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Good Monday morning to you friends,
We’re in Exodus 23 today. You’ll recall I’ve shown you that in these four chapters, Exodus 20-23, God is re-defining life in a civilized society for 2 million runaway slaves, who for the first time in their lives, are not bound by the laws of any land, nor any slave-master.
May I point out three things in this chapter?
First Exodus 23:2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.”
8 simple but very powerful words. God calls us to recognize there is something called “wrong”, and that’s only possible because God is HOLY and His holiness is the gold standard of GOOD! Without ‘holy’, nothing would be ‘wrong’!
God also challenges us to learn early in life, the power of peer pressure, especially many people peer pressure, ‘the crowd’. We each have the God given ability to say “NO” to peer pressure. We must learn well the danger of not saying “NO”, when we know we’re being drawn into evil.
Third, we are all born followers. We are all following something, every moment we are awake. Most often we follow what our hearts desire and our minds tell us is permissible in the moment, but that can lead to disaster if we aren’t careful. Right? I wonder what your heart desires today…and what or who you are following?
Next, notice vs. 14-17. Three times each year, God was calling His people to stop normal activity and gather together to remember who they were…God’s unique people, delivered by His power from Egyptian bondage, and drawn to Himself to be a new society, God’s people. These festivals would unite them as a people with each other and with God, distinct from all other peoples on earth. Once in the new land, these runaway slaves would naturally scatter, finding new places to raise their families, and in short order be a disconnected people.
These three festivals held them together, as God’s people, and provided God the platform for launching the Gospel and the Church, with His people! Passover was the first festival mentioned in 23:19 and it was in that setting Jesus became the Passover Lamb, giving His life for the deliverance from sin bondage, for all people.
The festival of harvest (23:16) would be known one day as Pentecost and was of course the coming of the Holy Spirit and launch of the Gospel based global Church of Jesus (Acts 2).
My friends, do we understand that from Mount Sinai, while Moses was looking at the daunting task of leading 2 million restless, runaway slaves, God was looking down the corridors of time, about 1500 years in the future, to Jerusalem, and Jesus. But God was looking another 2000 years beyond that, to NOW, you and me, where we live and are children and grandchildren.
What God was doing with Moses and those runaway slaves, was very important for them, but it was also important for those alive when Jesus came to earth, and also important for us. God’s truths know no time limits!
The third thing I draw to your attention today in Exodus 23 is vs. 20-31. God was looking out ahead, to the destination to which He would eventually bring this freed mass of human slaves, whom He had rescued from Egypt. From their Passover night flight from Egypt, to their conquering and inhabiting of this ‘promised land’, God was sending His angel to guide and protect them on their journey. Notice please vs. 20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” My friends, do you understand this is part of the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of every Christian? How is He doing that in your life, and where is He leading you, today?
As we read the rest of Exodus 23 we begin to get a picture of the plan God is working, for His rescued people.
First, they needed to experience His unlimited power by which brought them out of Egypt bondage. That power will protect them in their travels and help them conquer the new land, to which He would lead them, which is inhabited by several wicked nations. That power will be available to them, as God’s people, always.
Second they needed to experience His provision for their needs, as there will be a very long journey between Sinai and this promised land. But even after they get into the promised land, reliance upon God for HIS provision of what HE knows His people need, will be a hallmark of this people.
Third, may I use a hard word from America’s past. . . segregation. Notice very clear instructions that when God’s people arrive in the new land, they must remain separate from the inhabitants of the land and their wicked lifestyle, their evil worship of idols, and their immorality. There was to be no ‘syncretism’, no blending of God’s people with the heathens. No blending of Holy God worship with idol worship. God’s people must remain undefiled by the wickedness of the people who live in the land where God will lead them.
Now, can we make the application to ourselves and our families, where-ever you and I live in our world? How will we each live this week ‘in the world but not of the world’? Did your Sunday gathering for worship with God’s people yesterday refresh you, revitalize you for the week ahead? Are you sensing God’s power and provision for you today? Are you ready to follow the Holy Spirit of God leading you in every aspect of your life today and this week?
Oh God thank you. . .
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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