Morning Musing: Exodus 13:17-18

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“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, ‘The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.’ So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Think for a minute about the last time you stood at the precipice of a huge task. I remember the first time I sat down at my desk as the new pastor of a church for the first time. The scope of what lay before me was overwhelming. I hardly knew where to begin. Rather than trying to do everything, though, I started with just a few and got those rolling. Then, I moved on to the next things. To put that another way, I didn’t try to set the whole direction for the church at first, I just wrote a sermon. After that I began to broaden my focus. Trying to bite off more than we can chew is a recipe for choking. It’s better to take the things one step at a time. God understands this principle as well. That helps explain where our story goes next. Let’s talk about it this morning.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 13:8-10

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“On that day explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand. Keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Ronald Reagan is famous for making the observation that freedom is never more than a generation away from dying out. His point was that unless we actively inculcate the next generation with a love of American freedom (which is unique in the world), it will not last. It is not a state of affairs that arises naturally, and it will not be maintained without constant and abiding attention. Given recent surveys on the opinions of young people today about various foundational American ideals, I’d say his warning was prescient. Here in Exodus 13, God was in the process of giving the people of Israel their freedom. They were going on a journey to a new homeland where they would be able to live out their freedom to its fullest if they so chose. But He knew that freedom was a tenuous thing and not a natural one. So, one of the things He made clear they needed to do was to pass it on. Let’s talk about this third and most important emphasis of the first part of Exodus 13.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 13:1-2

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“The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Consecrate every firstborn male to me, the firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and domestic animal; it is mine.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Firstborn children – especially firstborn sons – have long held an incredible significance in human cultures around the world. Monarchial societies depended on them to be the next king in the line of royal succession. They are the ones who often carry the weight of continuing the family name. They are looked to as the leader of the family when the previous generation begins to pass on. The expectations of success on them are often high. It’s a lot of weight to bear. As God is framing out some of the instructions for the Passover celebration once the Israelites reach the Promised Land, He gives some instructions regarding the firstborn son of everything in the nation that are a bit challenging to get our heads around. Let’s talk about them.

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Growing Together

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This week we are talking about another of the fundamental nuts and bolts of getting the church right. Like we did a couple of weeks ago, though, this week we talked less and showed more. Today we’re talking about the importance of discipleship in the church. From there – which you can watch in the embedded YouTube video of our service – we experienced together what discipleship in action can look like as we heard and celebrated the stories of our Guatemala mission trip team. Thanks for reading and sharing.

Growing Together

I am not generally well-known for my physique. Unless you happen to be going for scrawny, in which case I am your man. It may not come as much of a surprise to you to learn that over the course of my nearly 41 years of life, I haven’t spent all that much time in a gym. Or it may surprise you…but then we probably need to have a conversation about what muscle looks like, but we can do that another time. Yes, because I haven’t spent more than a few hours in a gym exercising and lifting weights…ever…big, bulging muscles aren’t really my thing. Indeed, if you want to build muscle, you have to work out. Simply wishing yourself strong isn’t going to work. If you want to enjoy the payoff, you have to put in the effort. Well, kind of like we talked about last week, what’s true of the human body is also true of the church. 

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Digging in Deeper: 1 John 2:15-17

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“Do one love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions – is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When filmmakers set about their craft, I am increasingly convinced their primary source material is the stories they grew up with. Having finally been given the opportunity by virtue of position or technology to tell and retell the stories of their childhood in a way that makes them more real, as well as to pass on a love of these stories to the next generation, they take it. This is why superhero and adventure movies generally have long been such a successful genre. Young people love them because those are the kinds of stories we are drawn to naturally as kids. Older people love them because they enjoy seeing the stories they grew up with brought to life on the big screen (and increasingly the small streaming screen). One of the latest Disney offerings is the series, Ahsoka, from the Star Wars universe. By all accounts it has been absolutely fantastic. I wouldn’t know because I haven’t watched any of it yet even though I am most excited to do so. But its release has set me on a journey that will eventually end in my watching the whole thing. This journey has been taking me through another popular entry from the Star Wars franchise which has given me the chance to reflect a bit on the worldview of Star Wars more generally. The intersection of that and the Christian worldview is what I’d like to explore for a bit with you this morning. Let’s dive in.

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