Author: Danny Panter

Danny is the Associate Pastor for NextGen Marrieds & Community Missions at FBCSA.

Presence

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 25:1-11, 17-18, 23-24, 31-32; 26:1-2, 7-8; 27:1-2; 29:43-46 (day six)

For a brief season when Emma was a toddler, she needed a visible reminder of my presence in order to fall asleep. She needed to know that I was in the room. Every so often she would open her eyes to find me, and the moment she laid eyes on me she would rest her head and go back to sleep. My presence brought her peace.

The Tabernacle served the people of God in the same way. It was to be a constant reminder of the presence of God. The Tabernacle also provided tangible symbols of how God would relate to his people. He would listen to them, speak to them, provide for them, and most importantly, make atonement for their sin; all of that was communicated through the Tabernacle and its furnishings.

The Tabernacle also instructs us as to our new covenant relationship with God. Through Jesus we experience the presence of God in the truest sense, one that the Tabernacle could only allude to. Jesus made it possible for intimate renovations of the heart; transforming us broken cisterns to temples of the Spirit of God. As followers of Jesus we can be at peace that God is always present with us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit powerfully teaches us, intercedes on our behalf, puts sin to death for us, gives gifts to us, all on the basis of our faith in Jesus. As believers we can rest in the presence of God; he will never leave us or forsake us.

 

The People’s Response

Re:Verse reading Exodus 24 (day 6)

The people heard the written words, given to Moses by God, and they said “we will do all that you have said.” Worship is forever tied to the hearing of God’s Word and the people’s response. It was true over 4000 years ago, and it is true for us today as His church gathers. It begs the question, can we truly worship without a corporate response? Does it constitute worship if the church listens to the words of God and yet does nothing? I would contend that the answer is no; it does not constitute worship if the people do not respond.

Of course the people failed to obey God almost immediately; they fell into hypocrisy before the ink was even dry. God was not surprised by their failure, he anticipated it. Their sin did not rob their corporate response of any significance, nor should it ours- ever. Not only is our response to God appropriate and necessary, but it points to Jesus, the Word, who fulfilled every covenant promise on our behalf!

So, let me encourage you to do two things, first ask God this question, “Father, what must I do? Show me how I must follow your Son today.” Secondly, pray on behalf of the First Baptist family, asking God to move in mighty ways that we might all respond to His Word in unity.

Rejoicing that I have the privilege of joining my response with yours!

 

Messy

 Re: Verse reading–Exodus 21:1-2, 7-17, 22-27; 22:21-31; 23:1-12 (day six)

Exodus 21-23
We would have no need for the Law if there was no sin. The law is detailed and cumbersome. There is no part of the human existence that they do not touch. This reality teaches us a lot about ourselves and the affects of our own brokenness. Our sin has made life messy; it entangles us in every possible way, enslaving us only to perpetuate deceit and murder. The intent of the Law was not only to help us see ourselves for who we are, but also to make provisions for our sinful messes; providing a civil means to untangle that which we have entangled.

The irony is that we often believe that our rebellion against God is an expression of freedom. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth; the further we run from God the more enslaved we become. We have the messes to prove it. Lives are destroyed and relationships shattered all because the sin in us and all around us. We can look often at the Law and think “how cumbersome!” I imagine the response of God is “Well, look at the mess you’ve made.”

True freedom is when we have no need for the Law-and glory to God that day is coming thanks to Jesus who fulfilled the Law!

Our [g]ods

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 20:1-17 (day six)

Exodus 20:4
Our gods are of our own making. Even when we think on God we tend to “make him in our own image.” We keep the things we like and cast off the things we don’t. Every culture and every generation does it. A new way of thinking about God began anew when God told Moses His name, “I AM.” The name was a clear statement of His holiness; that he was distinct and separate from humanity, that He had a character and nature all of his own that wasn’t dependent on human invention.

That’s why the Law was so good, because it was God revealing to the Hebrew people (and humanity) that you can’t make gods in your image anymore, because I AM your God. The giving of the Law exposed our god-making nature. The Law takes us back to the earliest days in the garden when the Serpent tempted Eve with the notion that she would become like God if she ate of the fruit. Ever since we have been exalting ourselves by fashioning our own gods. The Law says, to be like God you must lay down your god-making ways and worship God only, and then will you clearly see that you were made in the very image of God. The Law reveals our tarnished God-like image; it did back then and it does today.

The Law, and then ultimately Jesus (he alone fulfilled the Law on our behalf) is a God ordained means to restore His image in humanity. Which is why Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, “those who he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son.”

 

Be thankful for the Law; it is good!

Bible Togetherness

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 19:1-12, 16-22 (day six)

His nation was in spiritual tatters, the Temple in disrepair, and young king Josiah did not follow in his father’s footsteps. Rather he began initiatives to restore his people. In the process of restoring the Temple the high priest stumbled upon the Book of the Law and brought it to Josiah’s secretary. When Josiah’s secretary began to read to him from the Book of the Law, “he tore his clothes (2 Kings 22:11).” He grieved at the thought of he and his people disobeying God for generations, and he was fearful of God’s wrath. The Book of the Law broke the heart of Josiah.

It was that Law that was about to be delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai. Save for the incarnation their might not be a greater event in human history; God’s inaugural written revelation delivered to humanity. We find the people in Exodus 19 instructed to “consecrate” themselves as they prepare to act as over-hearers at the base of the mountain. This was no small thing; this was not life in the mundane.

When we posture ourselves to listen to God’s revelation; when we yield to the voice of God we can’t help but be transformed. We can’t help but see ourselves for who we are in light of His revealed Word, and that is grace to us. The thunder and lighting, smoke and fire, and the written Law was an extraordinary work of grace that day on Mount Sinai. Even the slightest glimpses of God lay us bare, exposing all our deepest and darkest frailties, and that kind of self-knowledge is the beginning of restoration. Let us expose ourselves to the majesty and glory of the Gospel, that Jesus may lead us in ongoing restoration in all of our life; even the most broken and shameful parts he can redeem! Will you “consecrate” yourselves this week? Will you remove yourself out of the mundane in order to be ready to see glimpses a glorious and majestic God who redeems?

Praying for multitudes of “Josiah” moments in the FBCSA family! Pray with me!

Blood, Sweat, and Grace

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 15:22-27; 16:1-18 (day six)

Exodus 15:25
The Exodus is an expose’ on the human condition. From the beginning it casts the Hebrews as a desperate and sinful people; it makes no effort to paint a romantic or rosy picture. Save the brief moment of worship after crossing the Red Sea, they grumble and complain at every turn, and when given the opportunity they disobey God. Their condition looks bleak.

If you are like me, there is the slightest temptation to pass judgement, but the truth is the Exodus exposes our own frail condition. Try as we might, we are simply unable to faithfully follow God. We are desperate and sinful, and broken and self-absorbed. We don’t need a savior because we struggle getting our act together some of the time, we need a savior because we are unable to do anything at all. Given the test we will fail it time and time again.

“But God being rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4-8),” and full of grace, not only makes provision for them in their most desperate moments but also reveals his glory to them(Exodus 16:10). When we would have long washed our hands of them, God graciously reveals his glory to them. What grace! Ultimately the greatest display of the glory of God is in the resurrection of His Son, which both afforded His grace to His people in the dessert thousands of years ago, and to us today!

What a grand story of blood, sweat, and grace!

Sunday is coming!

Oh and don’t forget about the Unbroken Marriage event on April 10th!
Check the website for more details.

Saved for Worship

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 12:1-14, 24-27, 13:8-9 (day six)

Does your heart sing? Years ago as a college student in Hattiesburg, MS I went to worship at FBC Hattiesburg with one of my closest friends. During the sermon the pastor was speaking on the extravagant love of God in our justification through Jesus, and being unable to contain himself my friend erupted with a loud fist pumping holler (like one you would hear at a football game). Needless to say he frightened many people, and probably left many scratching their heads. He was overcome with inexplicable joy! Isn’t this how it should be for us? Full of joy and erupting in song!

This week in Re:Verse we encountered the spontaneous praise of Moses and the Hebrew people following their salvation out from the Egyptians (Exodus 15). This is both beautiful to behold and compelling. Should not our praise erupt out of our joy of God’s salvation?! Yes, and again I say yes!

In fact the root of our joy rests in the saving work of God. In that work we see God for who he is as loving redeemer and mighty warrior. When we see God, we can’t help but worship. King David’s sin (and ours) was born out of dysfunctional worship. In Psalm 51:8 he wrote, “return to me the joy of my salvation.” Let’s pray like David that we never lose sight of our God who is mighty to save, so that our praise will always be loud and true!

Glory

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 5:1-2; 6:1-8; 7:1-5, 14-18; 8:1-3, 16, 20-21; 9:1-4, 8-9, 13-18, 25-26; 10:3-11, 21-22, 28-29; 11:1-5 (day six)

Exodus 8:9-10
Moses does something extraordinary. During the second plague Pharaoh pleads with him to go back and ask God to relent, in turn Moses says, “Tell me when. When do you want God to lift the plague?” Why would Moses do that? So that Pharaoh would know that there is no one like the God of Jacob.

The plagues were not an effort by God to convince Pharaoh to set the Hebrews free. God didn’t need plagues to do that. God had one purpose, to reveal his glory to the nations; the people of Egypt, the Hebrews, and countless others that would hear of the plagues. Everyone’s greatest need, including the Pharaoh, is to behold the glory of God. We are no different. Beholding the glory of God moves us from self-knowledge to desperation, from love to worship. In Pharaoh’s case, he would learn that there is no God like the God of Jacob; He alone builds and destroys nations.

God gave us his creation and His Word that we too might behold the glory of God. Do we? Do you?

Identify

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 3:1-14; 4:1-15 (day six)
Who are you? Who are we? Exodus never lets us forget who these people are; they are the “people of Israel,” the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had a tremendous sense of corporate identity; they were God’s people because of God’s covenant with their forefathers. Even when God moved in the life of an individual it was always in the greater context of a people. Abraham was the father of a nation, and Moses led a people out of slavery; the people were always in view.

Maybe one of the messages of the Exodus, and the people of God, is that we must regain a perspective of our corporate identity. We tend to be so individualistic that it is hard for us to break free and participate in our corporate identity. You see, we don’t do church; we are the church. We don’t go to church for worship; the church worships. We love and serve others not because it is something we are supposed to do, but because it is who we are in Jesus. We are the church, a chosen race, a holy priesthood, called to be the people of God in a very broken world. We are the Kingdom of God breaking into kingdom of the world.

I think that is what Jesus meant in John 17:22-23:

“The glory you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

Let’s be His church!

Rejoicing in Hope

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 1:8-22, 2:1-10 (day six)

If we had never read this book before we would immediately be unsettled by the injustice against the Hebrew people; the slavery and drowning of innocents. Yet, right from the beginning we would see a glimmer of hope. From the beginning we set our hopes on a baby. We don’t know what he will do or how he will do it, but we know somehow he will right the wrongs and set the captives free. Our hearts are drawn to hope. We need hope. It is hope that pulls us into the next chapter, and not just the book of Exodus, but in our own lives.

The birth of a baby boy in Exodus 2 gives us hope in the present. The announcement reminds us that God is not blind to injustice, or our spiritual condition, or our situation. Not only does He know, but He acts; He ignites movements of abolition in the most unlikely and extraordinary places. The birth of a baby boy sets our sights on a greater historical movement of restoration and freedom, the birth of His very own Son Jesus. So, wherever you find yourself today, take hope that God is on the move and has been from the beginning to lift you up out of brokenness and bondage, to lead you to a future hope of peace and reconciliation.

Rejoice with us!