February 21

Exodus 4; Luke 7

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 28: HOW DOES CHRIST PERFORM THE OFFICE OF A PROPHET?
Answer: Christ performs the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
Scripture: John 1:18; 14:26; 15:15.

Exodus 4

Ready:
God met Moses in the area of Mount Horeb in a burning bush and he recruited Moses with explanation of what he would do to deliver Israel from the affliction of the Egyptians.

Seeing What’s There:
In this chapter Moses concludes his conversation with God and though resistant to the point of angering God, Moses is convinced to proceed, with Aaron’s help.  Moses meets up with Aaron and tells him all that God had said after God speaks to Aaron and leads him to meet Moses in the wilderness near Mount Horeb.  The two meet up with the Jewish elders in Egypt and with signs convince them that God had indeed spoken and that they were to be delivered.  Their response is belief and worship of the Lord.

Key Verses:
Exodus 4:1, 8-9, 10, 11-12, 13-14, 16, 20, 22-23, 27, 29-31

Theme:
God will make a way for the weak and broken to carry out his mission.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-17.  Moses makes a couple of arguments in his attempt to resist God’s call upon him.  God had already declared that the Israelites would listen to him, but this doesn’t stop Moses from coming up with reasons to doubt himself.  First he appeals to an inability to overcome their challenge to his story of meeting with God.  After God conquers this fear, by granting him a few amazing signs to evidence his anointing with the authority of God, Moses then appeals to his inability to speak well and to be convincing and proper in speech.  But God then comforted him that God himself was the one who grants speech and silence and who can grant him all the ability needed.  So all-in-all Moses’ fears of inadequacy are dismantled by God but this does not stop Moses.  Next Moses expresses either a failure to trust God or a reluctance to obey God by asking that God send someone else.  This angers God and God finally provides Moses with the help that puts Moses over the edge on agreeing to move forward.  Moses will receive help from his older brother Aaron, who Moses perceives is a better representative before the people.  Moses may not be too accurate is his perception since Luke later refers to Moses as being mighty in his words and deeds.  Surely there can be confidence for any believer here to see that a fearful and weak and resistant shepherd was not only selected, but launched into service and indeed accomplished the mighty will of God despite his apprehensions and weaknesses and sin.  God indicates that he will speak primarily to Moses and Moses will give Aaron the words of God to communicate to the Israelites but God seems also to have some direct communication with Aaron.  In the end God commands Moses to take the staff that he will use to perform signs and to go.  A side note in this passage is a realization in verse 11 that God takes responsibility for the mute and the blind and the deaf…our God is sovereign and I need not fear that my circumstances are out of control or pointless!
    v18-20.  Moses sets out for Egypt with his family after getting the blessing of his father-in-law and after God reveals to him that there is safety due to the Pharaoh who wanted to kill him being dead at this point 40 years later.
    v21-23.  Here God jumps right to the meat.  He gives Moses a summary of what is to happen and tells him that God himself will “harden” Pharaoh’s heart and that Pharaoh will therefore not let the people go easily.  Verse 22-23 indicate that it will take the most serious plague of killing the first born in Egypt to break the will of Pharaoh to resist.
    v24-26.  This is interesting and it seems that Moses had not circumcised at least one of his sons perhaps out of weakness when he first arrived in Midian.  Maybe he did not want to challenge his new wife and father-in-law regarding circumcision with his first child.  Regardless of the reasons, it is clear that Moses did not circumcise at least one of his sons and this became a major problem.  The test indicates that God was in the process of killing Moses, which I take to be a very bad illness that he and his wife perceived to be a judgement of God and they knew the cause…they had not submitted to circumcise their child.  Moses’ wife does what must be done while Moses is perhaps laid up and extremely ill.  She seems to express disdain toward Moses either because of his previous failure to be firm and stick to his beliefs or because of her current dislike of her circumstances altogether.
    v27-31.  Here Aaron is led by God to meet up with Moses and they are reunited after 40 years.  There seems to be no hesitation and not the two approach the elders of Israel with the message and the signs of God.  The people believe and worship God in thanks, no doubt, of this amazing news that God has seen and heard and now acts by revealing himself to Moses as he has.  Unfortunately, this “belief” will prove to not be so deep and true when challenges mount.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    1.  I hear a message that God will accomplish what he sets out to accomplish and he will do it through and in spite of my weakness but that he wants me to understand that this is possible because it depends not upon me, but upon him and his power and authority and name.   The implication is that the greatest efforts can fail if God is not behind them to give authority and power while God’s plans carried out by the weakest and feeblest will certainly not be stopped. The significance for me is to take heart and walk in the light of the gospel knowing that I have, as all believers do, a calling to make disciples and to teach others all that Jesus said and did and he can accomplish much with very little.

Valuing the Message:
I value the message because it highlights God’s might and how he overcomes our weaknesses and failures.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to look at my own heart and consider if I am resisting action due to my own fears or sense of inability or lack.  Perhaps I need to put my eyes on the mission and not on me.

Questions to ask:

1. Am I looking to God and to his mission and stepping forward or am I standing still and staring in the mirror as if there is something there that will convince me to take a step?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 7

Ready:
Yesterday I read Luke’s account of the sermon on the mount and Jesus spoke a picture of the children of God and thy kind of fruit that they bear and why.

Seeing What’s There:
I see this chapter teaching on the object of faith and the proper response to the mercy of God.  Luke begins with the Centurion (great faith plainly evident) and then to the Widow (no obvious faith until after the resurrection) to John the Baptist (Tested and weary faith), which Jesus comforts and strengthens, to the pharisees holding God in judgement regarding this need for repentance.  The pharisees do not accept the message however it may be delivered because they are simply not placing their faith in a promised offspring.  They have settled their faith upon a law, which happens to lead to death.  In the closing scene Luke recounts the story of the sinful woman who anoints Jesus and washes his feet with tears and her hair and all this to the dismay of the Pharisee who was having Jesus over because he holds contempt for her and does not recognize the place for mercy and forgiveness.  Jesus corrects his unstated opinion and makes it clear that she has not only already been forgiven, but even implies that he has not been forgiven.

Theme:
Jesus is the object of faith.  The one who reacts to God’s mercy with judgement of God rather than worship of God has not experienced forgiveness and knows not wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord.  His faith is not in the right object.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-10.  Here the Centurion’s faith is plain and he see that Jesus us “under” the authority of the Father and that Jesus has this authority fully vested and that he is free to wield it accordingly for the purposes of God.  The Centurion is highly respected but yet he humbles himself before Jesus making argument that he is not worthy of Jesus’ presence in his home.  He expresses a trust that Jesus has authority to command that illness leave and that blessings or new empowerment come…like sight or hearing or life or faith perhaps.  So plainly in this story the Centurion has faith in Jesus and he expresses it compellingly. Jesus even declares that he has seen no such faith in all of Israel.
    v11-17.  In the next scenario there is no explicit statement of faith in Jesus but it would seem that Jesus acts unilaterally based on his compassion for the widow.  He takes action without any expressions of faith whatsoever and he does something more amazing than he did for the Centurion!  I take the point to these back to back stories to be that what ultimately matters is the object of faith (Jesus) and not the degree of faith possessed by the individual.  We also see a contrast between someone “worthy” and someone “weak and helpless” and Jesus is not partial.  As john 5:25 states, this dead man hears the voice of Jesus and he lives!  The dead are given life.  Life is called into being by Jesus where it was not (Rom 4:17).
    v18-30.  Now we see a man of great faith who was filed with the Holy Spirit from birth but now faces a great test and challenge and he is looking for confidence in his own discernment of the facts.  Jesus warmly sends great news to boost John’s faith just like he prayed for Peter’s faith.  Jesus even turns to the crowd and boosts their faith in their need for his baptism of repentance since they may be injured by this public question from John.  Jesus goes to great ends to lift John up and to tell the crowd that those who were baptized by John will actually be greater than him!  The Pharisees did not agree with this a refused to believe that there was a repentance needed for them.  Their pride and failure to be on the watch fort the promised offspring sinks them.
    v31-35.  Jesus describes their failure like a group of kids who can’t be pleased and who can’t decide what game to play because they hold judgment over the mercy that Jesus dispenses instead of simply rejoicing over it and repenting (Psalm 51:3-6).
    v36-50.  Here Jesus makes it clear that those who are forgiven love mercy and they respond with love for Jesus and they are contrite and grateful.  The woman expresses her love and gratitude prior to Jesus speaking the words of forgiveness and this speaks to the fact that out love is in response to his, not the other way around (1 John 4:19)!  Jesus declares that she was already forgiven when she began blessing him and yet the Pharisee who holds himself to be righteous is yet unforgiven by the implication of Jesus’ quick parable.  I do not take it to mean that the Pharisee may have been forgiven little because there is no such thing.  The debt owed by all is unfathomable and cannot ever be paid except by the unparalleled blood of Jesus.  I take this condemnation of the Pharisee to be a statement that he does not recognize there degree to which he needs forgiveness and he has therefore not been forgiven and he shows it.  This speaks back to verse 35 where Jesus personifies wisdom and basically says that the children of wisdom "get it” and these children are forgiven and these children respond in love and they extend mercy.  

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    I take it that I need to be a child of wisdom and I need to subject myself to the authority of God in repentance and faith in Jesus and this comes to me as a work of God upon my heart like the dead man who is raised by Jesus.  The implication is that the one who is proud and hides his sin and is unloving and does not show mercy…this person is not a child of God and has not tasted the forgiveness Jesus gives to his sheep.  The significance for me is that it does not matter what I have to offer God, but it matters if I realize what he offers me.

Valuing the Message:
The value here is in God and not in me so I can trust that he works in me the same as he works in some great men of old.  I can trust that the same Jesus died for me as died for them.  I can trust that the same Spirit works life in my soul and I can trust that my love and honor and contrition and hope is not misplaced when it is directed to Jesus.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to consider my heart and my level of comprehension of how needy I am.

Questions to ask:

1. Do I understand how much I would owe if it were not for Jesus canceling my debt?
2. Do I understand the power that Jesus has over my soul and life and body?
3. Do I hold God under judgement by not acknowledging my need for repentance or by looking down upon his mercy toward others?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Soli Deo Gloria!