Let’s continue to worship our God by listening to His voice from Exodus 23……. page……
God revealed His Holiness and power to the Israelites as He freed them from slavery in Egypt. As God walked with and led the Israelites in the desert towards the Promised Land of Canaan, God provided for and instructed His Chosen People how to live.
Here’s the question for us, we Christians are God’s Chosen People today; do we know how to live our lives? God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; what can we learn from God as He spoke to the Hebrews of old and as we complement it with what Jesus tells us in the New Testament.
We will note that in Exodus 23, God gave instructions about living in a community and the right way to worship. Read along with me Exodus 23…….
God’s Word is straightforward isn’t it?
v1-12: how the Israelites were to live in their society:
• do not be part of lies or help a liar
• do not participate with a wrong group of people
• do not deny to help when needed even if the people hate you
• be on the side of justice especially with the poor
• God is always watching and will rightly judge
• do not accept a bribe or you will be personally guilty of a wicked society
• treat people with respect even if they are foreigners
• there are many benefits in following God’s schedule (God was an example with His Creation); God sets schedules we need to follow!
I find it interesting that people still don’t believe in God creating everything in actual 6 days (24 hours each), when God always uses the time frame of Creation for people’s lives; for work, for rest, for worship!
God then reminds His Chosen People how to worship.
v13-33: Proper worship and how God will respond:
• be doers of God’s Word
• only call on the Triune God!
• community celebration of God is to be scheduled in our lives regularly
• men are called to be spiritual leaders (v17)
• worship of God is sacred, done according to God’s instructions
• God is spiritually involved in people’s worship with the help of powerful angels
• God blesses true worshipers
• a binding relationship with pagans or their gods must never happen
• pagan worshipers in the community will snare godly people
The message this morning is really quite simple; we just have to ask ourselves, “How godly are our societies today, locally and worldwide?”
What is your guess of your chances to be a victim of a violent crime in the State of Wisconsin??
Chances of being a violent crime victim in Wisconsin is 1 in 327!
Now, what are your chances of being a violent crime victim in the City of Milwaukee??
Chances of being a violent crime victim in the city of Milwaukee is 1 in 64!
Now, in the whole world, how often is a murder committed??
Every minute someone is murdered in the world!! Not too bad? If we add abortion, murder is committed every second!!
Our societies today, locally and worldwide, are not very godly!
But we read in Genesis 1:27-28…..
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
I am reminded of what Tony Evans preaches: We have a messed up world because we have messed up countries! We have messed up countries because we have messed up communities! We have messed up communities because we have messed up families! We have messed up families because we have messed up you and me!
The solution to a messed up world starts with you and me! It is clear that God gave instructions in Exodus for people to live right with God! How do we do it today?
Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God, humankind has failed in subduing the earth for God. Let us note the basic facts from the beginning:
- The first sin of humans was eating a forbidden fruit!
What would you say is the second major sin??
- The second major sin of humans was blaming someone else!
What would you say was the third major sin of humans against God??
Remember Cain and Abel went to worship God but Cain’s worship did not please God?
- The third major sin of humans was improper worship!
And yes, after improper worship,
- The fourth major sin of humans was murder! Cain killed his own brother.
Instead of subduing the earth, the first family sinned in various ways and started destroying the earth! What is the solution? We can think of it this way; God gave all the instructions to the Hebrews of old but as we will note in future chapters in Exodus, the Hebrews continued to fail God and, if it is possible to solve the world’s problems without Jesus Christ, why did Jesus the Son of God had to leave heaven, became a human being, suffered, died, and was actually buried? Yes, we must listen to God’s instructions to the Hebrews, but Jesus Christ is necessary to be right with God!
Like the Hebrews of old, we can have all the instructions from God to live the right way but if are not reborn or renewed through Jesus Christ, we can not live out what God states!
God tells us in the New Testament that if we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is the Only Lord and Savior for our sins, we are born again and are new creations filled with God the Holy Spirit who will empower us to do the right things!
Let us summarize the message for this morning. We can only be a part of the solution to the world’s problems by doing the following….
1. We must be reborn and renewed by personally believing in Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior!
2. We must yield to the Holy Spirit in us to listen and do what God says! Be reminded of Matthew 4:4 and James 1:22!
3. We must worship God properly in Spirit and in Truth! Review v13-33 of Exodus 23! Please let me know or one of our Elders if we’re not doing proper worship here at all Nations Bible Church!
4. We must pray and take action for a godly society! Review v1-12 of Exodus 23!
We Christians are called and empowered by God to subdue the earth. Take a moment to quietly pray about this and make a recommitment to take action for God…….
