Day 11: Matthew’s Calling

I strikes me that Jesus tells, not asks, Matthew to follow him. 

 

Earlier in the day Jesus told a paralytic man lying on a mat, “take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (9.2).  The teachers of the law that surrounded Jesus objected to the forgiving of sin and Jesus demonstrated his authority to forgive sins by telling the man, “get up, take your mat and go home” (9.7).  

 

Jesus did not ask the paralytic, “would you like for me to heal your paralysis so you can walk home?”  And Jesus does not ask the tax collecting Matthew, “would you please leave your traitor source of income and live and learn at my feet as my disciple?” 

 

We may prefer being asked, but Jesus doesn’t always ask.  

 

Matthew’s first act as a follower of Jesus was to welcome Jesus home for dinner.  But Matthew did not just feed Jesus; he threw a party to introduce Jesus to his associates.  Interesting first act for a follower.  What does this mean for us as we seek to follow Jesus?     

 

The Pharisees, a group of law-bound Jews, were confused by Jesus, who claimed to be able to forgive sin and heal the broken was eating with sinners and tax collectors and in so doing break social and religious purity rules.  Jesus responds, saying he is a doctor for sinners.  He then tells them to go and learn what Hosea meant when he said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” 

 

How can we go and learn what Hosea meant?  What does it mean that God prefers mercy to sacrifice?  How is this relevant as we serve God and neighbor? 

Day 9: Crossing the Jordan River

The third chapter of Joshua picks up one generation later in the story; only Joshua and Caleb remain from the original slave generation.  This generation had grown up wandering in the desert where they most assuredly heard the stories of their miraculous release from slavery in Egypt. 

Father likely told their sons about the ten plagues that changed Pharaoh’s mind.  Mothers likely told their daughters about the crossing of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army.  Priests likely instructed the people in the worship of God and their responsibility to each other. 

All the while the pillar of cloud during the day, and the pillar of fire during the night reminded every person of the rebellion years before.  Whether it was spoken about loudly or only whispered in hush tones among the people, this new generation knew their choice was to wander lost for a lifetime, or to walk forward and possess their inheritance.

There is a time in all of our lives when we can see with a vivid clarity that the only way to fulfill life is to reach beyond ourselves.  Our culture worships safety but only God can save our soul.  Reaching beyond ourselves feels risky but it’s the safest thing we can do. 

God brought the people through the Red Sea and closed the way behind them.  This protected them from Pharaoh’s army and it prevented them from returning to slavery.  Now God brought them out of the wilderness of their rebellion through the Jordan River and closed the waters after them so there was no going back. 

Some ask why miracles like this aren’t seen today.  I see them all the time.  Not with water but mindsets.  The image of the Hebrew people crossing the Jordan River conveys the reality of redemption, forgiveness and the conversion from a slave’s mindset to a servant’s mindset.  

These are the miracles for which I pray.

Day 8: The people refuse to follow God into the land

The people couldn’t shake the slave mindset.  They even discuss choosing a new leader to take them back to Egypt to be slaves.  The known suffering and danger of slavery was worse for these slaves than the danger of obtaining, keeping, and living in freedom. 

 The Hebrew slaves say they are afraid of dying by the sword but I suggest that living in freedom was really central problem for these slaves.  When they were slaves in Egypt they were responsible only for simple things like making bricks.  But now God was asking them to take possession of a land and populate it with an organized culture that worshipped him alone and followed all his commands.

They had made a covenant with God and now they were going to be responsible to keep it.  Living in freedom does not mean we are free to do whatever we please.

These former slaves were now responsible to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob only and worship him only the way he said (no idols and private worship ceremonies).  They were responsible for their own behavior and not permitted to use God’s name to authorize selfishness.  They were responsible to keep the Sabbath.  They were responsible to give honor to parents.  They were responsible to not murder, commit adultery, steal, falsely accuse others, or covet.

I guess they decided making bricks under treat of violence in Egypt was better than living with the responsibility of living peacefully with God as his people. 

 This slave mindset can hide out in our lives as well.  It may not show up in such obvious ways but lack of responsibility can be addictive and taking it up can be frightening.  Christ paid the price of our spiritual freedom through his death on the cross.  But this freedom does not mean we are free to live as we please.  This freedom means we are free to live as God pleases as his children and as his servants.

 God is patient, loving and forgiving, but we can miss out our entire lives on the fulfilled life if we aren’t willing to pick up the responsibility of truly possessing the freedom God has for us.

Spying out the Promised Land

A few decades ago the concept of self esteem crashed into the psychological and educational world.  The theory was that aggression, promiscuity, and all manner of anti-social behavior were rooted in poor self-esteem.  As a result, schools, psychological institutions and even churches embarked in massive campaigns to improve the beleaguered esteem of people everywhere.  Competition, comparison and absolute performance evaluations were curtailed and effort was the ultimate acheivment.

 

The idea was nice, but the results have been mixed.  Further research in this massive social experiment now suggests self esteem is more complex than whether we feel positive or negative about ourselves.  Rather than discuss esteem in simplistic terms, I believe that the subtleties of our mindset is what matters.  The Hebrew people had a slave mindset and it affected how they looked at the Promised Land and what they were willing to do.  How we view our role in the world becomes our mindset and determines our belief  in whether or not we can make this world a better place.   

 

God created us to have a servant mindset.  A servant mindset possesses a sense of human worth and dignity and extends this to others.  It is able to hear and respond positively to criticism.  It can evaluate a changing world and adapt when needed. It has the capacity to give and receive love, manage anger, and reject the hatred and malice of others.  A servant mindset takes reasonable risks for gain, is willing suffer for the good, and can do both without resentment when things don’t turn out they way they planned.

 

A servant mindset is nurtured in our relationship with God when we love and serve him first and our neigbhors as ourselves.   

 

On the other hand, hyper controlling sociopaths (like the Egyptian slave masters) use to abuse, violence, and absolute disregard for human dignity to create a slave mindset.  Personal dignity and worth is obliterated and abuse comes to be perceived as deserved.  Tragically, this mindset can feel more at home with anger, malice, and hatred than love, charity, and kindness.  The dominance of fear prevents someone with a slave mindset from connecting with others and being a part of community.  This is all the malicious goal of the slave master to keep the slave under his control.   

 

How do you think four hundred years of slavery impacted the Hebrew people’s sense of self?  How could they have gotten rid of their slave mindset?  How can this mindset creep into our lives today and what can we do about it?

Day 5: God provides guidance

Our reading for today jumps forward in the narrative.  Moses has obeyed God and returned to Egypt and Pharaoh, with some coercion, lets the people go.

 

But God doesn’t lead the people on the fastest or quickest road out of Egypt or slavery.  Why?

 

This passage gives us a rare look into the mind of God.  We discover that God knows his people were not ready to travel on the quickest road out of slavery. 

The Exodus of God’s people from slavery in Egypt can be a metaphor for our spiritual growth.  Christ leads us out of slavery to sin and yet, just like the Hebrew people, we can continue to struggle to let go of our slavery to sin.  Growing in God isn’t often easy or quick.

 

This can be frustrating from our perspective, but what about God’s perspective?  What if God knows our growth is a journey and that there are some battles we won’t be ready for until another day? 

Some use God’s mercy and grace as warrants to continue in immaturity and sin.  Scripture condemns such high-handed disobedience.  We can pendulum swing to the other side of this and forget that God’s grace and mercy are for every day of our Christian walk.

 

God appeared to the Hebrew people as a pillar of cloud every day and a pillar of fire every night to be with them and to lead them.  We never get to the place in our spiritual life that we don’t need his presence and leadership.  We don’t get to the place we always have everything together and sin is 100% absent from our lives.  We don’t get to the place where we can do it on our own.

 

We must follow God where he leads because God knows more about our preparedness to grow than we do.  He knows we aren’t ready for certain fights.  He also knows when we are. 

  

Have you every asked God his perspective on your spiritual journey?  Have you ever asked God in what way he would like you to grow today? 

Day 4: Moses angers God with excuses

 

 

Sometimes I wonder at God’s selection process.  I wonder even more at our responses. 

 

Do you find Moses’ continued objections to God’s call surprising?  We might think that Moses would have responded differently given the wonder of the burning bush, the encounter with the God of his ancestors, and the miracles God had given him to perform.  But Moses was still reluctant. 

 

Coincidentally, I have been paying attention to both of the national party conventions over the last couple of weeks and am fascinated by the VP selection process.  Imagine being a fly on the wall when Senator John McCain called Governor Sarah Palin or Senator Barack Obama called Senator Joe Biden.  What would you have done if one of them had called you?  Would you have argued and tried to talk Obama or McCain out of his choice?  Would you have shuffled your feet and played humble?  Would you have asked him to pick another if he told you America needed you on his ticket? 

  

What is our problem when God calls and asks us to reach beyond ourselves and serve him by serving others? 

Moses finally angers God with his excuses.  He informs God that he is not a good choice and then finally just says, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”  This wasn’t a false humility.  This wasn’t a valid objection. 

 

This was a stiff reluctance that is found in many servants.   Indeed, the biography of many of the best servants in history includes a heavy dose of reluctance. 

 

But a  reluctance is not the same as a rejection of the call.  Moses walked the tightrope between reluctance and disobedience with God and God’s anger finally burned hot.  All of Moses’ objections and excuses were stripped away and he stood naked before God. 

 

In spite of this, God’s patience and kindness can be seen in the way he answered Moses.  He provides Moses with a co-leader who helped him speak to the people.  God reminds Moses of the miraculous power he gave him.  God responds firmly and kindly. 

 

Reaching beyond ourselves isn’t always the easy way to live.  While it is human to find an easier way to live, there isn’t actually an easy way to fulfill life.  We all need to have honest moments with God and communicate to him our reluctance, but we need to find ways to do this without crossing the line into disobedience.  We cannot truly live the fulfilled life God designed us to live while rejecting his call.

Day 3: God Sanctifies Moses’ staff

Have you ever had a vibrant experience with God but didn’t know what others would think if you shared it with them?  In Exodus 4, Moses shares with God that he is worried the people will not believe that the God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob actually appeared to him.

God responds to Moses’ concern by giving him the ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.  These miraculous signs pointed to the real miracle that God actually sent and sanctioned him.  Perhaps the people would believe.

How do we process encounters with God today? How do others help and sometimes hurt us the process?  What signs does God give us today to help us and others believe? 

 

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Day 2: Moses asks for the name of God

The conversation continues.  God has asked Moses to return to Egypt and lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land.  Moses has already objected, “Who am I to lead the Hebrew people?” and God has already responded, saying, “I will be with you.” 

 

But Moses isn’t the eager leader.  He continues to be concerned the Hebrew people will not follow him.  It is hard to know for sure if Moses is stalling or if his next objection is genuine.  Either way, it is revealing. 

 

Moses tells God that the title God has given, “I am the God of your fathers” is not enough to convince the Hebrew people to follow him.  Moses asks God for his name that the Hebrew people believe he has really been sent by the God of their fathers. 

 

Did Moses doubt this was the God of his fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? 

 

Did Moses actually not know God’s name?  Was God’s name some sort of secret code that Moses would grant him access into the upper echelons of Hebrew leadership? 

 

Much has been made regarding God’s response.  The Hebrew literally translates, “I AM WHO I AM.”  Is God making a philosophical statement that he is the self-existent one or is he rebuking Moses with a response equivalent to the parental, “because I told you so” or “I brought you into this world…”?

 

I don’t think Moses knew God’s name.  I don’t think the Hebrew people did either.  There is no reason in scripture to believe that their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew it either.  The point here isn’t that they didn’t know God’s name.  The point is that many had forgotten about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the God they served. 

 

But God hadn’t forgotten them. 

 

God remembers us and knows more about what makes us who we are better than we do ourselves.  And he isn’t limited by our ignorance when he calls us.  He tells us what we need to know and we learn along the way because he walks with us as we journey. 

 

How well do we need to know God for him to call? 

Day 1: God Calls Moses

Our story finds Moses on the far side of the desert, a strange place for the son of a people who were brick-making slaves to the Pharaoh in Egypt.  Moses’ birth is an oft told story.  His parents hand crafted an arc made from reeds and placed him in the Nile river to protect him from the Pharaoh’s paranoia and was then found by one of the Pharaoh’s daughters.  She named him “Moses” because his name sounds like the Hebrew word “to draw out” and raised him as her own son.  

 

When Moses grew to be a man, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and he killed the Egyptian.  The story got out and a price was put on Moses’ head.  Moses fled to the desert in Midian and found a well used by shepherds.  At that well he met and protected the daughters of priest named Jethro from the local shepherds and drew water out of the well for them. 

 

Moses married one of those daughters and had a son whose name was the same as the land in which the Hebrew slaves lived in Egypt.  Moses was living as an alien in a foreign land tending a priest’s flock in the desert.  In chapter three, Moses has traveled with the flocks to the far side of the desert and God has Moses exactly where he wanted him. 

 

There is the burning bush.  There is the voice of God calling, “Moses!  Moses!”  Why the far side of the desert?  Why does God say Moses’ name twice?

 

We aren’t very good at listening.  There is something about the far side of the desert in our own lives that helps us attend more closely to God’s voice.  There are times when God calls us to spend time in the desert so that we can hear him more clearly.  There are times when God leads us into the desert so we won’t be distracted when he speaks to us. 

 

God often has to call our names more than once.  I suspect there is more going on here in Moses’ case.  Remember that Moses’ name sounds like the Hebrew word for “draw out.”  God wasn’t just saying Moses’ name, he was starting a conversation about what he wanted Moses to do.  God was calling Moses to return to Egypt to draw out his people from slavery and bring them back to that place and worship him.

 

Moses responds to God by saying “Here I am.”  But upon hearing the details of God’s call he immediately objects saying, “who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?”

 

But it isn’t about who we are.  It is about who God is and what he is about in our world.  God says to us, “I will be with you.” 

 

God’s call resonates deeply with us just as God’s call for Moses to draw his people out of slavery resonated with Moses birth.  God wants to start a conversation with us—perhaps he already has—that is rooted in who he has created us to be, who he is in truth, and what he wants to do in our world.

 

I know God is calling.  Will we participate in the conversation?