Exodus

Taking things slow and looking at the Bible one verse at a time, one word at a time is incredibly valuable. But just as important is seeing the big picture of each book of the Bible. The goal of this series is to cover the ‘big picture’ meaning of each book of the Bible in 500 words or less.The book of Exodus is named after one of the most memorable events in the Old Testament, the mass departure of Israel from Egyptian slavery through the power of God. Most of us are familiar with the first half of Exodus, but not so much the second. Taken as a whole, Exodus is a powerful tale of two stories.Part 1: God delivers Israel from slaveryWe start with the familiar. Israel had suffered for hundreds of years as slaves in Egypt. Through all their pain and suffering, however,  they were not alone. God knew (Ex. 2:25). God called Moses and sent him to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of slavery, and what followed was the greatest display of God’s power the world had yet seen. Through nine awe and fear inspiring plagues God beat upon the hard heart of Pharaoh. Through it all God’s aim was two fold; to free Israel and to show the Egyptians that he is the Lord (Ex. 7:5). The culmination of God’s deliverance came in the tenth and final plague. Every firstborn in the land of Egypt would die. God would spare Israel, but in order for the wrath of God to pass over them, the blood of a lamb had to be spread over their door posts (Ex. 12). Finally Pharaoh was broken and Israel was free. Though it all God showed his power and he pointed forward his plan to save mankind. Humanity could be free form the curse of death, but it would take the blood of a sacrifice for it happen.Part 2: God shows Israel that they are slaves to sin Around chapter 15 the second story of Exodus starts. The Israelites are no longer slaves in Egypt but everything is not right. The people grumble about food and water, and at Mt. Sinai Israel falls short of God’s desire that, “you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). And so God makes a covenant with Israel, and for nearly twenty chapters, beginning with the ten commandments, Israel is given the law. It’s not until we come to the New Testament that God’s purpose in giving the law becomes clear. Paul tells us that “The law came in the increase the trespass” (Rom. 5:20). God gave the law to show Israel just how sinful they were. Why? Because the Israelites were still slaves. They weren’t in Egypt, there were no more taskmasters, no more brutal labor, but like everyone else the Israelites were still slaves to sin. The deliverance in the first half of Exodus didn’t provide the ultimate freedom that Israel and the rest of humanity needed. There was a greater enemy than Egypt, an enemy in the heart of every person, and to be delivered from this slavery would take an even greater miracle.

Confess your sins to one another

Some of the New Testament’s one another commands sound good to us and, at least in our mind, seem enjoyable to obey. Take the last verse we looked at: Be at peace with one another. Everyone likes the idea of being at peace with one another. But not all one another verses appeal to us as much, and perhaps the most unappealing of them all is James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

There are parts of this command that sound good to us, particularly being healed. There’s something refreshing in that last bit. To get to the enjoyable part, however,  you have to go through the uncomfortable part—confess your sins to one another. Of all the one another verses, perhaps this one in James prompts the most hesitation. No one likes airing their dirty laundry. No one enjoys publicly admitting their sins (whether it is to one person or a group of ten seems not to matter). It’s no surprise that Christians struggle to obey what God says here; but as with all the difficult things God says to us, this command is for our good. And there is no way to bypass the hard work of confessing our sins to one another if we want to be healed. So, let’s take a closer look at what God is saying to us and then think about why we must confess our sins to one another to be healed. What is God commanding us to do?Confess. To confess means to make an admission of wrongdoing and always involves at least three things—a wrongdoing, a heartfelt knowledge that what you have done is indeed wrong, and a person outside of yourself that you admit these things to. Confession cannot exist where one of these three is missing. No wrongdoing means you have nothing to confess. No heartfelt knowledge of your wrong and you fail to see anything to confess. And no person outside of yourself means there is no one to confess your wrongdoing to.Confess sins. James is specific here. He does not leave the idea of confession open; rather we are commanded to confess our sins. There’s a textual variant here that shows through in our English translations. Most English translations use the word sins, while a few use the word faults or transgressions. The reason for the difference is because all the Greek manuscripts do not agree on what word is used here (some use the word for sin with others use the word for transgression). As with the overwhelming majority of textual variants, there is no theological difference either way. Over and over again we see the Greek word for transgression being used as a synonym for sin. Jesus was delivered up for our transgressions (Rom 4:25), the many have died because of Adam’s transgression (Rom 5:15), and through the blood of Jesus we have the forgiveness of our transgressions (Eph. 1:7). Sins and transgressions are the same thing, they are individual acts where we rebel against the God of heaven, choosing to be our own king and making up our own mind about what is good and what is evil rather than submitting to God. This, James says, we are to confess.To one another. Who we confess to seems equally important as the confession itself. Christians are to confess their sins to one another. The word one another does not always mean the body of Christ in the New Testament, but it does here in James. James’ letter is written to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion (James 1:1). Long story short, James is using Old Testament imagery of Israel to refer to followers of Jesus. When James uses the word one another, then, he has in mind a specific group—the church. We’re not given a specific number of Christians we must confess to. Whether we are confessing to one or two or ten isn’t the point. The point is we are confessing to fellow followers of Jesus.Why we confess our sins to one anotherBefore we can go any further we need to make sure we do not misuse what James is saying. The catholic church has used this verse and others to teach that in order to be forgiven of our sins we must confess to an official representative of the church, such as a priest. That’s not at all what James is saying. Confessing my sins to other Christians isn’t about being forgiven by a holy God. If you want to be forgiven by God you must ask God to forgive you, for he is the one all of our sins are ultimately committed against. So confessing our sins to one another is not about securing God’s forgiveness of our sin. Why then do we confess our sins to one another?James tells us: that you may be healed. To be healed means to be restored. Restoration, as it is used here, has nothing to do with your unshakable standing with God (your justification). James is writing to Christians who have already been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus, so restoration in this context has nothing to do with whether or not in the final judgment God will find you guilty or innocent through the blood of Jesus. What then is restoration? I think in the broader context of James it is most likely the act of coming away from our sinful acts. If sin is straying off the narrow path and falling into a hole in the ground then restoration is getting out of the hole and back to the path. (For more on being healed specifically as it relates to the “sickness” James mentions in 5:14 see Andy Bowden’s article here.)We’ve worked through a lot, but we’re finally at the place where the rubber meets the road. God intends to use the confession of our sins to other Christians as a means to pull us out of sin and to steer us away from sin. Let me wrap up this article by giving you two practical ways confessing your sins to another Christian can help you overcome that sin. First, confession brings our sins into the light. The power and allure of sin is always stronger in the darkness. Often we don’t see how foolish and deadly our sin is until we hear an explanation of it come out of our own mouths. But what is more, the power of sin is always stronger when it is secret. The temptations of a secret sin will always pull harder. The hopelessness of a secret sin will always feel deeper. And the lies of a secret sin will always sound more convincing. But something happens to sin when we put it out on the table in front of other Christians. It withers in the light. Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night and been absolutely overwhelmed with a problem in your life? I have. In the night nothing seems clear and everything feels hopeless. It’s amazing how a simple sunrise can change everything. Problems I thought were overwhelming seem so much smaller in the light of day. So it is with sin. When you confess your sins to one another you bring them into the light, and you will see them wither before your eyes.Second, confession allows your brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for you. It’s no mistake that the command to pray for one another comes in the middle of this verse. When a brother or sister hears of your struggle with sin the most natural and compelling thing for them to do is pray. Equally true is that your brothers and sisters cannot pray for your battle against sin if they are not aware of it. James leaves us no room for vague prayers, or to put things in our christinese, James isn’t ok with unspoken prayer requests. Those unspokens are often our way to try and get the benefits of confessing our sins without having to confess them! If you have an unspoken request, go find a Christian and speak it to them. Don’t underestimate the importance of others praying for you. Praying for one another is vitally important in our battle against sin because prayer has great power as it is working (James 5:16-18).I want to wrap this up by asking a simple question. The sins that you struggle with the most, the persistent sin that keeps growing back like the worst kind of weed, do you make a habit of confessing them to other Christians? If your answer is no, then your struggle with that sin will likely not come to an end anytime soon.

Genesis

Taking things slow and looking at the Bible one verse at a time, one word at a time is incredibly valuable. But just as important is seeing the big picture of each book of the Bible. The goal of this series is to cover the ‘big picture’ meaning of each book of the Bible in 500 words or less.The word Genesis means beginning, and that’s exactly what we get in the first book of the Bible. Creation is what comes to mind when most people think about Genesis, but it’s not the only beginning. Genesis also shows us the beginning of sin, the beginning of hope, and the beginning of grace.The beginning of the Universe (Genesis 1-2) In the beginning God created everything; atoms and molecules, water and land, planets and people. Everything we know is dependent on God, and so the creation account guards us from mistaking the created for the creator. The first beginning in Genesis leads us to someone outside ourselves, outside creation. He alone has the right to direct our lives, and he alone is worthy of worship.The beginning of Sin (Genesis 3-6)The second beginning in Genesis is the beginning of sin. Adam and Eve rebel against God in Genesis 3, choosing to rule their own lives instead of living under the rule of God. It doesn’t take long for sin’s devastating effects to work through the entire earth. Humanity is cut off from God as Adam and Eve are thrown out of the garden. Murder quickly follows, and one way or another, every human being dies (Gen. 5). In short time sin spreads so much that, “every intention of the thoughts of (humanity’s) heart was only evil continually.”The beginning of Hope (Genesis 7-50)In chapter seven things start to change. First, there’s a worldwide flood. God shows us that sin brings his judgement, and for a moment all hope is lost. But in the last 43 chapters of Genesis, in one story after another, God gives hope. Not everyone is destroyed in the flood. Noah survives, and that gives hope that there may be a way to be saved from death and judgement. Hope takes on more form when we meet Abraham. God makes a covenant with Abraham and promises to bless all the families of the earth through him. Abraham believes what God says and is counted righteous—it suddenly looks like there’s a way for God to undo sin. We see the blessing play out in the life of Jacob. Jacob is a trickster, a liar and a thief, a sinner. And yet somehow Joseph is loved and blessed by God. But how? Genesis ends with a big hint of how this hope works. Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons, is rejected by his own brothers, sold into slavery and taken to Egypt. Years later Jospeh became an important leader in Egypt and he finds his brothers at his feet. He can kill them or save them. He chose the latter. How it all works isn’t clear in Genesis, but three thing are there. First, there is hope for sinners. Second, there is a hint in Gen. 3:16 and the story of Joseph that we will somehow be saved by one of our own. And third, however our salvation will work out, we don’t deserve it. It is by grace.

Be at Peace with One Another

This is one in a series of articles that looks at the another passages in the New Testament. There are 47 ‘one another’ verses in the New Testament that give instructions to the church. It is no small thing that the New Testament puts so much emphasis on the interrelationships of the body of Christ. Christians are made to live in community with each other, and God has so ordered the community that we are mutually dependent on one another. It’s no surprise then that thirteen one another verses deal with the unity of the church.The first one another verse in the New Testament is found in Mark 9:50, where Jesus commands his disciples to be at peace with one another.

Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

Let’s start by focusing in on the last part of verse 50: Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. Let me make four observations.This is not a suggestionThere are two commands in the last bit of verse 50: have salt and be at peace. These are not suggestions. Jesus, the Kings of the universe, commands his followers to have salt (whatever that means), and to be at peace. If we are followers of Jesus we can’t dismiss commands like these. That means I can never be content with a lack of peace in the body of Christ. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Paul’s exhortation extends to all those we live with. How much more then should we be concerned about the peace between ourselves and fellow believers. We cannot sleep on this. Let me give one example of where I’ve seen this go wrong. When there is a lack of peace between people in a particular church, whether it’s between two individuals, or two larger groups, or an individual and the leadership of a church, the most common and consistent response I’ve seen is for people to leave the church. Instead of pursuing peace with one another people pursue another church. It may feel like peace because everyone is removed from tension and hostility, but it’s certainly not being at peace with one another. There’s no doubt moving—or having people removed if you can—is the easier option, but it’s simply not the option Jesus gave us.The aim is peace“And be at peace with one another.” That’s the goal of this last section in Mark 50. Jesus want’s peace to reign in the church. To be at peace carries the idea of being reconciled. It makes sense that Jesus would want us to live lives that are reconciled to one another since his life, death, and resurrection reconcile us to God. Jesus, through his death, makes peace between sinful people and a holy God (Col. 1:20). The expectation is that, just as we have been reconciled to God and are at peace with him, so we will be reconciled to one another and be at peace with the church. There are thousands of things that can cause rifts and divisions within the church. Our personal preferences (think music, decor, and the like), our opinions on tertiary theological matters (I once had a man leave our church because I didn’t agree with his particular interpretation of Revelation), and very often our personalities. The aim, in the face of every division, is to be reconciled.The focus is the churchI’ve hinted at this above, but let me make it blunt—this is a command given to the church. The audience who heard this command, the people who made up the ’one another’ group, were professing followers of Jesus. I say this because there are times when the church simply cannot be at peace with the world. When it is possible, we should do everything we can on our end to be at peace with those outside the body of Christ, but there are times where there simply cannot be peace between the church and the world. There are some divisions that can only be remedied by the blood of Jesus, and apart from the transforming work of God’s grace, we will simply not have peace in every area with those who are not followers of Jesus. It’s important to point this out, and to keep it in mind as we look at the other one another passages, because we often see people taking the one another verses and applying them broadly to all humanity. That is not what the Bible has in mind in these one another passages. They are given to the church, and they can only be fulfilled by the church.The key is to have salt in ourselvesIf you want peace in the body, then you have to be salty. That’s right, if you want to experience reconciliation between you and another Christian both of you have to get salty. It’s ironic that today this phrase means the exact opposite of what Jesus intended. When you hear someone take about getting salty today they mean getting angry or mouthy with someone. Shocker: that’s not the key to peace in the church. So what did Jesus mean when he said have salt in yourself? In the lead up to verse 50 Jesus called his followers to radical sacrifice: cut off you hand, cut off your foot, tear out your eye if they cause you to sin. Like virtually every teaching in Christian history I don’t think Jesus was being literal here (otherwise every Christian would be without feet, hands, or eyes—not to mention any other part of ourselves we sin with!). But Jesus was seriously calling us to radical sacrifice; nothing you have is so precious that it’s worth keeping if it will keep you out of the kingdom. Nothing you have is so good that it’s worth keeping if it leads you into sin, so willingly sacrifice the things that keep you from following Jesus. In verse 49 we see fire and salt connected. Interestingly, both fire and salt were important in the Old Testament sacrificial system. Burnt offerings were to be completely consumed by fire, creating a pleasing aroma to God (Lev. 1). Additionally, sacrifices had to be seasoned with salt (Lev. 2:13). We see these two some elements come up in Jesus' teaching, right after he’s called us to radical sacrifice. Putting all that together, I think when Jesus tells us to be salty he’s telling us to sacrifice things that cause sin in our lives. Having salt in ourselves is another way of saying, “live a holy life.”That’s important for us to see. Any division in the body of Christ can ultimately be connected back to our sin. Pride that demands we have things our way. Puffed up knowledge that asserts we know what’s best. Selfishness that puts our brothers and sisters needs behind our own. You get the idea. And don’t be so quick to take the high road. Chances are, if you're not at peace with another Christian you're thinking about their sin right now. There’s a little part of you that’s pumping it’s fist, saying I knew it was their fault. But it always takes two to tango. It’s your own sin that caused you to respond however you have rather than make whatever sacrifices are necessary to be at peace. The reality is, when there’s no peace both parties are almost always to blame.We need peace in the body of Christ. I’m certain of that because our King commands us to pursue it. Get salty, make sacrifices to put your sin to death, and be at peace. If you’re not at peace with someone today, pray and ask God to show you what sin in your heart is keeping you from reconciling. At the same time, lovingly pray for your brother or sister in Christ that God would show them the same thing. Then do something! Don’t sit in a staring contest waiting for the other person to blink. Get salty, get up and go make peace. The greatest thing about being salty is that it both corrects and prevents division. That means no matter where we are, lots of division or none, we must pursue the salt of sacrifice toward a holy life to keep division at bay. Church be holy, and be at peace.