Thursday, April 30, 2009

That You Will Know that I am the LORD

Exodus 7:1-8:15

 

The Plagues are the reversal of creation.  It is fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that God will curse those who curse his people.  But God takes all that he created, in its beauty and order, and releases it from its order upon Pharaoh.  Scholars note that it is the unleashing of creation upon Pharaoh in response to Pharaoh’s assault against Israel and their creation mandate (…bear fruit and multiply, Gen 1:27).  Pharaoh tried to stop the purposes of God in creation and so God allows Pharaoh to truly experience the brokenness of creation.


All this is so that Pharaoh and Egypt would know that Yahweh is Lord.  Literally, “know that I am I am” (7:17).  Everything in creation reveals God because God’s touch is in it.  When it goes wrong it reveals God in the sense that we know it shouldn’t be that way.  Because of that, all of life can reveal God to us, the good, the bad, the broken and the painful, can all be sacramental revelations of God.  If we see something as good, it is from him.  If we see something as broken, we know that it is broken, because we believe that God made it to be whole.  All of life reveals God.


Judgment occurs when we refuse to see God as creator and sustainer of life.  Pharaoh hardens his heart because he prefers to see himself as god.  In the hardness of his heart, he acts foolishly.  

All of our struggles and sins come back to the fact that we don’t see God in our lives as Creator, Sustainer and Savior.  When we don’t see him, our hearts are hard and miss out on the way he can reveal himself to us.  Our opportunity in this is simply to ask God to show himself to us in all things that we might see him, believe in him and respond to him in all things in life.  


Where do you see God in the good, the bad, the beautiful and the broken? Share with us by clicking on the title above and commenting.


Posted by Marc


Wednesday, April 29, 2009

God Reassures Moses

Ex 5:22-6:13


Moses had two problems: his enemy and his teammates.  On one end, Pharaoh has no respect for Moses; and on the other end, his followers are losing respect for him quickly as his efforts to deliver them are only making their lives more difficult.   Yahweh’s (Hebrew of The Lord) response is to tell Moses that the people of Israel have only seen a few glimpses of Him as Hw met with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their current picture of Him is too small for this next season.  


When we begin our lives in Christ we have an initial burst of freedom coupled with fresh, powerful experiences of God’s presence.  It is easy to consider these sufficient for the rest of our lives.  We can have seasons of renewal where our faith is fresh and vibrant, when dependence is natural, and our expression of it is bold.  Yet new challenges come over the horizon or deeper issues of bondage emerge from  the buried layers of our personality.  It is tempting to want to lean upon what we have known of God to draw us through these challenges.  Those lessons of the past are crucial; yet if they were sufficient, then the problems you are facing wouldn’t exist.  You need to know much more of the breadth of God’s personality as well as the depths of His character.  You cannot get that by reading old journals, you must write new ones.  


In this passage, Yahweh tells Moses that this is a new chapter in the relationship between Him and His people, for now He is revealing Himself as the “I AM,” the one who hears the groaning of His people, remembers His promises, who brings them out of slavery, delivers them, redeems them, takes them to be His people, to be their God, and to deliver them to a land which will be home.  Before, with the patriarchs, God sort showed up out of  nowhere and was passed down from father to son.  He surely was God and He surely did provide, but now He reveals Himself as the ever present one, who is always with them, who fights their battles, who takes charge and shows them His love.  


Your current picture of God will be insufficient for the next challenge to come over the horizon.  That is both intimidating and good news.  God is eager to show Himself to you.  He may very well be sending your next challenge so He may follow on the heals to reveal Himself to you.


Have you experienced challenges recently that have forced you to look for God in a way you may not have before?  How did he reveal himself to you? Just click on the title of the blog to comment and let us know.


Posted by Marc 

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Resist the Tyrant

dDay 11

Exodus 5:1-21


Freedom is rarely neat, nor is it easy. Enter a pharaoh and we have for ourselves a true spiritual battle.


In Egypt, Pharaoh was considered a god. Pharaoh’s words reveal that in his heart, he believed it and there was no way that he was going to bow down before another god. It is Yahweh versus Pharaoh. In this battle, Pharaoh resists any request for Israel to go out to worship (literally “serve” from the Hebrew “abed”). Pharaoh did not want them to serve Yahweh, because as a god, he expected them to serve him.


Just like the Israelites and Pharoah, if we are seeking freedom from our sin and brokenness, it means that there is another master involved in our life - a pharoah, a tyrant. Like Pharaoh, that tyrant will resist our quest for freedom. As we begin to leave it behind, it will yell at us, “idle!” demanding and threatening for us return to serve it. At this point we need to look back to the original exodus and the original deliverance and remember that it is a spiritual battle.


It is not you against your tyrant for your freedom. It is Yahweh against your tyrant. Are you involved? Absolutely! Is it neat and pretty? Rarely. Learn to fight against your tyrant by resisting its demands day by day; and, moment by moment, replace his words with the words of God's truth which will draw you trust God, the One who does battle for you. He is jealous for your worship and is committed to your deliverance. He will fight for you and you can trust Him.


Please leave a comment by clicking on the title above and entering our blog. We like hearing from you! What tyrants are you facing, which ones are you overcoming?

Saturday, April 25, 2009

"Let My Son Go"

Exodus 4:18-31


When Moses is to speak for God, he would not just be saying, “let my people go…” but “let my son go.”  Israel was to be God’s firstborn son.  Moses was instructed to warn Pharoah, “my firstborn for your firstborn.”  Pharaoh at that time was considered God and the battle that was to take place was to be  demonstration of who the true deity was in the world—Yahweh or Pharaoh.  Moses was to warn Pharaoh about the specialness of the firstborn and the consequences of enslaving Yahweh’s first bornn.  


Yet, as we said, Moses couldn’t speak on behalf of God’s firstborn son if he hadn’t set apart his own firstborn son.  The sign of the agreement between God and Israel was 

signed by man through the sign of the covenant.  Since his son was away while they were born, he was never circumcised.  So that needed to be done.  Circumcision produced blood and that blood was the sign that distinguished Israel from the nations.  That blood was needed for Moses’ to cover the offense of trying free God’s firstborn while ignoring the sign of freedom for his firstborn. 


In the ultimate release of the Hebrews from slavery, blood would be used on their doors to mark them as different (free) from the Egyptians.  That sign was a protection; for eventually the angel of the Lord came and claimed the first-born children that God promised for Pharaoh’s resistance.  The blood set apart God’s people as holy to Him and protected them amidst the battle between Yahweh and Pharaoh.  


The blood of Jesus, God’s perfect, true firstborn son of creation(Col 1:15) still protects us in the battle between God’s Kingdom and the kingdom’s of darkness in this world.  It sets us apart as holy.  It declares us as separated unto God.  Dark forces and Satan cannot control us because the blood of Christ has broken us free from their power.  Because of Jesus’ blood, we are made holy in God’s sight. Because of his blood, we are able to grow in realizing that holiness because we don’t need to purchase ourselves into forgiveness, but we can live in that forgiveness as dearly loved children.  That is freedom.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Freedom From My Misperception

Exodus 3:12-4:20


If Moses was going to free his people from Egypt, he was going to need to be free himself, free from a small view of God and free from misperceptions about himself.  Coming into this passage, Moses has received the call to go and free Israel, but he has questions.


The change in Moses is subtle though profound.  We don’t actually see it in him, but we see it in him through his staff, his shepherd’s rod that he carries with him to shepherd the sheep.  God knew that Moses needed 

more than just answers to questions, for Moses needed to experience God and to understand himself differently.  At the beginning of the passage, the staff was known as Moses’ staff, a staff that he used to do his work as a shepherd and marked him out in his identity as a wanderer, away from his home.   Then God changes the staff to a snake and Moses needs to trust God’s words enough to pick it up by its tail.  The act of obedience in faith increases Moses ability to trust God, for he experienced God when the snake turned back into a staff.  Something happe

ned to the staff also.  At the end of the passage we read (4:20), it is no longer Moses’ staff, but rather “the staff of God.”


Moses would take this new tool to shepherd people, not sheep.  It represented a change in Moses identity.  Answers to his questions weren’t enough.  He needed to step out and faith and trust God.  Once he did, he saw life, himself, and his calling differently.  He moved forward becoming a man of freedom who could lead others there as well.


Your ability to experience freedom is directly related to your ability to trust God in obedience and in so doing, experience Him.  The more you experience Him through this trust, the deeper your well of faith gets.  None of us will ever arrive at perfect trust in God—Moses sure didn’t, but we can practice it.  The more we practice this trustful obedience, the more it becomes second nature, and the more we become, well a person who trusts God.  


We can never give up and think we do not have anything to learn here.  Until we go and be with Him, we should count on God meeting us and challenging us to deeper steps of trust.


Thursday, April 23, 2009

A Strange Calling

Exodus 2:23-3:12


There is a strangeness to our calling.  We cannot approach God because of his holiness, but we can’t accomplish anything without His presence with us.  As we consider our calling, it is good to look at Moses’ calling.  The most dominant aspect of the story of Moses calling is that the story has very little to do with Moses.  The person in discussion in this story is God himself.

Our freedom is a calling.  We are called out of the darkness and into His light.  We are called out of our old lives marked by the flesh and its desires and into new lives marked by the freedom of the Spirit.  We live our lives learning to leave behind the flesh and its desires for the new way of the Spirit.  Yet, none us should go for too long without wondering about the specifics of what God wants us to do with our time, what is my ‘calling’?  Or, to draw off the Latin root of the word, ‘vox,’ what does the voice of God say to me regarding my task?


With Moses, as with us, our calling comes from knowing clearly who God is.  He is holy to the point of danger (‘take off your shoes”).  He is compassionate to the point of sharing in our sufferings (‘I will be with you’).  It is a paradox almost too deep to plummet.  Yet it is God’s own character that He draws us to.  Are there things about ourselves that are helpful to learn as we discern our calling?  Yes. Yet here Moses needs to learn about God and the more he understands God, the better he will understand himself, his world, and yes, his calling.


How has understanding God better shaped your understanding of your calling? Click on the title above to take you to the blog and leave a comment.


posted by Marc


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Failed Attempt at Freedom

Exodus 2:11-22


There was Moses way and then there was God’s way.  We see both Moses (v.11) and God (v. 25) looking upon the mise

ry of their people.  They were both concerned.  Moses acted rashly to deliver the Hebrews in his own strength and with his own wisdom and found the respective results of that equation, needless death, deception and despair.  So Moses has to run and, in a sense, goes into his own exile from his own people.


While in exile, Moses is going to go to school on the art of delivering people--God’s way.  He couldn’t deliver all of Israel, but he does deliver seven women from some scoundrel shepherds.  Moses was hoping to deliver Israel from the hand of Egypt, but instead he delivered some women from some shepherds.  Then Moses became a shepherd himself.  This new life of tending sheep, patiently nurturing them, leading them to food water and protection would be an internship for Moses on

 what it means to be a leader.  As Moses learns to lead sheep, he will begin to learn to lead people.


We should listen well to the consequences of our mistakes.  They are often our greatest teachers.  We should expect to continue learning as long as we live on this earth.  If we stop learning, we stop believing that God has more for us.  Stopping the learning process suggests that God is done with us, maybe done with this world.  


That is not the God we have witnessed in these two chapters.  Behind these past two chapters rests the gaze of God, listening to the cries of his people, hearing their groaning, remembering his promises and preparing history and this world—for freedom.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Making of a Deliverer

Read Exodus 2:1-10

The problem with slavery is that it steals your memory of freedom.  When slavery passes down a generation, it becomes a way of life.  Slavery is akin to captivity in that they preclude freedom to be an inside-out endeavor.  Each needs help from the outside.  Prisoners need someone from the outside to open the gates.  Slaves need a non-slave to purchase them.  Who will set the Hebrews free if they are all entirely subject to slavery?

But what if there was a Hebrew who experienced freedom for himself? Then there would be an insider who would know a life outside of slavery.  That is exactly what is going here.  The oppression and dishonor against God’s people was only growing, and so God took action to shape Moses' life from birth to become the very one who could deliver God’s people.  He was an insider who knew life on the outside, what it meant to be free.  We know that Jesus himself was prepared

 in the same way.  He sets us free spiritually because He knew the complete freedom of life outside of this broken world before He came to live in it to deliver us from this world.  He was a free man, who lived as a slave in order to lead all of us slaves to freedom.


We have, and will continue to speak about, how God delivers us for our freedom; but it is important here to notice a fundamental principle of ministry.  Paul speaks to those who have found freedom in Christ in Galatia saying, 


“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”  Galatians 5:13


As freed people we have a special opportunity to reach and to serve others in love.  What makes Moses and Jesus unique in their ability to bring freedom to others is:

  • They were people who were stewards of their own freedom.  They had experienced freedom for themselves.  As believers our authority and ability to help people with their sin is established by our own experience of freedom from sin.
  • Though they could have stayed as outsiders, they made themselves insiders.  Though our authority is shaped by the freedom of our moral integrity, our impact is shaped by how close we get to slavery.  One friend of mine said, “if you want to help someone, their problem will become your problem.  If they struggle with anger, they will get angry with you.  If they struggle with manipulating, they will manipulate you.”  But that is ministry.  There is no way around getting our hands dirty.

Moses is going to have learn this the hard way.  We’ll save that for tomorrow though.  How have you seen people get their hands dirty in your life?


Posted by Marc

Monday, April 20, 2009

Are You Breaking Stones?

50 Days to Freedom: Day Seven

Exodus 1


Notes on this chapter for Bible Reading

In the opening words of the Bible’s second book, observe that God is fulfilling His promise to bless Israel’s children; growing their number exceedingly over 400 years, bringing brings a sense of threat and a violent reaction from Pharaoh. This is an important chapter for it lays the ground work for the entire book as well as Numbers and Deuteronomy. To understand its importance, we need to go back to the key verses of the Old Testament found in Genesis 12.


“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (ESV)


The promise laid out here Genesis 12 is the driving theme of the Old Testament and is as follows:

  1. God will Bless Abraham and his family
  2. God will make Abraham’s family into a great nation—Israel
  3. God will give Abraham and his family Israel a promised land—Palestine
  4. Those who bless this family will be blessed and those who dishonor it will be cursed
  5. Through this family (ultimately Christ) the entire world will be blessed.

These promises are being fulfilled as God is making Israel into a great nation, adding to their numbers.  The promise is being fulfilled as God blesses the midwives who bless the Hebrews.  Yet, the promise is being threatened.  Even a reader who is marginally familiar with the protagonist (Moses) of Exodus recognizes that the small time genocide attempt of the Hebrew male infants could very well be the hand of Satan opposing the rise of a deliverer for God’s people, for in this chapter Moses was yet to be born.  God was preparing to move and Satan was making a counter move.  For a parallel, remember the birth of Christ (Matthew 2).  This lays the groundwork for a curse to those who dishonor God’s family.  The coming plagues as a result of this curse looms in the coming pages like debris that has fallen onto train tracks around a bend.  Nothing will get in the way of God blessing the world through Israel.  


Application

Some of the problems we face are from our own hands; some we inherit.  What is seen from the beginning is that sin and brokenness build on each other.  Sin breaks things, leaving people in its wake broken and prone to sin more, and break more.  The people of Israel were in slavery and had been so for a very long time.  Their king is attempting to wipe out a generation of their children. Their lives, at least on paper, are quite miserable, yet God is on the move, keeping His promises, aligning the nations, using Egypt as a womb to mature a family into a nation that will burst upon the world with the promise of nothing short of salvation for all nations.  


Tell that to the guy breaking stones for Pharoah.


You may be breaking stones and you may feel spiritual threats on your family, yet we get to see that God is always at work to bring salvation and to work in and through even the most broken of situations in order to bring freedom, salvation and hope to you and this world.  Believe it.


Let us know if you can see this.  We would love to hear your stories of how God is at work in ways we not always see.


Posted by Marc

Sunday, April 19, 2009

God meant it for good

50 Days to Freedom: Day Six

Genesis 37, 39-45, 50:20

 

The book of Genesis should break us from all of preconceived notions that Christian spirituality is about stuffy people pretending they're perfect and looking down on others.  Genesis is about how the fall breaks creation in every way and the amazing potential people have for good and for bad (add Gen 4 and 38 to your reading to get more potential of the bad). Genesis is also about how God is going to work through the bad and the broken to see His purposes prevail.

 

Joseph’s story is the perfect story.  Here is a kid who was the favored child in a hugely dysfunctional home.  His brothers hate him, mock him and sell him to traders where he spends his life alternately achieving and spending time in prison.  Imagine being a counselor and trying to deal with his broken family—from Rachel to Leah, to his twelve brother and Jacob as a father, what a mess.  Yet, Joseph sees it all come together and makes that point clear when he says to his brothers:

 

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.”

 

This was Joseph’s story, but it wasn’t just his story—it was Jesus' story.  Jesus took the evil perpetrated against Him and God used it for good.  But it is not just Joseph’s and Jesus’ story, it is our as well.  God teaches us that none of our sufferings go without His notice and involvement.  He is at work in our prisons and our betrayals. 

 

The thing is, we are used to suffering being able to be redeemed in 105-145 minutes.  Most movies redeem suffering in under two hours.  Joseph sat in a stinking jail for two years.  It is so easy to just turn the page and see the redemption on the next page.  That wasn’t how it was for Joseph and that wasn’t how it will be for us.  You may be 18 months into your imprisonment, you may be three months.  What you can count on is that God is at work to redeem all things and take all the things that are evil and use them for good.

 

What do you think?  Have you seen this?   Are there other obstacles to believing this?  How do you remind yourselves of God’s purposes in the midst of painful experiences?  Click on the title of this blog to comment.


Posted by Marc

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Wrestling with God

50 Days to Freedom: Day Five

Genesis 32-33

Jacob has a problem.  He is a scoundrel.  He sins.  Not only does he sin, but he pays the price of his sin.  He sins and then things break, like his relationship with Esau; Jacob, and everyone around him, are experiencing both sin and brokenness.  But regardless, because of His promise, God still chooses to bless Jacob and make him wealthy in the foreign land before God calls him back to the land of promise. 

 

Just like God met Jacob on his way out of the Promised Land, so he also meets him on the way back into the Promised Land.  We can learn a few things about how God meets us in our lives:

1.       God meets us through our vulnerability and brokenness—Jacob’s clear demonstration of fear of Esau and submission to Esau reflects 14+ years of apprehension, guilt and pain over this broken relationship.  He expects Esau to be looking for justice.  The  night before this meeting is the night when God comes to wrestle with Jacob.  We are often tempted to get ourselves together so that we can hear from God.  God wants to speak to us when we are humbly dependent; not prideful, independent and sufficient.

2.       God stoops—the man/angel/theophany that Jacob wrestles with is said to not be able to overcome Jacob, and yet Jacob knew He was God.  Clearly, this is akin to a father wrestling with his children, allowing them the mastery over him.  God meets us in a way that we can handle and gives us enough information for us move forward.  When a child asks the parent, “when will we get there?” the parent does not discuss the map, the traffic and the weather, but simply gives enough information to answer the question in the child’s mind.  God sees a much bigger picture and gives us enough information for us to wrestle with.

3.       God does not leave us the same—Jacob takes a new name—“Israel.”  Jacob knew himself to be a scoundrel, but now he is known as one who “strives and prevails.”  He has a new identity to build himself, his life and his family around.  For the rest of our lives, God will be continually at work to rebuild our identities as His children.

4.       God wounds—Though Jacob was able to strive with God and prevail, God clearly demonstrated His power by touching Jacob’s hip and leaving it wounded.  We often look at our wounds as solely evidence of the fall, but we do not receive a wound without the touch of God involved.  Some of these are quite painful and no explanation short of heaven will suffice.  Regardless, we can trust God, who allowed his son to be “wounded for our transgressions”, to wound us in such a way to draw us to Himself and to be used for His purposes. 

These are painful truths about God.  I like this God, who is close, involved and has Hs hands dirty in this world and my life than the distant, aloof God I am prone to believe.  He is real, He is true and He is there.

 

Posted by Marc

Friday, April 17, 2009

“Going the wrong way!?”

50 Days to Freedom: Day Four

Gen 27:46-29:30

Jacob won the blessing, but lost his family.  As the heir to the promise, he puts the fulfillment of the promise in jeopardy by leaving the land.  

But before Jacob leaves the land of promise, God wants to meet with him.  He meets with him in a dream and through the dream, God renews the promise that He made to Abraham and Isaac to the next in line--Jacob.  As far as we know it, until that point, God was the God of Jacob’s father and grandfather.  Now, He is the God of Jacob.

Each generation needs to acknowledge God for themselves.  It is not enough for us to worship the god of our fathers.  God, if he is real in our life must be our God.  But do you also see how God takes advantage of the transition in Jacob’s life in order to draw him back.  Jacob was leaving the comfort of his mother and the safety of his father’s house, he was on his own and ready to come back to God.

We must be watchful through the transitions in our life, from school to work, beginning a dating relationship, marriage, kids, jobs, moves, and the empty nest.  These are all opportunities for us to draw nearer to God and HIs freedom or to slip away from God towards bondage.  The upsetting of circumstances gives us an opportunity to take the newfound chaos and to entrust it into God’s hands ordering it for Him.  Or, we can take the newfound chaos and find something other than Him to order it around.  

What opportunities lie before you in this season to take vulnerable places of transition in your life and entrust them to God?  What competitors to God lie out there to steal your trust, hope and sense of order?

Click on the title above to comment, I'd like to hear your thoughts!

Posted by Marc

Thursday, April 16, 2009

"Isn't he rightly named Jacob!"

50 Days to Freedom, Day Three

Gen 25:19-34, 27:1-45

That was Esau's cry to his father on account of his brother’s final betrayal? “Jacob” in Hebrew means “he takes by the heal” or “he cheats.” Jacob stole himself into Abraham’s line of blessing.The hope of the world is going to go through a deceptive and manipulative man. If the Bible was here to prove the superiority of God’s people over the nations, it is off to a bad start.  Abraham struggles to tell the truth, Isaac does the same. Rebekah fools her husband and Jacob has done nothing but repeatedly do whatever necessary in order to swindle himself into the first-born status. Not impressive from a religious perspective!  

Can we be honest in saying that this isn’t fair, at least from our perspective? Sure, Esau is foolish and a brute, but Jacob is a scoundrel! His mother isn’t any better. Should not there be at least some points for Esau as far as Isaac’s intention for his blessing?  

This underscores yesterday’s passage that teaches us that the extension of God’s grace is based upon His promise and not our merit. Jacob will feel the consequences of his character soon enough; but, what we see here is that favor comes to him in spite of his manipulations his unworthiness. 

What a comfort this reality can be to us! If God listens based upon our merit, we would have no hope for freedom. Quite often it is as we fail and feel and the brokenness of consequences and sin that we cry out for freedom with the most sincerity. 

What is commendable about Jacob is his desire to have the blessing, and his lack of shame in seeking it. Makes me think... Do I pray shamelessly for God’s blessing? Am I bold in His presence? Many of us are polite with God, thinking that it honors His holiness; yet, isn't our politeness really a cover for our distance. And aren't we distant because we don’t really believe in His grace... to believe that He will listen to us and generously give us, His children, what we ask for in His name according to His will?  

I'd love to know your thoughts - just click on today's title and it'll take you right to the comment section.  Thanks for reading today!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A New Beginning

Day Two of 50 Days to Freedom: Gen 12:1-20, Gen 15:1-21

If you are movie buffs, you need to understand the beginning of Gen 12 to be like:

Star Wars (the original) when Luke chooses to go with Ben Kenobi to save the world.
The Fellowship of the Ring when the Council of Elrond determines that Frodo will take the ring to be destroyed in the fires of Mordor.
Rocky, when Mickey decides to help Rocky prepare to find “that animal” Apollo Creed.”
Mission Impossible, when they hear, “your mission should you choose to accept it…”

This is God taking initiative to save the world.  He is going to choose one man, make him into a great family, which will become a great nation and through that nation, he will bring blessing to the world.  This is the salvation story in seed form.  Just like the story of those movies drive the turn of those scenes, the rest of scripture will watch this seed of the story take root, burst from the ground begin to bear fruit, fight off the threats to its life and eventually be the tree of life for the world.

If you look back at Genesis 10 and 11, people tried to regain their freedom on their own.  They would build a tower so they could oppose God.  They thought that God was the enemy of their freedom.  It was the other way around.  From that tower, God created all of the nations… then made one more, through Abraham that would bring salvation to the rest.

When we think about freedom, living free from sin and bondage, it is so important to remember that God is the one who takes initiative in our lives.  We aren’t standing alone in the world trying to shake off the chains that bind us.  The fact that we are seeking Him for freedom in and of itself is a sign that he has already been at work drawing us to himself, giving us a distaste for bondage and a longing for righteousness.  Gen 15:6 says “that Abraham believed God and God credited that to him righteousness.”  Abraham had not really done anything yet.  The first move for us for freedom is to believe that God is at work already and we are simply responding to his grace.

Monday, April 13, 2009

The Land of Hopes and Dreams

(click above to enter the blog and comment)
Day 1 - 50 Days till Freedom

Reading:  Genesis 1:26-31, 2:18-3:24


The words “freedom” and “church,” when spoken in the same sentence often produce in people a three-pronged counter-attack of raised eyebrows, cringed faces and flooded emotions that communicate their response that says “freedom” and “church” only belong together with the word “versus” between them.  This is because churches, for many people, have been experiences of “restriction” not freedom; yet, this is not how God intended it to be.

In these initial verses, a sense of clarity to what man and woman were supposed to do and be was formed. They were to take the newly formed creation and rule it, subdue its wildness and bring its chaos into a beautiful order; so that it reflected the image of God.  Adam began that work through naming the animals.  Remember, it was not just ordering the world that they were called to do, but to fill it with beauty.  Man and woman would accomplish this by bearing fruit and filling the world; filling the world with the image of the glory of God.  In the beginning there was clarity.

In the beginning there was also freedom.  They were free from death, sin, brokenness and shame.  The fact that they were naked and did not feel shame was a testament to their spiritual condition before God and before each other.

What broke everything was deception and the fall.  The fall of man damaged them and made their callings unclear and difficult.  From then on the work of bringing order came with sweat, bearing fruit came with pain, and the relationship between a man and woman was hindered by sin and brokenness. The calling of man and woman wasn’t removed. God himself did not remove their freedom to choose.  The curse of death, sin and brokenness entered and left a wake of bondage that would build upon itself; essentially strapping chains across each person born to Adam and Eve and their descendants. 

The curse wasn’t the final word.  The first five books of the Bible aren’t really about the fall and brokenness.  They are about God rolling out a plan to reverse the curse, save the world, and liberate His children to experience the true freedom He created them for.  

These next fifty days each blog entry will begin to unravel the story.  The story of the road to freedom that God leads his people on.  We hope you will follow along with us, and as you see the story of freedom for God’s ancient people unfold, may you see your story of freedom unfold as well.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Luke 24:1-53, Matthew 28:1-20

Have fun celebrating Easter!


(Click on the scripture references above and enter the Blog!  50 Days to Freedom, with commentary, will begin tomorrow)


Day Nineteen of Steps to the Cross: Luke 24:1-53, Matthew 28:1-20


Luke 24: 1-53

 1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 

2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were wondering about

 this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8Then they remembered his words.

 9When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to t

he apostles. 11But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

 13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.

 17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

   They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

 19"What things?" he asked.

   "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

 25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ[b] have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

 28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

 33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled

 together 34and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

 36While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

 37They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

 40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

 41And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?

42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate it in their presence.

 44He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."

 45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

 50When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.



Footnotes:

a. Luke 24:13 Greek sixty stadia (about 11 kilometers)

b. Luke 24:26 Or Messiah; also in verse 46



Matthew 28:1-20

 1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary we

nt to look at the tomb.

 2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

 5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

 8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

 11While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

 16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17Wh

en they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a]the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."


Footnotes:

a. Matthew 28:19 Or into; see Acts 8:16; 19:5; Romans 6:3; 1 Cor. 1:13; 10:2 and Gal. 3:27.


Tomorrow's Blog:


50 Days to Freedom (with commentary) will begin and run up to the day of Pentecost. This series will focus on God’s meeting the people of Israel in Egypt and leading them out of slavery into freedom; paralleling it with the freedom the gospel offers us. With bold faith and the grace of God we will learn how to be freed from the bondage of sin and to walk in the freedom of being God’s children.