God Encounter — Part 1

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”
When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am!” Moses replied.
“Do not come any closer,” the LORD warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:1-6

Intro: In the Book of Exodus, Moses has two extended dialogues with God

And both are radiant with profound revelations of God

1. The first is here in chapters 3-4:17
2. The second is found in chapters 32-34
   With Moses, we have a vivid experience of God

– personally speaking, I do not find abstract theology compelling
• it’s true that the Bible is packed with theology
◦ but for the most part it is communicated through story
◦ God revealed himself in dynamic encounters with his people
• truth is first experienced then, perhaps, digested with mind
◦ its essence is not philosophical, but relational

In The Varieties of Religious Experience, America’s brilliant philosopher/physician/psychologist, William James wrote, “What keeps religion going is something else than abstract definitions and systems of concatenated adjectives, and something different from faculties of theology and their professors. All these things are after-effects, secondary accretions upon those phenomena of vital conversation with the unseen divine . . . .”  “In the religious sphere, in particular, belief that formulas are true can never wholly take the place of personal experience.”

– as important as it is that we can identify and articulate our beliefs,
• knowing theological concepts is never as important as knowing God
• and knowing him in the firsthand experience of our encounters with him

This first dialogue is critical because it raises important questions
• the remainder of Exodus provides the answers to:
◦ who is Moses?
◦ Who is this God?
◦ Who are God’s people and what defines them as such?
◦ What is God’s overarching purpose?

1-7 Moses, grandson of Pharaoh, has achieved the status of a shepherd

The first sentence is one of those that make you back up
– there’s some confusion regarding Jethro’s identity
(his name given in ch. 2 was Reuel, which might cause us to wonder whether this is the same person)
• not only that, Hebrew text does not say Sinai, but Horeb
(cf. Ex. 17:6; Deut. 1:6, etc. — this might make us wonder if this is another mountain or another name for Sinai)
◦ both the man and the mountain have two names
◦ and both have titles:
Jethro, the priest of Midian
Sinai [Horeb], the mountain of God
• we have to re-read chapter 2 and research elsewhere to work this out
◦ the mix-up (if that’s what it is) has us thinking about names and identities
◦ we are being prepared for the encounter
– we’re also told that Moses led Jethro’s flock far into the wilderness
• literally, behind the desert (the King James Version as backside of the desert)
◦ it is an odd geographical reference
• perhaps it is an indication of geographical space that was “spooky”
◦ moreover, it is the mountain of God, before anything ever happened there
◦ were there already local legends about the sacredness of this place?

Moses saw something uncanny – something that made no sense
– Hebrew, “he saw and LOOK!” or “Behold”
• we’re supposed to visualize what the storyteller points out
• on the mountainside he saw a fire that burned, but did not consume
◦ had to take a closer look, but approaching it, he was warned not to come closer
– this scene illustrates an experience of the sacred
• it is all mystery — an exposure to the supernatural
◦ how did Moses respond? With reverence
◦ he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God

God’s call from the flames and Moses’ response tells me something about prayer Continue reading →

Safe and Sound

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from among the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you? Exodus 2:1-7

Intro: In chapter 1, we saw how severe discomfort forces us to change

Here, in chapter 2, we see how comfort tempts us to settle in
– the plot in today’s episode is keeping Moses alive
• suspense is raised at his birth and resolved three months later
• then, in his early adulthood, suspense rises when his life is again in jeopardy
◦ it is resolved when Moses finds a home in the Sinai Peninsula and settles down

1-4 Pharaoh’s command (the baby should have been thrown into the Nile)

Later on, we’ll learn the names of Moses’ parents
– but for now, they remain anonymous — they are “stock characters”
• the storyteller wants to focus our attention on the baby
• it is not difficult to imagine what went through the mother’s heart
◦ beautiful (Hebrew, tov): good, healthy, put together well–a keeper
– so she gathered papyrus from Nile, wove a basket and waterproofed it
• KJV “ark” same word as Noah’s boat and later on the Ark of the Covenant
◦ a box or chest – the items placed in each ark were precious
◦ the purpose of placing items (persons) inside was to preserve them
• “technically,” she did place her baby in the Nile
◦ we learn that the baby had an older sister who stuck around
◦ for the time being, the baby is relatively safe floating in the reeds

We’re still at beginning of story and two interesting developments emerge:

1. the conflicts that drive the plot are caused by men
2. the heroes who resolve the plot’s tension are all women
   • beginning with the midwives in chapter 1
   • now Moses’ mother, his sister and soon . . .

5-10 Of all people, it was Pharaoh’s daughter who discovered the baby

She came with her entourage of maidens to bathe in the Nile
– in every other instance of bathe in Exodus, it refers to a ritual purification
• Pharaoh’s daughter spotted the small basket stuck in the reeds
◦ she sent one of her servants to fetch it
◦ when she removed lid, the baby cried
– she recognized this as one of the Hebrew’s children
(who else would have risked setting their baby adrift in the Nile?)
• right then, Moses’ sister appeared and volunteered to find a Hebrew wet nurse
◦ Pharaoh’s daughter gave a one word answer, Go!
◦ not a negotiation, but a command
• the girl ran off and came back with her mother
◦ so Moses’ mother was paid to nurse and raise her own son

The child grew – this is another way to say, “Time passed”
– but we notice the passing of time without our attention moving from the child
• the storyteller uses the same device in verse 11, where the child is suddenly an adult
• we have not witnessed forty years pass,
◦ we have witnessed the child grow into adulthood by stages Continue reading →

Thorns In the Nest

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.”
So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. Exodus 1:8-12

Intro: Recently, an idea has been nagging at me

Namely, that I should be taking you through the Old Testament (maybe not the whole thing)
– the New Testament (NT) presents itself as a continuation of the Old Testament (OT)
• there are parts of NT we cannot understand with out OT (e.g., the Book of Hebrews)
• besides that, there is the explicit statement of Jesus

. . . all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled (Lk. 24:44)

– one meaning of fulfilled is that predictions regarding the Messiah found fulfillment in him
• but there is another meaning: to bring something to fullness, to completion
◦ to actualize its latent potential

As Jonathan Pennington observes, the gospels “explicitly connect the events of Jesus’s life to the ‘fulfillment’ of the Scriptures. This at times refers to ‘fulfillment’ in the sense of prophecy completed but more often means rather that Jesus deepens, explains, fills out, and reveals the true intent.”

• there is an orientation and richness we lose in the NT without the OT

When it comes to the OT, Most of us have been exposed to wrong ideas or poor teaching

A wrong idea: God is presented differently in OT than NT
• for example: the angry deity of the OT through Jesus became a loving Father
Poor teaching: This usually results from a lack of appreciation for what the OT is in itself
• some Bible teachers try to find Jesus in every verse of OT
◦ so they read him into the OT or make superficial connections between the old and new
◦ what they produce adds nothing to our understanding of OT or NT

How does the NT identify itself with the OT? In 3 primary ways:

1. With texts – direct quotations
   – This was to fulfill what was spoken . . . (Mt. 4:14)
   – Abraham believed God, and it was credited . . . (Ro. 4:3)
2. With types – Gal. 4:24, “allegory”; He. 11:19, “type”
3. With copies and shadows and symbols
   – the physical sanctuary and its worship were modeled according to a spiritual pattern
   . . . who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things (He. 8:5; 9:9, 23, 24; 10:1)

– we can draw straight line from these examples to the OT
• but there is also an indirect relationship between the New and Old Testaments
◦ this is easy to understand if you think of a road in relation to a destination
• the OT is the road that takes us to our destination in Jesus

The Bible tells a story

The Bible is not (as many assume) a book of religious rules and doctrines
– its setting is always in real life and involves real people
• so what is the grand story of scripture about?”
• theologians tell us, “Redemption,” that it is a record of “salvation history”
◦ although this became popular in the 20th century,
◦ 300 years earlier, someone else had discerned the same overarching story Continue reading →

First Supper of the New Year

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 1 Corinthians 11:23-31

Intro: I had a hard time pulling myself together this morning

I’ll just say, yesterday was tough – lingering emotional residue from yesterday
– stumbling around in the dark, my first thought was that I did not want to be here
• that I’d rather find a quiet spot near the ocean
• and just sit with Jesus for awhile
◦ that I could really use his company and his strength and wisdom
– but when my brain started waking up,
• I knew this was exactly where I wanted to be and needed to be

Paul was not with Jesus and his disciples for that last supper
– he heard the story from the apostles who were there
• so he observed Communion the same way we do
• as a ritual re-enactment of that hour in the upper room
– Paul fully understood (and felt) the sacredness of Communion
• and he gave specific instructions to treat it with reverence
• as strong as his words sound to us, this is not a warning to back away
◦ it is an invitation to come, to eat and to drink
◦ but to do it with full awareness and receive its full value

To observe Communion with reverence is to discern the embodied presence of Jesus
– the Lord’s Supper celebrates our union with God
• a (common)union we enjoy with undying gratitude

Let me remind you of the Bible story that defines Reflexion

The Sunday following Jesus’ crucifixion,
– two disciples were on the road going away from Jerusalem
• however, they could not leave behind what happened there
◦ I imagine their feverish conversation as they tried to make sense of Jesus’ death
• as they walked together, another traveler approached them, perhaps from a side road
◦ it was Jesus who joined them, but they did not recognize him

Jesus: “Listening to your voices, it sounds like an intense conversation. What are you guys discussing?”
One of the disciples: “You must be only visitor to Jerusalem who knows nothing of the things that have happened there these last few days”
Jesus (innocently): “What things?”
They ran through the brief history they had with Jesus, describing him as a mighty prophet and the hope they had placed in him, but how it all collapsed when he was arrested, tried and crucified. They also mentioned the news brought to them by the women who were at the tomb early that morning, but it is apparent that they really did not know what to make of that.
Jesus: “ ‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures’ ” (Lk. 24:25-27)
Arriving at their destination, it looked as though Jesus was going to continue his journey, but turning to him they begged him, “Please stay.”
When dinner was served, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight (Lk. 24:31)
Immediately they ran back to Jerusalem, where they reported their encounter with Jesus to the apostles and explained how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread (Lk. 24:35) Continue reading →

Now What?

Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall  Matthew 7:24-27

Intro: We have some unfinished business before exiting 2017

We have come to the end of the Sermon On the Mount
– the question raised in this last lesson is, What will we do with the Sermon?
• Jesus says, “Build something on it. Construct a life”
• by the way, it’s never too late to do this
– Jesus presents two options, using a recognizable pattern
• namely, contrasting characters in the Old Testament wisdom writings

A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil,
But a fool is arrogant and careless (Pr. 14:16)

The pattern goes something like this:
1. Observe the behavior of the wise and foolish (or righteous and wicked, etc.)
2. Pay attention to how it turns out for each of them
3. Then decide which one of the the two paths you will take

• the pattern works, because it simplifies the nature of our choices
◦ the smart choice is to build our lives on this foundation

But here we run into a snag
– the pattern appears as simple logic – like working out a math problem
• typically, preachers and Bible teachers feel their work is done for them
• they merely reiterate what Jesus said and tell us,
“So lay your foundation on Jesus’ teaching!”
◦ and it would be just that easy–if we were calculators and not people
– what we are not told is how much work this takes,
• or how long it takes, or even how to do such a thing
• I hope to offer you some help with that part
◦ it is, in fact, what Jesus’ entire Sermon has been doing for us
◦ taking apart the old religious foundation and constructing a new one

24-25, Responding to the whole Sermon all at once

. . . these words of Mine
In this sentence, “Mine” is emphatic!
– the words are important because they are his
• it will be the authority of his teaching that amazes the crowd afterward (vv. 28-29)
• Jesus has given us a lot of information Continue reading →