Usage of Scriptute - Part 2
Into the Ancient Texts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Recap
Recap
1 Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. 3 Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
We have been seeing that the essence of their reading to be that worship became the focal point of the people of God. It was to enable them to serve the Lord properly.
Bible study therefore, has a clear definite goal it seeks to accomplish which is worship.
For example, as we read on we find out something in verse 13-18;
13 Now on the second day the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law. 14 And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” 16 Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. 17 So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. 18 Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.
Notice, the progression;
vs 13 — In order to understand the words of the Law.
vs 14 — They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses.
Notice something very interesting, that if they did not properly understand the words of the law, and probably try to give it their own meaning etc, they wouldn’t have been able to correctly “discover” that in the law, they were to carry out this feast.
Hence, they are pretty much teaching us something important, that worship flows from a proper understanding of God’s law.
My worship, flows from my study.
Revelation of God’s will
Revelation of God’s will
So, we began to study and seeing that even though we can read explicitly God’s law, at least those who are quite easy for us to study and see, such as let’s say “sexual immorality”, or “Not abandoning Christian gatherings”, there is a clear difference between “KNOWING” the law of God, and “DOING” the law of God.
57 May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, 58 that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers.
Notice Solomon’s prayer, THAT HE MAY INCLINE OUR HEARTS TO HIMSELF, to WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS…
Even though they had the law of God, his prayer was for God to incline their hearts to Himself.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
What does it mean for God to unite my heart, it is to have an undivided heart. Such that my heart is not turned to the right or to the left.
It is a prayer asking for a single, undivided devotion to God. It is a desire for spiritual integrity and wholeness, where all of one's affections and actions are concentrated in reverence and obedience to God, rather than being pulled in many different directions.
Notice, again, it is God who does this, it is God who teaches man his way, notice, I WILL WALK IN YOUR TRUTH.
How does God teach us? How does he reveal to us?
How does God teach us? How does he reveal to us?
10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
You see him here alluding to God’s spirit.
19 Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on the road; Nor the pillar of fire by night, To show them light, And the way they should go. 20 You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, And gave them water for their thirst.
Such revelation is by God’s spirit.
Also Job 32:8 — The breath of Shaddai teaches them.
What we see then is that, often, the revelation of God’s word, his law, and his mind, his will, is to the man who prays and ask for it. It is not by studying alone, that is the beginning, but the doing of the law of God, is by intense, continuous request in prayer. All through the scriptures you will see this.
Dealing with Questions
Dealing with Questions
So, we began to ask, what about questions we deal with in our day and time, that aren’t readily “written” or just available; For example;
Organ donation and transplantation, The ethics of creating sentient or near-sentient machines, In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Surrogacy, End-of-Life Decisions, Cybersecurity and Digital Privacy, Substance Use (Tobacco/Modern Drugs), Media and Entertainment, Body modification or tatoos etc.
We have these questions readily on our fingertips, each day thinking about it, and also, seeking to get to the heart of them. We have to engage with them.
The question therefore is, are they subject to personal convictions? Are they subject to opinions? Can we get to the heart of God, such that we see God’s law and see God’s heart concerning these issues? The answer is yes.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
All of God’s scripture, is there to teach us.
Examining Israel
Examining Israel
Let us for example consider texts related to Tatoos. The conversation has always been surrounded by properly a singular text;
28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.
Now, this text is an interesting one, as the context itself makes the text very interesting, he spoke regarding other things, that helps to understand what he was talking about;
26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. 27 You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.
Notice, eat anything with the blood, why? That is practicing divination and interpreting signs. Notice, that there is a cultural understanding to eating something with the blood;
verse 27 — Are men not to shave or have a nice hair cut?
Historical context;
Historical context;
Ancient historians (like Herodotus) and archaeological findings show:
Pagan priests or mourners would shave a circle on their head (“round off the hair on the temples”) as a sign of devotion or mourning.
In some Mesopotamian or Egyptian cults, men shaved beards or cut the corners in honor of gods or ancestors.
Verse 28, cannot be separate this from the culture, hence, it says, “you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you”.
and this has to do specifically with that culture again, where marks were made for the dead;
In the ancient Near East, people often:
Cut or marked their bodies as part of mourning rituals for the dead, or
Marked themselves with symbols and names of pagan gods or idols.
So the command was about not participating in idolatrous or pagan mourning practices — not necessarily about body art in general. It was a call to holiness and distinction, not decoration.
Now, what you will notice, is that the conversation is not neccessarily about just practices, it has alot to do with worship, i.e. WHO YOU ARE DEVOUT TO.
Hence, when we start the chapter from the beginning, we see something very important;
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
Holy — קָדוֹשׁ (qādôš)
The Hebrew root QDŠ indicates ‘to be reserved for a god, to be sacred’ i.e. separated from among others.
So, it reflects that God is separated, or singled out, amongst the gods, and Israel are distinct, separate from among the people of the earth, to God and his cause.
“Remember, we are exploring answering questions of our day, and we are seeing a pattern, within that which is already written”
So, the law begins with “to whom are you separated to? whom are you devout to?”, it doesn’t start with “is it good or bad? it is about God and his people, among the culture, and the people around them.”
The Law is a revelation of covenant identity, not mere morality.
It defines how a people set apart to Yahweh should live among other nations, whose practices were often expressions of their devotion to other gods.
What you will notice often is this, the behaviour wasn’t even with Israel, it was with the surrounding culture, their day and their age, and yahweh calls his people to live counter-cultural in many ways.
Hence, we are called to exactly thesame, we have to ask, within the conversations of our day, does this reflect my worship and devotion to God within this culture, in that I am set apart, reserved for him? Or does this fuel my indulgence within the culture of my day? Peter said thesame, and Paul, let us look at it.
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Few thoughts;
Futility of their mind; Notice it is possible for the believer to also walk thesame way. Even though, we don’t have the problem the gentile has, in that, the gentile is ignorant, has their heart blinded, we don’t become callous, but it is possible for you and I to yet walk in thesame futility of mind and heart.
Notice, Paul kept same “distinction” between us and those who are alienated from the life of God. i.e. in reference to (Gentile) existence prior to salvation. Hence, he kept same distinction that God and his people had in the old testament, reflecting a counter-cultural norm of their day.
It also shows that culture, and practices of the gentiles, is shaped by the norm apart from God and his life, hence, what does God and his people reflect? LIFE WITH GOD WITHIN SUCH CULTURE.
Peter also said thesame (explore at home);
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
Notice again, “THEY THINK IT STRANGE”; So, there is God and his people within the day and culture, and it will sound strange, it will sound counter-cultural, but you must understand, that culture (of the gentiles) is shaped by life apart from God not often with God.
Does that mean everything in our world is shaped by a culture that is anti-god? does that signify a not god shaped culture? For example, is the conversation around IVF, or surrogacy showing a culture anti-god? The answer is not always yes, or no. It begins with we should ask, WHAT IS A GOD-SHAPED PRACTICE, OR CULTURE? HOW DO WE REFLECT THIS? HOW DO WE DEFINE THIS? Notice, it will seem quite different within our time, our day and also the next few generations; but it is all towards same goal and plan.
God shaped culture / To what end?
God shaped culture / To what end?
We will look more into this from next week 100%, but let us have some introduction;
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
So, we find packed here 3 things;
God has a plan for his world;
God made man for a purpose within this world and with an identity;
and God has a way of order in his world;
These three becomes God’s ultimate plan for man, his world, and how culture ought to be shaped. This will help us from next week abit more;
WHILE, GOD HAS A PLAN FOR HIS WORLD, AND EVEN THE UNSAVED MAN CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THIS PLAN(EXPLORE NEXT WEEK), HE STILL DOES HAVE A SIGNIFICANT ISSUE, YOU WILL FIND WITH THAT MAN, EXCESSES, OR NOT AN HOLISTIC VIEW OF GOD’S PLAN AND VISION. THAT MAN THEREFORE BECOMES SOMEONE WHO SOMETIMES BUILD PROPERLY IN GOD’S WORLD BUT ALSO CREATE ANTI-GOD’S CULTURE IN PRACTICES. For example, whilst surrogacy would provide for us opportunity for those who desire children with difficulty, it would now become an opportunity by some to indulge without family, or because they don’t want their body to change.
Whilst there are situations where body modification helps in case of things like scars, deformity (the restoration of human dignity and identity), you will also find within it a culture of body modification for finding self worth, attraction etc, for example BBL. You will find both the proper culture, and the anti-culture in this world.
Just like How God is not against food, yet, he said to his people refrain from eating blood in your day, as this is consulting divinition.
Conclusion;
Conclusion;
Culture can either be God shaped or man shaped, in its practices and norm.
God’s people are in this world, and they live within a cultural norm of that which is SHAPED BY GOD.
The scriptures therefore reflects a pattern to us, one where our God shaped culture, is shaped by;
God’s plan for his world;
God’s plan, purpose and identity for man within this world ;
and God’s order in his world;
So like last week; this is what we meant by does it advance God’s cause or hinder it? We will see it in God’s plan for his world; God’s plan, purpose and identity for man within this world, and God’s order in his world.
