Tuesday Thought – August 11, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.’” (Exodus 30:11-13)

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. When they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.’” (Exodus 30:17-21)

The emphasis in the Old Testament is on how defiled the people were. They were never allowed to come before the Lord just like they were. When a Jew wanted to approach the Lord, he could not come empty handed, he was required to bring an offering. Even the priests could not come before the Lord without special preparation. Each time the priests approached the Lord they had to stop and wash to remove the defilement from them.

No one was acceptable to the Lord just as they were. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.” (Exodus 23:15)

How different is the emphasis of the Gospel of Jesus! The New Testament teaches that empty-handed is the only way we can come to the Lord. We have nothing that we can offer the Lord that He requires of us. The only offering that can make us acceptable to God is the offering of His own Son.

The old hymn says, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” That’s the good news of Jesus. We don’t have to clean ourselves before we come to the Lord. God provides the cleansing. We come just as we are, with a heart that cries out for mercy and grace, and God freely grants it.

His, by Grace, Steve

Monday Thought – August 10, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

“This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning – a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire. For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the LORD.” (Exodus 29:38-42)

For the Jews, the sacrifices were never finished. Every morning started with the sacrifice of a lamb. Every evening, another lamb was sacrificed. They did that every day, month after month, year after year. These would be just two of the many sacrifices that would be made every day. They were God’s requirement for them to maintain their relationship with Him.

The sacrifices taught the Jews how costly a relationship with God was. It required that life be given. Each lamb paid the ultimate price so that the Jews could approach God. A relationship with God came only at great cost.

Our relationship with God is also made possible by sacrifice. We are not required to make sacrifices day after day like the Jews did. By one sacrifice we have been offered a relationship with God. One sacrifice, made by Jesus, is enough to pay the price required by God for us to enter into a relationship with Him. The Jews paid the price from their own flocks, they made the sacrifice to God. For us, God paid the price, He made the sacrifice Himself!

In an astounding act of love, God gave His own Son as the sacrifice to allow us to enter into relationship with Him. He loved us enough to pay the highest price imaginable to bring us to Him.

Thank God for the great sacrifice He made for us.

His, by Grace, Steve

Friday Thought – August 7, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

God met with Moses atop Sinai for 40 days and nights. During that long stretch of time, He gave Moses the pattern to use in building a place of worship. The tabernacle was described in precise detail.

“A chest of acacia wood -- two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.” (Exodus 25:10)

“An atonement cover of pure gold -- two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.” (Exodus 25:17)

“A table of acacia wood -- two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.” (Exodus 25:23)

“A lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it.” (Exodus 25:31)

The size of the tabernacle and its furniture were to be precisely measured. The materials used were to be exactly as God described. There was to be no deviation from God’s plan, there was no freedom in deciding how God was to be worshiped.

The relationship we have with God has changed from the relationship God outlined for the Israelites. The Samaritan woman wanted to debate with Jesus about the place and way to worship. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” (John 4:20)

Jesus gave a description of worship that was a radical departure from what God had required of His people through Moses. “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23)

God is not concerned about the size or adornment of the place of worship. God no longer has given commandments about the pieces of furniture in the worship place. God’s focus is no longer on the place, but on the person. No longer upon what can be seen and touched, but on the heart.

Worship is not about all of its trappings and exterior things. It’s about what’s on the inside. It’s about our hearts.

His, by Grace, Steve

Thursday Thought – August 6, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

Exodus 21, 22, and 23 contain detailed regulations that were to be followed by the Israelites. They deal with many aspects of life. They deal with family relationships, master-slave relationships, theft, murder, unintentional killing, injury caused to another, and on and on the list goes. Just reading through the laws is a difficult thing and to follow them precisely would have required careful attention to every aspect of life. It was the burden the Jews were required to carry in order to please God.

It was a burden none of them succeeded in carrying without fault. They all became guilty of failing to obey God. They were prisoner to the Law, bound by its provisions and unable to keep them. They were lost!

That’s exactly where God wanted them to be. God wanted them to recognize how lost they were. He wanted them to know how incapable they were of living up to the standards He set. When they understood that, they would be right where they needed to be in order to cry out to God for help.

Paul told the Galatians, “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” (Galatians 3:23-25)

The one group of people that Jesus responded to most harshly was the Pharisees. They believed they could and did keep the Law. They believed they were righteous and did not need forgiveness or help. There was no hope for them until they recognized their failure and reached out for a Savior!

Those who were ready for Jesus were those who recognized the depth of their need. They recognized the depth of their own sin and knew they needed a Savior or they were lost.

Thank God for the Law that shows us how lost we are. Thank God for the Savior God has already provided!

His, by Grace, Steve

Wednesday Thought – August 5, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet … anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:12-17)

Some people think it unfair that their relationship with God has implications on their relationships with other people. It would be easier if we just had to focus on being right with God and could ignore whatever problems existed between us and those around us. A relationship with God doesn’t work that way. The last six of the Ten Commandments teach that God is concerned about human relationships, too!

When Jesus was asked to choose the greatest commandment He couldn’t mention just one. He said the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” (Matthew 22:38) Our relationship with God does come first, just like it came

first in the Ten Commandments. Immediately after mentioning that commandment, Jesus added another. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) All is not right if you are right with God and wrong with people!

God wants to see right relationships within families. He cares about how you treat your parents. He cares about how you treat your spouse.

God expects that the relationship you have with Him will impact how you treat others. “Do not murder, steal, lie, or covet.” Love your neighbor and do what is best for them. In our relationships with other people we are not to take advantage of them or use them for our benefit. We are to sacrifice for them and support them. The focus is on meeting their needs, not on making sure they meet ours.

All of the Ten Commandments are about relationships. Relationships are the most important aspect of life. God wants us in right relationship with Him. He wants that so badly that He gave His own Son to make that possible. And God wants us in right relationship with those around us. Our healed relationship with Him should also bring healing to our relationships with others.

His, by Grace, Steve

Tuesday Thought – August 4, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

God knows the weaknesses of men. This commandment addresses a couple of those weaknesses.

One is our tendency to forget, even important things. We get so caught up in the busyness of life that we are capable of going through life without ever thinking about some really important things, including God! To guard against that tendency, God established the principle of the Sabbath. He asked man to set aside one day when we would take a break from the normal routine of life in order to focus on Him. The Law is no longer binding on us, but the principle remains true. We still have the same tendency that was present when God gave the commandments to Moses. We still have the same need to set aside time on a regular basis (at least weekly) to focus on God and re-orient our lives around the things that are truly important.

The second is our tendency to keep working until we drop. It’s not necessarily a tendency that is seen in every person, but it is common enough that God wanted to protect us from it. He established the Sabbath so that His people would be forced to take one day off from work each week. The Sabbath would guard against becoming workaholics.

God established the Sabbath for our benefit, not for His. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) The Sabbath was established to protect mankind from our own weaknesses.

His, by Grace, Steve

Monday Thought – August 3, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

“God spoke: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’” (Exodus 20:1-3)

The first three of the Ten Commandments deal with how we treat God. God is very clear and direct in indicating makes it clear that He will not take second place in anyone’s life. God demands to be in first place or He will accept no place at all!

“You shall have no other gods before me.” The threat was that the Jews would place God as one of many gods they worshiped. The Egyptians had many gods and so did many of the other peoples the Jews knew or would encounter. God didn’t want to be the top God on their list, He wanted to be the only God they worshiped!

The threat today is more subtle. It’s not a god that we are tempted to worship, but that someone else or something else might take the place that God wants reserved only for Himself.

Many people consider their own mind to be above being wrong and judge everything by what their mind can conceive. They give no thought to the fact that their mind might be limited or that they might not know everything.

Others put their own ability to take care of themselves in God’s place. They don’t need to trust God or anyone else because they can provide for themselves. Self-made men and women are among the hardest to bring into a place of submission to the Lord.

There are a thousand other things that we are tempted to exalt to a place of worship and service … money, sports, pleasure, family, career, and the list is almost endless.

God’s point is that none of these things can become first in our lives or be worshiped or served. We are to worship and serve the Lord and allow all of the other things to fall into the place and the perspective God gives to them.

His, by Grace, Steve