Exodus « Journeyman Journal

A Tale of Two Leaders

Friday, February 11th, 2011

Aaron was appointed by God as the High Priest of Israel…the direct connection between God and His people. He had the awesome task of representing the people before God and God before His people. He was God’s spokesman. He was God’s representative. He was the spiritual leader for God’s chosen people.

He led them astray.

Sure, they asked for it. They got restless and asked for what was comfortable in place of all the crazy new stuff going on all around them. They asked for it, but Aaron certainly wasn’t obligated to give them what they wanted; he was obligated to give them what they need. His first opportunity to lead and he blew it.

So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” (Exodus 32:2-4, NLT)

The people asked for a god to worship and Aaron had every opportunity to point them to God. Instead, he built them a golden calf (reminiscent of the gods they left behind in Egypt). And when he saw how excited they were about the calf he built an altar..and THEN tried to get God involved the celebration. Slippery slope!

Enter from stage mountain…Moses. He comes down from the mountain after talking God out of destroying the people for their idolatry (something He had JUST warned them about). Moses sees the mess that Aaron has made and he takes charge. He destroys the idol. He gives the people what they deserve. And then he continues to lead His people back to the right path…back to God and His promises.

Am I an Aaron or a Moses? Do I lead out of my own comfort zone or do I lead people down the harder path of obedience and love toward God? Do I have what it takes to make a stand against convention and cultural acceptance?

Am I on God’s side or the other side?

11.02.2011 Leadership, Ministry, New Pastor Journal, Spiritual Musings 1 Comment

Casting Lots

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

I’ve always been intrigued by the usage of casting lots as a method for discerning God’s will in Scripture. By my count (very unscientific) there are 39 (give or take a few) references in the Old Testament about casting lots. Even though I’ve been interested,I’ve never done much study on the topic.

This topic came up again this morning as I was doing my daily reading through Exodus. I’m at the part where God is giving His instructions to Moses regarding the tabernacle. And this morning was specifically about the clothing that Aaron (and subsequent High Priests) should wear. Included in the instructions is this:

Insert the Urim and Thummim into the sacred chestpiece so they will be carried over Aaron’s heart when he goes into the Lord’s presence. In this way, Aaron will always carry over his heart the objects used to determine the Lord’s will for his people whenever he goes in before the Lord. (Exodus 28:30, NLT, Bold Added)

I was curious about what the “Urim and Thummium” looked like and how they were used. Unfortunately there isn’t much specifically known about them. The picture above is possibly what they looked like, but we simply don’t know for sure. They are only mentioned another five times in the Old Testament. The best evidence indicates they were used to discern God’s will “at certain times”. Nobody is exactly sure when or how that was done.

It’s very similar to the idea of casting lots. We’re not exactly sure how that was done either…the closest thing we have today is flipping a coin or throwing dice. We do know that it was done and even commanded by God. It just seems odd to me that God would use the equivalent of a coin-flip (although one directed by Him) to help His people make decisions.

Even the disciples used casting lots…although they shouldn’t have. The last recorded instance of casting lots was in Acts, before Pentecost when the remaining disciples where trying to select Judas’ replacement…

Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven. (Acts 1:26, NLT)

Two problems here. First, this wasn’t what Jesus had instructed them to do…they took matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the Holy Spirit as Jesus had instructed them to do (Acts 1:4-5). Which led to the second problem, Matthias wasn’t the guy…Paul was the replacement and God had to go make that happen without the disciple’s help because they got ahead of Him.

Which brings me back to now. How often do I wish discerning God’s will was as “simple” as coin flip? How often do I get ahead of God and try to do things the way I think they should be done (or they way they’ve always been done)? How often does God have do things without me because I wasn’t patient enough to wait on the Holy Spirit’s guidance?

How often indeed…

08.02.2011 Devotional, Faith, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Musings 1 Comment

Uncut Stones

Friday, February 4th, 2011

The Israelites stand at the base of Mount Sinai shaking in their boots. God is displaying His awesome power in an effort to to strike fear in His people so that they won’t sin (Exodus 20:20). He’s already laid out the Ten Commandments and He’s giving them more rules. Not rules for the sake of rules, but rules because they are about to start a new nation that needs a set of laws…regulations to govern themselves by. Laws to prevent anarchy.

It’s not so surprising that God begins by giving them instructions for worship. He warns them against making idols made from gold or silver (a rule went on to consistently break). Then He tells them how to build an altar. That alone caught my attention…who doesn’t know how to build an altar? Apparently I don’t.

And then God said something that caught my attention:

If you use stones to build my altar, use only natural, uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use. (Exodus 20:25, NLT)

I had to read this a few times. I’m not sure why it stopped me in my tracks to begin with, but God used it to show me something about my own worship. God tells His people NOT to fashion an altar with smooth, carefully crafted stones (which was my natural assumption…we want God’s stuff to look good right?). No, He tells them specifically (and carefully) that they are only to “use natural, uncut stones” and that they are not to “shape the stones with a tool”. Why? Because “that would make the altar unfit for holy use”. Really? Wow! That goes against everything I thought about making an altar (which admittedly wasn’t much).

How does this apply to me since I’m not in the habit of building altars? It’s about my worship. God doesn’t want me to shape and fashion my worship into something I think will honor Him. He wants my raw, uncut worship. He wasn’t natural worship that flows from the heart…”as-is”.

Part of the reason God warned them about shaping the stones for the altar is because it would lead them right back to idol worship. Either they’d end up shaping the stones into an idol or they’d stand back and admire their own work. The focus would shift away from the “worshiped”. The same danger exists for my worship. If I shape it and craft it into something I think will honor God, I am in danger of focusing on that shaping instead of the worshiping…or more importantly, the One I’m supposed to worship.

So, I am re-dedicating myself to uncut, natural worship. What’s that look like? Good question…

04.02.2011 Devotional, Spiritual Musings 2 Comments

Markers

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

We need markers in our life (no, not the kind of markers in the picture). We need them in our family life—birthdays, anniversaries, special holidays. We need them in our work life—your hire date, the annual Christmas party, deadlines, open enrollment. We need them in our spiritual life—??? Oops!

Why do we not seem to celebrate key markers in our spiritual life much anymore (or am I just missing them). We have key holidays such as Easter and Christmas, but those are quickly deteriorating into commercial enterprises. We don’t reflect much or spend much time actually celebrating what we’re supposed to be celebrating (they turn more into family markers than markers of our spiritual journey).

We need markers along our spiritual path to remind us of where we’ve come from and where God is taking us. They’re important. God has used them since the very beginning. This morning I was reading about the Exodus from Egypt and guess what we find? Markers…

This annual festival will be a visible sign to you, like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of the Lord: “With a strong hand, the Lord rescued you from Egypt.” (Exodus 13:9, NLT)

Passover was “like a mark” to the Israelites. It was established to ensure they would always remember what God did for them…where they had been. God established this particular marker because He knew it was important. For them. For us. But we don’t do this much anymore. We need to.

Several years ago when Anita and I took a spiritual retreat together to pray and talk about going back into full-time ministry. We stole away for Winter Park. We prayed. We talked. God showed up. There was healing. There was an answer. We wanted to remember that weekend so we agreed that we would purchase a marker…some tangible, visible reminder of what God started that weekend. And we did. It’s a little silver angel that sits on the mantle in our bedroom. Whenever I see it I know that we’re doing what God asked us to do. It marks an important event. When times get tough, the marker is there to remind.

We need markers in our spiritual journey. What are the markers along your path? What markers do you need set up?

01.02.2011 Ministry, New Pastor Journal, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

The Holy Spirit: Part 2

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

The Old Testament references to the Holy Spirit go far beyond the two verses I examined in my first post of my personal study of the Holy Spirit. Those two verses where simply limited to the exact phrase “Holy Spirit”. The more common phrase used in Old Testament is “Spirit of God” and that phrase is found in another 14 verses (from Genesis to Daniel).

In fact, the second verse of the entire Bible references the Spirit of God:

“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2, NLT)

The Hebrew phrase used here (and in the other 13 references) is “Ruwach Elohim”. The word “Elohim” is an interesting Hebrew word for God because it is plural, but references God. Right from the beginning God focused on both His singular and plural nature (one God in plurality). That will make your brain hurt, but that’s how God describes Himself.

I’m not going to go through each and every reference to “Ruwach Elohim” in the Old Testament, but there is one common element that stands out in many of the passages (beyond the plurality reference). In many of the passages there is a reference to a person being “filled with” the Spirit of God or that the Spirit of God “came upon” them. For example:

“I have filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts.” (Exodus 31:3, NLT)

and

“Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, ‘This is what God says: Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering? You have abandoned the Lord, and now he has abandoned you!’” (2 Chronicles 24:20, NLT)

In each instance, the Spirit of God came upon someone for a specific reason—to help them fulfill a specific task, for prophesy, or even to drive them a little crazy (in the case of King Saul in 1 Samuel 11:6). God’s Spirit gave power and the ability to do something special for Him and/or His people. There was purpose in the filling of the Spirit; and there was power. This was God’s provision to His chosen persons. God’s Spirit resulted in action…empowerment to complete an assigned task or role.

So far we’ve seen two primary “functions” of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament:

Relationship with God
Empowerment for Service

These still apply today. The Holy Spirit ushers us into God’s presence and empowers us to serve in God’s Kingdom. We’ll see this and more as we move into the New Testament…

09.03.2010 Holy Spirit, Spiritual Musings No Comments

Sermon: Exodus 17:8-18:27, No Lone Rangers

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

The sermon this week was about the power of community…taking from two stories in Exodus: the Battle with the Amalekites and Jethro’s Advice for Moses. We talked about the importance of living in community with another because that’s how God has made us. We need one another to help carry our burdens, helps us when we fall down, and fight our spiritual battles.

We don’t get to be “Lone Rangers” in our spiritual journey…we need share the journey with others.

For more, please take a listen to the sermon podcast.

29.11.2009 Church, Ministry, Sermon No Comments

Sermon: Exodus 7-11, The 10 PLagues

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

This last Sunday (October 25) I had the privilege of preaching on the 10 Plagues as we continue our sermon series through the book of Exodus. The sermon is entitled American Idol: Egyptian Style and focused on the idol worship God was confronting and attacking with each of the 10 plagues against Egypt.

We all have idols—things that take God’s place in our lives…but God never leaves them alone and He requires that we turn our hearts toward Him and lay our idols down. Sometimes our idols are bad things (i.e.: pride, pornography, etc) and sometimes they aren’t (i.e.: work, family, etc). Regardless, we need to keep our relationship with God the most important part of our lives. Our hearts are prone to wander and we need to come back to our Father daily…He’s waiting with open arms.

For more detail, please listen to the Sermon Podcast

27.10.2009 Church, Ministry, Sermon No Comments