Lay Down the Law 4: Holy Day

As Zligorth’s spaceship

entered Earth’s atmosphere, he extended one slimy tentacle to flip on his cloaking system. 

He needed to be invisible. He had procrastinated, and his thesis was due in only three galactic sectons. Without it he hadn’t an earthman’s chance of passing his comparative anthropology course. He couldn’t waste time finding good hiding places, or erasing memories with his deneuralizer.

 Swooping dangerously low over the United States in his flying saucer, Zligorth scribbled furiously with his writing tentacle. He had chosen an ideal morning for taking notes-a fine summer Sunday, with all the natives coming out of their houses and obligingly spreading themselves around for his observation.

How would such a thesis describe our Sunday activities?

Surely Joy Davidman is wrong. She imagines an alien like Zligorth would assume that humans are sun worshipers… rushing outside on Sundays to worship in local roofless arenas while priests perform rituals with different spheres (and sometimes wooden sticks).  Could someone so misinterpret our sporting events?

 Trips to the beach are seen as religious excursions to worship in the waves – representing a belief that the waves give birth to the sun every morning… or put it to bed at night (depending on which coast you find yourself)… anointing ourselves in “holy oils” and laying in the sun’s rays to come into contact with our god.

What a dumb mistake of the alien!!!

But that is not the disturbing mistake Davidman imagines the aliens making.

The disturbing mistake is the alien’s view of church goers. The alien’s report goes like this:

“There exists, however, a small sect of recalcitrants or heretics that does not practice sun worship. These may be identified by their habit of clothing themselves more soberly and more completely than the sun worshippers. They too gather in groups, but only to hide from the sun in certain buildings of doubtful use, usually with windows of glass colored to keep out the light. It is not clear whether these creatures are simply unbelievers or whether they are excommunicated from sun worship for some offence -we have not been able to discover what goes on within their buildings, which may perhaps be places of punishment. But it is noteworthy that their faces and gestures show none of the joyful religious frenzy with which the sun worshippers pursue their devotions. In fact, they usually appear relaxed and even placid, thus indicating minds blank of thought or emotion.”

Surely no outsider looking in would assume such a thing…

that the truly religious are the ones who don’t seem to enjoy their worship!

YAHOO ANSWERS: why is church so boring?

“Well if god had some video games with His relationship it would not be boring”

“Because you haven’t walked through the doors yourself. You’ve been pulled through them every Sunday by the ear.”

“I know Right!? The pastors drone on and on about the same things, repeating themselves about 20 times until they finally get to some new information, and then start repeating that over and over, maybe tell a few stories about their childhood and rant furiously over how "GOD IS THE AWESOMEST". I'm glad my parents have stopped forcing me to go.”

Why is it so hard for my church to grow…

While south padre island is expanding its hotels and bars…

even in spite of a recent hurricane and current recession?!

but what are we supposed to do?

try and compete with the beach?!

(Exodus 20:9-11 ESV)

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

we have to keep the Sabbath holy!!!

We can’t try and make it fun or entertaining!!!

but what did God mean when He said, “keep it holy.”?

here are some holy times commanded by God in the Old Testament:

sabbath day – seventh day of every week: sacrifices, holy convocation (get together, read, worship), no work

passover / unleavened bread – came together as an 8 day celebration with various feasts and offerings celebrating the Passover in Egypt and the Exodus.

Firstfruits – celebrated the first of the barley harvest and recognized the Lord’s bounty in the land.

weeks – a festival of joy; mandatory and voluntary offerings, including the firstfruits of the wheat harvest to show joy and thankfulness for the Lord’s blessing of harvest.

booths – a week of celebrating for the harvests… memorialize the journey from Egypt to Canaan.

There was also Purim, the Day of Atonement, a Sabbath year (to give the land a rest), and the year of Jubilee (where indentured slaves were set free and a degree of redistribution of wealth was celebrated).

Oneof these times called the people to fast. (the day of atonement)

To remember their sin and solemnlyseek God’s forgiveness.

the rest were generally times of celebration and rest

so what does God mean by keeping something holy?

Deuteronomy 14:22-29 is just crazy.

it outlines how to handle tithingholy (of grain, wine, and oil, etc)

they were supposed to take their tithe to a certain place

and eat it.

But if the place where they were to take the tithe was too far away to carry the tithe,

they were to convert their tithe to money, and take the money to the place…

“and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.” (v26)

does God seem to generally want people to remember His holiness by being miserable?

what does God expect from His people when they gather?

solemnity or celebration

?

there are strict guidelines about alcohol… Don’t get drunk, none in the sanctuary.

This is not a license for carousing.

but it might make us rethink our expectations for Sundays…

rethink holy

Are the commandments subtracting joy from life?

Does one keep a day holy by making it unpleasant and restrictive… and boring… or by making it joyous… by making it as much as possible like hell, or as much as possible like heaven?

This is the day when man can return to Eden. The day when we remember that everything God made was good…

Man is commanded to enjoy himself.

of everyone on earth, we have reason to celebrate…

especially when we come together in His name.

how do we keep it holy?

In the end, it isn’t going to be livelier services… or losing preaching for super bowl parties…

We have to remember that churchis not the goal.

God is the goal.

In the end, the church must stand or fall by the church people.

Will we be joyful?

Let us behave like Christians seven days a week, and it is likely that the Sabbath will take care of itself.

how do you make a day holy?

By seeing that it is holy already,

and behaving accordingly.

we take ourselves too seriously

the world will not stop working simply because you did.

trust

that God can work while you rest.

the law of sabbath speaks to us more than once a week

you are not defined by what you produce in life

waste a little time with God everyday…

just sit with Him in silence. 

Be defined by what He produces in you.

and on Sundays… rejoice.

keep it holy.

Lay Down the Law 3: His Name

Who knows where it started…

Biblically speaking, perhaps it began as Adam named all the animals… acting as the ruler of creation God created him to be.

Perhaps it began when man realized he could control his fellow man simply by calling out his name. Just by uttering a few syllables one could make another human stop in his/her tracks and turn around.

There is power in a name.

And so the black magicians call on the names of deities to conjure up power for their purposes. They speak incantations to grant magical effects. If they can name the deity, they can harness its power and authority.

Who knows where it started…

but we know where it was called to an end. Exodus 20:7

It is said that Rome had a secret name… only shared in mystical rituals. It was kept secret unless an enemy of the state would learn of it and speak it against Rome… because to speak the name of a thing was to share in its authority… its power. (or to take it)

God was not… and is not… afraid of that

He shared His name with us.

“Who shall I say is sending me?” Moses asked.

And God answered.

GOD WANTS HIS NAME KNOWN

but He wants it known in truth

 FOR WHO HE IS

leviticus 19:12: Don’t swear deceitfully in my name and defile the name of your God… I am YHWH.

The first two commandments reshaped the Hebrews ideas of deity, worship, commitment, and authority. The third commandment sealed the deal…

and acted as a warning.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,

for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

God’s name shall not be upon your lips for empty ends. AND there is a danger in neglecting the holiness of His name.

Unlike the priests of the various gods in other nations… the one true God has standards on how we should use His authority… His power… His works.

He’s a live wire

You had better be careful how you handle Him

In 2 Samuel 6 Uzzah touched the ark of the covenant… and dropped dead.

In Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit… and dropped dead.

In Acts 19 seven sons of Sceva conjured up the “name of Jesus whom Paul preaches,” to exert power over a demon…

the demon knew the names of Jesus and Paul

but the sons’ vain use of the NAME was powerless

the demon beat all 7 up and sent them running… naked.

And then in Isaiah 6

Isaiah sees God in His throne room,

“Woe is me!”

“I am ruined!”

“For I am a man of unclean lips in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for I have seen the

King, the Lord of hosts!”

God is terrible.

He is not safe.

He is powerful and majestic and pure and HOLY.

He is not ok with the abuse of His power… of His holy name.

He has offered us community with Him.

He has not offered Himself as a tool for us to use in pursuit of power and authority.

So what did they do? _{t h e y   d i d   t h e i r   b e s t …   b e t t e r   t h a n   a n y o n e   b e f o r e   t h e m}

They protected the name with all their might… YHWH

It was not to be spoken lest it be taken in vain.

Only by the High Priest, and only once a year.

until we forgot how to say it.

in fear of using the name toward empty ends, we lost it

b y   t h e   t i m e   o f   J e s u s   t h e y   w o u l d   s w e a r   b y   t h e   t e m p l e   a n d   l i e …

s w e a r   b y   t h e   a l t a r   a n d   l i e …

in the letter of the law the Lawgiver was lost

vanity

the 3^rd commandment breeched

So what do we do? w e   d o   o u r   b e s t …   b u t   n o n e   b e t t e r .

We shudder when the word “God” is used as a profanity.     

a s   i f   G o d   i s   i n s u l t e d ?

In our fear of making the name empty, have we represented God as a pouty child upset at the mispronunciation of his name?

is he that small?

are there worse ways of wasting the Name we should be wary of?

He is not ok with the abuse of His power.

“Do not defile my Name.”

Wherever science has given one man control of another,

science has broken the 3^rd commandment.

Creation is the work of God.

The artistry of  His hands.

That we should take His works and use them toward empty or evil ends…

h o w  d o   y o u   u s e   t h e   i n t e r n e t ?

empty?evil?

                                                                        

T.V.

Music

the Media

etc.

even our intelligence (given to us by God)

we use to exert control over others.

are we using the work of God for

empty or evil ends?

We break the 3^rd Commandment

“I have a word from God…”

Do you dare disobey at the end of a gun?

The name of God is loaded.

It inspires people to be convinced…

of our opinion.

Joy Davidman:“If we object to meat-eating, we declare that God is vegetarian; if we abhor war, we proclaim a pacifist Deity. He who turned water into wine to gladden a wedding is now accused by many of favouring that abominable fluid grape juice. There can hardly be a more evil way of taking God's name in vain than this way of presuming to speak in it…

For here is spiritual pride, the ultimate sin, in action-the sin of believing in one's own righteousness.

The true prophet says humbly,

"To me, a sinful man, God spoke."

But the scribes and Pharisees declare,

"When we speak, God agrees." They feel no need of a special revelation, for they are always, in their own view, infallible.”

“It is this self-righteousness of the pious that most breeds atheism,

by inspiring all decent ordinary men with loathing of the enormous lie.”

we defile the name of God when we make use of it

we break the 3^rd commandment

We speak in His name and defile it.

We take His name in vain.

And it is this sin that causes others to break the 3^rd Commandment as well.

His name becomes nothing to them… because of us.

We who have used the Name for unhallowed ends,

We who have taken the work, the very artistry, of God’s hands and used it to control others… or used it toward empty ends.

We who have “called upon the Name of God to bolster up our own vanity”… our own opinions…

We who have neglected to call upon His name because of our prejudices.

We are all black magicians who misunderstand and misuse the name of God.

HE IS HIGH VOLTAGE… HE IS HOLY.

Remember… God gave us His name. He doesn’t want it hidden under a bushel. 

The God who died for us does not want us to live in fear of Him continually.

He wants us to understand His holiness so that we will understand the depth of His love and sacrifice…

 So for us the 3^rd Commandment is about more

than casual profanity.

It is remembering His holiness in order

to remember His love.

And if we will remember His love,

We will make His name great among the nations.

don’t fear offending Him

desperately desire to honor Him.

Lay Down the Law 2: No Idols.

 Now I mean no disrespect to idol worshipers

It’s just that the vast majority of people in my life would never think of sculpting or purchasing an object in order to worship it.  It’s like Nicky Holt said last night

“If I can make it, shouldn’t it worship me?”

We just don’t “get it.”

So when we read the 2^nd Commandment, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.   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.”Exodus 20:4-6

Most of us feel relieved.  We feel kind of like Forest Gump after Lieutenant Dan invested in a “fruit company” for them.  Forest knew he didn’t have to worry about money anymore...  “That’s good… one less thing.” 

We read this commandment and think, “That’s one less thing God asks me that I have to worry about… I got this one nailed.”   but

Joy Davidman asks,

What shape is an idol?

Smoke on the Mountain, An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments, The Westminster Press; 1954.

She suggests that early idol makers weren’t trying to blaspheme, and they weren’t so barbaric to think that they could create a god.

        She suggests that they were “doing theology.”

Early man did not have the long history of theological discussion to draw on that we do.  They were pioneers.  We use words to describe God… they used idols.

This god is strong like an elephant… not weak like a mouse… so the idol has an elephant head.

This god sees life from a bird’s eye-view… he is wise like the sight of a hawk.  He is not dumb like a donkey.  So the idol has a hawk head.

They were steps in the right direction.  To realize that god is like this and not like that… it’s a good practice.

But things got bad.

Like some early Christians who lost sight of Christ in worshipping holy artifacts, the idols became the object of worship.  The idols were the source of salvation.

Perhaps it was salvation from drought, or salvation from infertility.  Whatever the salvation, there was likely an idol to supply it.

And the thing about an idol is…

You can hold it in your hand.

salvation can be in YOUR hand.

God said, “no.”

“You cannot hold me in your hand.  I’ll hold you in mine.”

“You cannot contain me in your images or words.”

“I’m bigger than your theology.”

“You will worship me as I choose to reveal myself to you.”

The Hebrews stood dumbfounded.

How do we worship a god, the God, we cannot see. 

                                                                                               (so they screwed up and made a gold YHWH bull)

Again, this commandment changed the way these people saw reality… the One True God was going to lead them step by step… they weren’t going to create an image of Him and practice trial and error, or cut and paste from other religions, to discover how to worship Him…

                                            God is in control.

                               They are in HIS hands.

And so it is with us… right?

At haVen we discussed two ways we may be in breach of the 2^nd Commandment.

1. Set YOUR theology aside

If we can settle our theology once and for all, then we can set the Bible and the Holy Spirit aside.

All we need to do now is to refer to our boxed and packaged systematic theology… it will lead us.

Our theology has become an idol.

If you have enough faith, God will heal you.

WHAT A THEOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH!!!

We used to think that God had His own Will which He was in control of… but now we know that if we can just conjure up enough “faith”, we can make God do whatever we want!!!

He becomes our genie in the sky.

Salvation is in our hands.

God won’t give me anything in life that I cannot handle.

I suppose Daniel was capable of handling the lion’s den?  Israel was in total control between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea?  I guess we don’t really need Jesus’ forgiveness through the cross, because after all, we can handle this sin situation… God won’t allow anything in our lives that we can’t handle.

Our theology can lie.

God warned Israel… I’m bigger than the theology your idols allow for me.  You cannot box me into YOUR theology…

God warns us… I’m bigger than the theology your best thoughts allow for me.  You cannot box me into YOUR theology.

But God has provided us with a standard for knowing Him.  His Word.  Is the theology that guides you through life formulated by what others have told you… or is it founded on God’s revelation of Himself. 

We must immerse ourselves in the Word.

And submit ourselves to it.

We can feel like we own our theology…

God’s revelation defines us and our actions.

what is the shape of an idol?

Your theology may be an idol.

2. Salvation is not in your hands

Do you look to God for your salvation?

That means more than a golden ticket to heaven when you die. 

Is Christ your source of fulfillment?  Is He your security?  Does He define your identity?

The idol worshippers of the Hebrews day believed that, in the end, they could control their idols.  Sure they worshipped the idols… but they had a set of rituals that would sway the intentions of their deities…

As they performed their religious activities… as they held their idols… salvation was in their hands.

Tom’s elephant godling will protect Tom from Frank… but it won’t help Frank.  Frank’s turtle warrior god will help him in battle, but it won’t fight for Tom.  Salvation is in their hands…

what is the shape of an idol?

*It’s in the shape of the car I’m going to get when I turn 16… just like Tom’s elephant god gives strength to Tom and not Frank, my car will bless ME with security, freedom, and status… not Joe.

what is the shape of an idol?

*It’s in the shape of my boyfriend/girlfriend who makes me feel good about myself.

what is the shape of an idol?

*It’s in the shape of my next gadget that will entertain me –because real life is so boring; that next gadget that will fulfill my life- I’ll have whatever I need at my fingertips… that next gadget that will bless me with status.

what is the shape of an idol?

*It’s in the shape of me.  Because freedom… salvation… they come when I get to do whatever I want to do.

what is the shape of an idol?

It’s in the shape of whatever takes salvation – fulfillment, identity, hope, security – out of God’s hands, and places them in our own hands.

“Do we, in our hearts, believe that Christ is the Son of God and that we must follow him even at the cost of renouncing this life and all it’s pleasures?  We say little about that, much about our need for Christianity to protect our treasures.  Yet surely Christ was not meant to save the world for us; it was meant to save us from the world…” –Joy Davidman

and perhaps… to save the world from us.

“The real horror of idols is not merely that they give us nothing, but that they take away from us even that which we have.  By the act of imagining power in the thing, we rob ourselves, and the Holy Spirit within us, of that much power.  If our car alone can rush us away from danger, we have lost the power of saving ourselves by our legs.  An idolater is always a spiritual paralytic.  The more we look to material objects for help, the less we can… ask help from the grace of God.  If we are to be saved, it will not be by wood, however well carved and polished, nor by machines however efficient; nor by social planning, however ingenious.  If we are to be saved, it must be by the one power that” built man at his beginning “and that [power] he [cannot] make with his hands –the power of the Holy Spirit, which is God.”

what is the shape of an idol?

Only you

in submitted silence before God

can answer that question.