Have you ever lost your driver’s license?
Isn’t it a traumatic event? I have lost my driver’s license several times over the years and each time it made my life difficult. For all practical purposes I lost my identity. I couldn’t write a check – stores will not take a check without proper identification. It is chancy using a credit card, a good clerk will ask for identification, and try to catch a flight….forget about it.
I lost my driver’s license during our move from California to New Jersey. Not having a driver’s license in any state is bad, but not having a driver’s license in New Jersey was a horrible experience. Understand, they don’t trust anyone in New Jersey. I became a complete nobody, absolutely no one would believe who I said I was who I was. I could not make any kind of transaction except for cash. I had trouble registering at Seminary, getting housing, the list went on and on. So, I didn’t want to, I wished I didn’t have to, but I had no choice, I had to go to the place I never wanted to go – The New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles.
If you have ever lived in California, you know, the California DMV is legendary for its ability to create long lines that crawl at a snails pace. The lines always seem to extend outside the building. The place with the most anger and frustration in the state of California is without a doubt, is located at the California DMV. So, in my imagination, if California DMV was bad, how much worse was the New Jersey DMV going to be?
Upon my arrival at the Trenton area DMV, I was taken back. It was a large beautiful building, the reception area was enormous, with very comfortable overstuffed furniture and there were friendly people who were eager to help out in any way they could. I was shocked. But what impressed me the most was THERE WERE NO LINES?
Well, there was a long counter with a series of windows, numbered 1 through 15. I was directed to go to window #1 by the woman at the information desk. A young lady greeted me at the window and I gave her my paper work. She looked it over, and paper clipped something to it, placed my paperwork in a wire basket and asked me to take a seat and they would call my name. “I should be out of here in no time I thought”, I grabbed a magazine and took a seat.
About twenty minutes later my name was called to come up to window #2. I went up to the counter and the SAME WOMAN took my paperwork out of the basket, stamped it and gave me back my paperwork. Now…. I’m telling you, no one had touched or even laid eyes on my paperwork for the twenty minutes that I sat in the lobby. “Please have a seat, and wait for you name to be called.”
I waited another 15 minutes. My name was finally called again. This time I was to go to window #3. The SAME WOMAN took my paperwork from me, added a page, asked me to sign it, stamped the paperwork, handed it back to me and said, ““Please have a seat, and wait for you name to be called.”
I could see where this was going. I was called up to each window, window #1 through #15, with about a twenty minute wait in between. At each window I dealt with the SAME WOMAN that I had dealt with at window #1. I was astounded. Finally, at about window #9, I asked her, “why couldn’t we just take care of everything all at once since she was clearly the only one who was dealing with my paperwork?” She pretended not to hear me, and said, “Please have a seat, and wait for you name to be called.”
I sat in the lobby of the DMV waiting, wasting away my Saturday, and then it hit me, the state of New Jersey was absolutely brilliant! They had eliminated all lines at the DMV by having people sit in the reception area. I was at the DMV for over four hours. What a trial I had to go through to restore my identity.
Here in our Scripture this morning we have the Lord God working to restore a people who have lost their identity. While Moses was up on Mount Sinai, the Hebrews worshiped a golden calf and the results were a disaster. As a result, the Lord God no longer dwells within the encampment, The Lord meets with Moses outside the encampment. Because of this, we see the people lost their identity. Without God, the Hebrew people are just another nation, without God, the Hebrew people are not, the people of God. The Hebrew people realize that they are a group of nobody’s without the Lord God, and so they repent.
I want to stop here for a moment and have us consider the obvious: Our identity as Christians, as followers of Christ, is based upon knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s obvious isn’t it? With the covering of the Lord Jesus Christ I am more than myself, - Now I am part of a greater cause, yes…and I am part of a tradition that reaches back thousands of years, yes… and I am part of a movement that has the greatest positive impact upon human life in the history of the world, yes….all that is true, but with the person of Jesus Christ we are so much more.
For at our conversion, at the point of our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes upon us with power and strength and we are in reality, new people. He empowers us to be who we on our own cannot be. We are empowered to understand Scripture through the Holy Spirit, He gives us fruits of the spirit that emerge from our life as we come to know him, kindness, greater faith, self control…. We in fact become so enmeshed with the Spirit that we cannot be who we are without the Spirit. The stronger our relationship with Jesus Christ is, the stronger our identity is.
This is what the Hebrews need, this is what we need. They need to become so close to God, that who they are, cannot be, without God. They need to get so close to God, that they are who they are, only through the Lord God.
Here in our passage, God sets out a plan to achieve this. What we have in front of us is not a list of rules, or a to do list, or even a code of conduct – Here we have the Lord God creating parameters that will create a close relationship with Him. God is being very attentive in His relationship with the Hebrews, He is going to place parameters to help the Hebrew people succeed. To succeed in what? To succeed in their relationship with Him.
God sets out to help the Hebrews from falling into the sin that they had just fallen into – the worship of an imagined god. Now remember we saw a few weeks ago we saw that we can create an imaginary God in our own lives. We do this the same way that the Hebrews did, by borrowing ideas and concepts from our culture that are not found in Scripture. Here we see God setting out a two pronged approach for the Hebrews to help the Hebrews know Him and stay with Him, this two pronged approach also works for our lives.
God wants them to cultivate their relationship with him, number one, and also to remove things that will pollute their relationship with Him, number two. This principle is a fundamental principle that very much applies to us today. Think of it like tending a garden: Cultivate your relationship with God, weed out those things that inhibit your relationship with God. Your ability to apply this principle to your life is a direct indicator of your potential spiritual growth.
As we pick up the story in verse 1, we see Moses going back up mount Sinai to get another copy of the Ten Commandments because Moses broke the original tablets. Moses has to go back up the mountain because God writes the Ten Commandments, not Moses. This is direct revelation from God – anyone who tells you different is simply ignorant of the years of scholarship that attest to this truth.
We see in verse 10 that God is making a covenant with Moses and the Hebrew people. Hasn’t God already done this? Yes he has, but now, after the sin of the people, and after God’s recommitment (we saw the recommitment last week) God is reaffirming the covenant with Moses and the people. Remember, we saw that the Ten commandments is not a list of rules, it is relational in nature – the first part, how to relate to God, the second part how to relate to each other. Here, we see God’s approach is relational as well. Why is God always relational in His approach to us? – the answer is obvious isn’t it? God prizes personal relationship over anything else.
Let’s look at the first part of God’s two pronged approach – our walk with God. Verses 18-26 address this. In Verse 18 we see God commanding that the Passover be celebrated and in verse 22 other feasts are to be celebrated. God wants our finest and best holidays to be a celebration of Him. So He appoints celebrations throughout the calendar year so the Hebrews are constantly reminded of what God has done for them and how He has blessed them. The best days are to be dedicated to God, not to some imaginary god, or to ourselves. This will, keep the Hebrew’s minds reminded of who God is and help us not get wrapped up in our selves.
For us Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and the upcoming Independence Day would be equivalent for us. In each of these holidays we are to take time to reflect on the grace of God in our lives. Though friends and neighbors who are not Christian may treat these holidays as a time to be self serving, we as Christians are to celebrate them in a way that honors the Lord God. As Christians, we are to give God our best, even our holidays.
We also see that “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.” (verse 20) God demands the first of everything produced. He demands this because human nature is such that as we pay our bills and take care of life the chance of anything being left over for God and nothing will be given. God asks for a part of everything, not because he needs stuff, but because people are to be reminded that everything that is produced in not of their work, but of the grace of God. For us giving a part of our income is a very real way we are reminded that God is God over everything, even our finances.
God demands that they rest on the Sabbath, even during the harvest season (verse 21). This is something that would be unheard of in the ancient middle east, and would set the Hebrews apart from anyone else. When the harvest is ready, it is ready. I grew up in a town with extensive grape cultivation, and when the grapes were ripe, the workers were out in the fields working overtime to get the grapes in, so they would be at the peak of their perfection. If the vintner had everyone take a day off, he chanced having a lower quality wine. But the Hebrews are to wait no matter what, and their waiting is not just waiting, it is a time dedicated to God for his blessings. By demanding that the Hebrews wait to harvest, God is demanding that He be placed first in our lives, even over any business. We are not to fear losing business by pausing to worship God, for we place our faith in God, not in our work.
God wants this relationship with the Hebrews to work, so he gives them, not rules, but help to give the Hebrews a better chance. His commands celebrations in His honor, giving of their wealth, and pausing during business, helps the Hebrews place first their relationship with God.
God’s the second part of His approach, matters most to us today. God knows that cultivating a relationship with Him will not be enough, God knows that temptation and culture will lure the Hebrews into sin and into hurting their relationship with him. So God tells them to eliminate Canaanite culture as they enter the land.
See, Canaanite culture was very, very religious, in fact it would be very difficult to separate Canaanite religion and Canaanite culture. The Hebrews are not to assimilate the Canaanites into the people of Israel. This is an area that they are very vulnerable in, they just practiced Canaanite culture with the golden calf. God knows this Canaanite culture will lure the people away from a strong relationship with Him, so God tells them how to not get taken in.
God is very specific here. they are to destroy all alters, sacred stones, and Asherah poles – the last two being reference to sexual worship practices… God commands intolerance toward all pagan forms of worship. This can be difficult for us to take today in modern America. We are taught religious toleration. For Christians, religious toleration does not take on the assumption that our culture gives to it. Religious toleration does not mean that all religions are equal, or that other religions serve the same God, or even that we can take ideas from another religion and incorporate them into Christianity.
Let me clarify. Sometimes folks get denominations and religions confused. A denomination is a different sect within a faith – like Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics and Methodists, think of it like our money, $1’s, $5’s, $20’s, they are different denominations, but the same currency. But religions are like different currency – dollars, euros, and pesos; Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism.
We are to be respectful, kind, and loving toward those of other religions, this is obvious, as we are to act this way towards everyone, Christian or not. But, like the Hebrews, we are not to participate in ceremonies of other religions. That means participating in Islamic prayer, or praying at the Buddhist temple.
You may remember, a couple of years ago the Mormons opened a new temple in town and all the ministers were invited to go and participate in a clergy dedication ceremony of the local Mormon temple. I had a call from a pastor across town inviting me to go along with him to this clergy ceremony. I told him I could not participate in a ceremony of another religion and asked him how he would be honoring Jesus by being at a dedication to a building of a religion that teaches that there are many gods, that humans can become gods and that Satan is the brother of Jesus, AND how would he be honoring his congregation by being at a dedication to a building of a religion that calls all Christian denominations religious whores and prostitutes? – He changed his mind, and didn’t go either.
God is very clear on this for us, even getting to the nitty gritty, citing a specific fertility ceremony to stay away from, (verse 26)“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” God cites this reference to that at some point in the future, there will be absolutely no question in the Hebrew mind of whether they should participate or not. This is not some obscure reference and it certainly is not about kindness to young animals. Cooking a goat in its mother’s milk is also found in a Ugaritic text reconstruction, this was Canaanite fertility worship. Somehow this was part of a fertility ceremony that God hated so much, he gave specific reference to it so that there would be no question about whether to participate in a ceremony or not. This practice, somehow had great potential to compromise loyalty to God. We are also warned that participating in ceremonies of other religions is not benign.
Finally, there is to be no yoking with unbelievers. We called it missionary dating when I was in college. The Hebrews are not to marry outside the faith – because, over time they would succumb to the Canaanite religion to keep peace in the house. In reality, marrying Canaanite woman was the root of the downfall of Israel. It was slow, but over time, households that had married unbelievers fell into pagan practices and Israel fell away from God.
This is for those of you who are not already married. Take this seriously. Getting married to another Christian is not going to guarantee a good marriage, but getting married to an unbeliever will absolutely guarantee either a difficult marriage, or hardships in your Christian walk. From my personal experience, it is not too often that the unbeliever becomes a believer after the wedding, but more likely that the unbelieving partner pulls the believer away to other things. God warns the Hebrews and He warns us of great difficulty ahead for us if we marry outside the faith.
Let me pull al this together for us. The Hebrews lost their identity, and now as they get their identity back God is giving ways for the Hebrews to build and stay in relationship with Him. This two pronged approach from God, building a relationship and weeding out things that will hurt that relationship are just as valid for us today as it was thousands of years ago. God is not just giving a list of distant rules, He is giving help for having a successful relationship with Him.
We as Christians have our identity in Christ, if we allow ourselves to incorporate or observe practices of other religions we will over time dilute and obscure our relationship with Jesus Christ, and over time, though it may be slow, we find ourselves no longer serving Jesus Christ, but the god of our imagination.
Let us be wise, let us vigilant, let us worship the true God of Scripture and not an idea of a cultural god.
