Today’s reading has us listening in to the conversation God had with Moses. God is giving details on how He is to be worshipped and not only that, who is allowed to approach Him. We have before us the purification of the priest, the instruments of worship, how God is to be approached and what must be offered to Him as acceptable. You see God gave CLEAR details and nothing else will be accepted. The result of approaching God wrong, offering something unacceptable, using the wrong instruments and even substituting something else for what HE has commanded resulted in only one thing. DEATH!

Today; however, many believe they can worship God however they please. You hear “come as you are” or even worse, many teachers in the body of Christ feel that anything and everything is acceptable. Others say “don’t judge”, this my friend is in a specific context and it is not that we don’t judge, we don’t judge wrongly or hypocritically. But we MUST make a judgment call on what God calls acceptable worship and what He does not. As ambassadors of His word we have no choice. And just in case we believe that God only kills in the Old Testament we only need to read Acts 5:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 11:27-32.

But why we must ask? Because God is Holy, Righteous, Just and Perfect and He is not to be played with. God is not a nice cosmic teddy bear that you can hug whenever you are feeling down, nor is He like Santa Claus, big jolly with a red suit bringing gifts and candy to good little boys and girls. Nor is He like a jolly ol’ grandpa who allows the children to behave unruly when they are with Him. God is not like us and any God who does not look like the God of Numbers 16:25-35 is a god of our imagination. However….

God has provided a way. We will see a High Priest who does not need to offer up atonement for Himself  (Hebrews 9:11-28). He will be the all sufficient, ram, lamb and bull. No need for bells to be tied to Him, no need for Him to kill a bull at the opening of the tent, no need for Him to slay a young ram and poor its blood on the alter, nope! He is all sufficient 100% God and 100% Man. We will see the blood of bulls and goats can never atone for the people. It will tell us in Romans that God only winked at our sin, but every year more bulls, more goats, more doves, more lambs had to die. More incense, more perfume, more anointing oil, had to be burned and poured. Thank God of Jesus Christ.

Finally in our NT reading we see this “come as you are” also being rejected. There is a parable about a great wedding. The original invitees not only rejected the invitiation but killed the King’s servants. You see what the response to that was right (Matthew 22:7). He then went out and called those who were not invited and many came; however, one “came as he was”. And the results were tragic for that fella.

God will only be worshipped on His terms. He is too Holy to negotiate with man. Do not be fooled that you can come as you are, you must come, covered with the blood of Christ or you will hear on that day “depart from me, I never knew you”. Don’t be numbered in that number friend. Trust wholly in the Lord Jesus, He has approached God on your behalf, you only need to be sprinkled in His blood.

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Today’s OT reading God is still giving out His very precise instruction of the pattern and layout of how He wants the tabernacle to be set up. So far God has explained and described very specifically how He wants the ark of the covenant, the showbread table, the lampstands of gold, curtains of linen, curtains of goats’ hair, the boards, and sockets, the veil and the screen the, bronze altar, the court of the tabernacle as well as the what the priest should wear. God is not quite finished with giving His instruction on the tabernacle layout, we will continue to follow.

This brings us to our new testament reading. Jesus is in the temple teaching and while teaching He is interuppted by the chief preists and the elders. They approached Jesus questioning his authority as if the authority was their’s to give. What’s incredible is that after they ask Jesus who gave Him the authority to teach, once He answers they are now under the very authority they question. The lesson plan has now been directed to them about them. In the parable of the two sons (Matt. 21:28-32) one of the sons says no to the father, later regrets it and does what the father asked of him. The other son says yes to the father and does nothing. Jesus tells these religious leaders that prostitutes and tax collectors will get into the kingdom of God before they do. He explains by saying that when John came and preached to them repentance the tax collectors and prostitute believed John, but the religious leaders did not. He then says that not only did you not receive John, but you didn’t feel remorse afterwards either and still didn’t believe him. My question is this: Have you really grabbed hold of the gospel? Have you allowed the gospel of Jesus Christ to come in change your life and renew your mind? Or  have you decided to reject the gospel and just “do church”? Are you just dressing up on Sunday, carrying your bible, rembering a scripture to impress those that we see?  If you have not allowed the gospel to change your life, no matter how righteous you may seem, Jesus was talking to you in this parable. Allow His words to penetrate your heart and change your life.

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January 30, 2010 Daily Reading

After the children of Israel refused to listen to God for themselves and asked Moses to serve as a mediator, God began to give them rules and regulations for living as a unique kingdom among the kingdom of the world. These rules cover everything from how to treat animals to how to treat other people. They were told how to approach God and how to stay away from other gods.

But, in the midst of the rules and regulations, we get a glimpse of what could have been, as God dines with Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and 70 other leaders from among the children of Israel. (Exodus 24:9-11) In the midst of exclamations of God’s holiness and the people’s sin, God make himself known in a person way and to serve a meal to some of those sinners… “and he did not lay his hand” on them.

God had every right to stay away from them… to not allow them in his presence. He had every right to destroy them. They deserved to be punished for their sin… for their grumbling… for their complaining… for their lack of faith. But, instead of punishing them, God chose to serve them dinner.

Could this be a glimpse of how God desires to relate to people? Unfortunately, these people had rejected God and refused to know him personally. (Exodus 20:18-19)

As we turn to Matthew, we remember that God has now come to man… not in lightning and thunder and smoke and fire, but in meekness… in the form of a servant. (Philippians 2:5-11) Jesus never lost sight of who he was or what is purpose was. And, so, he once again reminds his followers that he would suffer, die, be buried, and rise again.

And how do his followers respond? The began seek power and position for themselves. Still thinking that Jesus would be an earthly king, James and John’s mother asked Jesus if her sons could rule with him.

In response, Jesus tried once again to teach them about his “upside down” kingdom. “Do you want to be leaders?” Jesus asked, “Then serve one another.”(Matthew 20:25-28)

Did Jesus mean that leadership is a new type of service… a super-service? No. Jesus meant that servants are the real leaders, and those who follow will be serving right alongside of them. Or, to put it another way, do you want to know who to follow? Jesus would say to follow those who serve.

Jesus demonstrated exactly what he meant. As he was walking along the road, he stopped to serve two blind men… two blind men who had nothing to offer him in return.

God continues to serve others… and calls us to serve others along with him.

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Today’s OT reading has us focusing on of the greatest miracles in scripture, not to mention one of the most popular stories in human history. The parting of the red sea, the Israelites going across on dry land while the Egyptians were swallowed up. Not only did God take the heir to the throne, he also took the throne and showed the world just how great He was. This was catastrophic for Egyptians because now someone else not of the direct offspring of the Pharaoh would assume authority, but God has often showed that He will not share His glory with another. But, we know that story and today I want to focus on our NT reading.

Our reading today starts off kind of odd. It doesn’t seem to appear to be anything in the text that would have caused the Pharisee to ask such a question. He asks “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause” this is shortly after many came to Jesus and He healded them.

So Jesus answers the question, and what a shocking answer it is. He says unless for sexual immorality. Now, this is a very debatable topic. But I think I may have adopted Piper’s view on marriage, though I am not 100% there, my thoughts would most likely fall upon those lines. You can find that here, so I will not focus on what I think Jesus meant, I want to speak to the culture today.

Today we have songs that are chart topping pop and R&B charts. The name of the song is called “Papers” by Usher. It is song in which the hook says “I am ready to sing them papers, papers”. I would not be concerned if Mr. Raymond were not a Christian as he is not bound by the New Covenant; however, he is bound by the New Covenant, thus his song ignores Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the righteous requirement that is to follow those who say they are in Christ. But not to get sidetracked….

“Singing them papers” is the disposition of most today in our culture. Even among “conservative” evangelicals the divorce rate has hovered aroung 50% or so for the last 15-20 years. This is a disgrace and an outright rebellion against Christ and His teaching found in Matthew 19.

Because Eve was taken out the side of Adam, she was “flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone” and God gave the command even then (penned by Moses himself) that “the two shall become one flesh”. There is a strict permanence in mind here. Paul then goes on to use this in describing our relationship to Christ. Christ is permanently married to His bride and we have become “one flesh” with Him.

You see before sin so clouded our judgement and obscured the face of God, marriage was to be permanent. One man and one woman were to live forever, a sign of that covenant may be sexual intercourse. It is funny that Avatar catches this theology when Jake and Neytiri choose each other as mates. However, we have failed to acknowledge such a theology. The one flesh comes before the fall and thus is the standard of God! Sin interrupted that fellowship, but today we are not slaves to sin but to righteousness and because of this we are to restore and repair and reconcile what has been broken by the fall.

One way to do this is my Christian marriage. Christian marriage is one of the most beautiful witnesses we can portray to the world; however, we find ourselves persistently and even wrecklessly disobeying our Lord, because “God wants us to be happy”. I have even heard such false teaching from pulpits and even from “conservatives.

I don’t want to dig deeper, but I do want challenge you in an area. We have to take this more seriously than we do. This is not just another cultural thing. The marriage union for those who are in Christ is a picture of Christ and His bride. The way we love and submit, serve and give, sacrifice and live for, will show the world how Christ relates to His bride. For those who are “pastors” and constantly remarry those who have been divorced disobediently, maybe should ask who are they trying to please.

In closing we love to fight against gay marriage but will not fight for Christian marriages. I think we are more concerned with the image of marriage versus the purpose of marriage and who marriage actually belongs to. Let the world do what they want, God will judge them. But as Paul said we are to judge those in the church (I guess that “who are you to judge” is a bit overkill).

Divorce, Gospel, Marriage, Matthew, remarriage

The last few chapters of Genesis and the opening of Exodus looks to be the climax of the children of Israel. Jacob has become Israel, his sons reconciled,  they escaped famine, the offspring has the fertile land (important?) in Egypt they have integrated and permeated Egypt, they have lived their for a generation and it seems like everything is going fine but…..

Their blessing is their curse. Egypt as beautiful and enticing as it may be, will soon become a constant thorn in the side of God’s people. To be clear we will see Egypt as a picture of sin and we will see the only deliverer who can free God’s people will be God Himself. As we read through Exodus we should view this experience from the lens of the New Testament. The metanarrative (grand-story) of the bible is found in the promise of Genesis 3. God will deliverer His creation through the seed of the woman. Who this seed is, is the unfolding theme of our bible (Romans 4:13-16; Galatians 3:10-29).

So we find the Israelites being “fruitful and multiplying” in a land that does not know their God nor their covenant. To be even more direct, this land is ruled by a god who’s name is Pharaoh,  he will not acknowledge the true God and because of this brings God’s people into slavery. If we see the progression of Israel’s slavery it looks much like the progression of sin. First is starts off as an enjoyment, though you know you shouldn’t be there. Then it moves into a burden (Exodus 1:11), then it moves into ruthless oppression (Exodus 1:12-14) and eventually it moves into death (Exodus 1:15-22). James 1:15, has a similar progression of sin.

So now the Israelites have moved from fertile acceptance to ruthless death (“throw them in the Nile” Pharaoh says). We see this early in Matthew with a king who does not want Israel to have another king and many times Romans leaders were viewed as deities. Pharaoh was threatened by the male children much like Herod was, yet God will call His son “out of Egypt” (Matthew 2:15).

In spite of this God, hears the cries of His elect and provides a deliverer! A male child goes into Egypt (he is accepted as an Egyptian) by a miraculous event, guided by the hands of YAWEH and God now calls this son to deliver his elect. He will go in the power of YAWEH, and will deliever the people out of bondage into the land promised (the promise land is a picture of what will be known as the New Jerusalem where Mt. Zion is and God dwells). 

Jesus says “anyone who sins is a slave to sin”. Every human being is in bondage but God has provided a deliverer. The task master is tough, the burden is hard, yet God’s deliverer is loving and has a light burden and just as the Israelites need rest so do we, God’s deliverer provides rest (Matthew 11:28-30). Lets see how the story unfolds

Deliverance, Motif, Picture, Shadow

Today’s reading led me to focus on our New Testament reading. Jesus had crossed over and is now in a port town on the northwest side of the Sea of Gailee. Immediately the people recognize Him and they went throughout the town calling people and bringing them to Jesus so that he may heal them. So much so that even touching a piece of His clothing lead to healing.

But even in the midst of this religious tradition took over. As people are being healed and made well. A little side bar here. We have to understand exactly what healing does. It isn’t simply that people get there limbs back functioning or their eyes opened, or even the flow of blood stopping, or grow back limbs. To be crippled and sick made you an outcast in Israel. You were ceremonially unclean and for the most part the people would believe either “you sinned or your parents”. Other than that if you are obeying the Law of God you should be healthy and prosperous. These paralytics, mute, blind and sick individuals were social outcast. They had nowhere to go, their families often left them, they were unable to work, unable to have families and were left to beg in the city streets. The religious leaders of their day would outright ignore them, thus the apathy that clouds the mind of the pharisees in this section of scripture. How often today are we the same way? But…

So, as many were healed that day, here comes the religous leaders. Instead of giving praise to God, instead of recognizing bones being set straight and families restored and social outcast now being reconciled to their communities, they ask “why don’t your disciples follow tradition”.

Jesus’ response is hilarious. He asks “why do you break the COMMANDMENTS of God”. You see their tradition had so clouded their minds that they believed that their tradition had greater authority than God’s word! And often times today our tradition have more authority than God’s word. Our tradition of what we should watch, or what we should wear, or how we should educate our children, or where we should go to “church” or make-up, or dating or…… you see, Christ has given us a NEW COMMANDMENT. That commandment is “love one another”.

But like the religious leaders our tradition usurps the authority of God’s commandment even to the fact that when we see people accepting the social outcast of our days, and loving the unlovable, and receiving the unreceivable we look and say “how can they do that, don’t they understand our tradition”?

Religious tradition and heritage can be healthy, it just has to be put in the right perspective. God’s word is authoritative, not our traditions. And whenever our tradition usurps the authority of God’s word we should repent and put our traditions in check. This goes for all of us. Lets not be too quick to make our traditions God’s word and ignore the work and power of God in the lives of others, regardless of how “unorthodox” it looks to our tradition. We may end up missing an opportunity to see Jesus working, much like the religious leaders did in Gennesaret.

Healing, Religion, Tradition

After reading Lionel’s comment about the parallels between Joseph and Jesus, I have reassessed the story in light of the similarities, and I can barely keep my seat! I saw some connection before, but as the story progresses the connection is getting deeper and more glorious than I’ve ever seen before.

The Lord God used Joseph to preserve a remnant and save the lives of the very men that betrayed him. Let me say that again. By divine intention Joseph was rejected (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:11), falsely accused (Matthew 27:11-26), and bore the punishment of sins he did not commit so that a remnant could be saved (1 Peter 2:24)!

Joseph realized that it was the Lord’s doing that he should suffer separation from his beloved father and the rest of his family so that he could bring deliverance (a salvation of sorts) when the time was right (Romans 5:6). So, when he met up with his brothers again, he did not make them suffer for their former sins. He was so overwhelmed with joy that they would be saved; he wept and hugged them and immediately began making provision for them.

When I see these glimpses of the Savior throughout redemptive history and cannot help but rejoice because I see Him more clearly and love God more deeply.

Allegory, Sovereignty, Suffering

Today’s reading finds Jacob and his sons that reside with him amidst a severe famine. Their sheep, donkeys and money can not create food for them, so now they must turn to Egypt for help. It seems their lives have gone on after the conniving actions they took against their younger brother Joseph. Though they may have some guilt, Jacob has continually bore the pain of losing his favorite son.

So Jacob sends 10 of his sons to get food from Egypt, and when they get there Joseph immediately recognizes them yet they don’t recognized him (there are quite a few years in between these two events).

What is heart warming about this text is the recognition of sin in the lives of the 10. They realize that they are wrong. They realize that God will not let their sin go unnoticed, but what they have not realized is that God has already provided a substitute for them. Joseph being innocent has already suffered and has been elevated to highest office possible in Egypt. God as always has provided a ram for Himself. His promises to Abraham will not prevented, even in adverse circumstances.

After hearing their repentance Joseph weeps. He is broken by his brothers sins and excited that he has been reconciled. He must have thought throughout these years what was his purpose. Was he only their to pepetuate the Egyptian dynasty and go to his grave alone as an Egyptian? No, he is has provided a way of provision for his family, although through hardship.

We see reconciliation and repentance. But to make this practical, we need to think about our lives. If we are in Christ we have repented and have been reconciled and God has also provided Himself a lamb a sacrifice who was also innocent and this was His Son. The one He loves. He bears the suffering on our behalf and we get the provision that only He can make possible. But even more we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. God did not place Joseph in the high position of Pharaohs right hand so that he can eat, drink and be merry. God used Jacob to fulfill His purpose and plan to bring His promise to His people. Joseph could have easily gave them the food and not compromise His position and person. But He didn’t. And neither should we. God has given us a ministry of reconciliation. We are now ambassadors for Christ ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).  And we too can be used to reconcile our friends and family to the one true God.

However, Joseph’s position came by his uprightness in his moral character and his integrity. When presented with opportunities to get over, he did not. When presented with sexual immorality he fled, when given the opportunity to use his gifts to get out of prison he passed them along to the his fellow prisoners and they got free and even when they were free he never yelled about how unfair that was. He entrusted himself to God and God gave him the ultimate victory. We will have to do the same if we are to present the ministry of reconciliation. We will have to have upright moral character and integrity. This may cause us to be falsely accused, ridiculed or even persecuted at some length, but Jesus says ” a servant is not above His master…”. Jesus experienced this and so will we from time to time.

As we transition into our New Testament reading Jesus is speaking of the value of the Kingdom of Heaven. He uses the simile literary style.  We see from yesterday that the Kingdom is a seed that is thrown but only a few will bear fruit. It is also like leaven that permeates, a valuable item in which all is sold to pursue and finally it is like a net which may catch a lot of things  yet only some of them will be good, while the others will be discarded. The Kingdom of Heaven in these instances is the Good News. We are to sow it like seed, and let God deal with the soil, we are to let it permeate our lives, it (He) is to be valuable enough to sale everything we have and we are to cast it out and God will do the work of separation (we are not to choose which people get the message, it is God’s kingdom He will decide who gets in and who does not).

Again this is the ministry of reconciliation. The Good News of Jesus Christ. We are the sowers, we are the person who found the treasure it is the leaven in our lives which permeates every part and we are to be fisher of men.

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January 15, 2010 Daily Reading

I hope it isn’t sacrilegious to say this, but the Genesis saga is better than any reality television show I have ever watched! I mean I’ve read or heard all these stories at one point or another in my life, but never have I read them straight through as one large narrative. I am starting to fill in some mental gaps and the Old Testament, which was once so scary to me, is actually turning out to be quite intriguing.

The story makes a clean break from the narrative and gives us Esau’s lineage. Why is that important? I think we’ll find out as we keep reading because I noticed some names that I remember from my childhood Sunday school class in that heritage that will reappear much later (i.e. Amalek=Amalekites, and the land of Edom, which is named after Esau). Also, we find that physical lineage has been a very important part of the story this far and will continue to be until the birth of Jesus…and then…we see an even more important lineage granted to those who would believe, namely the sonship/heir/adoption that we have received in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I think everyone is pretty familiar with the Joseph story so I won’t beat the dead horse by retelling it. However, here are some things that I noticed:

• Israel loved Joseph more than any other son because he was born in his old age, yet Benjamin is the youngest (which means he was really born in Israel’s old age) and he doesn’t receive that beloved affection.
• Joseph’s dream bears striking similarity to what God told Rebekah, “The younger will serve the older.” We never really see Esau “serve” Jacob (in fact we see the inverse sometimes in Jacob’s language toward Esau and the gifts that he gives), so could God have beeen speaking prophetically in this case to mean future generations?
• I was very surprised at Reuben’s grace toward his brother even though he hated him.

Much can be said about our NT reading concerning Jesus and the Sabbath, but I think Lionel poignantly pointed out that great truth in yesterday’s post: Jesus Christ IS the Sabbath; we find our rest IN Him. However, I hope it’s appropriate for me to focus a bit on the endorsement of Jesus Christ by God, through the words of Isaiah (vv.18-21). “He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles,” “he brings justice to victory,” and “In His name the Gentiles will hope.” Justice. Justice. Justice. It is at the heart of God, and He used His own Son as a conduit. Not only is He the means through which justice is available on the earth, HE IS ALSO THE MERCY (v. 7) BY WHICH JUSTICE IS EVEN POSSIBLE! That, my friends, is good news! Because of the mercy of Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, we can hope in His name, and justice is served. In light of the Haitian tragedy, that is good news!

My heart is burdened for Haiti (as I assume yours is, too. If not pray right now and ask Jesus to come into your heart ). Please pray earnestly for the Haitian people. And if you have a few extra dollars to spare, please donate. My husband and I donated to Compassion International https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/disasterrelief.htm?referer=105910

Desiring God has compiled a list of organizations here. http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2188_11_charities_collecting_donations_for_haiti/

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 Today’s reading gives us some disturbing details into the life of Jacob and his 12 sons (the deception, killing, Reuben sleeping with his brother’s mother) and then we see three deaths. Yet in spite of that I name this “From Running to Rest”! Why?

Well, Jacob finally finds rest. He can no longer run, his deception, lies, and trickery have finally come to an end, he has been afflicted by YAWEH and now is the time of reconciliation, he must face his past. What a picture of God’s grace.  We see Jacob meeting up with Esau and there is reconciliation, we see him meeting up with Isaac and there is reconciliation and now we see Jacob back in the land of his fathers, the place God has told him to go. We even see a picture of intercession as Jacob buries the false gods of his loved ones and builds an alter to the Most High. Jacob has finally found rest for his feet, his household and his soul!

In our New Testament reading we see another rest. Jesus says “come to me… and I will give you rest”.  What is odd about Jesus’ statement is the paradoxical nature of it. You see He says “take my yoke… for it is easy and light”. Now if you know what a yoke is, niether a picture of rest oreasy and light will ever cross your mind. Seeing a mule or an ox yoked up has never produced a picture of rest in my mind. Not to mention when we think of rest we usually don’t think of  being “controlled” we think of freedom.  A yoke is for the sole purpose of directing and controlling and subduing for the benefit  of the person who has control of the yoke.

However, Jesus says putting on His yoke yields the fruit of rest! Often times we hear “I will come to God when I am ready” (usually that means the commands of Jesus are taxing, hard or laboring) people think they have rest or freedom, yet they have bondage and are constantly running from person to person, thing to thing, drug to drug only to never find “rest”.

Jesus is our rest. In Christ we are even told “we rest from all of our works” (Hebrews 4:10), outside of Christ there is no rest and no freedom once we take on His yoke only then can we rest and we can be assured that wherever He takes us will be for our own good.

But there is one more rest I want to remind us who know Christ about. That is the rest from legalism. Many of us today are busy, we are running, we are working hard to please God, yet we never feel at peace, we never feel secure and we never feel rested. It is always improve, try harder, dig deeper, obey more, and then and only then will God be satisfied, yet we ache with condemnation, a sense of failure, an unworthiness. However, Jesus gives us a different picture. When we come to Christ and yield to Him it produces the fruit of rest (rest embodies, peace, serenity, joy, comfort). We can rest from our effort and trust that God’s wrath has been satisfied and that He loves us because of His Son. To be even more frank apart from resting in Christ, we can’t satisfy the Father, Jesus tells us “unless you become like one of these little ones, you can not enter the Kingdom of God”. So today if you are in Christ find rest in His work, if you are outside of Christ find rest in Christ. Don’t be crippled like Jacob for trying to run. He  walked with a sign of God’s sovereignty until he was buried with his fathers, let experience be the wisdom of fools.

Grace, Rest, Salvation