Circumcising The Next Generation (Responding To George Floyd's Death)

Introduction

Illustration: Videos Circulating Of George Floyd’s death on last Monday, May 25, 2020

CNN’s Web Pages Main Headline:

“Fire and fury spread across the US”

“Outraged and shouting through masks, thousands pouring out onto streets.”

“This is not protests, this is chaos”- Keisha Lance Bottoms, Mayor of Atlanta

National Guard troops being called up to restore peace & order

All in response to what happened this past Monday, May 25, 2020

Video recording of George Floyd pleading for help, saying he cannot breath, while on the ground with a policeman’s knee on his neck

According to National Geographic’s LONNAE O’NEAL in her essay “George Floyd’s mother was not there, but he used her as a sacred invocation”

“Please, man!” Floyd begs as he is ground into the pavement. His pleas mix with the ambient noises around him. They are the disjointed sounds from the clash of belief systems and competing visions of sovereignty, of ownership, of authority over black bodies compressed into the narrow frame of Floyd’s last moments.

“Momma!” Floyd, 46, calls out. “Momma! I’m through,” the dying man says, and I recognize his words. A call to your mother is a prayer to be seen. Floyd’s mother died two years ago, but he used her as a sacred invocation.

“He is a human being!” comes an anguished plea from someone in a desperate attempt to engage the officers’ reason or compassion or oaths of office. But in that moment, those officers are beyond the reach of humanity. Not Floyd’s, but their own.

A black mother’s nightmare

Young person’s poster from Friday’s protest in Boston:

“At What Age Do I Go From Handsome To A Threat”

Another image or rather video of a black male dying while in the custody of those who have made an oath to serve and protect.

For months after the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was pursued by armed white residents of a coastal South Georgia neighborhood, no arrests were made.

READ MOREFourth attorney general assigned to Ahmaud Arbery shooting case in Georgia.

But after an article by The New York Times, the release of a video of the February confrontation, and increased attention from lawmakers, celebrities and civil rights activists, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation stepped in.

The police arrested two men, Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael, on Thursday and charged them with murder and aggravated assault in the killing of Mr. Arbery. The state agency said Travis McMichael had fired the fatal shots.

So Protests have erupted in over 30 US cities (including my home town of Atlanta, GA and where I presently live in Boston, MA) over the death of another unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Some of the protests have been peaceful while others turned destructive. Here are the cities where people gathered:

California: Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco 

Colorado: Denver  

Georgia: Atlanta

Illinois: Chicago

Iowa: Des Moines

Indiana: Indianapolis, Fort Wayne 

Kentucky: Louisville (Related to the death of Breonna Taylor), Bowling Green

Louisiana: New Orleans

Nebraska: Lincoln

New York: New York City 

Massachusetts: Boston

Michigan: Detroit

Minnesota: Minneapolis

Missouri: Kansas City

Nevada: Las Vegas

North Carolina: Charlotte 

Ohio: Columbus, Cincinnati, Canton

Oregon: Portland

Texas: Dallas, Houston

Virginia: Richmond

Washington: Seattle

Wisconsin: Milwaukee

Washington, DC

What you need to know

Protests erupted in multiple cities over the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of a police officer.

The former Minneapolis police officer seen in a video with his knee on George Floyd's neck has been charged with murder and manslaughter.

Officers arrested CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his team, then later released them. Minnesota's governor apologized.

Illustration: It's been five decades since 1968, and things are somehow worse by Julian Zelizer, Princeton University Professor & CNN Political Analyst

1968 (Lyndon Baines Johnson on March 31, 2020 announced he is discontinuing his bid for a second term

Riots

Rev. Dr. MLK & RFK assassinated

Richard Nixon campaigns on law & order platform

Democratic National Convention in Chicago, breaks out into violence

Washington, D.C.

Chicago

Baltimore

Kansas City

Detroit

New York City

Pittsburgh

Cincinnati

Trenton, New Jersey

Wilmington, Delaware

Louisville

In this Post-Obama Presidency era...

Why go after the hearts of the next generation?

Illustration: “What Young Adults Say Is Missing from Church” published by the Barna group

They have righteous indignation for inequities of this world

They are passionately engaged in social justice issues such as:

criminal justice reform

immigration reform

pay equity for women

human trafficking

police abuse of minorities

abuses of politicians

more just and compassionate policies towards dealing with drug addiction

eliminating sexual abuse of women

Transition To Body- Melted Hearts Of the Ungodly

Joshua 5:1 ESV

1 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

Joshua 3:10 ESV

10 And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.

Ethnic divisions of the world vs. National Unity of Israel

Wicked, divided Nations vs. Israel (One People, the LORD God’s people)

But before the next Generation of the Children of Israel go take into battle and take possession of the promise land....

Body- Why Circumcise The Next Generation?

1. Marks God’s Culture Transforming Work (vv2-3)c

Joshua 5:2–3 ESV

2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

Ancient Practice Of Circumcision

Puberty i.e. Growing Up

Fertility i.e. Production (offspring) & fruitfulness

Marriage i.e. Committed relationship with the LORD

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 5:1-12: Circumcision and Passover

Circumcision was practiced widely in the ancient Near East as a rite of puberty, fertility or marriage.

Groom Coming Under Protection of their Family

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 5:1-12: Circumcision and Passover

When used in relation to marriage, terminology suggests it was performed by the new male in-laws, indicating that the groom was coming under the protection of their family in this new relationship.

Substitutionary Atonement for Human Sacrifice

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 5:1-12: Circumcision and Passover

The fact that blood is shed also signifies that this is a sacrificial ritual and may function as a substitution for the human sacrifice that was practiced by other people.

Mark Members of Covenantal Community

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 5:1-12: Circumcision and Passover

Although the Israelites are not the only people in the ancient Near East to circumcise their sons, it is used to mark them as members of the covenantal community.

God Transforming Cultural Practices To Reveal Himself & Relate To HIs People

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 5:1-12: Circumcision and Passover

Circumcision can be seen as one of many cases where God transforms a common practice to a new (though not necessarily unrelated) purpose in revealing himself and relating to his people.

Therefore We Look For God Engaging The Culture

Mark (Sign) Of Receptive Heart To The LORD

Deuteronomy 10:16 ESV

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Mark (Sign) Of Heartfelt Love Of The LORD

Deuteronomy 30:6 ESV

6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Philippians 1:9–11 ESV

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Matthew 3:8–9 ESV

8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Illustration: Cross Movement Christian Hip-Hop inside of the broader genre of Hip-Hop & Rap

Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer of Cultural Transformation Through His Disciples (Followers) John 17

John 17:15–19 ESV

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Application Points:

Engaging the culture

Establishing partnerships within the community such as with the

Taunton Opiode Task Force

Greater Taunton Clergy Association

Mayor’s Office, City Council

and (I said and) the Police Department

Help break the school to prison pipeline through participation in mentoring programs

Engaging our public education system helping to make it more equitable for everyone

{

But not only does circumcising each new generation

1. Mark God’s Culture Transforming Work

so we engage the culture and look for God in it

but we continue to circumcise because of the

}

2. Previous Generation’s Imperfect Faithfulness (vv4-6)

Joshua 5:4 ESV

4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.

Circumcised- in relationship

Jehovah Jirah provided manna (bread from heaven) & water from a rock

Yet died in the wilderness

Refused to enter the promise land & complain to Moses in Numbers 14

Rebellious

Disobedient

Hebrews 3:16–19 ESV

16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Jesus said:

John 14:15 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

God tells the prophet to say:

The LORD’s clarion call to do justice

Isaiah 1:16–17 ESV

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Isaiah 1:4 ESV

4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

What is the LORD’s good pleasure?

Micah 6:7 ESV

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Micah 6:8 ESV

8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Godly Prophetic Love

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

{

So circumcising each new generation

1. Marks God’s Culture Transforming Work

and circumcision is necessary because of the

2. Previous Generation’s Imperfect Faithfulness

but also circumcision

}

3. Corrects Neglecting Our Primary Ministry (vv5-8)

40 years in the wilderness and none of the next Generation was circumcised

What happened?

All the people saved out of Egypt were circumcised

Joshua 5:5 ESV

5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

And Children Raised Up But Not Circumcised On The Way

Joshua 5:7 ESV

7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

Obey The Shema- Diligently Teach Your Children to

Love the LORD your God with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your might

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

People Come To God & they Need Healing

Joshua 5:8 ESV

8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.

People who have come out of their own Egypt Experience

and have been wandering in the wilderness

What are you talking about preacher?

Preach it plain!

healed

be alive, stay alive; live; revive,

recover, return to life, come to life, revive from death, restore to life

nurture, cause to flourish, care for implying affection

John 15:1–2 ESV

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Healing Desperately Sick Hearts

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

So God cares for the children of Israel at Gilgal

The LORD God shows compassion

The LORD God cares about his children

The LORD God revives those who have come out of Egypt

{

So circumcising each new generation

1. Marks God’s Culture Transforming Work

and circumcision is necessary because of the

2. Previous Generation’s Imperfect Faithfulness

and circumcision

3. Corrects Neglecting Our Primary Ministry

but finally circumcision for every new generation

}

4. Removes the Dishonor Of One’s Unsaved Past (v9)

Joshua 5:9 ESV

9 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

Rolling Away the Reproach of our Egypt Experiences

rolled away= erased (no longer exist or no longer be around to eye)

Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) 1670 I. גָּלַל

remove, take away, formally, roll away, i.e., have a state no longer exist as a figurative extension of an object being rolled out of sight and so no longer be around to the eye

reproach

disgrace, contempt

state of dishonor and low status

Circumcision is God’s Way of identifying a person as a member of his family

Psalm 139:13–14 ESV

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 50:10 ESV

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

Philippians 4:19 ESV

19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

So It is an honor to be a part of God’s family

Because Egypt in the Bible is also identified with that from which the LORD God delivers us

The LORD God Rolls Away Your Reproach

And it’s some people in here today who can testify that you are ancestors of sharecroppers and former slaves

Some of you don’t have to go back that far because you are first generation college graduates, the first to buy a home, the first to get out of poverty

You go with your bad self

But Don’t Get So Dignified that When

Deuteronomy 6:10–13 ESV

10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.

It Was God All By Himself!

It Was God Who Made A Way Out Of No Way!

Psalm 124:1 ESV

1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side— let Israel now say—

Psalm 124:2 ESV

2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us,

Transition To Close: Righteousness Exalts a Nation, but sin....

Illustration: Tri-Star Pictures 1989 debut of the movie Glory

The story of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts, the first noncommissioned black regiment to fight for the North during the Civil War.

Starring:

Denzel Washington as the runaway slave named Trip

Morgan Freeman as his elderly bunk mate Rawlins

Matthew Broderick as the commanding officer Robert Shaw

Throughout the film Shaw faces the dilemma of standing up for his men or staying quiet among his superiors in order to save face with his black soldiers.

This dilemma is strikingly portrayed when Shaw must inform his soldiers that the Union recently determined that black soldiers would receiver a smaller salary than white soldiers.

Standing on a high, commanding platform, Shaw hesitantly announces to his troops, “You men enlisted in this regiment with the understanding that you would be paid the regular army wage of $13 a month. This morning I have been notified that, since you are a colored regiment, you will be paid $10 a month.”

Hi regiment grumbles at the injustice, but they fall out by company to receive their pay.

“Even a little pay is better than no pay at all.”

One dissenter- the runaway slave Trip

“A colored soldier will stop a bullet just as good as a white one and for less money too. Yeah, yeah, Ol’ Unc’ Abe has got himself a real bargain here.”

Soon other soldiers join the protest

One by one, soldiers join the outcry

“Tear it up. Tear it up. Tear it up,” trip shouts of their pay checks

“Pow!” a shot instantly silences the clamor. The soldiers turn their attention to their commanding officer, Robert Shaw, expecting to be disciplined.

“If you men will take no pay,” Shaw sternly announces, “then none of us will.” He proceeds to tear up his check as well.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Proverbs 14:34 ESV

34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

So as long as we have unjust systems...

Speak The Truth In Love

Ephesians 4:22–25 ESV

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

If my people who are called by my name

2 Chronicles 7:13–15 ESV

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

So We Got Pray For This Nation

We Got To Fight For The Soul Of This Nation

Illustration: Or in the words of the great Chuck D

Party For Your Right To Fight

And Fight The Power

Close- A Man Born Yet God

But I know of another moment in the pages of history when God rolled away reproach

Jesus, the son of the living God Came To HIs Own People

John 1:11–13 ESV

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Romans 8:29 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

1 John 3:1–2 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

So...

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus came to call the sick!

Matthew 9:12–13 ESV

12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus healed the sick!

Jesus gave sight to the blind!

Jesus gave speech to the deaf!

Jesus raised people from the dead!

Jesus set the captives free!

Jesus equipped followers!

Jesus preached the good news of salvation!

And on one Friday, Jesus died for your and my sins!

They placed Jesus dead body in a borrowed tomb!

The rolled a stone over the entrance of the tomb

But that’s not how the story ends...

Because early....

I said early...

Early one Sunday morning

Mary Magdalene

Mary the mother of James

And Salome

Came to anoint Jesus’ dead body

And they were saying to one another

Mark 16:3 ESV

3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:56 ESV

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 78:5–8 ESV

5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Psalm 102:18–22 ESV

18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: 19 that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, 20 to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, 21 that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise, 22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

So Therefore, my beloved brothers & sisters...

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Circumcision of the Heart

Romans 2:29 ESV

29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.