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Aug 19, 2018

Back to Basics #1: Along for the Ride

Passage: Exodus 20:1-17

Speaker: Michael E. Karunas

Series: Back to Basics

Category: Back to Basics Sermon Series

 

Schools are back in session this week and in that same spirit, we are going “back to school” at Central over the next 6 weeks.  We are kicking off a new sermon series today called “Back to the Basics.”  The bible is the source of truth on which we stand.  Yet it is very large and long, and we have had people in recent months asking for more basic information about how the bible is put together and what it means.  This sermon series is an attempt to do that.  We hope that whether you are brand new to Christianity – or a decades-long veteran of Sunday school and bible study – that we will all benefit from this next month and a half.  Each week we’ll look at the many ways the bible reveals that God is with us from the beginning to the end.  We’ll build each Sunday on a “Preposition for the Day.”  So if you like grammar, you’ll really like this series. 

The bible tells the story of a people on a journey home; homeward bound and of how God comes alongside us on that journey.  God is with us by coming alongside us.  And that’s our preposition for today – “Alongside” (beside).  In Greek it is “para” and we think of words like parallel (2 lines alongside each other); paramilitary (a group operating alongside the traditional military); paradox (2 opinions – seemingly contradictory – alongside each other).  We’ll get to one very significant word involving “para” in a few moments.  But the first thing we see happening in scripture – in the beginning (in the book of Genesis) – is that after God created Adam and Eve, God came alongside them in the garden of Eden.  Gen 3:8 says “Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze…”   

Our God is a God who desired – from the very beginning – to walk with us and talk with us.  Of course, God was walking with Adam and Eve that evening because God was looking for them.  They had disobeyed God and eaten from the very tree they were told not to touch.  They had failed to follow God’s word.  Sin entered the world and from then on, sin would (and still does) disrupt every part of our lives.  Now, there were consequences for both Adam and Eve because of this.  They were banished from the garden and the rest of the bible can be seen as the story of all of us trying to get back home; to the paradise for which we were created.  But God never stopped coming alongside us on that journey.  So the bible teaches us, at the beginning, that God is with us in creation (God gives us life) and God is with us even when we sin, fall, and make mistakes.

The 14th great grandson of Adam and Eve was a man named Abraham and the journey back to paradise really picks up again with him.  Abraham lived in a land far off to the East but was called by God to leave that home and journey to a new land.  God gave no timeline for arrival; no itinerary; not even a description of the destination – just a request.  Trust me.  Have faith.  Follow me and I will lead you.  And Abraham did.  He believed God and God was faithful to him, leading him to a new home 1000+ miles away around a vast desert.  God walked alongside Abraham every step of the journey. 

As Abraham settled in that new land, God and Abraham made promises to each other.  God would do 3 things: a) give him a land to live in (which God just did); b) a people to live with (a large family of descendants); c) God would always be his God; that he could count on.  For his part Abraham promised to worship God alone – and not any other idol or spirit he might encounter.  From this we learn that all promises in scripture are two-way promises.  God never asks us to do something without promising to do something in return.  And as we’ll see, when the people in the bible get into trouble and hardship, it’s not because God let them down, but rather because they failed to keep their end of the bargain.

Abraham died, but his grandson Jacob had 12 sons of his own and they further settled into their new home.  Over time, however, they suffered repeated droughts and famines and so they entire family (God’s people, the children of Abraham) moved to Egypt, where the land was fertile and the food plenty.  They put down roots there and began to grow as a people.  They also took on a new name: “Hebrews.”  As time went by, the Egyptians were afraid that the Hebrews (growing in number) might one day rebel against them, so they enslaved them.  And for the next 400 years, God’s people were slaves in Egypt.  But… God did not forget them.  God heard their cries of agony and came alongside them in their suffering. 

God raised up a leader for them – Moses.  God first appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and then coming alongside him and supporting him as he confronted the Egyptian king.  Moses showed the king the power of God and what God would do if the people were not set free.  The king ultimately relented and set the people free.  They then began a long journey through the wilderness, back to the land they left over 400 years earlier.  The journey lasted 700 miles, on foot, with many detours.  The people complained often, as food was scarce.  Some even wanted to go back to being slaves in Egypt, saying that at least they had food to eat there.  But all throughout, God was with them, leading them both day and night.  

One day on that journey, God led Moses away from the people and up on a high mountain – Mt. Sinai.  There, God gave Moses the 10 Commandments – 10 laws for how to live faithfully.  Read Ex 20:1-17.  The first 4 of these commands are about our relationship toward God (worship only God, not worshiping idols, keeping the sabbath as a way of honoring God).  The second 6 are about our relationship toward one another (honor mother and father, no stealing, lying, coveting…)   These 10 commandments would lead to 600 total commandments that God would give the people over the years – all having to do with how we honor God and how we treat one another.  Together, they were called “The Law.”  The first Word that God gave the people was “The Law.” 

God gave them the Law to show them how and where to find God, and how to build a community of people in God’s image.  The Law was a “parameter” for them (our most important “para” word today).  Parameter means “boundary.”  The Law showed them the framework/boundary within which they could flourish and beyond which they would struggle.  “If you stay inside this area and follow the Law (the Word of God), I will be with you (says God). I am here, and you will thrive in whatever you do, and in all your relationships with one another.  But if you don’t, and go outside this area (and fail to follow the Law), you will be far from me, and will struggle and suffer.  Your life will be compromised. 

These 600 laws are found in the first 5 books of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  And in many ways, the rest of the Old Testament is the story of the people trying to follow the Law.  And… it’s a story of God sending them help.  This help came in the form of the Prophets.  In fact, most of the books of the Old Testament are about the prophets.  Some were “major” prophets (well-known) and some were “minor” prophets (lesser-known), but they were sent by God to walk alongside the people over the years and tell them when they were forgetting God’s Word and warning them not to drift away from God.  They were the conscience of the people and the mouthpiece of God. 

We’ll continue the story next week, but in the earliest part of the bible, we learn that:

  • God is with us (on our journeys; in our suffering; and in our sin)
  • God is faithful to the promises God makes – and that God can be counted on
  • God first proved to us that God was with us in the form of the Law
  • God’s Laws shows us that God cares about how we treat God, but also how we treat one another. 

As we close for today I invite you reflect on – and give thanks for – how God has come alongside you in your life.  When was it that God came to you and revealed his care for you – in a moment of suffering; or in a moment of sin; or on a journey through a long wilderness you might have made at some time in your life.