SE060709
MOSES
4. FEEL THE CHANGE
Did you ever say prayer before meal times growing up? We said this prayer, “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food, amen.” We used to run through that rote prayer like it was a race. It never meant anything to me, but I didn’t know back then what I know now: Behind those words, “God is Great, God is Good” is one of the most far reaching, profound moments in human history.
It all happened with Moses, when, after the exciting events of the Jew’s escape from Egypt and their dash through the Red Sea, they come to Mount Sinai. This is called the Mountain of God because it’s the place that Moses received the 10 commandments. And it’s the place scholars have said the third great stage of human religious development happened.
But, to understand the THIRD stage in religious development, you have to understand the first two so let’s back up.
FIRST STAGE: AWE.
The first stage is when early man feels AWE. That is, a sense of a supernatural spirit or spirits haunting the universe. This is universal around the world. Every human that ever lived has gone through this stage. You’ve felt it when you feel a strange presence in your house, or when you get that shrinking feeling in the woods, or even in the presence of a ghost.
Nothing can be more certain than that from the beginning of history, human beings felt the world is haunted by spiritual forces. And these gods were feared and held in awe and it was the job of religion to manipulate them.
By the time the Jews are coming out of slavery, each nation or tribe has it’s own gods and they’ve associated these spiritual forces with certain territories where these gods wield influence. But they must be appeased and appeasement plays right along with awe and dread, obviously.
Now, is this revelation of knowledge? Isn’t this universal human condition a proof that a spiritual realm exists? Any yet, some would try to explain it away.
- Maybe people feel this sort of awe and spiritual dread because the world is a dangerous place and it’s only natural that we extrapolate that fear into the world of the spirit.
o But you just assumed the thing you’re trying to explain! Why would we extrapolate to something that doesn’t exist? If I’m afraid of real things, like tigers, that makes sense because they can eat me. If I fear ghosts, that makes no sense, because no ghost ever ate a man. Why did we start to fear dead people, when dead people are surely the least dangerous kinds of people!
And yet, nothing is more certain than that we did start to fear beings and powers from another realm. That’s the first stage of religious development. And I say it must be revelation because every human culture made this step and every human culture continues to feel it, no matter how backward or advanced we are.
So catch this: as far as they would know at that point, the Jew’s might have thought their God, Yahweh was probably a lot like the other gods of their neighbors, mysterious, a bit fickle, invisible, awesome, powerful, but not ALL powerful.
AND, there’s no reason to think they assumed this POWER was completely morally good either. Most of the time, if left to ourselves, humans will tend to think of the Spiritual POWER as beyond good and evil. That’s the way it usually is in pure paganism and in pantheism, right?
In fact, usually the gods are just like us except that they are awesome. Like Zeus. He sometimes lies, sometimes sleeps around on his wives, sometimes capriciously zaps you because he doesn’t like your haircut.
SECOND STAGE: MORALITY
But this brings us to the second great development: MORALITY. In all human history, every group acknowledges some kind of morality. Meaning, they feel toward some behaviors, “I OUGHT TO DO THAT” and toward others, “I OUGHT NOT TO DO THAT.” And again, this feeling is a complete jump from our actual experience. So it must be revelation of truth from outside.
Now, again, you might protest and say, there’s a perfectly sound physical explanation for morality, “people developed morality because they wanted certain things, so that became ‘right’. Or they felt they were forced to do certain things, so that became ‘right’. Or they felt they would be punished if I don’t do certain things.” Well, you can shuffle those words around all day long, but they don’t explain morality because morality is what you feel you ought to do,
- DESPITE what I want
- DESPITE what I’m forced to do
- DESPITE what I may be punished for
NO MIXING
So think about these two stages of religious development: AWE and MORALITY. What’s wild if you study this is that they might exist in many cultures for centuries and never be connected. The Greeks stoic philosophers talked about morality all the time, but they rarely connected it to the gods. And think of how pagan worship of the gods rarely cared much about moral behavior, as is evidenced by the horrible things often done to appease those gods.
So you have examples of
- Non-religious moralism and
- Non-moral religion.
And Allen Creek, is it so different today? In the New Age Movement for example, there is a great concern for the magical powers of the spiritual realm but very little belief in moral absolutes. In fact, in growing numbers people are accepting a sort of paganism where we worship the gods without worrying about good and evil. Just look at the growing interest in angels and Wicca and the occult.
High spiritually, low morality.
But, the opposite is also true. In some religions, there's a high degree of concern for morality but very little fear of God. Modern Secular humanists have a rabid concern for their own integrity, yet they believe that they'll never have to answer to a holy God someday.
High morality, low spirituality.
You see people tuning in to one or the other of these religious insights everywhere you go. A while back, I met two guys within the span of one week. One was very “spiritual” in that he attended church, was an exuberant worshiper. But he had no concern for sexual morality and walked the edge of legality in his business dealings. Meanwhile, the other guy was a sort of in your face atheist with zero emotion (we joked that he might be Vulcan) and yet a firm dedication to keeping his promises, especially his marriage vows.
- One was an obscene sort of parody of religious play acting
- The other was a cold, sad, self righteousness.
THIRD STAGE God IS GREAT, God IS GOOD:
But on day this peculiar thing happened: a THIRD stage of religious development. That is the moment at Sinai: when Moses realized that
- the POWER to which we all feel awe and dread IS
- the GUARDIAN of the moral law which makes me feel obligated to act this way or that.
And why did Moses bring these two ideas together? He wasn’t forced to by some reason known to experience or science.
- The universe that the Powers inhabit is cold, wasteful, full of death and destruction, injustice and power mongering and ruthlessness.
- But the Moral Law tells us to behave EXACTLY the opposite of that. Why would we ever bring them together? Moses did.
You can’t say, “wish fulfillment” because putting the guilt inducing moral law into the hands of a mysterious Spirit with untold powers fulfills no one’s wishes! Oh, that’s just what I want, is not only to feel guilty, but to feel that WHATEVER makes me feel guilty is also able to punish me for it.
Not one of my top wishes!
THE JEWS PUT IT TOGETHER
So, understand the significance of what’s happening at Mount Sinai as the Jews are basically introduced to their God for the first time. This tribe, alone among the people’s of the world, directly, and unambiguously made the bold leap into the third stage of religious development.
Two months after they came through the Red Sea, Moses brought them to a mountain where he had first got his vision from the Lord about rescuing the people. And at that mountain, there was smoke and fire – talk about engendering feelings of AWE! This only confirmed their suspicion that nature was haunted by a great Presence Who came to them at this mountain in thunder as the earth shook. The Bible says:
Ex 19:16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.
This is the AWE I’m speaking of. Obviously they had seen thunder and lightning before… but this is more than fear. This is a holy dread. Wonder. Awe. They are sensing that Presence that haunts the world is PRESENT with them now. And they are terrified.
But now, what happens? What happens next is a development in the history of religion, that literally changed the world.
Ex 19:25-20:2 So Moses went down to the people and told them. And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” And then God instructed the people as follows… [and what followed were the infamous the 10 commandments.]
This is so cliché it’s become a joke in a Mel Brooks, but friends it was through Moses that the God of Gods was first identified as the Keeper of the Moral Law. As CS Lewis says:
If this connection is more than luck or chance it may be revelation. And if revelation, then it is most really and truly in Abraham that all people shall be blessed, for it was the Jews [through their leader Moses] who fully and unambiguously identified the awful Presence haunting black mountain-tops and thunderclouds, with the Righteous Lord, who loveth righteousness.
There’s a fourth strand of religious development that Dan will talk about next week, but just let that soak in for now. God is Great, God is Good. No wonder Moses taught them a new song:
Ex 15:11 “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you — majestic in holiness, working wonders.”
And those The 10 commandments that came down from the Mountain that day – God’s top ten list – says to the world in no uncertain terms:
God IS GREAT, AND God IS GOOD.
Some of you maybe thought it was one or the other. But it’s both. Therefore, any behavior that conforms to God’s good character is right – absolutely right. And any behavior that does not conform to God’s good character is wrong and creates separation from him.
But who talks like that these days? No one. Polls say that over 70% of all Americans including those in the church do not believe that morals are absolute and fixed. We would rather be more flexible. The God of Sinai seems too rigid to us, too inflexible, too harsh. But because of that pesky moral code inside us, most of us would never condone moral anarchy.
LAW OF LOVE
So what moral code will we live by, if not the 10 commandments of Moses? I’ll tell you what, because many people have said it to me:
I just think one rule is absolute, Rick and that’s LOVE.
In fact, the Bible says:
Ro 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The only problem is this: how are you going to define “LOVE”? What if someone says:
- “I think it’s loving to my family to kill my neighbor’s dog to keep it from incessantly barking!” Or
- “I think it’s loving to have sex with this grieving widow to comfort her.” Or
- “I think it’s loving to divorce my spouse because he’s lazy and this might motivate him.”
- I think it’s loving to lie about this thing to make people feel better.
Don’t we need an objective standard to help us define loving behavior? How do YOU define love? In your gut? I turn to Jesus. And Jesus turned people to God’s Moral Law, the commandments. There we find practical definitions for how love ought to be lived out. Here they are:
- COMMANDMENT ONE: Is God number one in my priorities, the one I love the most?
- COMMANDMENT TWO: Do I In my love self, stuff, sex or appetite more than God?
- COMMANDMENT THREE: Is my relationship with God, flippant, callous, manipulative, in my words and attitudes or respectful and reverent?
- COMMANDMENT FOUR: Is my life management balanced, trusting in God, with rhythms of rest?
- COMMANDMENT FIVE: Do I love parents and authority, through respect, care, submission?
- COMMANDMENT SIX: Do I love others by promoting their life, or is life cheap, does hate mar the image of God I see in others?
- COMMANDMENT SEVEN: Do I love my spouse and my kids and my society by focusing my sexuality on one person for a lifetime?
- COMMANDMENT EIGHT: Do I harm my neighbor by bending truth? Gossip, slander; listening to gossip or slander?
- COMMANDMENT NINE: Do I harm society by taking what doesn’t belong to me because I think I deserve it?
- COMMANDMENT TEN: In my heart, am I longing for what I don’t have and grasping for things without trusting God?
Friends, these values are not fads with an expiration date on them. They are not feelings. They are actions, dictated directly to Moses by God 3500 years ago. And they forever define the behaviors that are truly LOVING – that is, truly in keeping with the character of the God who haunts the Universe and made it.
PREAMBLE
But most of us not only have never committed our lives to DOING the 10 commandments, we can’t even name them all! Why not? I think I know. It’s because we have a pretty bleak feeling about “The Rules”.
I mean, most people hear “rules” and they don’t hear “love” do they? Author Ron Mehl says “they hear the clank of chains and the rattle of padlocks.” They hear God saying, “you mess with me, you step out of bounds, and I’ll fry you like a mosquito on a halogen lamp bulb.” It’s a familiar line:
“God is a prude, God is a killjoy, God is a harsh old geezer with a long gray beard and what really ticks God off is if he sees someone having fun.”
You’ll see it that way every time, Until you see the true intent behind the RULES. And that intent was revealed by God to Moses before he ever gave the rules. The day before God reveals the 10 commandments, he says something we all should understand:
Ex19:3‑6: Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The LORD called out to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Hear God’s heart in those words! He’s saying,
Moses, before you go before the people with these commandments, make sure, before anything else, that you remind them that I bore them on eagles wings. Remind them: they are precious to me.”
You see God wants you to know something:
That GRACE precedes OBEDIENCE.
That his loving initiation to save his lost people always precedes his instructions for how not to get lost in the first place.
He wants us to know that he loved us before we deserved it, before we sought to love him in return.
God says,
do you remember, I saw you when you were living in slavery, and abused and oppressed and I was watching you and I stepped in to save you. Do you remember? I carried you on eagles wings.
EAGLE’S WINGS
Often eagles’ nests are perched on 2-5000 foot cliffs. When a little eaglet first gets kicked out of the nest, he goes into a free-fall; he flails and beats at the air usually without success until fatigue renders him almost totally limp. Then just before falling to a certain death, the father eagle swoops down and catches the young eaglet and returns him to the nest. This stage is repeated over and over again until the young eaglet can fly for himself.
What a picture! I mean some of us Christians still remember the day when we woke up to the free fall we were in, living outside of God’s love, wondering if he was real, reaping the hard consequences of living life outside God’s top ten list. And what happened?
Jesus Christ swooped in and picked us up and said I’d like to save you from the path you’re on. I’d like to take your heavy load and carry it myself. I’d like to love you if you’ll let me. And frankly we weren’t that lovable really. But that’s why the Bible says,
“God shows his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” Romans 5:8
That’s not just with Jesus, it’s a pattern with God throughout the Bible. God says,
when you consider these commandments, know that they rest on the backdrop of my saving work in your life. Before Mt. Sinai, there was the Red Sea. Before the Holy Spirit came to fill you and empower you for a new kind of living, Christ died for you. I have done miraculous things to rescue you because you are my precious possession. Now as my rescued children, I want to help you out with these rules.
You see, God’s Commandments not only are preceded by grace, they ARE grace. How so? Because they are about
- protection and
- help and
- safety and
- prosperity.
CONCLUSION:
Some of you need to get past the chip you have on your shoulder about rules and authority. You need to hear God saying:
my child, I love you, so hear me when I say, here is the path that works. Do this and things will go better. You really can’t break these laws but they will break you, if you don’t heed them. You’re my precious possession, I bore you on eagles wings – so with my power, heed my instruction and live!
