling you the truth. In the beginning God created everything, and he said it was very good. And then he put us right in the middle of it, and we were quick to make a mess of it all. God said ‘I know what’s good for you. Follow my instructions and you will live.’ And before we had tasted a fraction of the pleasures of God’s good garden that he freely gave to us, we went after the one thing that was off-limits. We disregarded his instructions, as if we knew better. We disregarded him. We brought entropy and death into his perfect world, and we reap what we have sown every day. Things are indeed not as they ought to be. We were created as the image of the invisible God (Col.1:15), to reflect his glory to each other and to all creation, to bring him praise. We were created to enjoy his presence. Instead we dishonored him. We disobeyed.

Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

This is what is wrong with the world. We are. We were made for so much more. But we have opted for frustration and disappointment rather than finding fulfillment by living life as God designed it. We are without excuse. We did not honor God as God or give thanks to him (Rom.1:20-21). The whole world is accountable to God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom.3:19, 23).

God’s Solution

Now praise God, he did not leave us without hope in this desperate situation. He intervened to give hope where there was no hope. God the Father sent his one and only Son Jesus into this world to become a man, to take our place, to take our guilt on himself, to pay the price that justice demands, and to secure forgiveness for all who would come to him and trust in him. God justifies the ungodly by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom.4:5; 3:24). That is what Christmas is all about.

Our Frustration

But why is it that for us who are his, who have received his salvation and who are reconciled to God, who have our sins forgiven and are restored to a right relationship with God, life can still be so frustrating and discouraging? Why do we still experience dissatisfaction and disappointment?

The Bible tells us why. The Bible tells us that if we are followers of Jesus, our citizenship is in heaven (Phil.3:20, Eph.2:19). We are strangers and exiles on the earth (Heb.11:13, 1Pet.1:1,17), sojourners (1Pet.2:11). Paul said “indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim.3:12). Jesus said:

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are no longer of the world. You don’t belong. Your citizenship is in heaven. You are a stranger, an exile, a sojourner here on this planet. You will naturally feel out of place.

So part of our frustration comes from the fact that we don’t belong and we aren’t home yet. We should not be content here. We have an unfulfilled longing for our true home. Paul describes it this way:

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

And in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we 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.

The apostle John tells us:

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of our true home:

Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face…

Diagnosing the Problem

Part of our frustration and disappointment is because we don’t belong, because we aren’t home yet, because we are longing to see our King. But, at least in my experience, that is not my major source of discontent. I wish I could say it was. So much of my frustration is stupid and self-imposed. I choose to be frustrated when I don’t have to be. If I’m honest with myself, I would see that it is a self-centered discontent that things aren’t the way I wish they were. I get upset that the world doesn’t revolve around me. I’m failing to be content with what I have been given. Jesus warned us in his parable about the different soils that:

Mark 4:19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Desires and cares choke out the fruitfulness of the word like weeds. I love this world and its pleasures too much. I want something that I don’t have. I want things to go my way, and they seldom do. I am too self-centered to be truly happy. My affections are in the wrong place.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world––the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions––is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Paul warns Timothy of the deadly danger of dissatisfaction.

1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Here the severity of this issue – it is a snare, a trap. They never saw it coming. It is senseless and harmful. It plunges people into ruin and destruction. It has caused some to wander from the faith. It is a self-inflicted injury. Dissatisfaction is deceptive and deadly.

Taking it Even Deeper

Jesus said “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). But here is a more subtle danger. Even this can be twisted by my selfish heart. I can give in such a way that I am celebrating my own generosity, deriving enjoyment out of what a benevolent person I am. I get pleasure by my ability to give to others. I am giving ultimately to get. Which means that my joy is still dependent on my circumstances. I cannot be happy if I have nothing to give. I am frustrated if my gift is refused, or if the recipient of my gift does not respond the way I want them to. This is self-centered giving.

Choose Contentment

Let’s go back to 1 Timothy for help with a solution. In the context of warning against the danger of dissatisfaction, it says this:

1 Timothy 6:6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. …11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Here is the key: contentment. Godliness with contentment. Here we find a focus on character, not circumstances. If I am focused on circumstances going the way I would like them to go, I will be disappointed and frustrated most of the time. If I am focused on building character, I can look at any and every circumstance as an opportunity to deepen godly character. I can be content with whatever circumstance I am given as an essential step in the work God is doing in my life. This is how James can say:

James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Because trials produce character. Peter takes us behind this joy to its source.

1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

The joy is not in the trial itself. It is in this you rejoice. Peter has been recounting the treasures that we have in Christ: God’s mercy toward us in new birth, our living resurrection hope, our inheritance that God is keeping for us, God’s keeping and preserving power at work in us, our final salvation that will be put on display in the end. When circumstances go the way you don’t want them to, choose to rejoice in this – in all that God has done and is doing and will do in you and for you. Cultivate gratitude by recounting what God has done for you in Christ. I am Forgiven. Justified. Redeemed. I am being sanctified. I have been set free. Reconciled to God. Adopted. Loved with an everlasting love. Given eternal life. I am a recipient of God’s mercy.

God Does Not Change

Circumstances change. This is why it is frustrating when we make our joy dependent on our circumstances. But God never changes.

Malachi 3:6 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

If our joy comes from God alone, we will never be disappointed. In contrast to changing circumstances and fickle people,

Zephaniah 3:5 The LORD… is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail;

God Commands our Happiness Be in Him

This is why God commands us to seek our happiness in him

Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 40:16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

Psalm 64:10 Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!

Psalm 97:12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Psalm 105:3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

When we find our joy in the unchanging faithfulness of our great God, our happiness is totally independent of our circumstances. We can say with Habakkuk

Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

With Job we can respond to the most terrible circumstances:

Job 1:20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

We can say with Paul:

Romans 5:11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

We can sing with Isaiah

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Choose Joy

Frustration and enjoying are alternative choices. Remember Martha and Mary.

Luke 10:38 …Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her house. … 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

What is the one thing that is necessary? What was the good portion that Mary had chosen?

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.

Circumstances come. How will you choose to respond? Will you be ruled by your immediate circumstances? Or will you choose to enjoy the fact that you have been chosen by God, purchased with the blood of Jesus, your sins, all of them, were nailed to the cross, that this life is short and you will spend eternity in the presence of God with great joy? Will you choose to enjoy the presence of Jesus with you right now in the middle of your circumstances? Will you be irritated and irritable, or will you enjoy sweet fellowship with your Creator, Redeemer and Friend?

Choose to enjoy God today!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Exodus 20:17 Word #10 Covet Only the Right Things

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110918_exodus20_17.mp3

09/18 Exodus 20:17 Word #10 I Shall Not Want; Don’t Desire the Wrong Things

God is addressing his covenant people whom he has rescued out of slavery and taken to be his own. He is declaring to them what it will mean to be in relationship with him. I am YHWH who brought you out of slavery. #1. You must have no other gods before me. #2. You must not misrepresent me with images. #3. You must uphold my reputation. #4. You must set aside time to enjoy your relationship with me. #5. You must show honor to those I have placed in authority. #6. You must honor life that I created. #7. You must honor your covenant commitments. #8. You must protect the rights of those around you. #9. You must uphold the reputation of those around you. And #10:

Exodus 20:17 “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.”

This word takes God’s commands to a whole ‘nother level. When Jesus pointed the rich young man to the commands ‘you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall honor your father and mother,’ the young man felt he could honestly say ‘all these I have kept from my youth’ (Mt.19:20; Mk.10:20; Lk.18:21). Saul the Pharisee, was able to say that he was, ‘as to righteousness, under the law blameless’ (Phil.3:6), but he confesses that this particular command aroused the sinful passions of his flesh (Rom.7:5). He says,

Romans 7:7 …Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. …18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

This particular command makes it clear that God requires more than superficial external obedience. God is concerned about our hearts and our inward desires.

Good Coveting

The word translated ‘covet’ means ‘to desire or delight in’. When Moses repeats this command in Deuteronomy 5:21, he adds another similar word that means ‘to desire, long for, or lust after’. Both of these words are used in both good and bad ways in the bible. Desiring or longing for your neighbor’s wife or his possessions is wrong. But in Genesis (2:9) God filled the garden with all kinds of trees that were desirable. And he gave it all to our first parents for their pleasure and enjoyment. In the Song of Solomon (2:3) this word is used of good sexual desire between a husband and wife. In Isaiah (53:2) it is used for a desire for the Messiah. Listen to how this word for coveting or desire is used in Psalm 19:

Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Here we see that coveting is commended when we covet God’s truth and God’s ways more than much fine gold.

The synonym that Moses uses in Deuteronomy is used of David’s reminiscent longing for water from the well of Bethlehem (1Ch.11:17); It is used for the soul’s yearning for God (Isaiah 26:9).

Both of these words are used of God’s own holy desire for mount Zion (Ps.68:16; 132:13)

When the New Testament translates the tenth commandment it uses the Greek word (epiyumew epithumeo), a compound of (epi epi) – on upon or to, and (yumov thumos) – which means passion, heat, boiling up. This is a word that communicates intensity of desire or fervent passion. It, too is used in both bad and good ways. When Jesus talks about adultery of the heart (Mt.5:28), he uses this word. Jesus also uses this word (Mt.13:17) to describe the passionate longing of the prophets and righteous people to see the days of Messiah. Jesus used it of his own desire to eat the final Passover with his disciples (Lk.22:15). Galatians 5:17 draws a contrast between the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit – the very same word is applied to both good and evil desires. Paul in 1 Timothy (3:1) tells us that aspiring to serve the church as an elder is a noble desire.

So the tenth command does not simply say ‘thou shalt not covet’ or ‘you may not desire’, because there are good things that we should desire, and passion and desire are God-given drives that can and should be used for his glory. This final command is not so much a new and distinct command as a summary command that under-girds all the others. What we are forbidden to desire is specifically that which would lead us to break God’s other commands. Do not long for someone else’s wife, which would lead to adultery; or someone else’s property, which would lead to stealing or jealousy or even murder. This command comes under and behind the others and says not only don’t do these things, but don’t even allow your heart to be enticed by these things.

Idolatrous Coveting

In fact, the New Testament equates covetousness with idolatry.

Ephesians 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

So if covetousness is a form of idolatry, and the covetousness that is forbidden is desiring the wrong things, and idolatry is worshiping the wrong things, then our desires are a form of worship. The person or thing that we long for, that we delight in, that we look to for satisfaction, that has become our God. The longing, delighting, desiring, is worship.

What we are saying goes something like this: ‘I think this thing or this relationship will satisfy my deepest longings, but God says that this is off limits for me, so I will have to go against what God says in order to have what will satisfy me.’ I have elevated the thing to the position of a god that I look to for satisfaction, and I have dethroned God, who has become an obstacle to my happiness.

Cultivate Contentment

This is why God tells us that it is so important to be content with what we have. Jesus tells us:

Luke 12:15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Take care and be on your guard, because everything in our consumer society cultivates covetousness. We must battle this tendency that is resident in our hearts. Paul tells young pastor Timothy:

1Timothy 6:6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

It is not having riches that is wrong. It is the discontent, the desire, the love, the craving for something we don’t have that is so deadly. When we are so caught up and focused on the thing that we don’t have, we neglect to thank God for all the good that he has given us. We imply that he is not good for withholding the thing we think we need. We demonstrate our unbelief in him as our provider. We become focused on the gift and lose sight of the giver.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Be content and lift your eyes to remember that you have the one thing that will truly satisfy. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If God himself promises to always be with us, we possess the one thing that will bring lasting joy. Being content is not settling even when there is something better to be had. Being content is realizing that we have the best thing and we can stop looking and simply enjoy.

Enjoying God

Let’s dwell for a moment on what we have.

Psalm 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

How often do you stop to count God’s blessings to you? My sins have been forgiven! I have been bought with the precious blood of Christ! God’s steadfast love and mercy is abundantly poured out on me. On top of all that, he satisfies my soul with good!

Psalm 65:4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

God has chosen us to be near him, to enjoy his presence forever. What greater benefit is there than that?

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

We turn so quickly to people and things to bring happiness. We have deceitful desires (Eph.4:22) that lie to us and persuade us that we can find fulfillment in more or better or bigger or different or new. “In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Genuine fulfillment is found only in God.

Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

We must realize that it is truly all about God. Heaven is all about God. Not the gold, not the gates, not the loved ones – all those things are good, but there is nothing, no-one in heaven or on earth to be desired besides God. God is my portion forever. You shall have no other gods before me. When God is at the center, all other desires fade in importance. I desire nothing besides you!

Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

One thing. One thing is the passion of my life, my heart’s desire. One thing I seek after. One thing I covet, I long for. One thing is the burning passion of my heart. To gaze upon the beauty of the LORD. To be with him forever.

Luke 10:38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Is this the one thing you covet? To sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to his teaching? To enjoy the satisfying richness of his presence?

Psalm 23:1

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Exodus 19:9-15; Prepare to Meet Your God

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110619_exodus19_9-15.mp3

06/19 Exodus 19:9-15 Prepare to Meet Your God

Saved to Worship

God has saved his people. With a strong hand he brought them out from under their bondage to the Egyptians. His purpose was ‘Let my people go that they may serve me’ or ‘worship me.’ God’s people were saved to worship. God has brought them now to Mount Sinai, and he is about to formally introduce himself to his people. This is a hugely significant event and sets the stage for the giving of his law in the following chapters. The LORD instructs Moses to remind his people first of his grace toward them, and then of his purposes for them.

19:3 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.

Remind the people what I did. God is saying ‘Remember, I saved you all by myself. You didn’t deserve this. You were panicking – fearful and unbelieving. You stood by and watched. You saw what I did to your enemies. Remember I carried you when you were helpless. I brought you to myself. This is all God’s actions to save his undeserving people. Now that they have been saved, he reminds them of his purposes for them.

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.”

God’s people have been delivered for a purpose. They were set free from bondage in order to worship and serve the one true God. They are God’s most prized possession among all that he owns. The whole nation is to be a kingdom, those who are under the authority of the King. And the whole nation is to be a kingdom of priests among the nations – they are to serve the nations by proclaiming the truth about God to them and bringing them into relationship with God. That is the role of a priest. They are to facilitate worship of the one true God. Through this one chosen nation, God intends to bless all the nations of the earth. They are to be set apart, distinct, different from all other nations, to serve as an example to the nations of what it looks like to obey God’s voice and keep his covenant.

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.

The people embraced God’s purposes for them. They formally agreed to his terms. Now God announces that the people are to prepare themselves to meet their God.

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.”

Part of God’s purpose in this was to establish Moses’ leadership over his people. They had grumbled and complained against Moses, and this event is designed to remove any reason to question whether Moses is indeed called by God. But the language is much bigger than just to the Israelites way back then. Moses is to be believed forever. Moses has something to say to us today too.

Prepare to Meet Your God

God instructs Moses to prepare the people to meet their God. The LORD will come down in the sight of all the people. This is a visible manifestation of the invisible God, as we will see. Meeting with God is no light matter. God takes himself very seriously. The Hebrew word for the glory of God is a word that means weighty or heavy. This is serious. For a sinful human being to come into the presence of the all-holy God means death. When we are confronted with the holiness of God, we are made painfully aware of our own sinfulness. God in his justice must punish all sin. God cannot let any sin slide or he would cease to be just and righteous. The wages of sin is death. This is why when God makes his presence known to mortals, they say things like “Alas, O LORD God! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD” (Jud.6:22); and “Woe to me! For I am lost …for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isa.6:5); or “The glory of the LORD stood there… and I fell on my face” (Eze.3:23). Deuteronomy 5 looks back on this event in amazement and says:

Deuteronomy 5:24 And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man and man still live.

Boundaries are to be established around the mountain for the protection of the people. When God called to Moses on this same mountain from the burning bush, he said:

Exodus 3:5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

The people are to be kept from approaching God uninvited on pain of death. God is dangerous. This is important for us to hear. We do not come to God on our own terms. If we are to come before God and survive the experience, we must come on his terms and his terms alone. We must be invited. God is to be feared and respected. He is not to be treated casually. Two young men in Leviticus chapter 10 learned this the hard way.

Leviticus 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.”’ And Aaron held his peace.

Our God is not safe. He is not to be trifled with. Our God is a consuming fire, awesome and terrible. He is King of kings. Over and over the scriptures tell us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. He is just and will by no means let the guilty go unpunished. This is not just an Old Testament thing. Jesus taught:

Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus is teaching his followers to fear his Father. Fear God and God alone, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. God is to be taken seriously. It is a weighty thing to come into the presence of the living God.

Consecration

Even for those who are to be kept at a safe distance, they must prepare. God sent Moses down to consecrate the people. This is a two day process. They are to be set apart to the LORD. As part of this preparation, they were to abstain from normal sexual relations. Intimacy with your spouse was to be postponed for a short time in order to focus attention on intimacy with God. This is also taught in the New Testament:

1Corinthians 7:5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self–control.

Did you know that God is pro-sex? He is for it! He came up with the idea. He intends it to be a beautiful, pleasurable expression of intimacy within the context of the covenant faithfulness of marriage. Marital abstinence is to be the exception, not the rule, and only for a very specific purpose.

His people are also instructed to wash their clothes. Remember, again, they are not being told to clean themselves up in order to make themselves acceptable to God. We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God.

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

We are all lawbreakers, and stand condemned before God. Nothing we do can cover our guilt before God.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Our only hope is mercy – not getting what we so justly deserve. Our only hope is a generous gift freely given to undeserving sinners. God has already taken decisive action to save his people. Now he is commanding that they prepare to meet him.

They are told to wash their clothes. They are not told to take a bath. According to 1 Corinthians 10:2, they had already been baptized in the cloud and in the sea. Now they are being told simply to wash their clothes. We are not told how or where they do this, but if we have been following the story, when the people came to the mountain, there was no water, and God provided water by commanding that the rock be struck with his staff. This is the last water mentioned. If this is the case, then this scene is rich with symbolism. We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:4 that the Rock was Christ. In preparation to meet God, his people are to wash their clothes in the water which flows from the Rock who was smitten for them.

What a beautiful picture. Although God is to be feared, man’s greatest good is to be in the presence of this fearsome God. To be separated from God forever is quite literally hell. And yet for a sinner to be in the presence of a holy God means justice and punishment and death. What are we to do with this dilemma? There is nothing we can do.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ––by grace you have been saved–– … 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated … strangers…, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Hopeless sinners brought near to a holy God – how? By the blood of Christ.

1John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. …14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

When we were not loving God, God sent his only Son to satisfy his own wrath against our hatred of him. O what love! Amazing love!

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,

Brought into the presence of absolute purity by the sacrifice of the perfect substitute, Jesus Christ the Righteous, suffering for the sins of the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

Jude :24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Psalm 95; Worship and Warning

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110522-psalm95.mp3

05/22 Psalm 95 – Worship and Warning

Psalm, 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

This Psalm is a Psalm of worship and warning; it is a call to worship and caution against unbelief. It looks back to the God who created all things and is worthy of our worship, back to the God who saves us, and back to the Exodus account of the grumbling at Massah and Meribah and the consequences of unbelief, and it looks forward to the joy of entering into the presence of God. The book of Hebrews in the New Testament picks up this Psalm and warns and encourages us to take a sober look at our own hearts to be sure that we don’t miss out.

Corporate Worship

This is a corporate call to worship. It is an invitation to the group to sing, to make a joyful noise, to come into God’s presence, to offer thanksgiving and songs of praise to him together. There is such a thing as private worship. In your car or in your closet, you can get alone with God and speak to him, sing to him, give thanks and praise to him. That is good. Private worship is necessary. You can worship God as a family. Husbands, we need to lead our wives to know Jesus better. Fathers and mothers, we need to teach our children to follow the Lord. God must be the center of our homes. We should sing together and pray together and read the bible together as families in our homes. The responsibility for the Christian education of children falls primarily to families. Whatever the church does to instruct children is only intended to supplement what families do at home.

The Church

But this is a public call to worship. This is an invitation to join the assembly of believers in corporate worship. Private worship is critical. family worship is essential. But neglect of corporate worship is also forbidden in scripture.

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

It is true that Jesus loves each of us individually, specifically. ‘The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me (Gal.2:20) It is also true that:

Ephesians 5:25 …Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

The church is the collective group of believers. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:18 … I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The church Jesus builds is not a structure with walls and roof. What Jesus builds is a living organism made up of people.

1 Peter 2:5 you 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.

The bible does not talk about when you come to the church (building), but rather:

1 Corinthians 11:18 …when you come together as a church, …

The church is the group of believers meeting together to worship God. This Psalm is a call to public worship.

Worship

Psalm, 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

As a group, we are invited to sing to the LORD. Singing is one primary expression of worship that we do as a group. We sing to YHWH, the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Singing is making a joyful noise. Worship is an expression of joy. We have much to be joyful about. We will get to some of that as we go through this Psalm. The Rock smitten for us, out of which life-giving water flows, is Christ Jesus. We are invited to make a joyful noise to Jesus, the rock of our salvation.

The Presence of God

We are invited into his presence. That is staggering if we stop to think about it – the presence of God himself, absolute holiness and righteousness. The most righteous men we know were undone and loathed themselves when confronted with the absolute holiness of the presence of the living God. At the end of time, the kings of the earth flee from the presence of the Lamb.

Revelation 6:15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”.

It is because sinners cannot stand in the presence of a holy God without justice being done to them. When we are around people that are worse sinners than we are, we can feel pretty good about ourselves. When we are in the presence of the holy, holy, holy God, that all goes away and we recognize how desperately far we fall short.

Psalm 90:7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

The presence of God for a sinner is the most terrifying place imaginable. But the presence of God is also the most desirable thing. The pornography industry plays on our desire to look on perfect beauty, a beauty that will satisfy our deepest longings. We always come up empty wanting more because only God can satisfy the human soul. The human soul is hungry for God.

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 21:6 For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

That which only will satisfy is out of reach for us because to be in the presence of God means judgment for sinners. That is why we make a joyful noise to Jesus, the Rock of our salvation. We are in a hopeless situation, and Jesus, the perfect God-man comes to our rescue by bearing our sin and enduring the wrath of God in our place, washing us clean so that we can enjoy his perfect presence forever. That is something to make noise about! That calls for songs of loudest praise! We approach with deep thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for us.

More Grounds for Worship

This Psalm goes on to give us more grounds for praising him:

Psalm 95:3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

YHWH, the God of the Hebrews, is a great God. In a pluralistic polytheistic society where the Egyptians have their gods and the Canaanites have their gods and the Midianites have their gods, the God of Israel is not merely one God among many. He is great, he is greater in magnitude, he is greater in importance, he is greater in age – he comes before all other gods. He is the king or sovereign over all other so-called gods. They are under him and answer to him and serve him.

Psalm 95;4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

This God owns all things. The deepest mines in the earth are in his hand. He owns the highest peaks. The sea was a terrifying unknown when this was written, dangerous uncontrollable unpredictable chaos, and he owns it because he made it. His hands formed the land. Everything belongs to him. Everything, including us:

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

We are called to corporate worship because we are owned by our Creator. It is what we are made for. He has creative rights over us. He is our Maker. We worship, we bow down, we kneel and pay homage to him. He is our God. This, too, is an amazing statement. Not only is he Creator God, but we have a relationship with him. He is our God. We are his people. He is our shepherd. He cares for us. We are the sheep of his hand. This is personal, intimate, tender.

Now comes the warning:

Psalm 95:7 …Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

There is a danger to be avoided. Today! Today! Today! Right now, right here, pay attention! This is urgent. This demands an immediate response from us. Do not procrastinate. Do not put this off. The voice of the Shepherd is calling. Will you listen? Will you heed? Will you obey? There is a tendency, a historical tendency to harden our hearts against the voice of the Lord. There is a tendency to harden against the call to worship.

Massah and Meribah

We are pointed back to the history of the Exodus as a warning. Remember Meribah? The word means strife, contention, complaining, quarreling. The people grumbled against their leader. They quarreled. They had a need that wasn’t getting met in their time and in their way and so they complained. It was a legitimate need. But there was an undercurrent of discontent primarily directed at the leadership, and God took it personally. Massah means testing. God said ‘you are testing me.’ All complaining, all grumbling is ultimately directed at God. If God is in control of all things and orchestrates all circumstances, and he promises to work them for our good, then when we are discontented with our situation, it is an arrogant affront to his wisdom and goodness. We are demonstrating a lack of faith, a lack of trust in him as our sovereign provider. This is why the New Testament has so much to say about grumbling and complaining.

1 Corinthians 10:9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life…

James 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Words come from the Heart

God takes our words so seriously because they indicate our heart condition. Jesus said:

Matthew 15:18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

God is not interested in mere external conformity to his standards. He wants our hearts. He wants to capture our wills. He wants to consume our thoughts. He wants to be the center of our affections. In the Psalm his accusation is “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” God uses very strong language against this; ‘I loathed them,’ ‘I swore in my wrath.’ Grumbling, complaining, quarreling is evidence of a deeper sin. These sheep had gone astray in their hearts. They had abandoned God. They had hardened their hearts toward the voice of their Shepherd. James, who has a lot to say about what comes out of our mouths, also makes the connection between heart and tongue:

James 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

Paul addresses the heart issue positively:

Colossians 3:12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

We were created to worship. We are invited to come into the presence of God united in praise to his great name. But we have an awful tendency to become callous toward God and contentious with each other. Today, we must be on our guard. Today we must guard our hearts from going astray. Today, we must choose to worship. 

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Exodus 18; Humble Testimony

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110515_exodus18.mp3

05/15 Exodus 18:1-27 Humble Testimony

Intro:

We’ve come to a crossroad in the book of Exodus. God has been about the business of rescuing his people from Egypt, intervening to save them from slavery. But his purpose was never to turn them loose to do whatever they wanted to do. His stated purpose to Pharaoh was ‘let my people go that they may serve me’ or ‘that they may worship me’. God is rescuing his people from futility to a life of purpose and meaning. He is bringing them into relationship with himself. He is bringing them to Mt. Sinai to teach them his ways. They are almost there.

God chose an unlikely candidate to be his tool to set his people free. Moses rose up to defend his people, but was rejected and exiled for forty years. There he was given a Midianite wife, became a shepherd, and had sons. When he was on the back side of the desert, God interrupted him and called him to ‘set my people free’. He reluctantly returned to Egypt, but not before God showed him how deadly serious a thing it is to have his own house in order and obey God’s commands. God confronted him over his negligence of the covenant sign of circumcision in his family.

Now, God has triumphed over the gods of the Egyptians, Moses has led the people of Israel out of Egypt, through the midst of the Red Sea, they have seen God’s gracious and miraculous provision in the wilderness, they have seen that God will give them victory over their enemies. Israel is encamped at the Mountain of God.

We now see Moses’ family reunited, we see Gentiles entering into worship of the God of Israel, and the establishment of a leadership structure that spreads the burden of responsibility among godly men.

Jethro

Exodus 18:1 Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home, 3 along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”), 4 and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). 5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God. 6 And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” 7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. 8 Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” 12 And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

Midianites

The Midianites were historically no friend of Israel. It was Midianite traders who sold Joseph as a slave in Egypt (Gen.37:28,36). The Midianites would conspire with the Moabites to hire Balaam to curse Israel (Num.22:7ff). The intermarrying of Israel with Midian with the consequent worship of Baal incited the LORD to wrath (Num.25). But in this passage, we see a Midianite priest converted to the true worship of YHWH.

This is amazing in light of the context. We have just seen another branch of Abraham’s family (Gen.25:2), the Amalekites, war against God’s people and be defeated by God’s power. Even God’s own people have been so far grumbling and complaining, putting the LORD to the test. They have not shown a great deal of faith in their deliverer. This priest of Midian, it says ‘heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. (18:1)’ God’s own people seem to continually be blaming Moses for leading them out to die rather than praising God for bringing them out of slavery. This Midianite priest seems to be one of the first to get it.

God-Centered Witness

8 Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.”

Listen to what Moses tells his father-in-law. “Dad, you should have been there. The Pharaoh of Egypt was terrified every time I showed up. Remember when you sent me out in the desert with your sheep? You had no idea what I was capable of. I raised my staff, and you should have seen it! All Egypt was in mayhem. They were begging us to leave. All these people are following me, they’re looking to me for leadership. Can you believe it? I struck the rock with my staff and water came out!” No, Moses doesn’t draw attention to himself. He points to the LORD. He told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done. The LORD did this! This was a God-centered witness. And he didn’t edit out the struggles either. He told him about ‘all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.’ We’ve had some rocky times. No food, poisoned water, no water, grumbling people, enemies attacking, The LORD delivered us. We would have had no hope unless God had intervened. He gave all credit to God. This is a faithful witness. This is a real testimony. It’s not about me. It’s all about God. Look at what God has done!

Joyful Believing

Jethro’s response is joy. He rejoiced. He recognized the goodness of God in all of this. Jethro, priest of Midian, does not use the generic title of deity, he does not name the god of the Midianites, he does not assume that his god and Israel’s God are the same. He uses God’s revealed covenant name in distinction from all other pagan gods. The LORD – YHWH is good! This is the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Israel’s God, the great I AM. Jethro has heard all that God did for his people Israel. He heard that YHWH had brought them out of Egypt. He rejoiced for all the good that YHWH had done for Israel in that he delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. He blesses YHWH: “blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.” Jethro knew his son-in-law Moses was in trouble with Egypt. It was evident that something supernatural happened to preserve Moses’ life from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh, and seeing that the 400 years of slavery for the Hebrew people in Egypt had been sovereignly ended stirred his heart to worship this God of the Hebrews.

We are seeing the beginnings of a fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.

Genesis 22:18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

God had declared:

Exodus 6:7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Exodus 7:5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

Now, a Midianite priest is converted to worship the one true God. He says:

11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.”

He had seen the evidence, and he was convinced. He worshiped.

12 And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

What an amazing scene! Jew and Gentile together worshiping the one true God, breaking bread together in the presence of God!

Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.

Psalm 86:9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.

In heaven they sing this about the Lamb:

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

Revelation 15:4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

This is what Jesus commanded that we do:

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God has from the beginning intended to bring some from every nation together in worship of the one true God.

Moses The Judge

The next scene is a scene of Moses carrying out his responsibilities as leader of the people God has entrusted to his care.

13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”

Moses is filling the role of teacher/counselor/arbiter of disputes. He is teaching the people God’s standards, settling disputes and making peace, and seeking God’s direction for the people. All these things are good and necessary and important. But Jethro sees a problem in the system. This is an insurmountable task for one man. Justice delayed is no justice. He offers some advice.

Burdens of Leadership Shared

17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

Jethro’s instruction is for Moses to continue in the role of teacher and intercessor. He is to take their cases before God and seek God’s direction. He is to fulfill the role of teacher, communicating God’s truth to God’s people. He is to warn and make them know the way in which them must walk, to help them understand their relationship with God, and what their responsibilities are. But he is to choose able men to come along side him and share the load of leadership. These men are to have specific qualities. They are to be men of character. First on the list is a fear of God. Their relationship with God must be healthy. They must have proper awe and respect for the Most High. They must be God-fearers and not men-pleasers. They must be trustworthy, reliable, faithful men. They are to be men who cannot be bought. Men of character are to be chosen to share the counseling/arbitrating responsibilities.

The picture we have here illustrates the problem. God’s law has not yet been codified. All the people are coming to Moses with their questions and grievances. They wait in line all day and get no answers.

They go home discouraged and frustrated. Everyone has to go through this one man who goes to God to get their answers.

According to Jethro’s advice, the majority of cases would be settled at the local level, with only the difficult or new issues being brought to Moses. This will serve to alleviate the backlog of cases so that justice can be served in a timely manner, and frees Moses up to focus on his primary leadership responsibilities. Jethro’s advice is given not just as good practical common sense, but as guidance from God.

Moses’ Humble Response

Moses responds as any good leader today would. “Don’t you know who I am? God chose me to lead his people. Who do you think you are to give me advice in my job anyway? It was my staff that brought the plagues and parted the Red Sea and brought water from the rock. I spoke to God and he sent manna. I’m the one who intercedes with God for all the people. Don’t you think if God wanted me to do things differently, he would have told me himself?” No, again, Moses lays aside his natural pride and demonstrates amazing humility.

24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. 27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

Moses listened. Moses obeyed the instruction from his father-in-law. He was wise enough to take advice, no matter the source.

There are some interesting connections between this chapter and the one before. In both, foreigners come to Israel; the Amalekites came to attack; the Midianites came to greet. In both, some men are chosen for a specific task – to fight or to judge. In both, Moses takes a seat on the second day and remains seated for the entire day. In both, Moses is said to be tired or weary, and is provided assistance by others. In both, Moses humbly and willingly receives help from others. He knows his own weakness and is vulnerable. Proverbs tells us:

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

In the New Testament, we are told:

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

We are in humility to consider others as more significant than ourselves. More significant! That is contrary to every natural instinct we have. This kind of humility takes gospel transformation to carry out. This takes crucifixion of self to put others first.

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. This is against our inclination, but we are now equipped to fight the fight against our flesh. We now have God’s law written on our hearts (Jer.31:33). We have God’s Spirit in us to cause us to walk in his ways (Ezek.36:27). There is now one mediator between God and men; the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim.2:5). Every good gift comes from above, so whatever I have that is praiseworthy, the one who is worthy of praise is my Lord Jesus Christ, not me. Look at what the LORD has done for our sake. Rejoice in all the good that the LORD has done to us. Bless the LORD for delivering us from the domain of darkness and transferring us into the kingdom of his dear Son (Col.1:13).  

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Exodus 16:19-36; Our Daily Bread – Not By Bread Alone

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110410_exodus16_19-36.mp3

04/10 Exodus 16:19-36 Not By Bread Alone; Our Daily Bread

Intro:

God is testing his people. His stated purpose throughout the book is that they would know that he is the LORD. They are to know that he is God over all gods, with authority over the whole earth, authority over water and wind and over all creatures on the earth, authority over the hearts of men, authority over weather, even over light and darkness. They are to know that he holds power over life and death, that he is a just judge and a protector of all who find refuge in him. That he is a God who hears and answers prayer. That he is the passover Lamb substituted for us, our ever-present guide, the one who stands in our defense, the one who fights our battles and conquers our enemies, the one who can heal bitter hearts and satisfy our deepest hunger.

God has displayed his power over the Egyptians and he is leading his people through the wilderness, teaching them about himself, showing them what it means to have a relationship with him. He took them to a place where the waters were bitter and showed them that he is their healer, then he brought them to a desert oasis, with plentiful water and shade. Now they are running out of food, and they are grumbling. God graciously responds to their grumbling, not with condemnation, but with abundant provision and further revelation of who he is.

16:10 …they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.”’

13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake–like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.”’ 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.

God satisfied the hunger of his people. He supernaturally provided for their needs. God creates something entirely new for them that will be their daily provision throughout their time in the wilderness. God, the Creator, brings something out of nothing to provide for their needs. He gives them clear instruction and he expects his people to listen to his voice.

Obedience

God was teaching his people to trust him, to listen to him, to obey. When they get to Sinai, he will give them detailed instructions for how a sinful people are to relate to a holy God. For now, his abundant provision with simple instructions. He had said in verse 4:

4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

Pick up what you need for the day, and eat all of it that day. A day’s portion every day. Daily bread. This is my instruction. This is a test.

19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”

Isn’t that clear enough?

20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

Manna was God’s gift to his people. God said he would rain bread from heaven for you. Moses describes it as the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. In Psalm 78 it is described as ‘the grain of heaven’ and ‘the bread of angels’. It was an undeserved grace in response to grumbling. The people said ‘what is it?’ which in Hebrew sounds like ‘manna’, and the name stuck. It was also a simple test. Don’t leave it over till the morning, but they did not listen, and some left part of it till the morning. God gives instruction and we say ‘Why? What will happen if I do what you tell me not to do? We almost ran out of food in the desert. Natural reasoning tells me that I should be wise and prepare for tomorrow. God says ‘eat what I give you today and trust me for tomorrow’. It is interesting that it doesn’t say that some people gathered much more than other people and kept the excess overnight. It says ‘whoever gathered much had nothing left over’. So the ones who kept some over must have rationed their daily portion. They chose to go hungry today so that they could have security for tomorrow. In effect, they were saying ‘we don’t know where our next meal is coming from, so we’d better be cautious and store up’. But instead of providing security, manna disobediently stored up became a dangerous source of sickness and disease. What seemed to be wise from man’s perspective, was disobedient to God’s direct command and proved to be destructive. How slow we are to learn that God’s ways are always best! We may not understand why, but obedience to God is the way of wisdom. Disobedience has consequences. Trusting God can be scary. Walking by faith in God’s word is not always comfortable. But God’s way is always best.

Daily Bread

Jesus alluded to God’s daily provision of basic needs when he taught his disciples to pray.

Matthew 6:9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Give us this day our daily bread. Often we view prayer simply as a shopping list of unrelated needs that we are to ask God for. I think there is more to this prayer than that. We are invited to approach our Father in the heavens, requesting that your name, your kingdom, and your will be honored and come to pass, as in heaven so on earth. Then we ask that the bread of our daily need be given to us this very day. Our daily sustenance is further defined, not as physical food, but as release from our legal obligations and rescue from temptation. What we desperately need every day is rescue from temptation and release from debt. Jesus frames this request for God’s forgiveness and rescue in the language of God’s daily provision for the needs of his people in the wilderness. Our deepest need is for God’s daily deliverance and God’s daily forgiveness. The bread of our daily need, give us this very day; that is, release us from our legal debts… that is, do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil. This is our daily bread.

When talking with the Jews about the manna in the wilderness, Jesus said:

John 6:33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” … 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. … 48 I am the bread of life. … 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Jesus claims to be God’s provision for man’s deepest hunger. Give us this day our daily bread. Today, give us Jesus! Release from the debt we owe to God and rescue from temptation come only in Jesus. Jesus, the bread of our daily need. Jesus, the broken bread that gives life to hungry sinners. Let Jesus sustain us today! This day, give us Jesus!

Treasure in Heaven

Jesus continues in Matthew 6:

Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Israelites were laying up treasure on earth and it bred worms and stank. They were not looking to God in heaven to provide for their daily need. They were not laying up the treasure of an increasing trust in God and a deepening relationship with him. Even in the face of God’s supernatural provision for them, they were trying to find a natural way to bank security for themselves against tomorrow. It didn’t work. It never does. Jesus continues by challenging their worry over daily necessities:

Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Life is more than subsisting. Jesus came to offer life abundantly. Your body and your soul are meant for so much more than an obsession with food and clothes. Jesus tells us that we are of greater worth than birds and grass, and God feeds and clothes them. He challenges our lack of faith.

Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Seek God. Spend your energy going after God. If you’re going to be anxious about anything, be anxious to know God better. Learn to depend on God. Learn to trust. Pursue Jesus, the bread that gives eternal life. Pursue Jesus, who clothes you with his perfect righteousness.

Solemn Rest; a Holy Sabbath to the LORD

We’ve been looking at the manna as a pointer to Jesus as the one who satisfies our real needs. Jesus invites us to see it this way. But Manna was a real substance, God’s miraculous means of feeding his people in the desert. But even in the way God provided then, he was pointing to these greater realities. God said in verse 5:

5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”

Then we see how this happened in verse 22:

22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.”’ 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

God did not provide manna seven days a week. He provided double the amount Friday morning, and none Saturday morning. This too came with clear instructions. This is what the LORD has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. This too would teach his people trust. God will provide for your needs. Follow his instructions. The purpose of the double portion on Friday was to provide for rest on Saturday. But it was not just rest from labor, rest from collecting food, rest from the pressure of gathering the needs of the day. It was rest to the LORD. It was more than rest from something. It was to be rest for someone.

We can look all the way back to Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth for the meaning of this rest.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

God finished his work of creation and he rested. Not because he was exhausted from all the hard work – it says ‘God said… and it was so’. God did not need a day off to recuperate from all the talking. God completed his creative work and stepped back as it were to enjoy what he had made. He said ‘look, it is very good’. God made the seventh day happy – he blessed it. He sanctified it. He set it apart as holy or sacred. Here in Exodus, the first mention of the word ‘sabbath’ in the bible, we see that the Sabbath rest is to the LORD. God is good. He is our provider. God established that we take one day out of seven to break the routine and enjoy him. Focus on him. Give him the attention he deserves. Seek him. Honor him. Worship. A day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. The verb form of this word Sabbath that appears in Genesis also appears earlier in Exodus:

Exodus 5:5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!”

Rest from slavery to Pharaoh. God’s demand of Pharaoh was ‘let my people go that they may hold a feast to me (5:1); that they may serve me, or worship me in the wilderness’ (7:16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; 10:3). Here we see this happening. The people were released from hard service to Pharaoh to glad service to the true King of kings. They were transferred to their rightful master. They were to hold a feast to the LORD, to celebrate, to honor their God, spend time with him, to enjoy him. Here God supernaturally provides for this to happen. Double portion on Friday so that Saturday can be all about God.

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Again, disobedience to God’s clear commands. We can identify with this on a human level. ‘Last time we kept any manna overnight it was all nasty in the morning. We’re not doing that again! Manna doesn’t keep well. Better eat it all today.’ Again, it seems that this was not a case that the people were lazy and didn’t gather double. It seems the double quantity was a curious thing. The leaders had to ask Moses about it. Apparently, they gathered, and when they measured it and prepared it, it was a double portion. So the ones who went out to gather on the Sabbath had probably gorged themselves on two days worth of food all at once, assuming it would spoil overnight and go to waste. They did not listen to God’s word. Have you ever eaten way too much one day? Your stomach stretches, and the next morning you feel ravenously hungry. So they go out to find more food and there is none, just as God had said. What was meant to be a day of rest and feasting and enjoying became for these disobedient Israelites, a day of fasting.

Not By Bread Alone

God was teaching his people to be dependent on him, to trust him. Jesus picks up on this in his temptation.

Matthew 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’

Jesus is quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses is recounting God’s provision of Manna in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

The manna was training in dependence on God. Don’t trust your human wisdom. Don’t trust your instincts. Trust God. Believe what he says. Do things his way and he will bless you. Walk in obedience. Draw your sustenance from every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Manna was sweet. It tasted like wafers made with honey, which was a great luxury in that culture. In the Psalms, God’s word is compared with honey.

Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalm 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

A Testimony to Future Generations

God’s provision for his people was to be remembered.

16:32 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”’ 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

A jar of Manna was to be placed before the LORD. This became one of the contents of the box that held the contract between God and his people. (This manna shows up again in Hebrews 9:4 and Revelation 2:17). It was to be a constant reminder of the gracious faithfulness of our loving God who provides for our physical and spiritual needs. God who of himself provides for our deepest needs, needs for deliverance, needs for release from our debts. God so loved undeserving sinners that he gave us his only Son Jesus.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Exodus 12:14-20 and 13:3-10; Feast of Unleavened Bread

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110220_exodus12_14-20and13_3-10.mp3

02/20 Exodus 12:14-20; 13:3-10 Feast of Unleavened Bread

Context:

Last week we looked at God’s redemption of Israel out of Egypt by a strong hand. God’s final blow against Egypt was the death of all their firstborn. Pharaoh had refused to free Israel, God’s firstborn. So God promised to kill Pharaoh’s firstborn. But God provided a way of escape. Come under the blood of the lamb and you are safe. The lamb died in the place of the firstborn. So every firstborn that survived the exodus belonged to God because God provided a substitute. We are doubly his; his by creation and we were bought with a price. God gives a reminder of his ownership of all of life by demanding that every firstborn be given to him. Every firstborn that was fit to be eaten or offered was to be sacrificed to him. All that were unclean or unfit were either to be redeemed by the substitute sacrifice of a clean animal, or destroyed. God demands that we acknowledge his right of ownership over everything by surrendering part of what he has given us back to him.

Unleavened Bread

Exodus chapter 13 begins (v.1-2) with God’s requirement of the firstborn and concludes (v.11-16) with more detailed instructions about the firstborn, but sandwiched in the middle (v.3-10) is a section about the feast of unleavened bread. How does this all fit together?

13:3 Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 5 And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. 6 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. 8 You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

What can we learn from this? Connected with paragraphs about the redemption of the firstborn by a substitute sacrifice, there is instruction about a period of time that no leavened bread is allowed.

In chapter 12, instructions for the feast of unleavened bread come sandwiched between God’s promise of deliverance for all who come under the blood, and instructions to go select and kill the passover lamb and apply its blood. Look back at chapter 12:

12:14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty–first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

So we have in chapter 12, ‘when I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you … observe the feast of unleavened bread … Go and select lambs for yourselves … kill the passover lamb, dip it in the blood … touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood.’

And in chapter 13, we have ‘Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine. …Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you , and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. … you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. … Every firstborn of man among yours sons you shall redeem.’

Consequences are Severe

What is the connection between the passover sacrifice and the feast of unleavened bread? What is the connection between God’s right to the firstborn and the feast of unleavened bread? Notice also that the consequences for eating leavened bread are severe:

12:15 …On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

12:19 …If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.

The consequences are severe – cut off from the community. The connections are interesting – the blood of the lamb and God’s ownership of us.

The feast of unleavened bread is a memorial – a sign and a memorial – that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth. It is to be a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. We are commanded to remember. Remember the day in which you were brought out of the house of slavery by the strong hand of the Lord. It is also a teaching opportunity. Remember what the Lord did for you, and tell your son on that day ‘it is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt’. It is a memorial for you and a teaching opportunity to pass this truth on to the coming generation.

What is Leaven?

But why unleavened bread? Why is no leaven allowed? Why such sever consequences for eating anything leavened? Initially, it was a practical necessity in the hurried expulsion from Egypt – they didn’t have time for the extended process of making leavened bread and letting it rise before baking. That’s the practical and historical reason. But leaven has a symbolic significance in Scripture. Let’s first look at the significance of leaven in the Scriptures. Then we may see the connection with the passover sacrifice and the consecration of the firstborn.

In the sacrificial system that God gave Israel to make atonement for their sins, no leaven was allowed.

Exodus 23:18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

In Matthew 13 (cf. Lk.13) Jesus told three parables; about birds and weeds and leaven – all bad. His point was that in this age, there will be genuine children of the kingdom and there will be sons of the evil one – causes of sin and law-breakers – all mixed together until the final separation at the end of the age. In Matthew 16, he warns his disciples to be ware of the leaven, or teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In Luke 12, he says this leaven is hypocrisy.

Leavened bread was made by mixing a starter or a fermented piece of dough saved from the last batch of bread into the new dough. ***Funk&Wagnall’s dictionary defines fermentation as “The gradual decomposition of organic compounds induced by the action of living organisms…” The bacteria that cause fermentation actually eat away at the sugars in the dough and give off a gas that inflates or puffs up the dough. So leaven in bread introduces fermentation, which is a process of decomposition or decay and death.

Leaven in Corinth

Six times in 1 Corinthians Paul warns against being ‘puffed up’ (fussiow; only 7 times in NT: 1Cor.4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4; Col.2:18). This is literally what leaven does – it inflates the dough to several times its actual size. The danger he is warning against is being puffed up with pride. In chapter 5, Paul is confronting blatant sin among members that is being allowed and even embraced by the church. In verse 2, Paul says that they are arrogant or puffed up:

1 Corinthians 5:2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

He goes on to confront their boasting and likens it to leaven:

1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So there is leavening influence of sin in the church that will permeate the whole church if not dealt with. We are being instructed that since Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed, we really are a new, unleavened lump. The transformation has happened through what Jesus did for us. We must act like what we already are in Christ. We are transformed, not as a result of our own efforts, but as a result of Christ’s efforts for us. We are given a new nature. We are exhorted to live consistently with that new nature.

1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

This helps us make the connection in Exodus between us being set apart to God, belonging to God, because we have been purchased by God with the blood of the lamb, and celebrating and remembering with unleavened bread. God brought us out from the house of slavery by a strong hand – I remember what the Lord did for me. I have been set free from sin. Having been set free I must live consistently with my freedom. This is not how to gain your freedom. This is how to be who you are now that you have been bought by Christ.

The passover lamb was to be selected on the 10^th day of the month. The lamb was to be observed from the 10^th to the 14^th. The lamb was to be killed at twilight on the 14^th and on the 15^th began the seven day feast of unleavened bread. This symbolic cleansing out of sin was to be in response to the completed sacrifice and the provided deliverance. Because we have escaped God’s just wrath by coming under the blood, we respond by purging out the elements of decay.

We belong to God as his creation, and we have been redeemed, or bought with the price of a substitute sacrificed in our place, so because we are doubly owned by God, we get rid of that which causes decomposition.

1 Corinthians 6:19 …You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

This is the fruit of holiness is produced by Christ’s finished work of redeeming love.

Why call it a Feast?

Why call it a feast? Going without something you normally enjoy is usually called a fast, not a feast. And the severity of the consequences – we’re going to have a party, but if you eat the wrong thing, we will cut you off and throw you out. That seems a bit harsh for a feast. Again, I think we can get some help here from Paul’s use of this in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So the old leaven, he defines, as the leaven of boasting, malice and evil. Who wants that at the party? Get rid of pride, the disposition to do evil and the active participation in evil. Get rid of what causes decay and decomposition. That will affect and infect the whole thing. We can truly celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. There is freedom in authenticity and a genuine desire to do what is good and right.

Freedom

We often have a distorted conception of freedom. We think we’re not free unless all the options are open to us. Let’s say you have a nice new ¾ ton four wheel drive diesel pickup truck. This thing will give you the freedom to go off-road into places you never would have dreamed of taking the family mini-van. Freedom! But there’s this tiny little sticker on the dash that is trying to steal your freedom and kill your joy. It says “diesel fuel only”. That’s so limiting! Especially when unleaded is cheaper and available at so many more places. I’m just gonna peel that little freedom-crushing sticker right off and start pumping in the unleaded. In fact, I’m just going to throw off all restraint and get out the garden hose and pump some good old H2O into my gas tank. Now that’s freedom. Freedom to do whatever I feel like doing. Freedom to wreck your investment. Freedom to sit by the side of the road and wait for the tow-truck. Freedom to be called a fool by anyone who knows anything about trucks. You see, that little sticker was intended by the one who designed the vehicle to give you the parameters inside which the truck will operate correctly. Violating the design engineer’s instructions is not freedom; it is catastrophic.

We want the freedom to do the things that are off limits to us. We need a change in perspective. What we should want is freedom from the things that cause decay and decomposition. Freedom from the things that will cause our engine to seize up so that we can live the human life to the full, so that we can get the maximum pleasure we were designed to enjoy. The author of Hebrews urges us:

Hebrews 12:1 … let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, ….

Peter warns us of false teachers promising phony freedom:

2 Peter 2:18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

Sin is slavery, not freedom. Holiness is true freedom to live the abundant life. Holiness, being set apart from sin and to God is the way to extract the maximum capacity of joy and true pleasure out of this life. Eternal life that Jesus promises is not merely a definition of length, but of quality. Paul gives us detailed instructions on how to walk in this blood-bought newness of life in Romans 6:

Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. …22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Remember, freedom from sin comes as a result of the once-for-all sin-bearing sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as our substitute. As a result and because of what he has done, we can enjoy the feast of freedom.

1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Because Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us, we can celebrate true freedom – freedom from death and decay, freedom to be what God created us to be, freedom to run the race, freedom to really live, freedom to seize the maximum pleasures and joy offered to us by our Creator who invented all the good things he longs for us to enjoy.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org