Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Celebration (Exodus 15:1-18)

Exodus 15 gives us a picture of a Sabbath celebration.  Moses and the Israelites join together in praising God for the manifestation of His redemption.    We can understand Israel joining together in this victory chorus because this is the conclusion of their 400 some years of enslavement and suffering.   What does this celebration say about the Lord and his provision?  What is the ultimate hope that we see by God delivering His people?  How is this hope very relevant for us today?

Finish This! (Job 6:1-7:21)

Job’s friends, the counselors, are now beginning to interact with Job.  They grieved with Job, they failed to recognize their friend, and Eliphaz has interacted with Job’s speech or attitude.  Job questioned the wisdom of God, and Eliphaz questioned whether Job really understands God.  How will Job respond?  We noted that the counselor was not consistent with the Lord’s wisdom.  Will Job finally see through this trial and clearly see the Lord?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Instigation (2) (Exodus 12:33-13:16)

The ridiculous claim that the Lord made was that Israel was going to plunder the Egyptians.  This sounds ridiculous because how can a people who are in slavery, have been in slavery for centuries, and are still very much in slavery when the Lord finds them going to triumph over their slave masters?  Our understanding is rather simple: if a people have been enslaved for centuries then it is very likely they will remain in slavery.  However, the Lord promised that the Lord would deliver his people with a mighty hand.  Is the Lord really able to do such a thing?  What does this deliverance-exodus teach us about God’s redemption?

Simply Guilty (Job 4-5)

We heard Job’s frustration of his life in this age.  He is one who does not see the value or the purpose of his life right now.  His speech is asking the Lord to blot him out of existence.  This is not something that is appropriate or correct, and how are his friends going to encourage this man?  We would think and hope that they would provide a counter point to Job’s previous speech.  Eliphaz speaks up, he challenges Job’s speech, and is laying out his view of suffering.  Is this view correct?

Trapped by Life (Job 3)

Job finally breaks the 7 day silence to express his perception of things.  Job does not see the purpose of his life.  Why is this so wrong and how does this show that we too need redefine meaning in terms of the Lord’s bigger picture?  How does Job’s speech fail to see the bigger purpose of life that we might fail to perceive?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Instigation (Exodus 12)

There is little doubt that Pharaoh claiming not to know the Lord is basically Pharaoh saying that the Lord of Israel is no match for him.  The reality is that the Egyptians have held the Israelites for 400 some years and their God has not acted on their behalf so what can their God really do?  Pharaoh heard the Lord’s warning through Moses, and should know that God means business.  So, how much business does the Lord really mean?  Is the Lord really ready to deliver his people from the Egyptian bondage?  What can such a message declare about the Lord’s Sabbath rest?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Setting (Exodus 3)

The Lord has promised that His people will dwell in the land of Canaan.  There have been a few problems along the way.  First, the couple that God called to build His Sabbath people were a barren couple.  How is the Lord going to continue the biological seed of the woman?  Second, Jacob fleeing to Laban and leaving the land.  How can a divided family unite to bring in the promised heir?  Third, the immorality and the strife in Jacob’s family.  Now, fourth, we arrive at the problem of God’s people being enslaved in Egypt.  Can the Lord deliver His people from such an empire?

A Wholly Righteous Servant? (Job 2:1-13)

The Adversary, or Satan, had his chance to remove Job’s hedge that sheltered him from the heat of life under the sun.  Satan is not happy with the result because Job did not, “curse God to His face.”  Is Satan going to drop his accusation against God at this point?  Will the Lord allow further testing to show Satan that the new humanity does love God because of God?

Why Love God? (Job 1)

The story of Job opens with a man who is righteous, fears God, and turns from evil.  This is a man who lives out the wisdom of the gospel as he even sacrifices a burn offering in case one of his children cursed God in their heart.  This is a man who is worthy of blessing and a man who deserve blessing from the hand of God.  So, what sort of wisdom is being communicated to us when Job receives the exact opposite of what he deserves?  What is the driving force of Job’s suffering?  Does Job really love God because of who God is or does Job love God because of what God can do for Job?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Submission (Genesis 49)

Jacob is on his deathbed and now has the opportunity to prophetically speak about the future of his 12 sons.  Will he abuse his prophetic gift and try to put his favored son ahead of the other sons?  Or has this man really learned from this wrestling match that the wisdom of God is manifested through weakness?  How does the Lord show the irony off the Messianic line by coming through a very unlikely son?  Why is this son such an unlikely candidate to bring forth the messiah?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Surrender (2) (Genesis 48)

Jacob is an elderly man on his death bed.  His favored son Joseph makes it easy for Jacob to bless his grand children by arranging them in their proper place.  Joseph knows that the older is to receive the greater blessing and the younger is to receive the inferior blessing.  Jacob, a supplanter schemer, places his right hand on the younger and his left on the older.  Why does this offend Joseph?  What does this communicate about Jacob’s heart condition?

Concluding Exhortations (James 5:12-20)

James does not conclude his letter like other apostles who conclude their letters with greetings, benedictions, or passing greetings along to churches from fellow saints.  James tells us not to take oaths, anoint with oil, and exhorting us to bring back the wandering one.  Is it really true that we are not to take an oath?  Are we to anoint all the sick with oil?  How do we bring someone back who has wandered from the truth?  These are the questions that we seek to answer in our last sermon on James.

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Surrender (Genesis 48)

This is the first part of our consideration of Jacob blessing his grandsons.  The family of God has not performed so well in terms of morality.  There are a lot of discrepancies within this family in terms of their calling before the Lord.  The rivalry between Cain and Abel is repeated, there is outright immorality, the Lord strikes dead some of the covenant children because of their wickedness, and Jacob fails to consistently lead the family in a Godly direction.  What do we do with this?  What are God’s people beginning to realize about the Lord’s Sabbath?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Sustainer (Genesis 32:22-32)

We can so easily fall into a trap where we think that our works, our service, or our input is what drives something forward.  You can see in Jacob’s life where Jacob schemes and fights to get ahead again and again.  It would seem that this scheming is working as Jacob has two wives, many children, and has acquired great wealth from his uncle.  What is Jacob missing?  How does all this result to Jacob engaged in a supernatural wrestling match?  What is the purpose of such a bout?

Established in Heaven (James 5:7-11)

James greets the church as sojourners through this world as James greets us as saints in the dispersion.  We are a people who are to see ourselves as a guaranteed a land, but we are not in that land.  There is no doubt that living life under the sun is challenging, and we can be tempted to give up on the sojourn.  We, like Israel, might wonder if the Lord is coming to fulfill his promises.  How do we know that the Lord is fulfilling His promises?  How do we know that the Lord will bring us into the promised land?  How does this impact our lives today?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Assurance (Genesis 28:1-22)

Jacob has sinned against his family, his covenant identity, and worst of all the Lord.  He is banished from his home and exiled like Adam from Eden.  Is there any hope for this man?  Can the Lord still work through such a sinner?  How does the Lord make explicit that His Sabbath will be established?

Encouragement for Some or All? (James 5:1-6)

When James is warning the rich it is easy for us to say that it is the other people who have to worry.  We might think that we are not on the Fortune 500 list so in reality we are not that rich.  The truth is that as Americans we are very rich, very blessed, and among some of the most wealth in the world.  Can we be Christians then?  How can we have a joy in the Christian life when James tells the rich to “weep and howl”?  Are these verses for all Christians or just a select few Christians?