The Rescue
Notes
Transcript
I’ve posted our scripture this morning online at least a couple of times, it’s just always been as a song.
Kari Jobe and several others used this blessing as the basis of a song.
They added just a little bit to it - but that was ok because what they added was more scripture.
I love the song.
My favorite version of it is Passion City’s version with the symphony orchestra’s accompaniment.
I come from the Moody Blues and Led Zeppelin Era of big music.
Those groups a lot of time released albums with a full throated orchestra backup.
It’s one of the things here that makes our music so special - we have our orchestra that fills the room with music.
It’s the FBC sound.
The song I am talking about is the Blessing.
It is based mostly on Numbers 6:22-27 but it also includes just a little bit of second commandment that says make no carved image.
Exodus 20:5-6 “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
They add that about 1,000 generations to this blessing.
They also add that He is in front of us, behind us, beside us, all around us and in us.
That’s in the Bible too.
Isaiah 30:21, has the Lord behind us speaking the way to go.
Proverbs 3:6 says the Lord will make your path straight.
Psalm 16:8 says the Lord is right beside me.
Psalm 139:7-12 says that the Lord is all around us.
Colossians 1:27 says the Lord is in us.
So it’s a good song.
Because it’s God’s heart for us - it is something God wants us to understand.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
I was raised in a different era than many of you.
Preachers in my day were full of spit and vinegar and everyone loved a good revival where the preacher preached about hell and damnation and people were encouraged, exhorted, yelled at to accept Jesus or burn in the fires of hell.
Well, the message isn’t untrue, but I don’t know many people who were scared into loving someone.
And that’s what Jesus is looking for - Jesus says so in John 14.
But times changed and things moved on and preaching morphed into some kind of pseudo-psychological, do this and feel good kind of thing.
The message moved from you’re going to burn in the pits of hell to do this to be a good parent, do this to live without anxiety, do this to be a good wife or a good husband, do this and you’ll have a great career.
And a lot of the sermons I’ve heard hardly use scripture, they rarely talk about Jesus but they are really heavy on the Dr. Phil kind of stuff that maybe might have a little value if Dr. Phil was a decent doctor
It’s like we are living in a time when the music is playing too loud, do you know what I mean?
I went to an Amy Grant concert once - any of you guys know who Amy Grant is?
I was so excited - I copped a pair of 7th row seats.
I was so close I could see her sweat on stage.
But I couldn’t hear her.
You know how concerts have these big banks of speakers?
My seats on the 7th row so close I could see Amy Grant sweat were stage right of Ms. Grant, right in front of the speakers.
All I heard was noise - all night long.
To this day I have no clue what she sang or said for that matter.
When the music stopped and she talked, my ears were ringing so badly I had no clue.
That’s where we are right now.
So many people are saying so many things so loudly and and so fast, it’s just noise.
It makes your ears hurt and really, it makes you nervous.
I remember leaving the Amy Grant concert a little disconcerted - pun intended.
We aren’t designed for this - our coping skills, our mental faculties - I’m not sure we have the capacity to thrive in this onslaught of stuff.
That’s why I love the song, “The Blessing.”
It is Yahweh, notice in your Bibles the word LORD is in call caps - that’s the official - given at the burning bush - name of God.
Want to sound smart?
In theological circles its called the Tetragrammaton.
YHWH.
Yahweh.
I Am.
Not past tense, not present or future tense.
Simply now - forever now - never not now.
The Lord.
Amid all of the rules and regulations, amid the ordering of society - that’s what the Lord is doing in the first five books of the Bible.
Amid all of that - the Lord stops.
It’s like He says, I need to remind these folks of what I’m about.
They will get this wrong.
They will focus on all of these rules.
They will all rebel against them - either to do them to the n’th degree or ignore them all together.
They will mess this up.
So I need to remind them.
I need to remind them so when their papa dies, they will not forget.
I need to remind them so when their spouse leaves, they will not forget.
I need to remind them, so when they get a disease that is going to kill them, they will not forget.
I need to remind the school teacher whose heart breaks for their children and their parents in a system that is more focused on process than people.
I need to remind the student who doesn’t quite fit.
I need to remind the one who looks in the mirror and sees an ugly duckling.
I need to remind the one who got the F or got fired or got chewed out in front of an audience.
I need to remind the one who … lives.
I need to remind them so they don’t forget.
My heart, my desire, my passion, the Lord says, is to bless you. Numbers 6:24
The Lord bless you and keep you;
Now I’ve got to tell you a little technical thing here so this makes more sense.
The poem - that’s what this is, it’s a poem - is written in three clauses and each clause consists of two parts.
The first part is God’s action in your direction and the second part is the Lord’s action to you.
So, the first line says, “The Lord bless you and keep you.”
The Lord bless part is God - listen - listen - the bless part is the Lord moving toward you.
He’s leaning in to you - it is an indication that you have the Lord’s favor.
But the way that plays out is he leans in to you.
He knows when the professor is crazy and he leans in to you.
He knows when your husband has lost his way and he leans in to you.
He knows when your child becomes someone you don’t understand anymore, and he leans in to you.
He leans in to do something - He leans in to keep you.
That’s the action - keep you.
Keep is also rendered protect but it’s got a surprise hiding in it.
It doesn’t simply mean protect as in keeping you from ultimate harm.
It means keeping you from ultimate harm so you remain.
When the dust settles after the battle, you will still be there.
Please hear that - whether you are theologically liberal or theologically conservative or whether you aren’t theological at all - hear that.
The Lord leans in to you where you are right now to make sure when this is all over you will still be standing.
You will prevail.
When you tell your kids, when you whisper to yourself, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” what outcome do you expect?
You expect to be standing when it is all over.
You are expecting exactly what the Lord is delivering.
You will stand because He will make a way for your to stand.
And it’s not just you that needs to hear this.
Do you know how long people have needed to be reminded that God’s desire is to lean in to them and keep them on their feet?
In 1979, an archaeologist named Gabriel Barkai was digging on the western slope of the Hinnom Valley outside of Jerusalem and he found a burial site from the 7th century Before Christ.
Buried with the body were little scripture holders and in those scripture holders were these words.
This blessing - that Kari Jobe just put to music for people who fly in rocket ships to hear.
People who rode in carts with wooden wheels powered by a donkey needed to hear it to.
And you know what - people have continued to stand - haven’t they?
The faith has not disappeared.
God has not gone away.
And we keep standing.
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
What is a major fear just about every child has?
They are afraid of the dark.
What is it about the dark?
It’s when you can’t see, you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t know if there’s danger or where the danger is even coming from if there is danger.
It’s dark, you don’t know what to do and you are afraid.
So what do you need?
It’s what the Lord provides - light.
That’s the image - to make His face shine - to make it light up - in your direction.
Remember, the first part is what the Lord is doing in your direction - He’s lighting up the darkness around you.
To what end.
To be gracious to you.
It takes a lot of words to define gracious.
It means to take pity.
It means to be kind.
It means to be compassionate.
It means to care.
Now here is the hard part and it’s why the Lord is interrupting his society building to pronounce this blessing.
In the middle of the gunfire, it’s hard to see the rescue.
But, if you remember the Lord is the rescuer, then in the middle of the gunfire, you are looking for - you are expecting the rescue.
In a word - you have hope and a person can live for a long time and can endure a whole host of torment if they have hope.
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
The Lord’s action towards you sounds a little stuffy - He “Lift[s] up his countenance upon you.”
Anyone want to venture a guess what that means?
Yahweh smiles in your direction.
Do you see the contrast between the hate-filled God so many believers and unbelievers alike believe in.
Versus the Lord who smiles in your direction.
Do you see the contrast between a God whose desire is to send you to hell and a Lord who say that whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life - or said another way - they will stand forever?
This was so contrary to any god of their era.
Of gods like Molech that demanded the sacrifice of their babies on a burning altar.
Of a god like Baal that demanded the priests cut themselves and bleed in order for him to work.
This God, this Yahweh, smiles on his people.
For those who may be listening out of curiosity who thinks the church is on the wrong side of history, let me ask, when has anyone with ultimate power smiled in your direction to give you something unconditionally?
I suspect you can name them on no fingers.
Only the Lord smiles upon you and, what does He do to you? - He gives you peace.
Peace takes a lot of words to define too.
Peace in their day meant favorable circumstances, completeness, safeness, health, satisfaction, and friendship.
Which one of those do you need today?
Well, this is a really old poem and it is Old Testament - so...
Yeah, when Jesus was born what was the announcement to the poorest and dirtiest of the bunch?
Let’s use the King James for my King James fans, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The Lord is doing His best to remind you and me - He is For You.
Listen, if Yahweh had wanted us to burn in hell forever like it sounds so many people thinks he wants us to do, then why did He send Jesus?
Why did He arrange for a rescue?
Why not simply leave things alone, let us kill each other and then let us exist for eternity apart from God tearing our hearts out over what we missed and what we have brought on ourselves?
Why not let us burn?
But He didn’t.
He leaned in.
He turned on the light.
He smiled.
He sent us a rescue.
A baby in a manger.
Who grew and lived as an example of what God looked like.
He was executed “for the people.”
The head kahuna preacher of their day said so - a prophet by accident.
The He was resurrected by Yahweh.
To be our rescue.
The very one we turn to make us stand.
If you aren’t a Jesus follower, that’s who He is.
If you are a Jesus follower, well, that’s who He is.
Pray with me:
Yahweh gave us this blessing so we would remember.
The Jesus came and He gave us something else so we would remember.
He took His disciples to dinner - really - that’s what it was.
You probably had a special Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving dinner.
They had the Passover meal - it was meant to remind them of who God rescued them once before.
After they ate, Jesus knew what was about to occur and he knew in the noise of that, that they’d pretty much forget everything if He didn’t do something to help them remember.
So he took so leftover bread.
He gave them all a piece and said, “This is my body which is given for you.”
Then He passed around His cup of wine and told them “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
A new covenant.
A new way to say, the Lord is for you.
So they ate and drank that night.
And from then on, whenever they gathered, they ate and drank and remembered that Yahweh is for them.
We are going to do that right now - just like the disciples did.
We practice a type of open communion here - we don’t care what Christian tradition you come from - if you trust Jesus as your savior, if you believe he was born of a virgin, that he lived a sinless life, that he died on a cross and he was resurrected to new life by God and that He did that for you, we invite you to join us as the table.
We ask that this side of the house come to this table and that side of the house come to that table.
And when Austin or I give you the bread dipped in the juice, eat it right then and then you are free to quietly gather your things and go.
And remember, Jesus gave his body and blood, because the Lord is for us.
Austin, will you lead us in prayer?