200 Countries--200 Years

This is very interesting.  From a theological standpoint what do you think God is doing?  From a mission's perspective, what do you see happening?  How does this impact the church and what we do?  I would love to hear some of your thoughts.

The Sabbath: Creating Space for God

For the last five weeks, as a church we have been studying the Old Testament book of Exodus.  Between our daily readings and weekly messages we have covered a lot of information in a short time period.  My goal in doing this has been twofold: 1. we need to spend more time in God’s Word.  Any time in the Bible is good and I know that it is a struggle for many of you to keep at it on a regular basis.  So my plan with Exodus was to demonstrate how we can take “small bites” of Scripture each day and not only cover a lot of material in a month, but also better understand God’s plan for our lives.  2. I wanted you to see how the Bible fits together.  For a lot of people the Bible seems disjointed.  It sometimes appears that God has two different personalities, an angry, demanding God in the Old Testament and a loving and grace giving God in the New Testament.  As we have discovered those theories are simply not true.  The God of the Old Testament is incredibly loving, gracious and forgiving.  So reading the Bible helps us better understand the Bible.

So as we move forward as a church I am going to continue to assign Scripture to you.  Each week I will provide you with tidbits of Scripture to read to help keep you in God’s Word, but also connect you with what we will be studying each Sunday morning.  If it is our goal to grow as disciples, we must continue our pursuit of reading the Bible.  So one of the things that you need to do is create a regular space in your life to read and absorb God’s Word.  Just so you know, creating space in one’s life for God’s Word is not a new thing.

                In the book of Exodus, God brings Israel all the way out into the middle of the desert so that he can spend some quality alone time with these people…in a way he creates space so that these Israelites will not be distracted.  Then God does something astounding, he marries Israel.  Many rabbis down through the centuries have viewed the Sinai event as a marriage.  You have God as the groom taking his bride, Israel and making her his wife.  There are the vows, the Ten Commandment which set the terms of this covenant relationship.  Then you have the ring.  Most of you are immediately thinking, “What ring?  There’s no ring?”  Ah, but look closer.

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths.  This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” ~ Exodus 31:12, 13

Just as a ring is a sign of a covenant relationship between a husband and a wife, God declares that the Sabbath is a sign for all Israelites to remember their “marriage” relationship to him.  So what God is asking his “wife” to do is to simply set aside one day a week where she doesn’t have to cook, clean or go to work.  All she has to do is spend time with her husband.  (Sidebar here, married couples we should probably consider making this a part of our weekly marriage relationship as well. Yes?)  So what is God doing here?  Is he being a mean, angry, demanding God who wants his wife to follow all his orders?  No, this is a loving husband who wants his wife to not work so hard, and be busy doing things that really don’t matter.  This is a husband who simply wants to spend time with his wife. 

                So what is God asking of you in your covenant relationship with him?  He’s simply asking that you make space for him.  For a lot of us that is very difficult isn’t it?  We have filled our lives so we are overbooked, too busy and exhausted by the time our head hits the pillow.  But it’s not just busy work it’s fun and play too.  We live in a culture that worships the weekend.  We work hard all week so we can play hard on Saturday and Sunday.  What’s so interesting is that the God who invented the weekend gets pushed completely out of our minds when Friday afternoon rolls around.  We’ve got projects to do, trips to take and games to watch.  Then we wonder why God seems so distant or why we haven’t grown as disciples like we thought we would.  For a lot of us, our relationship with God isn’t about doing more…reading a new book, getting into another Bible study, or signing up for a new ministry.  For most of us it’s about creating space in our lives so we can connect with the one who truly loves us and wants what’s best for our lives.

                To connect with God you need to make space in at least three areas of your life: 1) Community worship.  You need to gather with your church family as often as possible to worship.  The church is the body of Christ; it is the most real way that we can be reminded of God’s work in this world and in our lives.  2) You need to set aside a few minutes each day to read the Bible and pray to God.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate and lengthy.  It can simply be 15 minutes, but you will be shocked at how God can connect with you in that simple space.  3) Lastly, you need to set aside time each week to meet with a small group of Christians.  Whether it’s in a discipleship group or an accountability partner you need someone with whom you can share space with in prayer and encouragement.   

                Believe me, God wants to transform your life and move you from where you are into a deeper relationship with him.  For that to take place you need to make space.  So the question I have for you is simple: What needs to go to make space for God?