Scripture reading:
Exodus 19:3-6 (NIV) "3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Introduction:
We are now in chapter 19 of the Book of Exodus.
God told Moses to go up to the Mountain so that he could give the Israelites a covenant.
A covenant is an agreement or pledge between two parties to commit themselves to each other.
God wants to commit Himself to the Israelites as His very own treasured possession.
This is His new covenant to the nation of Israel after they had been liberated from the bondage of Egypt.
They will become God's own special people and God will bless them fully if they submit themselves to God.
God will take authority over them from now on.
God promised to take care of them and to make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation separate from all the kingdoms of this world.
Israel will now be in a covenant relationship with God.
When Moses received all these words from God, he went down from the mountain and told the people all that God said.
When the people heard about this, they were excited and responded by declaring their allegiance to God's Word.
They accepted the covenant fully and consecrated themselves to God.
But they must not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it lest they die.
God is a holy God and the people must keep their distance because of their sins.
On that day when the covenant was ratified, there was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud engulfing the mountain.
It was the symbol of God's overwhelming presence towards His people.
There was even very loud trumpet blast heard by all the people in the camp.
The Lord descended on the mountain in the form of fire as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.
The people trembled because of the thunder and the trumpet sounds but they knew God was in their side from now on.
Then, Moses went up again to the mountain as he prepares himself to receive the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments was the symbol of the legal documents of the new covenant between God and man.
As long as the people of God obeyed the Ten Commandments, they will be blessed.
We we will study this next week.
But today, we will look at the covenant that God initiated with His people.
God pledged to commit Himself to His people.
He called them as His "treasured possession" if they obey fully and keep the covenant.
Even if the whole earth is owned by God, yet, these people are special to Him.
They will become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
This is the same thing that Peter told the Christians that had been scattered in the various regions of the Roman Empire in AD 67.
There was an intense persecution of Christians that was happening at that time.
They were rejected and despised by society and considered as strangers and exiles of this world.
But Peter told them that they are special people before God.
1 Peter 1:9-11 (NIV) "9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul."
Hence, regardless of how this world look at them, what matters most is how God regarded them.
They are God's chosen people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation.
They belong to God and they have a purpose on this earth.
This is who we are and this is our destiny.
We are God's treasured possession.
Let us look for a moment at these word's "Treasured possession."
What does that mean?
Do you have something that you consider as your treasure?
I was told of a story of a man who owned a twenty two year old Toyota Celica.
You should see how he pampers that car.
He washes, waxes, repairs and brags about it.
Early in the morning, he takes his leaf blower and blows off the ten or so pine needles that have fallen on top of it overnight.
After parking it in the lot, when he walks away, he looks over his shoulder just to get a glance at it before he walks on to his next appointment.
His old car has been his faithful friend and it makes him smile.
It is his treasured possession.
What about you? What is your treasured possession?
Perhaps, a piece of jewelry or furniture you inherited from your mother.
Maybe you treasure that old photograph or that old book or that very expensive cell phone.
To others, it is their stocks, their house and lot or their hefty bank accounts.
That word "possession" means you own it or you control it or you hod on to it as very precious more than anything else.
But do you know that the most treasured possession in this world are the people that we care and love?
To me, my wife and my children are my treasured possession.
These are the people I will protect, I will guard, I value highly, I will pray for and will love dearly.
In the same manner, our text tells us that God has a treasured possession.
Even if He owns all the mountains and the valleys in this world, yet these are not that special to Him compared to the people that he loves most.
We are God's treasured possessions by virtue of our relationship with Him.
Zechariah 2:8 (NIV) "8 For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—
The Bible says that not only are we God's treasured possession but the "apple of His eyes."
We are the center of His attention.
Wherever He looks, He always thinks about us.
He loves us and wants the best for all of us.
That is how special His people are before God.
He showers us with His blessings every single second of the day.
Even in the midst of the chaos and the disaster happening around us, it says that He keeps His eyes on one important crucial fact.
In fact, Matthew 10:30 says "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
This truth is awesome.
It will give us great confidence, courage and determination every single day.
Our doubts, fears and apprehensions will be gone because of this single truth.
Our prayer is that we will always cherish this truth for the rest of our lives.
But you see, we need to remember that we have responsibilities or obligations to fulfill so that we can maintain our position of significance before God.
The covenant will only hold as long as we fulfill our part before God.
Because we are God's treasured possession, we do these three things:
1. WE MUST BE OBEDIENT TO HIS COMMANDS:
Exodus 19:5 (NIV) "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession."
The first thing is to remember that we must be obedient to His commands.
Obedience is the key to become God's treasured possession.
God told the people: "if you obey me fully..."
Obedience to God should be done fully, absolutely, completely and without any reservations.
Obedience therefore is important in in maintaining our Christian identity.
In fact, obedience is central to spiritual growth.
Obedience means to be directed by God or to surrender before God.
It means we agree or submit ourselves to God's will.
Every major aspect of the Christian life depends on obeying God.
When we follow His ways, life works better and he loves us more.
According to a widely distributed anecdote in the internet, it was said that during the US Civil War, Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast.
At that time, Lincoln was not yet a church goer but he was a man of deep unorthodox faith.
During the proceedings of the prayer breakfast, one minister said, "Mr. president, let us pray that God is on our side."
Lincoln's response showed great spiritual insight.
He said, "No, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God's side."
That means, many times, we wanted God to do what we want.
We wanted Him to be on our side.
But real obedience is doing what God really wants.
We must pray that we are on His side.
We must know His will, His purpose and His desires for us.
We relinquish our own plans so that His plans will prevail for our lives.
That is the big difference - let us pray that we are on God's side.
Only those who are obedient to His Words are His special treasured possessions.
Obedience to God therefore always create good results.
Obeying His Words will make us prosper in our relationship with God.
It will make us blossom, thrive and succeed in life
Deut. 6:24 (NIV) "24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today."
Because of obedience, we will always prosper and we will be kept alive.
Kept alive from what?
Alive in faith and becoming active and dynamic Christian.
However, disobedience always have bad consequences.
It is as if His hand of protection has been lifted from us when we disobey Him.
We are left to defend ourselves without God helping us.
The Bible says we will be devoured by the sword when we do not obey God.
Isa. 1:19-20 (NIV) "19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
There you go. It is clear.
God is angry when we disobey Him.
But obedience will make us highly valued before God.
Obedience also means we surrender or submit to God's Word.
When we obey, we learn to give up our will, we abandon our plans, our agendas and our desire for control.
Then, we allow Christ to take control of our lives.
We let go of our self-centered life in order to be Christ-centered.
This requires continual striving on our part and application of our faith.
But we must do this daily if we want to learn obedience.
We have to realize His love, His plans, His precepts and His love.
We must surrender to Christ's Lordship in faith and obedience.
There was a story told by Archibald Rutledge on how a dog showed his complete obedience to his master.
One day, he met a man whose dog had just been killed in a forest fire.
Heartbroken, the man explained to Rutledge how it happened.
Because he worked out of doors, he often took his dog with him.
That morning, he left the animal in a clearing and gave him a command to stay and watch his lunch bucket while he went into the forest.
His faithful friend understood, for that's exactly what he did.
Then a fire started in the woods, and soon the blaze spread to the spot where the dog had been left.
But he did not move.
He stayed right where he was, in perfect obedience to his master's word.
With tearful eyes, the dog's owner said, "I always had to be careful what i told him to do, because I knew he would do it."
That is what I call unconditional obedience.
When we love our master, we obey him no matter what.
And our master will always be pleased with that kind of obedience.
The same thing happened to our Lord Jesus Christ during his water baptism.
God the father declared publicly: "This is my Son, whom I loved; with him I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17
He loved His Son so much.
He was the apple of God's eyes.
He was God's treasured possession.
From then, Christ showed a life of unconditional obedience to the Father.
In fact, his obedience to the Father was His supreme mission on earth.
Even though it was a life filled with sacrifice, humiliation, suffering and death, yet, he said later, "Not my will but yours be done." Luke 22:42.
When He died on the cross for our salvation from sin and death, he fulfilled the will of the Father.
He became a great example for all of us to follow in His steps.
Obedience therefore is the main mission of the Church.
When we follow Christ, we are fulfilling the Mission.
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my Commandments." John 14:15
And so, let us continue to obey God if we want to be in the covenant relationship with God.
2. WE MUST BE CONSECRATED TO HIS PURPOSE:
Exodus 19:10 (NIV) "And the Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes."
Because we are God's treasured possession, we must be consecrated to His purpose.
God told Moses to consecrate the people by taking a bath and washing their clothes.
The word consecration means the separation of oneself from things that are unclean.
The significance of this command was that during the ancient times, water was considered a luxury and was not used for personal hygiene.
Hence, when the Lord commanded them to take a bath, it was a symbol of a new beginning with the Lord.
Upon consecration, then the children of Israel were assured of God's wonderful promises.
The picture is that sin is a defilement and we have to be cleansed before we can truly follow God.
In the same manner, when we consecrate ourselves to God, we separate ourselves from anything that are unclean and we live a life of holiness and purity.
The Bible tells every Christian believer to be a holy people, separate from the world.
2 Cor. 6:17 (NIV) "17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.
We can't even touch anything that is unclean.
Because sin can contaminate us and affect our relationship with God.
This is our new covenant relationship with God.
When we are to be fully consecrated to God so that He will receive us fully.
That reminds me of a story when Napoleon's army of more than 500,000 invaded Russia in June, 1812.
They came to a small village from which all the inhabitants had fled except one man.
He was a Russian peasant, a woodsman, and still carried his ax in his leather belt.
When the French captain saw him, he ordered him to be shot immediately.
The soldiers fell in and leveled their guns, but the man did not seem afraid, looking fearlessly down the gun barrels.
The French captain noticed this and before the soldiers could pull their triggers, ordered them to lower their guns.
He then ordered that the peasant's life should be spared.
"But" said he, "we will put a mark on him - we will brand him."
So the branding iron was brought out and placed in the fire.
Then it was placed upon the Russian's hand.
The man saw his own flesh burn and quiver," but he did not flinch or cry out.
After the iron was removed, the peasant saw the letter "N" branded on his palm.
"What is that?" he asked.
"This is the letter "N" and its stands for Napoleon, you belong to Napoleon now." replied the captain.
For a moment, the poor man did not know what to do or say.
His pain was intense.
Then, an idea occurred to him,
He had always been a loyal and patriotic Russian.
Now was the time to show it, even in the presence of his enemies.
At once, he placed his burned hand on something solid.
The French soldiers looked on, laughing and jeering at him.
Th brave man took the ax and cut out his belt, and swinging it high, brought down with such might that he severed his own hand.
"There," he said to the soldiers, "the hand may belong to Napoleon, but I am a Russian. If I must die, I will die a Russian."
This is the kind of complete consecration that we need in the church today.
We must be totally dedicated to Christ, paying the price of sacrifice and self-denial.
God will value such kind of commitment and dedication.
Here are some Scriptures for consecration:
Consecration and God's blessings always follow.
Joshua 3:5 (NIV) "5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”
Consecration and proper worship goes together.
Romans 12:1 (NIV) " Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship."
Consecration and humility are correlated.
Psalms 51:17 (NIV) "My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise."
Simple steps on how to consecrate ourselves to God.
1. We must dedicate our hearts to God.
2. We must reflect on our motives for every situation.
3. We must repent from every bad decisions we made.
4. We must be baptized as a sign of inner consecration to God.
5. We must separate ourselves from the evils of this world.
6. We must draw closer to God each day.
7. We must stay committed for the rest of our lives.
3. WE MUST HAVE REVERENCE OF HIS PRESENCE.
Exodus 19:11-12 (NIV) "And be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, "Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death."
In these verses, we find God telling Moses to put limits for the people.
There was a physical boundary that was set among the people so that they will be confined to one place.
They could not enter the holy mountain because of the holy presence of God in that place.
The word "limit" means a restriction, or restrain into the very presence of God even if they have already been consecrated.
This is what reverence is all about.
It means we do not show contempt to God's presence.
We do not condescend and disregard His majestic closeness or appearance.
We stand in His holy presence with awe and adoration.
When we do that, we become God's treasured possession.
Imagine if God appeared in our midst and we do not even show our respect and adoration.
We are simply unmoved and stubborn.
We have no fear of God and will do as we please, thus placing us on a path of chaos, strife and destruction.
Surely, God hates such kinds of irreverence from among His people.
Brothers and sisters, we need to show our deep reverence before God at all times especially when we come and worship Him.
That is why I encourage you to please come on time when we worship God.
Don't be late.
Attend worship in your best possible dress.
Refrain from moving about unnecessarily when we are in God's presence.
Don't even open your cell phones when we are worshiping God.
It is a sign of disrespect and disdain.
Minimize talking with your seat mates because loud noises can disturb and interrupt others.
If you have to talk, just whisper in a very soft voice.
The goal is to focus, be quiet and learn from God's Word.
We need to keep on improving ways to show our reverence to God.
Here are some Scriptures on building our reverence in worship:
Reverence begins when we proclaim Christ as Lord in our hearts.
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV) "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,"
When we worship God, we stand in Holy ground.
Exodus 3:5 (NIV) " “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Reverence and awe are important in worship.
Hebrews 12:28 (NIV) "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,"
Closing story:
There was this story of a professor at Atlantic University who asked his students to write the name of "Jesus" on a piece of paper.
Then, he asked his students to place the paper in the floor and then stomp on it.
While most blindly complied, some however refused to do so, and one student even went to school administrators to complain.
Ryan Rotela, a junior at the University who was enrolled at th class, told the local media that he went to school officials to protest the assignment.
"Anytime you stomp on something, it shows that you believe that something has no value... So if you were to stomp on the word Jesus, it says that the word has no value."
Initially, the University defended the assignment and the curriculum from which it was derived.
They have since recanted and apologized.
"This exercise will not be used again. The University holds dear its core values.
We sincerely apologize for any offense this caused."
Said Florida Atlantic University, a multi-campus institution, in a prepared statement posted on its website.
The story made quite a splash on both news and social media outlets.
It was another form of anti-Christian sentiment prevailing in our society.
How about you?
If you are a student and your teacher tells you to write the name of "Jesus" on a paper, place it in the floor and stomp on it with your feet, will you do it?
How many of you will say, "No way!"
His name has value.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
But anytime you disrespect the name of Jesus, you are saying that His name has no value.
Anytime you don't show your reverence to Christ on worship, you disrespect His name.
If you love Christ, you will place Him in the highest place we could possibly can.
Because He is after all our treasured possession.
END....
