Tawa Baptist

Ten Words

Scripture: Exodus 20:1-17

Title: Ten Words

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s love comes first – relationship, freedom & grace (v.2)
  • Loving God – loyalty & jealousy (vv.3-7)
  • Sabbath holds it all together – creation not chaos (vv. 8-11)
  • Loving neighbour – community not competition (vv. 12-17)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Whenever I cook I like to follow a recipe

  • Without the instructions I’m cooking blind and don’t know if the outcome will taste any good
  • But with the recipe I don’t worry
  • The recipe gives me confidence that we will eat well that night

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 20, page 80 in your pew Bibles

  • Today we resume our series on Moses
  • By this stage in their journey Israel are 3 months out of Egypt, camped at the foot of Mt Sinai
  • Moses is acting as an intermediary between God and the people, communicating God’s words to the Israelites
  • In this morning’s reading God gives Moses a recipe for life
  • These are God’s instructions for living well
  • From Exodus chapter 20, verse 1, we read…

Read Exodus 20:1-17

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

This recipe or list of instructions, in Exodus 20, has been summarised as ‘love God and love your neighbour’

  • And while that’s a pretty good summary it doesn’t actually start with our love – it begins with God’s love
  • Before we can love God, or anyone else, we must first accept God’s love for us – if we miss out that step all our efforts will come to nothing

God’s love comes first – relationship, freedom & grace (v.2)

The thing with following a recipe, or any other set of instructions, is that you have to follow all of it

  • If you leave out any part of the recipe then it doesn’t taste right
  • For example, you might be making a brownie and you see the list of ingredients includes 100 grams of butter
  • You think to yourself – that’s easy – I’ll just measure out 100 grams and throw it in the bowl with the sugar and the flour
  • Then you can’t understand why the ingredients don’t combine well
  • So you go back to read the recipe again (properly this time) and you see that you were supposed to melt the butter first

It’s the same with flat pack furniture

  • You might think you can take a short cut here or there but if you miss out any steps along the way or get those steps in the wrong order, you have to start again

This recipe or list of instructions that God gives Moses in Exodus 20 is commonly referred to as the ‘10 Commandments’

  • It would be more accurate though to call this the ‘10 Words’ or the Decalogue (deca meaning 10 and logue meaning word)

Verse 1 reads, ‘God spoke and these were his words.’

  • The original Hebrew text doesn’t even mention the term ‘commandment’ in this passage

Anyway in verse 2, Yahweh says to Moses…

  • “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.”

Clearly this is not a commandment – it is a statement of fact

  • God is essentially saying, ‘Israel, I love you. Remember that, because my love is how it all begins’
  • Consequently, in Jewish tradition, the Decalogue (or the 10 words) begins with verse 2

Unfortunately our Protestant tradition overlooks verse 2 altogether

  • Our tradition begins with verse 3, ‘Worship no God but me’.
  • By not paying attention to vs. 2 we Protestants have messed up the recipe
  • We’ve forgotten the first & most important ingredient – God’s love for us

So let’s get it right then – let’s pay attention to the whole recipe and start with God’s first word in verse 2 – because this is where God makes it plain what His intention is in giving the Law

Yahweh begins, “I am the Lord your God”

  • This is a statement of personal relationship
  • As Terence Fretheim observes: The address is to the individual ‘you’ and not to Israel generally – which lifts up the importance of internal motivation rather than corporate pressure or external coercion [1]
  • In other words, God’s instructions should be understood relationally and personally
  • God does not intend for our obedience to be forced from the outside but wants us to obey Him freely and willingly from the inside, because we know He loves us and we love Him in return

We have speed limits on our roads

  • Those limits are put there for our well-being, our safety
  • We might obey the speed limit for external reasons – because we don’t want to get snapped by a speed camera and fined
  • Or we might obey the speed limit for internal reasons – because we care about the people travelling in our vehicle
  • They say a man never drives more carefully than when he has his new born baby in the car. Why? Because he loves his child
  • As a father he isn’t worried about speed cameras – he just wants to protect his child
  • God’s words, His instructions or His recipe, are given in love
  • And He means for us to keep His words out of love for Him – not out of fear of punishment

God goes on to say, in verse 2 …

  • I brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves
  • The message is clear – God’s intention for Israel is that they be free
  • The Law is not to be understood as another form of bondage
  • The Law is to be understood as a recipe for freedom

When God says…

  • Do not commit murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal and so on, He isn’t taking away their freedom
  • He is indicating how they can more fully enter into their freedom
  • The Law is not a whip and God is not a slave driver
  • The Law is a gift and God is a redeemer

The other thing we should note here is that grace comes first, before the giving of the Law

  • God saved Israel before they had done anything to deserve it, that’s grace
  • Grace is the horse and obedience is the cart
  • The horse of grace pulls the cart of obedience
  • We mustn’t get the cart before the horse

So, God frames His Law in terms of personal relationship, freedom and grace

  • God gives the Law for our well-being
  • The Law is intended as an expression of God’s love for us

 

The first step in God’s recipe then is recognising His love for us

  • The second step is about us loving Him
  • Loving God means being loyal to Him

 

Loving God – loyalty & jealousy (vv.3-7)

In verse 3 the Lord says, ‘Worship no God but me’

  • Then He goes on to explain in verses 4 & 5, this means you don’t make any sort of graven image and you don’t bow down to any idol

Basically God wants our exclusive loyalty

  • He tolerates no rivals (as the Good News Bible puts it)
  • It’s not that God is insecure or feels threatened by the competition
  • Rather, there is no competition
  • There are no other gods beside Yahweh and therefore we would be wasting our time if we worshipped anything else

More literal translations of verse 5 have the Lord saying, ‘I am a jealous God’

  • We tend to think of jealousy as a negative thing – like envy
  • And while jealousy can have that nuance in today’s modern English use-age, it never has that meaning in relation to God – God is not envious

The word jealousy originates from the Latin word zelosus – from which we get the word zealous  [2]

  • Jealousy, in relation to God, has to do with His zealousness for our well being

I didn’t really begin to understand the concept of God’s jealousy until I became a parent

  • You know when your child is vulnerable or threatened or at risk in some way and you experience this incredible urge from within to protect them
  • That energy, that irrepressible instinct to protect, that’s jealousy in the positive sense of the word

There is a movie which came out in 2008 starring Liam Neeson, called Taken

  • I haven’t seen the movie because, as a father of two girls, I don’t find that kind of thing entertaining
  • Basically the daughter of an ex CIA agent is kidnapped and the father (Liam Neeson) goes after the kidnappers to get his girl back
  • The father is jealous for his daughter – he is fiercely protective of her and will not rest until she is safe

God is jealous in the sense that He is fiercely protective of those in His care – those who belong to Him

  • He is jealous in the sense that He will leave no stone unturned to find us and restore us to Himself

Pharaoh inflamed the Lord’s jealousy by his mistreatment of the Hebrew people and Egypt suffered terribly as a consequence

We see the lengths that God would go to, in His jealous love for us, in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross

God’s jealousy, then, is essentially His protective instinct for us

  • Like a parent’s protective instinct with their child
  • God doesn’t want us to bow down to anything else because that would be bad for us and He wants to protect us from what is bad
  • It’s really quite cool that in loving God we are doing ourselves a favour

In the same way that God is jealous for our well-being – we too need to be jealous for God’s reputation

  • And so in verse 7 The Lord says, ‘Do not use my name for evil purposes’
  • Or, ‘Do not take the Lord’s name in vain’

To take the Lord’s name in vain is to say, ‘You must do what I say because God has told me this’, when in fact God has not told you that

To take the Lord’s name in vain is to claim you are doing God’s work by blowing yourself up in a crowd or flying a passenger plane into a high rise

To take the Lord’s name in vain is to say, ‘I’m a Christian’ and then live the lifestyle of a pagan

God is jealous for us and we need to be jealous for Him

  • Loyalty and jealousy – that is what it means to love God

Sabbath holds it all together – creation not chaos (vv.8-11)

When you make a cake you need a binding ingredient – something (like an egg for example) that holds the mixture together

At the centre of God’s recipe is the instruction to dedicate one day in seven, a Sabbath to the Lord for resting

  • The Sabbath is the binding ingredient in God’s recipe for living well
  • It holds together God’s love for us with our love for God & our neighbour
  • Or to change the metaphor: The Sabbath instruction is a major intersection connecting the main arterial routes within God’s Law

We observe a Sabbath for ourselves, for our neighbour and for the sake of creation

Jesus said, ‘Man was not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man’

  • Before anything else the Sabbath reminds us of God’s love for us
  • The Sabbath is a gift from God for our well-being
  • By resting, our body is restored and our mind is released from the knots it gets itself into
  • Rest prevents work from becoming an idol and therefore helps us to remain loyal to God

If you are baking bread then normally part of the process involves allowing the dough time to rest before you put it in the oven

  • Or when you cook a choice piece of meat – you don’t cut it as soon as it leaves the pan – you let it rest for a few minutes first

If we are going to enjoy life and get the most out of it then we need to factor in times of regular rest

Not only is it good for us when we observe a Sabbath, it is good for others also – it makes us easier to live with

In verse 10 the Lord says the Sabbath is for everyone, including your children, your manservants & maidservants, your animals and the foreigners living in your country

  • This instruction was way ahead of its time
  • In other cultures the men in charge might be allowed a day off while everyone else had to keep working
  • In Israel though, there was to be Sabbath equality

At its heart, Sabbath rest is really about creation. In verse 11 God says…

  • “In six days I, the Lord, made the earth, the sky, the sea, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the Lord, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.”

There is a relationship between the physical order and the moral order

  • When Adam sinned against God in the garden, the land was cursed
  • When we make production and consumption and money more important than God, then the environment suffers
  • But when we keep God’s moral order we preserve the physical order
  • Observing Sabbath rest is a creative act which keeps the forces of chaos at bay

The first step in God’s recipe is recognising His love for us

  • The second step is us loving God – being loyal to Him & jealous for His reputation
  • The key ingredient which holds it all together is Sabbath rest
  • Sabbath connects loving God with loving our neighbour

Loving neighbour – community not competition (vv. 12-17)

To love our neighbour is to be beside them and have their back – to be committed to their well-being as God is committed to our well-being

Verses 12-17, of Exodus 20, spell out what loving our neighbour looks like…

  • Honour your father and mother
  • Do not kill
  • Do not commit adultery
  • Do not steal
  • Do not accuse anyone falsely
  • Do not covet

These instructions are about living in community, as opposed to living in competition

  • Community requires cooperation – competition leads to isolation
  • Community sees connections and how to strengthen those connections
  • Competition sees people either as tools to be used or as a threat to be eliminated
  • In community we have each other’s back – we don’t worry about ourselves – we think about the person next to us
  • Therefore we have a sense of security in community
  • But in competition there is only anxiety

When we look at these ‘love thy neighbour’ instructions we notice that at least two of them relate directly to family life

  • Honouring parents and not committing adultery
  • Parents and husband or wife are our nearest neighbours
  • To follow these two instructions is to maintain family life which in turn strengthens the wider community

Honouring parents is an intentionally broad expression which may mean different things depending on the circumstances and stages of life

  • When we are young it could mean obeying our parents, but it won’t always mean that
  • As our parents get older and less able, honouring them might mean taking care of their physical needs

‘Do not kill’, is a tricky one – particularly in light of some other aspects of Old Testament Law where God seems to condone killing

  • For this reason some translators prefer to say, ‘Do not commit murder’
  • But this is problematic also
  • Perhaps it is good that the Hebrew word for kill (rasah) is a little vague in its definition, because this forces us to continually reflect on the meaning of the commandment, particularly in light of issues like war, euthanasia, suicide, self-defence and abortion
  • I like what Terence Fretheim says here: “The basis of the command is that all life belongs to God. The divine intention in creation is that no life be taken. Life is thus not for human beings to do with as they will; they are not God.” [3]

We are not to steal, because work is a gift from God and when someone steals they show contempt for other people’s work

  • Stealing, in the original context, could also be a life and death matter, depending on what was stolen and how poor the victim was

‘Do not accuse anyone falsely’, was originally a reference to not giving a false testimony in legal proceedings – don’t pervert justice in other words

  • But it could also mean don’t gossip or speak slanderous or deceptive words about anybody
  • We need to have each other’s backs in our conversations and guard one another’s reputations – this builds trust

Covetousness has to do with misplaced desire, envy, lust & greed and this last instruction is mostly concerned with a person’s inner life – the inclinations of the heart and the habits of the mind

  • The thing with coveting is that other people can’t usually tell when we are doing it – but God knows, because God looks on the heart
  • If we avoid coveting other people’s stuff then we will probably avoid breaking the previous five ‘love thy neighbour’ instructions

Conclusion:

There’s a lot more we could say about God’s recipe in Exodus 20 – in particular the way Jesus modified it and extended its meaning in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 – but that’s enough for today

The main thing to take away is that the Decalogue (God’s 10 Words of instruction) are a recipe for living well

The first step in the recipe is recognising God’s love for us

  • Grace comes before the Law
  • But even the Law itself is an expression of God’s grace
  • God gives His instructions so we can be free

The second step is us loving God

  • That means being loyal to Him & jealous for His reputation

The key ingredient which holds it all together is Sabbath rest

  • Sabbath is a creative act in that it keeps the forces of chaos at bay and connects loving God with loving our neighbour

To love our neighbour is to have their back – to stand beside them in commitment to their well-being as God is committed to our well being

  • Loving our neighbour requires a community attitude, in contrast to a competitive attitude

Let us pray…

[1] Terence Fretheim, Exodus, page 222

[2] http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/jealous

[3] Terence Fretheim, Exodus, page 233.

Tawa Baptist

God’s Plan

Scripture: Exodus 19:1-6

Title: God’s Plan

Structure:

  • Introduction – God’s plan
  • What God has done for Israel – Grace
  • What God expects of Israel – Obedience
  • What Israel will be (if they obey) – Purpose
    • A treasured possession
    • A kingdom of priests
    • A holy nation
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Today we continue our series in Exodus, focusing on chapter 19, verses 1-6

  • I will be reading from the New International Version this morning
  • So the words will appear on the wall shortly

At this point in the story the people of Israel have travelled to the foot of Mount Sinai – it has been 3 months since they left Egypt

  • The Israelites will camp at Sinai for 11 months while God gives them the Law
  • Today’s Scripture describes the first of Moses’ seven ascents up the mountain to meet with God
  • From Exodus 19, verse 1 we read…

 

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt – on that very day – they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

 

3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, ‘This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:

 

4 “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.

 

Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.’

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

In these verses Yahweh lays out his blue print for Israel

  • If you have a look on the back page of your newsletter you will see the basic outline of God’s plan for His people

Firstly, God recaps what He has done for Israel in delivering them from slavery in Egypt – step one is salvation by grace

Then God makes it clear (in general terms) what He expects of Israel and so step two is obedience

  • Obedience is the appropriate response to grace

And thirdly God explains what Israel will be (if they obey)

  • Step three, therefore, is about purpose
  • God’s purpose is for Israel to be…
  • A treasured possession
  • A kingdom of priests
  • And a holy nation

So that’s the basic outline of God’s plan for Israel

  • Let’s unpack each step of the plan a little now…
  • Firstly, God’s grace in delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt

eagle

What God has done for Israel – Grace

Tell me, when you see this eagle, what is it that comes to mind?

[Wait for people to respond]

 

Thanks for those thoughts

  • When I see a picture of an eagle in flight I mostly think, freedom
  • But I also think skill and good vision – eagle eyed

One fact I wasn’t aware of before preparing this sermon is that the mother & father eagle are known for their devotion to their young

  • More than most other birds they take great care over their eaglets
  • Another thing I learned is that young eagles need to be taught to fly
  • It doesn’t come instinctively to them
  • In fact, without an adult eagle to mentor them, young eagles won’t learn to fly – they learn by watching their parents and imitating what they do

 

In verse 4 the Lord says to Moses…

  • “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”

In this verse God is recapping what He has done for Israel in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt – this is stage one of God’s plan in retrospect

  • Israel have been carried by God out of harm’s way
  • They did not need to fight for their release – God fought for them
  • All they had to do was hold on and enjoy the ride
  • Israel did not do anything to earn this special treatment by God
  • It was done at God’s initiative and by His grace – freely

God hasn’t just carried the people out of Egypt, He has brought them to Himself

  • This speaks of a personal relationship and of being at home with the Lord
  • It also indicates that God’s presence is revealed in a special way here at Sinai, where the people are now camped

It’s interesting that God associates Himself with an eagle – a powerful & skilful bird that is known for its freedom – this fits because God is free

  • If we are to imply from the metaphor that Israel is like a young eagle learning to fly then we have a very powerful image
  • The Israelites, who had been slaves, were being told by God that they should think of themselves as free, like an eagle
  • But while they were free in principle, they still needed to learn how to fly
  • That is, Israel needed to learn how to use their freedom well, without falling, and God intended to teach them

The giving of the Law at Sinai needs to be understood in the light of the eagle metaphor

  • God didn’t give the Israelites a whole lot of rules to make their lives more difficult – he gave them the Law so they could learn how to fly safely
  • So they could get the most of life and enjoy their new found freedom

Okay – so that’s stage one of God’s plan – it starts with grace

  • The next stage covers Israel’s response to that grace
  • God makes it clear his expectation of the people is obedience

 cart before the horse

What God expects of Israel – Obedience

Who can tell me what’s wrong with this picture?

  • [Wait for people to respond]

Yes, that’s right – the driver has got the cart before the horse

The expression ‘cart before the horse’ is English idiom for getting things in the wrong order – the wrong way around

Obviously things work better when the horse pulls the cart

  • It doesn’t work so well when the cart is in the way of the horse

When it comes to Jewish faith (and Christian faith for that matter), the horse is God’s grace and the cart is our obedience

  • The horse of grace pulls the cart of obedience
  • Grace is the engine – it is the power for us to obey

Judaism and Christianity are concerned with keeping God’s grace in front and allowing the awareness of God’s grace to draw us into obedience

  • So we don’t do things for God in order to get Him to do things for us
  • That would be paganism
  • God does good things for us up front and then as a grateful and willing response we do what God asks

So when the apostle Paul (in the New Testament) said we are not saved by works but by grace through faith – what he meant was, ‘Don’t get the cart before the horse’

  • God’s grace comes first and gives us the willingness to obey

It’s interesting isn’t it that the book of Exodus gives us 19 chapters of God’s grace before it introduces the Law with the 10 commandments

  • Grace precedes law, like a horse precedes a cart

The wonderful thing about the horse of God’s grace is that it leads us in the way we should go and at the right pace

  • It is an intelligent horse – we don’t need to drive it – it will draw us along

Okay then – stage 1 of God’s plan is grace

  • Stage 2 is obedience
  • And stage 3 is purpose

What Israel will be (if they obey) – Purpose

From verse 5 of Exodus 19, God instructs Moses to say to the people…

  • Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be…
    • my treasured possession
    • a kingdom of priests
    • a holy nation

Clearly this is a conditional statement

  • If you obey me this is what you will be
  • Some things with God are unconditional – like His deliverance of the people from slavery in Egypt
  • It was all grace – a free gift, or more accurately a free ride

Other things with God are conditional – like whether or not we will fulfil the purpose He has for us

  • Fulfilling God’s purpose for us is not automatic – it depends (to some degree at least) on the choices we make

The horse of God’s grace will take us to the destination God has planned for us – but only if we attach our cart to the horse and stay on the cart

  • If we fall off the wagon (so to speak) then we can’t expect to arrive at the destination

A couple of weeks ago Robyn was offered some free tickets to the WOW festival (WOW stands for World of WearableArt)

  • Some people pulled out at the last minute and we had the option to use their tickets that night
  • Now I wouldn’t ordinarily go to something like this, but it was free, so I made the choice to accept the offer and we had a great time
  • What an amazing display of creativity
  • WOW is certainly the right word for it

The point is, although the tickets were free to us – a gift – our attendance at the event was not automatic

  • Fulfilling the purpose of the tickets was conditional on me changing my plans for the evening, driving into the city and collecting the tickets

It was like this with Israel

  • God was giving them a free ticket for a wonderful purpose – being His priests to the world
  • But whether Israel would actually fulfil God’s purpose for them was conditional on their obedience
  • They had to put aside their plans in order to go with God’s plan

As we’ve already noted verses 5 & 6 give three descriptions of God’s purpose for Israel – they are to be…

  • A treasured possession
  • A kingdom of priests
  • And a holy nation

These aren’t three separate things

  • They are three different but related ways of describing the same thing – Israel’s special relationship to Yahweh for the world
  • Israel don’t exist for themselves – they live for God’s purpose in the world

Each of the three descriptors highlights a unique perspective on God’s purpose for Israel

  • What then does it mean to be a ‘treasured possession’?

Imagine for a moment that your house is on fire

  • No one else is inside – only you
  • As it happens you have just enough time to rescue one item from the flames – your most treasured possession – What would you take?

Maybe the family photographs or your grandfather’s war medals or your mother’s wedding ring?

You probably wouldn’t take the TV or the microwave – those things can be replaced with insurance

  • You would be more inclined to take those things which have a special significance because of their association with people you love – right?
  • Things that can’t be replaced

In verse 5 we read that if Israel obeys Yahweh fully they will be His treasured possession – like the special photo you keep in your wallet or the heirloom wedding ring or the watch your grandfather gave you – something priceless

Now it is important to understand that God chose Israel as His people before they obeyed – their photo is already in His wallet

  • But whether their photo will be a painful reminder to God or a joyful one is conditional – it depends on Israel’s obedience

 

The second (and central) descriptor of God’s purpose for Israel is they are to be

  • A kingdom of priests

Most kingdoms are about ruling – being the boss in charge of other nations

  • But Israel is to be a kingdom of priests
  • A priest’s job isn’t to exert power and rule over people
  • A priest’s job is to serve people
  • So Israel is to be a servant nation, not a ruling nation [1]
  • God’s purpose for Israel is not total world domination
  • Rather God wants Israel to bless the other nations of the world
  • To this end priests act as mediators – representing other people to God

 

On the wall here is the picture of a linesman, working on overhead wires

  • Priests are a little like linesmen in that they work to restore the connection between God and people when the lines are down
  • In other words, priests pray (or intercede) for other people – especially those who are not able to pray for themselves

The whole world is God’s temple and Israel are to function as God’s priests in the world

  • They are to be a kingdom of priests both by representing others to God and by representing God to the world
  • Priests are God’s rep team
  • They make Yahweh known to others & they teach God’s ways to people
  • In particular Israel are to represent God by being a holy nation
  • You can’t expect to complete a marathon if you don’t do the training
  • You can’t expect to represent God as a priest if you live a life of drunkenness & debauchery

 

To be holy basically means to be different in a good way

  • If Israel obeyed the Lord then they would be distinctive from the nations around them
  • People would look at them and think: ‘Wow, they are on to it – we want what they’ve got.’

When Jesus talked about holiness in Matthew 5, he said to His disciples…

14 ‘You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

To be a holy nation therefore is to be distinctive – a light in the darkness

  • When all the other nations around them are worshipping many gods, Israel is to worship just one God, Yahweh
  • And when all the other nations around them are stealing and lying and committing adultery and wishing they could get their hands on their neighbour’s stuff, Israel are to look out for their neighbour’s well being

There is a cost to being holy – or different in a good way – and that is people don’t always like you or accept you

  • But Israel are to fear the Lord, not the nations
  • They are to care more for what God thinks than for what other people think

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard God’s plan for Israel in three basic steps:

  • Grace, obedience and purpose
  • God has rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt by His grace
  • And in response to that grace God is calling for their obedience
  • If they obey the Lord then Israel will serve a special purpose as God’s priests to the other nations of the world

This blueprint for Israel applies to Christians as well

  • While we were still sinners Christ died for us – the righteous for the unrighteous
  • Jesus is our rescue from slavery to sin & death – He is God’s grace for us up front before we’ve done anything to deserve it
  • In response to that grace we follow Jesus, in obedience to God
  • And if we obey the Lord in this way then we will be…
    • A treasured possession to God
    • A kingdom of priests

  • And a holy people

    •  

    The apostle Peter picks up God’s blue print in his letter to the churches, where he writes…

     

    9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

     

    11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.  

    Grace, obedience and purpose

    Let’s pray…

    [1] Durham 263, cited in Fretheim, Exodus, page 212.