January 27th readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Exodus 4:1-5:21 ~ Matthew 18:1-20
Psalm 22:19-31 ~ Proverbs 5:15-21

Old Testament - Today in Exodus chapter 4 we read about God discussing with Moses from the burning bush how Moses will lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  Below is a portrait by Guy Rowe of Moses having this conversation with God before the burning bush -

Moses has a classic line to God in Chapter 4 verse 10 – “Moses said to the LORD , "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." I think what is classic about this line is that probably many of us have some sort of line similar to this one that we say to God when God is calling us to do something big for his kingdom. Or maybe even if it is something medium-sized or small God is calling us to, we probably have some pretty good excuses. “Why me God?” “I’m too young.” I’m too old.” “I’m too busy.” “I’m not that smart.” “I’m not that talented”. And I’m sure our list of excuses could go on. BUT – check out what God says to Moses in verse 12 – “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."” Wow. Is there an area of your life where God is calling you to move forward? Maybe calling you to some kingdom work? And are you making excuses? Will you leave those excuses behind? Do you realize that God will help you do whatever you need to do? Do you realize that God will teach you what to do as you go? You may not know exactly what to do right now – but if you move forward, do you believe God will show up and help you accomplish the task? Will you now go?  Below is a wonderful stained glass image of God in the burning bush telling Moses to "now go"!

Verses 24 through 26 probably raised some questions for you today... :)   "On the journey, when Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the LORD confronted Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah, his wife, took a flint knife and circumcised her son....After that, the LORD left him alone."  The obvious question being, why was God about to kill Moses?  Didn't God just call Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?  Well, yes he did.  Commentaries I read suggest that the primary issue here was an issue of obedience.  Moses had not circumcised his son, which was a requirement of God's covenant with Israel from Genesis chapter 17 - you'll recall Abraham and his household all getting circumcised in that 1 day...  So, Moses - actually Zipporah his wife performed the task of the covenant - had to circumcise his son before God would let Moses go forward to deliver God's people out of Egypt.  Don't you like it when the Bible throws in some quick curveballs like this?  :) Bible.org's commentary on Exodus chapter 4 is at this link - scroll down a bit.  Below is an image from the Sistine Chapel of Zipporah and her and Moses' two sons Gershom and Eliezer -

I like Exodus chapter 5 verse 1, which builds upon some of our readings in chapter 4 - "After this presentation to Israel's leaders, Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh." What I like about this is that there was Moses & Aaron going to see Pharaoh - the 2 of them.  This reminds me of Jesus sending out the disciples in pairs.  Sometimes in life it seems like we can accomplish more, or stay on task better, if we are partnered with someone else.  It's sometimes tough to do things on our own.  I think sometimes we want to make ourselves out to be Lone Rangers - thinking that we can shoulder the weight of the world on our own.  But... we can't.  First and foremost we need to be in relationship with God.  Secondly, in relationship with our family.  Thirdly, relationship with our community - as we saw Moses and Aaron spoke with the Hebrew leaders at the end of chapter 4.  And then... we are ready to take on Pharaoh!  Then, we are ready to take on the world!  Yeah, sure, on rare occasions God will call us to pull off kingdom tasks on our own - but... 9 times out of 10, I think you are going to need brothers and sisters in Christ to help you make it.  Currently, are you in a community, a church, with brothers and sisters in Christ?  Do you know who your Aaron is?  Below is a painting by James Tissot of Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh -

New Testament - Jesus' teaching in Matthew chapter 18 verses 3 & 4 are something for each of us to consider - ""I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."  I find it interesting the order of the words - first, turn from your sin.  THEN - after turning from your sins - become as little children.  It seems that we cannot become humble as children without first turning from our sins.  This makes sense if you think about it.  If you are still living in sin, how can you become humble like a child?  You must first repent of the sin before moving toward humility.  I think this teaching is a tough one in our modern age.  It doesn't sound quite right... become humble like a child?  Why??  But, there is so much wisdom in it.   Do you want to become humble like a child?  Will you ask God to show you how to do this in your life?

Verses 19 & 20 are awesome - "I also tell you this: If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them."" Again, these verses remind me of the importance of being in community with other believers regularly.  The importance of church.  And not just showing up to church on Sundays, but really investing in your church.  Serving.  Tithing. Being part of a small group.  Doing life together with others.  Being the body of Christ.   I will admit that there have been periods of my life where I really felt like I did not need the church.  That I did not need to be in community.  These have turned out to be lonely or hurried or stressful seasons when I look back on them....  I realize now more than ever that I need the church.  I love my church.  I love everyone in my church - warts and faults and all - and I believe they love me in return, warts and faults and all.   How about you?  Do you have a church that you love?  Do you have a community of believers that you love and that loves you?  If not, will you pray to God to lead you to such a community?  Do you believe that Christian community is important for you?  (Please know that when I say church I am speaking very broadly of the body of Christ and all the various ways it manifest itself as church.  For example, I have many friends who are part of the growing house church movement, which is a wonderful way to do church for many folks.  For others it's the mega-church and for others the mainline church, and this list of examples of church could go on and on...)

Psalms - Okay, since I'm going off on my church soapbox today :), I'll continue the theme here.  What's one good reason to go to church at all?  Check out Psalm 22 verse 22 - "Then I will declare the wonder of your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among all your people." Praising God with other brothers and sisters through worship, tithing, learning, serving and being in community in church is a great reason to go to church!  To declare the wonder of God's name!  To praise God among all his people.  Wow... yes...  this is church!

Proverbs - Proverbs 5 verses 16 & 17 are powerful true Sex Education verses- "Why spill the water of your springs in public, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Don't share it with strangers."  I like this a lot.  Is this something we can teach youth today?  Is this something we can teach ourselves?  Don't have sex with just anyone - it is degrading to you.  Don't share something so holy as sex with just anyone.  Save this holy bond for your spouse.  I once heard a powerful sermon by John Ortberg at Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago. And John was preaching on "Don't Quench the Spirit".   And it was a powerful sermon on how we are so blessed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives as followers of Jesus.  And yet, we can quench, temporarily, the power of the Spirit in our life when we sin.  It is basically like turning our back on God when we sin.  And then we need to turn our faces forward again toward God in repentance.  And while we are sinning and turning our back on God, we have effectively quenched the Spirit.  And as I heard this sermon, I realized that sexual sin is one sure-fire quick way to quench the spirit.  We degrade ourselves through sexual sin and I believe we quench the spirit.  I don't know if this line of thinking will help you at all if you are struggling with sexual sin.  But, it helps me.  It helps me to realize that the quick little temporary kicks we think we might get off sexual sin are so not worth it.  What is worth quenching the Spirit in our life??  Is sexual sin?  Nope...  you know it's not.  Living fully in communion with God and with the Holy Spirit is one of the most amazing things we can possibly experience this side of heaven.  Will you please, please, no longer Quench the Spirit for the cheap lies sexual sins sells?

Comments from you & Question of the Day - With my thoughts above on the serious topic of sexual sin - does anyone have any resources, books, websites, that you can recommend to folks that are struggling with sexual temptation or sin?  Have you seen people in your life be enslaved to sexual sin?  Hopefully you have also seen people also be freed from that enslavement through Jesus?  Do you think that sexual sin - lust, pornography, adultery, etc. - is a rampant issue in our society today?  Do you think it's worse now than the past?  Or do you think sexual sin has always been an issue in the past and will be until Jesus returns again?  (Bob Deffinbaugh with bible.org's essay on "Sex and the Spiritual Christian" based on 1 Corinthians 7 is at this link.)  Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[debby]

Well, I'm on-line too late and catching up and did not intend to be the first comment of the day (My calandar still indicates Jan 26).
Just a few comments.

I have found the paraphrase I’m reading to be so interesting that I had read ahead in Matthew and Genesis/Exodus and then I didn’t have a chance to check the blog the last 2 days, so now I’m catching up on all the comments!

Name: Debby
Southeast US
Bible reading: Morning or evening. I’m really an evening person and have had to talk with God about getting up early to read. God does have a sense of humor as noted when He recently sent me a beautiful stray kitten/cat (named Snow Angel) who likes to wake me up at 5 AM!
I use the computer a lot at work, otherwise I’m computer illiterate. But, this blog has been an inspiration and motivation. Thanks again, Mike. And thanks to Ramona for your daily posts.

Anyone besides me noting how the OT and NT daily readings often have something similar? Ok, stretch it a bit, but sexual sin and circumcision... I have read that circumcision helped the Israelite male think a long time about going off and having sex with 'heathens' as the women could always tell who was an Israelite by his lack of foreskin...just a thought.

I did want to comment (a bit late, but thanks, Mike, for bringing it up again in todays blog) about Matthew 16: 18:
In our study of scripture we must remember that it would be wise not to pick out a verse here or there to "prove" something, maybe our own idea of what is 'right.' We are called to read what leads up to and is after our 'doctrinal or creed' verse. Such is the case with Matthew 16:18. (And in Acts 10: 15. When there is a question while reading the Bible, read on!)
Does Christ say Peter is the foundation of the church, or is He indicating that what Peter has just uttered is true, and that this truth (Jesus is Christ, the son of God) is the foundation of His church? A discussion of this is at http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=2702
It says: “Few verses in Scripture have generated more controversy or divisiveness than Matt 16:18, and the interpretation of this verse will be explored in this thesis. The problem of Matt 16:18 must be considered on two levels: the exegetical and the theological.22 First, the exegetical dilemma is founded upon this question: Who/What is this so-called “rock”? For Roman Catholics, the word-play between Simon’s surname, Peter (Pevtro", Lat. Petrus), and the “rock” (pevtra, Lat. petram) is not coincidental. This pun clearly points to the “rock” being none other than the apostle himself. Protestant scholars, however, have largely fallen into three camps regarding the interpretation of the verse: 1) the rock is Jesus; 2) the rock is the confession of faith; 3) the rock is Peter.”

God bless as we continue to study. The Holy Spirit will be present to give us discernment as we humble ourselves.

[Ramona]

Mike-- and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
(Matthew 19:5-6 NET.)

AND,

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."
(1 Corinthians 6:15-16 NET.)

These are but two of the four plus references in the Bible dealing with “sleeping” around. If you become “one” with those you “sleep” with, obviously, we are doing more than sleeping, and then you become tied to that person. I don’t know if this is a good analogy but when someone or something becomes one with gum or tar, in order to get it off whatever the gum is stuck to you take a little or a lot of the item that it is stuck to thus damaging the product or person. Sometimes the item can be healed, the skin or hair grows back, but many times the item, including the person is permanently scared or damaged.

I heard a preacher say that God doesn’t want you sleeping around with everybody because those you sleep with you become tied to and God doesn’t want you tied to all those spirits.

Hi Debby I'm glad you are along for the journey.

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[anka]

Thanks a lot Ramona for the verses.On the mat 16:18 topic,I once heard a sermon that said the rock was the revelation of Holy spirit to Peter that Jesus was the Christ..it went on to say that the church is made up by believers(to whom the Holy spirit revealed Christ to so they became believers)who the make up the body of Christ...On Today's reading,I saw a commentary that said ....the Lord met Moses(or Moses's son)on biblegateway.com which seems they're trying to say it was Moses's son God wanted to kill...maybe I'm wrong...honestly I really don't understand it...if God had wanted to kill Moses cos he hadn't circumsised his son why would he reveal it to Zipporah who wasn't hebrew(or in a relationship with God I guess) instead of telling Moses himself who may have known the customs of the hebrew people.
I started out on this bible study to get to know God more.I have heard alot of doctrines that didn't just sound right..many teachers who have distorted the Word to suit their own purpose(or maybe just didn't understand it to begin with)so I really want to know the truth so I can be safe from false doctrines..I'm about 2years in Christ...didn't go to church before I got saved cos my folks where always talking about how pastors preached one thing and did another.
About sexual sin..I think there are things that we get ourselves out of ignorance,then we got a lot of baggage and some times strange spirits to deal with.Even as a new christian I have seen leaders in church who have led new converts astray.I think what may have helped me as a new christian was that I really wanted to get to know God and for about 6months I kept away from any relationship to get to know who the renewed me really was.I'm sorry I took quite a lot of space today.
God bless you all

[Micah Girl]

As a part of pre-marital counseling/pastoring I know a pastor who always prays for God to break the extraneous "one flesh" bonds that our promiscuous generation has before getting married. I find that to be a very practical and very moving prayer.

[anka]

just a thought...if circumcision was the evidence of faith that the hebrews had and Moses didn't circumcise his son for so long...then is it possible that he had actually stopped believing God.It shows in the way he tried to wriggle out of doing what God told him to...since with faith it is impossible to please God..could that be the reason God wanted to kill him...but then why kill him after the commission not before....

[luciano del monte]

Mike, I appreciate that you are including a broad view of the local church. You are obviously trying to make a point with your emphasis on being in community. And as I stated in a previous blog in our discussion around Matthew 16, I do not believe that Jesus limits us to 'one pure view' of what church should be. There are some irreducible minimums that need to exist. Different denominations throughout church history have emphasized what 'they' wanted to emphasize. As one of my seminary professors was fond of saying, "All theology is a matter of EMPHASIS", and he would underscore the 'emphasis' part. I believe he was quoting the great theologian Karl Barth. As I have gotten older I am coming to see that God has chosen to allow a great variety of basic Christian communities to exist and to flourish. Yancey's booklet "Why bother with church?" convinced me that we'll never find the 'perfect church'but that we can still ask God to lead us to a 'place' that we can contribute to as well as 'receive from'.

This relates well to the discussion around sexual purity. Most of the men and women I know (including myself) who have experienced what Francis Schaeffer calls "substantial healing' have experienced it in the context of a safe community where they were able to 'confess their sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.' (james 5:16) As well, Hebrews 3:12-13 tells us to exhort each other day after day lest anyone be hardened by sin's deceitfulness, and fall away from the living God." Here the hebrew writer says, 'exhort day after day' and keep an eye on each other 'day after day'. It's interesting that Christians like to emphasize Hebrews 10:24,25 "do not neglect the assembling of each other'but rarely have I heard many quote Hebrews 3:12-13 that tells us to 'do church' everyday.
Maybe if we brought this approach to our church life more people could experience the healing James offers.

[Ramona]

Exodus 4:1-5:21

A couple of days back, to be precise, yesterday (my how time flies), I mentioned that I thought Moses’ reluctance to be sent by God wasn’t based on his Public Speaking talent or lack there of, but on the knowledge that he had committed a crime, he was a murderer. Guilt has a way of always sitting in the back our minds and coloring all our reasons we disguise as excuses, hmmm.

I have taken note of how many people, myself included, don’t really ask the question or state the true problem but the issue is couched in terms of, “I know somebody who …” or, we play ring-a-round-the-rosy in our attempt to avoid the true problem or question and hid behind our “stuff.” God has not of that and all though He doesn’t come right out and say what Moses’ issues are (Moses would probably deny them), He does not let Moses escape from His purpose. Think God is still doing that today?

I think we in the Western Cultures escape into new technologies, cell phones, blackberries, the got to stay in touch stuff, as an attempt to drown out the calling, the purpose God has assigned to each and every individual. We create our own ministries (our vocations/employment/careers) to run from our assigned ministry. I’m using ministry here in terms of service to the greater population. Everyone ministers in some way, even if that ministry is dedicated to serve evil it still is a ministry, a service to the fleshly nature or dedicated to the spiritual. “God I don’t want to do that so I’ll do this instead.”

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[debby]

I have been looking for the words to 'Moses' the song written by Andre Crouch back in the 70s. If anyone would post it, the words really spoke to me about Moses' experience at the burning bush.

"What's that you got in your hand Moses? It's just a rod....
....the rod of Moses became the rod of God.
What do YOU hold in your hands today? To whom or to what are you bound? Are you willing to give it to God right now? Give it up, throw it down, let it go."

It was a tremendous message in its entirety.

[Kristie]

I have some thoughts on The Zipporah Incident on my blog, as well as thoughts for wives on the Proverbs reading today. Also I found a cool painting by Marc Chagall about Moses turning the staff into a serpent.

Mike, thanks for all your work on this site!

[Gavin White]

A great blog and excellent resource for reading the word. I like your insight into the church, the people of God called to be a community to praise his name - I love the Church, and what the Bible declares about the people of God

[John]

Our church had a men's retreat that focused on "Sexual sin":

Featured the book: "THE WAR WITHIN"

and its author: Robert Daniels.

Excellant weekend, and the main tool to fight sexual sin in his book is Scripture memorization (and a lot of it!!!)

My worst place used to be the Internet. I got tired of backsliding every few months or so - prayed about it - and out of the blue an elder sugggested "Covenant Eyes" as an accountability tool. It works for me! Have bee faithful to God for 9 months.

According to studies: Porn industry in America is about $14 billion of $40 billion worldwide.

According to my Pastor- adult activity on the internet is the biggest problem amongst males he counsels from our church.

The reason Adult industry is worse now than before is the anonymity of the internet. People can go into their cave, go anywhere and see anything with no tangible proof og their transgression or real effort on their part.

[CB]

Thousands and Millions (Gavin White): Welcome to the OYB blogroll!

http://www.chipbennett.net/wordpress/index.php/2006/01/thousands-and-millions/

[Bald Man]

luch,
Excellent thoughts on community and the Body. A bit more "one anothering" might help us all out.