February 28

Exodus 11:1-12:20; Luke 14

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 35: WHAT IS EFFECTUAL CALLING?
Answer: Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, to convince us of our sin and misery, to enlighten our minds in the knowledge of Christ, to renew our wills, and thus persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:9; John 6:44, 45; 16:8-11; Acts 2:37; 26:18; Ezekiel 36:26; Romans 8:30; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 12:3.

Exodus 11:1-12:20

Ready:
In the previous chapter Pharaoh became completely resistant and so hardened that he ended up threatening Moses’ life and refusing to hear any further argument or to see his face at all.

Seeing what’s there:
In this unit of scripture I see Moses deliver the warning of the final plague to Pharaoh and there is no recorded response but Moses leaves his presence in anger over his hard hearted refusal.  God then reveals to Moses and Aaron detailed instructions on how the Israelites are to avoid the death sentence of this plague upon the firstborn.  In this passage God directs them to change their calendar and to begin an annual ceremony to commemorate what is about to happen.  It is clear that this is going to be a huge foundational event in the history of the nation and God plans to show up big time.  The instructions include the offering of a sacrifice and the spreading of its blood on the door post as a signal to the coming angel called “The Destroyer”.  The sacrifice with the dinner together inside the house is called by God “The Passover”, representing how the angel will passover those homes protected by the blood and he will cause no harm to the occupants. 

Key Verses:
Exodus 11:1, 4-5, 8; Exodus 12:5-6, 7-8, 11-12, 13-14

Theme:
A great judgement is coming and God promises to protect his people from his wrath by the blood of a sacrifice.  They are to demonstrate trust in him by following his instructions carefully.

Thinking about the message:
    v1-10.  Here Moses has been ordered to leave the sight of Pharaoh permanently or face the consequence of death.  Moses is in that moment (or perhaps prior to) told by God that there will be but one final plague and Moses proceeds to pass on the warning to Pharaoh on his way out the door.  Moses details to Pharaoh that the plague will kill all of the firstborn and that Pharaoh and his servants will bow down an plead for Israel to leave as a result of the tremendous act of judgement that they will endure.  Moses is also careful to let Pharaoh know that there will not be a hint of violence toward Israel during this awesome night that will bring death to many in Egypt.  Of course Pharaoh has sufficiently hardened his heart and he seems to have no response and I can only imagine that he was not even looking upon Moses and he heard this.  Knowing the pain and devastation that will befall the Egyptians as a result of Pharoah’s arrogance, Moses leaves in hot anger.
    cp 12 v1-6.  Here the Lord explains to Moses that there shall be a lamb sacrificed and exactly when it will be selected and killed and interestingly he takes the time now to explain that this ritual will become for the nation an annual ceremony to remember the event that is about to unfold.  This is indeed a foretelling of Christ’s passion week as he himself is “selected” for death by the Jewish council on the 10th day of the first month (after he cleanses the temple on Monday- Mark 11:18) and then killed on the 14th day (Friday afternoon- Mark 15:42) just as the passover sacrifice here is stipulated.  The previous allusions to a substitutionary atonement include the animal sacrificed to take away the shame of nakedness in the garden and the ram in place of Isaac. 
    v7-20.  Now come the instructions on how the sacrifice of this lamb will be applied to the people of Israel.  The sacrifice itself was not the end of God’s work.  Next there was to be an application of this sacrifice to the covenant people of God who would trust in this sacrifice to be their protection.  They are here instructed to place the blood visibly on the doorposts and to eat the sacrifice dressed and ready to go.  Clearly there is an expectation that God will be doing a work that will be completed this night and they will need to be ready to leave right away.  The Lord also gives greater detail on the other elements that will be part of the annual passover ceremony. 

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
     The passover that is here described and will shortly occur is the most significant event to happen in the story of the Bible since God established a unilateral covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15.  This sacrifice is made here before God ever teaches Israel a system of atoning sacrifice and before there is a tabernacle.  The blood of the sacrifice that protects them here is merely a representation of the blood or Jesus, which is truly what spares them from the wrath of God.  The message I hear is that the only thing that distinguishes between Egypt and Israel (Ex 11:7) is the blood of the passover lamb (Ex 12:13).  The implication here is that Israel and Egypt are in the same predicament of having sin and of deserving the wrath of God but that it is the blood of the lamb applied to the Israelites that makes the difference.  The significance for my life is that I need not try to imagine or look for or consider that there could be anything different about me than anyone else, except that God, in his mercy, has applied the blood of Jesus to me.  I am not better than an unbeliever and I owe them the truth of the message that hope is in Jesus only, not in ourselves.  I have no chance against The Destroyer…only the blood of Jesus will turn the wrath of God away.

Valuing the message:
I value the message because God has established here a remembrance ahead of time that this deliverance he brings is against a backdrop of judgement.  He does not save Israel from some mean nation and their oppression only…God saves them from his judgement that is due upon all.  I have been saved from God’s wrath…by God’s mercy, in the person of Christ Jesus (Rom 5:9).  The message helps me to see that salvation is not primarily from the circumstances of life but from the guilt and debt and enmity that has separated me from God.  This destroyer who comes with the judgement of God does not enter the house and evaluate the condition of the person.  No- he stops and sees the blood on the door and it is finished.  There is no condition except for the blood on the doorpost.  Thank you Jesus! 

Reflecting on the message:
I need to reflect upon my life and consider if I am trying to accomplish something to win God’s favor other than painting the doorpost with the blood.  I also need to consider what this blood is accomplishing for me.

Questions to ask:

1. Do I envision the blood of Jesus primarily giving me deliverance from the wrath of God or as fixing my circumstances?
2. Am I putting the blood of Jesus on the doorpost or am I hanging a glossy record of my prayers and Bible reading and giving and my repentance there?
3. Do I think that the Destroyer would see something in me that would convince him to skip me?

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 14

Ready:
The previous chapter taught on three pictures of true faith.  1. Repentance/fruit bearing 2. Love for others 3. Striving after Jesus.

Seeing what’s there:
This entire unit is about avoiding self-exaltation and self service.  This chapter is all about humility and maintaining a proper view of self.  It is captured by Luke 14:11.

Key Verses:
Luke 14:5, 10-11, 13-14, 17-18, 21, 24, 27, 28-29, 33

Theme:
Each person must humble themselves and live dependent upon Jesus…this is the message and any other message fails.

Thinking about the message:
    v1-6.  Here Jesus is resisted by the hard hearts of the Pharisees who refuse to answer his question as they deny the truth or at least refuse to be impacted by the truth.  They are silent.  Jesus is here reframing the same question he asked in Luke 6:9-11.  It is clear that we should be willing to set down our human traditions of lofty religiosity and roll up our sleeves and help someone out on the Sabbath or else it is not a Sabbath that we are honoring, but ourselves.  Clearly Jesus demonstrates that helping someone in need honors the Sabbath, whereas not helping dishonors it.
    v7-11.  Here is a straight forward teaching that we are to not seek honor directly but we should humble ourselves and rely on Jesus and we can then enjoy his glory and we will be transformed into his likeness and we will be partakers of divine glory in due time.  This humility is key to a right response to the law and it means that I will not assert myself as my own savior by my supposedly worthy obedience but I will rightly evaluate my sinful state and fall face first at the foot of the cross.
    v12-14.  Similarly here the teaching is to not honor yourself by inviting to eat with you only people who can return value to you and build you up, but it is better to pour yourself out and be generous in situation where you know that you will not receive repayment on this side of heaven (Prov 19:17) and where you truly are giving of your self to those in need (Luke 6:34-36).  I take this to speak of having a banquet specifically to establish what is now called “social capital”.  This means I have a party and invite the people I want to impress and earn credit with because I know they can help me in the future and so I am setting myself up here by networking and creating relationships that will pay me dividends in the future.  Jesus is teaching that there is only self service and self-exaltation in that and it is a misuse of resources as compared to true mercy that gives for the sake of others.
    v15-24.  Now back to the real banquet where Jesus eating with this Pharisees house.  Jesus responds to a statement about the blessing of those who will eat banquet in heaven by making it clear that people resist this banquet in heaven.  Jesus teaches that none who are invited actually show up.  The problem is their pride and their self-exaltation that makes them believe that what they have going on is more important than attending the wedding supper of the lamb.  What the world is offering is more pleasing or important that Christ.  This is the natural state of man and therefore, none will respond to this general call of the gospel.  I take the compelling of those in the streets to be the effectual call of the Holy Spirit bringing in by grace those whom God has chosen before all time and the only reason they respond is because of his compelling grace that opens their eyes to the truth.  Alternatively, this may be taken to refer to Gentiles being invited in when the Jews refuse and can also be taken as lower class Jews being invited when the proud Pharisees refuse.  The main message is a need for humility and a realization that we must not over value our own situation and our own little world of self.  When I give these options I do not intend to say that they are all correct, but that each could be valid…but only the author’s intended meaning is correct…just hard to say with certainty which that is.
    v25-33.  Picking up on this theme of turning aside from all the distractions of life that would be excuses from coming to the banquet, Jesus here illustrates that even our own direct family must not stop us.  We are to make following Jesus a priority even over our family if we are to be a disciple of Jesus.  The amazing part of it is that this is how we can best serve them anyways…by modeling a devotion to Jesus and teaching them to walk the same path.  From there he explains that there are costs that must be considered if we are to avoid being the thorny soil that chokes out the roots with the cares, riches, and pleasures of this world that contend for our devotion.  The cost of discipleship is a life on earth where we are going to need to strive for Jesus and rely on him to keep us from the temptations and distractions.  We need to be aware that taking Jesus means dropping everything else.
    v34-35.  The fact is that we are a gospel message only when we are finding our satisfaction in Jesus.  Jesus is the true salt when we are abiding in Christ we are made thirsty for God and we are drawn into the kingdom.  Here we are pictured as the salt as we reveal Christ as attractive and praiseworthy and we draw others into the gospel.  But if we allow distractions to take over we will lose our thirst and we will not be a picture of dependance upon and love for Jesus and our life will not be a gospel message to anyone.  This last verse can be an argument for the teaching that a so-called “carnal Christian” might be brought home early by God if they are useless.  Regardless of that argument I can see that my witness can be valuable or worthless and it hinges on by renouncing all for the cause of Christ vs my trying to keep all my little idols and distractions and just add Jesus to my life.  Paul give us a better picture than that in Gal 2:20.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
     The message here from Jesus is to put down self and the seeking of self-advancement and self-exaltation and self-fulfillment in favor of kingdom advancement, Christ exaltation, and serving others in love.  The implication is that life should be ordered in a way that demonstrates this valuing of Christ and it will then be salty and inviting and a worthy message to a dying world.  The significance to me is to remember that my choices and attitudes and priorities and where I place value is the message of my life…not just my words.  The gospel will be attractive and opposite of what the world feeds people (humility and dependence upon Jesus) or it will be the same story as the world (pride and self-esteem) with a religious bow on it and so be completely unattractive and a worthless message.  Who needs Christ to help them make much of themselves?  Jesus is frankly a hindrance to this aim.  I can live in a manner that makes much of Christ and reveals his supremacy or I can reveal my supremacy with a little Jesus added for flavor and thus destroy my witness.

Valuing the message:
This message is valuable because I hear the instructions to humble myself and the reward will be an exaltation that makes much of Christ and not one that makes much of me.  I see value in knowing that the message of my life is polluted by my selfishness and self-service.  I value it because it is practical and helps me know where to spend my money and energy and it is not in building me…but in spending me.

Reflecting on the message:
I need to examine how I use my resources (time, money, prayer, labor, etc.) and consider if I am building myself up or if I am spending myself for the glory of God and the love of others.

Questions to ask:

1. Am I arranging my life to exalt Christ or to build up my reputation?
2. Am I living attached to Jesus with chains and to the world with velcro or the other way around?
3. Am I waiting eagerly for the wedding banquet in heaven?
4. Is my life a message of reliance upon and exalting of Christ or is it about me?
5. Do I often spend my “resources” purely for the good of others and for the gospel of Christ or is it usually for my entertainment, advancement, comfort, or protection?
6. Which banquet am I hosting?  Who is it in honor of?

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!