Rules For Engagement
New Commands and a New Covenant
The Story – Chapter 5
Video Bumper…
Maple Grove…
WELCOME to chapter 5 of The Story, ‘New Commands And A New Covenant…’
A conversation I am calling ‘Rules For Engagement.”
AND LISTEN – if you are new to MG you could not have picked a better time to be here… BECAUSE – we are spending the bulk of the year 2013 (from January – September) looking @ the greatest story of all time. God’s story, The Bible… from Genesis to Revelation.
AND – we are using this book, ‘The Story’ as our guide…
BASICALLY – The Story… is the bible in Chronological order… 31 chapters. About 80% of the bible is found within these 500 pages.
AND MAN – I gotta tell you, that even though we are only a few weeks into this journey, I don’t think I could be anymore pumped up about what is already doing in this place and among His people.
I MEAN – think about… every week hundreds of people are reading a chapter of this book to get ready for Sunday’s conversation…
Last week we read chapter… 5 and next week we will read chapter… that’s right, chapter six.
Families are reading this book together… how awesome is that.
People are discussing The Story in Life Groups
The student ministry and the children’s ministry are talking about God’s Story.
I MEAN – both young and old… and everyone in between is being captivated by the most compelling story of all time… THE STORY - of an all knowing, all powerful, ever present God who has been speaking, acting, listening and moving in human history since the beginning of time. THE STORY – of a loving God. THE STORY – of a Father and Son who will do whatever it takes to bring their people back home regardless of their sins, flaws, failures and mistakes…
JUST THIS PAST THURSDAY - I was hanging out with some guys from The Grove @ 6 am, who were talking about how The Story is already having a huge impact on their lives…
YEAH – there is some serious going on around here. And as the great theologians Bachman Turner Overdrive proclaimed in 1974 on the album ‘Not Fragile’… You ain’t seen nothing yet…
IN THE BEGINNING – God created everything (galaxies, stars, planets, moons, mountains, oceans, rivers… etc)
AS A BACKDROP – for His greatest desire, His greatest passion… So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:27
UNDERSTAND - The reason behind everything (behind all of creation) is God’s desire to have a relationship with and do life with His people.
IT – all started in a garden paradise. A perfect environment where God could walk and talk and enjoy an intimate relationship with the people He created. HE MADE – everything available to them, except one thing… AND THEY – choose that one thing that was forbidden… FOREVER – banishing themselves – and us – from God’s presence.
SO GOD – took another approach to doing life with His people. HE CREATED – a nation through who He would reveal Himself. AND AFTER – preserving His people during a famine and rescuing them from slavery in a foreign land…
GOD – was ready to lead His people – through Moses into a new land. The Promise Land… A LAND – gardenlike… A LAND – flowing with milk and honey.
A LAND – where God could build this nation out which he would reveal His presence, His power, and His plan for all people to come back into a relationship with Him.
UNDERSTAND - Chapter 5 of The Story is a huge transitional point in the Scripture, from this point on, God is not going to just interact with certain individuals or just talk to a few people, instead He will begin to share life with all of His people for the first time since back in the Garden of Eden. However, for that plan to move forward certain things needed to be in place.
YES…
FOR GOD - to move His plan forward.
FOR GOD – to take His relationship with the Lord to the next level
FOR GOD – to engage His people in a new and fuller way
HE TELLS MOSES – in chapter 5 of The Story that there some things… things that need to be in place first… Some rules for this new engagement… AND – I want us to talk about those things in our time this morning…
Prayer
A Standard To Follow
AS – Chapter Five of The Story opens up God’s people (all 2-3 million of them) are camped at the base of Mount Sinai… Chapter 5 begins with the following words…
On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai… and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. – Exodus 19:1,2 (page 59 of The Story)
The third month… You know, I think 3 is one of God’s favorite numbers.
AND – in Exodus 19 we see Moses going up to the top of mountain to receive from God the standard that HE wants HIS people to follow…
NOW – let me say a few things about these standards before we take a look at Moses mountain top encounter.
These rules (standards) should not be seen as an entrance examine, but as a list of family traits.
These rules (standards) are not a list of things that God’s people needed to do in order to be in a relationship with Him, instead they are a list of behaviors His people were to live out because they were already in a relationship with Him.
I MEAN…
IT’S - as if God is saying…
HERE - is what it means to be a part of this family…
BUT UNDERSTAND – God initiated the relationship with His people long before He told what the rules were… AND HAVING – established the relationship… HAVING – sealed the relationship, AND HAVING – proven the security of the relationship God then gives His people rules to live by. YOU SEE – God knew something that every parent eventually discovers… rules without relationship lead to rebellion. GOD - understands human nature… that is why He only gave the Israelites rules only after they had a relationship… AND SO – in effect He is saying… “hey, if you are going to be in this family here are the house rules…
AND LISTEN – after living in a pagan godless culture for 400+ years they really had no clue about what was right or what was wrong. They needed this instruction. “hey, if you are going to be in this family here are the house rules…”
Over the years Laurie and I have had several young people who were forced for various reasons… to leave their homes come and live with us. Many came from some pretty dysfunctional homes. So one of the first things we always did was tell them…
(One young girl, came to live with us when she was 19… came home late and when questioned about the reason, became very disrespectful… We had to tell her that is not how things works in this family).
AGAIN – God is building this thing from scratch. This people are very immature about what loving behavior is and is not…
OKAY – so Moses goes up the mountain getting instructions from God… ACTUALLY – in chapter 19 Moses makes 3 separate trips up and down the mountain… ON - trip number one on the mountain God says…
“This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 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 will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” – Exodus 19:3-6 (The Story page 59)
GOD SAY’S…
You have seen my power.
You have experienced my protection and provision.
If you obey me fully… If you keep my covenant, I promise three things.
1) Out of all nations you will my special possession
2) You will be a kingdom of priests
3) You will be a holy nation
SO MOSES – comes down from the mountain, gathers the leaders of God’s people… tells them what God said… and the leaders respond… “We will do everything the LORD has said.” – Exodus 19:8
MOSES – climbs back up the mountain and gives their answer to God…
AND GOD SAYS… awesome! Now Moses go back down and tell the people to consecrate themselves, to wash their clothes – to prepare themselves because on the 3rd day I am coming down on the Mountain in sight of all the people.
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up…
- Exodus 19:16-20 (page 60 of ‘The Story’)
It’s His 3rd trip up… It’s the 3rd day of the 3rd month…
God speaks to Moses of the thundering mountain. Moses comes down and tells them what God had said…
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery… - Exodus 20:1
UNDERSTAND – those first 6 words had to blow them away… “Wait! Hold on Moses, did we hear you right? Don’t you mean, the Lord the God?”
TODAY – 3000 years on the other side of thundering Mount Sinai, we have more information about God… BUT – the Israelites knew almost nothing about Him. ALL THEY KNEW – was that God had freed them from slavery… and that He intended to settle them in the Promise land. SO – these seemingly insignificant pronoun your implied something HUGE and profoundly new to them.
YOUR GOD – implied a relationship… BUT – the Israelites hadn’t done anything to deserve or establish a relationship. AS – slaved on the run, they had nothing to offer. THEY DIDN’T – even know how to please Him! NEVERTHELESS – the phrase “your God” affirmed the fact that they already had a relationship with God… IN OTHER WORDS – “you’re in. You are my people…”
THEN GOD – takes the Israelites down memory lane… “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
UNDERSTAND – God’s message to the Israelites could not have been any clearer.. “You’re not here to get in with me – you are already in. We’re not here to establish a relationship… I DID THAT – 2 months ago by supernaturally delivering from slavery in Egypt…
AND – then gives the them the standard for them to follow… what we have come to know as the Ten Commandments…
Because I am your God… Because I delivered you from Egypt… Because you are now part of my family… You shall have no other gods before me… - Exodus 20:3
NOW…
The first four commandments - center on our relationship with God.
The last six – center on our relationship with Each Other.
AND JESUS – about 1500 years later summarized the Ten Commands and all The Law for that matter with 2 basic statements…
As free followers of God we have two responsibilities in this family.
• Love the Lord with All our heart, mind, soul and strength.
• Love our neighbor as we love ourselves. (Mk 12:28-31)
AND – after giving them the Ten Commandments… Moses in Exodus 21-23 gives them a few more specifics applications of these laws
The 10 commandments became a tight, succinct description of some of the core values that would guide the decisions of people who are a part of God’s family.
AND THEN – we read… When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” – Exodus 24:3 (page 62 of ‘The Story’)
A little later the LORD says to Moses… “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
- Exodus 24:12 (page 63 of ‘The Story’)
• Moses ascends the mountain, and he leaves his brother Aaron back behind in order to watch over the people until he.
• He takes Joshua with Him
• Picture the scene - Moses in the presence of the Almighty God, and this time God is handwriting these commands for Moses. What a moment that must’ve been!
• But meanwhile, back at the ranch, guess what’s taking place? You won’t believe this. The people had grown impatient while they waited for Moses to return. One week turned into two weeks. Two weeks turned three weeks. And they began to ask all sorts of questions: Where is Moses? Is he still alive? Is he coming back?
• In Exodus chapter 32 it tells us that the Israelites say to Aaron, “Hey, make us a god in some type of a form.” In other words, “Give us some type of an image that we can worship.”
• And Aaron, does it…
• He collected gold from 2 million people and makes them an image of a cow…
• After 40 days Moses heads down the mountain with the stone tablets
• Joshua hears all the noise and thinks a war has broken out within the camp.
• Moses sees the people dancing around and worshipping an a golden calf… and he throws the stone tablets to the ground.
• Aaron offers a lame excuse…
• Moses burns the calf, melts it down, and then he poured it into their water supply… and he made every person drink this metallic water. This was the ancient equivalent of your mom washing your mouth out with soap in hopes that you would never repeat your sinful behavior.
• And next Moses looks at the Israelites and he says, “Who’s on my side? Who’s on God’s side?” And all the Levites…the Tribe of Levite… come running to Moses’ side. But there were still others who continued their idolatry and some who continued their partying, but they were about to be judged for their lack of allegiance. Look at Exodus 32:27-28: “Then Moses said to them, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: “Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.”’ The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.”
NOW I KNOW - that sounds pretty harsh, but you’ve got to get this. You really have to understand this. It sounds so harsh to us because we don’t tend to understand the seriousness of sin. That’s why it sounds so harsh to us. Sin is breaking faith with God. It is adultery against God. Throughout the OT God uses this analogy of how there is this marriage relationship between God and His people…
AND THEN MOSES – goes back up the mountain and get a replacement set of commandments, and God gives him the exact same list of ten that He’d given before.
AND - I guess if I were trying to recap what happened it might’ve gone something like this.
Video The Ten…
Everything the Lord has spoken we will do.
AND I THINK – they had every reason to do just that… and so do we.
I MEAN – after all…
• He is the Lord who brought His children out of Egypt.
• He is the Lord who delivered us from sin.
• He is the Lord who rescued us out of darkness and brought us into His marvelous light.
• He is the Lord who gave us a second chance.
• He is the Lord who loved us enough to send His one and only Son.
Everything the Lord has said we will do. And do you know what? I think they really meant it at the time.
(THURSDAY – I was sitting in the lobby while Mei-Leigh was taking her dance class…)
QUESTION – would you agree, that those 8 words Everything the Lord has spoken we will do… are much easier to say then they are to live out?
Why is that?
BECAUSE – if we are honest we would have to admit, that we don’t like or want to be told what to do by anyone—not even by God.
NOW BEFORE - we leave this, I need to point out the pattern that has developed already early in just the first five chapters of The Story…
AND IT’S - a recurring theme that will be repeated again and again… MANKIND - will try to do what’s right.
THEY - will say they will love God more than anything else,
BUT - when push comes to shove they will cave, they will fold, they will sin.
• Adam and Eve disobeyed and ate of the fruit of the tree.
• After the Flood the righteous man named Noah gets drunk.
• Moses, this man that we see as a tremendous leader, now a man of faith, is going to have a huge struggle with pride in the chapters to come.
AND HERE’S THE POINT - God is laying the foundation that regardless of who we are or how many we lead, we all are sinful, we all will disappoint Him, and that in and of ourselves we will never measure up. In the flesh it’s impossible. And so God continues to build a case for our need for a Savior, for a Messiah.
Let me ask you a question. Why did God give the Law? I mean, why did God give these Ten Commandments?
One of the reasons that God gave us the commandments was to show us that we could not keep them, to underscore the truth that we are the creation He is the Creator, that He is perfect and we are sinful and in need of a Savior.
God didn’t give us the Law to make us good, he gave the Law to expose our sin.
AND WHY – is that such an important lesson to learn? WELL - the answer is found in what we studied this week in Chapter 5 of The Story…
UNDERSTAND - our God is a jealous God. He wants your affection. He wants our attention. He wants our commitment. WE - were created in His image, and so He begins the commandments by demanding, “You will have no other gods before Me…”
NOW – you may thinking… “But, Steve, I’m not gonna worship a golden cow. I mean, come on! I’m not gonna do that.” But wait a second. That’s command number two—graven images. What about command Number One? YOU SEE -God starts with that for a reason, because if we get this one right, the others will naturally follow. Commandment Number One: You shall have no other gods before me… - Exodus 20:3
No other gods. UNDERSTAND – our money, our stuff, our job cannot be more important than He is. Where we live cannot become more important than He is. Our family cannot become more important than He is. Our hobbies cannot become more important than He is.
Tim, Laurie – we need to learn a lesson from three thousand dead Israelites. That if we side with God, He expects our loyalty; He expects our commitment. Our response should be, “Everything the Lord says we will do.”
AND LISTEN - God doesn’t just want us to say that; He wants us to mean it. He wants us to make wise, God-honoring decisions.
YOU KNOW - over four hundred years after this incident with the golden calf takes place…In Psalm 106 King David refers to it…
HE - recounts how God rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up. I just love that wording: God “rebuked the Red Sea…”
AND THEN - King David goes onto say…Look at this:
“At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.” - Psalm 106:19-22
Do you catch what the writer of Psalms is saying here? Look at verse 20 again on the screen. It says, “They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass.”
QUESTION… Why would they make such a trade? Why would someone choose a cow over our glorious God? AND LISTEN - it’s a fair question.
I MEAN… why would we let…
• A relationship?
•
• Money stuff? A paycheck?
• A friendships or a family member
•
•
BECOME - more important to us than the perfect God of the Universe who loves us unconditionally and who gave His one and only Son for us?
IT’S - a ludicrous trade if we think about it. And yet, like the Israelites who praise God one day and live like the devil the next, we too make foolish trades with regularity.
UNDERSTAND…
• Sexual satisfaction is a firm foundation to build a life on
GOD - gave us the Ten Commandments to show us our need for Him. Let me be more specific. God gave the first commandment to show us our need for Him.
FOR GOD - to move His plan forward.
FOR GOD – to take His relationship with the Lord to the next level
FOR GOD – to engage His people in a new and fuller way
HE TELLS MOSES – in chapter 5 of The Story that there some things… things that need to be in place first…
A standard to follow…
AND – there are two more things that I want to quickly cover and we will wrap this puppy up and take it home…
A Place To Dwell
IN EXODUS CHAPTER 25… Moses is beginning his 40 days on the top of Mount Sinai… He has just returned to tell God what the people said in response to His commandments…
“Everything the LORD has said we will do.” – Exodus 24:3
AND GOD – is like, okay, sweet…
Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.
- Exodus 25:2
Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. – Exodus 25:8,9
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. – Exodus 33:14,15
So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year… And so Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. – Exodus (40:17,34)
A Means To Approach
UNDERSTAND - The Law didn’t simply condemn sin, it also included instructions for making amends for sin.
IT INCLUDED – a way for a sinful and rebellious people to approach a Holy God. (We read about this in the book of Leviticus)
NOW – many people consider the book of Leviticus to be one of the most boring books in the bible… AND – from a LOWER STORY perspective, it is not exactly a page turner… BUT – it is one of the most important books in the Bible because it lays out what needs to happen before sinful mankind can approach and be reconciled to God…
GOD – is essentially telling His children, ‘The one thing separating us is your sin. I want to do life with you, BUT the only thing that will cover your sin is the blood of the purest and most valuable animal you have…”
An innocent animal has to die to allow people to be right with God? That seems unfair. AND – that is exactly God’s point. “Yes, it is totally unfair for that an innocent creature gets what you deserve… BUT – it’s the only way because you cannot get rid of sin on your own. AND BECAUSE – I want so much to do life with you I am providing the a way… to restore you.
UNDERSTAND – each prescribed sacrifice became a object lesson for the worshipper…
• That sin is costly
• And it reinforced for 1500 years the concept of substitution… the idea that only an ideal, blameless sacrifice could bear the penalty for sin.
SURE – from a lower story perspective all the commandments and animal sacrifices seem ritualistic and maybe even barbaric…
BUT – they were hint of the awesome thing that was to come…
Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. - Ephesians 2:13
Wow!
Chapter 5 of The Story is HUGE!
AND LISTEN – God’s desire today 2/17/2013…
IT IS - the same as it was 3500 ago… when thunder from the top of Mt Sinia.
IN FACT – it is the same desire that God had before the dawn of creation…
to do life with us His people.
MAPLE GROVE… LOOK UP…
BECAUSE TODAY – the God of the Universe… the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses is saying to each and every person…
I want to do life with you…
I want to dwell with you…
He is jealous for us…
