Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “After God’s Own Heart” – Happy Thanksgiving! 
Text – Various texts from 1 & 2 Samuel
  
 Today we are going to be trying to answer the question of what it means to be a person ‘after God’s own heart.’  We know that David was chosen to replace Saul as king because he possessed this qualification, so we should be able to discern what it is by doing a study of David.  But first, what do you know of David?  How would you characterize him?
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“A PERSON AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART IS…THANKFUL”
Psalm 9:1-2 – I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.  2 I will be filled with joy because of you.  I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.
 
David’s thankfulness was not based on circumstances, but on his relationship with God.  The psalms of David are filled with pleas for rescue, repentance and calls for vengeance on his enemies.  But they are also filled with praises of God, acknowledgement of His greatness and David’s often repeated thankfulness for God’s faithful care.  Our gratitude is of great concern to God.  Those who are ungrateful find it very difficult to give over control to God and can even become entitled.  Giving thanks to God is one of the keys to becoming and remaining grateful; as we develop gratitude our need for control is diminished and we find ourselves better able to be generous.  Thankfulness protects us from being miserly, selfish and laying claim to credit that belongs to God.
 
It’s a good thing we don’t have a God after our own hearts!  Can you imagine if God was as whining, petulant and selfish as we can be?  God has given us His Holy Spirit so that we can be transformed into the image of His Son, as fellow heirs.  Our hearts need transformation in many respects; but one of the key areas is remembering to be thankful, just as David was.
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David’s psalms also reveal a vulnerability…he wore his heart on his sleeve.  His genuineness and lack of pretense won him friends, even within Saul’s family.  It is also an aspect of David’s personality that reflects the God he served.
 
For a time, David worked in the service of King Saul, but Saul soon became jealous and began to plan on how he could kill David.  What was David’s great crime?  Always seeking to do his best for God, King Saul and the nation—David wanted to be obedient and God blessed him for it. David possessed a genuine love for God, desire to serve and the people had taken notice.
 
Jonathan, Saul’s son and heir to the throne, was David’s best friend.  Jonathan knew that God had rejected his father and his family line from ruling the nation of Israel and had chosen David instead.  But rather than assisting his father in getting rid of the would-be usurper, he chose to side with his friend and warned him to leave and escape from his father’s murderous plans.  Theirs is a grief-filled departure.
 
“A PERSON AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART IS…GENUINE”
1 Samuel 20:42 – At last Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn loyalty to each other in the Lord’s name. The Lord is the witness of a bond between us and our children forever.” Then David left, and Jonathan returned to the town.
 It is obvious that Jonathan trusted David implicitly.  At this point in history, it was not uncommon for a new king to murder the relations of a deposed king to remove all threats to the throne.  Jonathan and David agree that they will not treat one another or their families in this manner.  How could Jonathan trust David not to go back on his promise?  Because he knew his friend and trusted David to keep his word.  David was no fake…saying one thing while intending another course of action entirely. 
 
Jonathan knew that David was honest and could be relied on to keep his word.  It is good to point out that being genuine requires a level of honesty that doesn’t simply refrain from telling lies, but is characterized by a life lived transparently.  It begs the question of us, “Do people know the real us, or simply the version we choose to present?”  People didn’t have to wonder with David and they really shouldn’t have to with us as well.
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But I think that one of the most observable traits that David possessed for being identified as a man after God’s own heart was his humility.
 
“A PERSON AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART IS…HUMBLE”
1 Samuel 24:1-12 – When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “See, David is in the desert of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel, and went to find David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 He came to the places where the sheep were kept on the way. There was a cave there, and Saul went in to get rid of his body waste. Now David and his men were sitting farther back in the cave. 4 David’s men said to David, “See, this is the day the Lord told you, ‘See, I am about to give the one who hates you into your hand. You will do to him what you think is best.’” Then David got up and cut off a piece of Saul’s clothing in secret. 5 After this, David felt guilty in his heart because he had cut off a piece of Saul’s clothing. 6 So he said to his men, “May the Lord not let me put out my hand against my leader, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.” 7 David stopped his men with these words. He did not let them go against Saul. So Saul stood up and left the cave, and went on his way.
 
After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.  9 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm the king—he is the Lord’s anointed one.’ 11 Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.  12 May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.” 
 
 
 In this story, we read how Saul had placed himself in a rather vulnerable position.  Here he is in a cave, relieving himself.  [It is interesting to note the various English translation gymnastics that are undertaken to explain the Hebrew’s literal but euphemistic words, “to cover his feet”…which was just a polite way of saying, “to empty his bowels.”]
 
The very man he has been chasing, intent on killing, is just a little further back in the same cave.  And whether David was particularly stealthy or Saul was overly distracted with the task at hand, David manages to sneak up to his would-be killer and cut off a piece of Saul’s clothing. What happens next in the verses we read? [David regrets taking liberties, refuses to allow his men to do any harm to Saul, acknowledges that God put Saul in the position as king and it isn’t his place to speed up his own ascendancy to the throne, not even to eliminate his need to live on the run]
 
David recognized his need to wait on God’s timing and God’s vengeance.  Humanly speaking, David was in his rights to kill Saul…everyone agreed.  But David refused to do harm; he set aside what others claimed he had a right to and refused to take matters into his own hands. David had placed his future squarely in the Hands of God.  God requires all of His children to surrender their lives to Him, but that cannot be achieved fully until we humble ourselves—our pride, our desire for self-determination, and having a say over our lives must be done away with.  Humility protects us from the pride that separates us from God.
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What does God want us to confess and repent of this morning?  Is there anything in our lives that prevents us from being declared, “A person after God’s own heart?”
·         Are we thankful, grateful and generous or miserly, greedy and think of our own needs over that of others?
·         Are we genuine or disingenuous?  Can others rely on us or do they need to second guess whether we will follow-through on our commitments?  Do we manipulate others or can they trust that our only motivation is to demonstrate the love of God?
·         Are we humble or do we get caught up in the arguments that focus on ‘my rights?’  If we are God’s and have fully surrendered ourselves to His will we will live in a way that proves we are following in the footsteps of David, “a man after God’s own heart,” and of our Saviour as well.
 
Philippians 2:1-5 speaks directly to what we’ve been talking about this morning, “Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
 
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
 
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”  Which requires nothing less than fully surrendering ourselves to the will of the Father!
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Sunday, October 17, 2021- “A House Fit for God” (1 Kings 3-6) - In-person and Online 
 
 
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “Called by God—Hearing His Voice” – Communion & Sharing Sunday
 
Text – 1 Samuel 1-7
 
Prayer Emphasis Week – “God’s Power Made Perfect in Weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
  
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What are some of the keys to hearing from God?  Listening is just one component.  [get responses--wanting to hear, asking for God to speak, having the right attitude, paying attention]
Sometimes it is as simple as being able to recognize His voice when He speaks!
 
Often times, we don’t hear God because we assume that we know what He would say, or He says something we don’t want to hear.  There are times that He chooses to be silent to help us in learning dependence on Him, but at other times we don’t hear Him because we’re just too busy listening to other voices.  When God first spoke to Samuel, Samuel heard Him calling, but didn’t know who it was that was trying to get his attention.  Samuel had come to live in the Tabernacle and work for the priest Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas when he was just a boy.  His mother, Hannah, had been unable to have children and told God that if He would grant her a son, she would give him back to God to work at the Tabernacle in Shiloh.  God heard her prayers and allowed her to conceive.  Did God require her to give up her young son, Samuel, in order for her to answer her prayer?  I don’t believe so, but God did bless her gift and it is obvious from a young age that God had a plan for Samuel.
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“GOD SPEAKS TO SAMUEL”
1 Samuel 3:1-10 – Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.  2 One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. 4 Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!”
 
“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” 5 He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”
“I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.  6 Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!”  Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”  Eli said, “I didn’t call you, my son.  Go back to bed.”
 
7 Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. 8 So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”  Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. 9 So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.  10 And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”  And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”
 
 
Samuel is sleeping in the Tabernacle and hears his name being called.  He assumes it is Eli, the aging priest whom he helps out.  But when he awakens Eli, the old man assures him that he hasn’t called Samuel and tells him to go back to bed.  Samuel has been serving in the Tabernacle under the guidance of the priests, yet the Scripture tells us he did not yet know God.  But that was about to all change!
 
After the third time that Samuel goes to Eli, the priest realizes that something special is happening.  He tells Samuel what to say if he hears his name called again, “Speak, Lord for your servant is listening.”  Samuel does so and God gives him a message for Eli…a message that must have caused the young Samuel some angst to share.  But the next morning, Eli doesn’t give Samuel any option but to speak openly; if he doesn’t, Eli pronounces that Samuel should die if he withholds anything from him.  So, Samuel tells him straight up.  God has rejected Eli, his sons and his future descendants from the priesthood.  The men of his family will all have their lives cut short, and to prove the truth of the message, both of his sons, Hophni and Phinehas will die on the same day. 
 
You might think that Eli would be shocked by this message, but it’s actually the second time God has given it to him—once through an unnamed man of God and now confirmed through Samuel.  His sons, though priests, are described as ‘scoundrels’ who used their position for their own gain and to abuse others; they had no respect for God and Eli had stood back and watched it happen.  Rather than attempting to make things right, Eli resigns himself to the prophetic message.  As the years pass, Samuel continues to receive messages from God and he becomes well-known as a prophet.  But the time is quickly approaching when God will fulfill His judgement on Eli and his family.
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“GOD’S MESSAGE FOR THE ISRAELITES”
1 Samuel 4:1-5 – At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek. 2 The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing 4,000 men. 3 After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies.”
 
4 So they sent men to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 5 When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!
 
 
The Israelites are exuberant.  Yes, the Philistines had killed 4,000, but now the Israelites fully expected, with the Ark of the Covenant—which was normally kept in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle at Shiloh—to gain the upper hand.  After all, hadn’t they brought God to the battlefront?  God would now become aware of the struggle in which they were engaged.  He would now fight for them! 
 
The first thing that stands out to me is their incredible misunderstanding of the nature of God.  He isn’t limited to a box.  He cannot be contained.  Secondly, they were using the Ark like a lucky token.  Surely, now God could see what was happening and would act on their behalf.  And finally, it is abundantly clear that no one stopped to inquire of God Himself.  They recognized that God had allowed them to be defeated, but they came to the wrong conclusion as to the why.
 
However, bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield did anything but dissuade their enemies.  The presence of Israel’s ‘gods’ galvanized the Philistines determination to fight like their souls depended on it…and at the end of the battle they had killed an additional 30,000 Israelites, including Hophni and Phinehas who had come as caretakers of the Ark, and had captured the Ark of the Covenant itself as part of the plunder.  God may have permitted the Philistines to gain the upper hand, but He has a message for them as well…
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“GOD MESSAGE FOR THE PHILISTINES”
1 Samuel 5 –  After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. 2 They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside an idol of Dagon. 3 But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again. 4 But the next morning the same thing happened—Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod will step on its threshold.
 
6 Then the Lord’s heavy hand struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors.  7 When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, “We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with Dagon, our god.” 8 So they called together the rulers of the Philistine towns and asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?”  The rulers discussed it and replied, “Move it to the town of Gath.” So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath. 9 But when the Ark arrived at Gath, the Lord’s heavy hand fell on its men, young and old; he struck them with a plague of tumors, and there was a great panic.
 
10 So they sent the Ark of God to the town of Ekron, but when the people of Ekron saw it coming they cried out, “They are bringing the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!” 11 The people summoned the Philistine rulers again and begged them, “Please send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its own country, or it will kill us all.” For the deadly plague from God had already begun, and great fear was sweeping across the town. 12 Those who didn’t die were afflicted with tumors; and the cry from the town rose to heaven.
 
 
God had sent a message to the Israelites that He would not be used as a lucky charm, and He also sent a message to the Philistines—their god, Dagon, was no match for the God of Israel and they were to return the Ark of the Covenant or suffer the consequences.  He spoke quite clearly to the Philistines that He was not to be treated as some captive prize; but it still takes seven months for the rulers of the Philistines to acknowledge that the rats and boils that were causing so much death amongst the people were a punishment from God. They finally relent and decide to send the captured Ark back to Israel, but will do so in a manner that will prove that they have been suffering at God’s hand and the plague has not simply been a coincidence.
 
They place the Ark on a cart, pulled by two cows with calves that are locked up; these cows have not been trained to pull a cart and their every instinct would have been to stay put with their calves.  But in this case, they take a straight line back to Israel, lowing all the way, pulling the Ark behind them.  The Philistine leaders follow them to the border separating the two enemy nations and watch as the cows arrive in the Israelite territory of Beth-shemesh.  They are left with no doubt as to God’s message for them.
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God spoke directly to Samuel and He had a message for the Israelites and the Philistines.  The God of the Old Testament is still the God we serve today and He still speaks…but do we hear?
·         Do we know enough about Him to recognize His voice?  God spoke directly to Samuel, but he did not recognize His voice; I suspect he had never been taught that God could speak directly to him.  God still speaks to us today, but if we don’t recognize His voice we’ll be left just as bewildered as Samuel was initially.  God can speak to us directly like Samuel; He may speak to us through His word like Daniel; He may speak to us through another like David; or He may speak to us through the storm like Elijah; no matter how He chooses to speak, we are likely to miss hearing and/or understanding Him if we don’t know enough about Him.  We should never be satisfied to know ‘of’ God, but should seek to know Him personally.  Such an amazing gift that is available to each one of us—a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe and our loving Heavenly Father!
 
·         We must not make presumptions on what we think God would say rather than asking Him?  The Israelites chose to use the Ark of the Covenant like a lucky talisman; they had placed their faith in an object that represented God, rather than God Himself.  We as people do this all the time—replacing a relationship with God for mere symbols like the Bible, a church building, a habit or strict adherence to Christianity’s many ‘thou shalt nots.’  Rather than asking for God to speak to us, we assume we already know what He would say given a particular situation…and that is a dangerous assumption.  Just ask the 30,000 Israelites who lost their lives in the battle with the Philistines!
 
·         God is more than capable of defending Himself—He doesn’t ask us to serve as His arbitrators against those who don’t know Him, but to love and pray for them—with compassion, grace, forgiveness and generosity.  Too many Christians are spending far too much of their time making angry pronouncements and have forgotten Jesus’ expectations of His followers.  Debates, accusations, denials, anger, resentment or anxiety will never persuade anyone of the realness of our God and His love for humanity.  We are called to be His ambassadors not His attorneys—He is more than fully capable of defending Himself when He deems it necessary.  
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 God is never the victim of man’s scheming and rebellion.  Even the cross, though entirely for our benefit, was His choice.
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For Further Study
The Chosen – television series on the life of Jesus and his disciples (2 seasons completed and accessible free online at thechosen.tv)
 
Sunday, October 3, 2021- “Getting What You Want” - In-person and Online
 
Sunday, October 10, 2021- “After God’s Own Heart” - In-person and Online – Thanksgiving Luncheon (Guests welcome, RSVP required)
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

​Youtube Link... https://youtu.be/2Bp7sYav-Hg
 
HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, September 19, 2021
 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “The Messiah was a Descendant of the Moabites?  No Way!”
 
Text – Book of Ruth 
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Review - Who were the Moabites?  They were the descendants of Moab, the son conceived by Lot through his eldest daughter after the Sodom and Gomorrah affair (Genesis 19:30-38).  As a nation, they worshipped Chemosh and their religious observances included human sacrifice.  There was bad blood between the Moabites and the Israelites…the king of Moab had tried to have the people of Israel cursed prior to their crossing into the promised land and they were among the people groups whom God had forbidden His chosen people to make treaties with.  During the time of the kings, many of the prophets warned of God’s pending judgement on Moab; He would crush them because of their misplaced worship and, as a nation, they would never rise again (Jeremiah 48). 
 
However, as we will learn from today’s story, this did not prevent anyone of Moabite origin from choosing to serve God—Ruth serves as proof of this fact.  For those of you who know Ruth’s story, how would you describe her?  [get responses]  When the story of Ruth is told it is often her obedient loyalty to Naomi that is highlighted…such a wonderful daughter-in-law, such a wonderful example of humble, submissive, obedient femininity… 
 
If that’s the version of Ruth you have been introduced to, may I take some time this morning to paint a broader picture of this amazing woman who was faithful to her mother-in-law, but also faith-filled—having come to believe and follow the God of the Israelites; who was submissive, but also confident; both loyal and courageous…and blessed by God as she sought to build a new life in a new land, with a new people.
 
Today, I want us to learn about Ruth directly from the book that contains her story and bears her name, Ruth.
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“RUTH THE STUBBORNLY FAITHFUL”
Ruth 1:1-18 – In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there.
 
3 Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. 4 The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.
 
6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.
 
8 But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.  10 “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”
 
11 But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? 12 No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? 13 Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”  14 And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”
 
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.”
 
Because of a famine an Israelite man had moved his family out of the promised land to Moab.  It may have seemed like a wise choice at the time given their options, but it spells out trouble for his widow when he dies.  She is now left alone with her two sons, who marry local women, but within ten years they too die and she is left alone widowed with her two newly widowed daughters-in-law.  Naomi decides to return to her hometown…in truth, she really wouldn’t have had many options—better a destitute widow amongst her own people than with the Moabites by whom she would have been viewed a foreigner.
 
As widows, Naomi, Orpah and Ruth had no protection and no legal rights; they were in a potentially desperate situation.  So, the three women set off together, but Naomi encourages Orpah and Ruth to return to their families.  She knows that bringing them along with her will in all likelihood result in hardship for not only her, but even worse for them as foreigners from the land of Moab.  I suspect she cared enough for these young women not to wish them harm.  So, after repeated encouragement, Orpah makes the difficult decision to return to her family—life won’t be easy, but she will have the comfort of some familiarity.  The easier thing for Ruth to do would have been to return to her family and Naomi gave her the out she needed, but she refused to take it.  It may have been the most logical choice, but Ruth rejected the option.  Returning to her family would have meant returning to her old life; if she walked away from Naomi, she was as good as walking away from God, too.  Ruth was adamant—she had chosen her side and she would not be dissuaded.  Ruth turned her back on her life in Moab for an unknown future with Yahweh.  She would remain stubbornly faithful, come what may.
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“RUTH THE COURAGEOUS"
Ruth 1:19-2:23 – So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.  20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”
 
22 So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.  2 Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Elimelech.  2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.”  Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.” 3 So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.
 
 4 While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. “The Lord be with you!” he said.  “The Lord bless you!” the harvesters replied.  5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?”  6 And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. 7 She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes’ rest in the shelter.”
 
8 Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. 9 See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.”  10 Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.”
 
11 “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. 12 May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.”
 
13 “I hope I continue to please you, sir,” she replied. “You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not one of your workers.”  14 At mealtime Boaz called to her, “Come over here, and help yourself to some food. You can dip your bread in the sour wine.” So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her some roasted grain to eat. She ate all she wanted and still had some left over.
 
15 When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. 16 And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t give her a hard time!”  17 So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it filled an entire basket.  18 She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the roasted grain that was left over from her meal.
 
19 “Where did you gather all this grain today?” Naomi asked. “Where did you work? May the Lord bless the one who helped you!”  So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.”  20 “May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”  21 Then Ruth said, “What’s more, Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed.”  22 Naomi exclaimed. “Good!  Do as he said, my daughter. Stay with his young women right through the whole harvest. You might be harassed in other fields, but you’ll be safe with him.”
 
23 So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz’s fields and gathered grain with them until the end of the barley harvest. Then she continued working with them through the wheat harvest in early summer. And all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.
 
Once Naomi and Ruth found themselves back in Naomi’s hometown, they still needed to find a way to take care of themselves…no easy feat given the restrictions placed on women during this point in history.  But they needed to eat, so Ruth approached Naomi with her plan.  She would go and harvest grain as permitted to the poor.  God had given a practice for the people to follow during the time of Moses; it was a means of ensuring that the poor would be provided for, “9 When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:9-10).   So, Ruth’s plan was to do just that—to collect any grain that she could find around the edges of the fields being harvested and to pick up anything that was dropped in hopes of providing her and Naomi with enough food to sustain them.
 
Straightforward enough, but certainly not without risks.  Not all land owners followed the practice and a woman alone risked being taken advantage of.  But they were desperate and Ruth courageously followed the one course of action available to them for finding food.  And God protected her and provided for both Naomi and Ruth.  She ‘coincidently’ finds herself gleaning in a field owned by a relative of Naomi’s deceased husband.  
 
From the brief conversation between Boaz and his foreman, it is obvious that she has won their admiration for her hard work and steadfast loyalty to provide not only for herself, but also for her mother-in-law.  Boaz encourages her to stay on throughout all the harvests; he even takes steps to ensure her safety from unwanted attention and for her to more easily collect all that she and Naomi will need—not just to scrape by, but to have enough to provide for them in the coming months.  It is obviously an arrangement that works well in the short-term, but Naomi begins to make a plan of her own for their care in the long-term.
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“RUTH THE CONFIDENT”
Ruth 3 –  One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, it’s time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for. 2 Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he’s been very kind by letting you gather grain with his young women. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. 3 Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.”  5 “I will do everything you say,” Ruth replied.  6 So she went down to the threshing floor that night and followed the instructions of her mother-in-law. 
 
7 After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he lay down at the far end of the pile of grain and went to sleep. Then Ruth came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. 8 Around midnight Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked.  “I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer.”
 
10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter!” Boaz exclaimed. “You are showing even more family loyalty now than you did before, for you have not gone after a younger man, whether rich or poor. 11 Now don’t worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman. 12 But while it’s true that I am one of your family redeemers, there is another man who is more closely related to you than I am. 13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning I will talk to him. If he is willing to redeem you, very well. Let him marry you. But if he is not willing, then as surely as the Lord lives, I will redeem you myself! Now lie down here until morning.”
 
14 So Ruth lay at Boaz’s feet until the morning, but she got up before it was light enough for people to recognize each other. For Boaz had said, “No one must know that a woman was here at the threshing floor.” 15 Then Boaz said to her, “Bring your cloak and spread it out.” He measured six scoops of barley into the cloak and placed it on her back. Then he returned to the town.
 
16 When Ruth went back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “What happened, my daughter?”  Ruth told Naomi everything Boaz had done for her, 17 and she added, “He gave me these six scoops of barley and said, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”  18 Then Naomi said to her, “Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won’t rest until he has settled things today.”
 
What was Naomi’s plan?  To have Ruth propose marriage to Boaz!  Up to this point Ruth has done all she has been able to think of to take care of herself and Naomi.  But propose to this elderly landowner…kind relative or not…might have caused her to hesitate.  Who was she, as a foreigner, to make the first move to mention marriage?  And given Boaz’s character, I doubt there had been any indication on his part that he might be open to the suggestion.  He has been more than generous to help them, but this would bring his ‘help’ to an all-new level.
 
But as crazy as Naomi’s plan might appear to us, it was actually another provision that God had made for the care of widows and for the continuation of an individual’s family name if a man should die without children, “If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law.  The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel” (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).  This principle was extended to apply to more distant relations as well.
 
So, despite a certain amount of nervousness I’m sure, and with Naomi’s instructions in mind, Ruth confidently goes to the threshing floor and does exactly as she has been told.  Ruth proposed to Boaz and Boaz, after some initial shock, said, “Yes!”  But there’s just one catch.  Not just any family member could serve as the ‘kinsmen redeemer;’ it had to be the closest male relative…and there was one closer than Boaz.  Now it’s up to Boaz to clear the last obstacle for Naomi and Ruth to finally know some long-term stability.
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“RUTH THE BLESSED”
Ruth 4:1-17 – Boaz went to the town gate and took a seat there. Just then the family redeemer he had mentioned came by, so Boaz called out to him, “Come over here and sit down, friend. I want to talk to you.” So they sat down together. 2 Then Boaz called ten leaders from the town and asked them to sit as witnesses. 3 And Boaz said to the family redeemer, “You know Naomi, who came back from Moab. She is selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem it if you wish. If you want the land, then buy it here in the presence of these witnesses. But if you don’t want it, let me know right away, because I am next in line to redeem it after you.”  The man replied, “All right, I’ll redeem it.”
 
5 Then Boaz told him, “Of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow. That way she can have children who will carry on her husband’s name and keep the land in the family.”  He quickly changed his mind.  6 “Then I can’t redeem it,” the family redeemer replied, “because this might endanger my own estate. You redeem the land; I cannot do it.”
 
7 Now in those days it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a right of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party. This publicly validated the transaction. 8 So the other family redeemer drew off his sandal as he said to Boaz, “You buy the land.”  9 Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”
 
11 Then the elders and all the people standing in the gate replied, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make this woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.”
 
13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. 15 May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”
 
16 Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. 17 The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.
 
God provides Ruth and Naomi with a needed protector and legal representative.  He provides the faithful Boaz with a lovely and honourable young wife.  He provides a son for the continuation of Elimelech’s name and land, which will offer future protection for the women in his family.  And God provides Ruth with the honour of being included in the lineage of King David and of the promised Messiah!
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What are we to take from Ruth’s story?
·         God turned what could have been a terrible tragedy into a story that demonstrates His incredible love for humanity and His faithfulness to all who will serve Him loyally.  Ruth’s story gives us hope in the midst of life’s momentary heartbreaks and despair.  Naomi had given up all hope for a good future, certain that God was punishing her family, but her story wasn’t over.  God had brought Ruth into her life—it was no mere coincidence.  And while Naomi encouraged her daughters-in-law to give up on her, God knew just what she needed to help her through—stubbornly faithful Ruth!  We, too, need to be careful not to push away the very people that God brings into our lives to help us through tough spots.  And like Ruth, we should also remain faithful to God, no matter the personal cost.  This life is temporary and we have a hope worth holding onto no matter our circumstances at this moment.
 
·         Long before Ruth lived, God had put together provisions that would directly benefit her—that of ensuring that the poor could have food to eat through gleaning and that widows could be cared for and family names continued through a kinsman redeemer.  God had provided, but it still required Ruth to be courageous and confident.  If she had been too timid to act, Naomi and she might have both starved, and she certainly would never have known the blessing of getting married and having a family again.  What are the things that are currently holding you back from realizing God’s work in your life due to fear?  When our faith is in God and not our own abilities or in others, we have every right to be courageous and confident.  The Bible is clear that, “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).  Fear is a weapon of the enemy to keep us from living in complete obedience to God.  We must never let it get the better of us.  Just think of all Ruth would have missed out on if she had.
 
·         By rejecting to do what could have proved to be much easier, and choosing her faith in God and loyalty to her new family, Ruth experienced God’s incredible blessing on her life—something she would have totally missed out on if she had stayed in Moab.  Tragedy forced her to leave her homeland, but in so doing, she became a valued member of a new community.  I suspect that when they first arrived back, Ruth would have found few friends amongst the Israelites; but after the birth of Obed, even the old women had to admit that Ruth had been to Naomi ‘better than seven sons!’  Living a life of loyalty and faith to God is not easy and there are often what appear to be much easier routes to take in life; but ultimately, it is only those who choose the more difficult path of faithfulness who experience God’s blessing in their lives.
 
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For Further Study
The Bible Project – Overview: Ruth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h1eoBeR4Jk
 
Sunday, September 26, 2021- “Called by God” (Samuel) - In-person and Online
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
 
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

​Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “Living by Your Own Code”
 
Text – Book of Judges
  
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Today, I’d like to begin by asking a couple of questions that I want each of us to consider this morning.  How close are you to God?  How well do you know Him?  How much do you trust Him?  How deeply do you love Him?  We’re going to revisit those questions later on; these are not questions to be answered too quickly like a teenager being asked about the state of their room, “yah, yah, it’s good enough.”  There’s much more at stake than growing piles of laundry and the accumulation of dishes that haven’t made it back to the kitchen.
 
It is my conviction that a growing relationship with God is necessary to remain in obedience to Him and to safeguard ourselves from all manner of sin.  Think of your spiritual life as a wagon on a hill with no wheel blocks.  There is no remaining at a standstill…we either keep growing upward in our spiritual maturity propelled forward by our obedience or we begin to roll backward into sinful habits through disobedience.  And as we all know, the ride down is far more effortless than the work required to make our way up the hill.
 
None of us will ever get to the place where we do not need to actively resist temptation…until we reach heaven that is; but, as long as we live on this planet, we need to grow continually in our reliance on God for our spiritual well-being, in the same way that we rely on air for our physical well-being.
 
The book of Judges chronicles the ups and downs of the people of Israel, but with fewer ups than downs…and how they end up becoming every bit as ‘Canaanite’ as the people who God had expelled from the land.  The people chosen by God to reveal Himself through to the world ended up rejecting Him for idols, adopting all manner of sexual depravity and even the sacrificing of children in the act of worship, just as the people before them had. 
 
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Joshua lived to be 110 years old; during his lifetime, the Israelites were able to subdue the land of Canaan, but they were not able to completely clear the land of the previous inhabitants.  Joshua divided up the land, encouraging the people to continue the work God had given them; however, it is clear that Joshua is uneasy about the future of the Israelites in this new land.
 
 In a final speech to the people where he encourages them to closely follow all of the instructions Moses had written down and to remain entirely faithful to God, he warns them of the dangers of not doing so.   “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you” (Joshua 24:19-20).  I wonder if Joshua was trying to use a little bit of reverse psychology, because when the people hear this, they are adamant, “We will serve the Lord!”
 
What transpires in the book of Judges, however, tells a very different story.
 
“ADDICTION TO SIN”
Judges 2:6-13 – “6 After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. 7 And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.  8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
 
10 After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.  11 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. 13 They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.”
 
Sin had an addictive effect on the people of Israel…a habit they had never fully kicked since the days of Egypt.  They were perpetually drawn into the act of worshiping other gods.  Over a period of 300-500 years (depending on the dating process used by various biblical scholars), we see an obvious pattern emerging.  Each time they make a new commitment to God, it isn’t long until they reject Him and end up in a worse condition than before.  Their downward trajectory is halted at points, but each time they ‘forget,’ they simply pick up where they left off on their downward slide. 
 
It appears that, as the years passed, each new generation was faced with the choice to serve God or idols… and always ended up choosing the latter and sinking to a deeper level of disobedience than the generation before them.  Each cycle of disobedience left them farther removed from God and the ability to understand His requirements…even to the point that, when they did return to God, they treated Him as one of their many idols and not as the One true and living GOD.
 
It reminds us that every generation must make its own commitment to obeying God, a truth I think we’ve lost somewhat in today’s Church, but is abundantly clear from the book of Judges.  Children born to Christian parents are not automatically going to grow into faithful believers if we, as parents, don’t show them how and why.  If we make God less of a priority in our lives than He should be, is it any wonder when our children do as well?  We may fool those who only see us on occasion, but those who know us best, our families, are not so easily fooled.  They know what we are like when we let our guard down…and it is that example they will follow, not the polished public personas we present to others.  But remember, this does preclude a child’s choosing to reject God of their own accord, either, no matter the example they grew up with.  Each individual is responsible to make their own choices.
 
There is simply no escaping the fact that disobedience to God, which the Bible calls sin, is addictive.  It often hijacks seemingly innocent desires and activities and puts a deadly twist on them.  One example is the desire for validation.  God created humanity in His very own image and made a way for us to enjoy a relationship with Him; but we, like the Israelites, reject His love and replace it with inferior forms of validation—we worship idols built on false religions, human relationships, money and possessions, academic and professional accomplishments and/or attempting to remain eternally youthful.  Throughout the history of humankind, we have constantly struggled with the temptation to reject God as our only source of worth, protection and guidance for life. 
 
Clear examples, from both historical times and our current day, of the addictive nature of sin can easily be attested to when we consider the sex ‘industry,’ the existence of both rampant gluttony and starvation simultaneously, the constant shifting of national and global powers, the easy dismissal of human life not our own, scams that give evidence to the fact that for many money trumps honesty.  And unfortunately, there are too many more examples we could use.
 
An addiction to sin is extremely dangerous because it will take control over us, something that God refuses to do.  God may intervene, but He will never force compliance; however, choosing any form of sin over God carries consequences.  The Israelites in the book of Judges experienced God’s intervention on their behalf when they called out to Him, but they seem incapable of learning from past experiences and kicking their addiction once and for all.
 
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Last week in our study, we learned that Leviticus 18 details all the reasons why the land is going to ‘vomit’ the Canaanites from it and God warned the Israelites that they would suffer the same consequence if they engaged in the detestable practices of idol worship, sexual depravity and child sacrifice.  Despite the warning, given enough time, the people forget that their behaviour will indeed hold some dire consequences.  The book of Judges details God’s attempts to bring the people back to a place of healthy obedience: when they reject Him, God removes His protection and allows the people to suffer loss.
 
“GOD’S INTERVENTION"
Judges 2:14-15 – “14 This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them. 15 Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress.”
 
Every few years, after the previous generation had learnt its lesson and returned to God, the next generation would turn from God and He would provide them with an incentive to acknowledge their need of Him.  This cycle is repeated no less than a dozen times, on an average of every 25 to 40 years!
 
It struck me as I was preparing for today, that I would really hate God’s job.  Knowing what’s best, providing all that’s needed, then having to sit back and watch as humanity trashes everything—creating an absolute mess of themselves at the same time.  He refrains from forcing us to do what is right, even though it is in our best interest, because He values and honours the freewill that He has gifted humanity with.  He will intervene at times in an attempt to persuade us to a better path, but ultimately, He allows us to make the final decision of whether we will choose to obey or do our own thing.  I would be lousy at being God…I don’t have His patience…His compassion…or His self-control!
 
When we recognize our need of God—whether for the first time or after a period of having walked away from Him—it is not simply good enough to break with the past by stopping certain behaviours.  Addictions, especially to sin, are incredibly difficult to change.  Stopping one thing. without replacing it, creates a vacuum that sin will always find a way to fill.  We must replace it with something new.  The only cure for an addiction to sin is a loving, trusting, obedient relationship with God.
 
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But, the problem is that there are just too many people trying to get by on the minimal requirements.  Less than complete loyalty to God leaves room for disloyalty; less than full faithful obedience makes room for disobedience.  The effect of sin in our lives may appear negligible and even go unnoticed by others, but it creates a wedge between us and God that if left unchecked is capable of destroying our relationship with Him entirely.
 
“THE DEADENING EFFECTS OF SIN”
Judges 11:29-39 – “29 At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
32 So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. 33 He crushed the Ammonites, devastating about twenty towns from Aroer to an area near Minnith and as far away as Abel-keramim. In this way Israel defeated the Ammonites.
34 When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish. “Oh, my daughter!” he cried out. “You have completely destroyed me! You’ve brought disaster on me! For I have made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.”
36 And she said, “Father, if you have made a vow to the Lord, you must do to me what you have vowed, for the Lord has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But first let me do this one thing: Let me go up and roam in the hills and weep with my friends for two months, because I will die a virgin.”
38 “You may go,” Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. 39 When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin.
 
It is obvious that God used Jephthah to lead a victory over the Ammonites, but He did not require Jephthah’s promissory bribe to do so.  If God gave him a victory, Jephthah promised to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his door…had he presumed that he would be met by one of his slaves…a family pet…his wife?  Scriptures don’t tell us, only that it was his only daughter and he immediately regretted his promise.  And worse yet, he went through with it!  She was given two months to go into the hills with her friends and then she was sacrificed.
 
Do you think God was interested in having a human sacrifice?  No!  He had expressly forbade it.  So how did Jephthah get to the place in his life where he thought this would actually please God and win him favour?  Yes, God used Jephthah, just as He can use any messed up person, but that doesn’t mean that God endorses their behaviour.
 
By Jephthah’s days as judge, according to Jephthah’s response to the Ammonite king, the Israelites had been in the land for about 300 years (Judges 11:26).  When it came to the Israelites’ relationship with God, their cycle of rejecting God for idols had done more harm than they realized.  Willful disobedience causes sin to grow.  Sin hardens us and sends us down the path toward even greater sins and moral depravity…sins we would not have considered at an earlier time in our lives become normative.  Eventually, we tune out the still small voice that directs us and convicts us.  We can even begin calling evil ‘good’ (Isaiah 5:20).
 
The book ends with a very telling phrase, “all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25)…and isn’t that what usually gets us into trouble?   
 
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How do we avoid the pitfalls?
·         Don’t water down God’s commands, but work diligently to make His values your own.  What are God’s commands? [love God, love others, to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God]  What do these actions look like in real life?  Do that!  Who cares what other people think…live to please God first and foremost.
 
·         Take a stand against sin…in yourself!  We’re too quick to spread judgments thickly around us, all the while letting ourselves off the proverbial hook.  What was the biggest problem for the Israelites during the time of the judges?  “All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” We are often not the best judge of our own behaviour and motives; when we allow habitual sin room, our consciences become seared and we are no longer able to make judgements that align with God’s values.
 
·         Be patient!  Often we get ourselves in trouble, because despite saying we trust God’s faithfulness to us, we really don’t.  Before we jump into ‘fix it’ mode, we need to make certain that our plans are actually in line with His.
 
·         We descend into self-destruction when we turn our back on God.  It reminds us of the fact that we need Jesus…without Him we can become like the Canaanites too!  We may have different altars to worship at, but sexual depravity and the sacrifice of children’s well-being for the things we worship and other addictions to sin are still rampant
 
So remember my original questions?  This week please take the time to consider each one: How close are you to God?  How well do you know Him?  How much do you trust Him?  How deeply do you love Him?  There is always room to grow in our knowledge of God, in our relationship to Him and in our obedience to His commands.  Taking a break from God should never be an option.  Our spiritual health and eternal destiny depend on our continued diligence.
 
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For Further Study
The Bible Project – Overview: Judges - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOYy8iCfIJ4
 
Pastor Landon – Judges in Seven Minutes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_P8cMpAd8Y
 
Sunday, September 19, 2021- “The Messiah was a Descendant of the Moabites?  No Way!” (Ruth) - In-person and Online
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw


Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)

Youtube link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF-GBnURot8
 
HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, September 5, 2021 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “You Call That a Battle Plan?” 
Text – Joshua 5-7, Leviticus 18, Deuteronomy 12:29-31, Hebrews 4:6-11, 1 Peter 1:15-17
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 Last week, we dipped our toes into the book of Joshua; today we take the plunge!  The people of Israel are about to embark on the task of taking over the land of Canaan—the land God promised them—but to do so, God must make room for them…through the removal and/or suppression of the people already living there.  The stories contained in the book of Joshua are unsettling as we read of whole towns and people groups being slaughtered and/or made into slaves.
 
Many in our day and age have difficulty aligning the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New Testament, whom we serve.  But it’s the same God.  Speaking through the prophet Malachi, God assures us that, “I am the Lord, and I do not change” (Malachi 3:6a).  He has not changed; however, His revelation of Himself to us has.  Jesus allowed us to see God in a new light, but that doesn’t mean that the God of justice who demanded obedience before Jesus walked the earth as a human is now only grace, mercy and love. 
 
The Bible records many times that God changed His mind.  He changed His mind about destroying the Ninevites when they repented after Jonah’s warning and we have seen times over the course of this past year when, in response to Moses’ pleading, God relents from wiping out the nation of Israel and beginning again.  However, despite changing His mind, He remains the same.
 
I remember a story from my life that may help to make this more understandable.  Shortly after Donald and I were married, I began working at a church as the Adult Ministries Pastor.  After Shannan was born two years later, I had an individual tell me one day how much he had seen me change since her birth.  I corrected him.  No, I hadn’t changed; what had changed was his perception of me, because he was now able to see another side of me he hadn’t prior to our daughter being born. 
 
It’s the same with God.  Our perception of Him has changed.  We now possess a far greater understanding of the depth of His love and the extent to which He would, and did, go to reclaim us from sin as His own—by becoming human and dying for us.  It is helpful to keep that fact in mind as we read through the difficult stories contained in the Old Testament.
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What is also helpful for us to keep in mind is the culture of the day about which these stories are written.  No less is true in today’s lesson and we would do well to attempt to understand the Canaanite situation prior to drawing conclusions about God’s apparent vendetta against them.  The people of Canaan had sunk to a level of moral depravity that had left them with a complete disregard for human life.  Worship of their idols had led them into extremes of sexual corruption and the routine sacrifice of children as part of their religious observances.
 
“UNDERSTANDING THE CANAANITE SITUATION”
Leviticus 18:1-5 – “Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. 3 So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. 4 You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. 5 If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.”
 
What then follows is a long list of sexual deviances that God tells the Israelites they are not to engage in, sexual practices that were rife in both Egypt, the land the Israelites had left, and Canaan, the land they were entering.  I must admit, I find the list repulsive and wonder how any group would allow themselves to do such things.  This was not just the behaviour of a few twisted individuals; this was not even just an accepted behaviour within the society; it had become part of their expected and approved ‘moral’ code…or more accurately, lack of moral code!
 
The chapter forbids sex with any close relation—mother, step mom, aunt, sister, sister-in-law, daughter or grand-daughter.  It also forbids sex with a person of the same gender or with an animal.  Because of these behaviours, God is going to bring about their punishment, “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways.  Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out” (Leviticus 18:24-25).
 
In Deuteronomy we read a further explanation for God’s expulsion of the Canaanites from the land, “29 When the Lord your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and live in their land, 30 do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’ 31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:29-31). 
 
It is clear that the people of Canaan are not being pushed aside simply to make room for the Israelites; God doesn’t play favourites.  God explains the reason for His plan to punish the Canaanites and He warns that Israelites, even while still in the wilderness, that the same will happen to them if they disobey Him and adopt the ways of the Canaanites.  “27 All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. 28 So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now. 29 Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel. 30 So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:27-30).
 
As mentioned in our study last week, this is not a question of whose side God is on, but rather who is on God’s side.  God will punish all who disobey; God will reward all who obey.  The Israelites may have been the people of the promise God made to Abraham, but they did not own God’s affections.  They were chosen to play a specific role as part of His plan for the redemption of the whole of humanity.  As long as they obeyed Him, He would provide His favour, just as He has promised to any person or group of people who chooses to obey Him today.
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God had chosen this time to punish the Canaanites.  So after crossing the Jordan River—which miraculously stops for the Israelites to cross over—and their recommitment to God through the circumcision of all the men who had been born during their wilderness travels, God reveals His battle plan to Joshua.  He is about to perform a miracle on their behalf; their job is to obediently play the role of spectators in God’s defeat of Jericho’s walls.  However, it also serves as a test—will they obey?
 
“GOD’S BATTLE PLAN"
Joshua 6:2-5 – “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3 You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.’”
 
Picture yourself as one of the Israelites.  Moses has died and Joshua has taken his place.  You know that Joshua has gone off by himself to devise a battle plan.  Soon, he gathers the troops…everyone is eager to hear the plan.  Joshua gives you his marching orders, literally.  The army is to march around the city once for six days to the blast of the priests’ trumpets, then seven times on the seventh day.  The priests will blow one long blast, everyone is to yell, and the walls will crumble…just like that.  Those of us who have heard this story retold many times, might miss out on the significance of this moment; a moment that could have led to another episode of mutiny in the Israelites’ journey to Canaan. 
 
The plan is absolutely ludicrous!  Thick city walls of stone…thick enough to have houses built into them…don’t crumble because a bunch of people yell.  If it hadn’t been for all the miracles of the past forty years, it would have been understandable for some to question Joshua’s sanity.  But it’s interesting to note, that this is one of the few times when the Israelites appear not to question God’s plan.  They unhesitatingly obey.  Joshua delivers the plan and the Israelites follow.  And the walls come down!
 
God makes it clear that it is He who is doing the work of making room for the Israelites by moving ahead of them to remove the Canaanites.  His requirement of them is unwavering and complete obedience.  Without Him, the task would have been impossible; with Him, nothing will be impossible.
 
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But, unknown to all but one man, there’s a problem; they do not completely obey…and quickly suffer the consequences.  In the very next battle, assuming that all is good, they find themselves quickly overwhelmed by the military of the small and seemingly insignificant town of Ai.  In their grief and confusion, Joshua himself questions the advisability of their having crossed the Jordan as he pours out his fears to God.  God quickly provides him with an answer…and a reality check.
 
“GOD IS SERIOUS ABOUT OBEDIENCE”
Joshua 7:10-15 – “10 But the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Get up! Why are you lying on your face like this? 11 Israel has sinned and broken my covenant! They have stolen some of the things that I commanded must be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen them but have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings. 12 That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel itself has been set apart for destruction. I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction.
 
13 ‘Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.
 
14 ‘In the morning you must present yourselves by tribes, and the Lord will point out the tribe to which the guilty man belongs. That tribe must come forward with its clans, and the Lord will point out the guilty clan. That clan will then come forward, and the Lord will point out the guilty family. Finally, each member of the guilty family must come forward one by one. 15 The one who has stolen what was set apart for destruction will himself be burned with fire, along with everything he has, for he has broken the covenant of the Lord and has done a horrible thing in Israel.’”
 
 
It’s almost as though God is rebuking Joshua, “Isn’t it obvious why you lost?  I told you that I would help you if you obeyed me.  I was not with you at the battle of Ai, so it should be presumed that you have not obeyed.”  As it turns out, there’s only one guilty party, Achan; but God saw his sin as infecting the whole of the Israelite community.  Achan’s disregard of God, His instructions and for believing he could take what belonged to God with impunity, needed to be made an example of.
 
After God singles Achan out from the rest, he finally confesses to his crime—"Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Achan, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, tent, and everything he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor. 25 Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘Why have you brought trouble on us? The Lord will now bring trouble on you.’ And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and burned their bodies. 26 They piled a great heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. That is why the place has been called the Valley of Trouble ever since. So the Lord was no longer angry” (Joshua 7:24-26).
 
We might judge God as being too harsh, but it is clear that God equates ‘almost’ or ‘mostly’ obedient as disobedient.  God had promised to reward them, to be with them, to go ahead of them, and to do the impossible on their behalf as a result of their loyalty.  But why should God bless disloyalty?  It is not up for negotiation.  Less than 100% faithfulness still leaves room for unfaithfulness.  God will forgive us when we confess our sins, but it is wrongly presumptuous to expect God’s favour in the face of our disloyalty. 
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What are today’s takeaways?
·         The same God who judged the Canaanites to be in need of punishment is the same God we serve today.  Sin still removes God’s blessing, just as Achan’s disobedience caused suffering on the Israelite community.  God still requires obedience, faithfulness and loyalty from His followers. 
 
·         We still have a ‘promised land’ at stake—the promise of an eternal rest. The writer of Hebrews referred back to the time of Joshua’s day to make this point, “God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: ‘Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.’
 
8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.” (Hebrews 4:6-11)
 
Disobedience robs us of God’s rest and of His favour.
·         God’s presence is our greatest reward for our obedience and eternal separation from God is the result of disobedience.  Today’s story reminds us that we must resist the urge to blur the lines of obedience.  Willful disobedience, no matter what society declares as the current moral standard, will result in punishment.  ‘Almost’ or ‘mostly’ obedient aren’t good enough either.  We serve a holy God.  “15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.’ 17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as ‘temporary residents.’” (1 Peter 1:15-17). 
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For Further Study
The Bible Project – Joshua - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqJlFF_eU
 
Sunday, September 12, 2021- “Living By Your Own Code” (Judges) - In-person and Online
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
 
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Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

​Youtube link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahCDdT4uCNQ
 
HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, August 29, 2021
 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “Unexpected Help” 
Text – Joshua 2
 
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The current crises we are facing in our world today are not new…they are the result of sin’s effect on God’s very good creation.  Our lesson today takes us back to the history of the Israelites as they are preparing to enter into the land of Canaan, which too would have been a time of uncertainty, fear and trying to hear the voice of God in all the noise.
 
Review and Background – We left the Israelites at Acacia Grove with Moses still in charge.  But while there, much happens.  Besides falling for the plan of Balaam to entice the men into worshipping the Baal of Peor and the resulting plague that God sends as punishment (which we covered in last week’s lesson), the Israelites now have a new leader.  Moses has died on the mountain and Joshua has been named his successor.  God himself has met with Joshua and promised to help him; he need only obey God completely, be strong and courageous and God will do the rest.  The time has come to begin moving into the land of Canaan and, like Moses before him, Joshua sends two men to spy out the land to inspect their first obstacle—Jericho.
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“UNEXPECTED HELP”
Joshua 2 – “Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove.  He instructed them, ‘Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.’ So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.  2 But someone told the king of Jericho, ‘Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.’ 3 So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: ‘Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.’
 
4 Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, ‘Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.’ 6 (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.) 7 So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.
 
8 Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. 9 ‘I know the Lord has given you this land,’ she told them. ‘We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. 10 For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. 11 No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.  12 Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that 13 when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.’  14The men agreed, ‘We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety.  If you don’t betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land.’
 
15 Then, since Rahab’s house was built into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window. 16 ‘Escape to the hill country,’ she told them. ‘Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.’  17 Before they left, the men told her, ‘We will be bound by the oath we have taken only if you follow these instructions. 18 When we come into the land, you must leave this scarlet rope hanging from the window through which you let us down. And all your family members—your father, mother, brothers, and all your relatives—must be here inside the house. 19 If they go out into the street and are killed, it will not be our fault. But if anyone lays a hand on people inside this house, we will accept the responsibility for their death. 20 If you betray us, however, we are not bound by this oath in any way.’  21 Rahab replied, ‘I accept your terms.’ And she sent them on their way, leaving the scarlet rope hanging from the window.
 
22 The spies went up into the hill country and stayed there three days. The men who were chasing them searched everywhere along the road, but they finally returned without success.  23 Then the two spies came down from the hill country, crossed the Jordan River, and reported to Joshua all that had happened to them. 24 ‘The Lord has given us the whole land,’ they said, ‘for all the people in the land are terrified of us.’
  
Joshua covertly sends out two spies to check out their first stop for acquiring the land—the city of Jericho.  It’s a dangerous mission and upon choosing to enter the city they find themselves in immediate danger.  Whether it’s their clothes, their speech, their mannerisms, they stand out.  It’s probable that the king of Jericho had spies of his own keeping an eye on the Israelites, because no sooner do they enter Rahab’s house then the king sends word to her…“Bring out the men who are with you, for they are Israelite spies.”
 
Anyone who is familiar with this story knows one thing about Rahab.  Who was she? [a prostitute] Today, I would like to expand our thinking about Rahab.  This was not just some loose woman plying her trade whose place of business these men presumed would provide a believable cover.  What was it that brought them to her house?  Could it be that she too recognized these men as from the camp of Israel and the imminent danger of discovery they were in?  From their conversation, it appears that she may have been more involved in their finding refuge in her home than just their seeking out a place that regularly welcomed male customers.  It is obvious that Rahab saw an opportunity to align herself on the winning side—God’s side—whom she acknowledges as the ‘supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.’
 
Many people could be tempted to downplay her role in this story, she is a prostitute after all, a holy God wouldn’t choose to have her play a significant role in the story of His chosen people.  But that’s where we would be wrong.  The fact that Rahab is a prostitute is telling.  She has a painful history.  No little girl grows up dreaming of becoming a sex worker.  She may have been sold by her parents to a pagan shrine to earn favour with their gods or to settle a debt.  She may have found herself widowed or abandoned by her husband with little to no options.  We don’t know her story before the Israelites end up in her home, except that she has very little faith in her own gods or her people and is looking for a way to gain favour with the God of the Israelites whom she has heard such incredible stories about.  The stories may be unbelievable, but it is obvious that Rahab has become convinced and wants in.
 
Her people have heard the same stories and are freaking out at the news that the Israelites have camped themselves on the other side of the Jordan River, just opposite the city.  Unlike Rahab, they remain determined to oppose God to the bitter end.  She shared their fear of the God of the Israelites, but rather than opposing God, she sought to align herself with Him.  And God blessed her!  As we read along in Joshua, we will learn that the spies were true to their promise and rescued Rahab and all her family who had gathered in her house with her.  Rahab becomes a member of the Israelite community when she marries a man named Salmon, whom some biblical scholars suggest had been one of the two spies.  They have a son named Boaz (Ruth 4:21), who becomes the great grandfather of King David (v.22)…from whose line we know the Messiah was born (Matthew 1:5).
 
How do we respond to God in the midst of crisis, uncertainty, and when we hear of ‘wars and rumours of wars?’
·         We can be confident like the Israelites, knowing that God is going to lead us through whatever difficulties we might face as long as we remain obedient.  OR…
·         We can stand in opposition to God, demanding that He, as ‘good’ and ‘loving,’ must take away the pain, problems and crisis, rather than trusting Him to lead us through.
 
The Bible tells us that, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1).  Notice that the promise is for God’s help ‘in’ times of trouble, not His preventing any trouble from happening.
 
Too often we want God to sweep in and save the day—to do a miracle—to prove that He is indeed on our side.  But when we face problems and opposition, the question should never be, whose side is God on, but rather, who is on God’s side?  God can absolutely work miracles…and does!  It is also true that Jesus warned His followers that they would face persecution…just as He did. 
 
God loves humanity equally—good and bad, obedient and disobedient, submissive and openly defiant.  He plays no favourites.  On the question of sides, what is important is whose side we’re on.  Do we reject God as the majority of the citizens of Jericho did, or do we seek to align our beliefs and values to His as Rahab did?
 
Long before the Israelites made it across the Jordan River, God had been preparing the heart of one young woman—Rahab.  Rejected and abused by her own people, unheard by the gods she had grown up with, she was ready to choose life with Israel’s God…and He accepted her with open arms.  God used her determination to help His chosen people and honoured her as one of the individuals who would be included in the genealogy of His Son.
 
We often ignore the fact that there is a choice to be made until we find ourselves in a situation for which we can find no other solution.  As we enter into a time of communion, I can’t help but see this truth played out at the scene of the cross as well.
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Communion – Luke 23:32-47 – “Jesus Crucifixion and Death” – “Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.  When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.   Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.  The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”  The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine.  They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”  A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
 
One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”  But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?  We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”  And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
 
By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.   When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.”
 
It is only as we come to God like Rahab or like the criminal on the cross, admitting our need, recognizing His Lordship, and seeking His forgiveness that we can experience the new life that Jesus promises.  Let us never forget our indebtedness or become ungrateful for the amazing gift He has made possible for us. 
 
“Thank You for the Blood” – Charity Gayle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFLBNduobzw
 
[partake of communion emblems and prayers of thanks]
 
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Final Thoughts – No matter what we experience as a part of life on this sin infected planet, there are truths that we can hold tightly too—God’s incredible love for us as demonstrated through the sacrifice of Jesus and His willingness to include any who would choose to serve Him.  This world is not our home…we are here to serve as ambassadors of a far greater kingdom, a perfect place which sin can never corrupt, where the justice, love and peace of God reign, our eternal home—heaven!  The Bible clearly warns us that we will experience hardships in this life for a short while, but to take heart—God has won and we are His loved children.  As long as we choose God’s side, we will always have hope!
 
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For Further Study
Voice of the Martyrs – Afghanistan - https://vomcanada.com/afghanistan-videos
Open Doors – Afghanistan - https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/afghanistan/
​
Praying for Afghanistan - https://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/latest-news/afghanistan-prayer/
 
Sunday, September 5, 2021- “You Call That a Battle Plan?” (Joshua 5-7) - In-person and Online
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

​Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “Short Term Memory – Golden Calves”
 
Text – Exodus 24, 32
 
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The people of Israel appear to finally be getting their relationship with God in order.  Following the provision of the Ten Commandments, God provides an additional set of laws and regulations for the people to follow.  God wants to make it clear that they are to be different from the nations around them.  He again stipulates the people’s need to worship Him directly; He lives in heaven, not an image of silver or gold (Exodus 20:22-23).   God also gives them three festivals—celebrations set aside to remember the amazing things God has done on their behalf and to worship Him (Exodus 23:14-17).  He then promises His direct protection by telling them that the angel of the Lord will lead them (Exodus 23:20-23) and warns them to obey this angel because he is God’s representative and will not forgive them if they choose to rebel.  The groundwork has been done—the people know the expectations, have been given reminders and a guardian.  So, in chapter 24 of Exodus, after having received all these directions from Moses, the people declare, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.  We will obey”—not just once, but twice (Exodus 24:3,7).  At this moment they agree to do what is necessary…but how long will their resolve last?
 
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‘MOUNTAINTOP’ EXPERIENCES
Exodus 24:9-18 – “9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!
 
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.” 13 So Moses and his assistant Joshua set out, and Moses climbed up the mountain of God.  14 Moses told the elders, “Stay here and wait for us until we come back. Aaron and Hur are here with you. If anyone has a dispute while I am gone, consult with them.”
 
15 Then Moses climbed up the mountain, and the cloud covered it. 16 And the glory of the Lord settled down on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. 17 To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, the glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a consuming fire. 18 Then Moses disappeared into the cloud as he climbed higher up the mountain. He remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”
 
 
The people have just had what we sometimes refer to as a ‘mountaintop’ experience.  Things are going well.  They have promised to obey God.  The nation’s leaders have just feasted in the visible presence of Almighty God.  They are on a bit of a spiritual high.
 
Moses is commanded by God to go up the mountain with his assistant Joshua to receive a special set of instructions from God to build the Tabernacle and to receive the Laws written by God’s own Hand.  Moses is confident that the people will be faithful, the leaders will be even more so and, if there is any trouble, they have the excellent guidance of Aaron and Hur to help them. 
 
Who is Aaron? [Moses’ brother, the High Priest] Who is Hur? [a companion of Moses’ and Aaron from the tribe of Judah, who Moses obviously trusted, but of whom we hear little]
 
Moses stayed on the mountain, which appeared from the people’s vantage point to be on fire and covered in smoke, for forty days and nights.  Exodus 25-31 tells of the content of Moses’ conversation with God—plans for constructing the Tabernacle and all of its sacred objects, the priesthood, priestly vestments and their installation service, and even the special gifting of two men to help in the process. 
 
And during all this time, Moses carefully wrote everything down so that they could follow God’s directions precisely and remained confident that all was going well in the camp of the Israelites with their newfound faithfulness and under the leadership of Aaron, Hur and the seventy elders.  Unfortunately, he was rather mistaken…
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THE TEMPTATION TO BE FAITHLESS
Exodus 32:1-8 - “When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”  2 So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”
 
3 All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”  5 Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!”  6 The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.
 
7 The Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”
 
 
I can’t help but wonder if God was providing a test for the people.  After calling Moses to come up to the mountaintop, God remained silent until the seventh day.  He was deliberately taking His time.  But while Moses remained attentive to the sound of God’s voice, the people concluded that after forty days Moses was as good as dead; Joshua was likely dead, too; God wasn’t speaking to any of them and they couldn’t stay at the foot of the mountain indefinitely.  The fact is that God was being anything but silent or inattentive, but they weren’t aware of what was happening.  And so they determined it was time to take matters into their own hands. 
 
Moses had thought he could trust his brother to provide faithful leadership to the people.  But it becomes obvious, that Aaron could not be trusted—not to lead, not to remain faithful, not even to tell his own brother the truth.  When Moses confronts Aaron, his every effort is to deflect blame and to find a scapegoat, “22 “Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:22-24)
 
But he isn’t the only one—what of the other seventy elders who had eaten in God’s very presence?  What of Aaron’s sons?  Why hadn’t Hur stepped up to stop this madness?  If there was any resistance to the suggestion that ‘gods’ be made, the Bible doesn’t tell us of it.
 
They had been instructed to wait, but ‘waiting’ is probably one of the most difficult things to do.  After forty days, they felt they had waited long enough and decided it was time for action. So, what did they do?  [had Aaron create an idol for them to worship]  They went right back to what they knew from the land of their enslavement.  Back to their old life.  Back to the ‘golden calves’ of Egypt.  From our perspective, their response can appear ridiculous, but be careful.  Hindsight is usually 20/20.  It’s much harder to be faithful when the future is uncertain.
 
God often uses times when we are forced to wait to refine us.  Will we grow increasingly faithful or faithless?  Even in our small congregation, we have all experienced our share of waiting, both as individuals and as a group.  The sale of the Kelly’s home in Barbados…the Bentil’s application for Permanent Residency…the resolution of housing needs...the sale of the church parsonage…even my process of ordination (this year marks 27 years since I was first licensed for ministry).  We need to allow the times of waiting to grow our faith muscle and actively resist the temptation to try and sort out the issues ourselves—to resort back to our ‘golden calves.’
 
What we see in the Israelites, demonstrates how very little faith they yet had in God.  They had experienced fabulous miracles, yet God’s direct intervention in their lives appears to have done little to grow their ability to persevere in their faith.  As much as we think a miracle here and there would increase ours and others’ faith, there is very little in the way of evidence to support this theory.  Miracles—tangible displays of God’s power—while preferable to our way of thinking, do not produce the quality of endurance that is required to remain faithful.  Our faith is not tested on the ‘mountaintops’ of spiritual experience, but rather in the ‘valleys’ that God knows are necessary for our spiritual well-being.
 
But like the Israelites, we don’t always prove faithful and, in our impatience, can become disobedient.  However, we must understand that disobedience always bears consequences…sometimes in the form of immediate punishment, but often in the hardening of our hearts and continued resistance to the lessons God is trying to teach us.
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DISOBEDIENCE MERITS PUNISHMENT
1) GOD CONTEMPLATES STARTING OVER - Exodus 32:9-14 - “9 Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. 10 Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”
 
11 But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? 12 Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people! 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”
 
14 So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.”
 
 
Notice what God is here prepared to do.  [destroy them entirely and start again with Moses] What causes Him to change His mind?  [His respect of Moses] 
 
Our disobedience of God can cause Him to reject us and choose another course of action to accomplish His Will.  No one person or group is indispensable to the fulfillment of God’s plans.
 
Charles Templeton and Billy Graham were both notable evangelists in the 1940s, founded Youth for Christ International with Torrey Johnson, and were close friends.  But whereas Billy Graham stayed true to his calling to preach as an evangelist, Charles Templeton let go of his faith, first becoming an agnostic, then a self-confessed atheist.  What made the difference in these two friends?  Charles allowed the knowledge of the scientific world and humanistic philosophers to erode his faith in the truth of the Bible; Billy would not.  Rather than rejecting the Bible for science, he allowed the new discoveries of science to grow in him a profound appreciation for the God of the universe, “…I’m overwhelmed by what astronomers and other scientists have discovered about space during my lifetime—countless galaxies, incredible distances, phenomena we can barely understand. Yet nothing is as profound as those first words of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).”1
 
Templeton’s rejection of God did not stop God from reaching the world with His message of Good News, it simply meant that Charles missed out on a life of faithfulness to God and eternity with Him.
 
 
2) GOD’S GIFT IS DESTROYED – Exodus 32:15-20 – “15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.[b] They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.
 
17 When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp!”  18 But Moses replied, “No, it’s not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration.”
 
19 When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it.”
 
 
I wonder if Moses came to regret having destroyed the original tablets containing God’s Laws, written by God Himself, never again to be replicated except through the work of human hands.  God has good gifts for us too, but our own disobedience can rob us of those.  Will we ever know the number of times we exchange God’s best plan for a good one of our own, all for our lack of waiting?
 
 
3) DRUNK ON DISOBEDIENCE – Exodus 32:25-29 – “25 Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “All of you who are on the Lord’s side, come here and join me.” And all the Levites gathered around him.
 
27 Moses told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” 28 The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day.
 
29 Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Today you have earned a blessing.”
 
 
God never removes the possibility of our choosing to reject Him, but those choices always come with consequences.  Some of the people had become completely out of control, even after Moses had destroyed the idol.  There was no calling them back to repentance.  They were drunk, both literally and figuratively on their disobedience of God and refused to be corrected.
 
I can’t imagine how difficult the next scene in the story was.  People within the community are called upon to discipline their own people—literally removing the sin from the camp by killing those who have become out of control in their worship of the idol created.  As a result, 3,000 people died. 
 
The New Testament also provides instructions for believers on the removal of people from within the congregation who have no intention of coming under God’s authority.  The Church is to serve as a community where people can find their way to God, but when these same people refuse to submit to God and encourage others to as well, there comes a time when they must undergo the discipline of the Church.
 
And finally, we each are called to give an account to God for our thoughts, words and actions—whether pleasing or not.
 
 
GOD SEES & REWARDS EACH ACCORDINGLY – Exodus 32:30-35 – “30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin, but I will go back up to the Lord on the mountain. Perhaps I will be able to obtain forgiveness for your sin.”  31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed. They have made gods of gold for themselves. 32 But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, erase my name from the record you have written!”
 
33 But the Lord replied to Moses, “No, I will erase the name of everyone who has sinned against me. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. Look! My angel will lead the way before you. And when I come to call the people to account, I will certainly hold them responsible for their sins.”  35 Then the Lord sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshiped the calf Aaron had made.”
                                                               
The Levites had killed a number of the Israelites who had gotten out of control, but God knew all who had been guilty and sent a plague to further purify the community.  Sometimes we are tempted to think we have gotten away with something because no one appears to have noticed or taken action, but that is wrong-headed thinking.  There are no secrets with God, and whether on this side of the grave or on the side to come, justice will be served. 
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What are some of the key takeaways?
·         No amount of miracle working on God’s part will ever guarantee faithful obedience on our parts – We pray for miracles so that people will believe, but miracles on their own cannot transform the human heart.  Spiritual muscle is grown most often through faith testing moments not as a result of God’s miraculous intervention.  Times of drudgery, anxiety and uncertainty test and grow us spiritually.
·         We must resist the temptation ‘to go back’ to do things in ways that we find comfortable.  The pandemic upended many of our comfortable ways of living life and even of our notions of ‘doing church;’ I pray that we will not forget the reminder that we are to ‘be’ the church—we need to keep moving forward under God’s direction, resisting the temptation to just do things the way we used to.  We must actively commit to rejecting all the ‘golden calves’ of the past that try to steal our loyalty to God alone.
·         We can reject God’s salvation, even after experiencing it – You cannot ‘lose’ your salvation like you can lose an object and nothing can steal it from you, but you can choose to walk away.  Our belief in Christ does not remove our ability to later choose differently.  This should be a sobering thought for all of us. The writer of Hebrews warns us, “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins” (Hebrews 10:26).  There is a line that can be crossed.  The question should never be how far can I go before I cross the line, but rather how can I keep getting closer to God?  Our faith is not to be a leash we strain against, but a magnetic force that keeps us close. 
·         Nothing is hidden – How much of what people say and do would change if we could literally see God watching us?  We may not see Him, but that doesn’t make Him blind to our thoughts, words and actions—either commendable or reprehensible.  Every act of obedience will be rewarded, every misdeed uncovered. Those who love and serve Christ, will experience forgiveness, but even our ‘secrets’ will come to light at the judgement seat. I would rather that the accounting of my life contain a far greater number of acts of obedience than acts of forgiven disobedience, wouldn’t you? 
·         Even when we don’t see God’s Hand at work, we can trust that He is present and involved.  During the forty days Moses spent on the mountain God was there, setting things in order for His people.  In the uncertainties of life, God is our only surety…forever faithful!
 
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References, Further Study & Encouragement
1 https://billygrahamlibrary.org/blog-10-quotes-from-billy-graham-on-creation-science/
 
Charles Templeton: Missing Jesus - https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/charles-templeton-missing-jesus/
 
Sunday, July 11, 2021- Guest Speaker: Claran Martin, EMCC Regional Minister - Ordination Service for Pastor Jane Peck – In-person and Online
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
 
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

Message on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTmGFHMMJeY
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Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “Hearing from God – Obeying His Commandments” – Communion Sunday
 
Text – Micah 6:1-8; Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 6:1-8; Matthew 7:12; Matthew 22:37-40
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 When a parent asks their child, ‘Did you hear me?’ it involves more than just the act of being able to repeat what has been said, but entails comprehension and often some needed action.  The same is true of the child of God.  When God speaks to us, He isn’t looking for us to merely mimic back His words.  His desire is that we will understand and obey. 
 
We often look at God’s commands as rules—things we must and must not do.  Today, I want to challenge that notion.  Rather than looking at God’s Laws, and specifically the Ten Commandments, as a list of rules, we should view them as a gift, a means by which we can express our love for God. 
 
As foreign as that may seem to us, is that not exactly what Jesus meant when He said that the two greatest commandments were to love God and to love others?  In fact, He further explained that all of the Laws (there are more than ten) and words of the prophets are based on these two commandments.  The undergirding principle of our faith is to be love and devotion.  Unfortunately, we often turn our relationship with God into one of dutybound compliance, rather than loyalty that stems from our adoration. 
 
God does not want to have a loveless relationship with anyone.  It is only when love is our primary motivation that we will experience what it means to be a child of God, to experience the joy of the Lord, to know peace, confidence and contentment as Christ-followers.  The same was true for the newly freed Israelites; so with God’s own hand, He wrote them a “How to Show God Love - Manual for Dummies”—the Ten Commandments.
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 EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE AND LOYALTY TO GOD
Exodus 20:1-11 – “Then God gave the people all these instructions:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
3 “You must not have any other god but me.
4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those[b] who love me and obey my commands.
7 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”
 
 
In Egypt, the Israelites had known of a number of gods and many of the newly freed slaves would have adopted the practice of worshiping them.  The Lord God was going to be taking them into new territory where they would learn of even more of these false gods.  But He makes it clear to them, that no matter what gods others might serve, they were not to regard any but Him, the great “I AM,” as their God.  And He also makes it clear that He is to be worshiped differently.  He and His creation are not to be reduced to mere pieces of carved stone or wood, or even objects of silver and gold; their worship is to be directed to Him—He will not be reduced or contained in an object that can be stolen, misplaced or be treated like a ‘lucky rabbit’s foot.’ 
 
Most of us don’t have statues as idols, but idolatry is never far from the human heart.  In our day and age, what types of things do we idolize?  What competes with God for your affections? [money, spouse, children, reputation, possessions, education, ideologies]…the list could truly be endless.
 
The first two commandments are pretty straightforward, but what about the third?  What does it mean that, ‘you must not misuse’ God’s name, or as the King James Version of the Bible reads, ‘you must take the Lord’s name in vain.’  How have you heard this explained?  For those who have understood this to mean that you shouldn’t use God’s name as a curse word, I want to expand upon this.
 
Inclusion of God or Jesus’ name in the list of our bad word vocabulary definitely falls into the category of ‘misusing’ God’s name, but it only represents the tip of the iceberg.  While it is often those who do not have a relationship with God that are quick to misuse God’s name in this way, religious people are guilty of a far more repugnant form of using God’s name in vain.  Anytime that we dishonour God through our thoughts, words or actions, we are misusing His name because as His representatives, we have misrepresented Him.  It’s part of the reason that the crimes against First Nations children in residential schools is so heinous.  The abuse by itself was horrendous; the fact that it came at the hands of individuals who claimed to be doing the work of God, takes it to a whole new level.
 
Anytime we use God to give credence to our own agendas, we are guilty of breaking the third commandment, because we are using our relationship with God to simply get what we want or justify a means to an end.  Rather than demonstrating the love that we have for Him, we make Him an accessory in our bad decisions and in our attempts to spiritually bully others.  History is full of examples.  The Crusades, which were little more than land grabs, were given the blessing of the Church.  Galileo was first excommunicated and then died after years of house arrest because he disputed the Church’s understanding that the earth was the centre of the universe.  When abolitionists called for an end to slavery, others pointed to texts of Scripture to shore up their support of slavery.
 
Sports teams pray for God’s help to win their games; movie actors thank God at award nights.  Televangelists bring in millions of dollars and live in luxury; politicians tell Christians what they want to hear in order to win their vote.  All can be guilty of misrepresenting God, feigning a relationship with Him only to gain an edge or approval.  Whenever we are tempted to score a point in an argument that begins with, “God says…” we must be very careful that we aren’t misquoting Him for our own purposes.
 
We are called to be Christ’s ambassadors, His representatives on earth.  We need to take our lead from how He walked on this planet.  Speaking truth, but loving unreservedly.  Spending time with sinners and the self-righteous.  Pointing everyone to the Father and not trying to build up His own reputation.  When we follow His example, we will not be found guilty of misusing God’s name, but of bringing Him honour.
 
And then the fourth command, “Keep the Sabbath day holy.”  How?  Just by not working?  Going to a church service?  No.  The Sabbath is God’s gift to us, not just another restriction placed on our lives to keep us compliant.  Think of this commandment as our opportunity to spend time with God, much like a family might get together to hangout or like a couple might set aside regular time for date nights.  God wants to spend time with us and He knew that without the Sabbath—a deliberate time set apart to spend with Him—He would be squeezed out by the business of life, just as can happen to our time spent with family and friends when we are not intentional.
 
To understand how important it is to set aside intentional time to spend with God, it might be helpful to think of God as waiting for us to slow down for an opportunity to truly connect.  He is always with us, but too often we ignore His presence in our daily lives.  He cherishes the time we take to spend with Him, talking to Him, reading His Word, hanging out with the other members of our heavenly family, even just sitting comfortably in silence with Him.  Spending time with Him is an expression of our continued and tangible love and loyalty of our God and Father.
 
But that’s just the first four of the Ten Commandments.  The next six focus on our relationships with people.  They are not just a list of rules, but provide us with the means to express our love and respect of others, which is equally important to God.
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EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE AND RESPECT TOWARDS OTHERS
Exodus 20:12-17 - “12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You must not murder.
14 “You must not commit adultery.
15 “You must not steal.
16 “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
 
 How are each of these commandments to be expressions of love and respect toward others?
 ·         Honour your parents—Parents are to be held in high esteem, respected and valued. The relationship we have with our parents is to be for a lifetime.  As they met our needs in our growing up years, we are to take care of them as they age.  God will honour those who honour their parents, throughout their lifetimes. 
·         Do not murder—We are to value human life—no matter the age or condition; human life is not to be seen as disposable.  We are not to take life, but are to protect, nurture and sustain it. Rather than taking life, we should be looking for ways to improve the lives of the living.
 ·         Do not commit adultery—Just as we cannot expect God to share our affections with multiple gods, we are to exercise fidelity in our relationships with people.  God made us sexual beings, both for pleasure and procreation, but He also provided the boundaries for healthy sexual expression—one man and one woman committed for their lives to each another.  When a couple unite physically, God views them no longer as two, but as ‘one flesh’ and expects them to be as faithful to one another as to Him.  Adultery results in the breaking of that covenantal union.
·         Do not steal—Respect other people by acknowledging that what is theirs belongs to them and no one has a right to simply take it.   We are to be people who are willing to give and share, never taking what isn’t ours, either by force or covertly.
 ·         Do not testify falsely—Do not lie about another for your own gain; lying about someone is in the same vein as murder.  It involves destroying another’s life through the ruination of their reputation. Valuing life involves more than just sustaining a heartbeat.
 ·         Do not covet—Bottom line, we are not to be envious of what another has.  Jealousy does not produce love and respect, but rather tears apart.  Our aim is to learn to be content with what God provides.  Jesus drew a further comparison between coveting and lust.  Even if you do not break the seventh commandment by committing the act of adultery, but you ‘want to,’ you break the tenth commandment that tells us not to covet ‘your neighbour’s wife.’  Not only the physical act, but the forbidden desire to do so demonstrates a lack of love and respect of others.
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 A CALL TO WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT
Deuteronomy 6:1-8 - “These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, 2 and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. 3 Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.
  
The atrocities that happened in residential schools to children while in the care of the Church, remind us that it will never be enough simply to be able to parrot God’s commands.  I dare say, that many of the perpetrators of these crimes could recite more Scripture than any of us.  This only demonstrates the fact that the ability to recite the Words of God can never replace our call to embrace them wholeheartedly by living in obedience to them.  Our love for God should cause us to commit fully to His expectations, including loving others.  Love is the marked difference between adhering to a religion and being in a faithful relationship.
 
When Moses told the Israelites to repeat God’s commandments, to teach their children, to talk about them and to tie them on their hands and foreheads, he was not telling them that talk was enough; he was saying that to be truly committed to following God’s commandments, they must stay fresh, not forgotten, that they should be practiced often as part of daily life. 
 
Moses’ affirmed the people’s need to ‘love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.’  It was the necessary motivation for obedience so that their adoration didn’t become obligatory adherence.  Jesus further expanded on Moses’ words by including love for others in the greatest of commandments and declaring that we are to treat others the way we want to be treated (Matthew 7:12).
 
Do we love God and others as we ought?  Don’t be too quick to answer.  Do you treat all others the way you want to be treated?  All people?  Children and the elderly.  Your surly neighbour and the more pleasant ones.  Those who love God and those who reject His existence.  The CEO and the cashier ringing in your groceries.  The well-kept and the ‘people of Walmart.’  Those like you and those from other races, religions, the LGBTQ community.  If our answer is ‘no’ to any of the above, I wonder if we have truly comprehended what it means to love God either.
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Deb’s Story - https://www.christianityexplored.org/Articles/469304/Home/CE_ORG/Real_Life_Stories/Transcripts/04_Debs_Story.aspx
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References, Further Study & Encouragement
Residential Schools in Canada - https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools
 
Christianity Explored: Real Life Stories - https://www.christianityexplored.org/Groups/276318/Home/CE_ORG/Real_Life_Stories/Real_Life_Stories.aspx
  
Sunday, July 4, 2021- “Short Term Memory – Golden Calf” (Exodus 24-32) – In-person and Online
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
 
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

​Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “Accept Help – Rejecting Unrealistic Expectations”
 
Text – Exodus 18, Psalm 34, Genesis 2:15-24
 
Call to Worship – Psalm 103 – “Let All That Is in Me Praise God!”
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Commemorating Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be problematic for many.  How many talks have we all heard glorifying motherhood?  Yet when it comes to dads, the talks often focus on the failures of earthly fathers and their need to better reflect the qualities of our heavenly Father.  I must confess that I am not really a fan of either day.  Aside from providing an additional excuse to the retail world to slather on consumer-guilt, both celebrations produce almost as many feelings of guilt and regret over unrealized expectations, as honour of parents.
 
Today, rather than focusing on ‘fathers’ specifically, I want for us to examine this whole underlying concept of unrealistic expectations and how we set ourselves and others up for failure when we try to use a measuring stick God never intended for us to live by.  When we attempt to live by a standard not set by God for His creation, we end up living with guilt and feelings of failure or of disappointment. 
 
When I use the phrase ‘man’s man’ what mental image do you get?  How about ‘womanly femininity?’ Let me be blunt…most of the ‘images’ we conjure in our imaginations are based on cultural stereotypes.  According to many of our stereotypes, a drag queen like Rupaul is far more ‘feminine’ than I will ever be.  And the beards sported by the Robertson family of Duck Dynasty prove they are more manly than the majority of men.  To which I respond, “Garbage!”
 
It is my opinion that all men are masculine because they were born male—no matter their particular interests, skills, temperament or facial hair.  Likewise, women are all feminine because they were born female—no matter their particular interests, skills, temperament or facial hair.  Admit it ladies, we’re all hairier than the world tells us we should be…
 
Men can love babies and be fully masculine…women can prefer a career and still be fully feminine.  Some men can excel in cooking and cleaning abilities and some women have greater skills when it comes to managing money and home repairs.  Some men are fearful of snakes and spiders and some women keep these creatures as pets.  Each are fully male or female with unique gifts, abilities and interests as designed by God, no matter what the world’s stereotypes say.  In fact, here’s a thought.  As the human race, if we could eliminate ‘gender stereotypes’ and embrace people as made by God, would the current move to change ‘gender’ even exist?  Certainly not to the degree that it does today, I think.
 
Resisting stereotypes and unrealistic expectations is, however, challenging.  Even Moses found himself struggling to be superhuman.  It took his father-in-law to point out Moses’ own harmful expectations as the leader of the Israelites in the wilderness.
 
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WE ALL NEED HELP SOMETIMES
Exodus 18:1-19a – “Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything God had done for Moses and his people, the Israelites. He heard especially about how the Lord had rescued them from Egypt.
 
2 Earlier, Moses had sent his wife, Zipporah, and his two sons back to Jethro, who had taken them in. 3 (Moses’ first son was named Gershom, for Moses had said when the boy was born, ‘I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.’ 4 His second son was named Eliezer, for Moses had said, ‘The God of my ancestors was my helper; he rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh.’) 5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, now came to visit Moses in the wilderness. He brought Moses’ wife and two sons with him, and they arrived while Moses and the people were camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had sent a message to Moses, saying, ‘I, Jethro, your father-in-law, am coming to see you with your wife and your two sons.’
 
7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law. He bowed low and kissed him. They asked about each other’s welfare and then went into Moses’ tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and Egypt on behalf of Israel. He also told about all the hardships they had experienced along the way and how the Lord had rescued his people from all their troubles. 9 Jethro was delighted when he heard about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel as he rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians.
 
10 ‘Praise the Lord,’ Jethro said, ‘for he has rescued you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh. Yes, he has rescued Israel from the powerful hand of Egypt! 11 I know now that the Lord is greater than all other gods, because he rescued his people from the oppression of the proud Egyptians.’  12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came out and joined him in a sacrificial meal in God’s presence.
 
13 The next day, Moses took his seat to hear the people’s disputes against each other. They waited before him from morning till evening.  14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, ‘What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?’
 
15 Moses replied, ‘Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. 16 When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.’
 
17 ‘This is not good!’ Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. 18 ‘You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. 19 Now listen to me, and let me give you a word of advice, and may God be with you.’”
 
 
Moses’ father-in-law was on a mission.  He had determined that it was time for Moses’ wife and sons to be returned to their husband and father’s care.  The Bible doesn’t tell us why Moses had sent them back to Zipporah’s family.  Had he feared for their lives while he contended with Pharaoh over the freedom of the slaves?  Had Zipporah demanded to be allowed to return to her father with the boys?  Scripture doesn’t tell us, only that once the Israelites were safe from the Egyptians, Jethro decided to bring them back together.  I think that Jethro recognized that Moses needed to be with his family and, now that the immediate danger has passed, brings them back.
 
Jethro is very pleased to hear all that God has done on behalf of the Israelites and makes a sacrificial offering before settling down for the night.  The next day, he observes Moses at work.  The man is working himself ragged…and for what?  By trying to do everything himself, Moses is not only wearing himself out, but the people are growing restless having to wait long periods with no resolution to their disputes…which given their temperament was probably frequent.
 
There is discrepancy concerning the actual number of Israelites that Moses led, but even if the group was no bigger than the population of a large town like Collingwood, with just slightly fewer than 24,000, imagine having to funnel everything through a single person.  Not good!
 
Moses justifies himself, but rather than receiving Jethro’s support for all that he is doing, Jethro warns him that he needs to share the load.  Yes, he’s the leader of the people, but this should not come with the expectation that Moses needs to function as the judge for every dispute, for all the people, all the time.  Yes, God called Moses to the task, but that didn’t mean he needed to go it alone. 
 
Jethro knew that it was best if Moses had his family to support him and brought his wife and two boys back to Moses.  He also knew, after observing him over the course of a day, that he needed much more help to lead the people.  Moses’ expectation that he should do it all by himself wasn’t even close to realistic, but he needed Jethro to point it out. 
 
Moses was trying to do it all himself, but that’s a dead end…for both Moses and each one of us.  This morning, I want to leave Moses having just received some wise council from his father-in-law, and consider a psalm written by David.
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CONFIDENCE IN GOD ALONE
Psalm 34 - “I will praise the Lord at all times.  I will constantly speak his praises.  2 I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart.  3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.  4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.  He freed me from all my fears.  5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.   6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles.  7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him.  8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!  9 Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need.   10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.
 
 11 Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord.  12 Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous?  13 Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!  14 Turn away from evil and do good.  Search for peace, and work to maintain it.  15 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help.  16 But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil; he will erase their memory from the earth.  17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.  He rescues them from all their troubles.  18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.  19 The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.  20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!  21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished.  22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.  No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.”
 
 
At first glance, David appears to be a stereotypical ‘man’s man’…but, under a more in-depth look into his character, not really.  He took on giants, yet was gifted in playing the harp.  He was a military man, unafraid to shed blood, who refused to take matters into his own hands when he had the chance to kill the man who wanted him dead.  He could be a hot-tempered man, but was willing to take a woman’s advice, Abigail, and changed his mind.  He was a man tempted by lust, who willingly bared his soul and repented of his wrong doing when confronted.   He killed lions and bears with nothing but a sling, stones and a shepherd’s staff, yet he was gentle and patient as a shepherd.  He was a king, yet was also a humble servant.
 
In many of David’s psalms—songs and poetry—he shamelessly confesses his fears, his weakness, his need.  He makes it clear that his confidence isn’t in his military might, his fearlessness, his past conquests, or even in his mighty men…it was in God.  David knew that he couldn’t take credit for his successes.  He repeatedly rejected the expectations of others and placed his faith and loyalty firmly on God; he wanted what God wanted and to be the person God had created him to be.
 
David wasn’t perfect; he made some pretty grievous mistakes.  Yet, God declared him a ‘man after God’s own heart’…why?  He was submissive; he loved God; he wasn’t afraid to make himself a spectacle before God (joining the people dancing before God, much to his wife’s disapproval); he trusted God; he admitted his mistakes; he was concerned for God’s name and reputation over that of his own.
 
What would happen if we were as concerned as David about our relationship with God rather than attempting to live up to other’s expectations, even expectations that come from within the Church?  As Christ-followers, we must be careful that in our attempts to understand the Bible we do not place unreasonable expectations on people.  And, as it is Father’s Day, I think we would do well to examine what I consider to be unrealistic expectations that we have placed on fathers.
 
In certain segments of the Christian Church, fathers are told they are to be the head and priest of their families.  Unfortunately, I believe there are better ways to understand the Greek word ‘kephale’ than to define it as the ‘head’ assuming that it means being ‘in charge’ of the whole family.  And, the notion that the father is to be the ‘priest’ of his family smacks as heretical in the face of the truth presented in 1 Peter 2:9 that all believers are priests through Christ.  It’s just not true! 
 
There is good reason to reject the expectations that fathers are to be the sole bread winners, must always be strong/decisive/fearless, are responsible for the spiritual health of every member of their family, have final say in all things and are held to a level of higher accountability before God than wives and children.  No wonder so many men give up feeling like failures.  To understand God’s expectations, we would do well to go back to the beginning…literally.
 
 
GOD’S INTENT FOR HUMANITY
Genesis 2:15-24 - “15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.’  18 Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.’ 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
 
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.  23 ‘At last!’ the man exclaimed.  ‘This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh!  She will be called “woman,” because she was taken from “man.”’  24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”
 
 
During the days of Creation, there is only one time when God pronounces, “it is not good.”  It is not good for the man to be alone.  Why not?  Because the first man, all alone, needed a suitable helper.  In a previous message, we discussed the meaning of ‘helpmate’ or ‘helper’ which comes from the Hebrew word ‘ezer.’  God looked at Adam and recognized his need for companionship and to share the work load of ruling.  The woman was not created to be ‘Adam’s little helper,’ but rather a helper equal to the task, just as God is described as being our ‘ezer’ numerous times in the Old Testament.
 
After the woman was created, God knew that the creation was complete and declared it ‘very good.’  So what happened?  How have we gotten so far away from God’s original intent for humanity and adopted our own faulty expectations?  Short answer…sin.  After the first man and woman disobeyed, God warned them that they would no longer enjoy the relationship that had existed between them.  Man, typically stronger, ruled over woman.  And the woman gave up God as her first love and put man in God’s place for her affections.  The rest is history.
 
Thankfully though, it is not the end of the story.  Jesus’ work on the cross resulted in the redemption of everything that was lost.  We now have the freedom to enjoy living life according to the expectations of God—not other’s and not even our own.
 
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So how can we summarize this morning.
·         As a society we have adopted unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for people—including for fathers and men in general.  [As an aside: The idea that each man is to be the ‘king of his own castle’ is found in the Bible as an historical footnote in the Book of Esther, not as a God-ordained dictum; it appears only in Scripture as a record of how a group of pagan men attempted to prevent their wives from following the deposed Queen Vashti’s example of disobeying her husband (but that’s another story for another day).]
·         We need to put to death the expectation that the ideal ‘man’ is made in the image of a John Wayne, 007 or the Duck Dynasty stereotype.  The image of the ‘man’s man’ (or womanly femininity) restricts the image of God found in each person.  We are more than just our gender!
·         Trying to live up to unrealistic expectations can lead us to burn-out, much like the trajectory Moses was on; failure to do so can lead to feelings of guilt which can then cause us to stop trying all together—feeling like dejected failures or becoming hostile as we reject those same expectations
·         God never intended for people to ‘do’ life on their own—whether married or single it doesn’t matter.  People were created for community—part of the reason why the past year and a half of dealing with the isolation brought on by the pandemic has been so difficult for so many.
·         We need to stop expecting fathers to be perfect or to live up to expectations that God never intended for any human being.  We have a loving heavenly Father and we are each His children.  Let’s learn to be gracious and supportive of one another, recognizing the image of God found in each one.
 
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References, Further Study & Encouragement
“I Am Loved” – Mack Brock - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3eNmc_t1s
 
Sunday, June 27, 2021- “Hearing from God: The Ten Commandments” (Exodus 19-23) – In-person and Online
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
 
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Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)

Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “Don’t Presume” 
Text – Exodus 17:1-6, Numbers 20:1-13, Deuteronomy 34:1-4 
Call to Worship – Lamentations 3:17-26 – “His Mercies Are New Every Morning!”
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We make presumptions daily without even realizing it.  I sit down on a chair because I presume it will hold me up.  I flip the switch, presuming that it will turn on the light.  I don’t give it a second thought except on the rare occasion when I discover I have a burnt-out bulb.  Some presumptions are normal and good. 
 
Can you imagine how strange it would be for a person to mistrust a chair every time they sat down for fear it was going to collapse?  Or imagine the person who breathes a sigh of relief every time the light comes on in response to having flipped the switch?  For the most part, these are realistic and healthy presumptions.  We shouldn’t go through life paranoid!
 
Unfortunately, we also make presumptions that we have no business making.  We may not be quick to express them or even recognize them, but they come out nonetheless.  Have you ever said or thought any of the following?
·         ‘I’ve experienced this before. I know exactly what to do.’
·         ‘Meh, close enough.’ 
·         ‘It’s not my fault.  I was having a bad day.’
·         ‘Give me a break!  I said I was sorry.’
·         ‘My life sucks.  Why does God hate me so much?’
Each of these sentiments is indicative of the fact that you and I may hold to some common underlying and problematic presumptions. 
 
And today we are going to find hints of each in Moses’ life as well…now at the ripe old age of 118 years.  It appears that no matter how old we get, or how long we have lived as a faithful follower of God, we are never immune from making false presumptions that can leave us vulnerable.  But first, we must go back to where we left the Israelites last week, with God providing for the people in the middle of the wilderness, and Moses still just a mere 80 years of age. 
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BACKSTORY – WATER FROM A ROCK
Exodus 17:1-6 - “At the Lord’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. 2 So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded.  “Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?”
 
3 But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”  4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!”
 
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. 6 I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.”
 
 
This miracle happened within the first two months of the Israelites having escaped Egypt.  The people are desperate for water…again.  The people accuse Moses of bringing the Israelites into the desert only to kill them, their children and their livestock with thirst…again.  Tensions are running so high, Moses fears for his life.  God directs him to strike the rock of Mount Sinai and water comes gushing out for the people and their animals.  Chaos averted.  But this is not the first or last time that the people will experience a shortage of water during their time in the desert. 
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Fast forward 38 years and we come across an almost identical situation, but with a twist.
 
SAME OLD PROBLEM…NEW SOLUTION
Numbers 20:2-8 – “2 There was no water for the people to drink at that place, so they rebelled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people blamed Moses and said, ‘If only we had died in the Lord’s presence with our brothers! 4 Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord’s people into this wilderness to die, along with all our livestock? 5 Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this terrible place? This land has no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates, and no water to drink!’
 
6 Moses and Aaron turned away from the people and went to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where they fell face down on the ground. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord said to Moses, 8 ‘You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.’”
Thirty-eight years later and nothing has changed.  The people again find themselves desperate for water and once again Moses finds himself in the line of fire.  Moses is blamed once more for having brought them out of Egypt into the desert to die—the same old tired accusation since day one.  Thirty-eight years have done nothing to change these hard headed and hardhearted people.  Moses goes before God and he is given a new set of directions for this same problem he faced nearly four decades earlier.  Now, rather than hitting the rock as he had done so many years ago, God instructs him to simply speak to the rock with his staff in hand.
Same old problem…new solution.  Simple enough.  But this is exactly where things go wrong for Moses in a single, unguarded, moment.
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AN UNGUARDED MOMENT
Numbers 20:1, 9-13 - “In the first month of the year, the whole community of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Zin and camped at Kadesh. While they were there, Miriam died and was buried…
 
So Moses did as he was told. He took the staff from the place where it was kept before the Lord. 10 Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. ‘Listen, you rebels!’ he shouted. ‘Must we bring you water from this rock?’ 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill.
 
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!’ 13 This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord, and there he demonstrated his holiness among them.”
 
 
Moses has just lost his sister, Miriam, and would have been grieving her loss.  Just once, couldn’t these people have held their tongues…recognized the pain that Moses was in…allowed him to grieve the loss of sister in peace?  Nope!
 
Moses goes before God, receives his instructions and appears to be intent on obeying God as he has so many times before.  But there’s a ‘hiccup’ in Moses’ long history of unwavering obedience to God, a hint of a presumption that Moses held to.
 
PRESUMPTION #1 – “GOD IS PREDICTABLE” – Moses had been here before and in the almost exact same situation.  Surely, when God told him to speak to the rock and take the staff, the staff was to be used as he had used it before…to strike the rock.  But when he does, God accuses Moses and Aaron of not trusting Him to bring deliverance.  It didn’t matter how God had worked in the past; God had intended to reveal Himself in a new way. 
 
As much as we might like to think we understand God and how He works, we cannot predict how God will choose to act at any given time.  He must be treated as the limitless Sovereign that He is…always.  We must avoid putting God in a box, expecting Him to always answer in the same predictable way.  In our sinfulness we try to ‘figure God out,’ to make Him understandable to our finite human experience, but in so doing we reduce the person of God and what we believe about Him.  When we put God in a box, we limit the ways that we will accept His help and in the way we will serve Him…to our own detriment!
 
 
PRESUMPTION #2 – “GOOD ENOUGH IS GOOD ENOUGH” – Notice, too, what Moses says to the people, “Must we bring water from this rock?”  God accuses Moses of not honouring Him before the people.  The way I read this is that Moses misrepresented God.  Yes, the people were going to receive water through the instructions provided to Moses, but it was God who was going to perform the miracle…through His servant.  Even if Moses hadn’t hit the rock, had simply spoken to it and water come pouring out, he would still have been guilty of not giving credit where credit was due, of not honouring God and demonstrating His holiness.  God expected full obedience and humility from Moses; but, Moses only ‘mostly’ obeyed God and it cost him.
 
 
PRESUMPTION #3 – “A ‘BAD’ DAY EXCUSES BAD BEHAVIOUR” - Most of us would be tempted to excuse Moses.  Afterall, his sister had just died, he’s grieving.  Give the guy a break.  But that’s the world’s thinking, not God’s.  Problem is, we’ve all been there…and none of us wants to be held accountable for the things we do in our ‘knee jerk’ reactionary moments.
 
When I was preparing my notes, I couldn’t help but think back to a ‘knee jerk’ reaction of my own from Bible college days.  I awoke in the middle of the night to an incredible pain in my lower back and side.  My dorm roommate drove me to the hospital where I spent the next few hours in pain as the medical staff attempted to ascertain the source.  It became clear that what I was suffering from was a kidney stone…which put me in hospital for a week and regularly sedated on pain killers. 
 
Prior to my admission, however, I was repeatedly asked if I knew why I was there.  Apparently, there was some concern over my ability to recollect events during this painful episode under minimal pain medication.  At one point, under non-stop pain, I became overly frustrated with this question.  About the sixth time I was asked, ‘Do you know why you’re here?’ I responded in a loud and clear voice, “I’m here to piss out a rock.”  I was not asked the question again. 
 
But my poor roommate.  She was utterly shocked by what she had just heard.  I didn’t talk that way normally, but it’s amazing what the combination of pain, exhaustion and frustration will bring out in even a normally well-spoken Bible college student.  All excuses aside, it was not a good response, even if it brought about the desired results.  My poor choice of words, despite providing a somewhat relatable story today, should not be excused just because I was having a bad day.
 
 
PRESUMPTION #4 – “SAYING ‘SORRY’ REMOVES CONSEQUENCES” – I am certain that Moses was immediately repentant when God pointed out his error, quick to confess his sin and humbled by God’s rebuke.  That attitude of repentance did not, however, remove God’s judgment, “You will not lead them into the land I am giving them!”  We don’t read in Scripture that Moses tried to change God’s mind, though some of us might be quick to argue Moses’ case: “Give him a break, God.  He said he was sorry.  He won’t do it again.”  Some of us are working from a false presumption. 
 
Let me ask a question.  Why do we say ‘sorry?’  We may be genuinely apologetic; we’re sorry we got caught; or to get out of consequences.  The presumption that consequences can be reversed, for wrong choices made, simply because we regret the consequences, is wrong.  I am convinced that God forgave Moses, yet at the same time He didn’t change His decision to bar Moses from entering the promised land. The same is true for us.  God will forgive us when we repent, but there are often consequences that we must live with for our wrong choices—needed restitution, broken relationships and damaged reputations.
 
PRESUMPTION #5 – “CONSEQUENCES MEAN GOD DOESN’T LOVE ME” – Nothing could be further from the truth!  God uses consequences for wrong doing to ‘discipline’ us as our loving heavenly Father.   God forgives us and He extends His grace and mercy to us, but He has no interest in having His children develop into spoiled and entitled brats.  Even though Moses had committed an act God deemed worthy of barring him from the promised land, Moses continued to hold a special place in God’s affections.  Before he dies, God gives him one final gift.
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GOD’S GIFT TO MOSES
Deuteronomy 34:1-4 - “Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land, from Gilead as far as Dan; 2 all the land of Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; all the land of Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea; 3 the Negev; the Jordan Valley with Jericho—the city of palms—as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, “I will give it to your descendants.” I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.’”
 
Moses is given an opportunity to see the promised land before he dies in the wilderness.  Moses is the only Israelite who is refused entry into Canaan, who God permits to still see it with his own eyes (aside from the ten spies who have toured the land for forty days and then died of plague when they discouraged the people from obeying God).  This was a final gift from God to His friend, Moses. 
 
So why not just let Moses enter and retire?  Because to do so would have been to deny the severity of what Moses had done.  Rebellion against God had cost the original Israelites who had been brought out of Egypt their chance to enter into the land—everyone twenty years and older had died in the wilderness.  Joshua and Caleb—the two spies who encouraged the people to enter God’s promised land four decades earlier—were the only ones left of the original adults who were permitted to enter into Canaan. 
 
What Moses and Aaron had done at Kadesh may not have appeared like such a big deal, but God had expected more of the two men chosen to represent Him to the people.  He couldn’t let their disobedience simply slide.  Jesus pointed out this principle when he taught that, “But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required” (Luke 12:48).  Moses had been entrusted with much, had enjoyed a privileged position in his relationship with God, but when it came time to prove his loyalty once again, he had failed.
 
God forgave Moses, but the consequence remained.  He had lead the Israelites for forty years and like all of them, apart from Joshua and Caleb, he would die in the wilderness as one of them.
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So what can we learn about the wrong presumptions we make from this brief moment in the life of Moses?
·         Even faithful Christians, those who are considered spiritually mature, can be vulnerable to making mistakes.  No one is immune.
·         It is important that we consistently represent God well to others.  We must give Him credit for the things He does.  We must remember who is in charge and responsible to give the orders that we are called to obey.
·         We have to resist the urge to define the parameters within which God can and will work.  We must be willing to have Him surprise us…to reveal Himself in new ways.
·         Partial obedience still contains within it the act of disobedience.  When God gives us a task, we need to obey it fully.
·         Always be on the defensive against ‘knee jerk’ reactions.  One of the Holy Spirit’s gifts to us is self-control…a gift needed every day, but especially when our natural defenses are down.
·         God will 100% forgive us when we ask Him to, but that doesn’t mean that He eliminates the consequences that result from our wrong choices.  And because of His great love for us, He will help us manage the consequences when we seek His help.
·         Always be willing to check your presumptions.  Do they have a basis in reality or wishful thinking or any other source?  Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you with His knowledge and wisdom each and every day.
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References & for Further Study
 
Sunday, June 20, 2021- “Accept Help” (Exodus 18) – In-person and Online – Father’s Day
 
Weekly lessons are now being made available on Youtube – “Pastor’s Study” - Go to our website: hopechapelcollingwood.ca and click on the Youtube icon or click on the link below https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrF8GWFnLjTmRyXjYnq1Ytw
 
--
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"