Freedom and Responsibility

Reading

1 Corinthians 8

Introduction

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that life, at times, can be quite challenging. Particularly, perhaps, when we encounter change or something out of the ordinary.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I went to Bruges for a few days. It’s a beautiful place, and we really enjoyed our visit to a different country, but there were a few differences we had to contend with.

• We were envious of the quality of European trains in comparison with ours: they were clean, spacious, comfortable, smooth, and on time.
• The money’s different, so you’re never quite sure how much something really costs.
• They drive on the wrong side of the road, so you have to take extra care when crossing over.
• The whole place is overrun with bicycles, and cyclists think nothing of threading their way, at speed, through milling crowds. I even had to pull Hilary out of the way of one who bore down on us shouting, “Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!” through snarling teeth

We heard last week about marriage and singleness. Getting married is a bit like moving to a new country. There are lots of adjustments to make.

• We knew a recently-married couple who had a disagreement about dirty washing. He was used to putting it in the washing machine; she wanted it in the laundry basket.
• And then there’s the eternal problem of the position of the toilet seat.
• As someone once said, ‘When you’re married you have someone who’ll stand by you through all the problems you wouldn’t have if you’d stayed single.’

Becoming a Christian is a huge change. You’re moving to a new world! You’ve been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of light.

It’s an exciting, challenging voyage of discovery as you learn what God is like, what pleases him, and realise that a whole lot of stuff from your old way of life has to change.

The believers in Corinth were encountering just this situation for themselves. Just as a reminder of their situation, Corinth was an important hub in the ancient world. It was:

• a Roman colony and the administrative capital for the region it was in;
• at the crossroad of important land and sea trade routes, which made it very prosperous but also a melting pot for all manner of pagan beliefs;
• overshadowed by the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the sexual promiscuity of the city was notorious, even by the standards of the day.

Despite all that, Paul, over a period of around 18 months, established a thriving church, made up of some Jewish converts but mainly former pagans.
 

Perhaps you can imagine the huge reorientation Christian converts were facing, given the society they were embedded in. They had problems and lots of questions. So, after Paul had left, they wrote to him about various issues, and much of 1 Corinthians is Paul’s response to their questions.

The Issue

Today, we’re looking at Paul’s response to their question about eating food sacrificed to idols.

Now, this would perhaps be an issue for us if we lived in India, but it doesn’t seem very relevant in the 21st century United Kingdom. The Corinthians were perhaps hoping for a yes or no answer, but Paul’s response embodies a principle that applies in all kinds of circumstances where individual freedoms and personal responsibilities come into conflict.

So, what gave rise to the question?

In Corinth, pagan people took animals to temples to be sacrificed in worship to their idols. The priests made the sacrifice and the meat was served to the worshippers. The temples were popular places to eat. If there was surplus meat, the priests sent it to be sold in the market, a place where Christians bought food.

Some Christian believers thought you should have absolutely nothing to do with such food; others thought it was OK as long as nothing identified it as having been sacrificed to an idol; some, who’d been used to eating in temples in their pagan past, would’ve been confused about what was right or wrong for them now.
 

Paul develops his response through a series of contrasts, the first of which gives us a hint of the direction He’s heading in.

1-3: Knowledge cf Love

Paul puts it like this:

‘We all possess knowledge.’ But knowledge puffs up… Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.’

 

Knowledge is a wonderful thing that enriches life. I read Physics at university, so my head got stuffed with a whole pile of knowledge. Perhaps that seems impressive, but it doesn’t help you much (and I’ve forgotten most of it anyway!).

[Blow up balloon and hold it]

Here’s my head, stuffed with knowledge.

And, however much I may have studied, my knowledge is incomplete and faulty. There’s always more to learn, and things we’re certain of can turn out to be wrong. Around the start of the 20th century, much of physics was turned on its head by new and startling discoveries.

There’s every chance that could happen again!

[Release balloon]

So much for what I know!

[Hold up brick (which has the word LOVE embossed on it]

My good friend X has lent me one of his very precious bricks. It reminds me of you! We’re all bricks in God’s temple. Each of you is a brick with LOVE written on it.

Unlike the hot air in my balloon, this brick is solid, dependable, and durable.

... knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

With Love we can build. If I love my neighbour as I love myself, that’s good for my neighbour. It builds my neighbour up.

In his letter to the Galatians, who had their knowledge about law-keeping and circumcision in a mess, Paul wrote,

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Knowledge alone isn’t enough – even perfect knowledge; love shows the better way. 

[Put brick down with LOVE to front]

4-6: Idols cf God

Paul affirmed some of the knowledge the Corinthian believers held to:
 

… we know that ‘An idol is nothing at all in the world’ and that ‘There is no God but one.’

 

Much is said in the Old Testament about the futility of idols: they’re not real gods, they’re just fashioned lumps of wood or stone or metal—they can’t hear, they can’t see, they can’t do anything. 

But Paul reminds the Corinthians and us that God the Father is the origin of everything, he made all this vast universe; he’s the one we live for, who gives us purpose. 

And Jesus was the Father’s agent of creation, and the one who gives us life. 

Every day, devout Jews would’ve recited the Hebrew Shema, which begins: 

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength …

 

That phrase, ‘the LORD is one’ carries the sense that the LORD is the only God.  I’m sure Paul taught that fundamental and foundational truth in Corinth. And here in the passage, the point is made:
 

Idols count for nothing and God is all-in-all.

7-8: Fact cf Conscience

These facts being the case, what difference does it make that a piece of meat has been offered to an inanimate object? In verse eight Paul makes it quite clear that eating or abstaining from food makes no difference to our relationship with God. He can’t love us more, and he won’t love us less!

So, the Corinthian Christian armed with this knowledge can eat with a clear conscience, whatever the source of the meat. And in chapter 10, where Paul revisits this issue from a different angle, he says:

Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.’

But not everyone was armed with that knowledge. For some, eating food sacrificed to idols was just plain wrong; the meat is tainted in some way.

Now, if you know something is sin, you know you shouldn’t do it.

If you believe something is sin (although, actually, it isn’t), then you also shouldn’t do that. If you act contrary to your conscience (even though it’s not actually wrong), your kind of saying, ‘I don’t really care what God thinks about this.’

When I became a Christian at the age of 17, I soon discovered a lot of unwritten rules about what Christians shouldn’t do: don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t dance, don’t go to the cinema or theatre, etc.

When I went to university and mixed with Christians from different backgrounds, I was puzzled by behaviour of some of them. They did some of the things I believed were sinful.

Had I followed their example at the time, I probably would’ve had an almighty guilt trip. I’m very good at beating myself up.

Alternatively, having apparently got away with it, I may have found it easier to do something that actually is wrong. And once you’ve taken one step—who knows where it may end?

As it happens, the sin I fell into was not doing something I thought was wrong but passing judgement on the others!

As my faith and understanding grew, I learnt to recognise the rules that were just legalistic human rules: some of the knowledge I held was wrong!

In case you’re wondering, none of them was eating food sacrificed to idols, but the principle Paul sets out here applies more broadly than to just this one issue.

Doing a genuinely OK thing can create a stumbling block for someone else who thinks it’s wrong.

9-13: Rights cf Righteousness (Freedom cf Responsibility)

Imagine you’re a Corinthian. You know there’s nothing to an idol, and eating food that may have been sacrificed to it can’t harm you. So, you’re quite happy to eat it. In fact, you have a right to eat it if you want to.

And this is where knowledge puffs you up! You know your rights! But if you always insist on your rights there’s a real danger that you could harm someone else whose conscience you know is more easily bruised.

Paul uses a strong word:

So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

If they know it’s sacrificial meat, and see you eating, and it’s a problem for them, they may think, ‘It’s OK. I can do this.’ So they eat it too, and then suffer the agony of a guilty conscience.

Or, being emboldened by their action, they may think it’s OK to eat at temple feasts, and they end up getting get entangled again with idol worship.

But in chapter 10, Paul makes clear that Christians cannot participate in worship at pagan temples because what the pagans were actually worshipping were the demonic powers behind the idols.

In the end, it would have been better for them, and you, if you’d abstained from eating. Paul says,

When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

Love, Paul tells us, builds up, and he ends the passage with,

Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

To be clear, Paul isn’t declaring himself a vegetarian. He’s saying:

• Love doesn’t engage even in a legitimate action when offence is possible.
• Love will lay down its rights rather than cause harm.
• Because (1 Cor 13:7) ‘Love always protects.’

 

We are called to be Christ-like.

• Who had more rights than Jesus?
• Who could have called for 80,000 angels to save him from the cross?
• Who laid down his very life for his friends?
• Who bore our sins in his own body on the cross?
• Who said, ‘Love one another as I have loved you’?

Apparently, Bob Dylan once said, "I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom."

In Christ we have incredible freedom. But we are accountable for how we use our freedom.

Being right is never more important than doing right.

Summary

• Knowledge alone isn’t enough; [pick up the brick] love shows the better way.
• Idols count for nothing and God is all-in-all.
• Doing a genuinely OK thing can create a stumbling block for someone else who thinks it’s wrong.
• Being right is never more important than doing right.

The answer to the Corinthians’ question seems to be, In principle, it’s OK but whatever you feel at liberty to do, always consider the consequences for others. Let sacrificial love guide your actions.

In chapter 10, Paul puts it like this:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble …

And with the supreme example of Jesus in our minds, let’s end this sermon with prayer.

Offerings

Reading

Leviticus 1:1-14, 6:8-13

Introduction: Questions

Children ask interesting questions, don’t they? The most frequent and most annoying one is: Why?

Adults often don’t know the right answer or choose not to give the right answer.

• Where do babies come from?  Apparently, I was found under a gooseberry bush!
• Why are frogs green? Er… Ask your father.
• Where does God live?

We might answer that one with, “God lives in Heaven.” But the Israelites had a different answer. They would say, he lives in that big tent, just over there.

Can I go and see him now?  NOOoooo!!!!

As Luke so brilliantly illustrated for us last week, having God live next door is not without its problems. He’s not like us. We’re sinful and rebellious, he’s holy; so holy that no-one could look at him and live.  Like CS Lewis’s Aslan in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, he isn’t safe—but he is good.

When we get older we have a different set of questions. What’s life all about? What am I here for? Is there any purpose or meaning?

The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts the question like this: What is the chief end of man?

The answer it gives is: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

The answer’s a general summary of this whole book. We were made by God and for God; he desires to live among us, and he wants us to live in joyful communion with him. But how is that possible?

Sacrifices and Offerings

As we’ve journeyed with the Israelites through Exodus, we’ve seen part of the unfolding story of God working to bring about the fulfilment of his great desires.

Leviticus starts as Exodus ended.  The glory of the LORD has filled the tabernacle and Moses, who’s had many personal encounters with God—but has never seen his glory—dared not enter the tent.  How can the Israelites enjoy the presence of God?

From inside the tent God explains to Moses how to overcome the obstacles. We’re introduced to the idea of sacrifices and offerings.

Some of the offerings strike our modern minds as strange if not downright horrible but these things weren’t alien to the people of the day. People sacrificed to their gods to induce favourable behaviour from them: ‘I’ve done this for you, now you do that for me.’ Their sacrifices were very much a transactional affair.

The five offerings introduced here are entirely relational in their purpose; none of them is an attempt to twist God’s arm.

• God has already rescued his people.
• He’s made himself known to them in spectacular ways.
• He’s already committed to their well-being.
• He’s made his dwelling among them.

These offerings show:

• how the people can express their devotion to God,
• how to put their relationship with God right when things go wrong,
• and how they can enjoy his presence.

You’ll be relieved to hear that we won’t be looking at all the offerings in detail, or we’d be here for a very long time! We’ll look at just one of them and skim the rest.

We have:

The burnt or ascension offering was about giving your whole self to God and being accepted by him. We read instructions about this offering earlier.

The grain or tribute offering was firstly to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over all aspects of life, and secondly to express thanks for his gracious provision

There were no animals involved in this one. The main component was fine flour, which could be offered uncooked or baked in various forms along with oil, incense and salt, but never with yeast or honey.

Part was offered on the altar, along with the oil, salt and incense. The rest belonged to the priests.

The fellowship or well-being offering, could be used to express thankfulness, or to confirm a vow, or just because God is good and has blessed you.

This one did involve animal sacrifice, and there are specific instructions on what animals can be used, how the offering was to be handled, and what accompaniments were needed.

Specific parts of the animal were to be burnt on the altar; certain parts were to be given to the priest for food, and the rest was to be eaten and shared with people from the community, near the tent of meeting.

It was like sharing a celebratory meal with God.

All of these offerings could be brought by anyone and were entirely voluntary.

The last two are obligatory acts of atonement. There’s:

The guilt offering that dealt with serious violations of God’s holy things. It has a lot in common with the sin offering but also included an element of restitution for wrongs done to others.

The sin offering, which we’ll look at more closely.

The Sin Offering

Sin always causes a rift in our relationship with God. When we sin, we try to hide it from God and to hide it from others. The ultimate penalty for sin is death.

The sin offering provides atonement, a remedy for the offence, and removes the rift to restore the relationship.

(4:2) It’s for ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands – ’

To try and get a handle on what ‘unintentional’ means, Bible commentators look closely at the words used in the original language. They come up with a couple of ideas:

• inadvertant sin
• we can be in ignorance of the law
• we can lack awareness of the offensive nature of sin

•  going astray, wandering
• human weakness
• I know this is wrong but… 
• human frailty
• some trauma makes you take leave of your senses

The ritual of the sin offering is similar to what we read about the burnt offering. But there were some differences, depending on who was bringing the offering—the sin of some people has wider consequences.

Our sin affects not just us but also the person we’ve sinned against, and it can have a knock-effect to those closest to us, and those we have responsibility for.

For example, if a someone got caught in an act of gross misconduct at work, they’d lose their job, their livelihood, quite possibly their pension; they could even go to prison. Their family would suffer because of their sin.

And,

• If you were a priest, your sin would be an offence to the holy places in the Tabernacle, and how could you then speak on God’s behalf to the people, or to God on behalf of the people.
• If you were a leader in the community, your sin would’ve had consequences for the people you were responsible for.  Just think of the notable Christian leaders in recent times whose sins have come to light, and the impact that’s had on their congregations.
• If the whole community went astray, that’s clearly more serious than the sin of just one person.
  

In dealing with your sin, humility is needed.  You’d have to recognise that you’ve broken God’s law and that you can’t live anywhere near the presence of God without a remedy. But God, who loves you, has graciously prescribed a remedy: the sin offering. Let’s see what that looks like.

The Ritual

First of all, there’s the selection of the animal to be sacrificed.

• If you’re a priest, or the whole community has sinned, the victim must be a young bull.
• If you’re a leader, a male goat.
• If you’re an ordinary member of the community, either a female goat or a female lamb.

There are some exceptions.  If you were poor and couldn’t afford a lamb, you could bring two young pigeons. The blood of one would be used as your sin offering and the other would be burnt on the altar.

And if you were so poor you couldn’t afford that, you could bring about 3.5 lb of finest flour.

No-one is excused the cost of the offering, but these exceptions mean that no-one is denied the opportunity for atonement and forgiveness.

You have to bring the best you can to God, so you carefully choose the appropriate animal, making sure it’s without blemish or defect.

You lead the animal to the tent of meeting. At the entrance, you put your hand on its head to signify that you’re presenting it to the LORD as your sin offering. In essence, you lay your sin on the head of the animal.  If you won’t bring a sin offering—on your own head be it!

You might like to think that the priest would take over at this point, but no. Your next act is to take a knife and to slit its throat: it bears your sin and it’s life is given in place of yours.

It’s a horrible image, but it highlights the offensiveness of sin and the reality of its penalty.

Now the priest steps in and collects the gushing blood in a bowl and takes it into the tent.

If the priest were making this offering for his own sin or dealing with the collective sin of the people, he would first dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times on the curtain that separates the holy place where he’s standing from the holiest place where God lives.

Then he would dip his finger again and put blood on the four corners of the altar in the holy place where incense was burnt. He’s a priest. He has regular access to these holier places, and he has to preserve them against any desecration.

In all cases, he would dip his finger in the blood, and put some of it on each of the horns of the altar of burnt offerings just outside the tent. The rest, he pours out at the base of the altar.

The animal’s blood stands in for your blood; for the Hebrew, the life was in the blood.

Meanwhile, your next job is to butcher the animal. You have to remove all the visceral fat, the kidneys and the liver, the fat around the tail. You have to wash all this: you can’t offer God unclean things, and it reminds you that what God really wants from you is cleanness in your inner being.

The priest would then arrange these washed parts on the altar and make sure they’re burnt completely.

If you think back to our reading, you’ll recall that the fire on this altar was never to be allowed to go out. And that reminds you that God stands always ready to receive your offering as atonement and to forgive you.  God doesn’t want to lose you!

The rest of the animal becomes food for the priests, so it’s not been just a wasteful exercise in blood-letting. The only exception to this is for bulls offered for the sin of a priest or the collective sin of the people: the remains of that animal are to be taken to a ceremonially clean place outside the camp and burnt in a wood fire on the ash heap. Why? Because nobody can expect to profit from their sin.

Your offering now complete, you’ll remember the LORD’s words of assurance repeated multiple times about this offering: “In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.”

Leviticus is the first time in scripture where it’s made explicit that your sin can be atoned for through the ritual sacrifice of an animal. The theological term is substitutional atonement.  

A Better Sacrifice

What’s set down in Leviticus is important for the Israelites of the day but really these things are only pointers to a greater, better sacrifice that’s hinted at all through the Bible.  

Imagine the edge of the platform is a timeline for the history of the world.

So this bit here might be the Garden of Eden, but this is not where the story begins.

[Leave the room.]

The story begins out here. You can’t see me because I’ve left the realm of time and space.  I’m standing in Eternity.  

Peter, writing in the New Testament, says,

“¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

[Enter the room, stand at LHS.]

Before God created the world, he already knew we’d mess it up. Before any of us existed, before any of our sins had been committed, he chose his sacrificial lamb, God the Son, without blemish or defect, who would one day offer himself, his life for ours, his blood for ours.

And so God created the world.  He created human beings in his own likeness.  For a while, we don’t know how long, all was well.  Adam and Eve enjoyed the presence of God who walked with them in the cool of the evening.

[Step right].

Then—disaster!  Satan, allegorically called the serpent, tempted them and they disobeyed God.

• They discovered they were naked.
• They tried to hide from God but that didn’t work.
• They tried to make coverings for themselves from leaves but that wasn’t good enough.
• They were ejected from the presence of God before the damage got worse, they couldn’t remain in intimate contact with God.  
  

But God made them coverings from animal skins to cover their nakedness.  Blood was shed, pointing forward to the real sacrifice that would be made thousands of years later to cover our shame. 

[Step right. 4 or 500 years]

God still wants to be with people.  He calls Abraham, promises him the world, but Abraham has no heir.  So God gives him a son, Isaac.

God tests Abraham’s devotion.  ‘I want you to sacrifice your only son, Isaac, whom you love.’  Human sacrifice may not have been unheard of in Abraham’s time but he may have been surprised that his God asked for it!

Abraham and Isaac go of to make the sacrifice.  Isaac, not knowing what’s going on, says, “We’ve got fire and wood but where’s the lamb?”

Abraham replies, “God himself will provide the lamb.”  

Just as he’s about to kill Isaac, God stops him, and there in a thicket is a ram caught by its horns. Abraham offers that in place of Isaac, the ram’s life for his.

This points forward to the time when God’s only Son, whom he loves, would offer himself in the place of all of us.

[Step right. ~ 600 years]

We come to the Passover when God rescued Abraham’s descendants from Egypt.  The Passover lamb died in place of the Israelite first-born sons.  

This points forward to the time when God’s firstborn would die in our place to rescue us from the slavery of sin.

[Step right.]

In Leviticus, we have the sin offering we’ve thought about, pointing forward to the sacrifice of God’s chosen Lamb in a time yet to come.

[Step right. ~ 800 years.]

The Prophet Isaiah writes about a mysterious servant:

53 ⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

And

⁷... he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, …

Isaiah points forward to God’s lamb who would one day be slaughtered for the sins of his people, bearing their punishment.

[Step right. ~700 years]

Enter John the Baptist, who,

(John 1:29) … saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'

[Step right.]

A few short years pass and we come to Calvary.  Jesus has been arrested, tried, beaten.  A crown of vicious thorns has been smashed onto his head.  

It makes me think of the hand being laid on the head of the animal in Leviticus.  But for Jesus, it’s the hands and the sins of all who will come to him in faith. My hand. Your hand. My sins. Your sins. How could we do that to him?!  And yet …

He’s nailed to a cross and left to die outside the city, his blood staining the wood.

He is not just our sacrificial lamb. He is also our high priest.  He enters into the heavenly realms with his own blood, and remembering the words from Leviticus, “In this way [our high] priest [made] atonement for [us] for [every] sin [we’ve] committed [or ever will commit], and [we are] forgiven.”

[Step right.]

And that’s not the end of the story!  Paul writes in 2 Cor. That “… God was reconciling himself to the world in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.”  God still wants to live with people.

Jesus rises from the dead—sin and death are defeated—and God sends his Holy Spirit to dwell in each and every believer as “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.”  

[Step right.]

And the best is yet to come! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Beyond the wall there’s an eternal realm where we’ll fully realise our chief end: to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

[Centre stage]

The best is yet to come but we can begin getting to know God here and now.  As Paul writes, “… Now [we] know in part; then [we] shall know fully, even as [we] are fully known.”

Meanwhile, our response to all he’s done for us, as Paul tells us, is to “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.”  

This is our true worship – to live our lives in holiness because our God is holy, to find our true purpose in living for him.

I wonder,

• is there someone here caught in a sin, feeling ashamed or unworthy?
• or, you believe, but without assurance that your sins are really forgiven?

Charles Wesley expressed truth powerfully in his famous hymn, O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise:

[Jesus] breaks the power of cancelled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

See all your sins on Jesus laid:
The Lamb of God was slain,
His soul was once an offering made
For every soul of man.

Just sit in quietness for a moment reflecting on what Jesus has done for us.

On top of the Mountain

Reading

Exodus 19

Introduction

If someone had convinced you on Friday morning that God was going to show up today in awesome power and holiness, how would you have felt about that? How would you have prepared yourself to encounter God? Would you even be here, or would you have stayed away?

Have you ever wondered what your life is all about; what your life as a Christian is all about?

The passage we’ve just read gives some idea what such an encounter could be like and some answers to those questions about life.

Setting the Scene

A couple of months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites have set up camp in front of Mount Sinai. This was where God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and sent him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Starting at chapter 18, we see the Israelites being transformed into a nation under God. In chapter 19, the people encounter God for themselves, and beginning in chapter 20, God tells his already redeemed people how he expects them to live.

Promises and Purpose

They’ve arrived, and they’ve set up camp. The next thing Moses does is to climb the mountain to meet with God.

On top of the mountain, God gives Moses a message for his people. First of all, God wants to remind them of all he’s done for them so far.

⁴“You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

And God wants them to know the plans he has for them.

“⁵Now 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, ⁶you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

There are wonderful promises here.

Do you have a treasured possession? Perhaps something left to you by a favourite aunt or uncle? Maybe your grandad’s war medals or your football trophies? Or, given the number of people here who engage in a particular form of exercise, your electric bike?

How do we treat our treasured possessions? We protect them, handle them carefully, we give them pride of place. We show them off, or maybe hide them away; we think about them, talk about them.

As Jesus said, “… where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also.” (Matt. 6:21) And God says to his people, “you will be my treasured possession.” Out of all the peoples on earth, they’ll be the people closest to his heart and foremost on his mind.

He says, “… ⁶you will be for me a kingdom of priests…” A priest stands as an intermediary representing God to the people and the people to God. And God’s plan is for his people to represent God before all the nations on earth, and to be instrumental in bringing the nations close to God.

He says, “… you will be for me … a holy nation.” There’s that word ‘holy’. I think it’s a word we struggle with because we can have all kinds of ideas about what it means. A definition I’ve found helpful is, “Not for ordinary use.”

When I was in the sixth form, my friend who led me to the LORD brought his guitar to school because we were leading school assembly that day. One of the lads picked it up and started singing a folk song that had fairly mild swear words in it. My friend took great offence and told him to stop because his guitar was for worship, not for that kind of music. It was not for ordinary use. For him, it was a holy thing.

The nation of Israel was not to be for ordinary use. Israel was to be set apart – another way of thinking of holiness – for the special purpose of making God and his ways known to the world.

These are wonderful promises, but for all this to happen there were conditions to comply with.

They were no longer to live life just as they saw fit. To show God to the world, they had to live God’s way. He needed their full obedience.

The measure of the obedience required was to be enshrined in the covenant he was about to make with them. They needed to commit to their part in keeping the covenant.

God is very good at keeping covenants. Back in Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham. He promised to make him into a huge nation, to give him the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed.

But Abraham and Sarah had problems with infertility. They were childless, but God gave them a son, Isaac, and the vast number of people now gathered in Sinai, the descendants of Abraham, showed that God had kept the first part of his promise.

The new nation of Israel is about to begin the journey to fulfil the second part of God’s promise to Abraham: possessing the land.

The third part … we’ll come back to that later.

And now God is about to make another covenant with the whole nation. There are promises, and there are terms and conditions. It’s like God says, ‘Here’s the destination I’ve planned for you, but my way is the only road that will get you there.’

So Moses goes back down the mountain and tells the elders all that God has said to him. They like what they hear. Their response is, “⁸… ‘We will do everything the LORD has said.’”

So Moses goes back up the mountain and reports their response to God.

God wants the people to know that it’s not just Moses telling them how to live. They need to know that Moses is doing as God instructs him. He’ll come down to the mountain to make himself known. He’ll come shrouded in a dense cloud. God is so holy they could never look on him and live!
Prepare to meet your Maker

They’re given two days to prepare.

They have to prepare the venue. Wherever God is becomes holy! The mountain must be set apart as holy.

They have to put a boundary around it which they cross on pain of death. They can’t cross the boundary even to deal with trespassers or they’ll be trespassing too! They can only approach the mountain when they hear the sound of a ram’s horn.

They have to prepare themselves. They can’t be casual in coming into the presence of a holy God. Even those who’ve been acting as priests, and think of themselves as having right of access must also consecrate themselves. The traditional Jewish understanding here is that, in the time before the Levitical priesthood, the firstborn in households would have acted as priests.

They all have to be clean before this holy God, so they must wash their clothes and abstain from sexual relations.

They spend two days getting everything ready. How might you have spent the last two days if you knew God would turn up in power today? Our God is still, awesome, powerful and holy. We do well to remember that.

On the third day, God comes down.

I want to read verses 16 to 20 again, from a different translation (NLT) with a more expressive style. What I’m about to read sounds like a volcanic eruption, but Mount Sinai isn’t a volcano and never has been. There’s no natural explanation for what you’re about to hear. This is God!

¹⁶On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled.

¹⁷Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

¹⁹As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply.

²⁰The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.

Poor Moses! He’s just climbed the mountain again, but God is so concerned for the safety of his people that he tells him to go back down and warn them again to keep away. The manifest presence of God is dangerous for sinful people!

The next chapter begins, “And God spoke all these words:”. But we’ll hear more about that in a couple of weeks time.

The people’s response to what they’ve witnessed is recorded in later chapter 20:

¹⁸When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us or we will die.’

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

Reverence for God is a good thing to hold on to to keep you from sinning.

Now, to cut a long story short, the Israelites didn’t live up to God’s expectations. They didn’t really learn reverence for God to keep them from sinning.

They failed to keep God’s law and followed the ways of the nations around them; they gave themselves up for ordinary use rather than being God’s holy nation.

As for their priestly role, centuries later the prophet Isaiah wrote, “26:^18bWe have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.”
A New Covenant

Another covenant was needed and God must visit the earth again. John writes in his gospel,

“3:¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world and preached the message, “… The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent, and believe the good news. ” (Mark 1:15b)

The purposes of God always prevail.

Humanly speaking, Jesus was born a descendant of Abraham, and through Jesus, all the nations of the world have been blessed just as God promised Abraham. The church has spread throughout the earth.

The Lord’s sacrificial death and his resurrection have made it possible for anyone and everyone who will repent and trust in Jesus to know God for themselves.

Jesus is still building his Church. It’s true that the institutional ‘church’ has made many mistakes down the ages. But the true church, the Kingdom of God, has grown and grown as people have heard of Jesus, changed their thinking and reverently put their trust in him.

To God’s special people, the people of the Kingdom, Peter writes in his first letter:

⁹ … you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, (now, where have we heard that before?) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once 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.

People of the kingdom, gathered here in this place: this is what you are! Living this out, actively being God’s people is the best thing we can do as a church.

Remember that, as God’s treasured possession, we’re on display. Our priestly role includes being ambassadors and servants, showing God to the community, drawing others into the kingdom.

God is at work among us and is leading us forward. That should encourage us to forge ahead with the work that God gives us to do.

And together we’ve identified four areas of need we can get involved with to help us practically show the love of God. These were mentioned earlier in our service today

It would be good to get involved with these as much as you’re able, but, over and above all that, let’s be the holy people of God. Peter continues in his letter.

“¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. ¹²Live 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.”

Let’s not be for ordinary use. And remember that having a proper reverence for our holy God will help to keep you from sinning.

The New Testament writer of Hebrews refers back to the events in Exodus to tell us that we’re in a better position than the Israelites were. In chapter 12 he writes:

¹⁸You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; ¹⁹to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, …

²²But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

Jesus, the one who speaks to us, is the only hope there is. But he is a sure and certain hope.

Summary

We’re not for ordinary use.

Together with believers throughout the world:

• we are God’s chosen people,
• we are a royal priesthood,
• we are a holy nation, and
• we have a purpose to fulfill.
  

Let’s remember to maintain a reverence for God and give him the obedience to is worthy of.

In closing, hear some further words from Hebrews 12:

²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’

The Exodus

Reading

Exodus 12

 

Previously on “Exodus”

God’s people are under ruthless oppression:

• Moses’ has brought the promise of deliverance to the Hebrew elders; at first, they believe Moses and worship the Lord who has heard their cry.
• After Moses first confronts Pharaoh, the oppression gets worse, and the Hebrews make clear to Moses they are not impressed.
• Encouraged by God, Moses and Aaron press on faithfully, forewarning Pharaoh about each plague coming to Egypt.
• Plague after plague leaves Pharaoh remaining stubborn, and God reinforces his stubbornness.

In this week’s thrilling instalment – 

Deliverance!

Now, Pharaoh may have remained unmoved despite all that was happening to his nation but others have noticed what’s going on.
 

When Moses announces the 8th plague (locusts), Pharaoh’s officials tell him, for goodness’ sake let them go! Can’t you see Egypt is ruined? Pharaoh tries to retain control with a compromise, but it’s less than God requires – and so the locusts arrive.

And the 9th plague (darkness) also fails to convince Pharaoh.
Somewhere along the way, the penny must have dropped for the Hebrews.  They would have seen what was going on in Egypt but, miraculously, not where they were living; their animals didn’t die; they didn’t get hail; the darkness came nowhere near them.
By the time we get to the final plague, the people must have been ready to listen to Moses again.  They’d begun to believe they really were leaving.
And so we come to the final plague.  Back in chapter 4, where God has been explaining to Moses all that was going to happen, he finished with:

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

 

In the cultures of the day, the firstborn son was special and precious.  He was the sign of strength, the continuation of the family line.  He enjoyed a highly privileged position within the family.  

That’s how it was in Egypt, so Pharaoh should have understood from what Moses told him how important Israel was to God.  But, despite all he’d seen, he hadn’t understood that God was able to do what he said – after all, it’s not so bad: nobody died!

The final, horrendous judgement against Egypt is already determined: the death of the firstborn sons from the highest in the land to the lowest, and even among the livestock.

From our modern perspective, this seems incredibly harsh.

But think about events that happened not so very long ago, a time when, once again, the Jews were in jeopardy. 

The Nazis tried to eliminate them from Europe, rounding them up first into ghettos, then transporting them to concentration camps. There, if they were fit enough, they were worked to death, or, if they weren’t able to work through age or illness or just being a nursing mother and child, they were exterminated without a second thought.  

The idea of hunting down and wiping out the Nazis seemed then like just retribution.

The sins of Egypt were not much better.

•  A previous Pharaoh had ordered the extermination of all Hebrew boys – as far as we know, that edict was ever rescinded.
• The Hebrews were enslaved and put to harsh labour; we’re told in chapter one that ‘the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly’, since before Moses was born, and Moses is now 80.

We’ve been hearing how God is not like us; he’s holy, altogether different.  He is also always totally just.  He would never do anything unjust.

From God’s perspective, the just penalty for sin is death.  
 

He could have justly wiped Egypt from the face of the earth – but, in this final plague, God limited his judgement.

Actually, the Hebrews are sinful too: we’ll see as their story unfolds that, like Pharaoh they’re, stubborn – they’re disobedient, rebellious, unbelieving.

Can a just God punish the sins of Egypt and ignore the sins of the Hebrews?  

God provides a just way to protect his people from the judgement of the final plague.  God gives the people instructions for this key phase of their deliverance from Egypt.

It’s the month of Aviv, in the springtime.  On the 10th of Aviv, each household is to select a year old lamb or kid, a male, more costly than the female, one without defect, perfect, the best.  They’re told, take care of it for 4 days.  It’s precious: it will be food for the journey, and a sacrifice in the place of their firstborn sons.

They’re to slaughter the lamb at twilight on the 14th of Aviv, to roast it whole and eat as much as they possibly can.  And because it’s a sacrifice, wholly given over to God, they’re to burn anything they’re unable to finish.

And they’re told, if your neighbour’s household is too small to cope with a whole lamb, invite them over to share in yours.

They’re to take some of the lamb’s blood and put it on the door frame as a sign to the Lord who said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.  No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

 
The lifeblood of sacrificial lamb stands in place of the lifeblood of the firstborn son.

And they’re told to eat in haste and to be dressed for the journey, ready to leave in a hurry.  
In springtime in Egypt, the sun sets at about 6pm.

Let’s imagine the scene at a Hebrew house near to where the Egyptians live. The sun sinks quickly below the horizon and in the twilight the men slaughter the lamb, do whatever preparation is necessary, then take it indoors for roasting.

The whole household, and perhaps their neighbours, crowd into the house.  They’ve been told to stay inside the house.

The adults are quiet, anxious, exchanging glances and nervous smiles. They’re all on edge as they wait while the lamb cooks, and fat starts to drip and flare up on the fire.

The children are up past their bedtimes. The little ones pick up on the tension in the air.  They’re over-tired, whingey and irritable. The older kids get bored and argumentative.  One of them looks at the roasting lamb and says, ‘I don’t like meat, I want beans.’  They haven’t really grasped what’s going on.
 

But not the firstborn son.  He tugs on his dad’s sleeve.  ‘Dad? Did you do what Moses said you had to do with the blood?’

‘Of course I did, son.  You’re my precious boy.’
 

The boy looks unconvinced, so dad picks up an oil lamp, takes him by the hand and leads him to the door.  He opens the door and, being very careful to stay inside, he says, ‘There’s the blood, on the lintel, on the side-posts.  That will keep you safe.  God said so.’
 

The boy breathes a huge sigh of relief.
 

Apparently, it takes about five hours to roast a whole lamb, so by the time the meal’s cooked, it’s already approaching Midnight.  The lamb is torn apart and handed around to everyone, with bitter herbs and bread without yeast.  The hosts make sure everyone gets enough.
 

At this point, they’ve obeyed all that God told them to do.  All they can do now is wait, and trust.
Perhaps even while they’re still eating, someone hears a noise, a scream.  They look out the window, and in the Egyptian homes nearby, lamps are being lit.  The sound of wailing, devastated parents grows louder, and louder, and louder.
 

God’s judgement has fallen, and there’s someone dead in every Egyptian house, including the palace.  Finally, Pharaoh has learned the fear of the Lord:

³¹During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. ³²Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.’

³³The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. ‘For otherwise,’ they said, ‘we will all die!’ ³⁴So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. ³⁵The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. ³⁶The Lord had made the Egyptians favourably disposed towards the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

After 430 years, the Israelites escape bondage and leave Egypt laden with riches they didn’t earn.
We’re told there were 600K men, plus women and children, plus many other people.  If you think it through, you can easily work the numbers up to something well in excess of 1.5m people on the move.  With all their livestock.  Imagine that scene.

Egypt is left devastated.  On top of everything, they have no-one to do all the work!

Memorial

For the Hebrews however, this is a complete reset, a new beginning, a time worth remembering.  They’ve been set free!

Memory is a funny thing.  For some reason it can be easy to remember the things we want to forget and easy to forget the things we ought to remember.

I won’t ask for a show of hands, but I wonder how many men in here have ever forgotten their wedding anniversary?  It doesn’t go down well, does it?  You’ll only do it once!

God wants his people to remember their deliverance from slavery.  Not a deliverance that they achieved but a deliverance that God provided for them with his outstretched arm and mighty hand.  
This is never to be forgotten.

They’re given two ways to remember.  

• All their firstborn belong to God and they are to be redeemed by the sacrifice of a lamb.  So this will be an ongoing reminder in family life.
• They are to celebrate a feast every year on the anniversary of their liberation.

Twice God instructs Moses, and twice Moses instructs the people about the Festival of Unleavened Bread.  So, Jews reading Torah later in their history get told four times to celebrate the Passover.  
It’s really important they remember that their very existence as a people is entirely down to God’s intervention and to his glory.

Unleavened bread is basically bread made without yeast.  At the time of the exodus, the people had prepared dough for their bread but hadn’t had the time to mix the yeast in.  

In preparing for the memorial feast the people are to make sure there’s no leaven in the house.  Later, leaven came to represent sin or evil, so clearing out the leaven becomes an act of purification.

There were times of neglect at various stages in their subsequent history when it seems that nothing God had commanded was observed, and then there were times of recovery when Passover was celebrated again.

A Loud Echo

The Exodus of long ago prefigures another, even greater rescue provided by God.  1400 years or so later, Passover is being celebrated annually, and Jesus is walking the earth.

There’s a greater tyrant abroad in the world than Pharaoh, a more insidious enslavement than Egypt.
By nature, we walk right into the trap.  Isaiah tells us,

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. (Is. 53:6)
All the problems in the world today stem from that.  We turn our backs on God.  We turn our backs on our neighbour.  We look out for number one.  

Sin gets a grip and imprisons us under the tyranny of Satan who lurks in the shadows, tempting, corrupting, destroying.  And we don’t even realise we’re in captivity.  

We think we’re having a good time!  Unless we’re on the receiving end of other people’s bad behaviour.  

We can’t get ourselves out of the mess, and it’s our own fault we’re in it.  And the just penalty for sin is still death!

John the Baptist said of Jesus, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’
This time, the rescue is not only for the Israelites – it’s available to all the people in the world.
Jesus celebrated his final Passover with his disciples.  He took bread and wine and said, ‘This is my body, this is my blood… Do this in remembrance of me.’

The disciples didn’t understand what he meant at the time.  But Jesus is the Passover Lamb provided by God. He’s the costly, unblemished, one and only Son; God’s true ‘firstborn’.

He was about to be crucified.  He became the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice that atones for the sins of the world, for any who recognise their desperate need and put their trust in him.

We’re told that many others left Egypt with the Hebrews, probably other slaves, maybe some Egyptians.  They were given the opportunity to share in the blessings and celebrations of God’s people.
For them, the cost was to yield themselves to the covenant God had made with his people, surrendering their old ways.

If they did that, they were accepted as though they were native-born Hebrews.

As a result of what Jesus did, we can be adopted by God and enjoy the full blessing of his family.  For us, the cost is to abandon our own, sinful ways and to draw near to God, relying entirely on the sacrifice made by Jesus on our behalf.

As the blood of the first Passover lamb stained the wooden door frame, so the blood of Jesus stained the wooden cross.  

We deserve death; he died in our place. 

The lifeblood of God’s one and only Son was offered in place of ours.

That was the enormous cost of our freedom.

2000 years later, as we share in communion, we remember his offering for us. Paul writes to the Colossian church, that

Col 1:13 – God ‘has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’

 

The power of sin broken forever – ‘sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace’. (Romans 6:14)

The penalty of sin paid in full – ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1); every shred of wrath fell on Jesus: as Isaiah said, ‘… the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’

Invitation

Has anything this morning resonated with someone here?  Have you recognised that you’re in a kind of captivity and you can’t get out of it?

Jesus is the Saviour. He can lead you out of the darkness, into the kingdom of light.  He can set you free.  He can forgive every sin you’ve ever committed.

That doesn’t mean that life will be easy, that there’ll be no struggles or difficulties.  But you will have hope, God will be with you, and you’ll have the support of God’s family along the way.

Daniel 4

Reading

 Daniel 4

Introduction

Have you ever had a dream come true? There are dreams I’d rather not have come true! Now, I’ve no idea what I dreamt about last night, but I have in the past had a dream about standing at the front of church in my underwear—and I hope that’s one that never comes true!

Our dog dreams, and she sometimes lies there in her bed yapping and running, and I remember seeing online once a film of a dog doing this, and its dream came true, because it was so aggressive in its running that it actually got up and ran into the wall! So, dreams can come true.

And then we all have those classic anxiety dreams. We’re trying to get somewhere but whichever route we take, whatever bus we get on, it’s going the wrong way. We get off that, go somewhere else; and you get in your car and find you’re riding a bike, and all that kind of thing goes on. Dreams are weird, and who knows what dreams are about.

But sometimes dreams are amazing and this is a dream that we’ve read about today which, for this man Nebuchadnezzar, came true.We’ve arrived, today, at the end of the amazing story of God’s dealings with Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king on earth in his day.  

He seems to combine into one the controlling, manipulative oppression of Vladimir Putin, the narcissistic arrogance of Donald Trump and the dark, brooding menace of Xi Jinping’s China!

It’s a story about God’s amazing grace.

You may remember from Daniel chapter one that the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar tried to further subvert their identity by training important exiles to live like Babylonians.

With superb irony, the story ends with the whole scheme being turned on its head and Nebuchad­nezzar becomes a worshipper of the Hebrew God.

In today’s chapter

• we’ll learn that our God uses all manner of ways to make himself known
• we’ll think about using our testimonies as a way for us to make God known
• we’ll see that, in a world that’s gone bonkers, we can be assured that God really is in control
• and we’ll learn that humility is something God values greatly.

Our God Makes Himself Known

God communicates with people in many different ways.

• Nature itself speaks of God.  As Psalm 19 tells us, ¹The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
• He speaks through his written word, the Bible,
• and supremely through his living word, Jesus himself.
• God can speak through sermons—who’d have thought that?
• And God can even speak through dreams!

The Bible has plenty of examples of God speaking through dreams: Jacob and his stairway to heaven; Joseph of techni-coloured dream-coat fame; and, in the New Testament, a different Joseph was told in a dream it was OK to marry Mary, and in another warned to get the infant Jesus away from the threat from Herod.

[name redacted], a professor of New Testament, wrote in Christianity magazine recently, 

‘I became interested in … dreams … of Jesus after serving … in the Middle East as a missionary…  I met Muslims from Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Gaza and Iraq who had converted to Christianity as a result of having dreams … about Jesus. … .’

Peter, preaching to the crowd on the day of Pentecost quotes from Joel,

“In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.”

I can remember four dreams which were clearly God speaking to me.  I must have been an old man way before my time!

But if you do have a dream you think may be from God, check it out: test it against scripture, talk to wise counsellors – like Nebuchadnezzar did. 

Why would God speak in dreams?  Maybe we’re so distracted sometimes it’s the only way he can get our attention!

Up to this point in Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar hasn’t learnt his lesson.  He was impressed by Daniel’s handling of his earlier dream, which we heard about two weeks ago.  In that dream, God dropped a huge hint to Nebuchadnezzar: Your kingdom won’t last forever, you know.  But mine will! Then last week we heard how he’d witnessed God’s miraculous power in rescuing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the blazing furnace.

Then Daniel interpreted this latest dream—which was bad news for Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel tells him (and I’m paraphrasing): I wish this wasn’t about you, but it is.  You’re too big for your boots and God is going to take you down more than a peg or two.  You’ll get it all back, but not until you’ve learnt your lesson.  Stop being an evil tyrant.  Perhaps it won’t happen.

But no.  Nebuchadnezzar continues in his arrogant pride.  In verse 30, ‘… he said, 

‘Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?’

And the threatened judgement is carried out. The dream came true! The man who “[had] become great and strong; [whose] greatness [had] grown until it [reached] the sky, and [whose] dominion [extended] to distant parts of the earth” is cut down. (v30)

For a time, he loses everything—including his mind.  Somehow, in all his madness, he finally gets it!  He “[acknowledges] that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.” (v25)

God graciously keeps his promise of restoration, and a much-improved Nebuchadnezzar becomes even greater than before.

God has spoken; finally, Nebuchadnezzar has heard.

God still speaks; are we listening?

The Value of Testimony

A couple of weeks ago I went to the North East Gospel Partnership meeting, as did many of us.  It was a great meeting but the highlight for me was the testimony of a man who’d suffered PTSD during his service as a Royal Marine.  As a result, his life had spiralled down into addiction and dissipation; then he found Jesus, and everything changed!

Daniel 4 is Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony.  He’s encountered the Living God.  He’s been deeply humiliated—you’d think he’d want to keep that quiet.  But he’s also been shown incredible mercy by God.

The transformation he’s undergone is so complete that he wants everyone to know about it.  He’s saying, “Don’t look at me, look at Him!”

Another way God speaks is through the testimony of his people—our lives and our testimonies point the people around us to God.

But sharing our stories with other people isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

• We might feel that our story is too ordinary. It’s perhaps not as dramatic as Nebuchadnezzar’s, or the former Royal Marine’s.  But that’s OK.  Most of the people we meet are ordinary like us.  Our ordinary stories are relevant.

Your seemingly ordinary testimony can be used powerfully by the Holy Spirit.  Not everyone will be impressed with what you say.  But my stumbling determination to follow Jesus began because a school friend spoke about his faith.

• We might feel we don’t know the answers to all the questions we could be asked.  And there are some big questions!  But what you do know is how you came to know Jesus and the difference he’s made to you.

I can’t give anyone scientific proof of the existence of God, but I can share experiences that mean I can never doubt his existence or that he loves me!

• We might feel we don’t know how to begin telling our story.  It was easy for Nebuchadnezzar: I’m the king; you listen!

Peter writes in his first letter, 

… Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, …

One way to be prepared is to get used to telling our stories.  Perhaps we can begin among people we know well in our Connect groups.  We can share there without fear or embarrassment.

• We might not feel brave enough to tell our stories.  Sometimes we just have to take the plunge!    Daniel wasn’t too keen on having to speak up for God once he knew the interpretation of the dream.  Verse 19 says, ‘Then Daniel … was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him.’

Fortunately, Daniel had a good relationship with the king who encouraged him to spill the beans.  Good relationships are always helpful.

God can speak to others through your testimony.  When you do need courage to speak, remember that God is in control.

God is in Control

Verses 25 and 32 tell us the lesson that Nebuchadnezzar had to learn: ‘… the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.’

God expects authority to be exercised justly and with humility, not with injustice and arrogant pride.  But human beings abuse authority—Nebuchadnezzar is a prime example of that.

God used Babylon as an agent of judgement against Israel’s waywardness.  The Israelites are taken into exile, but even there, God is in control of their destiny, protecting them and preserving them for the promised return to their own land.

But Babylon is a corrupt power and has incurred judgement for its own sin.  Nebuchadnezzar has already been told his kingdom was temporary.  God is in control.

We look at the world today.  Tyrants are still at large.  We could easily fall into fear and despair.
Our God is still in control.  Surely judgement must come.

Thinking of an issue closer to home, we’ve had some disappointing news this week about our acquisition of this building.  But I want to say to you: don’t lose hope; God is in control!

• Remember that a blazing furnace was no problem for God; God was in control.
• An arrogant, all-powerful king was no problem for God; God was in control.
• Do you believe that what’s happening here is a work of God? He is still in control.
• Even if we have to buy this building, God can provide; he is in control.
• Even if God has something else in mind for us, he is still in control.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

God is in control!

Humility

The chapter ends with Nebuchadnezzar saying about God, ‘… those who walk in pride he is able to humble.’

The root of his sinful behaviour was arrogant pride.  His attitude was, “I can do what I want to whomever I want, however I want, whenever I want; and no-one can stop me!”

Scripture tells us that God requires us ‘to act justly and to love mercy, and walk to humbly with [our] God.’  

Nebuchadnezzar got all of those requirements wrong.  At least his humility issue got resolved!  I hope that led him into just and merciful action for what remained of his reign.

Humility is a quality that God values greatly.  It isn’t about being a doormat for people to wipe their feet on.  It’s not about having a dim view of ourselves.  It’s about having a right view of ourselves, especially in relation to God and to others.  It’s the attitude that I have no special importance that makes me better than anyone else.

The greatest example of humility I can think of is Jesus himself.  Here’s a well-known New Testament passage: (Philippians 2)

⁵In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
⁶who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death –
even death on a cross!
⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

What a contrast with Nebuchadnezzar!  The one who truly has all the power in the universe doesn’t use it to dominate and dictate like some cosmic bully.

Jesus had a right view of himself: he is God!  Yet he sets it all aside to come and do something about our problem.  We were lost, as good as dead because of our proud refusal to live God’s way.
We cannot find our own way back to God, so Jesus came and made a way for us.

We deserved death.  He died in our place.

Now, Jesus is the King of God’s everlasting Kingdom, and anyone, even someone as bad as Nebuchadnezzar, can be rescued, forgiven, transformed and welcomed into God’s family.

Jesus himself is our only way back to God.  He’s the one to follow!

Summary

So, winding all this up

• Our Most High God speaks to people in many ways to make himself known.
• Our stories, however spectacular, however ordinary, can encourage others to look for him.
• Our God is fully in control of this world and all our circumstances.
• He calls us to walk in humility in loving relationship with him and with each other, following the example of Jesus.

Longing for God

Reading

Psalm 130

Introduction

This is a true story. A musician—I can’t remember who—has about 20 guitars in his music room. Someone asked him how many guitars would be enough. He answered, “One more…”

If there was one thing you could have more of, what would it be?

• More money?
• More health?
• More friends?
• More holidays?
  

All of these would be nice but do any of them really satisfy the deep needs of the human heart?

How about more of what church used to be like? Personally, I’d like more than church ever was. I want

• more of God in our church,
• more of God in my life.
  

I’d like people to have

• more assurance that their sins are forgiven,
• more awareness that God actually loves them,
• more confidence in sharing their faith.
  

The psalm we’re looking at came to my attention as one of the lectionary readings for one of my preaching dates this year but didn’t seem to be the thing to preach on at the time. But something in it caught my eye and resonated with me. Verses 5 and 6 say,

⁵I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,

and in his word I put my hope.

⁶I wait for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

(NIV)

Something of the psalmist’s intense longing for God comes across. I wonder, do you and I ever experience this depth of yearning for the presence of God?

Now, it’s true that God is everywhere, and there is nowhere that we can flee from his presence, but there are times when the presence of God is a whole lot more than a notional concept; when we are a lot more aware of his presence; when God moves in powerful ways.

Have you ever been in church when the peace of God has descended on everyone present and you’ve not wanted to leave?

In the great revivals of the past, the tangible presence of God caused people to weep for their sins and cry out to God for mercy. Miraculous events happened, with healing, deliverance, and lives being changed.

If we’re to see the demise of our churches arrested and reversed, we certainly need something more than what we’ve had.

Jesus said, ‘… apart from me you can do nothing.’ One implication of this is that if we’re to be the church God wants us to be, Jesus must be the centre and focus of it, otherwise everything we do will amount to nothing. Another implication is that, even though God is everywhere, it is possible to be apart from him.

To move forward as a church, to be all that God intended us to be, we need God’s guidance, God’s presence.

Psalm 130

This psalm is charged with desperation and yet, ironically, is full of hope, and we can learn a few things about seeking God from it.

Verses 1 and 2. The psalmist is more than down in the dumps: ‘Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD’. Yet, even down that deep hole, he knows the LORD is the one with the answers.

Are you in a hole? Cry out to the LORD!

We need mercy from God to turn things around. Apart from him we can do nothing.

Cry out to the LORD!

Verses 3 and 4. The psalmist is only too aware of his own shortcomings and the failings of God’s people, and he knows that sin damages their relationship with God. Psalm 66:18 says, ‘If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD would not have listened’ (NIV) and Isaiah 59:1-2 tell us, ‘¹Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. ²But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.’ (NIV)

If we seek the face of God, we will need to take stock. There will be a necessity for repentance, both personal and corporate. And the psalmist has great words of encouragement here. ‘...with [God] there is forgiveness...”

And when God forgives, the record is cleared; he doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve! When we find that forgiveness, how thankful we are! It leads us to a deep reverence for God, and allows us to return to fruitful service.

‘⁴But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.’

Verse 5. How is the psalmist sure he can obtain forgiveness? Because God’s word says so. For example, Isaiah 55:6-7 tells us, ‘⁶Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. ⁷Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.’ (NIV)

That’s Old Testament grace! We also have New Testament grace: 1 John 1:9 says, ‘⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ (NIV)

Verses 5 and 6. Here we see someone who is determined to secure from God the relief that he needs. I think of Jacob who wrestled all night with God and said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ (Gen. 32:26b, NIV) The psalmist is of the same mind! ‘I wait for the LORD…’ Twice he tells us that.

The first time he tells us that everything he is is focussed on seeking God, ‘my whole being waits…’ This matters more to him than anything else.

Then he tells us that he is more intent on looking for God’s response than watchmen looking for the morning.

I looked up ‘Watchman’ in my New Bible Dictionary. It told me the watchman’s job was to look out for hostile action against the city, and to tell the king of anyone approaching the city walls. Then it says, ‘In time of hostility the dangers of the night were especially feared and the watchmen eagerly looked forward to the break of day.’

We’ve probably all seen war films where commandos or the SAS are attacking an enemy location under cover of darkness. It’s always the guards on night watch who are first to meet their maker! No wonder they long for the night to be over!

The psalmist yearns for the LORD’s response more than they yearn for morning. Only the LORD’s response will meet his need. He waits for God’s merciful response which is as certain to come as the morning, which always comes. But, O that it might come quicker!

If we seek God, we will find him!

Verses 7 and 8. The psalmist encourages the LORD’s people to get on board with him. ‘...put your hope in the LORD,’ he tells them.

Now to hope, in Biblical terms, isn’t wishful thinking. It means to look forward with eager expectation. And God will surely answer with mercy and forgiveness. The morning will come!

We are the people of God, and so we are exhorted to put our hope in the LORD. God is the only one who can meet our need. And we’re given two reasons here for why we can count on him.

Firstly, he loves us more than we can imagine, with a never-failing love. Though we have been unfaithful, he never will be. He loves us with an eternal love.

Secondly, he has done everything necessary to save us. He has paid the full redemption price. In the light of the New Testament, these verses are amazing. They look forward to Jesus who, at the cross, paid the price to rescue us from darkness and from the penalty of our sins.

How to Wait

So, how can we wait on God? It’s not the passive waiting of the dentist’s waiting room. The psalmist is waiting very actively.

• He’s acknowledging his utter dependence on God.
• He’s crying out for mercy.
• He’s reminding God of his forgiving nature.
• He’s making God the focus of his life.
• He’s trusting in the utter reliability of God.
• He’s putting himself in a place where God can find him!
• And he’s hanging in there for the answer!
  

What do we really want for our church, for ourselves? Same old same old? Or more of God?

How do we find the presence of God? How do we find God’s way forward?  Well, here are some ideas.

• First of all we have to recognise we need his guiding presence with us. No amount of planning or reorganisation will make any difference if he isn’t leading us.
• We need to cry out to God for his help.
• If there’s any repenting to be done, we should do it.
• Let’s make the Lord Jesus the focus of our living.
• Let’s understand that God is for us!
• Let’s surround ourselves with the things of God. Actually read our Bibles. Worship and pray.
• Let’s seek until we find.
  

Conclusion

If we are to grow again, we must have God at the centre of all we do. We must soak our on-going journey in prayer.

We must put our hope in the LORD. If we do that, the morning will surely come!

Where do we go from here?

Readings

Proverbs 3:5-6; Mark 14:32-36

Introduction

Throughout the land, there are people waiting for pandemic restrictions to be lifted so they can get on with their lives; us included, no doubt! There’s talk about “building back better, greener.” The thirst for change has never seemed so prominent as it does now. Nor, perhaps, has the challenge of change ever seemed so scary.

There are probably some here who can’t wait for church to get back to what it was. But, along with others, I want to ask, is that really enough? Is there not something more than that? Are we really fulfilling Christ’s commission to his church?

There may be others among us who have a vision of the church of the future—a God-given vision, even—but who have no idea how to bring it into being.

Where do we go from here?

Today, in pondering that question, I want to talk about what may be the very first step in discovering the way ahead.

But this is not relevant only for people in leadership roles who may be saying, ‘There must be more to church than this.’ This is something for anyone and everyone who may be saying, ‘There must be more to life than this.’

Let’s unpack the two verses we heard from Proverbs 3.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

Trust

What do we understand by, ‘trust’? When we say we trust someone—truly trust them—we’re saying they are someone we can rely on, someone who won’t let us down, someone whose word is their bond. We can count on them absolutely.

Trust in the LORD

We’re told here that the person we’re to put our trust in is the LORD. In the Hebrew, that’s YHWH, the eternal God who was, and is, and is to come; the one who created everything that was created, who designed and built the universe.

This is someone who really knows a thing or two!

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

To the Hebrew, the heart is not the seat only of the emotions. The word for ‘heart’ includes our mind and our thoughts as well as our emotions. The heart is the centre of all your inner life and being.

We’re told to trust God with everything we are, from the outside, right into the very core of our being. Don’t hedge you bets! Stake your all on God!

God knows what he’s doing. We can count on him absolutely.

Well, we kind-of trust God but we trust him warily. We hold back from giving our all. Why do we do that? Is it because we lean on our own understanding of how things should be? The Bible tells us not to do that. 

Lean not on your own understanding

Now, God gave us minds and the ability to reason but, when it comes to God and what he might want us to do, our understanding is much less than perfect.

Our understanding can be flawed. For example, someone who grew up with a strict, overbearing or abusive father may have great difficulty in relating to ‘Our Father, who is in heaven.’

Our understanding can be incomplete. How long has God been around? How long, by comparison, have we been around? He knows a lot more than we do. And God often leads us only one step at a time. He rarely gives us the full picture all at once of everything that’s to happen.

There can be times when things don’t seem to be going the way we thought they should. The story of Job illustrates the point. Poor Job had no idea why his life was in such a sorry mess. The opening chapter tells us that there were things going on in the heavenly realms that he didn’t know about: his understanding was incomplete. But he maintained his trust in God: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job 13:15

Our understanding can be influenced or, worse, manipulated. We can’t be guided by cultural norms. Our society may hold one view, in another society a different view may be upheld. Which one do we trust? And who’s pulling the strings?

It’s absolutely true that God is in ultimate control, but here’s an interesting verse of scripture: 1 John 5:19 says, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (NIV) A direct translation might be, “secular systems rest passively in the evil one”.

Given that, do we really want to rely on secular cultural trends for guidance?

Depending on our faulty human understanding can be very foolish. Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." (NIV)

In looking for the way forward, we need to trust in the LORD with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding.

To put that another way, trust God wholeheartedly; don’t try to work it all out for yourselves.

Moving on to verse 6, we read

In all your ways submit to him

The old Authorised Version express this as, in all thy ways, acknowledge him, which probably had a much stronger meaning in the 17th century. We could carelessly take that to mean giving a nod in God’s direction by going to church on Sunday. But it’s much more than that.

The latest edition of the NIV reinforces the meaning with the idea of submission to God. What does that mean? The NLT gives us the translation, “Seek his will in all you do” and I think these two translations together give us a clearer understanding.

In our acknowledgement of God, are our prayers along the lines of, “We’ve decided to do this, please bless it”? Would we do better to seek his will by praying instead, “Lord, please show us what you would have us do”?

A good way of discovering God’s will for your life is to read your Bible. You’ll get to know what God is like, his character, his nature. You’ll find out what pleases him, what grieves him, what makes him angry, what fills him with joy. You don’t need me to tell you which of those things to do!

But seeking and finding God’s will is only part of the recipe. There’s no point mixing the ingredients of a cake and then not putting it in the oven! And that’s where the submission comes in. Having discovered God’s will, we need to be obedient to it, even when it may, on occasion, be something we really don’t want to do.

The idea is shown clearly in our New Testament reading. Jesus is agonising in prayer, in the full knowledge of what lies before him. He knows what the Father’s will is, and he knows why it has to be that way, but, as a man, he draws back from the physical torment and the spiritual separation he must face. Yet he surrenders to the Father’s will.

So, in all your ways submit to him. Seek his will in all you do. And really, this is the essence of what it is to live as a Christian.

He will make your paths straight

Now we come to a very clear promise: God will make your paths straight! This doesn’t mean he’ll remove all difficulties. Other translations say, ‘he will direct your paths’, and ‘he will show you which path to take.’ He knows the way through or around the difficulties.

Now notice something else: this is a conditional promise. The promise is conditional on trust and obedience.

Wow! How does all that sit with our shaky trust and our choosy obedience?

I think of Abraham, who leant on his own understanding several times, with less than desirable outcomes. God still led him, and he seems to have learnt along the way.

I think of the man who once said to Jesus, ‘Lord, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!’ I’m sure his faith was much stronger after Jesus there and then delivered his son from an unclean spirit.

And I’m sure that as we take our tentative steps of trust and obedience, our confidence in God will grow and lead us on to greater things. God is gracious! And we’re on a journey of discovery. Our paths can be twisty but God can straighten out the kinks.

There’s another promise for guidance in Psalm 32:8-9:

“⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

⁹Do not be like the horse or the mule,

which have no understanding

but must be controlled by bit and bridle

or they will not come to you.”(NIV)

God promises to guide, but he wants our trust, he wants our willingness to be led. And he loves us to bits!

He doesn’t give us a road map and leave us to get on with it. He leads us one step at a time, and he walks with us all the way.

Conclusion

As children of God, we have every right to hold him to his promises. And as our loving father, he has every right to expect our trust and obedience.

So, where do we go from here?

Well, the first step in the journey is to seek out God and ask him to show us the way. Now is the time to seek after God for his guidance. Now is the time to ask and go on asking, to seek and go on seeking, to knock and go on knocking

The step after that is to share together what we believe God has shown us, and then to obey what we recognise to be his leading.

He’s promised to guide. Let’s seek him for his will, and then trust him and obey.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)