Moving Beyond A Conceptual Knowledge of God

Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7 [read Ex. 3:13-15]

Intro: Thursday, a couple mentioned to me that they would miss today’s meeting

“Our only regret,” they said, “is that we won’t be there for the beginning of Exodus”
– at first, I didn’t know what they meant
• then I realized, they must have assumed we were going on from Genesis to Exodus
○ perhaps they thought I planned to continue through the whole Bible
– but we spent almost an entire year in Genesis and there are still sixty-five more books in the Bible!
• at that pace, we would not get through the Old in my lifetime

Where my heart has been leading me, however, is for us to return to the life of Jesus Christ
– and spend time deepening our relationship with him, getting to know him better
– so we’re going to look closely at the stories of people who met Jesus
• my hope is that as we absorb their stories, they will shape the development of our own story
• and that this will affect our perception and experience of Jesus

When we set out to know God, we typically take an intellectual approach
– and this is also the sort of help we usually get from Christians
• for example, J. I. Packer’s book, Knowing God takes us in the right direction for a couple chapters, but then slips into “knowing theology”
– what we end up with is a biography or list of attributes and we do not actually meet God
• in scripture, the people who knew God were those who encountered him
• they did not get to know him through logical proofs or propositions, but through living experience

So we are not going to begin a study in Exodus this morning
• however, we can use it to make the transition to knowing God through Jesus Continue reading →

The Christ-Like Virtue

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him?” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, “Thus you shall say to Joseph, ‘Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.’ And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Genesis 50:15-17

Intro: We have come to the end of Genesis

For a moment, let’s look back at the beginning — the creation story of chapter 1
– the origin of all that we love, enjoy, and find beautiful
• repeatedly, God looked at what he had made and saw that it was “good”
– but then a rupture occurred that affected the natural world as well as humankind
• what was whole became fragmented
• what was innocent became guilt-ridden
• what was intimate is experienced as alienating
– the fissure not only runs through the cosmos, but through time as well
○ fracture and disintegration became the new normal

God looked on his broken world and determined to fix it
– but he also determined that he would not fix it alone
• he would call humankind, that had been responsible for the rupture, to help repair it
– so from early on, history was given a goal – it is moving toward a target; namely, salvation
• healing, reconciliation, and restoration
• everyone is involved in this project–you and I,
○ with our own little break-ups and reconciliations
○ each life is a microcosm that reflects the rupture and repair of the macrocosm

This brings us Joseph and the end of the book
– his is also a story of fracture, betrayal, and alienation
• but he overcame it and achieved reconciliation
– in Joseph’s story we learn how healing occurs, and how salvation is worked into the wound Continue reading →

How Blessings Are Multiplied

Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, you son Joseph has come to you,” Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed. Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, “Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting inheritance. Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.”
Genesis 48:1-5 

Intro: There are two things I want to point out in these verses: The central theme (chapters 48-49) and a footnote

1. The central theme in chapters 48-49 is blessing
   – the source of blessings Jacob doled out, “God Almighty . . . blessed me” (48:3)
   – the blessing was divine and dynamic
   • it was because he was blessed, he was able to bless
   – the time had come to pass on the blessing
   • Joseph brought his two sons for this reason
2. The footnote (v. 7) — Jacob recalls Rachel’s death
   – with a deep sigh, the old man says, “Rachel died on me”
   • he still feels the heartache of losing his lover
   • the woman for whom he was willing to work fourteen years
   – it’s hard to lose someone precious and supportive, especially when you still have a long way to go

The footnote introduces a sub-theme in these chapters
– the blessings collide with the realities of family disappointments, misconduct, and hardships

Something subtle happened in verses 1-7

It’s not likely we would catch it on our first reading Continue reading →

How to Answer When God Calls

So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes.” Genesis 46:1-3

Intro: This last week, Derek Nichols posted on Twitter a poem his younger brother wrote

Within twenty-four hours it had been re-posted more than 100,000 times
– what’s remarkable about the 24 lines of verse that eighth-grader Jordan wrote:
• it can be read backwards as well as forward and read backward the message is reversed
– I’ll give you just a sample in the first three lines of his poem:

“Our generation will be known for nothing.
Never will anybody say,
We were the peak of mankind.”
(Now read the lines from bottom to top)

Our negative perspectives are usually formed by way we read things
– for example: our personal history, our current circumstances, and the behavior of others
• if we can find another way to read our situation, we can form a positive perspective
– Joseph’s story is about finding an alternative reading
• it has to do with learning to read from the end – as in Philippians 1:6

For I am confident of this very thing, that He whoo began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

• reading our lives in reverse from this point may help us see that our momentary challenges are doable

Beersheba was the last outpost before entering the desert wilderness

The text reads, “So Israel set out,” but the Hebrews says he “took his journey” or “journeyed on”
– venturing onto the desert road to Egypt was the next step in an ongoing journey
• but first, Jacob wanted to secure his connection with God
– in the sacrifice, Jacob was turning himself toward God with his whole being
• God responded with encouragement to continue on
• our private meditation on God’s words to Jacob will be richly rewarded
• every phrase is meaningful
– “Then Jacob arose from Beersheba . . .” — he got up and got going

Just as we come to the crucial moment, the story is interrupted Continue reading →