February 25

Exodus 8; Luke 11

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 32: WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CHRIST’S EXALTATION?
Answer: By Christ’s exaltation we mean his rising again from the dead on the third day, ascending up into heaven, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and coming to judge the world at the last day.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:4; Acts 1:11; Mark 16:19; Acts 17:31.

Exodus 8

Ready:
In the last chapter Pharaoh matched the first two miracles offered by Moses and Aaron, including the first plague of the bloody Nile.  Magic produced similar results and made for an opportunity for Pharaoh harden himself to the truth.  God had set them in to Pharaoh again despite the failure of the Israelites to listen to Moses or have faith in the coming deliverance.

Seeing what’s there:
In this chapter I see the second, third and fourth plagues (frogs, gnats, and flies) delivered by Moses.  Pharaoh concede for the first time to let the people go, but he changes his mind when the frogs are taken away and there is some relief.  Then he refuses to react to the gnats and then again he concedes after the flies only to renege again once the Lord removes the plague.  The plagues seem to have an increasing intensity or impact.

Key Verses:
Exodus 8:1-2, 8, 15, 16, 18-19, 23-24, 28-29, 32

Theme:
Pharaoh’s hard heart resists or brings him to cry out for relief from the plagues only to renege on the agreement with God each time the affliction is lifted.

Thinking about the message:
    v1-15.  Here the frogs are brought and they plague the land.  Though Pharaoh’s magicians were able to bring frogs as well (which may not have been his request) it seems that they cannot get rid of them and he pleads with Moses to remove the frogs.  Although he initially agrees to let the people go, things change once the affliction lets up.  Now with a chance to think, the hard heart of Pharaoh takes over and he reverts back to his proud self and reneges on his decision to release Israel.  This is a decent picture of the human heart that might call out to God, like the Israelites, when hardship arises but once the storm calms the desire and need for God subsides and pride resumes right where it left off.  It seems critical that when the water is smooth…go deep!  When times are easy- seek the Lord with fervor (Rom 12:11), and then when hardship hits- rejoice in hope (Rom 12:12). 
    v16-19.  Here Moses and Aaron deliver the Lord’s third plague of gnats and this is not reproducible by the magicians.  They even declare to Pharaoh that they believe it to be the finger of God…but Pharaoh is hardened to the truth and refuses to budge.  It seems the personal impact was not severe enough on this plague to cause Pharaoh to even ask for relief. 
    v20-32.  Here the fourth plague comes upon Egypt, which is flies.  This gets Pharaoh’s attention and he again pleads for relief.  Pharaoh negotiates with Moses attempting to keep them in Goshen performing their worship, but Moses refuses and explains that it must be out in the wilderness (no doubt he plans to go to the mountain of God- Hebron, aka Sinai).  Again Pharaoh concedes and then reneges once the affliction is lifted. 

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    I hear the message that a hard heart can see and even understand the truth but will not surrender itself to the Lord, taking every opportunity to resist and revert to sinful patterns, because it does not value or feel the impact of the truth it has been hardened to.  Pain and affliction is the only thing that gets the momentary attention of the hard heart (Ex 8:15) so discipline or even judgement may be God’s response.  The implication is that a heart is resistant to value what it sees to be true and it values comfort or the familiar more than truth (Mark 16:14; Matt 19:8).  The hard heart is proud and seeks not to answer for itself when faced with the truth (Mark 3:5), so it covers the truth with lies (Rom 1:18, 21-25; Rom 2:5).  The hard heart never learns the lesson because it chooses ignorance to understanding (Eph 4:18).  The significance to me is that I must be on guard from hardening my heart against the truth.  I must not exchange it for lies and I must accept it when I am guilty and need to confess my sins.  I must not let patterns of sin break in and deceive me because this will bring hardening to protect my own selfish motives and desires that are contrary to the heart of God (Heb 3:12-14, Prov 28:14).

Valuing the message:
This message is valuable because it is a good warning against a common problem.  I have heard it said that knowledge without application is damaging to the soul and I believe this is because it hardens me to the truth and keeps me resistant though I understand at a certain level of what is supposed to be.  This message is valuable because the writer of hebrews makes it plain that a hard heart leads me away from God, which can eventually evidence that I never knew him.  I can avoid unnecessary discipline of the Lord by humbling myself and surrendering rather than resisting the truth out of pride or worldly desires.

Reflecting on the message:
I need to consider areas in my life where I currently resist God and where I knowingly allow sin to remain unresolved and un-confessed.  I need to be at war with sin, by the Spirit (Rom 8:13-14), because I am a child of God, not a slave to sin, who will accept affliction in order to gain Christ (Rom 8:15-17). 

Questions to ask:

1. Am I unrepentant in any areas?
2. Is there anything in God’s Word that I am ignoring?
3. Am I resisting what I think God wants me to do?
4. Do I return to a pattern of distance from God when pain and affliction seem to revolve?

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 11

Ready:
The previous chapter seemed to focus on the importance of acknowledging sin and coming to terms with a need to repent and a need for deliverance from sin by dependence upon Jesus.

Seeing what’s there:
I see in this chapter that Luke opens with a transition to a different location and a new unit of teaching.  He presents an slightly abbreviated version of the Lord’s Prayer but adds a section on praying with persistence to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from our good Father who knows how to give good gifts.  He then documents Jesus’ response to the accusation that he exorcises demons by the power of Beelzebul where Jesus explains his power and some of the nature of spiritual oppression.  Jesus also speaks on the obedience of faith being more valuable than visible recognition or positional authority of any kind in the life of the believer.  He speaks of an evil (and blind) generation that requires special signs and refuses to listen to the message of coming judgement because they have lost their fear of the Lord.

Theme:
Only the Holy Spirit can change our heart, mind, and body and teach us the fear of the Lord that we may have the knowledge of God and true blessing as we then walk in the obedience of faith.  We must seek him and forget about the petunias.

Thinking about the message:
    v1-4.  Here is the Lord’s prayer with an omission of the third petition of “Thy will be done”.  It also leaves out some detail about the sixth petition of protection from the enemy in temptation, but he adds a whole section at the end (beginning in verse 5) on persistence in prayer.  Jesus clearly fought that prayer was to be focused upon connecting with God and hallowing his name.  The petitions all support a hallowing of his name and they descend from high and lofty requests that re about God and then move into very practical down to earth requests about sustaining us her on earth in our fallen state.  The clear idea is a focus on the God who made us and sustains us and thus prayer should be more worship than a “to do” list presented to God.  My personal request should be in support of the hallowing of his name and the coming of his kingdom in my life and all around me.
    v5-13.  This section make a couple of points.  The first is that we are to come to God with persistence and to not give up simply because we do not receive and answer in the timing that we expect.  It also makes the point that God is a better gift giver and a better friend than any other and so if we know that we can find our needs met by an earthly friend who doesn’t have internal motivation to help us in every circumstance, how much more can we trust that our great God who is always there to do us good with all his heart and soul (Jer 32:41) will come through and give us what is good for us?  He makes clear that the primary gift the Lord holds for us is his Spirit, not material blessings.  If I am praying according to the Lord’s Prayer and I add this understanding of what the good gift he holds for me is the picture is plain.  I need to be asking daily for a filling of the Holy Spirit.  I need to ask, seek, knock with persistence and I need to know that this filling is an invisible thing that produces a slow progress of holiness in my life (Heb 12:9-11; 1 Peter 1:13-25; Titus 2:11-14).  This is transformation from the inside out and it is not something excitingly visible or attention getting.
    v14-26.  Casting out demons, however, is attention getting.  This is an outward action that does not necessarily indicate that I am fearing the Lord of seeking his transforming power in my life.  Jesus answers the claims that he works with the power of Beelzebul by explaining how a house divided against itself will not stand and that it takes a strong man to push out and keep out an evil spirit.  Jesus gives a rebuke about not being for him is being against him and an assertion that a spirit who is pushed out but the house left empty ends up returning stronger and with more friends.  In Matthew’s account he reveals that Jesus compares this hypothetical person to the evil generation.  I take all this in relation to his teaching in this section about seeking a filling by the Holy Spirit with persistence vs the removal of wickedness from our lives here represented by an unclean spirit.  I take it to mean that if we simply push out wickedness by some means other than by the filling of the Holy Spirit (strong man who takes new residence and stands to protect us) but instead use evil means (human effort- see Luke 11:13) then we will see our wickedness return with vengeance and we will not see lading change in our lives but we will see more oppression and enslavement to sin.  If we are trying to remove sin my humans means and for self-improvement, then we are against Jesus and our house will not stand.  If I am seeking the glory of God and the filling of the Spirit in my life, then the strong man will change me from the inside out and I will stand victorious and united with Christ and free.
    v27-28.  Back to the attention getting.  I think here Jesus is teaching that a visible place of honor or as in the casting out of demons, a visible sign of some spiritual power is really nothing compared to a quiet and even invisible trust of God that results in obedience (obedience of faith).  He seems to minimize human efforts (like nursing a child) in favor of trusting God.  He calls us to take him at his Word and to act upon it with fear of the Lord.  This fear of the Lord becomes evident in the remainder of the chapter and I take it to relate to this here about true blessedness not being recognized human effort or our outward signs, but our holiness that comes from taking God at his Word alone.
    v29-36.  Here Jesus rebukes the “evil generation” who will not repent at the message of judgment and the coming kingdom, but instead demand signs to special signs and evidence that they really do have a problem.  Jesus goes on in verses 33-36 to blame this problem on spiritual blindness that has corrupted all that we see and hear.  He speaks of us needing to have healthy vision and then we will be whole and then we will have understanding and knowledge and brightness in our life…and we will not demand more signs!  He speaks of the fear of the Lord.  He speaks of us needing to clearly see the Lord and thus have a holy fear of our creator.  This is the beginning of knowledge and without this we are in darkness and we are blind.
    v37-44.  In this section Jesus makes his way closer to the plain statement ahead (Luke 11:52) about the lack of fearing the Lord being the cause of our trouble and leading to our lack of repentance.  He routs the Pharisees for their concept of cleaning up outward appearances and yet never repenting of the failure to love God and love others…which is the whole law!  Keeping ourselves free of sin of various kind is good and will happen when we are being filled with his Spirit, but it becomes plain that our house is to guarded and the sin is not being pushed out by the Holy Spirit (strong man) when there remains a host of wickedness under the surface.  We are not removing the problem but we are dressing up the pig.  Having the best seats in places of honor or being seen as blessed because of our human effort fails us in the end if we lack the obedience of faith and we are not truly seeking God and his filling and reign in our lives.  We need the Holy Spirit filling this house…we cannot just plant a new garden and hand new drapes that we close to hid the haunted house inside from those who pass by and make comment on how lovely are petunias look as the house fills to overflowing with wickedness behind the new drapes.  This results in the injury of all who trust them and who come and sit on their porch to drink lemonade and smell their petunias…like unmarked graves that defile the one who walk on it since they do not recognize it as a grave and mistakenly walk where they shouldn’t…so is the one who is influenced by a Pharisee who is at best an empty house and at worst stuffed with all forms of evil. 
    v45-52.  The lawyer (specialist in the Mosaic law) here recognizes that the grave bit is a pretty big jab and he knows that Jesus is not speaking good things about the Pharisees and he plainly tells Jesus that he is offending them.  Now he turns to him and opens up the firehouse on him!  He explains that their expounding of the law as a ladder to climb in order to please God is abhorrent and they lay on burden upon the people that hey themselves do not and cannot carry.  They put on this pious outward appearances with the petunias and all and the people see this and hear them teach the law and they are killing themselves to try to grow these flowers and they are without hope.  The prophets after Moses came with messages of an everlasting covenant (Jer 31:31-33; Ezek 36:22, 26-27) and promises of a coming bridegroom (Isaiah 61:10) who would prepare his bride and a Messiah who would deliver his people from their sin but they have killed and ignored these prophets in favor only of this impossible law that was not meant as a ladder to heaven (Rom 9:31-32).  The last verse exposes the problem and it is that they do not fear the Lord.  They have focused on a law and not on their God who gave them the law.  They have not entered into knowledge and they remain in darkness and they hinder anyone led to seek the knowledge of God while wearing the clothes of those who are supposed to be the guidance.  Woe to you!  Read Proverbs 2:1-5ff regarding how to find the knowledge of God.
    v53-54.  Both of the main sects of Jews represented in the council are now thoroughly upset with Jesus and they want nothing more than to catch him in error.  Again- they lack the fear of the Lord.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
I take a pretty clear meaning from this chapter that I am to seek a filing of the Spirit by persistent seeking, asking, knocking for this good gift from my Heavenly Father and that this is how I will get a clean house that is protected and sure.  The implication is that human effort and visible shows of spirituality do not cut it and they result in an outward appearance of godliness that hides a problem of emptiness or worse.  The significance for my life is that I need not try to impress anyone with my spirituality or my appearance, but I need to daily go deep in seeking my God in private and in asking him to do what I cannot do…clean house to the glory of his name and not mine.   

Valuing the message:
I see the value in this message because it will help me avoid being a Pharisee who does not love God or others but who thinks he has it all together.

Reflecting on the message:
I need to examine the patterns of my seeking, knocking, asking and if they are not there I need to go to God and ask for help in this.  If I see that I have been dressing up the garden and ignoring the failure to truly love and honor God and to love people, then I need to ask for a clearing of the house by the strong man.  I need to pray with a focus on hallowing his name and seeking his will and his kingdom so that I do not get fooled into thinking that the garden and the porch are my only concern while I then host a party inside the house for vampires and werewolves.

Questions to ask:

1. What help am I to others?  Do I teach and encourage them with open vulnerability and authenticity to seek the Lord in gladness or do I just show them how nice my flowers are and hope they figure out some way to grow nice flowers too?
2. Do I open the doors to the Holy Spirit and plead with him to come and own this home?
3. How often to I seek worldly blessing and use human effort to make change in my life?
4. How often do I seek the blessing of the Spirit of God and his working to change my life?

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!