The God Text

 

June 27, 2021               NOTES NOT EDITED
A God Text
Exodus 34:29-35

SIS—God has a text message that will radically change your life.

 This morning we are going to go “way, way back” in time.  We are going to go back to the Holy Mountain of Sinai and examine the first time a Person wrote a message on a tablet (actually second but I’ll explain that later).

According to one industry expert, “Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”; he noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. [Now], on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.  According to IBM, the build out of the “internet of things” will lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours.

We have lived in the “digital age” for decades now. We take calls and texts on our watches, and watch movies on our electronic tablets.  Most of the information we consume on these “electronic tablets” is mostly useless noise.

Long ago, however, God sent a text to humanity on “tablets of stone.” Moses stood in the very presence of God and received this “text” we call the Ten Commandments soon after the Israelites were delivered from bondage in.  This was actually the second version of the “Text of Ten.”  The first roll-out, or beta version, didn’t work out.  The original tablets were smashed because of a wicked party the Israelites decided to have while their leader, Moses, was up on the Mountain meeting with God.  Upon returning to the camp and seeing the idolatrous celebration, Moses smashed the “tablets” in righteous indignation (Ex. 32:15-19).  God’s wrath was about to fall on the idolatrous nation but Moses interceded and God relented.  Moses would return to the mountain and get the “updated text on a new set of tablets.”  This time, Moses descends with “tablets in hand containing the most important “text message” ever sent.

We pick up the story at that point.  EXODUS 34:29-35 [READ]

The Bible, represented in our text by the Two Tablets of Ten Commandments, is “God’s Text.”  It is as important today—even more so—than at any time in human history.  Though we are not on the Sinai Peninsula, nor have we climbed the Holy Mountain, we can experience God in the same life-altering, life changing way that Moses did.  God has sent us a “text message” so to speak.  We call that “text message,” the Bible.  The Apostle John describes the power of “God’s Text” (Jn. 6:63).: 

The Spirit  is the One who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken [texted]  to you are spirit and are life 

Today, you can experience an encounter with God through His text, the Bible that will radically and eternally transform your life in the very same way an encounter with God radically transformed the life of Moses. 

There are three components to that “ God’s Text Message” that will radically change your life.

1.  You must SEEK God’s Presence Passionately  (Ex. 33:12-18)

Exodus 33:12–18 (CSB)  ¹² Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.’ ¹³ Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.”

v13:  “please.”  [נָא na]:  beg, plead, implore 

Moses was passionate—even desperate—about seeking God’s Presence and anointing on his life.  In fact, Moses was “desperate” for a life-changing, day-to-day, everlasting encounter with God.  Moses had been up and down the Holy Mountain of Sinai several times.  Now, Moses was meeting with God in a special “tent.” 

 ¹⁴ And he [God] replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ “If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here.

Here’s a real problem with Christianity in America:  we are not desperate for God’s Presence in our lives.  Oh, we don’t want His “curse”; we crave His blessing—we just don’t want His Presence. We don’t want the Light of His glory shining on the filth of our lives.

¹⁶ How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.” ¹⁷ The Lord answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.”

Notice the word, “distinguished by this [God’s favor] from all other people.”  For well over 40 years, the church has tried to look like the world so that the world would feel comfortable in our services—they call this the “seeker-driven model.” Giant churches were built on this model—megachurches.  Yet, in this same period of time church membership and attendance has declined.  70% from 1937-1976.  50% in 2018 and continues to decline.

Maybe trying to make church “comfortable” for worldly people instead of “convicting” isn’t actually working.  Basically, polls show that the behavior of church-goers versus non-church goers in regard to what we watch, how we talk, how we educate our children, or nearly any other measure—church-goers are not “distinguished” from nonchurch people.  We have a “Christianity without Christ-likeness.” 

We lack any real desire for regular, radical, life-transforming communion with Almighty God.  Not so, Moses.

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Please, [נָא na, beg, plead, implore]  let me see your glory.”

Now, when I am speaking of “seeking God,” I am not talking about seeking to be “saved.”  The Bible is clear in that regard. Romans 3:11–12^(CSB)

¹¹ There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. ¹² All have turned away.”

Right now, if you are not saved, but you feel something tugging at your heart, pulling you toward God, it is God’s sovereign grace—He is “seeking you.”  If you do not harden your heart and ignore God’s calling, you can be saved. I’ll say more about this at the end of this message.

As I said, Moses was passionate about seeking God. Moses wanted to be as close to God as he was to his own skin.  So close, in fact, it radically altered the look of His skin, as we will see in a moment. 

Most people, even if they do get saved, never get to this point of “passionate desperation” in seeking an on-going encounter with God.  Many, many people get just close enough to God to gain eternal life, but not much more.  If you are not “desperately seeking Jesus,” you are not going to experience the kind of radical transformation Moses experienced.  You may get “stirred from time to time, but you never really get changed!”

In a few centuries from the time of Exodus, the Nation of Israel will fall into absolute chaos and immorality—so much so that God will allow the pagan Babylonians to totally smash Jerusalem and take the Jews into slavery for 70 years.  Israel’s prophets warned the people for many years to “seek God and abandon their worldliness” or face judgment.  Israel ignored God’s messengers and so they would feel God’s wrath through the wicked Babylonians.  Jeremiah came on the scene right before the exile to Babylonia.  His message contains dome and despair, so much so that Jeremiah is called the “weeping prophet.”  But, Jeremiah knew that God would not abandon His people.  Jeremiah knew that when the Israelites got desperate enough for God and began to seek Him passionately, then God would respond and deliver them back into their land.  Jeremiah 29:13 says, 

 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 

The word for “seek” [ בָּקַשׁ baqash] can be translated, “beg.”  You could say, “You will beg for me.”  This is the same idea as the word, “na,” used by Moses. There is a sense of urgency in seeking, even to the point of desperation. 

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount described this type of “seeking” as “hungering and thirsting for righteousness.”  Anything less than earnestly seeking God will result in frustration, and even failure.  Augustine pointed out, and we should listen, “My soul is restless until I find rest in thee.”  Radical blessing comes from a radical transformation when we radically seek an encounter with God.

2.  Expect this encounter to CHANGE you (v29)

²⁹ As Moses descended from Mount Sinai—with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain—he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord.

The great Italian artist, Michaelangelo produced a magnificent sculpture of Moses with two very prominent—and unique features.  Moses has two “horns” protruding from his head.  This is a mistranslation of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible which was the Bible in use in Michaelangelo’s time.  The word for “shone, or shine” is qāran (קָרַן ).  In the Hiphil Stem of the Hebrew it can me “to have horns.” Here it is in the Qal Stem, and should be translated something like, “shooting out blinding rays of light.”

In many ways this is a pivotal verse in the Bible.  It sums up in just a few words what “salvation” is all about.  Salvation brings about a spiritual transformation that has material manifestations.  This is such an important concept that I want to repeat it—plus, I was sort of blown away by the profundity of it when it popped into my head-- Salvation brings about a spiritual transformation that has material manifestations. 

I want to dispel the myth that Christianity is all about “pie in the sky in the sweet by and by.”  I believe in heaven after we die.  I believe in and hope for a land of bliss in which there are “no more tears, no more pain, and no more death.”  Yes!  I believe in “pie in the sky in the sweet by and by.”  But, I also believe in having a slice of that pie right here, right now.  Eternal life begins when we are born-again, not when we die. 

I want to dispel the myth that salvation is only spiritual, or that faith is only an idea.  Any salvation that is genuine salvation will always result in some “measurable, material” change.  In the case of Moses, there was the added, quantifiable aspect of the “glow on his face.”  But, with every one that it genuinely saved, there will be some evidence of that faith that one can measure in a material way. 

Several years ago the Peanuts comic strip had Lucy and Charlie Brown practicing football. Lucy would hold the ball so that Charlie Brown could kick it. But every time Charlie Brown tried kicking the ball, Lucy would pick up the ball at the last second, and Charlie Brown would fall flat on his back. One day, Lucy was holding the ball, but Charlie Brown would not kick it. Lucy said “Please?” But Charlie Brown said, "No! Every time I try to kick it, you pull it away and I fall on my back." They argued back and forth for the longest time. Finally, Lucy says “Charlie Brown, I have treated you so badly over the years. But I’ve seen the error of my ways! I was wrong. Won’t you please give me another chance?"  Charlie Brown felt bad for her. He said "Of course, I’ll give you another chance." He steps back. He runs toward the ball. At the last second, Lucy picks up the ball and Charlie Brown falls flat on his back. Lucy walks over to him and says "Recognizing your faults and actually changing your ways are two different things, Charlie Brown!" 

When you truly get into God’s Presence on a regular basis your life will be radically changed—both inside and out.  If nothing changes in your outward life, it is doubtful any change took place in your heart.

So many are content with a “feel-good- but-do-nothing-faith” that is foreign to the faith of the Bible.  In fact, one young musician put this into a song (Lonny Wolfe):

But this time Lord change me let the work begin just now,
this time Lord change me please change me some how,
this time Lord change me let my life be rearranged,
For I'm so tired of being stirred but not being changed. 

So, many people go up the mountain of church on Sunday morning but when they come down on Monday—nothing has changed.

Moses truly encountered God on the Mountain of Worship.  It so radically changed him that “rays of light shout out from his face.”  So spectacular was this change that verse 30 says,

³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone!  They were afraid to come near him. 

Moses met God and everyone knew he met God.  There was no doubt about. The love of God was written all over Moses’ face.

Spending time radically changed Moses to such a degree as it was unmistakably evident to all who saw Moses.  The evidence of a saved soul is a changed life—not a perfect life, but a radically changed life.  Change does not equal PERFECTION, it equals PROGRESS. 

Moses desperately sought a relationship with God.  That relationship unmistakably changed Moses.  But, it wasn’t a “one and done” proposition.  You must . . .

3. Keep Moving up and down the mountain (vv 34-35)

Look at verse 33-34:   ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.  ³⁴ But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,  ³⁵ and the Israelites would see that Moses’ face  was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.

Notice the pattern of piety and holiness in Moses’ life.  Up the mountain to commune with God and back down the mountain to communicate God’s message to the people.  True Christianity is a consistent pattern of moving between the mountaintop and the marketplace.  So many people love to spend time on the mountain with God but never seem to connect with people in the marketplace. 

This leads to a stagnant, even dead, Christianity. 

Godliness is a matter of constant motion, perpetual progress or as the beloved pastor said, “Holiness is a long obedience in the same  direction” (Peterson).   If you want to be radically changed to the point of making a radical difference in life you must constant move between meeting with God on the mountain of worship and connecting with people in the marketplace of ministry.

I love to say more about that “veil thing,” but that is really not the point of the passage.  Paul uses that veil idea and writes a complete sermon around it in 2Corinthians 3.  I just want at this point to focus on the movement of Moses from the mountaintop to the marketplace.

Moses was in constant motion. He went up and down the “holy mountain” many times to meet with God—at least 8 times recorded in Exodus 19-34.  He would climb the Mountain to meet with God and then come down to share God’s truth with the people.  A godly life requires a healthy balance of living between the spiritual and the material world.  A balance between worship and work.  A balance between the mountain and the marketplace.  Theologians refer to this as a balance between orthodoxy (right doctrine) and orthopraxy (right practice). 

A godly life strikes a balance between individual devotion and community participation—private devotions and public service, or mountain-top experiences and valley expressions.  Let me say that again so you can get it into your notes:  A godly life strikes a balance between individual devotion and community participation—private devotions and public service, or mountain-top experiences and marketplace expressions. 

It is important to “come to church,” but it is also important—even more so—to “go into the world.”  Here’s how one preacher expresses this idea:  “If we focus only on God, we’ll miss out on the important mission of serving a world in need.  If we focus only on people, we’ll miss the glory of God that brings inspiration and hope into the middle of human life.”

We get “text messages” all the time on our phones and on our tablets.  The social media meme reminds us:  “Moses was the first to download data from the cloud.”  The Bible is God’s “Text Message” to each of us to show us His Inexpressible Glory and to offer us His Immeasurable grace.

God has a text message that will radically change your life.

[Taking out my phone say, “Excuse, I have a text message from God.”]

The Art of Godliness

 

June 20, 2021               NOTES NOT EDITED
The Art of Godliness
Proverbs 3:1-12

SIS—Being a successful father requires the same virtue as being a successful anything:  make it your goal to be more godly and God has made it His responsibility to make you more prosperous.

In 1982 Bruce Feirstein  published a runaway best-seller titled, “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche”  Though the book was intended as humor it also addressed a growing problem in American culture:  the blurring of gender roles, particularly by extreme feminists.  Today, we still see an attack on “gender,” especially maleness, but it is no longer just the feminists pushing the issue—it is Congress! 

That was 39 years ago! I wonder what the author of that book would think today with “sex change operations,” men playing women sports, or calling mother’s “birthing parents?”  I wonder what They would make of Bruce Jenner running for Governor in California as a woman? 

The attack on manhood has become the attack on gender altogether. Society has gone nuts. 39 years ago the debate was the difference between a “quiche eater and a real man.”  Today, the debate is whether there is even such a thing as man or woman.

Consider the difference between a “quiche eater and a real man” in 1982.  In 1982 Feirstein asked the question:  “How many real men does it take to change a light bulb?  Answer:  “None! Real men aren’t scared of the dark.”

According to Feirstein there are three things you will never find in a “real man’s pocket.”  1.  Lip balm.  2. Breath mints.  3 Opera tickets.

Feirstein’s book is a bit irreverent to say the least but it makes the point that being a “real” man means more than simply male chromosomes.  In 1982 society tried to “feminize” men so they could get in touch with their inner woman.  Today, society seeks to erase the idea of a man altogether (and the idea of gender along with it).

The Bible describes a “real man, or a real father.”  The Bible describes “real success” in any endeavor in life.  The Bible is the only “trustworthy guide for being a successful father” or successful anything.  Here’s what be a “real success” as a father or anything else requires:  unrelenting love; intellectual humility; faithful stewardship; and divine discipline.  Let’s read about what makes a truly successful father—or anything else.

SCRIPTURE READING:  PROVERBS 3:1-12

Notice that verse 1 sets up a “contract” of sorts with Yahweh, the One True God. The contract has two parts:  obedience and blessing. Our obedience brings God’s blessing.  This pattern is the essence of the structure of the Old Testament story. God does everything short of taking away our free-will to help us be “obedient,” and therefore, to be “blessed.”  Even a cursory reading of the Bible from a yard away shows how often we fail in simple obedience, and therefore fall into the state of cursing.  Success requires obedience to God’s Word: 

“Proverbs 3:1-2 ^(CSB)[IF] My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands, [THEN] 2 for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being. 

Success as a father; success as a mother; or success at anything in life is dependent upon “obeying the teachings of the Word.”  It is just that simple. Obedience to God’s Word brings success and prosperity - period, end of discussion.

But let me add a word of caution about success and prosperity.  The idea of “prosperity, or success” is very much abused in some Christian circles, especially among T.V. preachers.  Proverb 3:2 uses the word, shalōm, (שָׁלוֹם) which can be translated, “prosperity (NIV), or in the HCSB, “well-being.”  But, shalōm, means much more than the shallow view of prosperity as “more and better stuff,” or simply riches.  It can also mean, “success, soundness, welfare, peace” and a host of other words.  It often involves “wealth” but not of necessity.  The Christian Standard Bible captures the essence of shalōm, as “well-being.”  Many people have riches without well-being and many have well-being without riches.  In fact, the latter are in a biblical sense, richer. The N.T. word for “success” or prosperity is euodoō (εὐοδόω), which literally means, “good (eu) way (hodos).”  We would say, “to have a good life” as in being led by the Lord.  This is the essence of success in our passage as seen in verses 5-6.  Prosperity is a matter of following God’s plan for your life and experiencing His favor, or grace (verse 4).

With that foundation, Here’s four tips for being a success as a father—or as anything else.  Be godly by having 

1.  an attitude of  UNRELENTING LOVE (V3)

³ Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you

This is one of those times when reading Hebrew would be very helpful.  However, having about six different translations might do the trick.  Here’s a sampling of the different renderings of the words translated by the CSB as “loyalty and faithfulness”:

Net Bible:  “truth and mercy”; the KJV: “mercy and truth”; ESV: “steadfast love and faithfulness”; NIV84: “love and faithfulness.” 

The Hebrew words are “chesed wĕ emeth.” The word, chesed, is so broad and deep that it requires pages to fully define, and then, you have only scratched the surface of what it stands for.  Often, it is translated, “lovingkindness.”  It carries all the connotations of “goodness, care, mercy, kindness, and even redemption.”  Chesed carries the idea of the depth and greatness of God’s love. It carries with it the idea of “abundance” as in “abundant kindness, or abundant goodness” when used to refer to God’s character.  As with the HCSB is can express the idea of loyalty.  Think of chesed as “love on steroids” and you are getting close to the meaning. 

Now, often chesed appears in conjunction with other nouns, such as in this case, emeth which means, “faithful, or firm.”  When this happens it forms what linguist call a hendiadys.  This comes from Greek meaning, “one thing by means of two.”  Two nouns are joined by and serve to strengthen the meaning of both.

Thus we have “faithful love,” as the second noun of the hendiadys functions as an adjective.  Therefore, the ESV, really captures the expression as “steadfast love.”  This is what I call, “unrelenting love.”  Love that just won’t quit. You are going to need this kind of godly love if you want to succeed as a father:  or in any other area of life.  Unrelenting love. All the “human love” in the world combined is not enough love to be a truly successful father—you need a God-sized love.  

Corrie Ten Boom was a young, Dutch girl, during WWII who was arrested along with her family when it was discovered they had a secret “hiding place” in their home where they were hiding Jews from the Nazis.  She lost her entire family in a Nazi prison camp, including her much beloved sister, Betsie.  At first, she was quite bitter, but she found “love,” steadfast love and she became what she called, a “Tramp for the Lord.”  She travelled all over the world for some four decades spreading the gospel of God’s unrelenting love.  She once said, “Often I have heard people say, “How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic and look at the lovely weather!” Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. “No, Corrie,” said Betsie, “He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him (Ps. 103:11).” Corrie concludes, “There is an ocean of God’s love available-there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love-whatever the circumstances.”

If you want to succeed in life, whatever the endeavor may be, you will need to pursue godliness, including unrelenting love.

2.  Godliness requires an attitude of

INTELLECTUAL HUMITY (5-8)

⁵ Proverbs 3:5–7 (CSB) ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷ Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 

Becoming a father is a very humbling experience—or at least it was for me.  It does not take very long as a father to discover:  “wow, how does one of these things work,” and of course, I’m talking about a diaper.  Anybody remember the days when real men changed real diapers?  I mean the “cloth kind” that you don’t throw away.  I was about seven years old.  In the bathroom was a “dirty diaper hamper.”  It was my chore to “rinse the dirty diapers” in the toilet before they went into the ringer washer. Yes, I know that is disgusting and I was scarred for life.  As a result, I could never change a dirty diaper.  I had I had “PDDDSD-Post Dirty Diaper Distress Disorder.”  Two children and four grandchildren and I have never changed a dirty diaper.  I don’t know that I would know how to even begin.  I admit to my “intellectual insufficiency” when it comes to diapers.  With Intellectual Humility I readily confess:  I don’t have a clue.

In fact, it was not only diapers that confused me as a father.  Nearly everything about a child—no, everything about a child left me wonder what to do next.  I’d been a father about twenty minutes when I realized that if I had any shot at success, I needed “intellectual humility.”  I needed to confess, I don’t know it all—in fact, I really don’t know much at all!

I have been to two colleges and two seminaries with the degrees on my wall to prove it.  I cannot tell you how many facts passed across the neurological highways of my brain only to drive off into some stiff cliff never to be heard from again.  The single-most, important lesson I learned in four years of college and five years in two seminaries is this:  my knowledge is finite but my ignorance is infinite.

If you want to be a success as a father or at anything in life, you need “intellectual humility.”  Solomon warns:  “do not trust your own understanding—trust only in the Lord.” 

I’ve heard people criticize Christianity as “being a crutch.”  This is meant as an insult, but it is extremely accurate.  Christianity IS a crutch—and I am a cripple who would fall on my face without Jesus.

The word translated by CSB as “rely,” means to “lean.”  Lean on God, not your own understanding or you will fall on your face. 

Success requires godliness, and godliness requires INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY.

3.  Godliness requires the practice of  FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP (9-10)

⁹ Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; ¹⁰ then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

This is one of the hardest virtues for a person to master.  “Honor God with your possessions.”  People get more nervous, and some even bent out of shape, when the preacher discusses the topic of “money.”  Some preachers avoid this topic like a plague.  But, here it is:  godliness requires the practice of FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP.

Stewardship is a fancy name for “money management.”  In the N.T. we read (1Cor. 4:2):  It is expected of managers that each one of them be found faithful. 

Other translations use the word, stewards, for manager.  Someone who is a steward or a manager is someone who has responsibility of possessions that belong to someone else.  In regard to mankind as a steward those possessions involve . . . well, everything—our relationships, our stuff, and even life itself.  Everything belongs to God and we are simply his “managers” or stewards.

The word in Greek is, oikonomois, from which we get the word, economics.  There is an “economy” of godliness that leads to success.  Many, most Christians, never reach the level of success in life—in any area—because they are not “faithful stewards” or managers of what God has provided.

Solomon describes a “contract we have with God. [IF] “Honor God with your possessions.”  That’s our part. “[THEN] your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow.” That’s God’s part. Obedience always leads to blessing.  Godliness always leads to success.

As I said above in regard to “prosperity” in verse 2, success, prosperity, or well-being” does not always, or even often, refer to “getting more stuff.”  But, it certainly can.  When you are faithful to “manage” the possessions God has provided, God is faithful to provide even more.  That’s clearly a promise in God’s Word.

Mat 25:21  Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.

The key to sharing the “Master’s Joy,” is faithfully managing the Master’s possessions. Let me say as clearly as I know how:  “Honoring God with your possessions begins by honoring God with His tenth.”

^{Lev 27  30} “Every tenth of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord;  it is holy to the Lord. 

Christians refer to this as, “tithing.”  A tenth is the “bare minimum” offering required to be a “faithful steward” of God’s possessions. Tithing is “where you start in faithful giving, not where you stop!”

Godliness cannot be purchased cheaply, and the starting price is a “holy tenth.”  Success requires godliness and godliness requires FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP.  The results are “full barns and full vats.”

4.  Godliness embraces the experience of DIVINE DISCIPLINE (11-12)

¹¹ Do not despise the Lord’s instruction [NIV, discipline], my son, and do not loathe His discipline [rebuke, correction]; ¹² for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, just as a father, the son he delights in.

This is such a fundamental part of godliness that it is repeated, in the N.T.  Hebrews 12:5-6:   ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or faint when you are reproved by Him, ⁶ for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives.

When we think of discipline, we normally think of punishment.  There is certainly an element of “harshness, correction, even punishment” in both the O.T. and N.T. sense of the word, discipline.  But, the most significant element of discipline, from a biblical perspective is “correction,” or training to become a better citizen of the Kingdom.  God uses the difficult circumstances of our lives, and even engineers “tests” to educate us to becoming a better citizen of the Kingdom.  The Greek word, paidia,(“discipline”) carries this meaning, especially after the time of Plato in his writing on citizenship (Politics and Leges).

Plato saw discipline as the means by which a citizen learned the proper relationship to the State.  In biblical terms, discipline is God working in our lives to make us fit citizens for His Kingdom.  As Paul wrote, “God’s discipline is not always pleasant, but it is always productive” (Heb. 12:5-6).  To put it into a common cliché, embracing divine discipline means: “when God give you lemons, make lemonade.”  Not every test comes directly from God, but God uses every test in life to make us better—that is, make us more godly and therefore more successful.  Paul wrote of this in Romans 8:

²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. 

What does it take to be a successful person—father, mother, or otherwise?  It takes godliness.  The hope of our nation is to raise up a generation of godly fathers.  Several decades ago, something remarkable took place in Africa.  At one game preserve there were too many elephants.  The only solution available at the time was to relocate some of the babies.  To everyone’s surprise, the babies thrived—at first. A decade or so after the transfer, something very alarming started happening at the new reserve.  Someone was killing the rhinoceros which are an endangered species.  To everyone’s astonishment, the killers turned out to be the young adolescent males that had been transferred there as babies.  This was a complete surprise because this behavior had never been observed in elephants before.  They concluded that the problem was that the elephants had grown up without fathers. New techniques allowed them to transport mature bull elephants into the area. The concern was that these “teen-aged” elephants who had grown up without fathers would be too far gone to save.  The shocking reality was:  the transplanted fathers worked like a charm.  The conclusion is:  “Daddies do matter.”

I don’t know if “real men eat quiche or if they don’t,” but I know that real men love Jesus and seek to live godly lives.  That’s the only foundation for being a successful father—or successful anything.

It takes unrelenting love, intellectual humility, faithful stewardship, and submission to divine discipline.  This is a recipe for success in any endeavor.

 

 

Getting Back the Glory

 

June 13, 2021                NOTES NOT EDITED
Getting the Glory Back
1Samuel 4:19-22

SIS—Losing the glory of God has devastating effects on individuals, families, churches, and our nation.

One of the greatest preachers in the 20^th century was a Southern Baptist by the name of Adrian Rogers.  His impact continues through the media ministry, Love Worth Finding.  In regard to America’s glory Dr. Rogers said this:

Apart from Israel, no other nation has had such a God-directed beginning as America. Under the blessing of God, Israel began with a glorious heritage. Like Israel of old, God’s blessing rested upon early America. We were founded as a Christian nation to the very core. Yet like Israel, America has not only forgotten our heritage, we’ve forgotten God and abandoned the Gospel’s influence on our national life. America has lost her glory. How did this happen? The same way it happened in Israel. 

How far has America slipped into the abyss of ungodliness?  It is hard to imagine how we can slip much further.  It is now legal to kill a baby while it is being born.  That’s the law.  It is now legal in a couple states for a medical doctor to legally end a person’s life.  It is now legal for a man to marry a man and woman to marry a woman.  Mass murders are almost a daily headline.  Our national debt has spiraled to well over 28 trillion—that’s trillion dollars.  That’s almost double what it was only 8 years ago.  The government has been caught spying on citizens, the IRS has been caught targeting conservative citizens, and our borders are wide open flooding our streets with all manner of mayhem.  As of this moment, as with the last 15 months, you cannot buy food in a grocery store without a mask—maybe this is not the “Mark of the Beast,” but certainly the mark of an emerging tyranny in our government.

At the beginning of the 20^th century America was the number one lending nation in the world.  We are now the number one debtor nation.  At the founding of our nation, the literacy rate was over 95%.  Today, one out of five American adults are illiterate. 

Glory is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as a great beauty and splendor : magnificence. It can refer to, a height of prosperity or achievement.

Certainly, this describes our nation’s glorious past:  beauty, splendor, magnificence, prosperity and achievement.  Doesn’t apply as well to our present.

The Hebrew word for “glory,” kavodh, refers “heaviness, or weight”.  Working from the Hebrew idea of “weightiness,” I describe God’s glory as “the affect of the full weight of God’s nature—His goodness, providence, mercy, love, and other eternal attributes—resting on a person, family, church or nation.

Our nation no longer manifests the glory as described in the dictionary because it no longer enjoys the weight of God’s Person.  The “glory of God has departed from our nation.”  But, as we will see, long before God’s glory departed from our nation, it departed from our families, our churches, and our own individual lives.

Our text revolves around the naming of a newborn baby by a mother who experienced the effects of God’s glory being lifted from her and her nation.  The wife of one of the high priest’s sons, Phinehas, has died along with his brother, Hophni.  Her father-in-law has died.  The Ark, the holy vessel of the very Presence of God, has been mishandled and now lies in the hands of pagan Philistines.  It is a terrible day for the wife of Phinehas, when it should have been a day of rejoicing.  She died giving birth to a son, but before she did, she expressed a sad prophecy in regard to her life and the life of her nation.  Read the text along with me:

1Samuel 4:19-22.

Ichabod:  the “glory of God has departed.”  The results are devastating as we have briefly sketched in regard to our nation in my words above.  Now, I want to sketch the loss of God’s glory in our nation, our churches, our families and our own individual lives, as they parallel those of this wife of Phinehas and the nation of Israel.  Then, I will summarize what we can do to “Get the Glory Back.”

1.  First, we sketch the loss of glory in our Nation Verse 22c

Now, I take this first but it is not of first importance.  The troubles in our nation rise from the loss of glory in the lives of individuals, families, and churches.  But, we will start here because it is the most obvious application of what takes place when the Glory of God departs. 

Recall how we defined, glory from a human perspective:   beauty, splendor, magnificence, prosperity and achievement.  And, think again about how we defined, glory, from a Biblical perspective: God’s goodness, providence, mercy, love, and other eternal attributes.

Israel in her founding, as with our nation, exhibited both the human and Biblical manifestations of glory.  Ichabod applied to Israel and verse 22 explains why:  “The glory has departed from Israel because the ark had been captured.” 

What was the “ark?”  The Ark of the Covenant was the central piece of the tabernacle, and later the Temple.  It was a “holy chest” that contained reminders of God’s Presence and Providence as Israel’s God.  It contained, Aaron’s rod that he had carried throughout the wilderness, a jar of manna miraculously kept from spoiling, and a copy of the Torah, or law of God.  The lid of the Ark was very special.  It had two opposing angelic beings, cherubim.  The very Presence of God was said to reside between these Cherubim, or upon this “Mercy Seat.”

The Ark was kept in the “Holy of Holies,” and could only be approached once a year by only one person, the High Priest.  When they Israelites travelled, they had specific instructions on how to transport the Ark.  Under no circumstances could human hands touch it without the penalty of death.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution founded upon it’s principles, is in many ways, “The Ark of America.” I don’t say this in a way that makes patriotism our civic religion, but in a very real way to show the similarities between God’s “Glory” upon Israel and God’s Glory upon our nation.  The Declaration establishes this intersection in the words, ““We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Our history, like that represented by the items in the Ark of the Covenant, demonstrates that God has a special Hand in our Founding. 

The significance of the Ark is hard for us to grasp today.  It literally was the Presence of Almighty God—His Glory if you will—among the people of Israel.  It was not just a symbol of God’s glory, but the actual manifestation of God’s glory.  As I said, this is a hard concept to grasp.  But the Ark was God’s personal relationship with His people, and not just a religious piece of furniture.

The Philistines migrated to the coastal lands of Palestine about 1200 years before Christ.  They would become the perennial enemies of the Israelites.  David would fight them many years later.  Goliath was a Philistine.  They were a barbaric, warring, pagan people who God considered unclean, and they were a menace to His people.

The background to this verse is in chapter 4:1-18.  The Israelites went out to fight the Philistines and were nearly annihilated.  The people decided what they needed was the most holy artifact in Israel, the Ark of the Covenant.  They would carry it into battle and like a magic bullet, it would slay their enemies.  They secured the help of Eli, the High Priest, and his two sons, Hopni and Phinehas.  This whole family was a disgrace to the priesthood.  Chapter 2 includes God’s prophecy of the fall of the house of Eli.  God had had enough.

The camp of Israel erupted in celebration when the Ark arrived like a giant “lucky charm.”  The Philistine camp heard the celebration, thought the God who delivered Israel from Egypt had entered the camp and they were afraid.  Rather than run, however, they fought fiercely and overcame Israel, capturing the Ark in the process.  Eli’s two sons were killed.

Eli would hear of these events and be gravely stricken with grief.  The holiest artifact in Israel was not being carried about by pagan hands.  His sons were dead.  Eli was blind and old (98 years old) and had to ask what all the commotion and crying was about.  A man from the battlefield related the facts.  Here is what took place next (vv 16-17)

“When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off the chair by the city gate, and since he was old and heavy, his neck broke and he died.  Eli had judged Israel 40 years.”

The writer used a play on words to describe how nations, “fall from glory.”  Eli, who fell off his chair, or throne is said to have been “heavy,” overweight.  The word is kabed in Hebrew.  When the wife of Phinehas names her son Ichabod, it is a form of the word, kabod, which means, “glory, or weight” as we learned above.  Ichabod, means “no weight, or no glory.”  Eli was “overweight” and his grandson was “no weight.”  Eli sought his own “glory” and the result is Israel is left with “no glory.”

Eli failed God because he sought to throw around his own weight as a judge and priest—the weight of religious tradition.  When man seeks to take God’s place and seeks the glory God alone deserves, God withdraws and the results are devastating.  Our nation is following the foolishness of man rather than the foolproof truth of God through His Word. 

Every nation that has taken this path has been destroyed.  Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Germany just to name a few and there are many more.  The Israelites put their trust in a man-centered, ritual-driven religion instead of a personal relationship with God and the result was disaster.  Nations can lose their glory.

2.  Churches can lose their glory.

What is true of nations, is true also of churches.  Israel was not simply a “national entity,” or geo-political construct.  Israel was specially selected to carry God’s message and demonstrate God’s glory to the nations around them.  Israel’s purpose was always spiritual.  God choose them to reveal Himself to the nations through a nation.

Genesis 12:3 tells us Israel was to Bless others:  I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed  through you.

Exodus 19:5-6 tells us Israel was to be the Priest to other nations:

⁵ Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant,  you will be My own possession  out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, ⁶ and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.’

It is the duty of “priests” to be the bridge that connects man with God.  Priests are God’s “ambassadors reconciling the world to Him” (2Cor. 5:20).

Third, Psalm 67, declares Israel was to display God’s purpose and plan of salvation to the nations”

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us; look on us with favor Selah ² so that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

Israel is like the “church” of the O.T.  It was the missionary force through which God intended to manifest His glory and offer His salvation to pagan nations.  But, Israel failed miserably in this task as the priestly family of Eli demonstrated.  In chapter two God gives His evaluation of Eli, and by extension, the entire congregation of Israel (2:29-30):

1Sam 2   ²⁹You have honored your sons more than Me, by making yourselves fat with the best part of all of the offerings of My people Israel.’ ³⁰ “Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, God of Israel: ‘Although I said your family and your ancestral house would walk before Me forever, the Lord now says, “No longer!” I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disgraced.

Israel abandoned her spiritual mission and received the pronouncement of “Icahbod,” the “glory has departed.” There attitude became self-centered and their religion, mere superstition. The became “man-centered,” not “God-centered.”

Churches can lose the glory of God.

3. Homes can lose the glory of God (vs 21).

In fact, the fate of a nation rises or falls on the strength of the “family.” When families are strong, churches are strong, and the nations is strong.  Likewise, when families are in chaos, churches will be in chaos, and soon the nation is in chaos.

The poet understood the connection between an empire and the home, or family.  Lord Byron wrote: Far as the breeze can bear and the billows foam//survey our empire, and behold our home.

There was indeed trouble in Eli’s home.  Notice again the utter devastation and heartache wrought by godlessness in the home:

verse 21:  The glory has departed from Israel,”  referring to the capture of the ark of God  and to the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband 

The mother dies in childbirth, her father-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law die in disgrace, and a nation is plunged into chaos and decay, all for the want of godliness in the home.

Survey the decline with me:  the home drifts from God, the church drifts from God, and the nations drifts from God resulting in absolute devastation and decay—pure misery.  But the root of the problem lies closer than we might like:

4.  Individuals lose the Glory of God (21a).

Please note the words, “the boy” in v21.  Ultimately, the story is about the nation, Israel, but it is also about a “little boy.”  Can you imagine what kind of life that little baby would lead as he went through life?  “Hi! What’s your name.”  My Name is “No glory!”  Everywhere this little child, one day a man, would go his name would be a reminder of the “glory departing from Israel” because of apathy, and then, outright rebellion against God and His teachings.  We cannot ignore the devastating affect the sin or our nation has had, and is having on our children.  Schools have become indoctrination centers for the most vile, anti-God teaching you could imagine. Every perversion imaginable is being taught and supported by government schools.

When we look to the cause for all the great evil, devastation, and chaos in our nation, church, or home, let us first take a good long look in the mirror.

God’s glory can depart from one who has once received it.  Oh, you cannot lose your salvation once it has been received but make no mistake about that—you can, however, lose any and all the glory associated with God’s salvation and be plunged into total chaos and devastating decay.  A great preacher described the loss of God’s glory more eloquently than I:

“Just as light departs from a candle that has no oil, or fruitfulness departs from a tree that has no sap, or strength from a house that has a faulty foundation, or as power departs from a locomotive when there is no steam in the boiler” so it is with a life from which God’s glory has departed.

No light, no fruit, no strength, and no power; no blessing—such marks the life without the Glory of God resting upon it.  Therein lies the cause of all the nations ills, all the church’s ills, all the families ills—it is “I.” 

Well, that is the survey of the problem of “Ichabod,” or “why the glory departed.”  But, how do we get it back? There is a measure of which the glory returned in regard to Ichabod. We see mention of Ichabod again in 1 Samuel 14:3 ^(CSB) after Israel recaptured the Ark:

³ Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod, was also there. He was the son of Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod son of Phinehas.

Icabod’s nephew became a good, distinguished prophet and priest in Israel. Ichabod, at least for a time, broke the chain of sin in his family.  We can infer from the virtue of his nephew that Ichabod overcame the “shame of his birth” and lived as a righteous example to his family. 

Through repentance, we can “Get the Glory Back.”  Let me offer these proposals. Getting the glory back is a matter of:

1. INDIVIDUAL REVIVAL

Examine your individual heart to see if there is some attitude, or some habit that is displeasing to God.  Take a long, hard look at  yourself and adjust your life accordingly.

2.  FAMILY REVIVAL

In your home, do your lifestyles and practices glorify God?  Do you have family devotion time each day in which all those in the family gather for Bible reading and prayer? Do you have channels on your T.V. or movies on your shelf that you would be embarrassed to watch with Jesus—clean house.

3.  CHURCH REVIVAL

Is our worship and service to God driven by a personal relationship with Him, or is it more like a superstitious habit or empty ritual. Do we keep God in a “Holy Box” and take Him out only whenwe want, or need something?

4.  NATIONAL REVIVAL

We need to pray daily for our nation.  We need to vote.  We need to write letters.  We need to attend rallies.  Most of all:  we need to “take the gospel to the streets,” anywhere, all the time.  But, we also need to realize our nation’s future is bleak.  The end of the world is near, and America isn’t a major force in God’s plan for Last Days.

So, we can get the Glory of God back in our life if we really want it.  Revival can come if we really seek it. 

The words of Habakkuk the Prophet have long been the heartbeat of my life (3:2):  ² Lord, I have heard the report about you; Lord, I stand in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these years; make it known in these years. In your wrath remember mercy!