The Wandering Shepherd

Her old organ was dusty, but that didn’t hurt the sound at all. She loved playing those old hymns, and singing to the Lord as she played that old thing brought her a unique joy. The memories of the days when her husband was alive filled the room. How she could recall his arm around her and his poor tune quality as he would chime in on the chorus…no matter, it was a warm and soothing memory of days gone by. Now she sat in the room with just her organ and her Savior. How she hoped it would please Him to hear her broken voice and suspiciously mistuned old organ. She just wanted to worship… Sometimes she would even put on her old church hat, the one her friends all envied long ago. Can you see her? She is celebrating her Savior and loving the feel of His gentle arm around her now. She always feels it when she sits on the organ bench. That may be one of the things that draws her back to that place…

Let me ask you a question: “Just what does it mean to worship?” Many people are asking the question in a new way these days, as we have seen so many changes in church services. In church circles, there has even been division over what some have coined to be “worship wars” in the church. Truly some have made SINGING the same as WORSHIP, but that isn’t right, and we know it. So, what exactly is worship that pleases God? Does it take preparation? How can we know if GOD is happy with our worship service? If you are asking this, our study today will help offer direction and clarity.

Before I go further, let me remind you that we aren’t talking about a church thing here. We were made to worship God. It is our calling, and for the believer it is our future. It is essential to the experience of Heaven. Let the word be plain: “I was not made for myself. I was made to worship God and to bring Him honor and glory.” I know that thought is contrary to how we spend much of our time – but it is nevertheless very true. If that is true, I must know something of the preparation and of the process of worship that pleases God. Enter the passages on God’s sponsored and designed worship construction recorded in Exodus.

When we were last together we looked at the beginning of the narrative of the longest passage in the Bible to describe a building program- and for that matter it was a moveable structure that had no foundation. The Tabernacle (or “Mishkan”) was a tent structure that was to be assembled in each place Israel placed their camp as they traveled through the wilderness for nearly forty years. When we examined the first nine verses of the chapter, we noted that God had specific requirements for those who would worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Jesus later told the Samaritan woman that His Father always sought that kind of worship. In our study, we concluded that God still WANTS to be at home in the believer and He desires to journey through life with us, just as He did in the wilderness so long ago. We also noted an enduring problem. As a Holy God, He cannot condescend to the level of sinful man. He has therefore provided a way for us to walk with Him in holiness while recognizing that we still dwell in a fallen world. We can walk daily with a Perfect God, even while we are yet imperfect people.

For anyone who would walk with God today, we have the promise that God is inviting us to do this. With that promise comes also the stark revelation from His Word that we need to both prepare ourselves properly, as well as perform our worship in a way that meets His standard. We don’t make the rules for worship any more than we can give directions to an airline pilot on our commercial flight as there where we would like to go. We get on board recognizing that HE or SHE is in charge, and we are not. That is part of worship… Recognizing that since it is FOR God, and TO God – He instructs what He desires.

Key Principle: God left us a graphic picture of the pattern of worship in the Tabernacle, with each part showing something about both Him and us – leading us into His arms.

 First, let’s refresh ourselves in the study without regressing to the past messages too far. Exodus 25 opens with a shot of God speaking to Moses on behalf of His people. God said to Moses essentially three things in verses one through nine:

• First, raise a contribution to build the things I will instruct. (25:2-7). It must be voluntary, from the heart, and it must be comprised of the specific list God provided. God wants worship to be something that we sense the need to offer, and every part of our giving is to be because we WANT to give it. In addition, we don’t give God what He didn’t ask for. I am amazed at how often I find someone that is desperately trying to earn God’s love by giving of themselves in an inordinate way – but not giving what God wants to have.

If you came to God today with a pile of money and a sincere desire to delight Him with it, while you are in an illicit relationship and dishonoring God in your heart, mind and body – your sacrifice will be in vain. It is not vain because you weren’t sincere, but because you gave God gifts that weren’t what He asked you to give. He wants purity in your walk to prepare you for time with Him. That is why Psalm 15 opened with the idea of attending to our blemishes before we approached God. We cannot forgive sin, only He can. Yet, we dare not ask Him to forgive sin we are planning to continue tomorrow. God has a specific set of things He wants as we prepare to worship Him today.

• Second, let them build the worship center the way I tell them, for the expressed purpose of giving me a visual place to dwell among them. (25:8). The purpose of the construction of a worship place, and designation of a worship time is simple: God wants to dwell among His people. He is not aloof, nor does He desire to be pushed to the margin of our lives. Some of us are doing that – pushing God out of any decision arena, and treating Him like a distant relative that has no right to claim anything in our lives. God desires to dwell with us, cooperate with us, and participate with us. He proved it over and over. He chose a young woman to bear Messiah, rather than simply dropping in as a grown man.

• Third, construction must be according to exacting plans that God provided, with no change orders coming from the people. (25:9). God knows how the structure of worship is to look. Every element that goes into worship is according to a pattern. In the passage, God is referring to the specifics of the building to be sure, but the same can easily be said of every part of the preparation and process of worship.

With that brief refresher on the PREPARATION for worship, let’s pick up our reading and see what God said about the PROCESS of worship. We see beginning in verse ten four truths about WHAT IS CONTAINED IN TRUE WORSHIP:

1: True worship has the Word of God at its heart.

Exodus 25:10 “ They shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long , and one and a half cubits wide , and one and a half cubits high . 11 You shall overlay it with pure gold , inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it. 12 You shall cast four gold rings for it and fasten them on its four feet , and two rings shall be on one side of it and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold . 14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark , to carry the ark with them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark ; they shall not be removed from it. 16 You shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.

The heart of the Tabernacle was not the building, but the transportable container that was built to contain the Words of the Living God. The very center of the worship was to be God’s own Word – not an emotional expression of powerful music, or ecstatic utterance. The heart of the dwelling of God is in His Holy Word, and that was to be at the center of all they built. God mentioned it first, and added three important truths:

• The box was to be built to specific specs to carry His Word among them. God wanted them to carefully construct, at great personal cost, the place for His Word. Let me pose a question you may want to consider carefully: How do YOU handle the Word in your life? Are you casual with the revealed truth of God? Do you take time to really construct at personal cost, a careful vessel for God’s truth? I don’t mean for you to build a great gold box for your Bible…but I do wonder if we aren’t so immersed in a culture of the written Word that we have forgotten what we have. God’s Word has been ever so carefully preserved and passed to us – and many of us barely see its value – LET ALONE MAKE ITS TRUTHS OUR HIGHEST CAUSE. We are offered places to learn it, but we are too busy doing other things with our time. I wonder aloud if we understand the preciousness of what we hold in our hands.

• The box was to be built with poles to transport the Word, keeping it with them where they went. The Word of God was not to be a static memory, but travel with them in their lives. Hiding God’s Word is your heart is excellent, as long as you don’t hide it from your life’s decisions and companions. The Word should go WITH you as you work this week. Does it inform all your weekday choices, or it is just a Sunday memory?

• The box was to keep the specific record of God’s self-revealed testimony of Himself. God leads us in the way God’s character works. He isn’t an erratic God. We can judge the way before us based on the principles of the path He has led us in behind us. The Word isn’t just a record of old laws and dead followers. It is a pattern, and it is given to us as an example. That pattern doesn’t just lead us to DO RIGHT, but it leads us to walk intimately with HIM. HE is the point, not simply “doing life” properly.

True worship, then, has the Word of God carefully handled, and daily impacting our life’s decisions at its core. It recalls what God has done to help us know what He is doing and will do.

2: True worship has God’s mercy in the center (Exodus 25: 17-22).

Exodus 25:17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold , two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide . 18 You shall make two cherubim of gold , make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat . 19 Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end ; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends . 20   The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward , covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another ; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat . 21   You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark , and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. 22   There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat , from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony , I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel .

God wants to meet me, dwell with me, and share life with me. At the same time, my sinful, stubborn pattern of life makes time with me a problem. We must not take lightly that meeting with God is no small thing – and worshipping Him is not either. Angels prepare to stand in His Holy presence, and I should do no less. He is the author or my life and my universe. Time with Him and a life walked together is life on the highest plane. If we look at the details of the passage, God exposed much more than a simple building plan in the narrative. God set in the Tabernacle a plan of where we can and must meet Him:

• The top of the ark was to be fashioned from a single mass of gold called the MERCY SEAT. This was not a place for anything to SIT, but was rather a place designed for a specific and essential purpose that will become clear. It was to have two cherubim extending from the surface of the solid lid of the ark. It was a covering over the place of the Word, and it was a place where the blood of a sacrificial animal was poured out atop the box. The whole act was symbolic, and prescribed by God to allow men to approach Him, walk with Him, and take Him on their journey of life. I can only meet with God, and have a relationship with Him, because one died on my behalf, shedding the blood that was necessary to cover my sin with God’s mercy.

• Note the two angels were to FACE each other, with the area below their winged expanse to be the area for the blood. Why was this essential? Remember one primary purpose for the creation of the physical realm we call our universe was to be a demonstration to the angelic world of WHO God is– what His character is like. THEY were to symbolically and literally behold the mercy of their Creator. The picture of His mercy was, in part, for their benefit! Believers need to remember that more are watching them then just people – there is an angelic world that is susceptible to rebellion, and they watch us. We have a responsibility to be an example to them as well. Paul warned women to be respectful “because of the angels”!

•  If you look closely at the end of the portion above, verse 22 exposes two very significant things about the space between the angels – that God would meet with them there, and that God would speak with them there. The term to MEET was not the normal form of “m’pagesh”, but rather the word “yaad” – as in a summoning place or appointed place to rendezvous. The term for SPEAK is the customary “davar” – to have a word with them. God said the place of the mercy seat was NOT just a place for man to present blood from a sacrifice to abate the wrath of God, but a place where God would communicate with them. Worship is not just about us pouring out our hearts, our sorrows, our disappointments and our pain. It is about listening to God at the point where the blood meets His mercy. It is about confronting our sinfulness, but also about hearing His gentle voice of forgiveness.

True worship, then is something I prepare for because it is of unparalleled value, but can only be accessed through God’s mercy. I must take it seriously, for my sake, my family’s sake, my church’s sake – and even for unseen angels that are watching. It is about careful obedience, but also about discerning ears.

3: True worship takes constant renewed effort (Exodus 25:23-30)

Exodus 25:23 “ You shall make a table of acacia wood , two cubits long and one cubit wide and one and a half cubits high . 24 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a gold border around it. 25 You shall make for it a rim of a handbreadth around it; and you shall make a gold border for the rim around it. 26 You shall make four gold rings for it and put rings on the four corners which are on its four feet . 27 The rings shall be close to the rim as holders for the poles to carry the table . 28 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold , so that with them the table may be carried . 29 You shall make its   dishes and its pans and its jars and its bowls with which to pour drink offerings ; you shall make them of pure gold . 30 You shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times.

The table of the bread of God’s presence was a third piece of furniture that God ordered to specifications that suited Him. Its height, length and width were all commanded. Matching the other furnishings, the whole table was overlaid with gold. God wanted a table of bread, made by human hands, so that people would recall that HE IS PRESENT WITH THEM.  It is only a basic description that God offered details that help us see His purposes:

• First, the whole table top was bordered with a hand breath rim, that allowed the bread to be placed inside the inner rim – but not to slide or touch the outer rim. The symbol of God’s presence demanded protection. The rim was a gold border, a space between those moving around in the room as they passed the edge of the table, and the bread that was carefully prepared and placed inside the inner rim. The rim had a second purpose. The table was not to be empty… Even when they moved the table. The bread had to be “ever present” – and the rim meant it needed to be ever protected. Without stretching the point, it may be worth asking a question right about now….Are you carefully protecting your walk with God? Do you value His presence enough, and live in the conscious presence of God so as to be carefully protecting your walk with Him? If the bread was to recall His presence, the clear picture here is that it was to be protected.

• Second, four rings were mounted on the table because it was to be carried, something that would move when the camp and the Tabernacle moved. God’s people were not to go where He they did not acknowledge His accompaniment – and this bread represented their conscious knowledge of His presence. Though we all live in the presence of God’s face continually, many of us don’t live like we realize it.

• Third, every bowl, pan or utensil associated with the table and the other furnishings was to be fashioned of pure gold. Walking in the conscious presence of God was, and is, to be the highest value of our lives. How we treat God is reflected in every attitude of our lives, every relationship with other people, and even our reflective relationship within our own hearts. Our values are shaped by our desire to please a very present God, and walk through life with Him. Our biggest failure is not to do or say something that displeases Him – it is to live life without caring about His presence. As Dietrich Bonheoffer brilliantly said: “When we son, we don’t hate God, we forget God.”

• Finally, the command was made that the table was never to be empty– but full at all times. It was to be kept supplied even during a journey, because it represented the people’s knowledge of the unfailing presence of the Holy One with them. Bread took work to make, and so it takes work to constantly recall God is very present with man. it is easy to forget God. It is easy to live life with God on the periphery of important decisions. He is always there, but many of us only think about Him at times of pain, trouble or distress.  After the Fall of man, the default position of fallen man is independence from God – living in the deception of self-reliance. Walking with God takes work, and it takes practice.

True worship, then, was that which required constant effort, and was always guarded. It was to be treasured, but had to be forcibly recalled in a life that defaults to self-reliance.

4: True worship exposes truth (Exodus 25:31-40)

Exodus 25:31 Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold . The lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work ; its cups , its bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32   Six branches shall go out from its sides ; three branches of the lampstand from its one side and three branches of the lampstand from its other side . 33   Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch , a bulb and a flower , and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch , a bulb and a flower —so for six branches going out from the lampstand ; 34 and in the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers . 35   A bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand . 36   Their bulbs and their branches shall be of one piece with it; all of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold . 37 Then you shall make its lamps seven in number; and they shall mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of it. 38 Its snuffers and their trays shall be of pure gold . 39 It shall be made from a talent of pure gold , with all these utensils . 40   See that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain .

The last of the furnishings in this chapter was the lamp stand, or menorah. The description of this carefully fashioned lamp indicated that it was also to be a symbol. The seven branches were hammered and fashioned out of gold:

First, there were to be three branches on either side of a center branch – making seven in all. From the account of creation with the completion in seven days, to the 54 times the word seven shows up in the closing book of the Bible – Revelation – the number seven has been synonymous with completion. The number occurs 700 times in the Bible, and often in the sense of completion. The word translated “finished” in Koine Greek (teléo) generally means to bring to a close or to fulfill. Take, for example, Revelation 15:1 which reveals the reason for seven angels with seven plagues: “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; because in them is filled up (teléo) the wrath of God.” In other words, the lamp brought seven lights, or COMPLETE light to the place of worship. You can’t hide in God’s presence – He knows what you aren’t saying. He sees inside. The last place to try to hide sin is in the presence of a Holy and all seeing God.

Second, the branches were to be shaped as the flowering almond branch – something that God repeated several times. The name of the almond is shaqed in Hebrew. It comes from the word “shaqad”, the word for “to watch over, to keep watch or lie awake.” In the Bible, the almond is like our “ground hog”. It is the first to appear in the early Spring – in February usually. It blossoms, but take half a year to produce its fruit – six months of hard labor. Jeremiah 31:37 speaks of the coming New Covenant to the Jewish people, and says that as God “watched over them to break them down” so He will one day “watch over them to build and plant”. The One who watches His people is recalled in the play on words with the Almond. The light not only helped the priests see, it reminded them WHO ELSE WAS WATCHING OVER THEM.

Third, the point of the lampstands was to bring light into the dark room of the holy place, but it was to bring TRUTH there as well. When Jesus said in the Gospel of John “I am the Light of the World” (John 5:12), the context was a lie that was being perpetrated in His midst. He wouldn’t stand for it. He is the light, and that light shines in every hidden corner.

True worship, then, is about placing one’s self in the inspection of the truth. It shows our flaws, and exposes our deceptions. It reminds us that God really does know the truth, and that He isn’t faked out by our presence, while we hide what is going on inside.

True worship is HONEST. True worship takes constant renewal. True worship is centered in God’s Word… and true worship is dependent upon God’s mercy expressed in the blood that covered us when Jesus gave of Himself. The rest is just singing. The rest is just a show… and God isn’t interested in the productions we can put on in His name.

The year was 1953. In some ways, the world was bounding in recovery from World War II. In other ways, it seemed a dangerous place. On the international stage, former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev won a power struggle in the former Soviet Union that ensued after the death of Josef Stalin. Later that year, the Soviet Union detonated their first hydrogen bomb. A Korean armistice was signed, and the convicted spies – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – were executed. But things were also moving forward. President Eisenhower ended the wage and price controls that were the pattern from WWII. Chuck Yeager flew the x-1 rocket, and America was bracing for a “high tech” world. Around the world, it looked like a renewed time of discovery was set in motion. Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mount Everest, and James Watson and Francis Crick introduced the world to the complex structure of DNA – a new acronym to most Americans. “Roman Holiday”, “From Here to Eternity”, and “The Robe” were on the silver screen, while America sang: “Doggie in the Window”, “I Believe”, and “Stranger in Paradise”. Red Skelton lit up screens in the American living room, as more and more people got TV sets. In some ways, the times were grand – in others, people were left uneasy, as if another war was possible at any moment.

Into that world the short story “Impostor” was first published in Astounding magazine. This was a nervous science fiction short story about a scientist named Spence Olham, who was confronted by a colleague and accused of being an android impostor from another world that was designed to mimic a man and eventually sabotage Earth’s defenses. It is unlikely that earth actually HAD any defenses at the time, but no bother. In any case, the story unfolded as Olham worked to escape and prove his innocence, by finding the crashed spaceship and recovering the android’s body. In customary American style, the situation was resolved by the end of the story – and Olham was exonerated.

Why mention this little story? Because it highlights a truth that was made clear in Scripture more than three thousand years before –our world is infected with impostors. No, they are not androids – but they are impostors nonetheless. They are mimicking men and women of faith – people with a real walk with God. They are religious people, and they are all around us in our society. Our text will tell the story.

Key Principle: There is real worship, and there is false. There is a real relationship with the True and Living God – and there are numerous man made religious impostors. With care, one can see the difference!

Sometimes the difference isn’t that obvious. That’s the nature of an impostor. Sometimes, it isn’t even really clear to the person who is pretending that what they are doing isn’t a genuine relationship – it is about strayed religious fervor. It isn’t about their INTENT – it is about the TRUTH of their relationship with God.

Since we have studied a number of lessons of the Civil Code of Law, perhaps it would be helpful to “re-stage the scene” of Exodus 24, for the sake of context…. Israel was in the Sinai wilderness – a month and a half’s journey from Egypt proper. Moses had already faced many leadership challenges. He led the people through the sea and through the drought of their own canteens. He led them through the Amalekite war, interceding with God from a hillside above the battle. He went through a painful but profitable experience of evaluation by Jethro, his father-in-law. Jethro pointed out that Moses placed himself in a position of unrealistic expectation, trying to accomplish more than anyone could expect – a mistake common to driven leaders. The result was an overuse of his abilities, a slow draining of all of the creativity and leadership vision by the wearing grind of daily administration. Jethro told him to delegate administration, and in those words, God used a man that could get Moses’ attention, and get him to change the pattern of his work habits to refresh him and pull him back on track (Ex. 18:24).

Finally, after the departure of Jethro, Moses led the people to the edge of the Mountain of the Law, as God instructed. The time was later memorialized in Shavuot (or “the Feast of weeks”), a holy convocation instructed in Levitical law (Lev. 23:15). This feast was an agricultural celebration, but its true importance is underscored in the Biblical instruction that included it as one of three mandatory offering appearances before the Lord annually (Dt. 16:16). God did not want this time forgotten! This was a day He gathered the children of Israel and God blew a shofar (ram’s horn trumpet) before them that shook their camp (Ex. 19:16)! God has seldom made Himself so obvious in the affairs of men – this day was not common – so God threw a very special party! The party was “fifty days” after their departure – and was captured in the word “Pentecost”, still a holy memorial each year among observant Jews recalling the encounter with God at the mountain, and the giving of the law. The Sabbath days between Passover and Pentecost are counted according to God’s instruction (Lev. 23:15).

God’s Instructions (Exodus 24:1-2)

Exodus 24:1 Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. 2 “Moses alone, however, shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”

God invited seventy elders and a specific guest list of leaders to the mountain to worship Him (Ex. 24:1). They were not allowed to move up the mountain with Moses, but they were instructed to come together for a corporate time of reverence (the Hebrew verb shakhaw means to bow before, prostrate one’s self, or revere, Ex. 24:1) some distance away from Moses. Moses would not be able to lead the people of Israel without their help – and they needed to be sure that he was truly encountering God, and not some natural phenomenon he knew from his previous experience in the wilderness while they were still in Egypt. For that reason, God set up a dinner party.

God’s Dinner Party (Exodus 24:9-11)

24:9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.

This event was unprecedented in human history. God passed by before the men, and they beheld a brightness that seemed like the sun. The mystery in the event was not simply that they gazed upon the path of God, and stood before a striking brightness. The shocking part of the story was their response! They were called there to worship, and yet the text reveals they “saw God, and did eat and drink.” What a response! God came, and they had dinner together.

Moses heard from Jethro weeks before this encounter that leadership needed to be shared – and he was trying. At the same time, the leaders needed to be reassured of Moses’ unique position before God on their behalf. Leaders ate with each other, drank and communed with together. He saw a team leadership formation in corporate worship. There is a time for personal time with God, but there is equally a time for developing a team team. In addition to underscoring Moses’ role, the elders got an opportunity to commune together and feast and worship. What an important lesson: Leaders need to lock arms with other leaders. We are not called to be “Supermen” that face the forces of darkness alone, depending solely on our “superhuman” ability or even the work of the Spirit within. We need each other, and grow when we can worship corporately, not only individually. We are stronger in communion, not in “Lone Ranger” mode.

Often leaders fall into the trap of believing their own press, subscribing to the affirmation of the positive view of their followers and not remembering their own weaknesses. It is part of the fabric of our makeup. We lead – they follow. We know – they don’t. It is a dangerous tendency to distance ourselves from the accountability that helps refocus and redirect us. We need accountability. Without it, we will make up our own rules:

Two young engineers applied for a single position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the department manager. Upon completion of the test, both men missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, “Thank you for your interest, but we’ve decided to give the job to the other applicant.” “And why would you be doing that? We both got 9 questions correct,” asked the rejected applicant. “We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed,” said the department manager. “And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?” the rejected applicant inquired. “Simple,” said the department manager. “Your fellow applicant put down on question #5, ’I don’t know.’ You put down, ’Neither do I.’” – http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh

The People’s Pledge (Exodus 24:3-8)

When I took you to the top of the mountain for the dinner party, I skipped part of the passage – the meeting of the people at the foot of the mountain before the party above. The people came together before Moses to affirm their desire to have and follow the Law of the Living One…

Exodus 24:3 Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!” 4 Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Moses held a ceremony to get the people on board with both the Law already revealed, and the part God was about to reveal to them through his next trip up the mountain. That law would mark the people for all their generations. It would give them identity and blessing, as well as provide a clear standard and expectation. He gathered the people together, and the people responded with open hearts to God. They would obey God’s law! Why? Because….

• They saw God in is power – the plagues of Egypt demonstrated that He was more powerful than anything they had encountered among the Egyptian gods.

• They saw God in His provisions – manna from the wind, meat from the quail that dropped in their path, water from the rocks in the desert.

• They saw God in His direction – a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day guided them.

• They saw God in His empowering – the view of Moses’ arms raised as the enemy was routed was still fresh in their minds.

• They saw God in His rescue – the opening of the Sea when they were trapped by Egyptian soldiers, and the healing of the bitter water at Marah were fresh reminders that God was there to get them through the harsh experience by His power.

As Moses prepared himself for His next meeting with God, he rose early in the morning, wrote down the words God had given him in the previous encounter, raised up an altar and standing stones for the tribes, and sprinkled the blood of offerings on the altar. He read over the words he had written before the people, and they affirmed their commitment to God’s holy covenant. He took the elders and leaders up to the mountain. These were acts of obedience, but they were also acts of preparation – for him and for the people. Look more closely at the setting of the public ceremony, because in it the seeds of a religious impostor are sown. Two important thoughts are introduced:

• First, the allegiance to obedience in Exodus 24:3 seemed to be to a set of rules – with little emphasis on a direct relationship with God. Obviously, Moses intended to have the people feel a relationship to God Himself, but they appeared to be willing to sign on to the RULES without the RELATIONSHIP. God was distant to them – and Moses was the one with the close ties with God. The people were content to DO RIGHT by the Law. Therein lays one of the most common problems that paves the way for an impostor. Real relationship is PERSONAL. You either have a personal relationship with the Living God, or you settle for following the rules that may be based on another’s relationship with God.

• Second, though Exodus 24:3-8 does include the fact that young men helped in the slaughtering of the young bulls – much of the emphasis of the ceremony was, from the perspective of the Israelites, a passive participation. Moses built the altar and Moses sprinkled the blood. Moses recited the Law. Religious impostor’s thrive among those who have become passive in their walk with God. Without a hot heart, a personal passion to know and walk with God, people lose the acuity to true worship and settle for form.

We have already established the scene and its conditions. We can see clearly the environment set for an impostor take over. The people agreed to form, but lacked a fervent and passionate personal walk with God for themselves. They have seen the EFFECT of God, but not gazed upon the BEAUTY of God. They know His POWER, but haven’t explored His person. Their lives have been about THEIR NEEDS – and to the extent that God has involved Himself in meeting those needs – they have considered God. They pledged allegiance to HIS BENEFITS, much more than to HIS PERSON. Add to that, God called the strong leaders away from the people to meet Him privately. Those with a hot heart toward God were missing from the camp. The shade of great trees of God was missing, and the sun bore down on the camp…

The Test (Exodus 24:12-18; 25:1-2; 31:18)

The test that flushed out the impostor occurred in three stages:

God’s Delay: In the first stage, a delay that God ordered made the people impatient with God’s way of doing things. Moses went up the mountain at the Lord’s instruction, and waited on Him: Exodus 24:12 Now the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.” …18 Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Moses was alone with God and awaited God’s instruction – with Joshua some distance away (Ex. 24:13). The delay was God’s idea, as Moses met with God – and God revealed truth on God’s time table. Moses long time away set up the unmasking of the impostors in the camp.

God’s Instruction: In the second stage, God’s instruction to build a sanctuary showed that He understood the needs of the people before they did – their longing to SEE something was very real. God directed Moses to get the people together and take a collection of certain specified goods for the construction of a worship center. Exodus reminds: 25:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution… The nature of our physical beings is that we need to PICTURE God in some way. He was making a way to meet that need, but they couldn’t wait!

God’s Gift: Finally, God gave Moses the tablets – a very special gift written by His own hand. After the forty days communing, Moses was sent back to the people. Exodus 31:18 When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God…Imagine the gift of two tablets made by God’s finger and given specifically to men. Revelation was the prize of obedience and intimacy with God!

The Impostor is Exposed (Exodus 32:1-6)

The long time sitting idle left Israel’s camp uneasy. They wanted to make a representation to worship –but they weren’t patient enough to wait for it. They wanted to get on with the religious stuff – no matter that it was what THEY were choosing, and not what God commanded. The story continued…

Exodus 32:1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6 So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

The people talked Aaron into making a god to lead them. Jewish tradition says that they approached Hur with the idea, but he said no and was killed by them. Aaron was intimidated and went allong with the idea of shaping a god representation. The choice of a god was likely that of the Egyptian deity “Hathor” – normally symbolized by a woman’s body with a calf head in Egyptian records. Other representations were more basic, a calf or a woman with a horn arrangement on her head. The horn “flip” became so common a motif that archaeologists refer to household “gods” (teraphim) that have a flip in their hair as having “Hathor locks”. The influence of Hathor was evidenced in the excavation at Timnah, the copper mining site near Eilat, in southern Israel. Several stone stelae (inscribed standing stones) were found, and at least one had the head of Hathor. The excavation included what appeared to be a Midianite shrine, as Hathor may have spread into their cultic practices as well. Several scholars have noted the relationship between the worship of Hathor and the peoples of the Sinai desert – the Midianites and the Egyptians. It is possible that she was the goddess of both slaves and journeys – and these were slaves on a journey. They probably chose the god image that suited the times., the impostor of religion was offered to replace real worship and real intimacy with God. They just invented an impostor religion – a substitute for real faith and a real walk with God – right there in the desert!

• Man made religion comes from the need to control. – the delay didn’t suit them. (Just because the people didn’t know what Moses and God were doing, they took control – 32:1).

• Man made religion comes from people feeling inadequate and deciding to fill a void (32:1b)

• Man made religion allows a god to be shaped according to their liking (32:1b,4).

• Man made religion doesn’t exclude that God may be at work, it just doesn’t matter! (32:1b).

• Man made religion is satisfied with calling for the low sacrifice of the immediately available (32:2a).

• Man made religion will focus on taking the burdens of this life and making them bearable (32:2b-3).

• Man made religion will take a self styled god and give him praise for events performed by the Living God (32:4).

• Man made religion will bind people to a series of imitation holidays and self designed sacrifices – but the power and presence of the Living God is far off –on another mountain! (32:5-6)

There is real worship, and there is a false religious dance. There is a real relationship with the True and Living God – and there are numerous man made religious impostors. With care, one can see the difference!

In 1973, four hostages were taken in a botched bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. At the end of their captivity, six days later, they actively resisted rescue. They refused to testify against their captors, raised money for their legal defense, and one of the female hostages later became engaged to one of her now jailed captors. The Stockholm syndrome comes into play when a captive believes they cannot escape, and is isolated and threatened with death, but is shown token acts of kindness by the captor. Obviously, this twisted state of the psyche got its name from later studies of these events that transpired in Stockholm. But the same syndrome has since been seen in other situations in life. It is seen in battered wives, survivors of the Holocaust (not many of them left), and like situations. It basically boils down to this. The victim feels helpless and has lost hope for relief from a situation; gropes for and clings tenaciously to any little perceived goodness or benefit coming even from the person or situation causing the problem, and eventually begins to sense a false love and dedication to the very person or circumstance they’ve been imprisoned to. (adapted from Clark Tanner, sermon central illustrations).

All over our world, the Prince of the air has duped people into believing that really knowing God is hopeless. He offers treats to people to get their allegiance, and then ruins their eternity by dulling their spiritual senses to see the peril of their situation. They have been duped by a religious impostor. Yet, when the truth is brought to them, what will they do? Many will exhibit the RELIGIOUS STOCKHOLM SYNDROME. It takes LOVE and CARE to get the truth to do its work in them.

Thomas Jefferson said: “An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” To what information was he referring? I suggest that it was not merely a knowledge of the world news of the day… it was a knowledge of right and wrong – a moral knowledge.

 Many powerful interest groups in our world attempt to manipulate public opinion, and they have become proficient at doing so. Our society – the one God gave us to be responsible as a steward of – depends on its citizens forming morally positive judgments, and putting pressure on our governing representatives to act accordingly. If citizens are rendered unable to accomplish this, or simply cease desiring to do so – the nation they live in quickly suffers. The world their children and grandchildren inherit suffers. Such citizens yields children with crippled with misshapen morals and a mal-adjusted world view, as their future leaders, accelerating decline. We must consider that even the most excellent leadership, without discriminating citizens, will not work well. If Washington or Lincoln tried the very same speeches that won the hearts of their countrymen and built their citizens in days gone by, they would be repudiated by the modern thinkers and pundits. Their morality would be attacked by those who think themselves “enlightened” in spite of the fact that those attacking “enlightened individuals” never produced something equal to those earlier men. I don’t make this point because these former leaders were made perfect in understanding, nor did we come to study American leaders as God’s patterns.

My observation is only this: our “world view” produces something. Changing it is in the best interest of immoral people, and they have been on the march to do it. From universities to nightly comedy sitcoms, from Disney to dance halls – a new morality has been engineered – and it continues to show itself. We as believers have been infected with it, and we need to open the Word of God to hit a reset button and return ourselves to a former place that many of our forefathers knew. We do not do it for them, but we acknowledge that their doing it gave us great freedom and a great country. The departure from it has pulled off the ropes of our mooring from the docks of moral thinking, and is in danger of leaving us utterly rudderless – tossed in an immoral ocean.

The Bible is the place to reset our vision… but… what does it say is a responsible citizen? What is required to produce an informed and peaceful society that will honor God and build a positive future? As we finish this study in Civil Code from Exodus and move on with Moses and the people in the desert, we will see a truth emerge from our study. It may surprise you…because God is not dull in mind, nor negative in Spirit. He has a positive message for the way forward – but it begins with re-calibrating our view of right and wrong.

Key Principle: God shaped the foundations of a positive community by making clear that VALUES drive decisions, and those decisions create positive conditions for life together.

Knowing the values of God is not difficult – it involves reading His Words and setting the eternal truths into our world, our lives and our society.

A Positive society is based on a Justice system that seeks TRUTH (23:1-3, 6-8)

There have always been classes of people. In every society there are “haves” and “have nots” – and justice often has been skewed to the “haves”. God’s plan for a justice system in civil society was clear – it must be based on truth – that is, the facts of what happened in an event as shared by parties who have firsthand knowledge of these events. The temptation for people to testify to these events in a way that was not altogether truthful had to be resisted– for truth is the foundation of God’s moral code – as He is the truth.

Exodus 23:1 “You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 “You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute… 6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. 7 “Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty. 8 “You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.

God offered in this passage four specific cases to be avoided in the justice system, so that the truth would prevail:

• False Testimony: In every court room, a witness must be speaking the facts of what took place, with no view of manipulating these facts to gain for himself or others (23:1 and 2b, 23:7). His or her testimony must not be swayed by wicked men who use them to gain power while doing evil (23:1). The principle is this: testimony must be received from those who will offer the facts, unfettered to any party in the proceeding. Justice for the weak insures justice for the strong, and vice versa.

• Vigilante Action: Truth cannot be found in mob justice – for it will not yield truth (23:2a). The principle is this: Justice must be a deliberated process – not a hasty judgment made on flared tempers in crowded squares. Crowd justice is utterly unreliable. Truth can be easily drowned out in the loud voices of evil men. We must not be deceived – truth is neither based on polls nor oratory skill. The stuttering voice of the shaken first hand witness should be more weighty than the lofty words of the populist persuader.

We need to be particularly careful in our time not to believe that protest is always a good thing. Public morality is not best decided by whoever doesn’t have enough to do today that they can gather for hours in protest. It is not a good thing to join in large numbers and hurl insults at people in power – even if they are wrong. We have a right to assemble, and on occasion we are wise to use it. At the same time, it would be good if we could figure out what we truly want before the protest starts, or anarchy tends to takeover. Remember that vigilante justice and public protest policy are not the best ways to move forward – and usually produce terrible results.

• Deference to Wealth: Justice must be blind to the prosperity. The wealthy must not be able to buy a different justice system standard than the poor can receive – for the truth is at the center of the proceedings – regardless of the status of the victim or the alleged perpetrator (23:3,6). The principle is simple: Any attempt to make just decisions must be fire-walled from economics. Justice and money aren’t good neighbors. It isn’t the money that is bad – but the incessant hunger to compromise in order to gain it that is corrupting.

• Bribery: This is an abomination to justice (23:8). Money cannot buy truth. What happened is done – and the job of the justice system is to figure out what happened, with minimal hindrance and caveat, and bring stability back to the community with justice to the harmed. The principle is the same as the one above: keep justice secure. Don’t allow money to be a corrupting influence. Guard truth and justice by all necessary means – it is the source of hope to the hurting, and the deterrent to the erring.

In every society, the principles of truth must prevail for the justice system to reflect real justice.

A Positive Society is based on a neighborhood that shows KINDNESS (Exodus 23:4-5)

In addition to TRUTH, civil society must nurture, reward and value KINDNESS. We must train people to serve others that have not earned the right to expect it, simply because it is kind to do so. Two examples are offered:

23: 4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. 5 “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.

• Roadside Returns: First, God ordered that we must look out for one another’s property. This would help keep the camp orderly, and also stem off disputes of theft born out of mistrust and suspicion. What would happen if the neighbor saw his ox on your property? Would he think you STOLE it? What if you saw your neighbor sneaking on to your property (though he was actually there to retrieve his ox). Would you strike him because you thought you were protecting your property? Kindness can diffuse situations that otherwise would tear harmony from the neighborhood.  The principle is this: Being kind means to show practical care for someone regardless of what your past disputes have been with that individual. Our past does not determine kindness – our commitment to God does.

• Roadside Assistance: A second example of kindness was offered in the passage. In the event that your neighbor’s loaded donkey had toppled, you must stop and help him – set him aright and help him regain his load to continue his journey. The assumption one can make is that a loaded donkey was left never unattended, so the neighbor that “hates you” in the passage is also in the scene. The principle is this: Don’t let THEIR FEELING about you stop you in being kind to them.

A Positive Society is based on an Economy that shows Restraint (Exodus 23:10-12)

A third value that builds a positive society, atop TRUTH and KINDNESS is that of ECONOMIC RESTRAINT (23:10-12). Even if you have been squarely with me up to this point, my American students will struggle with the next principle. Read the words carefully:

23:10 “You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11 but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. 12 “Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves…

Note the passage does not make the argument of rest for any religious reason – but on behalf of the worker’s well-being, and the land’s ability to recoup in the natural processes put in place by the Creator. God ordered the land to have rest for the LAND’S SAKE, and the worker to have rest for the WORKER’S SAKE. He ALSO ordered the land to be fallow for the NEEDY’S SAKE. Now look for the principles more carefully:

• Needy people are to go and collect from the field (in labor) what you have provided for them in your planting and sowing of previous years. They are not to sit at home and have you drop off the bundles of food, but nor are their physical needs to be ignored.

• Workers and animals will need rest and refreshment, and that need is to be more important than the constant need to get more out of the field and labor. Working non-stop will kill us, and expecting our workers to work without breaks is morally wrong.

Greed cannot be the only thing that drives a capital market. Businessmen must give something back to the community that gave them a stage to become successful. They need to see beyond the balance sheet and into the eyes of people in the community. Some people cannot work a regular job – they have mental or physical limitations that prevent that. What should we do for them? As a society, we cannot and must not give open hand outs. We must understand that more comes from a job than a paycheck – self-respect, accomplishment, vision and a sense of purpose are also wrapped up in work. We were designed to work, as Adam’s tending of the garden was commanded before SIN came. To God, work helps us, and it is not a penalty for being less clever at prying money out of someone else’s pocket. Work is good, and we need to view it as a privilege that God has bestowed for our good.

I want to be clear: the old “Protestant work ethic” was tied to a Biblical idea that God intended people to work hard, be productive, and try to pull their own weight. We are in danger of fostering a generation that believes the more you can get WITHOUT working, the smarter you are. It isn’t true. You will get money in the short term, but destroy your neighborhood in the process. When a work ethic dies in us, it is quickly replaced by a “get rich quick scheme” ethos – and poverty and disappointment nips at the heels of a whole community.

I am concerned that many feel we no longer need to link the value of goods and services to any fixed real value to be morally correct. I am concerned that I may become ill and a tissue may cost me $25 in a hospital, if someone can find a clever way to CODE it on my bill, so I cannot see through the indecency of it. They seem to feel justified if I don’t catch them. It is NOT RIGHT because you devise a system to hide wildly marked up services – it is destructive in the long run, and disheartening in the short run.

Professional people can roll out bills without conscience that charge ten or twenty  times what a normal working man can make in an hour and justify it against their knowledge and education – but not against any particular service. IT professionals now want me to pay an additional amount per year to get “priority service”, as if the $125 per hour doesn’t entitle me to a prompt return on my phone call already.  If I buy a $300 TV set and it doesn’t work, I can quickly take it back. Yet it seems increasingly if I pay thousands for a tax service, a medical or legal consultation – that professional feels no compulsion if their service to me is literally a waste of my time and money. They do not seem to connect how what they are doing is destroying the society their children will live in.

I am not grousing – I am concerned that civil society is giving way to the same people who figured out how to charge 100 different prices for the same flight I took last week – and not feel that the service should in any way be linked to the value. It is immoral to do so, and it will pull the system apart. “A good day’s work for a good day’s pay” cannot and must not be replaced for “See how much you can get out of them, because we think they can afford it.” We need to bring economic policies back into line with Biblical thinking – a reset button needs to be pushed here!

A Positive Society is based on a public life that is unafraid to show allegiance to God and His Word (23:14-19)

This isn’t a complicated part of the chapter, and it isn’t new – so we will just  touch this truth lightly and move on. God told the people to show up three times a year:

23:14“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15 “You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 16 “Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.  18 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning. 19 “You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the LORD your God. “You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.

Note that God said CELEBRATE (23:14), do it for the amount of time instructed and at the time instructed (don’t cut corners – 23:15), and don’t show up with NOTHING IN YOUR HANDS (23:15b)! Offer without bread that is raised and eat all in that day without leftovers (23:18). Bring me your BEST, but don’t bring me what is NOT READY (23:19).

God’s blessing for the nation was tagged to specific points of obedience as it regarded public ceremony. They could not be timid to be His people, and should not seek His blessing if they would not be public about their allegiance. In my lifetime, we have moved from a Judeo-Christian ethic, to a multi-ethnic, pluralistic society. That is fine with, because it put the world in my backyard – and I think that makes the world more colorful and the tapestry of my neighborhood richer. I am happy when I see people pour into our nation because of what God has given us – I truly am. At the same time, America was founded on Biblical statements and Biblical values – and I simply refuse to allow people to re-write history because it removes God and the Bible from the story. They can shout, but I can keep steady, gentle and positive reminders that will not back down. Some things are worth saying often, and some truths bear repeating in the faces of those who think we will be intimidated. The examples are many – but we will not spend time here in this study.

A Positive Society is based on God’s people walking in obedience to God’s Word (Exodus 23:20-23)

Again we find a truth that is both familiar and simple. God promised to send to the people an angel to lead them into the land and fight before them. The problem with God’s angel is that he could give instruction, but not force the people to obey it – that had to be their choice.

23:20 “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 “Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. 22 “But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 “For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.

Let’s be honest. The problem with believers isn’t that God hasn’t led us. The problem isn’t that He hasn’t offered us direction in His Word, example through His saints of yesteryear, a pattern in our church celebrations, empowering by the working of His Spirit and even comfort in the body of Christ’s service gifts. The problem is, we just don’t want to listen to His instructions and actually DO THEM. Failure to follow even the clearest commands will lead to defeat in this world, and shame when we stand before Him in the next. It is time to listen up if we want our society to see our God. When we follow HIS instruction, we INVITE His blessing.

A Positive Society is based on the resistance of God’s people to conform (Exodus 23:13,24-33)

We have had issues – but much of our history is deep and rich, and will move people toward God!

23:13 “Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth… 23:24 “You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their sacred pillars in pieces. 25 “But you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst. … 32 “You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. …”

God repeatedly warned the people about becoming like the world. What did that include? Did it include the way they DRESSED? Yes, in fact it did. Did it include the way they CUT THEIR HAIR? Well, yes, in fact it did! Did it include their LANGUAGE? Yes, again it did. Did it include their ENTERTAINMENTS? Again, yes it did! This isn’t so complicated.

I have no interest in doing FOR YOU what the Spirit will do IN YOU. At the same time, we cannot be deceived into thinking that God is fine with each emulation the lost world entices into the life of the modern believer. There are things that are wrong – and we need to grow in our sensitivity to what they are, and then choose not to be like them. Jesus said that if your right eye offends you, pluck it out. Let me say it another way: “If your television causes you to sin – it is better to throw it out than to let it trash your mind, and slowly seep into your heart – and ruin your testimony.” We need to grow up and face that we cannot be what the world is- because what they are is LOST and DOOMED apart from Christ. WE are not. We belong to Him – and we should live openly and happily as though we do. You see, God shaped the foundations of a positive community by making clear that VALUES drive decisions, and those decisions create positive conditions for life together.

When I was a kid we had a dog named “Tibolt”. He was, it seemed to me, the fastest thing on four paws. I couldn’t catch him to save my life. He darted around the yard like someone with a hot firebrand was chasing him. The only hope I had was trapping him inside the fences of the yard. Fences protect things. They guard things. They help keep in what should be kept private and help keep out what should be kept out. We are facing a FENCE CRISIS in America today.

Ray Prichard wrote recently: “In 1988 evangelical philosopher and theologian Carl Henry made a stunning prediction in his book, Twilight of a Great Civilization (Crossway Books). He said that as America progressively loses its Judeo-Christian heritage, paganism would grow bolder. What we saw in the last half of the 20th-century was a kind of benign humanism, but he predicted that by the start of the 21st-century, we would face a situation not unlike the first-century when the Christian faith confronted raw paganism—humanism with the pretty face ripped off, revealing the angry monster underneath. His words have come true, and are coming truer with every passing day.”

You don’t have to go past daytime television, or read the comments section of any internet news outlet to see it – anger unleashed against all moral restraints. I was reading yesterday and young man’s plea: “Let’s legalize marijuana!” I began to wonder what he was thinking… Do we have far too many sober and clear thinking people in America today? Is anesthesia actually the way to solve problems? Some people think so.

Even if you think that young man is extreme (and I assure you he is not), virtually no one in our modern society would disagree that we have lost the “blush” from the American face. We can flip through the channels and see almost anything, if we are willing to degrade ourselves enough and if we are willing to pay for what we want. In the modern world we live in, 27 million women were reportedly trafficked as sex slaves. Child pornography is a rampant phenomenon that has law enforcement shuddering, while courts grapple with one assault on the “rights” of people to do anything they want after another. We seem to be trying to move a society like a ship with no rudder – allowing our civil society to be tossed about with every dark current. Yet, God planned another way. We CAN have a domestic life that is positive, if we will put up the picket fences and stop allowing the destructive beasts to chew away our civility.

Where do we start? Good question. If judgment starts with the house of God (1 Peter 4), then discernment must start there too. We must KNOW what God wants before we DO what God wants. In civil society, we must stop thinking that God’s Word is well known or obvious- for most the basic concepts of Scripture are foreign.

Key Principle: Careful examination of God’s civil codes reveal a path that can bring peace and harmony back to our community – but we must learn that code, then choose to follow it.

Before some of you “check out” mentally let me address two objections that will no doubt block our communication in this study.

First, many believers truly believe our nation is “too far gone” for a turnaround – but that is NOT SO. Let me challenge you with your own experience. Has God been able to turn you out of a life of self and sin to follow Him? Were you less a sinner than any other? Is there something too difficult for our God? Is He content to let our world spiral downward… the answer is NO – and I know that be WE ARE STILL HERE. There is coming a day when the church will be gone. It may be soon. At the same time, while it is yet DAY, we work with the expectation that the same God that changed US will change OTHERS with His Word.

A second objection is often raised by people in our modern American life – we don’t want all this LAW. We don’t want to be LEGALISTIC. We are under grace and we should be sharing with people the words of grace and not all this legal stuff. There is a point to understanding grace – and we cannot earn the love of God through works. Yet, I would caution once again that the church has reveled in grace for so long we are in danger of becoming a free for all when it comes to right thinking and right living. I don’t live to keep a list – but my relationship with Jesus (just like the one with my wife) has rules.

I arrived at the Virgin America terminal in LAX the other morning to return to Florida from California. When I came in, a very nice TSA man had me remove my shoes, belt, wallet, laptop, and various other parts and pieces onto an x-ray machine beltway as I passed through a doorway leading nowhere. They didn’t want to judge me, nor did they like me – they were just erecting the necessary barriers and only allowing those who passed the screening to enter. I could call them “LEGALISTS”, but what they did was for my safety. When I went to the gate, they checked my boarding pass and the size of my carry on – all for my safety and the convenience of other passengers on board. We understand that for all of us to live together, there must be rules… and they are designed to make things WORK BETTER.

Let me look at God’s specific prescriptions for Civil Society that He directed for His people in our passage. On first reading it looks like a laundry lists of laws, but there are actually only specific areas mentioned that may surprise you:

Exodus 22:16 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. 17 “If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins. 18 “You shall not allow a sorceress to live. 19 “Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death. 20 “He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed. 21 “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22 “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. 23 “If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; 24 and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. 25 “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. 26 “If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, 27 for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious. 28 “You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people. 29 “You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me. 30 “You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me. 31 “You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Let me sharpen this list for you, and sharpen our attention to it. There are seven areas presented, and each of them has a direct relationship for how believers in the church should look at their world. Each of the specifics has behind it an attitude – and though the law is not ours the attitude it guards against still manifests itself in specific ways in our society.

Problem #1: Irresponsible Men

The issue is not just that men need to take responsibility for sexual activity – but also for sexual attitudes. We are out of Junior High now, so stop acting like body parts are still something to poke fun about.  We need men to grow up. In a world where women guard themselves and men act like they are less culpable if she “lets you”, we need to reverse the sense of responsibility. Real men don’t make jokes about base sexual things. Real men face their lust issues and stand for purity. Real men control themselves. When we read about men seducing a virgin – we act like that is NORMAL. It is not normal – it is childish and irresponsible. One step outside the line only encourages another. By verse 19 we are reading the unthinkable – “Cut out Sex with animals” – I can’t even think about this. In a fallen and depraved world where sexual deviance has overtaken our sense of the real purpose and value of sexual expression – we need to recognize that God is disgusted by us pushing all limits.

22:16 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife.  17 “If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins….22:19 “Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

The church has become so lax in the area of sexuality that we have allowed God’s wonderful gift of expression of love that was to be shared in a marriage bed, to become a highlight of unmarried humor, and the single greatest topic of sitcoms. We act like sex outside of marriage harms no one – when the Bible clearly says that it DOES HARM. When we warp the uses that God intended for something, we damage our world. Men and women are now facing marriage after a whole range of sensual experiences that were intended for a unique intimacy, and then wondering why so many marriages are failing. This is not the only reason – but it is a reason. God made us, and He knows how we work best. Every time we over rule His Spirit in some area of our lives, we affirm rebellion and raise a fist to His rule and plan.

The rule for seducing a virgin presupposed something we can no longer presuppose – that a man will feel responsible for his behavior in sexual areas. It is not manly to act irresponsibly in this or any other way. The church has to be a place of truth – and the truth is that we have glorified so called “sexual freedom” in our country to the place where men will openly talk about their porn as though it makes them more of a man. Let me be clear: It doesn’t. It shows you lack the control to keep your mind and body in check. You may lift weights and look great on the outside, but if you cannot keep your mind under control, you are not much of a man. One of the most basic parts of a walk with God is that – keeping your heart guarded and your body controlled.

Problem #2: Playing with Spiritual Things

God simply told Israel to cut out witchcraft from His people. In a culture where there are good witches and bad ones – black magic and white – we need to quit entertaining ourselves with evil and get back to walking in truth. I try to speak in principles, but I am continually amazed at how little people really grasp, so I am going to try to be as gracious as I can, while still being pointed.

 22:18 “You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

I will not compromise on the issue of witchcraft. I believe with all my heart that Harry and his friends shouldn’t be on your nightstand. I don’t agree that it is an “every Christian should use their own judgment” type of thing any more than PORNOGRAPHY should be a “to each believer their own judgment”. Come on, is it really so unclear that spells, conjuring, and witchcraft are not GRAY AREAS in the Word? Is there some set of verses that make it ok to bring up our children in that world because it is creative? I am genuinely stunned at the number of Christians that cannot see the clear words of God’s heart – KILL THE WITCH. I don’t mean we should all get pitch forks and storm Dr. Frankenstein’s castle – I mean we have got to wake up to the influence this is having on our children and grandchildren.

What’s the problem, Pastor? Well, that is a fair question:

First, we don’t need our children getting de-sensitized to the occult in the modern world. They should learn that spiritual powers exist- and that we are fighting them every day. They should learn the parts of the armor they should put on each day. They should learn who the enemy is, where and how he works, and what they can to do navigate the world and lead others to Jesus. These children are not like us. They are growing up in a world that has no boundaries for darkness – and we should not make them comfortable with things God sternly and flatly forbade. God always has a reason for what He restricts. If we let them market witchcraft to our kids – our kids will normalize it for life.

Second, in an unusual twist, people who grow up with witchcraft entertainment are fed an intolerance towards those who don’t believe in witchcraft’s good uses. In the Harry Potter series, those who don’t accept or understand the warlock are called a “Muggle.” People who believe it is morally wrong to practice magic are “Muggles”. Just so you know – in the ethic of that world, Muggles are wrong. Do you think I am over-playing this? Take a good look at the numbers associated with the Wiccan movement in England before and after the series.

So that you don’t get the idea that I am speaking to personal preferences and not the Word, let me just reinforce what the Bible actually says. Both sorcery and witchcraft was forbidden in the law of Moses (Ex 22:18; Deut 18:10) and was denounced by the prophets (Nah 3:4). Conjuring spells and enchantments were specified as outlawed (Dt. 18:11, Isa. 19:3). Magic in the Bible referred to works of Egyptians, Babylonians and pagans – but was not mentioned among God’s people.

Now I must be honest. I am not going to ask your children if they read the books or saw the movies – but I beg you to more carefully consider what is happening. I try to understand this removal of the fence in the Christian home, but I truly cannot. I keep hearing about how we don’t want our children to be “left out of what is happening in the world” around them. Why do we feel entertainment is so tremendously important that we cannot rebuild the fence of protection here? I believe it is setting up the next generation of believers to be even less defended – because the fences were removed by free thinking parents – and I do not understand the perceived benefits.

Problem #3: The Making of a God

Even the most amateur Bible student knows instinctively that God didn’t allow idolatry. Yet, it is much harder to get a growing believer to see what influence the idolater next door has on them. We live in a world that chooses to make their God fit into their own desires, but we must kneel before the God who IS.

22:20 “He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed.

The reason God wanted Israel to be ever so careful about allowing the free exchange of everyone’s view of God is simple: He is the truth and they were telling lies. When we grow up in a world that teaches us constantly on TV and Internet that God is has no theology to speak of, no particular credo, no tenets of faith that would DIVIDE us – we are being educated in a LIE. When we meet the innocuous, harmless god of the public airwaves who is a serviceable god with laws amended to public sentiment – we are being LIED TO. And liars are getting more brazen and more dogmatic.

I am not trying to be belligerent in this. I am simply arguing that people are increasingly swallowing an “all gods lead to heaven” strategy that is pagan to its core and hostile to the Gospel. For this reason, God didn’t want His people getting comfortable with the plurality of pagan gods. Disney grabbed our children young, and has fed them a steady remaking of pagan tales. I am not snooping into your DVD cabinet, I am telling you to get your guard up and watch what is going on. Our children are more able to tell us about foreign gods and pagan rituals than about the basic Judeo-Christian ethics upon which our nation was built. Sit down and talk about what they are learning, and where they are learning it from. My oldest child came home from a Christian school – fifteen years ago in another town – and shared with us cultic practices children were discussing on the playground. They are more influenced than you may think.

Problem #4: A Brutal Generation

There is a brutishness to modernity. Survival of the fittest doesn’t work well in nursing homes. Bullying is what we can expect when we extract the basic moral fibers that hold the nations threads together. We must turn back to tenderness. In a world where power is king and care is weakness – we need to be aware that God is watching and listening to our hard words and hard hearts when it comes to the weak and needy.

22:21 “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22 “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. 23 “If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; 24 and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. 25 “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. 26 “If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, 27 for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

When you listen to believers, can you hear a sensitivity to people? Are we teaching our youth to recognize and work to deliver those who are hurting? Look at the list of people God mentioned:

• Don’t wrong a stranger: Because everyone needs to be drawn in and made to feel love.
• Don’t make it harder on a widow or orphan: Because everyone needs an advocate when life falls apart.
• Don’t make money off those who are struggling: Because those who are down need a hand, not a boot.

God pointed out that He is gracious – so mercy is NOT only for the weak… but for the strong.

Problem #5: A Respectful Mouth

When did it become ok to say whatever came to our minds? Some of the biggest mouths are attached to the smallest minds. I mention the disrespect issue because Facebook has shown us a side of each other we may never have seen before. We must learn and teach reverence to God and respect for authority. In a society that values freedoms over responsibilities – we need to turn back to honoring God, and those He has placed over us. God said:

22:28 “You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

Why is this important? Because our future depends on it. If our children do not learn respect now, we will reap the harvest later. We have to know what is REAL and what is IMPORTANT, as opposed to what is transient and fleeting! John Wesley once expressed his commitment to the Word this way:

“I am a creature of a day, passing through life, as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God: just hovering over the great gulf; till a few moments hence, I am no more seen! I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven: how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end he came from heaven. He has written it down in a book! Oh, give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one book.”

Let me say it clearly: A man is not more educated if he can cite volumes of pagan philosophy but cannot discern the truth. He may be well read, but he is living blindly and walking toward death.

Problem #6: Selfish Priority

Do you want to see modern selfishness? Just look at how people try to get five bags into a carryon overhead bin, while pretending they only have one. We live in a world that tilts the rules toward us, and blames everyone else. At the same time, even among believers, we haven’t really learned to recognize we don’t own what we have. In a world that believes they deserve all they have gotten, we need to turn back to Heaven and humbly admit that what we have came from the Lord!

22:29 “You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me. 30 “You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

The ancient Hebrews had rites to help them remember they got what they got because God gave what He gave. We need help with this, even now. We need to give God the first of our TIME, TALENT and TREASURE – because ALL of it was from Him.

Problem #7: Looking for a free lunch

Road kill isn’t a menu item. In a world that sees no boundaries except the ones that immediately show themselves as dangerous, you need to make lines around principles. Just because you CAN do something, and because it APPEARS to meet a need – does not mean it is the RIGHT thing to do. Everything has a COST, and it is not always readily apparent. The children of Israel may not have known about the bacteria and germ issues, but they had a bigger problem. They needed to take it by God’s Word not to grab something simply because they COULD. From genetic tampering to stem cell research – we need to slow down and really understand that we don’t understand the outcomes of what we do as well as we think.

22:31“You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

If we would simply work for what we have, spend less than we make, and save some – we would not be so eager for the quick fix or fast blessing. We need to recognize that there is no free lunch – even in the wilderness.

Oh dear ones, I have not entertained you, nor treated a light topic – but we have looked at truth… and in it we found LOVE. God’s Love.

Ryan Rodeman, a dear and learned young man on staff at a sister church in Akron wrote the words I want to close with just yesterday… “Calling something wrong is now the only thing that’s really wrong. Accountability is judgmental. Discipline is mean….Unconditional acceptance with no mention of the harm that we do to ourselves is the new definition of love. This is not love. This is actually more like hate….The Bible shows us that this kind of love is a big part of how God loves us. God disciplines us. He teaches us. He prunes us. He molds us….All of those things have to do with us changing. God cares about us enough not to let us stay the same.  That is love. …Love sacrifices. Love suffers. It gives itself away. Love bears burdens, speaks truth and faces reality. It’s not that there isn’t genuine affection or warmth to love.  It’s not that acceptance isn’t a part of love.  Those are all very real aspects. Love wants whats best for us according to God’s definition of best. To move away from God’s best is to move toward death…” Amen.

Careful examination of God’s civil codes reveal a path that can bring peace and harmony back to our community – but we must learn that code, then choose to follow it.