Shavuot and Pentecost... some linkages.. a sermon

Christ in the Feast of Pentecost:

The Spirit and the Word give life

Based on texts from Exodus 32 and Acts 2

A sermon by Bob Mendelsohn

Given at Hobart City Church of Christ

19 May 2013

Greetings

Thanks to the pastor Marshall and all those who have been and will be involved in my being here this weekend. I’m ever grateful for Hobart City Church of Christ for your love for the Jewish people and desire to share Y’shua with them. As you might know, on Argyle Street the synagogue is the longest-continuing Jewish synagogue in the Southern Hemisphere. And we can help reach them.

I hope you will fill out the white card you received this morning, sometime while I’m speaking, and we will collect those with an offering later on in the service.

Let me continue with my message after prayer.

Prayer

Introduction

Beaconsfield 2006. Trapped miners and a worried public. Christchurch 2011. Devastation. Earthquake. And tremors that continued. I saw the city last year and it’s still unbuilt from the ruin.

Months later, Fukishima Japan. Earthquake and tsunami. And then weeks later, another earthquake as tremors continue.

Natural and unnatural disasters happen, and many of us are used to that, but now and then worried about them. Especially if our children or grandchildren are near the epicenters.

For most of us, life is a driving force, keeping and getting life, almost whatever the cost. That’s a prime driver for humanity and for us as humans, amen?

Last Tuesday night in Bondi and St Kilda and in Jerusalem and in New York City Jews celebrated Pentecost with commensurate eating of blintzes and cheesecakes. They stayed up all night reading and praying and learning Torah, especially the Book of Ruth.

What is their motivation and what can we learn from their busy-ness and their thinking? And what does God have to say to us as 21^st century people about what gives us life?

Images of Mount Sinai

For that, we have to return 3,500 years to the point in Jewish and really world history, where God gave the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) to mankind, specifically to the Jews, then that the Jews might pass on the information to the rest of humanity. Pentecost is called the ‘Time of the Giving of the Torah.” Why ‘giving’ and not ‘receiving?’ Because every time we listen to the Bible read here at church or in our private devotions, on Christian radio, or wherever, we ‘receive’ the Bible’s truths. One time, God gave it, but each subsequent time we as individuals can receive it again.

The scene at Mt Sinai was raucous to say the least. The book of Exodus unveils the scene as one of chaos. What’s there? Look, there  is fire and wind and a voice. Ezekiel 1 is read that same day, on Pentecost (which we call “Shavuot” or “Feast of Weeks”) and it’s designed to link with and show us the exaggerated activity of a storm, a wild storm, uncharacteristic storms of high energy and God’s voice coming from within it.

Ezekiel says, “And as I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.”(Ezek. 1.4)

Later on in the Bible, the writer of Hebrews shows us even more of that scene and contrasts it with our Mt of Revelation.

For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command,  “If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.” And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said,  “I am full of fear and trembling.”

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. … For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying,  “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven… Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12.18-29)

What a scene of awe and fear. This is stuff Stephen Spielberg would love to create.

“And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a Smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in Fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.” (Exodus 19) You get it.

With all of Israel standing, quaking, and basically traumatized after 400 years of slavery, terror at the Red Sea, a narrow escape, and a month and a half of wandering in the wilderness, building the Golden Calf and thinking it’s all lost, then they saw the lightning and thunder and great wind, and wondered if it was all over. I would have been afraid, and I imagine I’m not alone in this sanctuary.

Fear was on them. Moses returned and brought 2 tablets of stone. On them were 10 phrases. And God used those 10 words to define a constitution for the former slaves.

Listen, fire shakes things up. Earthquakes shake things up.  We all need a good shake up now and then, don’t we? I even heard some commentator reviewing why the tornadoes are going on in the US in large measure…he refered to Global Warming.

I believe that Sinai was one of the first places of Global Warming ever recorded. And God was heating things up for Israel and on Israel that we as Jews might take a renewed, invigorated, ‘on fire’ religion and go to the nations.

The Spirit came on the church as a fire; he came onto Jesus as a dove. Jesus needed no cleansing;  we are desperate for it.

Go to the Nations with God’s Tongue

                The stories are many about Jews and the Giving of Torah. OK, they are jokes about Jewish people and although they are funny, I’m running low on extra time this morning, so write me and I’ll share some with you.

The quickest is, “God offered the Word to 70 nations, but each said no. He came to the Jewish people and offered us the Torah. Moses said, “How much for the 5 commandments?” God said, ‘they are free.” Moses replied, “I’ll take 10.” By the way, I can say that joke; I get worried if you do.

 Luke tells us at beginning of Acts 2 that there were people from every nation. This would reflect the 70 nations believed to exist. And sometimes they were called 70 tongues, since a nation usually is defined not by geographic borders, but by its language.

According to the rabbis, all of the 70 nations thought to exist 3500 years ago were offered the Torah; they refused. But, as a result of what we read in Acts 2, what happened on Pentecost, those same 70 nations were able to hear the Gospel.

Let me mention the Tower of Babel. That is where God came down to confuse (that’s what the word “Babel” means) all the people by creating national languages. At that time everyone was speaking the same language. But after Babel, everyone spoke different languages.

It is significant to note that a Jewish commentary on the book of Exodus, recalling chapter 10 of Genesis, which sketches a map of the 70 nations which were then thought to comprise humanity as a whole, leads them back to Sinai to hear the word of God:  "At Sinai the Lord's voice was divided into 70 languages, so that all the nations could understand" (Exodus Rabbah 5, 9). I’m not sure how the rabbis sorted that out and can prove it. In all my reading, I’ve never seen Hebrew as a universal language. If anything, the problem of Babel is aggravated by Sinai.

However, in the Lucan Pentecost, the Word of God is addressed to humanity through the Apostles, in order to proclaim "the mighty works of God" (Acts 2:11) to all peoples even with their differences. A clear overcoming not only of national differences, but of the Tower of Babel problem resident on humanity, the inability to speak at peace with one another.

You might think I have an acccent, but I’ve lived and worked in Sydney for 14 years having moved from New York City. And two years ago my wife and two of my kids passed our citizenship exams. So this is now officially an Australian accent.

A few years ago I was in Melbourne, and upon arrival at the airport I rang a Jewish woman I’d met on the phone a year before. She is a Mendelsohn and when our team was cold calling Jewish surnames, I rang her and dozens of others. She seemed interested and I marked her name as such on our computer. So on arrival I wanted to meet up with her. She was open to my visiting and had a friend, Alice, come by from next door. Alice is a Baptist, and wanted to know how Jews, Jesus and Jews for Jesus went together.

Now my new Jewish contact is originally from Scotland, and although I’ve traveled the world, I had a very difficult time understanding her accent. Sure, her words were English words, but they were foreign sounding to me. It was her dialect (a Greek word meaning ‘tongue’ and used in Acts 2 of what the disciples received that day) that threw me off.

Long story short, June[1] prayed with me to accept Jesus that afternoon.  She is reading her Bible now and Alice is helping her. She is being looked after by a church which meets just around the corner from their flats. God is good!

What Babel evidences, the inability of people to speak with each other, Pentecost overcomes as people from 70 nations can hear the same words in their own language and respond in faith, amen?

Tongues divided the world in Babel; tongues unite the world in Pentecost.

And remember what the 120 did when they got the Holy Spirit that Pentecost day? They went downstairs and outside and preached so that the 3,000 could find eternal life. We hear the Gospel; we respond and believe and we go to preach it.

What is in our hearts comes out our mouths. Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.“ (Matthew 12.34) In fact 15 times in the Newer Testament, people are filled or the phrase is used “filled (or baptized) with the Spirit” and each time what follows is speaking. If you believe in Jesus and have a relationship with him you will speak about him to others. And they will hear and learn and some will come to faith in Jesus.

Conversion and Pentecost

One point to mention about this holiday is the uniqueness in relation to sin. At every festival the Torah informs us that one has to bring a sin offering. Only on the festival of Shavuot is the word 'sin' not mentioned. Why? “For on the festival of Shavuot, the day of the receiving of the Torah, all Jews are like the convert "newborn", and so free of all sin.” (R Levi Yitschak of Berditchev)

What R Levi Yitschak means and what we mean may be different. Let’s be clear. We all need to be cleansed of sin. We all need shaking up. And in Pentecost we have God calling us to listen, to hear his words in whatever languages, and to be born from above. He wants to fulfill His words of Jeremiah 31. There God predicts through the ancient prophet,

 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD,  “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,  “declares the LORD.  “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD,  “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

 “And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying,  ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD,  “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (31.31-34)

This new covenant is God’s promise. This new covenant is enacted on Passover,  7 weeks before Pentecost when Y’shua took up the 3^rd cup during the seder and initiated it. And in his dying and rising from the dead, we can all be forgiven of our sins, we can all be converted, we can all know God. It’s a new covenant, not like the covenant of Moses (the Old covenant). This is conversion in the best sense of the word.

And why do we read the Book of Ruth? The rabbis say we read Ruth due to its harvest/reaping motif and originally this was an agricultural holiday. They also say we read Ruth because King David, her descendant, died on Shavuot and because Ruth was a convert and at Sinai we were like converts.  God transformed us from ordinary people to a special nation.

And why do we eat dairy products? The word of God is likened to “milk and honey” and we eat to remind ourselves of that sweetness.

Conversion brings life, not death

In Exodus 32 we read of the return of Moses with the 2 Tablets of the Law. And the Jewish populace was behaving riotously and the brother of Moses, Aaron, lied about how the Golden Calf incident happened. Moses was angry and invited the people to join him. The sons of Levi did (Moses’ tribe too) and that day the text tells us,  “So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.” (Exodus 32.28)

Now if you know much about Bible, you know the precision of biblical numbers is a worthy study itself. For instance, exactly how many men came out of Egypt from each family and each tribe? No round numbers here; no approximations. Even after the Resurrection, Peter goes fishing and catches 153 fish. (John 21.11)

So it’s very surprising to read the phrase “about 3,000 men” in Exodus. Is it random? Not at all.

Acts chapter two, our principle text today, shows us that as a result of the preaching of Peter, Jewish people interrupted his sermon and said, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2.37) and Peter told them to repent and get baptized and get filled with the Holy Spirit, for the ‘promise is for you, and your children, and all who are far off” (This means the Jews, the Jewish families, and Gentiles). And who responded?  “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2.41)

No coincidence here. What brought death in Moses’ day brought life in Peter’s day. And to the exact number of people. ‘About 3,000!’

And Paul made a point of this in 2 Corinthians 3.

“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?” (3.5-8)

So the Spirit brings life and the Law brings death. But let’s be too simple here. What we mean by Spirit always contains Scripture. What we mean by Law contains more than Scripture. Here’s what I mean.

Paul uses the term ‘The Law’ to mean a checklist system, with requirements and guilt for failure and pride for satisfaction. It starts in the Scripture, but goes past its intent. ‘The Spirit’ (as Paul used the term) is God’s word enabled in our lives. It’s the requirements of the Law put into our hearts of flesh. (Jer. 31).

Spirit without the Word is Emotionalism; Word without Spirit is legalism.

But together, they are what Paul calls “Spirit” and we could say“ The Spirit and the Word bring Life.” Jesus said “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6.63)

That’s it…that’s how we win in this transitory life. We trust the Spirit and God’s Words, they bring us life.  Fukishima plant technicians and Beaconsfield mine survivors, and Christchurch earthquake survivors all share victories of still breathing, but what you and I can count on is that those who trust Jesus and are anointed with his fire and word, enter into life and live it to the fullest.

About 3000 folks can live; 5,000 the next day (Acts 4) and who knows how many in Hobart or in Sydney or around Australia and Israel will hear God’s word and live, even today?

Pentecost is not Passover. On Passover we are forgiven. On Pentecost we are empowered to live out and proclaim the Gospel. Let’s be out sharing this message. Let’s go out and tell. What do you say?

By the way, you received a card when you came in to church today, and I hope you have filled it out by now. Please tear off the stub, keep the smaller card, and turn in the larger card into the offering as it’s collected today. You may always donate via direct debiting like so many are doing now, or use your credit card for donating, whatever is easier for you. When you give, you are joining us in proclaiming the Gospel to our Jewish people, and to the 70 nations and to anyone who is listening.  Thanks for that participation.

If you are not yet a believer in Jesus, today can be your day. On this day in history, God poured out His Spirit on 120 waiting folks, not sure what was about to happen. And maybe that’s what you are feeling. What will happen if I give my life to Jesus? What will happen if I join this mob? The adventure for you may be unique, and yet will contain some of the following: joy in being forgiven of your sins, a desire to know God on a personal basis, power to share what you believe with those who don’t yet believe, and a longing to be with Jesus one day down the road. For you I’m excited. Today, take Him as your Lord, repent of your sins, and receive His forgiveness. Then tell one of us, won’t you? We’ll rejoice together with you and help you walk this out one day at a time.

Pastor Marshall, what a joy to be back here in Hobart with you and then later today with others who care about my Jewish people. Thanks for what you continue to do, to help us as we partner together in this ministry, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

Shalom.

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For more information, contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au  or in Australia ring 02.9388.0559.

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[1] Not her real name

Mother's Day 2013

She didn't know what to do, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

I shot this photo in November in Israel, fascinated by the 'hands full' nature of motherhood anywhere, but certainly in the middle of Tel Aviv. And today is a big day for mothers everywhere, as the universal holiday of "Mother's Day" is celebrated and at least noticed across the planet.

Not everyone's mother is still alive and in this blended-family world not everyone even knows their birth or adopted mother. Some have two mothers. Some have none. I get that.

The Jewish religion after the time of Messiah Jesus has made the lineage of the child, the actual genealogical tribal linkage, to be maternal, that is, from the mother. So if your mother is Jewish, then you are. That's what they taught me in synagogue, although both of my parents were Jewish, so my lineage was never in doubt.

I don't think that's the way it was in Judaism before Jesus, but that's the general rule today.

At least that way Jesus was Jewish. His mother was. His grandparents were Jewish. All his original followers were Jewish. OK< that's sorted.

A strange phrase is found in the Newer Testament which you might have missed before. Galatians chapter 4 records, "But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother." (verse 26)

Wow, the community of faith, made up of Jews and non-Jews, who love the Risen Messiah Y'shua, this together is the mother of us all. Source of nourishment, and comfort, provision and love...all in the community of faith.

See you this morning at church.
See you in heavenly Jerusalem.
See you with Mom.

She knows what to do.

Pentecost Artwork

Pentecost Artwork, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Joseph Ignaz Mildorfer painted this version of Pentecost around 1750. He was Swiss but this painting is now in Budapest at the Hungarian National Gallery.

That makes sense to me. A Jewish event, begun in the days of Moses, about 1500 BCE, takes on universal significance as the Ruach Hakodesh falls on 120 Jews in an upper room in Jerusalem a few weeks after the death of Y'shua, the Messiah. As a result, about 3,000 Jewish people find eternal life in repenting and receiving Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

And the message spread from one country to another, from one language group to another. Even Swiss and Hungarian folks. And American Jews like me. Sweet.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit fell on Y'shua as a dove, but on us, who are not so clean, He fell as flames of fire, to cleanse us. And those flames carry us on in passion and zeal to proclaim His majesty and love.

Next week we will celebrate Shavuot (Pentecost) in both Jewish and Christian communities. Some will eat blintzes and stay up all night, reading the book of Ruth and learning from holy books. Others will rejoice that God has gifted them to speak in tongues and proclaim His message to the world.

No matter what, it's a great time to remember God, who preserved us in the wilderness, and who gave us His Word (Torah) 3,500 years ago. And by His Spirit He plants His word in our hearts in these days. Tablets of flesh vs tablets of stone. I like that.

But I'm part of the family!

Alicia's muddy foot, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

We Jewish people are part of God's family. It started with Abraham, the first Jew, back about 2,000 BCE. He was called the 'friend of God' and walked with the Almighty. His son Isaac, not his servant Eliezer, would be the one who continued the godly line, later titled "The Jewish people." The people are family-based. No wonder we care to keep family and family relationships so close to our hearts.

Last week, my neighbor and her daughter were outside and the daughter, about 9 years old, was playing in the mud. In fact, the other neighbors had their sprinkler system going and Alicia found the water/mud-making-machine too tempting. She kept putting her feet in and coming out with laughter and glee as her feet were mudified.

Imagine with me, if her mother were upstairs, cooking dinner at the time. And the mother was busy with so many things, had cleaned the house earlier that day, and was on to final preparations for the dinner in only 10 more minutes.

So she calls, "Alicia. Time for dinner." And Alicia comes running up the steps, only to be met by her mother at the door, with a look of refusal. Her palms facing her daughter and the Russian word for "Not now" coming out her lips.

"What!" moaned the indignant child. "I belong here. This is my home. You called me, and now I want to come inside."

"Nope, not until you clean those dirty feet."

"But I belong. I'm a member of the family. You cannot prevent me!" as Alicia tries to turn sideways and enter by CIA-sneakiness.

The scene did not happen, but I was imagining it. I wondered if Alicia's mother would cave to the pressure. What if she had just mopped and waxed the floor? What if the new white berber carpet was recently shampooed? Would Alicia still have been welcomed or prevented?

I hear this often from my Jewish mates. God loves us Jews, and we are part of his family. So when I die, of course, I'll go to heaven, if there is one. But I wonder if God isn't like the mother with the tidy floors and we are more like the muddied Alicia than we care to admit.

No wonder we read in Leviticus 10.10 and again in 11.47 ("to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean"). Ritual purity was significant in Torah and included spitting and leprosy, touching dead animals and so many other things. The list was not comprehensive, but indicated how seriously God takes impurity. Like Alicia's mother.

Job felt the weight of God's judgment and cried, "Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!" (14.4)

Our heart deceives us too often. Jeremiah the prophet said so (17.7), and the Proverbs teaches, "All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives." (16.2)

But King David got it right, when caught out in sin, and repenting, he declared, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalm 51.10)

The answer is in being born again. Ezekiel the prophet declared, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols." (36.10)

Y'shua made it clear that there is an order to tidying which works. "first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also" (Matthew 23.26)

Being born again, trusting Y'shua as Saviour and Lord of your life, that's faith, and that belief will take you into cleansing which works on your heart, so that you can be welcomed into the heavenly moment of eternity.

Then your part in the family will be unquestioned. And your welcome into the community room of faith will ever be extended.

Hebrews 10.22 finishes this thought very well: "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

Welcome home. "Come on in!"

The God who Ever-Is

The God who Ever-Is
By Bob Mendelsohn
Given at Greenlane Christian Centre
Auckland, New Zealand
4 April 2013

Greetings
As a missionary among the Jewish people for 34 years I’m keen to make sense of the Bible and sense of the messianic hope found in Y’shua for all people, both to the Jewish people and for all churches. So today as I lead us in some biblical consideration, I hope you will find meaning and relationship with the Almighty, who ever-is, and ever-was, and ever-will be. May the Eternal One give you revelation as we hear this message.

Let me ask you anytime during this talk to fill out that involvement card you received as you came in, and you can be involved with us down the proverbial road.

Reporting time sheets
Asking a pastor to fill out reports seems a funny thing for religious people. After all, taking what looks like something from school or the business sector and imposing it into a religious worldview seems odd. Ask your rabbi or pastor to account for his work time with a clock in/ clock out timesheet—unusual, right? Or ask him “How many visits with congregants did you conduct?” or “How many funerals did you lead last week?” seems almost morose or odd anyway.

But in 2013, in many arenas of life, we want bang for our buck, we want good value from our investments, and as such we often think in these terms from those whom we hire to lead us.

Does he perform enough to warrant his salary? And why do these guys get so many days off?

The converse is there, isn’t it? “Why should I donate to the synagogue? Why should I give that no-good, lazy rabbi money to do what anyone else could do given his especially easy time constraints?” Or we think that the rabbi or pastor at the church only works one day a week, and they should find other employment if they want more remuneration. Most of you, to be fair, don’t think that way, but some in the world do just that.

Last week of course, was Passover. We celebrated in Sydney together, you somewhere else, and I’m glad we were able to remember the blessed season celebrating the Redemption God provided us in our exiting Egypt some 3,500 years ago.

Four cups of wine
In the Seder on first night, we drank four cups of wine. And the tradition about that revolves around four verbs in the book of Sh’mot (Exodus chapter 6). God will 1) bring us out, 2) deliver us, 3) redeem us, and 4) bring us to the Land of Israel. Celebrating God’s actions in the time of Moses makes sense.

But in 2013, many people think God is less involved, not concerned about us, not concerned about the planet. They think that if there is a God, that he is incompetent or without interest in the messes on our planet. They almost demand to see His timesheet, and ask to see His log of activity in these days. Or as the moderns say, “What have you done for me lately?”

In light of this, let me read from the Bible, in this Passover section, and see if it has anything to say to us as 21st century people.

Let’s read that section in Exodus 6, where those verbs are found, and I want to show you what ELSE God did. “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.” (Exodus 6.6-8)

Looks like God did a lot more than those four drinking verbs.

Other verbs of God’s actions
Verse 6 begins with a “therefore.”When you see a therefore, see what it’s there for, let’s look at chapter 6.1-5 to see the context.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand (under compulsion) he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty (El Shaddai) but by My name, LORD, (Yahweh) I did not make Myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojourn in which they sojourned. Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.” (Exodus 6.1-5)

Look how active God is in this chapter. And honestly if you can, look in the rest of the Bible, and you will see a God who although you might think Him distant, uninterested, and busy, He is very involved in His people’s lives and concerns. Listen to these verbs:
Verse 1: I will do
Verse 3: I appeared
Verse 4: I established covenant
Verse 5: I heard and finally…
I remembered my covenant

There is not a time in our relationship with the Almighty where He is uninvolved. He listens. He watches. He acts. He accomplishes. Look at the Passover verbs in Exodus 6 and see the brackets that frame His other active verbs. Verse 6 says “I am the Lord” and verse 8 says “I am the Lord.” In fact 164 times in the Tenach we read that phrase. There by the way, is no verb in that sentence. It’s God who is Being. It’s God who is always. He was. He is. He will be. There is not a time when God wasn’t and there will never be a time when God isn’t. The God who was, is. The God who is, was and will be. Get it? The Hebrew word “Yahweh” has in it all three tenses of the verb “to be.” No wonder some call Him “The Eternal God.”

And it’s because God is, that we can look to Him. He is always on the clock. He is ever working.

But you say, I didn’t find Him when my dad died. My sister had cancer and I asked Him to help and He didn’t. He didn’t fix my situations. He didn’t resolve things as I wished.

This may be a tough one for you to hear, but God is not your servant. God has His own agenda, His own will, His own purposes, and those will be fulfilled.

Isa. 14.27 reads, “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?” There’s that Exodus phrase of the Yad Netuya, the outstretched hand of God reaching to do what He wills. Nothing can stop it. Not even you. Not even your prayers or plans. He will do what He wills.

Most of us have problem with God when He waits too long. We expect His participation; we demand it. Then He seems silent, even aloof, and a father who has gone walkabout, and we are unhappy. Where is the God with outstretched arm and mighty hand?

This is a common criticism of those agnostics and atheists who knock back our beliefs. They say if God does exist and if He really is powerful, then He must not care about us, because so much evil happens in this dark world. Their argument is that if God does exist and SINCE HE DOES NOT ACT, then he must be impotent or not exist at all.

Their problem is the same as ours, when we don’t really process this well. We don’t see the God behind the actions. We don’t see God because we are too focused on ourselves and our situations. What is God up to anyway? And how shall we respond?

What God is up to? He created the world. He evicted our First Parents after instructing them clearly and they failed. He initiated a method of Redemption, which allows us to get back into relationship with Him, through the blood of lambs back in the Exodus and through the Blood of the Lamb of God in Jerusalem some 1500 years later. All of these things are designed for one reason: God is about the business of making His name and reputation big. And anything that gets in the way of that has to be removed. He wants His glory to be known. One of my favorite authors and thinkers is American John Piper. Piper’s most famous quote is “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” So the author was asked, “What is God's glory? ‘ He answered,

“Wow. That's a good question, because we talk about it endlessly, don't we? And we should know what we're talking about. And yet it is very difficult to define. I'll make a stab at it.

The reason it is so important is because in the Bible I don't know of any truth that is more fundamentally pervasive than God's zeal to be glorified, which means his zeal for us so to think, so to feel, and so to act as to make him look as glorious as he is. We don't add to his glory.

So we want to make God's glory shine. We want to make it visible. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). So the goal of my life should be to so live that when people know me well enough, they would say, "God is glorious!" Not "John is glorious," but "God is glorious!”

What is it? I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth. I define the holiness of God as the infinite value of God, the infinite intrinsic worth of God. And when that goes public in creation, the heavens are telling the glory of God, and human beings are manifesting his glory, because we're created in his image, and we trust his promises so that we make him look gloriously trustworthy.

The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I mean by 'glory,' " (End of quote)

Friends in Auckland, God is glorified in us when we are satisfied in Him, Piper says, and that means when you are resting in His capacity and in His accomplishments.

King David and King Solomon wrote a lot about satisfaction. Solomon said it this negative way in Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.” (Prov. 27.20) A longing, and a compulsion, and never satisfied. How unhappy are all those who ever hunger and never eat. And again in “The leech has two daughters, “Give,” “Give.” There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, “Enough”: Sheol, and the barren womb, Earth that is never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, “Enough.” (Prov. 30.15-16) There is a craving and it is unyielding. Always wanting more.

In his day, John D. Rockefeller was one of the richest men in the world. For all practical purposes, his money was virtually limitless, a sort of Bill Gates in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Once, an interviewer asked him, “How much money is enough?”

Rockefeller replied, “Just a little bit more!”

King David had already given us the comfort of what is titled satisfaction but is really the more biblical idea of contentment with these words, “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.” (Psa. 65.4) And again “My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.” (Psa. 63.5) But my favorite is the comment in Psalm 17: “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied when I awake with your likeness.” (Psa. 17.15)

We shall be satisfied when we wake up and look like Messiah. Anything less than that is …less than that. We long to change; we long to have a new life. We are not going to be smug about how far we’ve come. Contentment is another thing. We should be content with our lot in life, with our God, and with our lives, as He has assigned us. But satisfied? Only when we get to be complete. The problem comes when we take what we have as enough, as Hosea the prophet warned, “As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore they forgot Me.” (Hos. 13.6)

End of the day, the goal of God in our lives is to love Him and love others with whole hearts. And the only way that’s going to happen is if we remember God, the God who acts and never fails.

His greatest act of all was 2,000 years ago. It was then that God sent His son to earth, and Y’shua lived, taught, died, was buried and rose again, to give us eternal life. No greater love has anyone than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

King David’s words in Psalm 65 are still ringing in my ears, ““How blessed is the one whom you choose and bring near to you to dwell in your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,”

How did David do this? He saw God as ever-being. He was struck by the Presence of God, in Hebrew, the panim Adonai (the face of the Lord), and he remembered the Almighty.

We do it today in gatherings like here at Greenlane tonight. We remember the Lord. We do it in Passover like we did last night, or last week, in Seders worldwide, in remembering what God did. We read it in the Bible; we hear it sung and watch the movies of God’s actions in history and we rejoice. And we are content. We are never satisfied because we know we are not done. Not yet. But we will be. We remember in communion, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes back.

And we will be, because He ever is. Because of God’s presence and because of His promises, we will be changed into His likeness and we will be like Him one day. Hallelujah!

And the goal of our gathering tonight, is to continue to live for His glory, to bring others to that glory, and to make the world a more glorious place.

Maybe that’s why I do what I do for a living, in sharing the good news of Messiah Y’shua with our Jewish people. The ever-Is God has come to us, and we must hear, we must believe, we must live in the name of Y’shua, the Eternal one.

If you are a believer in Y’shua, you are here and I need you to join me in evangelism. That is, in bringing the good message of messiah to our Jewish people, by giving financially and by praying with us. If you are not yet a believer, I hope you will fill out this card and extend to us the privilege to speak to you again.

Everyone fill out this card and sent it to us using this email Bob email Please pray for us in Sydney and New York, in Israel and South Africa. All around the globe, to make a difference in the lives and hopes of Jewish people. They will be satisfied when they wake up in the likeness, the image of the Son of God. That’s our hope, amen? That’s our work, amen? It’s His presence, which brings this all about.

God took on flesh, emptied Himself, and died for our sins. His presence in Y’shua was enough. It is still enough. And our rejoicing is being in His presence which gives us eternity, today and when He comes, and into the ages of the ages.
Shalom!

A lonely road in the Dandenongs

Ferntree Gully/ Dandenong scene, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Winding down the road from Melbourne's eastern suburbs through the Dandenongs on Saturday, we stopped in Sassafras for some lunch and old stuff shopping. It was great.

I was reminded as we wove our way through the forest of Ferntree Gully about my love for the Heidelberg school of artists from Australia. These folks were trained in Impressionism about the same time (late 19th century) and included men like Charles Conder, Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton. I have always found their paintings fresh, and frontier, with natural beauty and perhaps a single horsemen or a lonely bush scene. See HJ Johnstone's Backwater of the Murray or Condor's 'Holiday in Mentone' ( Mentone) both are in Adelaide Art Gallery.

But when I drove through this area of the country, I flashed on Eugene Von Guerard's painting of the same name: See it here: Ferntree Gully I did not take that photo.

But I did see the beauty that Von Guerard did, and this was over 120 years later! What God has made is awesome. I'm pleased to be able to see His handiwork and give Him thanks. I recommend you do the same. Even today. With a big building next to you or wrapped around you. Or if you are in hospital or on the beach.

Wherever you are, give thanks to God. He is worthy!

Ask and you shall receive

If you don't ask, you won't receive, a photo by bobmendo on Flickr.

Yesterday I was driving with my neighbour on an errand to inner city Sydney. Out of the blue she quoted this Bible idea that if you don't ask, you won't receive. Biblical formation aside, it was fascinating to hear her share this bit of truth as we rode along. She has made it in an industry (hair salon) where the competition is fierce and she is only a young woman. I'm pleased to count her a friend, and proud of her at the same time.

Still the quote, from Y'shua, "ask and you shall receive" is ringing in my ears today. And, if we don't ask, we won't receive. That's so obvious, isn't it? God wants us to ask Him for blessings, for help, for life considerations. And like a good father, He loves to pour out such on us.

So, the question is begged, why don't all our askings result in such benefits? James, the half-brother of Y'shua, asked that same question in the First Century. First his concern was for wisdom. I told a Jewish woman last week in Wichita, a lovely lady I met at a Bat Mitzvah, that Hashem would send her wisdom if she asked.

James said this, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (Chapter 1.5-8)

OK< a bit of a caveat is there.

But that's not all he says on the matter. Later on in his very short letter, James says, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." (chapter 4.1-3)

So asking is not the only consideration, is it? BUT that said, without asking you won't receive. So ask God today. Ask Him to help you in your life. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him for help in your circumstances, your family, your hopes and dreams. And be honest about your heart. Lay it before God also, with all your demands and expectations. Let Him change you from the inside. He loves you and wants you to share in that life with Him today.

Nu? Ask already.