Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100328.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
H. God's Clarifications Of The Ten Commandments In His Exodus 20:22-23:33 "Book Of The Covenant"
5. God's Clarification That He Materially Provides For Us To Heed Him
(Exodus 23:10-19)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Recent financial events in our world can tempt us to feel so anxious about our financial future that we can react in ungodly ways:

    (1) Though a world credit crisis led to our current recession, the problems that fueled it have not been corrected, and "(e)xperts warn another crisis could follow." (Stevenson Jacobs, AP, "Financial reform efforts pit U. S. against Europe," Republican-Am., 3/22/2010, p. 1D)

    (2) Douglas Holtz-Eakin, past director of the Congressional Budget Office, wrote in the New York Times ("The Real Arithmetic of Health Care Reform," nytimes.com, 3/22/2010): "(I)f you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, the health care reform would raise, not lower, federal deficits by $562 billion."

    (3) On top of this, the International Monetary Fund's John Lipsky, last Monday warned the United States needs a "higher public savings rate . . . to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability" as nearly half of its public debt is "owned by global investors, with China holding the largest stake," Ibid., "Wealthy nations warned about debt," AP, p. 2A.

    (4) Also, a divisive story circulates that Congress is considering "confiscating" retirement accounts to acquire more revenue!

    It began as Teresa Ghilarducci, professor at the New School for Social Research (NYC) proposed to a House committee (10/7/08) that the $5,000 annual deductions for IRA and 401(k) contributions end, with their owners being allowed to "swap" them for government run ones where "(s)he would force all workers to save 5 percent of their annual income", giving them a $600 annual tax credit and guaranteeing a 3 % yearly gain. Retirees would get payments set by the government until death. (FactCheck.org, "Are congressional Democrats talking about confiscating IRA and 401(k) investment accounts?")

    The Carolina Journal of the John Locke Foundation held this would be "confiscating" retirement accounts, a claim Ghilarducci denied as "utterly ridiculous," and the House committee chairman involved, Democrat George Miller (California), countered the Wall Street Journal editorial, "Targeting Your 401 (k): Congress has an eye on the tax break for your retirement," 10/14/08, that was critical of the hearing by saying, "The truth is that Democrats in Congress are working to preserve and stengthen 401 (k)s." (Ibid., FactCheck.org)

    So, we ask, "With such unnerving issues that allegedly put our financial welfare at risk, how may we live a calm, godly life?!"

    Need: "As many recent, potent events allegedly put our financial welfare at risk, how are we to stay calm and upright in our lives?!"

  1. In giving Israel His Ten Commandments, GOD CLARIFIED the REASONS behind these commands in the "Book of the Covenant" supplied in Exodus 20:22-23:33, Bible Knowledge Com., O. T., p. 140; www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, "Book of the Covenant."
  2. At Exodus 23:10-19, God COUNTERED the temptation to DISOBEY His SABBATH LAW out of LIVELIHOOD concerns:
    1. God, Who knows the future (Isaiah 46:9-10), foresaw when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments in 1400 B. C. that Israel would be tempted to violate the Sabbath Day rest by working to address her livelihood needs in 600 B. C. in Jeremiah 17:19-22 and in 445 B. C. in Nehemiah 13:15-18; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., p. 90, 719.
    2. So, to counter such a temptation, God gave His Exodus 23:10-19 directives to REMIND Israel CONSTANTLY that ALL of her LIVELIHOOD WELFARE came from HIM so she could FINANCIALLY AFFORD to OBEY HIM regarding the Sabbath:
      1. God provided the sabbatical year rule in a way that was designed to teach Israel that He was her constant livelihood Provider:
        1. As with her duty to keep the seventh day every solar week (Exodus 23:12), Israel was to observe the sabbatical year, letting the land lie fallow that year, Exodus 23:10-11.
        2. For this all to be financially feasible, God would amply supply, Leviticus 25:1-22: in a context about both sabbatical years and the Year of Jubilee, (1) no crops were to be sown the 49th year, a regular land sabbath, nor the 50th year, the Year of Jubilee, so God would give a triple-size harvest the 48th year that would keep Israel until the 51st year's crops were reaped! (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Lev. 25:21-22 (2) God would thus amply supply so that Israel could financially afford to observe every land Sabbath!
        3. God gave this promise in line with His desire that Israel stay faithful to Him as her Lord versus turning to idols, Ex. 23:13.
      2. God then directed Israel to worship Him three times every year by bringing harvested crops with sacrifices to the tabernacle (or later temple site) as "constant reminders of God's provisions for His people," Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 144 (as follows):
        1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (associated with Passover that immediately followed it) was to be marked by all Israel's adult males coming to the Lord's presence with gifts from their field crops and accompanying sacrifices, Exodus 23:14-15.
        2. Then, at the feast of harvest that followed the first feast by a set of seven weeks (The Feast of Pentecost, cf. Lev. 23:15-21; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Ex. 23:14-17), all of Israel's adult males were to bring their firstfruits, Ex. 23:16a.
        3. At the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall, all of Israel's adult males were again to come before God's presence with the rest of the firstfruits of their harvest of the year, Exodus 23:16b-17.
      3. Thus, every Sabbath year, and three times every year, Israel was REPEATEDLY REMINDED that her national LIVELIHOOD was sustained by the hand of GOD in encouragement for her to see she could AFFORD to KEEP OBSERVING God's Sabbaths!
      4. As an additional reminder for Israel to worship only the Lord as her Sole, True Provider, God added the Exodus 23:18-19 directives:
        1. The Lord prohibited Israel from using leaven with her offerings because leaven symbolized corruption (Exodus 23:18), implying God wanted Israel to stay uncorrupted from the pagan practices that also violated the Lord's Sabbath laws.
        2. Also, "(b)oiling a kid in its mother's milk was a common Canaanite ritual involving magic spells," so God wanted Israel to abstain from it, to lean entirely on HIM versus relying on the use of magic spells or other human efforts like working on the Sabbath to secure a livelihood, Ibid., ftn. to Exodus 23:18-19.
Application: To come under God's "Much More Care" program in Romans 8:32, may we (1) trust in Christ as Savior to become part of His spiritual family, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, may we (a) OBEY His Word for our lives, (b) ESPECIALLY regarding those issues that concern our livelihood, (c) knowing HE will underwrite all of our needs that we might achieve His will, 2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 God pointedly provided the closing illustration for this sermon this last week, doing so in a very complex series of moves as follows:

(1) When I typed up the first draft of this message last Tuesday during the day, I had used another closing illustration here, one that fit the message, but, due to circumstances, one I also felt uneasy using.

(2) The Lord knew this, so, after I went home, He led me to go to my mailbox and I found I had received a $20 rebate in the mail.

(3) When I shared this news with my wife, she said she could use the rebate to buy the sweet potatoes and associated condiments we were assigned to provide for last night's Church Servants' Dinner.

When I thought of the timing and circumstances involved in this matter, I was impressed at how it all signaled God's ability and will to provide for our every need as we serve Him. Allow me to explain:

(a) The rebate had come from my having mailed in a receipt that had come with a computer security program purchased by another party in our Church for our home computer. This party had given me the receipt besides providing us with the program.

(b) Well, that program had been supplied just a day or so before our former program was set to expire back in February, and the rebate was advertised to take from 4 to 6 weeks to arrive by mail!

(c) Then, in past Servant's Dinners, my role has always been to provide the bread and rolls or bread and salad -- not hot dishes. However, with this year's fuller slate of deacons, the bread and salad was covered by another deacon, so I chose to provide the potatoes.

(d) I asked if I could bring sweet potatoes, and Mike Brunetti who had the pot roast said it would go well with his dish.

(e) Thus, the timing of the expiration of my former computer program, the timing of the provision of the new program and rebate offer, the timing of the rebate's arrival in the mail last Tuesday with the fact that it would amply provide for our sweet potato part in the dinner, a part I had never before had in past Servants' Dinners, all worked to show God's signal: He is ready to meet our material needs as a body and as individual families regardless of the temptations we face to fear bad effects from recent unnerving, complex events in our world! OUR part is simply to KEEP OBEYING HIM!

May we trust God to be the Security behind our livelihoods that we might know we can always financially afford to obey Him!