Category: Saturday Study

Saturday Study

Joshua 1-4 (6-2-18)

This week we began our reading in Joshua, the book I have chosen to represent the Conquest Era in this year’s Bible reading plan.  I love the book of Joshua and not just because of my namesake; instead, I love that what God did in and through Joshua and the Israelites in the Conquest Era was awesome and very important in His overall redemptive plan.

The Lord God promised Abraham and his descendants four things:

• they would be blessed and become a blessing;
• they would grow to become a great nation;
• they would be given a land of their own;
• and these blessings would be enjoyed in the context of a close covenant relationship with God.

By the end of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), Israel (who is God’s chosen people) has been brought into the blessing of covenant relationship with the Lord and has become a great people.

But they remain outside the Land of Promise, on the plains of Moab.

Now, after so many years of wandering, Joshua, the new leader of God’s people, is ordained to lead God’s people into the land, take it, and divide it among them as their inheritance from the Lord.

The book of Joshua can be divided into four main sections; however, we will study it in five parts.

Guidance       Joshua 1-5

Conquest       Joshua 6-12

Dominion       Joshua 13-21

Service          Joshua 22-24

Today, we delve into the guidance that Joshua gave the people as they prepared to go into battle and claim their land.

Listen to God’s words:

Joshua 1:7-8 “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

This is counsel from the Lord to one of the truly great and godly leaders of the Old Testament. Notice that His emphasis is on a carefulness to do all that God has given to them through the law–to not even turn from it slightly to the left or right.

If you are honest with yourself, how critical is it that you know and follow God’s word? I believe that many will be quick to say they hold high this practice, but what does your life say? What do the priorities of your days say? Do you truly work to know God’s word and then to not depart from it even in the slightest? The book of Joshua is saying, “This is critical to a life of success.”

It is surely critical to a life that is honoring of God.

He goes on to say that the Book of the Law shall not depart from our mouths.

What does that mean? It means we are speaking the truths and wisdom of God and not the ideas and wisdom of man.

It means we value and speak of and bless others with God’s word. What better word is there than God’s word?

This leads into the next point, which is to “meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”

What does it mean to meditate on God’s word?

The word “meditation” in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter.

When this is done in the heart, it is called musing or meditation.

So, meditating on the word of God day and night means to speak to yourself the word of God day and night. So, it’s not just something you do for five minutes; it’s something you do throughout the day. This is why Bible memorization is so helpful, so we can mediate on it day and night. This is why it is so essential we are in the word of God every day, so it is fresh, and we are able to recall what we read and muse on it all day. This is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us–not with new revelation but with drawing to our minds and hearts the words of Scripture, of God’s word. The word of God is the Holy Spirit’s word to us.

Another Scripture that is very similar to Joshua’s exhortation here is found in the first Psalm:

Psalms 1:1-6 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalms 1:2 says “but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Delight means it gets priority time. You make room to give it priority in your days.

You don’t just try to squeeze it in; you hunger after God and want to hear from Him.

You want Him to shape you and grow you, so you DELIGHT IN HIS WORD.

The New Testament teaching is that we are to hold fast to God’s word.

To hold fast to God’s word is to get your roots deep into His truth.

To hold fast is to read His word daily, putting it deep into the soil of your heart so that your roots are deep, grounded, and secure in the truth of God. So, when then wind blows and the storms rage, you remain!

How do we delight or hold fast to God’s word? You have to get time in it!

Holding fast is regular time eating at the table of God, listening to Him speak life into you.

We make prioritized time to eat food, dress, and prepare ourselves for our day.

We even prioritize our “down time” to refill our tanks by watching TV, cruising the internet, or playing games, but we often neglect the true food of life, the true preparation of our day, and the true rest for our souls by not spending time fanning the flame of our faith by hearing God’s word.

The text goes on to say that only when we are mediating on God’s word day and night will we “be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

God’s word truly is the light to our path. We will not know the best way if we do not know His way. We will slip into sin and the ways of man if not regularly rooted in God’s word.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

So, when the word of God is in my life, it is now a “LIVING WORD” that brings me into the bigger story of God. It illuminates my understanding of who God is, and therefore who I am in relationship to Him.

God’s word helps illuminate the depth of my depravity, my wickedness, and my rebellion from God, and at the same time, it raises within me a deep appreciation and gratefulness for His grace, love, and the new life that Jesus brings through His life, death, and resurrection.

Here is the key: When this deeper understanding and relationship happens, NOW I can make a deeper connection by faith and worship into Jesus–who is the vine, and who is life, and by whom the POWER for change comes!

Do you see it? When I hold fast to the Scriptures, it pulls me into Him. He is now at work in and through me; He is my power, He is my authority, He is my hope, he is my LIFE!

I worship Him, I trust in Him, I lean on Him, and I ENJOY HIM!

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

Proverbs 13:13 says, “Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.”

You will not prosper or be rewarded if you despise or ignore or deny the word of God.

The word of God is too central to your life and growth and focus to ignore it.

Please hear this teaching today. You cannot thrive in the Christian life without a steady diet of God’s holy word. This is what God wanted Joshua and his people to know and not miss. This was His linchpin emphasis before sending them into war and the land before them.

This is so critical for us still today. Why? Because we are so vulnerable to slipping into the ways of man and adapting to the things that seem to make sense to us or that our flesh longs for.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

Surely these times are among us, so let’s heed the counsel in the book of Joshua and make it an absolute and non-negotiable priority to “meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success”.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Exodus 35-39 (5-26-18)

Today we finish our reading through Exodus. These last 5 chapters are full of the details given for the building of the Tabernacle and the priestly garments. While it would be interesting to mine down into these details, I want to instead look at what to point us to. Jesus. In Christ, much of the Old Covenant system is fulfilled. So, today I want to take some time and show us how Jesus himself is the truer and better tabernacle and Priest.

Look with me at: John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.

The word “dwelt” here means Tabernacled.

Dwelt : to tent or encamp, to occupy, to reside (as God did in the Tabernacle of old).

When He took on flesh, God the Son (Jesus) pitched His tent on earth for thirty-three years. This is a key fulfillment in reference to the tabernacle of Israel we read about in Exodus. The Old Covenant tabernacle had a typical significance in that it foreshadowed God the Son incarnate. Let’s see how the Old Covenant Tabernacle is the type of the anti-type who is Jesus.

1. The “tabernacle” was a temporary appointment. In this, it differed from the temple of Solomon, which was a permanent structure. The tabernacle was merely a tent, a temporary convenience, something that was suited to be moved about from place to place during the journeying of the children of Israel. So it was when our blessed Lord tabernacled here among men. His stay was but a brief one—less than forty years; and, like the type, He abode not long in any one place, but was constantly on the move—unwearied in the activity of His love.

2. The “tabernacle” was God’s dwelling place. It was there, in the midst of Israel’s camp, He took up His abode. There, between the cherubim upon the mercy seat He made His throne. In the holy of holies He manifested His presence by means of the Shekinah glory. And during the thirty-three years that the Word tabernacled among men, God had His dwelling place in Palestine. The holy of holies received its anti-typical fulfillment in the Son of God. Just as the Shekinah dwelt between the two cherubim, so on the mount of transfiguration the glory of the God-man flashed forth from between two men—Moses and Elijah. “We beheld his glory” is the language of the tabernacle type.

Now look at the second part of John 1:14.

John 1:14b “and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father”.

The phrase “We have seen” here doesn’t translate deep enough in my opinion.

The word “seen” here is better translated “beheld”. To behold means: to look closely at; or intently at. John’s comment here is directly referring to the first disciples, yet it is the blessed experience of all who are in Christ today. In this, I want to be sure we grasp the fullness of the difference between just seeing something and beholding something. You see a lot of things in your daily life. But what are the things you stop and really behold? Just the practice of beholding is lost on us much of the time as we live in a fast paced, fast travel, fast food, fast download speeds, have it now and move on kind of culture.

One of the questions we could really stop and ask this morning is what are you beholding? Or what is worthy of beholding? The problem in our sin is that we often behold the wrong things.

I want you to think of the things you really slow down and behold. The things you don’t just see but the things you behold? Here is what is very sobering. Often the things we are guilty of making time to behold are sinful things. What are the images or scenes or people that you behold? That you look intently or closely at? I am not going to list what they could be because I think if you stop long enough and are honest enough you will see what I am talking about.

I want you to now consider this game-changing reality in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

We can behold his glory. Please don’t toss aside what this means for us.

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah is looking into heaven and he says, “Behold, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. The train of his robe filled the temple, and around him were angels crying out, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! Heaven and earth are full of his glory!’”

Fast forward. John 12:41 where John says, “Isaiah saw Jesus and spoke of his glory.”

So, the picture that Isaiah experienced of heaven being open was a glimpse into the majesty and the glory of the presence of Jesus, seated on a throne, ruling over all peoples, times, and places, and being worshiped as God.

The Old Testament celebrities only had occasional and passing glimpses of God’s glory. But, in contrast from these who only “saw,” we “behold” His glory. But more particularly, there is a contrast here between the beholding and the non-beholding of God’s glory.

This is good news because the Shekinah glory resided only in the holy of holies before Christ, and therefore was veiled or hidden. But now we behold His divine glory!

“The glories of our Lord are infinite, for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. No subject ought to be dearer to the heart of a believer. ” AW Pink

“We beheld his glory” refers to His essential “glory,” or divine perfections. This is clear from the words which follow: “The glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” From the beginning to the end of His earthly life and ministry, the Deity of the then Jehovah was again in Israel’s midst.

And it is a remarkable fact to which we have never seen attention called, that at either extremity of the Word’s tabernacling among men, the Shekinah glory was evidenced. Immediately following His birth we are told, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.” (Luke 2:8-9 KJV). And, at His departure from this world, we read “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9 KJV)—not clouds, but a cloud! We beheld his glory, then, refers, first, to His divine glory.

AWESOME! God is so good.

Now, let’s shift our attention to the passages we read about the priests and their holy garments. These, too, point us to Christ in such a powerful way.

A priest always denotes one who interceded and offered sacrifices on behalf of the people.

In Hebrews, it says, “where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:20) The priest was the God appointed office of intercessor for the people.

As Priest, Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for all our sin. In the Old Testament, the high priest was the mediator between the holy God and sinful people specifically those in the old covenant. As mediator, the high priest entered the holy place and offered a sacrifice to God on behalf of the people once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:34). He sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat “because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins” (Leviticus 16:16).

In the Old Covenant system, the priest did this year after year after year. In contrast, Christ, as our Mediator and High Priest, not only offered the sacrifice (once and for all his people), but He is the sacrifice. Like the high priest of old, Christ entered the holy place, but unlike the high priest, He entered to offer Himself. He had to enter only one time for He sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us:

Hebrews 9:11–14 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Why do we need a truer and better priest?

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Intercede = to appear on behalf of someone who is on trial.

I’ll explain with this example. I was randomly audited a few years ago by the IRS.

It was a random audit. Nothing illegal involved. They just pulled my number. All we had to do was prove that what we said were right offs were valid right offs by showing proof. So, if I prove these things I owe nothing. If I don’t, I owe thousands.

The problem is I don’t know how to rightly represent myself in these matters so I hired an intercessor. My tax accountant. Someone to represent me who knows what he is doing. Knows the technical jargon. The ins and outs.

Now, here is the key that we must understand if this makes sense. What do I look like in court?

I look like my intercessor. I didn’t even have to be there. He went before the judge and represented my case. The judge hears him while he thinks of ME! I AM IN HIM!

So, what it comes down to is if he is brilliant, then I am brilliant. And if he fails, then I fail.

Your intercessor represents you in the courtroom. You are in your intercessor.

Romans 8:34 says Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Jesus is the perfect intercessor for us because of his relationship with the rest of the trinity.

Now, look at this verse in Hebrews 7:26. Here we hear the understatement of the year!

Hebrews 7:26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. That is the understatement of the year!

Jesus alone can reconcile a holy God to a sinful people because He, as God, became a man and took upon Himself our sin. That’s why Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:5, “there is only mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God

Jesus took on flesh. He came here to be our great High Priest. His coming alone is amazing! But He didn’t just come. LOOK…

Realize: High priests were absolutely covered in gold and jewels. The net worth of a community was put into the robes of the high priest.

The other picture that is important to see is this: when you are in Christ and the Father looks up on you and sees Jesus, the HIGH PRIEST, He sees you as utterly beautiful. Completely accepted. Not because of ANY worth or work in/by you. Don’t get this mixed up. God doesn’t love you because you’re worthy, He loves you despite your unworthiness BECAUSE of Jesus– because of grace made possible by Jesus. You were marvelously brought into God’s family.

Oh, how wonderful it is that Jesus is all these things to us. God is so good to provide for us such a perfect and all satisfying answer in Christ. Join me in praising God for his mighty plan. Praise Jesus for his perfect work while tabernacling here on earth now every day as He intercedes for us before the Father.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Exodus 30-34 (5-19-18)

In Exodus 32 we are given one of the most glaring offenses of idolatry in the early account of God’s people as they formed a golden calf to worship, despite all that God had done for then and the fact that He commanded them not to worship anything but Him. Many people, when they think of idolatry, think only of images that are formed by man like the golden calf. But idols that we often worship are so much more than formed figures; they can be just about anything God has made, which we over-elevate in our hearts and minds.

John Calvin, the 17th century Reformer, made this memorable point:

             “Our hearts are ‘idol factories’, and our words and actions are shaped by the pursuit of things our heart craves.”

Because God made us to worship and be satisfied, in our sin we have taken those two God-given longings and wrongly placed them on things God has created and not God Himself. Because our hearts long to be satisfied, they will always venture to be satisfied by something.

We see Paul speak to this well in Romans 1:18-25:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Man’s very rebellion is grounded in our worshiping things that are not God.

I believe this is why idolatry is the foundation of the 10 Commandments.

The first is, “You shall have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:3

Then the last talks about covetousness, which is craving something more than one should; this is a form of idolatry. So, God bookends the 10 Commandments with a focus on idolatry.

What you must understand is that the commands to avoid idolatry are not just confined to the Old Testament:

1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

1 John 5:21 “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

When someone says idol-worship or idolatry, what do we commonly think of?

Maybe what you picture is someone prostrate on the ground before an object for religious devotion or magical power. Or we might use “idolatry” to describe someone’s obsession with money or someone we “idolize,” like Michael Jordan.

Author Richard Keyes says, “We have, in effect, distanced ourselves from the whole idea of idolatry by pushing it out to the extreme cultural and psychological margins of life. “
We don’t see idolatry in our modern culture, because we only think of it in this tribal extreme way.

Or we don’t concern ourselves with idolatry as anything worth worrying about anymore.

But idolatry is very present in our lives. It is real. If not rightly understood and addressed, it will wreck us.

You and I are made to worship of the living God. 

But this worship is not meant to be a stale and distant exultation but from the overflow of our satisfied hearts in our relationship with God.

What this means for us is we have a rightly prioritized relationship with God out of which we have a proper mode in which to live life.

To live life in response to Him. To know God and be known by God.

Because of our right relationship with Him, we then understand who we are and arrive at our identity, personal  significance, sense of security, purpose for living, and we constantly find in Him our happiness and joy.

The problem:

When sin came into play, we tragically altered our relationship with God; instead of turning GODWARD and finding in Him all that we need in life, we turned away and to other things to try to discover those things God designed in us to be fulfilled by Him.

The way the Apostle Paul put it in our passage today is that instead of turning Godward, we turned away from God. We did not honor him as God!

Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him

We ceased to see God as fundamental and essential for the existence and fulfillment of our lives.

Because we are made to have relationship with God in which we are fulfilled and purposed and secure and with clear identity, when we no longer seek Him to be those things for us, we now have an active vacuum in our hearts that looks to find that fulfillment in other things.

So, we do not simply turn away from God; we actually have to find something to put in His place.

So, what Paul says is that people embrace a lie to exchange the Creator for the created.

Romans 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Because we are wired for worship, we will worship!

So, hear this: àWhen we turn from God, we find a substitute on whom we heap our worship.

We look to something else to give us identity, meaning, significance, purpose, security, and joy!

When we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we will worship anything.

So, it is these substitutes that become our idols.

The Word of Truth Catechism says this:

Idolatry is worshiping or finding hope, identity, significance, purpose, or security in anything other than in God, our Creator.

In other words, your idols are anything that have become more fundamental than God in your life for your hope, identity, significance, purpose, security, joy, and on and on.

So, likely, your idol is not a carved block of wood or shiny metal or formed stone, but a person, a place, a house, a car, a team, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, or a political party.

In fact, it’s not idol singular; it’s idols–plural. We have several things we seek for hope, identity, significance, purpose, or security.

In them you are putting your hope and your trust; you’re trying to learn from them. And you are trying to find from them your identity, personal significance, sense of security, purpose for living, happiness, and joy.

When we begin to understand this, we begin to really understand what God was asking for in the first commandment: “Do not have any other gods before me.”

He is saying, “Do not make anything more necessary, fundamental, or valuable than Me. Keep Me as your hope, identity, significance, purpose, and security.”

Martin Luther has said it this way:

Every breaking of the commandments is at its core a breaking of the first commandment …

Here is why breaking any commandment is really breaking the first:

Why do we lie? Because we want the approval or the thing that lie gets us to fulfill us … replacing God.

Why do we steal? Because we think we NEED that thing to fulfill us … replacing God.

Why do we covet or envy? Because we think, “If I had that, I would be happy. It would satisfy me.” … replacing God.

An idol is not simply a statue of wood, stone, or metal; it is anything we love and pursue in place of God!

This brings to light a key thing to understand:
An idol, in its essence, isn’t necessarily something evil; it commonly is something very good.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

He says these things to point to idolatry in our lives. We get how covetousness is, but often we overlook the term “evil desires.”

The phrase “evil desires” here is an effort of the English translators to get across a single Greek word, which is Epithumia.    Epithumia is both an evil desire and an over desire–an excessive desire.

It is desiring something evil OR it is an over or misplaced desire for what it good.

In this way, it is essentially addiction or lust for something God has made.

John Calvin clearly says: 

          “The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much.”

So often the object of desire is good, and the evil lies in the lordship of the desire.

So, the good thing of “caring for your body” can become an ultimate thing (an idol) in your life in an effort to find your personal significance.

So, the good thing of your “career” can become an ultimate thing (an idol) in your life in an effort to find your sense of security.

So, the good thing of “raising your kids” can become an ultimate thing (an idol) in your life in an effort to find your purpose for living.

Idolatry happens when you and I try to find our identity, personal significance, sense of security, purpose for living, happiness, and joy in these things or people or status INSTEAD OF IN GOD!

So, how do we restore what is broken in our relationship with God and remove idols from our lives?

James 4:6-8 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

–God gives us undeserved grace!

Ohhh, how we need a Savior–One who can set us free, so we might truly be satisfied in the only One who can satisfy and who is worthy of our eternal praise.

Realize religion is lying to you when it says, “You can save yourself by trying really hard to shut the idol factory down yourself!” Only One can do this for us: the God of grace!

Turn with me to Isaiah 42:5: “Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it”

Who is the One who puts air in our lungs?

Who is the One who sets us in motion and numbers our days?

Who made everything around us so that it might all point to us to Him and cause us to revel in and worship Him? God.

The answer to, “Who can set us free and satisfy our deepest longing to worship?” is God, and not only can He, but He has!    Now, read verse 6-8:

Isaiah 42:6-8 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”

The Idol Factory must be closed, and the good news we read here today is it can be, for He declares, “I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

How does Jesus do this?

Be giving us Himself. By giving us the expulsive power of a greater affection!

Thomas Chalmers said, “There is not one personal transformation in which the heart is left without an object of ultimate beauty and joy. The heart’s desire for one particular object can be conquered, but it’s desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.”  

You might be able to temporarily remove one idol, but your heart still must cast its affections on something. So, you will simply pick up another to fill its place.

Chalmers is saying idols of the heart cannot be removed; they can only be replaced.

So, the question then is replaced with what? The only thing that can ultimately satisfy and bring joy and life and identity and security and purpose: JESUS!

Temporary fixes and/or helpful habits do not cure the deepest disease and self-inflicted pain we struggle with in life: our idolatry.

Only the expulsive power of a bigger and better target for our affections can eliminate the failed idols the heart has tried to cling to.

This is why we are mainly focused on stirring your affections toward the gospel: THE GOOD NEWS! To understand the fullness of the beauty and wonder of Christ, to fall deeply in love with Jesus alone–above all else.

The key to being rid of the idols we worship is not really to love them less but to love Christ more.  And in doing so, if the heart truly is that taken by Jesus, our clinch to over-elevate God’s created things is rightfully adjusted. In treasuring Jesus above all else, we can spot idolatry temptations and make war with them, we can joyfully hear from our brothers and sisters in Christ’s concern over idol temptations in our lives, and be thankful for their help to avoid idolatry, and so on. Treasuring Christ above all else is the key; the gospel is the key.

If my children are my idols, He is not calling me to love them less; He is calling me to love them rightly.

The only way I can do that:

is to be satisfied in the one thing that can truly satisfy;

is to be saved by the one and only thing that can save me;

is to be secured by the one and only person who can keep me secure;

is to be purposed by the only one who can give me eternal purpose–Jesus!

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Exodus 25-29 (5-12-18)

Alright, grab your Bibles and open up to Exodus chapter 25, as we dig deeper into what these chapters are unfolding.

How many times have you begun reading Scripture only to run into a long line of names or details that seem really insignificant for you today? The tendency in these moments is to hit fast forward and skip down to the “important parts,” so to speak. I remember as a child trying to read through these chapters and attempting to follow an annual Bible reading plan, but every time I made it to sections of Scripture like this, I couldn’t muster up the perseverance to read on. It wasn’t until there was more God-given growth and understanding of His word that I realized how much I miss when I quickly pass over sections of Scripture like this.

One of my favorite theologians wrote something in regards to this section of Scripture that really helped me begin to see the weight of the topic in these chapters. So, I want to share his quote with you now:

“We have now arrived at the longest, most blessed, but least read and understood section of this precious book of Exodus. From the beginning of chapter 25 to the end of 40—excepting the important parenthesis in 32 to 34—the Holy Spirit has given us a detailed description of the Tabernacle, its structure, furniture, and priesthood. It is a fact worthy of our closest and fullest consideration that more space is devoted to an account of the Tabernacle than to any other single object or subject treated of in Holy Writ. Its courts, its furniture, and its ritual are described with a surprising particularity of detail. Two chapters suffice for a record of God’s work in creating and fitting this earth for human habitation, whereas ten chapters are needed to tell us about the Tabernacle. Truly God’s thoughts and ways are different from ours! How sadly many of God’s own people have dishonored Him and His Word by their studied neglect of these chapters! Too many have seen in the Tabernacle, with its Divinely-appointed arrangements and services, only a ritual of the past—a record of Jewish manners and customs which have long since passed away and which have no meaning for or value to us. But ‘all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable’ (2 Tim. 3:16). The Christian cannot neglect any portion of the Word without suffering loss: ‘whatsoever things were written aforetime [in the Old Testament] were written for our learning’ (Rom. 15:4). Again and again in the New Testament the Holy Spirit makes figurative reference to the Tabernacle and its furniture, and much in the Epistle to the Hebrews cannot be understood without reference to the contents of Exodus and Leviticus. The tabernacle is one of the most important and instructive types. Here is such a variety of truths, here is such a fullness and manifoldness of spiritual teaching that our great difficulty is to combine all the various lessons and aspects which it presents.” – A.W. Pink

This quote was quite convicting and caused me to take a second look at these chapters. The mere fact that there is more time spent giving the details about the ark and the mercy seat than any other single thing, including creation, was a real eye-opener. This made me ask the obvious question of why? Why so many details and so much of Scripture devoted to this particular thing? What is the bigger picture that I’m surely missing?

To answer these questions, let’s look at what the different things were. The Ark of the Covenant was essentially a chest carrying within it the two stone tablets that God had written His laws upon. There were a couple other items, but for the sake of time, I want us to see that the ark is carrying the Ten Commandments. Now, what really caught my attention was that the Mercy Seat was placed on top of this ark. So, the good and right law that God gave, which we in our sin so clearly utterly lack the ability to obey perfectly, is hidden in a chest, and this chest is covered by a seat called the Mercy Seat. If you aren’t already seeing the bigger picture, let me explain this with some more detail. When we don’t obey God’s perfect law, what happens to us? We stand eternally condemned as sinners in offense to our holy, righteous, and perfect Creator! So, it makes a lot of sense that if we are ever to be in the presence of our God, we need great God-given mercy! How beautiful it is that God would show us His covering of mercy above the law He gave and in the very place where He would meet with His people.

In a very symbolic way, the mercy seat covered the people of God from the ever-condemning judgment of the Law. The custom every year on the Day of Atonement was for the High Priest to enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of animals sacrificed for the atonement of the sins of God’s people upon this very seat. See the bigger picture that we miss when we see details like this and just skip ahead?

God has made it clear that the blood of bulls and lambs can in no way atone for the sins of man (Hebrews 10:4). So, we must see this symbolism that God so graciously gave His people come into a fuller view. God is the One who sits on the Mercy Seat. The details and beauty of the Mercy Seat and the Ark it sits upon are so great, because the One who sits upon the seat is so great.

As the bigger picture comes into focus, we see how truly blessed we are to be given the fullness of Scripture and God’s revelation. We have the benefit of being able to look at God’s sovereign hand throughout history–planning, preparing, and assuring that His atonement for His people would most definitely be carried out to completion! This Mercy Seat and Ark of the Covenant foreshadow Christ and all that He would do to carry out God’s mercy upon His people. In God’s great mercy, He would save sinners unto Himself at His great cost. The blood sprinkled onto this seat pointed to the blood of God the Son that would be shed for His people. The seat that covered the Law was covered in the blood of the Lamb who fulfilled the Law for us! This is the true atonement–the true vision and fulfillment of God’s mercy unto His people. Praise God for passages like this drawing our eyes to the importance of seeing and savoring our great and merciful God!

*Special thanks to Steven Obert who helped by authoring this weeks study.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Exodus 20-24 (5-5-18)

Last week we looked at Genesis 20 and the Ten Commandments. In that study, we looked at the different meanings of the Law and specifically at the fact that the Moral Law of God is for all people for all time and is not put away because of Christ and the New Covenant. In the power of Christ at work in us, may we faithfully aim in all we do to obey the Moral Law of God, and in doing so, honor Him and grow in Christ.

Today, I want to look at the law given in the Old Covenant that is put away because of Christ and the New Covenant, or because it was determined by God to only be for a particular people, a particular purpose, and a particular time. We see examples of this in our reading in Exodus 21 and on. These laws lead us right into our definition of Positive Law.

Positive Law: Law and commands based on the will of God for a particular people, a particular purpose, and a particular time.

Our study today on Positive Law might not seem to be super applicable to your daily life, but I want to plead with you to reconsider, as it will help you rightly study God’s word. Improvements to help us rightly divide the word of God are so needed, as we often are guilty of reading God’s word and misunderstanding or misapplying what it is saying. We cannot afford to do this.

Our study today is also important because if you’ve grown up in the church, you’ve likely been told that we don’t follow all of the commands we see in the Bible because they don’t apply to us in the here and now. And, generally speaking, this is true, but we need to be very careful in this. We need an informed way of making determinations about what applies to us here and now and what does not. There are many ill-informed Christians with wrong understandings about these things, living lives in disobedience to standing law. And on the other hand, there are ill-informed people who are adding non-biblical law to people, doing exactly what the Pharisees did. We must avoid these two serious errors.

As our definition states, Positive Law is law and commands based on the will of God for a particular people, a particular purpose, and a particular time. What this means is there are commands that God has given throughout human history that do not apply to everyone.

So, we have Universal Moral Law standing to all peoples at all times, and then there are these additional, specific commands that God saw fit to give differently in different times.

And this distinction leads us to the very important reality of how law looked in the Old Covenant in comparison to the New Covenant. This is incredibly important. If you’re going to have any chance to understand your Bible correctly when reading it, you need to know this.

In addition to the Universal Moral Law, God sees fit to give other Positive Laws to particular people, for a particular purpose, for a particular time.

Here are a few examples of this:

Adam: God told Adam and Eve to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was a specific law they were required to obey. It was Positive Law God gave to Adam and Eve that was in addition to the Universal Moral Law that was written on their hearts.

Noah and the ark: God issued a direct command to Noah to build the ark. If Noah were to have disobeyed that command, then it would have been sin, so it was a law unto him. But that command was not for every person at all times, or even for every person living at that time. The law Noah was required to follow was Positive Law. It was for him, at that time, in that place.

Abraham: God told Abraham that Abraham and his offspring after him, every male among them in the Old Covenant, was to be circumcised. It was Positive Law God given through Abraham that was in addition to the Universal Moral Law that was written on their hearts. That Positive Law command was not required before then, and as you hopefully know, it is not a requirement in the New Covenant that we are in.

And where the most confusion in these two kinds of law really exists in is regard to certain commands given primarily in Moses’ time in the Old Covenant. There were laws given in the Mosaic Covenant that were specific to only those who were wanting to be under the Old Covenant that God had with people (this was primarily the Israelites in that time).

These Positive Laws are sometimes called ceremonial laws and civil (or judicial) laws. God gave these laws because these people were to live in a theocratic state. God gave these Positive Laws because by obeying them, they would have honored the requirements of the covenant they were under and experienced the best way of living within that covenant.

Let’s look briefly at a few examples of these Positive Laws that existed under that Old Covenant. But before we do, let me encourage you not to scoff at these things. We’ve adapted too much of a mindset of our modern times that looks back on these things and thinks they are ludicrous. While we can and should look back and acknowledge that they were specific and difficult laws and be thankful that they are now abrogated (or abolished) as given, we, at the same time, need to realize that these were good commands for these people, from our perfect God. At that time, it was wise and good for God to issue these Positive Laws, these ceremonial laws and civil laws.

The Positive Law in the Mosaic Covenant also served to display important things about the nature and character of God. For example, they displayed God’s eternal hatred for sin in a unique and powerful way. The other critical thing they displayed is the need for our perfect Messiah. The Positive Laws foretold of the perfect sacrifice to come, namely Jesus. They foretold of the perfect obedience required by God, accomplished only in Jesus. They functioned as a wise and powerful way for God to display the need for Jesus Christ.

So, let’s see just a few of these Positive Laws:

In the Old Covenant, they were commanded specifically not to eat certain things, like pork and certain kinds of sea life:

Leviticus 11:7-8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

Leviticus 11:10-11 But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.

Another example would be in the Old Covenant, they were restricted from wearing certain types of clothes:

Deuteronomy 22:11 You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.

That’s just a few of many, many examples for Old Covenant Positive Law.

What we need to understand is those Positive Laws do not apply any longer because the Old Covenant has been abrogated (or abolished), and Jesus established a New Covenant with its own Positive Laws for us to follow. But as I said, we need to be very careful in determining Universal Moral Law from Positive Law in the Old Testament. Often, these two kinds of laws are mixed together in the same section of Scripture. We don’t make distinctions of what we don’t follow now based on our preferences or feelings. We have to make the distinctions very carefully, using a right understating of Universal Moral Law, using the New Testament, as well as a having a solid understanding of Covenant Theology and proper hermeneutics. We must always remember that the Universal Moral Law applies no matter what. So, laws preventing idolatry, coveting, sexual immorality, etc. still apply to us.

And finally, we have a New Testament example of Positive law. This is baptism. Those living before the New Covenant was formally established were not commanded to be baptized. The baptism command in the New Testament is a New Covenant reality that applies to believers living after the New Covenant was formally established. That means it is Positive Law for us in the here and now. If we claim to be Christians in 2018 for example, then we should obey the command to be baptized.

I hope this helps you see the two main types of law throughout human history: eternal Universal Moral Law and changeable Positive Law.

Let’s look at another important point about “law” in the Bible.

Often in the text, we see the moral law of God intermingled with Positive Law or extra information. When this is the case, this added Positive Law or extra information can be called Supplementary Data.

As we’re seeing in this lesson today, what we need to understand is that the portions of the passages that contain the Universal Moral Law are communicating eternal moral law. But the portions of these passages that are Supplementary Data can and often do change.

And this is very important as to the Ten Commandments and understanding the Old Covenant.

Here is an example of this in the Old Covenant:

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

In that passage it is taught explicitly that homosexuality is prohibited. It was prohibited then in the Old Covenant when this was given, but it was also prohibited before and after that covenant as well. This is the case because the prohibition of same sex relations is an expression of the prohibition of sexual immorality that exists within the Universal Moral Law.

But there is Supplementary Data in this verse as well; let’s look at that. It said, “they shall surely be put to death.”

Now, that command to put them to death was law from God, but it was Positive Law under the Old Covenant. That is not the command on us today in the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, we are commanded to deal with sin in professing Christians not by putting people to death, but by other means of accountability.

Therefore, what we can see in this example is that this verse is still an important and helpful revelation of God’s moral law over mankind about sexual relations. It has a layer of the Universal Moral Law (namely, same-sex relations are prohibited) which is still true today, but the Positive Law (requiring putting these law-breakers to death) is not something we should or can obey today.

That’s one relevant example. I also said this Supplementary Data point is important for the Ten Commandments, so let’s look at that briefly as well.

The Universal Moral Law that is summarized in the Ten Commandments is accompanied by Supplementary Data. The Supplementary Data can help enforce and inform the Universal Moral Law, but is not a part of the Universal Moral Law itself. This is important. Let me show you.

Look at the 10th commandment in Exodus 20:17.

The unchanging Moral Law is “You shall not covet.” That’s it: “You shall not covet.”

Then the Supplementary Data is communicated; it says, “your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey …”

Now, that data helps inform the moral command of, “You shall not covet.”

Stating that coveting an ox is prohibited is true and important, but it’s supplemental. The list of things not to covet is certainly not meant to be all-inclusive. For example, a BMW is not mentioned there, so does that mean we can covet one of those? An angel’s delegated, unique power is not mentioned there; does that mean they could covet that? No, of course not. The Universal Moral Law is, “You shall not covet.” The other information is supplemental and informative in this case.

Let’s now look at an example from the Ten Commandments where the Supplementary Data actually is explicitly changed in the New Covenant. This is interesting. Look at the 5th commandment in Exodus 20:12. It says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Notice it says “that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Hopefully by now you’re able to see that the unchanging Moral Law expressed in this command is, “Honor your father and your mother.”

And that the Supplementary Data is “that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Let’s look at the New Testament now. In Ephesians, Paul commands children to obey their parents, repeating this commandment expressed in the Old Covenant. But with God inspiring him, Paul changes the Supplementary Data. He says in Ephesians 6:3, “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

This may seem like the same thing said in Exodus, but it’s not.

Let’s look closely at it to see this. First, we can see the portion that says “that the Lord your God is giving you” is not restated.

And second, in Ephesians, the “land” Paul is talking about is different than the “land” that Exodus was talking about.

In other Bible translations like the NASB, NIV, and KJV, they do a better job perhaps with the translation to show this change. They say more explicitly in Ephesians 6:3 “so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth” (NASB).

This change in Supplementary Data added to this moral command about honoring parents is the case because in the Old Covenant the people under that covenant were promised by God a specific portion of land, and that land is what is spoken of by that mention in Exodus. But in the New Covenant when Christ established His Kingdom, the land the Israelites sought was made common. The borders of this old Promised Land were made insignificant because Christ said His Kingdom is “not of this world.” What that means is Paul is telling us by this revised Supplementary Data that the flourishing promised in this honor your parents command no longer had to do with that specific land location; instead, the flourishing is possible for all who obey this command anywhere throughout the land, namely anywhere throughout the earth.

This is a very helpful example to see the point I’m trying to show you. In the Ten Commandments, the Universal Moral Law is communicated in summary form, and there is changeable Supplementary Data given with it. And as I said before, we cannot carelessly make incorrect or flippant distinctions; rather, we need to be very careful in reading and understanding our Bible.

Our final technical point about “law” is something called General Equity.

General Equity basically means “principle.”

I want to hit on this point because it’s also important as to how we read our Bible and look at Positive Laws that don’t apply to us now the same way.

The idea is that even though certain Positive Laws are not standing today, there is General Equity, or principles, in the laws that still help us today. We see the inspired writers of the Epistles put this on display in their letters, and we can see the godly value of it in our own reading of abrogated Positive Law.

Two quick examples:

The Apostle Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4 when he is teaching in 1 Timothy 5 that it is right and good to pay godly pastors and elders for the work they do for the local church. The Positive Law command in Deuteronomy 25:4 is, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” This original command was requiring people to adequately take care of the livestock. It had nothing to do with taking care of humans when it was given in the Old Testament. But when Paul uses that verse, he uses the principle (or General Equity) in it. He’s saying, “The principle from this old command about livestock for the Old Covenant people has real application and value for us today.”

Specifically, authoritatively, the Apostle applies the General Equity to command us to honor godly pastors and elders, saying we must take care of their needs; they deserve to be paid for their ministry efforts. Therefore, the command is not binding in the same way it was given, but the principle in it is of real use to us today; the principle in it is made binding to us today by Paul in a new way. The Apostles had God-given authority and inspiration to take old Positive Laws and make a new Positive Law or use the principle from the law to show us something we are required to obey in a new way. We see this in several places in the New Testament.

Another example of this General Equity hermeneutic would be found here:

Deuteronomy 22:8 “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet [railing/fence] for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.”

In that time, the roof of a dwelling was made flat, and people would spend time on the roof. God gave this specific command to display the value of human life. The required railing would help prevent a deathly fall and other consequences from that fall.

Now, since the Old Covenant has been abrogated, laws like this that are not part of the Universal Moral Law are not applicable to us the way they were given in the Old Covenant. Meaning, if you have a flat roof or a balcony, you are not technically in sin if you don’t have the exact railing they were required to have. But for Old Covenant people, without that exact railing, they would have been disobeying a direct command of God.

So, is there still General Equity in the command that helps us today in the New Covenant? Yes, definitely. The principle about valuing human life is very important and relevant. We know we have moral obligation to value and protect human life, and we can see that principle in the roof/railing command in Deuteronomy.

Therefore, all that is to say what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is true: ^“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

All of Scripture, even the Positive Laws that don’t apply to us the same way, have God-given value for our understanding and life. And we have seen two ways this is the case: The Old Covenant Positive Law displays important revelations about God and principles for us to be aware of. We do not follow or require anyone to follow the abrogated Positive Law as it was given. That is not what I am saying. Instead, we benefit by understanding it correctly in light of God and the New Covenant. This has incredible value. All of our Bible has incredible value for us.

May God use it to grow us, sanctify us, and cause us to worship Him all the more. I know this lesson was long, but I pray the Lord uses these tools to help your Bible study and application. May we honor and obey Him in all we do!

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church