Recalibrated Ethics

Intro:

Is it cake- one of the judges is on a talk show in a nice dress, and they prank her by having her sit on a chair completely made of cake

she bursts out laughing and swears

jp is it candy

-  there is a popular Japanese game show concept where contestants guess if everyday objects are real or incredibly realistic-looking candy,

known in Japan as "Sokkuri Sweets" (looks-like sweets)

and internationally as "Candy or Not Candy". 

Famous for its bizarre and hilarious premise,

celebrities bite into items like shoes, furniture, or household tools

to discover if they're edible sweets or solid objects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmEdU5eVMWI

Ephesians 6:12 NASB95

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

There are unseen strings pulling at our hearts and minds constantly

we often find ourselves unwittingly going along with these agendas

Like finding the cake or candy in those shows, we have to learn what things in our lives

masquarade as good for us when in reality they are in rebellion against God’s plan for our life

The Promised Land (exodus-Joshua)

After four hundred years of Egyptian oppression

Israel had lost its sacred identity

Through Moses, God recalibrated His people and reminded them of their place in His plan

and their destiny to be a light of God’s grace to the nations

By giving God’s law to a lost and conquered people

Moses returned Israel to its true identity

Because of the Israelites’ stubbornness and continual complaining,

and because of Moses’ disobedience,

God established new leadership.

Everyone who had left Egypt, except for Caleb and Joshua,

died outside of the Promised Land

God recalibrated his people once again under the leadership of Joshua,

who led them into Canaan and commanded their march to claim their sacred homeland

(and reclaim God’s promises).

MOSES

skipping through the stories of Joseph and the deliverance

second half of Exodus, starting around chapter 19 we get the giving of the LAW

So remember, God promised that through Abraham’s

family, somehow, he would restore his blessing to all of the nations.

And in Exodus, we find out more.

God says that if Israel obeys the terms of the covenant, they will be

so shaped by God’s laws and teaching and justice that they will become a kingdom

of priests,

which means that they will become God’s representatives and show all

of the other nations what God is truly like.

Now, the people of Israel eagerly accept the offer,

and so God’s presence appears right on the top of Mount Sinai

in the form of cloud and lightning and thunder. And

Moses goes up as their representative, and God opens with the basic terms of the

covenant,

the famous Ten Commandments.

These are like the basic terms of the agreement—

how the Israelites and God are going to relate to each other.

And then, after this, comes another collection of commands, which fill out the first ten in more detail.

There are laws about Israel’s worship,

about social justice,

how they are to live together,

all shaping Israel into a nation of justice and generosity

that’s different from the other nations.

So Moses writes down all of these laws,

and he brings them down to the people,

who again eagerly agree to enter into this covenant with God.

And once they do so, God takes the relationship forward another step.

He tells Moses that he wants his holy and divine and good presence to come and dwell right in the midst of Israel,

which develops another aspect of God’s covenant promises.

So remember, after humanity’s rebellion in the garden,

it was access to God’s presence that was lost.

But now, it’s through the family of Abraham that God’s presence is becoming once

again accessible through this covenant relationship, first with Israel and then

somehow one day to all nations.

Chapters 25-31

So what follows are seven chapters of detailed architectural blueprints about this

sacred tent called the tabernacle.

There’s the outer courtyard with an altar, and then, in the center,

there’s a tent that has an outer room and then an inner room.

And then inside the inner room, which is called the most holy space, is a golden

box called the ark of the covenant.

And there’s angelic creatures over the top of it.

It’s the hot spot of God’s presence.

Now, there’s lots of detail in these chapters, and it’s important to know that every

piece has some kind of symbolic value.

All of the flowers, the angels, the gold and the jewels,

it all echoes back to the garden of Eden,

the place where God and humans lived together in intimacy.

And so the tabernacle is like a portable Eden, so to speak.

It’s the place where God and Israel can live together in peace.

At least in theory, because right here something goes really, really wrong.

Israel breaks the covenant.

Chapters 32-34

As Moses is up on the mountain receiving the blueprints for the tabernacle,

down below at the camp, the Israelites,

they’re losing patience.

And so they asked Moses’ brother, Aaron, to make for them a golden calf idol,

so they can worship it as the god who saved them out of slavery in Egypt.

Now, God’s presence, it’s right there on top of the mountain;

they can see it.

But here they are below, breaking the first two commands of the covenant they just agreed to

—no other gods and no idols.

Now, what follows is really important.

God knows what’s happening down below, and so he first invites Moses into his own anger and pain.

And he tells Moses what he wants to do—just to wipe Israel out.

But Moses intercedes by appealing to God’s character.

He says, first of all, destroying Israel would be going back on your

covenant promises to Abraham.

And then Moses appeals to God’s reputation among the nations.

What would they think if they see you destroying your own people?

And so God accepts Moses’ intercession, and he relents.

And while he does bring his judgment on those who instigated the idolatry,

he forgives the nation as a whole and promises to renew his covenant.

And it’s right here, at this point in the story,

that God for the first time describes his own character to Moses.

He says, “The Lord is merciful, he’s gracious. He’s slow to

anger, abounding in covenant faithfulness. He forgives sin, but he will not leave the

wicked unpunished.”

Exodus 34:6–7 NASB95

6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

So we have this tension.

God is full of mercy, but also he must deal with evil if he claims to be good.

And above all, God is faithful to his promises even though it means,

he knows, he’s committing himself to a people who are utterly faithless.

Chapters 35-40

And so after renewing the covenant with Israel,

God commissions Moses to go ahead and build the tabernacle.

And once again, we get five long chapters describing in detail the construction of the tabernacle.

And it all comes together in the final chapter where the tabernacle is finished.

God’s glorious divine presence comes and hovers over the tent, and our hopes are high.

And so Moses, he goes right up to enter into the tent, and he can’t.

He actually can’t go in. And that’s how the book ends.

It’s really surprising, but not really if you think about it.

You can see now how much Israel’s sin has damaged the relationship with God,

in more ways than we realized.

So the book opened, remember, with Pharaoh’s evil threatening Israel

and threatening God’s covenant promise.

But now as the book ends, Israel has become its own worst enemy.

It’s their sin that’s threatening the future of the covenant.

LEVITICUS

The book of Leviticus opens by reminding us of this fundamental problem. It says,

“The Lord called to Moses from the tent.”

So the question is: How can Israel, in their

sin and selfishness, be reconciled to this holy God?

That’s what this book is all about—how God is graciously providing a way

for sinful, corrupt people to live in his holy presence

lookat the first sentence of the next book of the Bible, Numbers. It begins, “The Lord

spoke to Moses in the tent,” so we can see that Moses is now able to enter God’s

presence on behalf of Israel. The book of Leviticus—it worked!

So despite Israel’s failure, God has provided a way for their sin to be covered, so

that God can live with sinful people in peace. And that’s what the book of Leviticus

is all about.

Fullfilling the Law

Matthew 5:17–18 NASB95

17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

This serves as the thesis statement for the entire section on the law where he covers 6 old testament laws

You shall not commit murder

You shall not commit adultery

Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce

You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth

You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy

1 Jesus’ language clearly affirms his commitment to the law of Moses

2 Jesus illustrates the eternality of God’s law

The comments about strokes makes the point that even the smallest details of God’s law are essential

3 Jesus declares that people will be judged by their response to God’s word, thus providing another graphic example of its authority

4 One cannot pick and choose among the commandments, but must obey them all

Matthew 5:20 NASB95

20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus demands wholehearted commitment to himself and his teachings

After grabbing his hearers’ attention with such a radical statement,

Jesus goes on to define God’s law not simply in terms of how people behave,

but in terms of who they are

Despite their commitment to scripture, religious people without transformed hearts will have no place in the kingdom

Jesus is flipping the ethics and recalibrating our hearts

He is bringing back intimacy with God

his death made a way for all man to know Him

as we were meant to

Murder

Jesus prohibition of acting in anger is a general principle

Jesus shows how the customary practice of the Law in his day is inadequate

Jewish people never considered tightening the law to be disrespecting it, and generally advocated building a “fence around the law” making it stricter, to make sure you didn’t violate its intention accidentally

These verses address not just how one acts but who one is (i.e. your character)

Earthly courts generally could not judge such offenses as displays of anger, but God’s heavenly court would judge all such offenses

Jesus starts with citing the crime of murder mentioned in the ten commandments (Exodus 20:13),

The biblical law required a Jewish court to execute the sentence of death (Deut 21:1-9)

But Jesus presses beyond behavior specifically punished by law to the kind of heart that generates such behavior.

Anger that would generate murder if unimpeded is the spriritual equivalent of murder

God never wanted people merely to obey rules

He wanted them to be Holy as he is holy,

To value what he values

To be like Him

presenting at the altar

our relationship with God is partially contingent on how the disciple treats others

God will not accept one’s gift at the altar until one reconciles with one’s neighbor

Jesus indicates that when you damage your relationships with others, you damage your relationship with God, leading to eternal punishment

adultery

Jesus’ warning against lust would have challenged some ancient hearers’ values

Jesus challenges their hearts, not just their doctrine

You shall not covet, that is desire anything that belongs to your neighbour

If you do not break the letter of the other commandments, but you want to do so, then you are guilty

Jesus does, however, go beyond his contemporaries’ customary views on lust

Jewish men expected married Jewish women to wear head coverings to prevent lust

Single women were exempt, since they needed to find a husband

Jesus placed the responsibility for lust on the person doing the lusting

Jesus treats lust as if it is exclusively a sin of the lusting heart

Jesus teaches in a graphic manner the manner the value that God places on marital and premarital fidelity

Israelite law treated premarital sex in part as an offense against one’s future spouse and one’s partner’s future spouse

When talking about “noticing a person’s beauty” the greek present tense used here bears a sense of continuous noticing.

So more than just noticing, but to meditate on it, dwell on it, seek to possess it

REBELLION

Look at all of the changes in Moses found through exodus and numbers

moses was born an israelite, raised as egyptian royalty, lived his life as a Midian shepherd, then retired as a liberator and leader

Moses rebelled against egypt when he murdered the egyptian

he rebelled against nature as a solitary shepherd and his in laws when he left after the burning bush

he again rebelled against egypt during the ten plagues

he rebelled against nature in the desert

he rebelled against his own people when he gathered the levites to slaughter everyone who worshiped the golden calf

he rebelled against nature, leading a nation to live in a desert not capable of supporting them

ultimately he rebelled against God when he struck the rock instead of talking to it like God instructed

The rebellion that caused the greatest negative impact was his rebellion against God

We are an immoral and sinful people that find ourselves rebelling against God far too often.

have you seen the scandal aobut long jumpers

6 meeters from a few cm during a body scan

How often do you neglect observing the sabbath for instance.

it’s one of those ingrained things in our culture that we have to rebel against

we call everything else in the 10 commandments a sin

not worshipping other gods

no graven images

not taking the name of God in vain

dishonoring your parents

not lying

not stealing

not murdering

not sleeping around and committing adultery

not coveting

and yet many americans seem to ignore the command to honor the sabbath

some even go as far as to say that it isn’t a sin

or maybe just don’t acknowledge it

Here’s another one: tithing

Malachi 3:8–10 NASB95

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! 10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

Human values

certain recent events showed leaders in our country have made ridicule of the image of God within all of us

The chaos of what has and is occurring in our country,

the loss of life that happens around America,

the rush to make judgments about situations without all the facts,

the ignoring of situations that cause deep pain to individuals,

reckless posts that dehumanize and devalue people, 

the lack of grace offered to others who hold to different views and values, 

and the unwillingness to be wrong has created a culture in America that is sick and unhealthy. 

When we lose the basic value of people,

we reduce them to caricatures, 

races, ethnicities, groupings, and enemies.

This should not be any of us, and certainly not from our leaders

it’s no wonder that the Bible frequently beseechus to pray for our leaders

But sadly, this is the culture we live in now days.

We feel we can post or share whatever we want,

regardless of the impact that has to those around us.

It’s almost like we value our opinions and our need (compulsion) to express them

more than we value discernment, wisdom, and compassion for those who will be hurt by the words we say and actions we take.

We regularly share posts that agitate and hurt others.

We have become “experts” as we judge peoples lives,

mock their pain,

criticize their views & values,

speculate and condem others greatest moments of failings

often in reckless and sometimes even in a celebratory manner.

Almost like we enjoy, watching other people‘s lives blowing up!

We have become completely insensitive to how our words and actions affect those around us.

We need to intentionally choose to do the hard work of being a good human again!

our ethics need recalibrated

and to do that, we need Jesus

our families need Jesus

our neighbors need jesus

our city needs jesus

our state needs jesus

our country needs jesus

movements of Jesus start with the individual

with you

our generation has been left alone to navigate the future

popular culture says that all paths lead to god

Christianity has become an after-thought

just one of many useless options

equity, science, socialism and technology have succeeded in putting the myth of God to rest once and for all

and mankind can get on with the business of worshipping itself in all our twisted images

Traditional Christianity is despised and mocked in our culture

the church has lost its place in modern society

Less than one generation ago the headline of time magazine said

IS GOD DEAD

april 8th, 1966

Five years later, in that same magazine, the headline reported

God must not be dead because there was a JESUS REVOLUTION sweeping our nation

We have beecome distracted with all of the flashing lights of our cuture

we have abandoned our central purpose

jesus recalibrated all of humanity

we must change how we approach this life

evaluate our ethics

the way we spend our time

our money

our goals and priorities

our very thoughts

turn your eyes